“Thank you for taking the time to explain that—once again,” I acknowledge, still vibrating from my glimpse of the cosmic web. “We have been talking about presence. I sensed that size doesn’t matter to it; that surprised me, really. The same presence seemed to pervade the entire Cosmos when it was spread before me, with exactly the same intensity as on my own human scale.”
V answers, “You are correct. Presence is itself in all times and spaces, in all dimensions—great or small. Subatomic waves or inter-galactic filaments don’t matter—presence gives it all the same precious attention. It never varies or departs. Presence cannot leave, cannot separate. It is the very being of being itself.”
I continue to wonder, “Are we still on track in this conversation, V, with your project?”
“Indeed we are. Let me say it yet another way. The intention of this book is to aid you to identify with your true identity: The one that lies beneath form, beneath even Life itself—the utter bottom. Source! It is the Ancient of Days, the ‘one about whom naught may be said’. To ‘say’ anything about Source is to place it inside a form. Source is formless; it cannot be contained in a form, such as a definition or a concept or a feeling. It does, of course, generate all form, but its true reality is far beyond form. The ‘identity’ intention in these messages is to connect you and transmute you, not to form you, not to give you another form to identify with.”
I feel I need to challenge something she just said. “If nothing can be said about Source, what is it that you are saying here? Aren’t you talking about it now?”
“Yes. I am pointing toward it, but what I say does not attempt to define Source or to say what it truly is. In words or thoughts, no one could ever do that. What is important, however, is not what we say or cannot say; we can still appreciate Source. We must indeed. The saying—‘naught may said’—is not an admonition; it is a simple statement of fact: Absolute Source is so far more profound than anything we can imagine that verbal descriptions are utterly irrelevant in depicting its actual nature.
“Our purpose is not to define Source. Living from Source is our purpose—experiencing and embodying it in the Life of our world is our purpose. Knowing it intimately in each breath we take, in the pulsing of our hearts, in the vibrations of reality all around and through us is our purpose. Source is everything, everywhere and nowhere—no thing. It is the pure, omnipresent formless. Yet its truth resonates and animates all our being and all forms everywhere. Forms demand no less than this foundation.
“Let’s take it a step further now and link formlessness to our old maxim, ‘begin again!’ This is a persistent mantram for all the ages. Why? The words are illusively simple; their value, of course, is that they point beyond words. It’s not just that they keep us moving, aspiring, inspiring—indeed breathing. It’s not just that creation is always beginning, unendingly. More than that, ‘begin again’ reveals the nature of evolution and dissolution of the universe—beyond separation. It takes us into the direct presence of Source.
“As we truly begin again, we must shake off the baggage and chains of the past. And in its embrace, we take on the unknown; we retrieve it from the false construct we call the ‘future’. The ‘unknown’ can only exist now. But it presses every button in our psychic nature. If we truly engage it, it makes us sit up, shake, and know this moment intimately. We vibrate with the wonder of ‘what can it be?’ What’s out there? It could be frightening! It could be lightning. It could take our breath away; or it could give us the very breath we breathe.”
I take in her words and feel them. “V, I’m sensing that the ‘unknown’ truly does live side-by-side with us each moment of every day, right now. It’s like death and presence. I’ve actually met an embodiment of it myself. I’m sure you remember our little adventure under Sacré Coeur in Paris.”
“I do indeed. The unknown is interesting in that way. Is it not? It can take on a persona of its own, when it serves to instruct a given individual on Earth. But bear in mind, the unknown—or presence—never truly separates itself into individuality; it will only wear that disguise briefly.”
I think back to Paris and wonder. “The presence of the ‘unknown’ certainly did feel real to me—as an individual. It communicated directly, personally. But thinking about it now, it was embodying much more than a person would; it was a transcendent, non-separate individual.”
“Precisely. Let’s look at separation and Oneness now. In the human being, the root of duality is the separation of head and heart. In an archetypal way, this is the origin of all your feelings of distance, aloneness, isolation, and being cut off from what you innately know you are. The mind holds you in the tight grip of reduction, analysis and judgment. The heart works in just the opposite direction—expansion, synthesis and openness. Together, these two powerful centers tend to pull you psychically apart.
“The head-heart archetype also plays out in the dual hemispheres of the brain and the two eyes in the mask of the persona. Each of the eyes views the world quite differently. Their separating tension empowers an eventual movement toward wholeness—two eyes focusing into one vision of depth. You might argue, ‘What a cruel trick of nature to set it up this way!’ But it’s not a trick; it’s just another device to enable and trigger awakening. It’s all by design.”
I interrupt. “Excuse me, but I’ve just had an intuition. I’m seeing that the two eyes produce stereo-vision, or 3D. It may be trivial to bring this up, but I happen to love 3D movies. Since I was a kid, I’ve kind of sensed that 3D imagery is a way of enhancing perception. But there has been a lot of negative talk about the ‘third dimension’ in new age circles; it is supposed to represent the denser levels of materialism that we are evolving out of.
“Suddenly now, I’m seeing there’s no real conflict. It’s just an unfortunate confusion of terms. Stereoscopic images do not in fact bind us to the third dimension. I actually find 3D images quite liberating. They allow me to see beyond the ‘flatness’ of ordinary perception.”
“I see what you mean,” she replies. “I agree that perceiving depth is an important feature of sight. And I would add that your stereo-vision—the merging of images from the left and right eyes in the brain—is a stepping-stone and a portal into the ‘single eye’ of enlightenment. It brings the two into one. Christ said, ‘If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.’”
I respond, “Yes. That refers to the ‘third eye’, the forehead chakra. Imagine what adding a third eye would do to stereo-vision! I guess that might mean 4D or 5D vision.”
“I can see how you might say that. However, once the single eye is active, the dense physical eyes become subordinate.”
I ask, “Since we’re talking about it, what is your understanding of the latest teaching about dimensions? Are we really moving from the third dimension into the fourth and fifth?”
“I see the talk of dimensional shifting as a metaphor for awakening,” V answers. “It is one of many different models that were in use in your time; they attempt to describe the unknown in terms of something familiar to your minds. Yes, there are many dimensions, arrayed on an evolutionary spectrum; actually there are limitless dimensions and sub-dimensions. The risk of the teachings on the 3rd, 4th and 5th dimensions in your time is that it can sometimes separate more than unite people. It can become a yardstick for judging the ‘spiritual’ progress or commitment of others. It also creates a rather narrower view of what constitutes awakening, I think.
“Having said that, there are indeed certain geometrical and mathematical configurations in nature that can be differentiated into ‘dimensions’ and levels of conscious density: There is a zero point; a one, two and three-dimensional perspective; there is also a fourth and a fifth density and beyond. In fact there are infinite levels in the progression of evolving awareness. The talk of ‘dimensions’ that you refer to, seems to be a way of describing a staged expansion of awareness; at its best, it intends to inspire movement into ever-grander understanding.
“At its best, the concept of dimensionality can embrace entire paradigms of manifestation. At worst, it can force a splintered view of the world. Bear in mind that reality is truly formless. Dimensions are forms constructed upon that reality. Forms are part of the unfolding evolution to be sure. However, they often can presume to contain or define reality. In the end, they do not. What may purport to liberate the spirit can instead circumscribe it with delimited prototypes.”
“Hmm. It seems like a mixed bag then.” Pausing, I ponder the notions of paradigms and prototypes. “V, I don’t mean any disrespect. But I’m curious if you have a model or a plan for this book? Is there a framework for what you want to write? How is this going to proceed?”
V laughs and takes a breath. “It will proceed in just the way it is proceeding. I have no structure in mind for the finished product. I hold nothing in mind about this work for very long at a time. Mind is only one of the vehicles for transmission; there are other lenses we will employ. I have no ‘plan’; instead I rely on the inner emptiness. The Void within stays empty until presence fills it. It is the same with you.”
“But how does it work then? How do you even know you have anything to say? How did you come up with a title and a ‘project’?”
“Presence tells me—in the moment. It reaches into both of us in the same way, out of the timeless space. From that space all forms and events are known as complete; for presence, there is no need for a plan. It generates a polarity that is electromagnetic in nature. I feel the pulse and the impulse of the moment and then I send out a directed, charged field that touches into your field, your ‘aura’. You, in turn, feel the field and draw in the same presence that then speaks through your writing. The only ‘plan’ is the pattern of action that issues forth in the moment of transmission. All action is contained within the spark of electro-magical destiny we call the Now.”
I scratch my head. “I’ve always had a problem understanding how a ‘plan’ or ‘destiny’ can exist only within the moment. I was taught in school that planning is a future-oriented business. I know O and Omis have repeatedly explained otherwise, but I still don’t really get it.”
V responds firmly, “You don’t understand how you can exist only within the moment! That is the real issue. Given that, how could you understand that anything else could exist only there? Nevertheless, you do accept that there is only one moment, one Now. It is the mind that has generated the concept of passing from one moment to another.
“Let’s take a look at the model of time: In this system, it is understood that the present exists in only one moment at a time; this moment is a tiny sliver of existence, sandwiched tightly between the past and the future. The past is forever rushing away behind; and the future inexorably rushes toward the present, before disappearing into the past. Regardless of this flow of time, there is still—and always—only one present moment, one tiny sliver. The present—in time—cannot exist in the past or the future, by definition and by actual, personal experience.
“There cannot be two ‘present moments’. Therefore, the one and only moment must be the very definition and fulfillment of all time—all future and all past must hinge on this point. Now here is the stretch for mental comprehension: In order for it to truly exist, all passages into or out of this point—the moment—must be illusions: If there were a channel coming from the past or going into the future, the present would cease exist at the moment of passage; it would become something other than ‘now’. Yet evidence shows us that the present does not ever cease to exist. Therefore, the future and past cannot exist apart from it. All time, and all the movements and actions within it, exist only ever now. You exist only ever now!
“This is an impenetrable enigma for the little mind. The intellect must boggle at it. Thought can only wrestle with it up to a point; then the mind either gives up trying to comprehend, or it creates an elaborate system of denial, pretending to understand on its own terms. No lower mind can truly understand timelessness because it takes time for that mind to operate. For engaging the realm beyond time, one must access higher mind—the mind of the soul.
“I would suggest that whenever you encounter this conundrum, you simply notice the paradox in it: Time exists for you as an incarnate creature with a mind; and yet time does not exist for you as a soul and as a lens of Source. The ‘plan’—to use that time-bound term—is the formative breath of Source. That is the instantaneous, vital structuring of our words and pages in this little treatise.”
I reply, “Thank you once again. I will practice noticing the paradox—time exists and yet it doesn’t. And I only exist now! Right?”
“Time does not exist and yet a model for it does.”
“You, know,” I reflect. “It does make sense, even logically, that there can only be one moment. If there were more than one, we might never be where we are right now. We could never do just one thing; it would always have the potential to be multiple things at the same time. Even in the ‘time model’, the present must exclude the future and the past in order to exist.
I continue, “Just to complicate things a little further though, I heard a scientist say the other day that the present doesn’t really exist, except as an infinitesimally small transition point between the past and the future. But it is so brief that any experiencing of it must take place in the past or future. If he is right, then nothing makes sense—the present cannot exist before or after itself.”
“That is a typical mental enigma. But let’s just adopt your scientist’s logic for the moment. It is true that the time-bound ‘present’ does not exist. But if it does not, neither can the past or future exist, by extension; they are based upon the conceptual occurrence of time in the present—concepts are thoughts that have their function only in the mind, the present mind. The moment of present has to be the foundation of the mental understanding of time; otherwise there would be no experiencing of it at all. The illusion of time, form and duality, is twisted and convoluted in the mind into an explanation of existence that does not exist.”
“Whew! OK. That’s all very interesting and convoluted. But,” I press on. “I have a feeling we’re drifting away from what we were talking about. Please tell me what the role of the mind is, if any, in your project?”
“Yes. The mind is the passageway for ideas to move into thoughts and communication on the outer planes, the world of incarnate duality. We use it to formulate the formless, to illuminate the illusion, to cognize the unconscious.
“Drifting, by the way, is no problem as long as we remain within the presence. The Life of Source always brings us back into its flow, if we participate with it and keep noticing what is. Now, the mind is similar to the lips and tongue, metaphorically. It is a channel that gives the ‘breath’ a specific set of vibratory forms—thoughts, words, questions. The air that comes through them is the presence,the spiritu inspiratus or divine inspiration. Presence is what actually causes the vibration and inflowing creation. Without the breath, the lips would move in silence, or simply babble.”
I laugh this time. “I hear a lot of that from people every day. I have a friend who says, jokingly, ‘I see your lips moving and your tongue; your teeth are clacking. But are you really saying anything?’”
V smiles. “Yes. That is called speaking without presence—a peculiar human trait. We are here to remind you that it doesn’t have to be that way. Presence can speak through you at any moment. You can be the Life of Source at any time. It is only a matter of attention—and intention. Beyond the air, in my last analogy, there is the deeper inspiration from presence, the inhalation of formlessness, the exhalation of form and meaning.
“When you engage presence in your conversations, in your mind functioning, you empower the world around you with the depth of eternity—even in the mundane occurrences of daily life, even in the midst of superficial ‘small talk’. This is living your destiny, in the Now. The key here is realizing that mind is not the originator of meaning or of depth consciousness. It is only a channel, on the surface, like the lips. It moves and forms words and concepts. The breath of Source and its inspiration are what bring meaning; they bring destiny.”
ⓒ 2014 Robert Lee Potter
CLICK HERE and you will find all the chapters posted from Life of Source. I will be updating each week with new chapters till we reach the end of the book. It will then be available for download from this site. Stay Tuned…
Letters From 500 