Chapter Thirteen – “Let’s Begin”

“Begin again,” I say, teasing. “I think it’s funny we’re halfway through this book and you’re saying, ‘let’s begin’. But I do get it.”

“You are absolutely clear in your observation. We are continually beginning. This writing is an example of that, if nothing else. What I would begin again here is an appreciation of Life, an honoring of Source. Reverence is certainly due. But it cannot be heavy and ponderous—never too serious.”

“Sometimes I don’t know what’s too serious and what’s not serious enough.”

V answers, “That’s all part of learning to discern. Presence will help you with that. In fact, it will help you with everything.”

“It helps with everything! I like that. That feels right. Can you explain how this works? Are presence and Life the same things? What’s the difference, if any? And what about the ‘moment’ and ‘stillness’? Is it all the same?”

“Not the same. It is rather all one, only with nuanced surfaces. These words are indeed synonyms to be sure, but each concept represents a slightly different quality or degree. This is the nature of words and ideas in general; it is the same for all individuated forms. There is never any exact redundancy or duplication. Source provides the essence of uniqueness in each element of creation. Each incarnated soul has its own qualities, talents and experiences that are not to be found in the same configuration in anyone else or any thing else.

“The term ‘presence’ implies ‘being-in-the-present’ and being in the quality of consciousness, while ‘the Now’ connotes the overarching and foundational embrace of timelessness and eternity; the ‘moment’ represents the subtle momentum and movement of presence within the Now. It can be seen in tiny proportion or on a grand scale. ‘Spaciousness’ is another synonym that adds the quality of dimensionality; it also introduces us to a sense of the emptiness.

“‘Stillness’ plays a similar role. It links us directly into the Void, where all forms and actions cease; there they are swallowed up into the pre-creative formlessness and potentiality essence. It brings awareness of the raw, simple power of Source in Life. Within stillness lies the bottomless well of wonderment and infinite eternity.

“Life, like presence, speaks of motive essence, intelligence and vitality, with the added qualities of divinity and cosmic nature. It supports and infuses itself into all aspects of spirit and manifested forms. I have only said a small bit about each of these ideas here. Bear in mind that they all have much more depth that can and will be explored by you later. Plant them all into seed-links.”

I nod appreciatively. “Yes, good idea. Of all of them, I find ‘presence’ the most personable. I have felt it alive and with me in ways that I do not feel about the Now or spaciousness, for instance.”

“You are discerning well. And let me say this: You used the word ‘with’ in relation to presence. It may seem like a small, semantical matter, but you may be with presence or with the moment and it means something quite distinct from ‘in’ the presence or ‘in’ the moment. I would advise you to try on these prepositions and see how they feel to you.”

I focus my attention. “I like the feel of being with the moment. I know we always say ‘in the moment’. But being with it makes it feel more like an entity. It brings the nuances of ‘moment’ and ‘presence’ closer together.”

“Yes. I quite agree,” V offers. “It brings them into a partnership with you.”

“A partnership with the presence and the moment? What a novel idea!”

V answers, “In the beginning—again—there was an idea. It may sound new to you, but all ideas are truly ancient. They have been in presence forever. They recycle through time and take on a revived quality of newness for those souls who find themselves on the path of awakening.

“The partnership of the presence and the moment is within the realm of duality, I remind you. In essence there is no partnership as such—the two are one. And you are presence! Nevertheless, for purposes of expression, there is a division of labor, if you will. The ‘moment’ is the context for action and creation. The ‘presence’ is the facilitator within that frame. It brings to your awareness the authentic projection, asking to be drawn out and into form. As you reflect on the moment of Now, your reflection comes forward all around you. You sense the presence, ready to seize the moment and act.”

“I have indeed felt this strongly, just last week. It’s not so strong today, but I know it’s still there, ‘all around’ me, as you say. I sense that there is so much opportunity and richness in it. I can’t wait until it returns to me.”

V smiles. “You won’t have to wait long. In fact, I would say it’s coming on you right now, as we speak. Am I right?”

I pause and sense the stillness. “You’re absolutely correct. It’s here now.”

“In this space, you will be able to depict it more clearly for me. Please describe what you’re experiencing.”

I collect my awareness into the moment of stillness. “The general thought chatter of my mind has subsided. It almost feels empty—except for the transient creation of these words. I’m sure if a thought were to grab me, my mind would jump back into action. Now though, I feel a peace inside and around me that says it, ‘I don’t need you to be active right now. It’s all right. You can just rest.’

“The peace I’m feeling is strangely more spirited than the mind would ever be. Yet because it is so orderly and efficient, it doesn’t waste any energy on trying to make something happen. This peace knows it is the true power and stability of being. Action and events simply flow out from it instinctually, without effort.”

“I think you’re onto something, my friend.” V urges, “Continue.”

“Peace is the stability of Source.” I’m starting to see how every word and indeed every form is a synonym for every other. Peace is a synonym for Source, for Life, for Presence. “Peace is the motivating force within all action. What does that mean? How can peace motivate action? But here’s an answer coming to me: We need power in order to act.” I pause, wondering, “So, what does power have to do with peace? I seem to be asking myself all the questions.”

V qualifies my query. “And you are answering the questions, too. You could say you’re sensing the questions that Source wants to answer through you. That, incidentally, is just the way it works for me in replying to any of your questions.”

I resume, “OK. Fascinating. So, what do peace and power have in common? Here goes: I’m hearing—from Source, ahem—that only perfect stability can facilitate access into the divine pool of initiative; perfect stability equals ‘peace’. Looking from another angle, creativity is divinely inspired only to the extent that there is peace at the center of the motive intention.”

V now asks me for clarification. The tables have turned for the time being. Source works in mysterious ways. She asks, “What do you mean by putting peace and creativity together in that way? And what about power?”

“I don’t know. I can’t really say… But no, here’s another answer.” I’m amazed by the inflow of information, seemingly out of nowhere. I guess it really is no-where—no thing—the Void!

I begin to put words on what I’m feeling, “Source empowers creation, right? So, ‘creation’ results from an intention set in motion out of Source. Motion cannot pre-exist itself; that is, it cannot be its own cause. So, motion must arise out of non-motion, or stillness. Peace, therefore, is the starting point for any motion or motivation. Furthermore, it is not just the origin; it is also the continuation field as well. It holds the space—or spaciousness—for all action. This has a lot to so with your notion of continuous beginning. Peace then is the foundation for initiative, empowerment and power! There’s the answer.” I’d better put into a seed-link immediately to revisit later.

“Bravo, my friend. You are clearly speaking for the presence.” V’s voice is animated. She goes on, “But tell me more about creativity. If peace, or as you suggested, ‘perfect stability’ is required for creativity, how can human beings ever create anything? They are plainly not perfect.”

Filled with presence, I answer, “Even a tiny exposure to peace is enough to facilitate inspiration and movement. Humans have always been able to access some degree of the stillness within. It is where all inspired, intuitive ideas originate; it is realm of the muses. Humans can indeed be inventive—and even ingenious. However, the more a human, or any creature, is able to access the pure peace—even for short periods—the more resourceful she or he will be. The word ‘resource’ reminds us to revisit Source.

“All creation is drawn, tiny or large, from this reservoir. There is a passageway—a portal, a muse—through which this inspiration flows. The movement of pure divinity comes only when there is perfect stillness somewhere in the passage. It’s another way of looking at the idea that ‘peace passes all understanding’.”

“Very good. Tell me more about this ‘passage of peace’.”

“Well, I never interpreted the ‘peace that passes understanding’ as a ‘passage’ before. I always thought it meant the ‘peace that surpasses understanding’. But there certainly must be room for an additional interpretation. Peace is a living intelligence; there is presence to it, and a transcendent quality as well. It now seems that peace plays a much more active role in transmission. If we only knew and accepted this, we would be better-tuned to the stillness and more alive, in general. We would allow this stillness to activate us.

“It occurs to me to bring in another thought. Some of my friends say they can’t meditate, that they’re just too fidgety and distracted by activity in their minds. What they don’t realize is what I didn’t realize until just now. That fidgetiness is just a form of resistance to peace. Peace is a channel for empowerment and activation. Resistance is a denial of one’s own access to power.”

The streaming information continues, “An important realization is that we can gain access to the channel with only a small amount of presence and peace. We do not have to be perfected or totally enlightened beings to channel creativity and authenticity. The mistake we humans often make is to not pursue the formless essence farther, once we register it. We stop short of awakening the open channel to consciousness within us. We may have a brilliant idea or two, but then we turn away—and turn off the flow. Even great artists often produce a wonderful song or sculpture or painting, only to return to unenlightened behavior immediately afterward.”

V follows my train of thought. “You are sensing that humans could be more alert to the formless.”

“Yes indeed. It’s all around us. And I see now that the formless is empowering. I witness the passage of forms every day, every moment really; they come and they go. My own form is in the process of becoming formless; it’s decaying and dissolving—aging. This is again ‘finding death before death finds me’—seeing the formless in the midst of form. Instead of calling it dying, we could call it the emergence of formlessness.”

“I like that. All right,” V pushes on. “Speak to me more about presence. Describe more how you have experienced it.”

I stop and reflect. “It does no good trying to be in presence. Lord knows I’ve tried hard to do that often in my life. It never works. Presence just won’t be coerced. It cannot be made to follow the dictates of mind or ego or spiritual ambition. If I’m trying to be in presence, it’s tantamount to my mind wanting it to happen. That’s why relentlessly ‘seeking enlightenment’ doesn’t produce enlightenment. The mind is the seeker.

“Presence is mercurial—not mental—and comes unpredictably, only when it is ready.” I stop, as an inspiration enters. “And yet presence is always ready. This is a paradox. Presence surrounds us all the time, but only rises up into our awareness when the way is clear. That is to say, when we awaken enough to accept what it is. Presence is what is. Presence is acceptance.”

V asks, “Humans sometimes baffle us. Just what is it that keeps you resisting—not accepting—presence?”

“The mind wants to have all the attention of my awareness. If I look for presence, the mind will reassert its desire to be the seeker; it wants to feel important and alive. Yes, that’s really it. It only feels alive when it has my full attention. It feels it is dying unless it’s moving continuously—like a shark—through the oceans of attention. The mind feels threatened by simple, calm presence; it senses the power and wisdom of silence, yet it cannot duplicate it.”

I pause to muse. I ask, “How can we let the mind know it doesn’t need to do that?”

“You tell me,” V asks again. I’m surprised she keeps asking me.

“V, why do you want me to continue answering the questions? After all this is your book.”

“On the contrary this book is from the Life of Source. It is our book—the book of all. It is not you answering; it is Source. It matters not which voice is channeling the flow, as long as that channel is open and sincere—and, as you note, at peace.”

“I’ll go on for a bit longer, but I would feel more comfortable if you were in this role. Yet, I sense that ‘presence’ wants me to stop resisting in this way.” I stop again, caught by another impression. “You see, there it is. That’s the resistance I was talking about. It can be very subtle, sneaking in like a humble little guy. But underneath, it wants to disrupt the flow, or divert it into its own channels.”

V laughs, “Do you mean its own ‘ditches’?”

“Hah. Quite. That’s what it feels like. All right, back to the question—how can we reassure the mind that it is alive without having to be dominant?”

I stop and reflect. “Here’s the answer I’m getting: Presence demonstrates how comfortable the mind can be when it stays within the flow of Life. The mind can be filled with presence; this is true ‘mindfulness’—a mind full of presence. It brings in a joy that can be felt throughout the mind, emotions and physical body.”

V interjects as a conclusion, “Yes. The mind can be reassured and brought into the fold of consciousness. It will not be left out or diminished. In fact it will be exalted into its real higher status—manas. It can be quite happy to be elevated from master to servant.”

“I like that—very apt,” I add. “We’re all evolving into servers—angelans and more. When mind awakens, along with all the aspects of an incarnate form, it realizes its own deeper essence—the formless spirit from which it is a worldly reflection.

ⓒ 2014 Robert Lee Potter

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