silence

Oct 22 2010

Spirits Having a Human Experience (2/2)

See Part One

As we learn about ourselves as spiritual beings having a human experience, new perceptions of ourselves emerge. Here are some discoveries which have been helpful to me in my spiritual and human journey. Being both spiritual and human beings takes some attention and some sorting out regarding what our spiritual beings are capable of and how to live with this unseen potential we all possess.

Our energy field extends way beyond our physical bodies. We intuitively sense this. Have you ever been in a room with people and feel a compulsion towards some and an attraction towards others? This is energy connecting and repelling and this goes on all the time. In general though, we forget about such feelings or diminish their importance because we think of our physical bodies as our full selves.

As human beings, we mostly have very limited views of our energy’s scope and breadth. The more consciously aware we are of our connection with All That Is, the greater our energy extends beyond our bodies. The more time in Stillness and Silence, the more sense we have of our expansive selves. Some beings in body are even extending beyond this earthly dimension in their commitments to help bring Balance and Peace to others.

: Chakras by Robbi Baba

Some beings here have already ascended into the Light and they have chosen to consciously return to this dimension to be in service with others. In Sanscrit, these beings are known as the bodhisattva. This does not mean however that they do not have to move through the same stages of expanding consciousness again, while in body. Their process though may be easier, quicker and more dramatic as they have already taken those steps in other incarnations. This concept is found in the Buddhism.

The bodhisattva among us are those who can teach us of the namaste. Namaste is a state of being which in part refers to the Light of a spiritually aware person readily recognizing the light in another, thereby helping all humanity to remember our connection with All That Is. The words to one song about this are ” The Light in me beholds the Light in you”. This sums up namaste rather succinctly.

Fear, negativity, darkness and anger is created through our human selves and therefore can be released through our human desire to be free of these thoughts and feelings. Kindness, love, gratitude and appreciation is created through our connected spiritual selves which is eternally One With All That Is. Love is the only lasting energy of the Universe. All other energies we are passing through on the way to remembering our own true selves as spirit beings of the Light.

Religious practices and paths have some accurate takes on Divine Presence and some inaccurate takes on Divine Presence as well. Only a spiritually seeking person can discern between that which is of the Light and that which is not of the Light. This is our gift and responsibility. Discernment requires Silence and Stillness in rather large amounts so that we can hear our own still small voice of All That Is amidst the noise of our human existence.

: Oneness by h.koppdelaney

We are eternally connect to All That Is, though we have to seek ways to discover this every time we are in body. Further, there is no requirement that we must discover this connection while in body. We can choose to live our lives in any way we want to. All our choices however have consequences. If we create and nurture imbalance, imbalance will manifest in our bodies and our lives. If we create and nurture balance, balance will manifest in our bodies and our lives.

There are wide ranging terms for Divine Presence, including God, The Great I AM, All That Is, Divine Oneness, Great Creator, Yahweh, Allah, Elohim, Allaha, The Almighty, Lord, The Holy Spirit, etc. Further, Divine Presence is available to us in a myriad of energy forms including Angels, Archangels, Angelic Host, Ascended Masters, Divine Cosmic Light Beings, Nature Intelligences, Divine Ancestors and Divine Physicians, to name a few. This Energy is available to all beings as we become increasingly conscious of these differentiated forms of Divine Presence.

All humans are eternally connected to All That Is even if we do not know this and even if we choose anger, violence or abuse in our human lives. We can never be separated from the Love of All That Is. However our human choices for imbalance in our lives can feel like we are separated from Divine Love, because when we can’t see that spark of Divinity within ourselves, so we have no way to know of the Divine Love that is all around us and within us. This Divine Presence can become invisible to us if we choose imbalance as a way of living.

Choose Love. Choose to believe in the goodness and power of Light within yourself. Choose to see the the wholeness that you are and forgive the imbalance, the lapse in love actions and the judgements along the way. Choose the path of Joy, Delight, Balance and Creativity for then you are as close to Divine Energy as is possible in our human dimension. Gift yourself with Stillness and Silence for there is a world of loving wholeness awaiting you every time you step into your spirit energy.

Mar 04 2010

Silence for the Dubious

When people say, “you need to be in Silence”, there is usually a vision of sitting, perhaps cross-legged with eyes closed and breathing deeply for 30 minutes or so, while being left alone by the world. The thought of this for many people is simply a non-starter and blocks our energy before one can even fully consider it. Sometimes in our lives, such time is non-existent no matter how much we would love to have that experience.

Still, the place to spend time with All That Is/Divine Presence/God is in Silence. When we show up for this time together, we are the ones who are greatly blessed because we are loved, supported and calmed energetically in ways that generally don’t happen in the world. Silence with God is spending time with God without your own agenda.

The main ingredient we need to be successful in making time with God’s Energy is intention. Here are some examples of how to do that. One can dedicate 10 minutes of a walk with the dog to being with Divine Presence.

Another option is to dedicate time while working in the garden or the yard to connecting with God. Open a sacred space by calling in Divine Beings or Divine Light and call God into your time regardless of what you may be doing. Another place I used to have time with God was in the bathroom. That was at a time that I could reasonably count on having a few minutes to myself there. I would seek that time and space at all times of the day and usually that was honored!

We can listen to uplifting music and intentionally invite Divine Presence into our space. This is not Silence per se but it may get us into Silence with grace and ease. The more we intentionally connect with Divine Energy, the more we notice a shift in the vibration of energy around us. This is the Holy Spirit showing up to be with us because we asked. One could read a spiritual book while asking God to enter into this space and time with you, as well. If you are reading poetry or prose, take a section, read the piece three time out loud and then sit in the Silence of that energy. You will be ministered to through Sacred Presence. Usually there is a great calm that comes over us even if we only have 15 minutes.

Any sacred time can be carved out and dedicated to God. You can be watching children playing a sport and while sitting apart for the crowd, take 15 minutes to dedicate special time with God. You can arrive early for an appointment and sit in the car listening to classical music or simply recline with eyes closed and ask God to connect with you. The ways are infinite.

The challenge is to regularly invite God into your life. Don’t talk about it and despair or simply close the door on it as being an impossibility. We are in great need of the Presence of God. That energy is incredibly calming, supportive and filled with Divine Love which is totally different from human support and love here. However, we need to knock on the door with GREAT determination, seek without giving up and keep asking for connection and communion with God by showing up every day in one way or another. We are the only ones who can gift ourselves with Divine Grace. It is all around us but we have to say YES and show up. So, do what works.

For those of you who are finding time in Silence, there is another step which can be taken to expand your conscious knowing of God. After you have intentionally connected with God, you may come out of that time and realize you have something you want to pray about, ask forgiveness for, call Divine Presence into or clear some blocked energy you have become aware of. This is not Silence. This is working with God to call forth this energy for a specific person, situation or purpose. This is unifying prayer. Each of these experiences is still being with God but the focus changes to your own thoughts, questions, needs, etc. This is a natural outgrowth of being in Silence with God.

Muriel was just coming out of a twenty minute session of Silence with God. She immediately saw the face of her sister in front of her. Her sister had passed away two years earlier.

She did not know what the image of her sister actually meant, but the experience felt uncomfortable within. She loved her sister deeply but there was an uneasiness when her face appeared to her. Muriel took two minutes more in Silence and realized she needed to ask forgiveness for the way in which she had behaved when she needed to help take care of her during her illness and when she needed to suddenly do all the extra things for their parents when her sister was sick. Right then and there she asked for forgiveness for those unkind feelings, hasty words and old anger. She felt a perceptible sense of Lightness in her chest and heart area. She knew she had actually been forgiven in that moment. She was amazed that it was so easy to release that old energy. In fact, she had not really remembered her feelings until her sister’s face appeared to her. This was the Holy Spirit working with Muriel to help her clear her soul energy from this stagnant, stuck feeling that was still with her two years after her sister had died.

This is an example of how seamlessly this Divine Energy can work with us. Muriel was in a deep communion with All That Is/God and she simply knew she needed to ask for forgiveness. Without showing up for time with God, she could have carried that draining energy for years and have it show up in all sorts of unhelpful ways.

If we begin our personal relationship with God in Silence, we will be blessed in ways we can never imagine. Show up, dedicate time to God, keep the appointment, be in the Silence, and listen. This is how we come to a place of balance and wholeness through Divine Grace. Even if you have no visual for God, no sense of what or who God is for you, even if you don’t even know if you believe in God Presence, do this anyway. There is a deep magic, that surpasses all understanding, whose doorway will open to us. When this happens all our fears become less powerful, we become more capable of gratitude, we can release that which is not serving us or others very well. If we have just even a few minutes, we will be ministered to. We are deeply loved beyond anything we as humans can comprehend. However, we have to chose to enter into the Silence before we can gather this blessing for ourselves and for others.

Nov 12 2009

Beloved I AM Presence

The I AM Presence is part of every person on Earth though many of us have no idea what this means. The I AM Presence is the Oneness which exists way beyond our bodies, our lifetimes and our memories of experiences in this world. The Oneness is the state of consciousness which manifests as connectedness with All That Is. The I AM Presence is that which is Eternal about us, and thereby is pure love, pure wholeness and perfect balance.

The I AM Presence actually can’t be captured in words though that does not stop me nor others from trying to explain this state. The I AM Presence is a state of consciousness which is available to all peoples, any place, all of the time.

When I call forth the I AM Presence into a sacred space, I think of this as calling the Highest Energy of the Most High. Do I really know what this means, how it was created, or from whence it came? Not really. What I do know is that when I call this energy, I and others feel compelled to speak the Truth, are touched by an energetic state of being, each sensing this in his or her own unique way. I know there is a qualitative difference in space when I call the I AM Presence into that space. I feel a sudden and vast support, power and infinite knowing way beyond the capacities of my own being.

Recently when working with St. Germain’s energy and teachings, I was struck again by the power of recognizing the I AM Presence in All That Is. When we recognize an other’s birthday, contributions, gifts, or talents, our relationship with that other person is strengthened because of this recognition.

Happy Our Birthday :) bu Hamid Saber — Happy Our Birthday 🙂 bu Hamid Saber

As we feel gratitude and appreciation for another, the goodness of the relationship grows. What we focus on, grows. If we walk through the halls and say hello to others, our relationships are strengthened by these acts of recognition. This very same principle is at work when we recognize, speak with, call forth, love and honor Divine Presence.

Before we begin to recognize the Divine in specific ways, the concept of Divine Presence remains shadowy, vaguely unformed possibilities for a rainy day. When we recognize Divine Presence, that relationship grows, is strengthened and the goodness itself expands as we take this into our heart, minds and our being.

You may ask what is the difference between the I AM Presence and God? I really don’t know. For me, the I AM Presence is within and without as is the “kingdom of God”. Perhaps they are different aspects of Divine Source or perhaps they are exactly the same. What I know is that the I AM Presence is here, now and is an integral part of me and probably has been for all my existence. I am sure that I am moving more deeply into Divine Space when I recognize my Beloved I AM Presence. I know these connections only come through Silence and meditation. It is not possible to know the I AM Presence with one’s mind. I can know of the I AM Presence with my mind but in order to know the I AM Presence, my mind has to be quiet and calm. That is the way it works.

Last week I discovered in Silence that one can be out of Right Relationship with one’s I AM Presence. Right Relationship is defined by Divine Knowing and means being in perfect harmony with something or someone. Being out of Right Relationship with the I AM Presence looks like not acknowledging this Presence, being skeptical that one is good enough to have a relationship with the I AM Presence, denying the Divine Presence in our life or remaining undecided about whether to believe in a Goodness beyond ourselves. This is very similar to wanting to have a relationship with another while never accepting offers to date, to mingle or to be in the public where meeting someone might happen. If we don’t acknowledge the Great I AM Presence, it can remain an elusive uncertainty for as many lifetimes as we would like.

St. Germain’s teachings encourage us to Love our I AM Presence. That was a new thought. How do I Love my I AM Presence? I am certain that I can’t love something that I have never recognized. So, calling forth the I AM Presence into meetings, gatherings, arguments, decisions, prayers, meditation and illness is a perfect way to have this energy take form in your life and grow in power, presence, vitality and form.

TRY THESE COMMANDS

I call forth my I AM Presence in Its full Power and Knowing

I send unbounded Love to my I AM Presence and invite this energy into every aspect of my life.

I call the Ascended Masters to teach me about my I AM Presence

I release all my blocked energy regarding the existence of my I AM Presence.

I call for the expansion of my consciousness so I can embrace the I AM Presence as a force in my life.

Recognizing the I AM Presence leads to more abundance. Every constructive form on the Earth came from some Cosmic Being’s Love.

Just add light... by ecstaticist — Just add light… by ecstaticist

The birds, the trees, the plants, the water, the mountains, the animals and all of us came from Love. It does not matter what we call this Comic Being. It matters greatly what we learn from the beauty, love and power of life around us. All life around us was created from Love because Love is the only eternal force in the Universe. Further, Light comes ONLY from Love. Light ALWAYS overcomes the darkness.

When we recognize our Mighty I AM Presence, we are saying YES to Love, to Oneness and therefore to Light. Abundance is a quality of the Light. Practice recognizing the Beloved I AM Presence and experience more Love, Light and Abundance in your life. We get all the help we need as we begin to take steps to bring this energy more fully into our daily lives. As we begin to take steps towards the recognition of Divine Presence, the Love, Light and Abundance of life will show itself more frequently and completely in our day to day world.

Nov 04 2009

Why Silence?

Here are some folks questioning the purpose and experience of Silence, being answered by folks who have tried Silence and find It working for them. These answers are paraphrases from individuals in my meditation and healing practice.

Why would you ever sit in Silence when there are ever so many other more interesting things to do?

Because in Silence, nothing is expected of me. In Silence, I feel at ease, safe with no one asking anything of me. Perhaps that is a lot like hiding but when I come out of it, I don’t feel like I have run away. I feel like I have run towards something that perhaps I don’t fully get but I know is great and it feels trust worthy. Also, increasingly, the myriad of “interesting things” in my life is not helping me become more peaceful. As long as I “do things”, I feel worthy, productive, competent and focused. I feel more in control. However when I stop, I know I am not in control. It feels good to sit in Silence where there are no control games going on or even the pretense of those running in the background. I love to do this in the woods, or at the beach. It seems like a whole other way of being.

I don’t see myself ever seeking Silence because my mind won’t settle down when I stop running from one thing to another. There never seems to be any peace in Silence for me.

When I first stopped doing, thinking, running around, working, to enter into Silence , my mind only knew how to keep thinking thoughts. That is exactly what it continued to do. I focused on my breath going in and out or sometimes on a candle flame or on the blank wall, and let my mind go. Eventually , my thoughts silenced themselves because I gave them no attention. Then real peace set in. I would find myself simply swirling along, not aware of time at all. There is a great sense of floating at times and of taking a real break from demands, lists, concerns and responsibilities. When I come out, I am usually more centered and less frantic. I’d like to be free of worry and concerns, all day long. In the meantime, I am getting healthier, while I practice getting there.

What could possibly be in Silence that I can’t get from putting my energy and efforts on what I like to do?

…perhaps a space where just being is a nice state. It is a great relief to be able to sit in Silence and simply be there. It is like taking a short nap for me. I usually come out refreshed and feeling lighter. I have no idea how that happens but I experience it again and again. What I find in Silence is more space to be. If I find that I can’t get away from issues and stuff from my daily life, I name them out loud and escort them back “outside the doorway to the Silence” and leave them there. They are always there when I finish my quiet time but they are often different in ways, less pressing or I have some clarity about how to respond. I really don’t know how this works, but it does. I don’t get this type of refresher in the day just running around doing things on my list. I like the sense of entering Silence and coming out of it, both. It works for me.

Why would I ever consider Silence, I don’t like to be alone usually and I find it boring in the extreme.

Intentional Silence is completely different from being alone. For me, I go into Silence to connect with a Greater Whole which I don’t fully get but know is probably there. I never feel alone because I go with the intention of connecting with Divine Energy. I don’t know about boring. I did have to learn to be still and listen to the Silence. There is a different kind of knowing there which I am slowly getting. In the beginning though, it was simply a place of Peace for me.

I don’t like Silence because I don’t know what to expect and I can’t really figure out what I am suppose to be doing there.

That is a great reason to keep going there. We don’t know what to expect most of the time in life. I often get thrown when things do not go as I expect. In Silence, I simply sit and am quiet and things happen in that space in a very different way than in my daily life. I get the sense that the hardest issues for me to learn can be learned there. I often get gentle nudges or hunches which help me when I leave that space. I don’t know what I am supposed to be doing there for sure, but I go there because I feel better when I do. I get to be there doing nothing, having no rights or wrongs in that space. When I come out, I am more able to roll along with things rather than feeling I need to control them. That has been great for me.

When my doctor asked me how I brought my blood pressure down without medicine after 10 years of it being too high, I told him through spiritual clearing and healing in Silence. He just rolled his eyes.

But really, that is what I did. I began sitting in Silence and when things came up which were stressful, I named them usually as a fear, called out the blocked energy around them and asked for them to be consumed from my energy field. This process has worked for me, big time. Then I usually enjoy my Silence after I do my release work. My blood pressure I guess was related to all the stress I was carrying when I got angry, irritated or frustrated. Maybe my cells just settled down as all those things left my energy field, who knows. Anyway, my doctor is happy and I think I am a lot healthier all around. ( for more on how to name and release) http://robbinshopkins.com/2009/09/calling-out-impatience-part-2/

Other Responses to Why Silence?

When I finally got to entering Silence on my own, I found it amazing that when I came out, I was clearer about the issues I was facing even though they were not specifically addressed by me in that Silence.

I found myself always making excuses for myself as to why I was drinking too much until in Silence I found a place to connect in stillness and within the quiet. I then began to be able to consider getting help for my drinking habits.

When I was really lost, in a situation I was completely confounded by, doing things that were unfamiliar and sometimes unpleasant for me, I could always take 5 minutes in Silence and know I was still connected to the Greater Whole.

When I got to Silence even for a short time daily, I began to see that my temper was less explosive and my language was more even, even the curse words dropped out in time. Some type of peace was coming over me just by a few minutes in Silence.

: Tjosvoll Vest by Vinje

Try Silence for several days, a few minutes at the time and then keep giving it to yourself, as a gift. You are actually giving Divine Presence/Greater Whole/All That Is/your “I AM Presence” a chance to send you Love so that you will have more Light to bring to your body, your affairs and your thoughts. Love creates Light which heals us completely. Sometimes we just aren’t creating enough Love of our “I AM Presence”/own True Self /Core Eternal Being for us to generate enough Light to feel balanced, centered, content and whole. When you enter into Silence:

1. set an intention ( say it out loud) to connect with All That Is

2. to receive healing Love

3. to experience inner Peace, with time

When you leave Silence give thanks for whatever happened for you in that time, regardless of whether you think if was good or bad, well done or botched, helpful or unhelpful. Appearances often deceive us. Being in Silence with these intentions is ALWAYS HEALING even if we can’t see it in the beginning or on a specific day.

Oct 18 2009

One day in India

My time in India was a time of sharp contrasts and self-reflection. I have not been surrounded by that level of ever present poverty with the exception of working in the Yucatan in the late 1960s, since I was in India three years ago.

The contrasts of the grinding poverty and the brilliant saris in the middle of the street seemed strange. Isn’t poverty’s color grey or somber? Everywhere one looks in the towns is rubble, dirt, rocks, thatch huts, make-shift housing that is not make-shift, beggars, and need. Yet the street markets are filled with flowers, fruits, and vegetables of every rainbow color. The living things of color dot the context of greyness like determined hope.

In the middle of all of this, a family serves 14 of us, the guests, a hot lunch everyday we are in their home and invites us to bask in their cheerfulness and love.

One can see the need in the faces of the street children, their outstretched hands immediately present when we stop. More need is etched in the wrinkles of the aged women who live on the streets.

One feels the overwhelming press of people, everywhere. When looking at the sidewalks, they are usually 4 deep with people, all the time.

Townspeople viewing an accident by Liz Spiwack

The roads are pressed with people, all the time. There are those permanently connected to the ground through affliction and physical impairment, at every turn.

One has to release all sense of normalcy as we move through the throngs of people, motorcycles, auto-rickshaws, bikes, cars and trucks. All is up to God, in every single way. My sense of order, fabric of the society and the way one makes sense out of the world does not work in India as She has her own rhythm and vibration, completely apart from what is familiar to those of us visiting. All the assumptions we hold do not work there. There is another order of society which is not visible to us, however hard we try to see it. I am constantly reminded that I am a visitor, in all ways.

The best we can do is to get a driver we can speak with who can be our go-between. The best we can do is to eat all things cooked which are put before us and to eat nothing raw. The best we an do is to be respectful of the religions ceremonies we are invited to attend and release all thoughts of what we are doing in India. It is not clear why one is necessarily called to India, it just simply happens.

Nothing is familiar, but a shared love of the Divine arrived at from vastly different paths, yet shared all the same. That is the amazing walk in India.

Amidst an endless background of poverty, one experiences the holy shrines, the elaborate religious festivals, the chanting of devotionals, the taking of prasada, blessed holy food, the use of the vibuti, the gift of amrita and cum-cum. All the outwards ways of worshiping, are unfamiliar but the sharing of the Energy of Divine Presence is completely familiar.

It is as if all the signals for living are completely switched around and one has to make one’s way on faith that all will be fine. Every moment of every day, one has to walk in faith that all will be fine. Simply the process of putting on a sari in and of itself is daunting.

Robbins dressed for the puja by Liz Spiwack

How does one put on 8 yards of material and move through the day? All the conflicting energy around one’s public self and one’s private self gets a good shake-up. Who are we really at the end of the day? What is it that makes for order and “ordinary” time. Certainly, not anything that shows on the outside. That is all jumbled up because of the clothing we are wearing and the process of walking barefoot through all the shrines and homes, and the process of chanting and praying in Sanskrit, or Hindi, or English. Can we really connect when we are this far out of our comfort zone?

I am so relieved again to find that my time in Silence is a constant. It is a constant I can find again, there, with all those people who are so different from me. It is a constant that sees me through, even in the strangeness of the clothing I am wearing, the sounds I am hearing, the visions I am seeing, the smells I am smelling. The Silence is my welcoming friend of deep solace. It is my refuge that somehow reassures me that I am fine, that I am whole, that I am in that place for something I can’t understand with my mind, only with my heart. Silence leads me to the space of deep connectedness with All That Is, including the very strange surroundings and customs I find myself partaking in.

Am I being true to myself? What does all that even really mean, while being in India? Do my outside actions really reflect who I am. Probably not, as I feel off-kilter much of the time I am there. I welcome smiles and kind words of those helping us through all of this. I welcome the room given to us to rest where there is an air conditioner, a western toilet and places to leave our things.

Sari Lesson from Ribini for Robbins by Liz Spiwack

I am touched by the helpful hands of young woman who teaches me to wrap the sari more securely. I welcome the intimate stories of the woman in conjunction with her husband and family, who has overseen the expansion of support for 25 rural schools in south India, the creation of an orphanage, a medical clinic and an aging folks home. All this in the midst of overwhelming physical poverty.

In their home, there are two large shrines to All That Is, known to them and many others, as Sai Baba. There are all sorts of stories of the pictures and statues spontaneously producing vibuti, sacred ash, which has to be scooped up regularly. There is another reality they are living with, which I thankfully know in Silence, Love and Blessing. We connect even though we are worlds apart, we are One. That is beyond all that I could ever imagine, really way beyond anything my mind could have thought of. That is why I have been called to India. We are really All One, even though we may only have a glimpse of it one day in India.

My thanks to Liz Spiwack, one of my traveling companions, for the sharing of these photos from our trip for use in this post.

silence

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