Monday, December 19, 2011

Christmas Message

What a journey my friends, going many times from the depths and valleys of hell to the mountains’ heights of Heaven, we have travelled a unknown road and when we approach the end, mainly at the time of Christmas, there is nothing else more important to talk or to think about but God because you realize there is nothing else worthwhile your time and energy. God is Truth and Truth is God. God is not an entity but an immeasurable ocean of peace and light. Call God Truth, Christ’s nature or Buddha’s nature or any other name, a variety of names but which in the end when all your senses are wide open foster a quite similar experience.

This really has been an unbelievable journey and after almost three years it is difficult to believe that we are in the vertex of a new beginning. Many have given their contributions for the success of this journey and without this support I believe that the directions of this journey would have been a very different one. The support, love, care, gentleness, determination and perseverance of the ones who helped me directly and indirectly were without value. I cannot put in words how important was the participation of everyone in this life project and in the summit of this phase of the journey I am sure that our lives will continue together more than ever illuminating the path of many people around us. My determination is stronger than ever to continue this line of work in the next phase of our journey because we have a lot to contribute to this world which is very much in need due to the enormous changes that it is going through and it will continue go through in decades to come. The speed of deep transformations is very fast at the moment and we have to adjust our internal clock having one hand of the clock in God’s direction and the other pointing to the earth to follow these changes for the benefit of all living beings.

God is the first name that comes to mind when we think of Christmas being you religious, spiritual not. It is this conspicuous word that has given solace to millions of people around the world in times of necessity in this global village. Even if we believe that millions of people around the globed are deluded by believing in God, as some people ascertain, this word and the experience that it fosters has helped and continues to help many in the most strenuous circumstances as demonstrated by psychological research and observations.




The experience connected with God is becoming more and more familiar as one of peace, harmony, happiness, joy, silence, light, love, compassion and wisdom. The names are many but in the end the experience is one or very, very similar, and if you are emanating one of these attributes truly, you are emanating them all. It does not matter if you are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or have any other religions or spiritual orientation or even if you don’t believe in God, you cannot but bough to this experience as the most important single thing in life whatever tag you place in this experience be it Love, Light, Compassion, Silence, Wisdom and so on. A name is an empty word without the experience that it fosters because the name is just a tag for an experience. To know the name God, to preach about God and to say the name God only as an intellectual exercise is not the same as to have full knowledge of God and to experience the name God in the form of one of these attributes mentioned emanating their perfume to others.




The importance of Jesus Christ in relationship to God came out through his words, through his actions, through his simplicity, through his respect for life, through his goodness, gentleness and loveliness. It came through his detachment for things of the world being free of them instead of accumulating things that he did not need although he did not despise them. In a way Jesus combined perfectly the theory and practice of Plato and Aristotle because he had his mind in God but his feet on the ground enjoying good food and wine without indulging on them. And also his importance came through his willingness to help anyone (poor, rich, religious or non religious, gentiles and so on) in spite of any difference, and through his detachment from worldly power, status and the rest facing them without any sign of fear even in the imminence of his own death. Jesus’ aura of peace and lack of fear was so strong that even the animals was said to become calm in his presence. Even if you don’t believe that Jesus was the Son of God, as it is ascertain in Christianity, or a prophet as it is ascertain in Islamism, you cannot but have reference for him as someone with great wisdom, love and compassion beyond the ordinary world who practiced what he preached and live it to the fullest of his word up to the end of his life in this planet. Like Socrates and others, Jesus did not corrupt his ideas and his beliefs even when exposed to the destruction of his own body. People with such a strength and power are most needed in this modern global village so that we all can share in the best life possible where everyone’s need for shelter, clothes, food and a good life are met.



When the world is confronted with someone like Jesus Christ who does not want anything from it, who is not pursuing any worldly goals, who is not after his own personal interests, who does not react but acts, who is gentle and peaceful beyond belief, and who is there just to help the ones who are in need and suffering, the world does not know what to do with such human being like Cesar did not know what to do with Jesus although feeling threatened by his Presence without being in his Presence because in his Presence even the high priests felled silent in awe of his wisdom e peaceful nature as Cesar, I believe, would have to.




Why is the world or why anyone involved deeply in the world affairs are threatened by peace, goodness, gentleness, loveliness simplicity, love, harmony, wisdom and so on, names that can be resumed in one name: love? This is a question with manifold answers and one of them was provided by Jesus in A Course in Miracles when he said: The world must therefore despise and reject me, because the world is the belief that love is impossible. (T-8.IV.3:7) War and violence are everywhere in the world because they are an ego game to prove that not only love but all attributes mentioned above are impossible. This is the source of all our troubles with the word Jesus Christ because Jesus is the symbol of the dissolution of the ego and we live most of our times in our egos. Jesus demonstrates that love is not only possible but also love is our protection even in the most conspicuous hour of our lives, the hour of our own death.




Another more specific answer based on this one that my mind could come up for the above question so far has been that all the experience fostered by these names does not support the world affairs objectives and most of them seem even contrary to them because all worldly’ objectives have in their nature personal interests which Jesus had none. Psychologically we then can say that all worldly’ objectives and goals when ego directed are an instrument for our egos to become bigger and bigger. In this way our egos were threatened by Jesus because Jesus and whoever followed his word not only intellectually but in mind and deed such as Thomas More, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and many others, spent their lives promoting and demonstrating goodness, non violence, loveliness, peace, simplicity, honesty, love, harmony and so on as way to resolve the problems of this world. When this happens as it happened in the actions of these people, the world cannot but react unable to halt the inevitable changes brought by their actions because their actions has intrinsic in them endurance, strength and power that comes from beyond this world which Jesus said was coming from God.



Every Christmas has become in many ways for many people around this global village a time of celebrating the Light and renewing their resolve, their vows, their commitment to goodness, peace, love, happiness, joy, non violence, gentleness and the cultivation of silence and wisdom even if they are not Christians or religious. This renewing started not now but thousands of years ago perhaps even before the Buddha, Confucius, Socrates and other great minds that made their journey through this planet. It had a high mark in that cold and freezing Christmas’ dawn when German and allied soldiers placed aside their guns and shook hands and celebrated in what was called Christmas truce of 1914. This is a high mark in human history because it showed the world that even in the middle of the worst world’s catastrophes peace, gentleness, goodness, non violence, happiness and joy could break in and manifest their ways unexpectedly into the mind and hearts of man at any instant bringing healing and shining away their ignorance and brutality. Let’s emanate the real spirit of Christmas to all, the spirit of union instead of separateness, placing aside our misconceptions about and our animosities with our family members, neighbors, friends and even our enemies embracing the Truth in them without naiveté but sincerely knowing that by embracing the Truth in them, we are in the end embracing the Truth in our selves. Why to embrace instead of attacking the other? There is simple psychological answer and that is: every time we attack someone we feel guilty because we are really attacking ourselves as in the moment of attacking the other we inevitably lose our peace of mind. To lose our peace of mind is the most common and unrecognized form of self attack.



My hope is that we all in this global village can stop being sophists and become more Socratics, being less fearful of meaningless predictions and superstitions about the future and renewing our commitment and our resolve to diligently pursue all actions leading to freedom, equality and fraternity for all in this exact moment of our lives. Such actions are necessary and essential to recreate a humanity that reflects in action what Jesus Christ stood and stands for even if you do not have any belief at all in God or Jesus. In reality Jesus Christ is our Self, our true self, as says Ramana Maharshi one of the great sages and saints of our times. This is the meaning of Jesus’ teaching in A Course in Miracles saying: Teach not that I died in vain. Teach rather that I did not die by demonstrating that I live in you. (T-11.VI.7:3-4).



Our global village is much in need of such demonstration of love in action but let’s start small, let’s start in our own homes with our family members, our parents, our children, our brothers and sisters, our spouses, our neighbors and so on emanating to them our peace, joy, happiness, love, compassion and wisdom. Let’s celebrate this conspicuous time of the year being really happy, joyful, loving, peaceful and compassionate and this is the best gift we can give to ourselves and others because this gift cannot stolen, will never rotten, will never be taxed and it will never rust. It will shine forever in our hearts and in our minds of those who give them and of those who receive them for how long we shall be alive.
God Bless us all



Antonio

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Who Is Me?

I am no Borges but I have been inspired by his stories today. I was minding my own business at home without much to do and left my bed room to go to the computer. I walked slowly and suddenly I saw someone sitting at my computer with his back towards me. I was caught by surprise and hesitated for some moments without deciding to go on or stop my walk.

The computer room is across from my bedroom and it is just a short walk. I realized that I was alone and how could someone be at my computer. I did not want to call him because I did not know who to call and by what name. So finally I decided to slowly to walk to my computer and sometimes it seemed it was taking forever to walk eight to ten feet and at the same time it seemed it was not taking time at all. I seemed unafraid and I did not feel that the person sitting in my computer was dangerous at all.

However, by the fact that I walked slowly showed that there was some caution on my part although I was not aware of any fear as I said. The caution maybe was because I felt that something very important was about to happen and I did not know what. I had no idea about what was about to happen but I had a sense that it would be tremendously important to my life and perhaps for the life of that person I was about the meet.

So as I walked many thoughts crossed my mind and what was supposedly to be a second had taken almost a life time, I felt. The person seems so concentrated in what he was doing and did not seem to see me approaching.

I was at that moment walking on my toes and everything seemed so silent that you could hear an ant walking if one happen to pass by. In such state of silence one almost get lost as if he is not himself anymore. I was as if I was walking on air without touching the ground and no wonder, I thought, when I realized it, that the person in front of me had not heard my footsteps.

By this time I was very close to him and undecided to touch his shoulder or not. He looked so familiar that I began to think if there was another version of me running around this house without me knowing it. What I thought and I said to myself was how could another me be walking around this house and sitting at my computer, a computer I felt was not exclusively mine anymore because there was someone using it when I was not around. Even if it was me I did not know that me.

It was really odd, I thought. However I don’t have any secrets in the computer so I don’t mind anyone working on it and even going through my stuff. I guess lately I have been losing interest in secrets and in my own possessions. What bother me a bit was that he was doing something in my computer without my permission and that brought the attachment to my possessions as if they belonged to me when in reality nothing belongs to us although we very often think so. We are delusional with thoughts of ownership which only distract us because everything of the world belongs to the world and to no oneself. As Jesus said give to Caesar what belongs Caesar and give to God what belongs to God. No wonder Jesus walked this planet with no fear whatsoever and even his body he gave to Caesar.

I realized finally with all this I was just delaying for some unknown reason the inevitable meeting that was about to happen at that exact moment. All this time that person never looked back or made a move to look back in my direction in any form or shape. I wondered if he was deaf and could not hear all the voices which I finally realized was only in my head and for sure could not be heard by him. But then I realized if he was me or one part of me, he should have heard by now all the dialogue in my head.

As there was no pressure and no hurry in my part, I began to be more aware of what was going on. I began to realize again and again that I was traveling out of time and space floating in a vacuo beyond my imagination. It was an interesting sensation and could go on forever and I could perhaps never meet the person in front of me.

However that was not my objective because I wanted to know who was finally sitting on my desk, in front of my computer and seemly working on it. I was still undecided when my left hand rose slowly towards the shoulder of that person and stopped in mid air.

I realized then that I had lost control of my body and that there was someone else moving it and he was not myself either. Now things really got strange because there was three of us in the room and I only knew one to be myself something I began to doubt at this point. Did I really know myself? It was a question that came in a flash and passed by quickly with no definitive answer.

So three questions came to mind immediately who is the one moving me? who is myself? and who is the one sitting in front of me? I seemed to have answer for only one question which at that moment, as I said I begin to doubt although until that moment I thought I knew myself well. So with one question partially answered about knowing myself, I had two to answer and it was mind boggling.

Then I thought that the one moving me perhaps was some unknown part of myself until that moment who had done that before I remembered. As this was going on I thought there was a riddle to the whole thing and it was with the person sitting in front of me and I had to turn him around and see who was it.

Finally then my left hand touches his shoulder I thought with such a care and tenderness that I thought he had not felt my touching at all because in reality I am right handed and should have touched his shoulder with my right hand, I thought. So he did not turn around immediately. In these few seconds I thought If I should press my hand strongly upon his shoulder or just wait for him to respond. It took a few seconds before I felt that he was about to move and turn around to allow me finally to look at him in the eyes. At this moment I realized I was anticipating all that was about to happen. I was right I guess he was just taking his time as much as I had taken mine. However those few seconds outside time and space are not the same as the second in time lived in it at all. The best way I can explain it is to say that outside time and space it can take longer or no time at all for something to happen. This seems to be a contradiction but when you are living it, it is not.

When he finally turn around slowly and with no hurry or pressure, I could not believe who I was looking at and I guess you would not believe either. It was with an unsurmountable surprise that I finally realized that the person siting in my computer was myself and that I was looking at my own self in body, mind and everything else. I did not know what to think or what to say. However I thought if this is me, who is me and who is the one moving my body. In that moment everything went pitch black and everything disappeared and left me speechless and without any thoughts or words. There was only a scrap of thought questioning was this real and I could attest to it in flesh as I touched and felt the touch to the shoulder of this person who is supposedly me. So I begin to doubt what is real and what is not although intellectually I can grasp at what is real for question of seconds. However to this day I have no clue what is really real or not. Do you?

Some thoughts came to mind about all this business of what is real and what is not real. If we do know what is real or not and we are sure of it and believe that we do know not only intellectually, there are two possibilities or we are a sage, completely enlightened, or we are in the darkest of our ignorance. If we don’t what is real or not, there are three possibilities: if we don’t know what is real or not, one possibility is that we are out of our minds and lost in delusions like some kind of schizophrenic human wondering without direction asking: Who is me? If we don’t know what is real or not and we don’t know that we know, we are lost with a light on our hands and don’t know we can use it or we don’t know how to use it. One way or another we are lost. If we don’t know what is real and knowing that we don’t know, we do something about it, we are two steps ahead of the pack.

God Bless You,

Antonio

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Unthinkable Thoughts

Open your mind’s eyes my friend

Let the light of love shine upon thee

Walk the path that leads to the high lands of truth

Swim in the ocean of eternal life

Run the miles of happiness, silence and peace

Let there be born the wisdom of hope

And when the time comes let the showers of purity wash your heart and mind

Live freely within the prisoners who walk aimlessly this lonely planet

Look and see beyond the walls of hate, despair and fear

Awake to the shining star that lights the world within

Never stop flying in the wings of the present silent moment

Remember yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not here yet

Why to worry about tomorrow when today is not even finished yet

So create and recreate your life being a traveler of travelers

The seed is there within my friend

Let it sprout with the warmth of the morning sun

And life will be the most marvelous journey of all

Open up my friend

Love is knocking unheard on your front close door

Open the door and let it enter

And when it enters your little house open all the windows

This way it will not be blocked and locked inside of fear’s misery

Blessing all around you with its unmatched perfume

Only then you can say that you are alive and living the highest life of all.

God Bless You,

Antonio