Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Expanding the Boundaries of Love



Expanding the boundaries of your consciousness is the same as expanding the boundaries of love. When you begin to trust love, you will see through the eyes of spirit that you are self-creating, and what is real for you is created by you. If you are willing to release that which no longer serves you, then you can begin to extend the boundaries of your love.

Drop the tape or the pattern that says, I’m not good enough for love, or That’s too risky. I will get hurt. I will get used. I will not have enough. I will be rejected. I’m not good enough. I will lose control. It’s not going to work out well, or It’s going to end badly.

How do we get through these places? We get rejected, we get used, and we lose control. We are found out to be the culprits we are. Trust means that we have to be willing to be exposed for who we really are and to take a risk and get nothing in return. We must be willing to face lack and rejection along with the reality that things never do work out anyway.

What happens when you do that? You find freedom when you release your attachment to your fear of things not working out, of being used, of not having enough, or of being rejected. Expose yourself, show everything that’s there, let it all be seen, and then there’s nothing to hide. If you don’t risk everything, you will never be able to expand the boundaries of love.

You have to be willing to be a fool for love. You have to be willing to change your position because your position is your ego. You have to be willing to be seen and be used. What is it to be used?  It’s to give with no expectation of anything in return. The problem is selfishness. It’s egocentricity and self-absorption. You are so busy trying to protect yourself or perpetrating upon others to satisfy your needs that you drain your life force and end up in pain instead of in love. All of your life force is lost in positioning yourself against something that you created in the first place. Then you are exhausted, you are rejected, you are tired, it didn’t work out, there wasn’t enough, and you were right.

How could you be anything but right? You created the whole scene and every encounter you create will bring the same result over and over again. You will be self-justified. How can you lose? You will win the scene every time because you created it. You’ll be abandoned and rejected because you believe it to be true. If you believe it to be so, how could it be other than what you created?

You have convinced yourself in every scene, in every relationship and in every situation, no matter what the nature of it, that you are right. And you’ll say, See, I was right to hold on because I’m not getting anything out of this anyway. I’ve only been hurt.  Your own self-absorption brings you to a dead end that you keep circling and projecting onto everything and everyone.

When you fix your eyes on the Divine…

So stop the projection and release the tape. Put in a new tape that says, I trust love. Be willing to take a risk. Do you know what will happen when you take a risk? You will face rejection and abandonment, and you will also face getting used. But it can’t touch you if your heart stays open and in love, and if your heart trusts love. You will see those things for what they are, which is just fear. It is just the limitation of humanity. It won’t destroy you. 

Instead, you will grow compassion and you will no longer take everything personally. You will understand that someone is just playing a role for you so that you can extend the boundaries of your love. Or, you will see that you can have compassion for someone who is limited in their capacity to open their own heart, and you won’t judge them when they make a mistake.

When you fix your eyes on the Divine, you will be fed from the infinite fount. There’s always enough, it always works out, you get used, and you are blessed because of it. You accept everything. Rejection no longer exists, and all of the imperfections that you’ve been hiding from for so long, can be accepted and healed. Spirit is benign and loving, and mysteriously and incredibly wonderful. You can trust love, and you can trust your heart to know love. Be willing to let your heart break. Be willing to give something and get nothing in return. It may not look like you are getting anything in return in a specific and deliberate way, but everything you give comes back tenfold. So, the infinite energy of the universe can cycle back to you in your fearlessness. You will find out that love has nothing to do with attachment, jealously, control or ownership, and your heart will be in love at all times. We find liberation only by taking a risk, by taking whatever it is at the core and flipping it over. If you’re greedy, then give. If you’re fearful of rejection, stop rejecting and try acceptance. If you’re afraid of exposure, expose. Release your fear and be that which you want.

How do I go after what is in my heart and not be attached?

When the pain, rejection and hurt come, let them come. Let it all wash through you like a wave. Feel everything completely and then let the wave recede.

But can’t I shut out the pain so that I do not have to be hurt?

No, that hurts even more because you not only shut out the possibility of being hurt, but you also shut out the possibility for love. You do double damage. If you risk and trust love, even if it does not turn out the way you wanted, you have still given yourself the opportunity to love. Drop all your concepts around how you think it should look, and then there is nothing to be hurt.

When other people do not respect or acknowledge what I have to offer, it does not feel good. What should I do?

Other people do not have to respect or acknowledge what you have to offer. You have to respect what you have to offer. You have to acknowledge yourself. Clear out the space, go inside of yourself, and learn how to give yourself what you need with Spirit. Other people are just bringing up your own feelings of lack of self-worth.

Why do I feel so much emotion in those situations?

When you don’t ask why, you are trusting love. Just feel the emotion. Let go of feeling that you should get something and just be the pure emotion. The emotion will come in like a wave and wash out like a wave. Stand in your core. Learn to let those places wash in and wash out. When you do that, you will stand in love. You will not put up any barriers. As soon as you don’t like something, the edges of your ego are blocking love. Feel your inadequacy, but let it be pure so that it burns in your tears, and then it’s dissolved. Even though you feel rejected, go forth anyway because you trust love. When you know it’s not personal, you don’t have to isolate yourself from people anymore. When you don’t isolate yourself from people anymore, then your heart can stay open, and you will have more capacity to accept and love people exactly as they are. Release your judgments, and trust love.

Spirit has its way with us, and you either surrender to it or you don’t. When you’re put on hold, you stop. When you’re pushed forward, you go forward. When something is taken away, you let it go. When something is given, you receive it. Trusting love means dropping your position; it means not fighting. Surrender is an active choice. It doesn’t just happen; we have to choose it in the moment it is presented. Surrender means there is no separation, isolation or positioning. It’s staying round, going whole; it’s accepting what is. I release judgment and I trust love. If you fight against the ego, it will gain strength. Trust the place in your heart that tells you that this is a loving and benign universe that is abundant and supportive, and then, take all of the risks to prove it to yourself. You do that by trusting love.



Maresha's next blog, "Love Asks Us to Expand," will be published Wednesday, October 14, 2015.
Messages of Light is published by the Sanctuary of Universal Light on Snow Dragon Mountain in Meredith, New Hampshire. A snail mail edition is available bi-monthly, free of charge. www.snowdragonsanctuary.com




 



Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Trusting Love


The quest of the spiritual pilgrim is endless. The quest is a longing that draws one forth into the unknown, into the Mystery. We cannot grasp or clearly define what it is we are being drawn toward. We only know we are going from what is known into the unknown. Many try to create controllable boundaries within which to live. Habits and patterns which are passed down become comfortable points of reference for life. Within those boundaries, we have an illusion of some semblance of safety and comfort.

The seeker steps outside the box. The seeker expands the boundaries of what is comfortable and safe. The seeker dives deeply into the void. All attempts to understand, to know and to control are released. In other words, the seeker is liberated from what is already known. In order to become liberated from what is already known, one must return to the pure nature of innocence. Innocence opens the possibility for the mystery to be revealed to us, much like a surprise.

Being in this state of innocence is to trust love. In trusting love, we shed the masks, the performances, and the controls. We expose the uncovered face, and we live from our essential nature and invite wonder into our lives. This is the spiritual journey. The spiritual nature refuses certainty, dogma and social programs. Trusting love is a radical severance from one’s preferences, addictions, and obsessions. It is a persevering willingness to enter and re-enter the unknown. It is a commitment to listening to the voice of one’s soul anew each day.

But what is it that we trust when we are trusting love? What is this love? This love is an absolute acceptance that we are not the initiator; it is a willingness to open ourselves to a higher will. We give up the ego and walk to the water so that we may immerse ourselves in the stream of consciousness, the stream of love, and merge with the infinite Mystery. 

This inner posture is held in every situation we meet. Outwardly, the actions of life look just like everybody else’s. Inwardly, we let life be revealed. Inwardly, we rise to every occasion with acceptance and grace, knowing it is the higher, divine will working through us.  We live an ordinary life in an extraordinary way. Even the simplest act is performed differently by one who is free.

Trusting love is round, intuitive, receptive, and flowing. It moves without obstruction, open to the unknown, asking to be shown, and being endlessly surprised at each revelation. It is simple, clear and honest. Trusting love means that each day we begin anew, exactly where we are. There is nothing special to do, there are no previous requirements, nor do we have to go to any special place. The inner posture of acceptance and trust creates the ability in us to meet life exactly as it is. Trusting love, we can observe and respond to both the mundane rhythms of life as well as to the extraordinary mystery of the eternal quest.

Liberation lies within each one of us. The ability to trust love lies within each one of us. Trusting love is symbolized by the beauty of the perpetually blooming rose. Open to receive the light, it maintains a state of perfect openness:  . . . turn your gaze to the beautiful garden which blossoms under the radiance of light. There is the Rose in which the Divine word became flesh: here are the roses whose perfume guides you in the right ways.*  There is a golden center in each rose. The golden center reminds us to still the mind, breathe in beauty, accept everything, and to trust the love in which we have immersed ourselves. The golden center calls us into the Mystery.




*The Divine Comedy, Paradiso, 23, 71-75, Dante Alighieri.


Maresha's next blog, "Expanding the boundaries of Love," will be published Wednesday, September 30, 2015.
Messages of Light is published by the Sanctuary of Universal Light on Snow Dragon Mountain in Meredith, New Hampshire. A snail mail edition is available bi-monthly, free of charge. www.snowdragonsanctuary.com
 

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Reader's Greeting




                                       
            September - October  2015



Dear Reader,

Within the ability to sustain, channel, emanate or hold one’s inner light in absolute consciousness, exists an implicit, radical faith that allows one to risk everything.
 
This risk cannot be calculated by degrees of “riskiness.” One cannot say, "I'll risk just so much now, and maybe a little bit more next time."

“Everything” means everything; it is literally all or nothing.


                                                 With love & blessings,
                                                 Maresha


Maresha's next blog, "Trusting Love," will be published Wednesday, September 16, 2015. Messages of Light is published by the Sanctuary of Universal Light on Snow Dragon Mountain in Meredith, New Hampshire. A snail mail edition is available bi-monthly, free of charge. www.snowdragonsanctuary.com