Tuesday, July 13, 2010

A Call to Presence


In Truth there is no life
outside this moment.
-Leonard Jacobson
A Call to Presence
By: Leonard Jacobson

To be fully awake and enlightened simply means to be fully present in the moment of now. To be present is the simplest thing. It is your natural state.

Every moment, you have a choice. Will you be present in the truth and reality of this moment or will you allow yourself to be seduced into the world of the mind? All thoughts take you out of the present moment. And then if you believe in those thoughts, which most of us do, you get lost in the world of the mind.

For most of us, we have become so habituated to thinking, that thoughts never end. They have a life of their own. We are not even choosing to think. Thinking is happening all by itself and we are simply pulled from one thought to another, never really experiencing the sacredness of this moment.

The present moment is free of memories of the past and imaginings into the future. And so the pain and limitations of the past magically disappear when you are present. Anxiety about the future also disappears. You are just here now, fully present in this moment. When you are fully present, your inner experience is one of peace, love, acceptance, power, truth and compassion. Separation and fear dissolve. You exist within Oneness.

When you bring yourself fully present, thoughts stop and your mind falls silent. But there is an even deeper level of silence waiting to emerge. As your mind becomes silent, an inner door is opened, allowing an infinite and eternal silence to emerge. This infinite and eternal silence is the very essence of your Being. It is your true nature. It is the essence of all existence. It is the eternal silent presence of pure consciousness. It is the "I AM" of you. It is that dimension of you that exists in Oneness with all that is. It is your Buddha nature. It is awakened man. It is awakened woman.

5 comments:

Jackie said...

Hi Penny, so what am I if I am not thinking, feelng, just being there in the present... what does that leave? If I am just being the "I AM" wouldn't that be God/God Energy?

Penelope said...

I hesitate to define or put a label of any type on "it".... whatever "it" is. My feeling is as soon as it is named it is already limited as they say in the Tao. The only way I have found to know this "energy" is through direct experience. However we are human beings and seem to need to find a way to talk about it.

Within the limits of language, I still cannot really name it FOR YOU..... there are some that read this blog that are very religious and have deep belief in God..... and there are others that read this that are atheists.... yet each of them can relate to what I am saying in their own way.

For some, this may be called God, Holy Spirit or God Energy as you say. Others describe it as an energy inside of themselves, but more a part of themselves.... others call it Love (Zukav), Presence (Jacobson) or Consciousness (Tolle) .... and everything in between. My feeling is that we are all describing (or pointing to) the same thing even though using different words.

If I were to choose a word to use on this blog, I like the word, "Universal Energy." How I think about this is whatever energy was present at the time of the big bang is still present today (since energy is not created or destroyed) ..... I feel a part of that energy is in each of us. Let me stress once more, this is only a pointer and to experience it one must remove thinking about it and the mind from the equation!

Thank you for your great question!
Penelope

Penelope said...

You may also want to read the two other posts I've written. They are the first two listed under "Year 2" in the box above on the right called "How to use this blog." The titles of the two are:

"The Voice"
link:
http://simplyspirituality.blogspot.com/2009_08_01_archive.html

and "The Observer."
link:
http://simplyspirituality.blogspot.com/2009_09_01_archive.html

You may have to copy and paste the links. These two posts are designed to be somewhat experiential.

Penelope

Kent said...

Lovely, Penelope.

Elegantly said.

You found language that points toward realities that are ineffable, indescribable, and utterly beyond language.

Thank you.

Penelope said...

Kent -

I do wish that those were my words above in the post. They resonate deeply with me.

This month, I wrote the post below on What is NOW? and concluded by saying .... I would post what Leonard had to say about NOW and Presence in a few days.... (with permission from his site.)

So, these are his words. They are as you say... elegant and point to what is indescribable. I am grateful for your comment. It sounds as though this resonated with you as it did me!