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When I stop and think
About how powerful
My imagination is,
I am utterly amazed.
I can believe you to be
Friend or foe
And name you such
Without ever getting to know
Who you are
Or what you value
Simply by imagining.
Perceiving myself
Subject to hurt
I can withhold
Intimacy from you,
I can let you in
Only so far
Then, in my fear
Erect impassable walls
Simply by imagining.
I can be miserable
On a marvelous day
Or find myself elated
When most friends would say
"This day sucks"
Simply by imagining.
Imagination, unfettered by chains of the past
or fears of the future, is boundless,
unrestrained except by my own ego which is
unwilling to give up control.
Everything except this very moment, including
the imagined future and the remembered past,
exists only in the imagination.
Used constructively
Nothing can yield a greater peace.
Used destructively
Nothing can create more devastation.
Today I am consciously aware of how my
imagination creates the world I experience.
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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"I just want to retire, and my IRA has lost
half its value this year."
"I just wanted to work for two more years,
and the company forced me to retire already."
"I will be happy, once I get out of prison."
"I would be happy if I just made enough
money, each month, to pay all my bills with a
little bit left over."
I heard each of these statements in the last
week.
How could I ever be imprisoned?
You could imprison my body. You could take
away my freedom to move about, but how could
you ever imprison me? Could you chain my
imagination? Could you destroy my creativity?
Could you erase my ability to be loving and
kind to others? Could you take away my
ability to connect with Source by going within?
You could only imprison me, as long as I
identified myself as my body.
I can only have my freedom of movement
denied. I can not actually have my freedom to
commune with Love taken away.
Who is this "I" who believes he/she can be
imprisoned?
Who is this "I" who believes that his job is
his source?
Who is this "I" who believes that outer
conditions must be different before happiness
can be claimed?
Who is this "I" who believes the things of
the world have any power?
Consider this reading from the Mundaka
Upanishad: "Existing in ignorance, though
thinking themselves knowledgeable and wise,
the egoistical ones wander aimlessly, jostled
about like the blind led by the blind."
Our greatest problem is not the economy, not
the corruption of our elected officials, not
the fact that our mortgage is too expensive,
or that our jobs are being shipped overseas.
Our greatest problem is that we do not know
who we are. Our greatest challenge is that we
can not tell the difference between what is
real and what is not.
What defines your "I"?
Answer this and you find the answer to all
your perceived problems.
Charles Hillig is quoted as saying,
"Ignorance is only found in the "I" of the
beholder." This is a remarkably profound
truth.
Who is the "I", in me, who wants things to be
other than they are?
It has to be an "I" who has built an image of
itself based on a physical world over which
he/she feels powerless.
But this is not who we are. This is only the
ego's interpretation of who we are.
Any definition of who "I Am" which includes
some idea of smallness is flawed; it is the
creation of a brain-restricted mind which
believes it is separate from the mind from
whence it sprung.
It is this separate mind creation of who "I
Am" which sees what is and deems it
inappropriate, wrong, or lacking. It is this
separate mind creation of who "I Am" which
creates unhappiness through its addiction to
power.
Identifying with this version of self can
only lead to sorrow, even though there are
moments of elation on the path.
The person who knows who they are can not
have their calm peace destroyed by events in
the physical. If I have no identity based on
the physical, I can not lose anything when
the physical changes. Who "I Am" remains the
same, independent and free from the
domination of a world of perpetual change.
When I look at my life this way I suddenly
realize that Janis Joplin was right:
"Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose."
The truth of who "I Am", my real Self, is the
Creator not some Victim of the Creation.
The minute I fully own this Truth, I am free.
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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An eight year old has killed his dad
With a gun found in the home.
A frustrated mother drove to Nebraska
To leave her daughter all alone.
The huge bailout, which could not wait
Now redefines its mission
In a nation anxious for its president elect
To manifest his vision.
This is just some of the news
Overheard from a distant room.
There's no escape, the voice warns
From inevitable doom and gloom.
In Richard Bach's words: "'The world's going to pieces in wars and terrorism,' said the commentator, the moment the screen crackled alive. 'Tonight, we're sorry to report there's death and starvation and drought and flood and pestilence and epidemics and unemployment worldwide, the sea is dying and the future with it, the climate's changing the forests are burning and hatred runs amok, haves versus nots and single-issues versus let-it-be's, recessions and ozone holes and greenhouse effects and chlorofluorocarbons, species going excuse me gone extinct, drugs run wild and education's dead and cities crumbling and everywhere's overcrowded and crime owns the streets and whole countries are running bankrupt and there's pollution for air and radiation for soil, there's acid rain and crops failing, fires and mudslides and volcanoes and earthquakes and hurricanes and tidal waves and tornadoes and floods and oil spills and nuclear meltdowns all foretold, some say, in the Book of Look Out and by the way there's a monster asteroid tumbling toward the earth if it so much as nicks the pole it will wipe out all life on the planet.'" - from Running From Safety
Whew. . .
How do I stay centered in the midst of all the change which drives the daily news?
These words from Ernest Holmes help:
The peace of God is at the center of my being.
I am conscious of this peace.
I enter into this peace.
I am surrounded by this peace.
This peace moves out from me in all directions.
It calms the troubled waters of my experience.
It heals everything it contacts.
There is nothing but peace.
I permit this peace to enter my soul, to fill me with calm, to inspire me with confidence.
I know that this peace goes before me and makes perfect, plain and straight my way." - from The Art of Life
I repeat the words until I own their truth.
From this center
I remember all the drama is but illusion
I remember I have the power to Begin Anew.
"The principle meaning of the practice of Beginning Anew is to bathe in the water of compassion. Compassion gives us a chance to return to the joy of being alive. Once the mind is concentrated on loving-kindness and compassion, their energy is produced and strengthened." -- Thich Nhat Hanh
Bathed in the water of compassion, I am joyous for no particular reason. I am reminded that loving-kindness is my natural state, and fear a condition born of forgetfulness.
With each breath:
I forgive that part of my Self
Which has forgotten
Who he or she is
And why he or she is here.
I forgive each aspect of my Self
Which could hurt another
Out of this grief-driven
Sense of separation.
In most cases, this is really all I can do.
My immersion in pain
Only adds to the collective sorrow.
Instead I choose to hold the light.
To illuminate the darkness
Of appearance
With the certainty
Of connection to Source.
It is somewhat ironic
That I find my shelter
By remembering
That none is ever needed,
That there is nothing to hide from
Nothing to fear.
Even the news
Helps me to remember
That freedom always reigns
When I choose to open my heart. |
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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Your eyes have captivated me.
It was your youthful giggle
Which caught my attention,
But your eyes drew me in,
Offered shelter from a world
Which begged to be forgotten.
In your eyes
I remembered
And forgot
Simultaneously.
I remembered Love
By forgetting the flesh.
I remembered freedom
By abandoning
A questioning mind.
A mind
Whose
mantra
Of
"Why"
Was forgotten;
The
need to know
Unchained.
I remembered
Who I Am
By forgetting
Who
I have pretended to be
And
what I imagined was next.
I remembered
To accept what is real
By forgetting
My
desires
For
something else.
I remembered
That here, now
I am free
By
forgetting
The
illusion of time.
You stilled my lips
Quieting my words,
Words which always fall short
Yet never stop trying
To
explain that which
The
brain can not comprehend.
In your eyes
I found myself
Reflected:
Whole
Complete
Fully Loved
Will I ever see you again?
I wonder
As I glimpse you
Waving
from afar.
Without ears
I hear your reply:
Look in each eye
Gaze through your heart
And you will see me.
I am never gone
Yet I can be out of sight.
Look through eyes
Free from the past.
Unattached to judgment,
Undistracted by thoughts
Of right or wrong
Of pretty or ugly
Of good or bad.
Through these eyes
You will find me
Any time you are
Fully Here!
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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This last weekend, I was gifted with the
book The Courage to Be written
by Paul Tillich. Listen to these words from
the introduction written by Peter J. Comes:
At the end of the twentieth century, despite
all of the superficial signs of religious
vitality in American life and culture, where
presidential candidates are obliged to boast
of their intimacy with Jesus Christ, the
nagging clouds of doubt and meaning continue
to rain on our religious parade. In an era of
unprecedented economic growth and material
prosperity, where more people have more faith
in the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank
than in the president of the United States,
there remains at the heart of the culture a
grave and disquieting anxiety. We work hard
and play hard not because we are more
industrious or more playful than our
ancestors but because we dare not stop lest
in the stillness we are overwhelmed by the
sound of our own anxieties and fears.
Standing on the edge of a new century and
millennium, seemingly "masters of the
universe," in Tom Wolfe's sardonic phrase, we
live more in a world in which, as described
by George Orwell in his essay "Pleasure Spots":
The lights must never go
out,
The music must always play,
Lest we should see where we
are -
Lost in a haunted wood'
Children afraid of the dark
Who have never been happy
or good.
Wow! I can tell that I am going to enjoy the
perusal of this philosophical classic.
I see this tendency to reject quietness
everywhere I go. I even see it in myself at
times.
I was listening to an interview, just this
morning, with a man involved in Neural
Feedback. He said we are running around
addicted to the Beta Waves which dominate our
brains when we are busy and active. His
theory was that we do not want to give up
this addiction because in the slower waves of
the brain we encounter memories we simply do
not wish to address.
I have supposed this to be true for some
time. I have the hardest time getting inmates
in the prison to get quiet. Some have
admitted they do not like what they hear when
they get there.
My theory is that I must love all of me
before I am free to fully love you. Because I
believe this to be true, I will spend this
day and each day committed to being as quiet
as I am capable and facing my shadow side
with all the love I can muster.
Give it a try and see what happens.
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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I was listening to an old tape series by
Deepak Chopra the other evening and I was
touched when he read this quote from Tagore:
"The same stream of life that runs through
my veins night and day runs through the world
and dances in rhythmic measures. It is the
same life that shoots in joy through the dust
of the earth in numberless blades of grass
and breaks into tumultuous waves of leaves
and flowers. It is the same life that is
rocked in the ocean-cradle of birth and of
death, in ebb and in flow. I feel my limbs
are made glorious by the touch of this world
of life. And my pride is from the life-throb
of ages dancing in my blood this moment."
- Rabindranath Tagore from Gitanjali
It immediately occurred to me that this
eternal essence flows through everything. It
is, in fact, the glue which holds the
electron in orbit around the proton. It is
the indefinable force which eludes
investigators seeking to subdivide quantum
particles in search of a Source.
This eternal essence never dies. It never
goes away.
The same essence which flowed through Jesus
of Nazareth flows through each of us. The
same eternal energy which danced in Buddha,
now courses through each breath I draw into
my lungs. The same wisdom which Einstein drew
upon waits patiently in a Universe which
changes appearance but can never abandon its
underlying Truth.
I am limited only by the story I believe.
This is the truth that each spiritual master
has discovered.
Today I remember who I Am and I bring that
Truth to all I do. I literally feel the
life-throb of ages dancing in my blood in
this now moment.
Thank you Deepak.
Thank you Tagore.
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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Both of these experiences are mine.
Every day, I get to choose
One or the other.
Hopeless Lament
Dear Journal,
This morning I am feeling distressed.
Why do I insist on looking outside myself
Where the true answers
Can never be found?
What is this incessant need
To point my fingers outward
To blame something/someone outside myself
For the world's woes
For my own fears and disappointments?
Why do I turn to others
Looking for validation,
Hoping to find
Through a reflection in their eyes
Proof that I am enough?
Why would I give my power away
To a doctor
With a ready-made diagnosis,
Eager to confirm
That my anxiety is organic
And not imaginary?
Do I not remember
That such a choice
Is one of voluntary servitude;
One of perpetual imprisonment
Behind invisible bars
Of inestimable strength?
Was I never taught
To look within
Or do I reject this option
Because I detest what I see?
Finally. . . .
It is pill time.
Thank God for drugs.
Perhaps this will ease this incredible pain;
Quell this neurotic chatter
Silence this agonizing voice
Which insists there must be a better way.
This isn't, after all, my fault.
My parents did not love me enough.
My siblings treated me poorly.
My spouse has never fulfilled me.
My work has never acknowledged me.
Most of my friends have abandoned me.
My doctor,
She sees the value in me.
She understands
It is not my fault.
I have a chemical imbalance.
Ah there now . . .
The pills are starting to take effect.
I am feeling calmer.
Now I can get a short nap
Before the Young and Restless comes on.
I will continue this journal entry
After my soaps
But before my reality shows.
This really isn't such a bad day
Especially when I nap
And dream of a life that I can only wish for:
A life where I am well loved,
A life free of pain, stress, and anger,
A life where I am understood,
Valued, appreciated, and wanted,
A life where I get to express
The gifts and talents I surely must have.
Oh, yawn, but those lives
Are the subjects of fairy tales,
Of "Made for TV" movies.
Mine is real life.
I am just being honest.
TTFN
Thank You Love
Good Morning Pages,
I can barely force myself to spend the time writing this morning. I am so anxious to get out of bed and get going on my project. It is such a thrill to spend each day giving what is mine to give, expressing the Love which is God in all that I do. What a difference this is from my old life, when I had to get up to go to work.
My work is my play. It is my delightful way of saying "thank you" to Love for energizing each and every cell of my being. I am so very grateful that I have discovered the joy of participating in this dance with life.
Here, now,
In this instant,
I am so alive
So perfect.
That is all for now
My nameless pages.
My glorious day beckons.
My vibrating enthusiasm will not allow me to spend another minute sitting here in bed.
So much to share;
So many blessings to discover,
To explore, to own, to impart.
Oh what a beautiful day.
.
.
With each choice I make
I embrace heaven
Or I create something
Quite different. |
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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This month, at prison, we are watching
August Rush as our Spiritual
Cinema. I am confident that I have written
about this film before, but there is just so
much more to say. Tuesday was the fifth time
I watched the movie and I have heard
something new each time.
August's reminder that: "The music is all
around us; all we need to do is listen"
is a metaphor for Love's Omnipresence. We are
constantly immersed in unconditional Love,
all we need to do is let it in.
The reason this is so hard for us is found in
the words of a song from the movie:
"You wanna reach out
You wanna give in
Your head's wrapped around
what's around the next bend"
The reason we find it so difficult to
surrender to Spirit, to hear the music, to
dance with the rhythm of life, is because we
are slaves to a head which is wrapped around
what's around the next bend.
And what does the head know about what is
around the next bend?
NOTHING! It is making it all up
based
on history:
A history which only
exists in the mind
A history which is dead
and gone
A history which can never
be altered
except
in the
retelling
except in the
remembering.
So a future is projected
Based solely on a past
Which resides only in the imagination
And we avoid the now
Because we are preparing for
Or fearing this imagined future.
Wow! What a destructive use of this
incredible God energy within us, our
imagination.
Most of us, on this list believe, at least
consciously, that what we focus on we create
more of.
Yet knowing this and believing it to be Truth
is not enough to keep us from circulating
conspiracy theory emails. It is not enough to
keep us from succumbing to the nightly news
which "promises" us we are headed into the
deepest and darkest financial time in recent
history. It is not enough to keep us from
panicking at having lost thousands of dollars
in our IRA's.
We, on this list, are here because we said
"YES" to being the Light of the World. We
said "YES" to being in this exact place and
time. We said "YES" to remembering that our
government, our job, our retirement funds are
NOT our Source. We are here
because we said "YES" to remembering who and
what we are, at exactly this time, in exactly
these circumstances.
We are not being called to fall prey to
appearances. We are being called to shine
light into the darkness of illusion.
Where there is fear
Let me remember I Am
God expressing as Elliott Teters.
Where there is doubt
Let me remember
That all I Am is God.
Fear is simply forgetfulness
It only means I have lost my way;
I have believed a mind
Which refuses to be here, now.
A mind which
In trying to save me
Is binding me tighter.
A mind which
By trying to protect me
Is imprisoning me.
Love is the only power in the universe.
It is everywhere present
At every moment
I need only be here,
Fully here,
To remember!
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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Today I feel absolutely compelled to remind
everyone that "where we place our focus
determines our reality." Today it seems
every news program, every newspaper, indeed
nearly everyone you meet has a doom and gloom
report busting at the seams to be told. The
economy is in the tank, the environment is in
crisis, there is more crime than ever, and
the drums of negativity beat on and on.
How are we to stay in love when fear, indeed
panic, seems to be the master of most of the
people we know? Even many of the loving
people, in our lives, are falling prey to the
conspiracy theories and the "obvious" truth
that life as we have known it is on a
collision course with destiny.
What if all the "doom and gloom" reports are
right? That is the worst case scenario, isn't
it? What is my response, what is my
responsibility, if the economy of the U.S.
collapses? What is mine to do if global
warming melts the polar ice caps and New York
is suddenly underwater? What if Bush and his
cronies are proven to have been behind 9/11
so that we could go to war and protect
British Petroleum's Caspian Sea oil field? I
can keep listing "what ifs" but I think you
get the point.
My responsibility is not changed by any of
this, is it?
What is my work here? This is the question we
each must answer for ourselves.
For me, my job is to be the greatest
expression of Love I am capable of being.
This is an inside job and is no harder in
times of apparent crisis than it is in times
of relative peace. Only my ego mind tries to
convince me otherwise, because it is afraid.
I am not talking about escaping ugliness by
some trick of mind. I am talking about
focusing on love, on beauty, on the abundance
everywhere present in our lives.
Consider these words from The Art of
Living written by Robert R. Leichtman
and Carl Japikse:
"Why do we so often fail to recognize the
riches at hand? The answer is a simple one:
we hypnotize ourself into not perceiving
them. Over the years, we let our attention be
entranced by the day-to-day mundane events of
life and our negative reactions to them. The
repetition of the unpleasant becomes hypnotic
in effect, and soon our senses are dulled and
jaded, unable to perceive the finer realities
of goodness which surround us at every
moment, like a veritable acre of diamonds. We
develop a consciousness of negativity, until
all we can see is darkness, selfishness, and
cruelty. By not using our eyes to see the
goodness and light in others and in the
world, we begin to lose our sight. Our
perception becomes dim and feeble, until we
become totally blinded in our effort to
escape ugliness. The greater mistake, of
course, is in the basic attempt: escaping
ugliness. The whole framework of such an
attempt is geared toward and measured by
ugliness. Whenever we try to escape anything,
we only succeed in being sucked in further,
because we are devoting our complete
attention to what we are trying to escape. In
effect we magnify it."
Where will you place your focus today? Will
you be in gratitude, in thanksgiving for this
day and the blessings which await your
recognition, like the morning awaits the
rising sun? Or, will you allow your awareness
to be tossed like a ship with no guidance
system in a storm of darkness? It is entirely
our choice. Outer appearances, no matter how
convinced we are of their reality, have no
power over our ability to dwell in peace
unless we give up our freedom to choose.
Today I consciously choose to see the light
in everyone and say "thank you" to the
Universe for this day unfolding with exactly
the opportunities I need to become a greater
expression of Love.
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