Simply by Imagining
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 12/4/2008 1:55 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Freedom Does Mean "Nothing Left to Lose"
"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 11/21/2008 9:43 AM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Remembering my Center
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 11/13/2008 12:43 PM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
In Your Eyes
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 11/6/2008 9:35 AM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Avoiding the Shadow
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 10/30/2008 3:44 PM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Dancing in Rhythmic Measure
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 10/23/2008 11:44 AM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Heaven or Hell, The Choice is Mine
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 10/16/2008 8:49 AM | View Comments (2) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Great Advice for Dealing with this Economy
Well worth the 5 minutes it takes to watch.

Abraham comments on the current state of our economy:

http://www.economy-and-the-law-of-attraction.com/

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Posted by Elliott Teters at 10/15/2008 8:45 AM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Remember, But Not With your Mind
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 10/9/2008 10:17 AM | View Comments (1) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)
Doom and Gloom? No Thank You!
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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Posted by Elliott Teters at 10/2/2008 7:49 AM | View Comments (0) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (0)