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Life, and my experience of it, is a perpetualparadox.
I find myself often living in some gap.
I may notice myself submerged in chaos,
On an imaginary battlefield between
What I think should be and what is.
I can feel myself conflicted
By wanting to control and
Wanting to allow, simultaneously.
I can feel torn by opposing voices,
One which I recognize as Truth and
Another, which insists: it is what’s real.
Living in this conflicting field
Seems to be my human experience.
Being aware of this conflict is step one
On the spiritual journey.
Freedom from the influence
This dichotomy creates
Is the goal of my spiritual endeavor.
Everything contains a blessing,
But the gift is not always apparent.
Noticing where I am
In the continuum between
Demanding and allowing
Between desiring what is not
And accepting what is
Is a gift.
Freeing myself from projection,
Taking 100% responsibility,
Allowing myself to feel this moment
Instead of fleeing in rejection;
These are all gifts.
Being fully human
While claiming my Divinity
Is no easy process.
I usually want to put
Myself on a pedestal
Looking down upon the tension
Between the habitual human
And the emerging Self,
And distance my involvement,
By considering myself “above”
Such lowly human drama.
Yet, acting as though
I am fully spiritual
While neglecting the fact
That I am also fully human
Is just a rouse.
It is just another method
Of denying who and what I am.
Today I am thinking
That to move in the direction
Of my dreams
I must accept all of me
Not just the parts I
Wholly embrace.
I am a spiritual being
Having a human experience.
I would not be here
If the human experience were of no value.
Everything life offers
Contains precisely the blessing
I need, right here, right now.
I find that blessing easier to recognize
If I immerse myself in what I am feeling
Without becoming subservient
To this feeling;
If I allow myself to notice
Whatever is coming up
Without forgetting that I am
The noticer, not that which is arising.
I am often in a gap.
A space filled with confusion
A dualistic polarity which appears
To define fully human
And fully spiritual
As linear opposites.
In those moments
When I get it,
When I am fully alive,
The gap disappears.
The I Am becomes
Fully Spiritual and
Fully human, at once.
Without the gap
There is nothing to question
All is well.
My work is to
Be gapless, always
In all ways.
Of course, the me
Who entertains the questions
Raised above,
Disappears in those
Fleeting moments when
I Am Whole.
But that is the topic
For another day.
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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This last weekend I drove my daughter up to
Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa and then
back to Drake University, in Des Moines, Iowa
for an audition and a scholarship
competition. During the Saturday competition
at Drake, parents were introduced to
instructors, in their child’s field of
interest, and were invited to attend a
“typical” class by one of the professors, in the appropriate school.
Since my daughter is interested in Vocal
Performance and Musical Theater we attended a
theater class on Stage Fighting and one on
Speech and Voice.
In the second classroom we were introduced to
an amazing man. Clive Elliott left home,
without finishing high school, at age
seventeen, to become an actor. He starred on
stage, in films, and on television for some
thirty plus years before landing at Drake,
where he has taught for the last twenty one
years. Clive had grown up speaking at least
four languages and noticed that he was very
talented at emulating the dialects and
accents of people he encountered, throughout
his worldly travels.
Clive has truly followed his passion, his
entire life. It is his love of sharing the
wisdom he has garnered, which keeps him
teaching and directing theater at Drake.
I have mentioned his background because I
want to share something he said, which struck
me like a bolt of lightning.
He told the story of a young woman, a former
student in the United Kingdom, and spoke to
us about her incredible talent. This young
lady, however, took her gift for granted.
Clive said she was one of the most remarkably
talented students he had ever encountered and
that she could have easily won all the top
awards in the acting industry, but instead
she squandered her abilities and never worked
at developing as an actor.
Mr. Elliott then turned and stared at each of
us, stating “Some of you may wonder why I am
still here, at my age. I have a talent. I
have a gift. This girl had a gift, but she
refused to honor it. My friends, the gifts
you have been given are not yours. It is your
responsibility, or duty shall I say, to share
your gifts and talents with the world.
That is why I am still here.”
He probably said more, but all I could hear
were these words resonating within my head
and heart. “It is my duty to share my gifts
and talents. They are not mine to squander.”
I thought this was the most profound thing I
had heard all day, and I sat through some
fairly impressive speeches.
I felt like Clive was looking right into my
soul and was bringing me a message that made
driving for hours in blizzard-like conditions
worthwhile.
The gifts we have are on loan.
We really only honor, that which we consider
Divine, when we do everything in our power to
share these gifts with the world.
So, thank you Clive Elliott. You helped
convince me that Drake is a school I would
love for my daughter to attend.
You also helped remind me that I need to
dedicate each day, I have left, to sharing
the Love I Am with the planet, in whatever
form that expression takes.
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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Just because I live in a world defined by
dualism, the rules which govern said dualism
do not need to control my every experience.
This morning I read this statement by Dr.
Wayne Dyer in Change Your Thoughts- Change
Your Life: “Has it ever occurred to
you that beauty depends on something
being identified as ugly? Therefore, the idea
of beauty produces the idea of ugliness, and
vice versa.”
This, of course, is not the first time that I
have encountered this idea. In fact, I have
written on the subject, several times, that
naming anything automatically produces its
opposite. Naming something as great only has
meaning through comparing its relationship to
that which is not great.
I am not sure I agree with this when it comes
to beauty, though.
I can see the truth that naming something as
beautiful creates that which is not beautiful
by default, but what about the experience of
beauty?
I do not need to have an idea of ugliness to
experience beauty.
To define the experience as beautiful, I
probably need a concept of what is not
beautiful. The mind works that way. It needs
opposites, gradient scales on which to
categorize its dualistic terminology; but the
heart experiences beauty, without comparing
it to some idea of ugliness.
Immersed in beauty, the thinking self
disappears, even if only for a moment.
So, I find myself disagreeing with the idea
that beauty depends on ugliness. The mind’s
definition of beauty may need a comparative
tool, but the heart simply opens wider when
in the presence of beauty.
When I sit and watch an incredible sunset,
there are two ways to watch it; one with the
mind talking, analyzing, comparing, taking
notes, and defining what is seen (i.e: naming
it as incredible This type of watching
does demand contrasting points for
comparison. The second way to watch the
sunset is to lose my sense of separate self
in the experience. The mind is quiet. No
inner voice is saying “look at those reds; oh
this is so much more amazing than yesterday,
etc.” I just simply “Am” merged with the beauty.
To experience what the heart resonates with
as “beauty” does not require agreement with
what the mind defines as beautiful.
The heart does not require comparative
objects. In fact, I have often felt great
beauty in a situation which my mind defined
as less than attractive.
When we live, in this moment, we are living
through the heart. The mind, that aspect of
self which requires dualistic thinking, is a
great tool, but it is best utilized as a
servant of the heart, not as its imagined master.
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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In today’s Secret, I have nothing new to say.
Actually, I suppose I never do have anything
new to offer.
It is clearly on my mind, this morning that
this experience we call life can be
terminated at any time, any day. For some
there is warning; a doctor bears “bad” news
and gives you some time to get your affairs
in order, but for many death is sudden and
totally unexpected.
We all have lost friends or family this way:
They got up to start, just another day, and
on their way to work, as they were
contemplating the challenges that lie ahead,
a car turned in front of them and they had no
choice but to crash. Or, maybe a friend’s
nephew was just sitting at his computer, when
a drive by shooter, aiming at someone on the
street, missed the intended target and ended
the child’s life.
We all have our stories. If not our own, we
can relate to examples on the news or in
other friend’s lives.
The point is this.
Now is the only guarantee we have.
Is this moment a good one to die?
If not, what needs to be done?
If there are relationships which need to be
healed, heal them.
If you are carrying any resentment, forgive
the target of your anger. It may not matter
much to them, but you don’t want to be
plagued with this on the last day of your life.
Are there people you really admire, but you
do not tell them often enough. Take five
minutes and send them a short hand-written
note. Tell them that they have made a
difference in your life. If they pop up in
your mind, take some small action.
Tell those you love, that your life has been
blessed because of their presence, because of
the things they have taught you, because of
the example they have shown, or for any other
reason that comes to mind.
You only get one chance.
That chance is now.
You know what you would not want left undone,
if a tree fell on you as you walked to the
car, this morning.
Whatever that is, for you, do it.
When you wake up tomorrow, after you give
thanks for another chance, start all over again.
Then whether it is today or eighty years from
now, when it is time to lay down this human
form, you will be honestly able to say, “This
is a good day to die.”
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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Because the day, I will see, today, is
governed by the thoughts I have, I spend some
time each morning being quiet. I may be
tempted to journey into the day and ponder
what needs to be accomplished, consider what
I want to complete, and examine what would be
a fun expenditure of any spare time, but I
choose, instead, to embrace stillness.
It is the simplest time of the day, for me to
quiet my mind, when I first wake up. With one
foot in the new day and one still in the
dream state, I find it very easy to locate a
quiet, serene place, within, where the
thoughts have not yet assumed their quest for
command of my mind.
I do this exercise because I know that this
quiet spot is my refuge when my autonomic
mind reacts to the day’s events with stress.
This peaceful sanctuary is always available
to me when my outer experience seems to have
gained power over my inner commitment.
I like to be reminded, frequently, that the
world I see is up to me and that I have the
power to sit in tranquility any time I choose.
Consider these words from the Buddha:
“We are formed and molded by our thoughts.
Those whose minds are shaped by selfless
thoughts give joy when they speak or act. Joy
follows them like a shadow that never leaves
them. “
Any time I find myself dominated by thoughts,
which are anything other than joyous, I
return to my quiet garden and remember that
instead of these self-centered thoughts, I can choose Joy.
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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Sometimes when I write, the words I choose
seem to convey that I have “all the answers”
and that the way I see the world is “the”
right way.
I apologize to anyone who interprets this
level of ego-mind in my chosen words. In most of
my writing, at least at this venue, I journal
in what I call a “thinking out-loud” manner.
I often do not know what I am about to put on
paper, until my fingers bring the words to life.
I do go back and try and correct some of the
poor grammar, but aside from that I often
publish whatever has come up for me, while
sitting to do the writing.
Today I am compelled to talk about something
that will possibly offend some of you. I have
actually argued with myself about addressing
this topic, but I must honor what is rising
to the top. I have already
spent two hours trying to avoid this subject,
but if I am to write anything this morning,
it must be this.
GOD!
I think I could write a book or two on this
idea of God. There are so many
interpretations of this concept; any book
which endeavored to be all-inclusive could
never be completed.
I only want to address my interaction with
God and what my current truth is about that
interaction.
Several comments and questions came up as a
result of yesterday’s Secret about prayer. It
is to those concerns that I address my words
this morning.
It is my belief that:
God simply IS.
God is all there IS.
All there is, IS God.
God is BEING.
God is not a doing.
God does not do,
God only IS.
The purpose for prayer
Is not to convince
God to do anything,
God is already doing
Everything that God can
do.
God simply IS.
Since God is everything that IS,
God is all possibilities.
God is in all that causes us pain.
God is in all that causes us joy.
God does not change.
God simply IS.
God does not want.
God is everything.
What could everything long for?
God does not have a plan
For your life.
God simply IS,
And can be demonstrated
In and through your life
By following what you love.
Everything we are is God.
There is no place where God is not.
We experience this connection
To Divine Source
When we Express Love
When we Live in Truth.
The purpose of prayer
Is to bring our minds
Into alignment with our
Sacred Hearts.
The Sacred Heart
Never loses its connection to Source.
Neither does the mind
Or any other part of our form,
But the Heart never forgets
The mind does.
Prayer is to help the mind remember
This Truth.
We are never separate from
God, Love, Source, Allah
Or any other name chosen
But we often forget that we once
Knew this Truth.
The purpose for prayer is
To remember
This forgotten Truth.
God has no will for your life
But your own.
You can not make God happy
Nor can you anger God.
That is not to say that you can not feel
great joy when you connect to the Truth of
your being, nor is it to imply that you can
not feel great pain and sorrow when you turn
your back on this connection, denying what
you know to be Truth, at some level of your
being.
All of life is God.
Whether this experience is Good or Bad
Is an interpretation
You are free to make,
But your conclusions
Are limited by your level of wisdom,
And they limit your ability
To find God in all things.
When we expect to see Love
When we KNOW we will find God
In everything and everyone
This becomes our experience.
This is the purpose for prayer.
I will close with this:
Every thought we have is a prayer.
Every thought creates energy
This energy changes the thinker,
It shifts the paradigm through which
The thinker views his/her world.
Loving thoughts are prayers
Which move one closer to the Truth
Hateful thoughts are prayers
Which move one away from the Light.
Every thought has this outcome.
Every thought either moves my vibration
Closer to or further from a realization
Of the Divine, at work, in my life.
I am always, completely and totally
Immersed in God, which is experienced as
A Field of Unconditional Love.
This Field is always
Saying “Yes” to my every thought
Saying “Yes” to my every prayer.
My vibration determines
How I allow that “Yes”
To be manifest in my life.
My vibration is totally
Determined by my prayers
Which are my, moment to moment, thoughts.
God is always doing
Everything God can do.
God is ALL BEING.
I am a Co-Creator of my world
Whether I am a conscious Co-Creator
Or an unconscious Co-Creator
Depends on my prayers;
Depends on my thoughts.
There are no words
There are no rituals
Which can change God
Or entice God to do anything.
The purpose of rituals
The purpose of formal prayer
Is to bring the seeker
Into alignment with the Light,
Not the other way around.
I apologize to anyone with whom my words have
caused discomfort.
This is the truth, the way I understand it
today.
I humbly hope that these thoughts are
received as loving gifts, which is how they
are offered.
As always I welcome dialogue on this topic.
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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I have a confession to make.
I can be a lurker.
I monitor discussions on a couple of
Non-Dualism groups, through Yahoo, just for
fun. I do not feel compelled to contribute,
but I enjoy watching “enlightened” people
share and discuss life philosophy.
Personally, I have no clue about the ultimate
Truth. I am not even sure there is a Truth,
which is not relative, in some way. If I
decide that something is Truth, with my
ego-mind, I typically find myself needing to
defend that truth when confronted by anything
which threatens this “world according to me.”
One of the most interesting observations I
have made is how protective, we can be, when
it comes to our ideas about the nature and
existence of God. This one word, this
multi-faceted concept, can have more history
and self-identity attached, than any other
thought.
What is amusing is to watch myself take
offense, even when I do not think I have an
opinion, and fancy myself as being unwilling
to make someone else wrong.
Prayer is one of those areas which cause a
lot of contention. One person insists there
is no one or no thing outside yourself to
pray to, while another insists that you must
invoke the name of your personal Lord and
Savior, for the prayer to be effective.
Some feel a beautifully worded spoken prayer
is necessary while others consider such a
public demonstration hypocritical.
Prayer, specifically “the right way to do it”
is as closely defended as one’s concept of a
Supreme Being. Many of these attachments are
hidden, only discovered when the need to
defend or to “be right” arises through
situations.
I am reading Richard Rohr’s book The Naked
Now, again, and this morning I read the
following: “In prayer, we merely keep
returning the divine gaze and we become its
reflection, almost in spite of ourselves (2
Corinthians 3:18). The word “prayer” has
often been trivialized by making it into a
way of getting what you want. But in this
book, I use “prayer” as the umbrella word for
any interior journeys or practices that
allow you to experience faith, hope, and love
within yourself. It is not a technique
for getting things, a pious exercise that
somehow makes God happy, or a requirement for
entry into heaven. It is much more like
practicing heaven now.”
Prayer can be anything one does which keeps
their consciousness in this now moment.
I love this definition.
I was at breakfast with a dear friend Sunday
morning and he intimated to me that he
believes everyone is a mystic. He lamented,
however: “Saying this gets me into more
trouble.” This dear man is surrounded
by people who do not share his belief.
Clearly, Richard Rohr shares his belief and
prayer, as described above, is the pathway to
the discovery of this mystic within.
Any practice which allows one to discover
that “heaven” or the “kingdom” is always “at
hand” is a great Secret to Peace. When we
find ourselves accessing heaven, we lose any
need we have to defend our Truth. In this
state of awareness, we know there is nothing
to defend, and that there is no one to defend
against.
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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This morning, I woke up several times very
early. As I would roll over and look at my
clock, I had trouble locating the numbers
each time. My bedside IPOD docking station
has a light which can be adjusted so it is
not bothersome at night. Because I keep this
on the lowest setting, I have to really focus
to see the numbers on the clock face.
About the third time I did this it dawned on
me that I need to get clearer about what it
is I am focusing on, in my every day life.
Focus directs our attention.
Where our attention is, our energy is, as well.
This simple little reminder, three times this
morning, has been profound for me.
Today I will be on-purpose with my focus,
attention, and energy.
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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I wrote, earlier this week, that some art had
an immediate impact on me, I felt some
resonance with certain pieces, and that I did
not notice the same energetic attraction to
other works. I was not making any value
judgment about this experience, I was just
sharing that I had noticed this to be true.
I have always found it fascinating that we
are so diverse in our tastes and preferences.
This uniqueness spreads throughout our entire
world, and it extends to people.
Without a word ever being uttered, I can walk
into a room and immediately feel
energetically drawn to some individuals and
nearly repelled by others.
Each of us create our lives as we move
through them and make constant choices. Some
choices raise our vibration levels and some
lower them. I am typically drawn to the
people who make conscious decisions to be the
greatest expression of Love they are capable
of being. I find myself repelled by the
energy fields of people who are victims of life.
Each person is deserving of my love, so I do
not withhold it; but when it comes to
choosing who I invest my time in, it is
generally someone who understands that they
are co-creators of their reality.
Don Miguel Ruiz once said, “Every human is
an artist. The dream of your life is to make
beautiful art.”
I agree totally with Ruiz. We each have an
ever changing canvas, we call life, and the
choices we make are the brush strokes. We can
create a dark, gloomy picture filled with
sadness and pain, or we can learn that we
have the power to capture life’s bliss, and
demonstrate that understanding in the art
which is our life.
I am drawn to light-filled lives, just as I
am attracted to light-filled art.
As my consciousness has evolved, over the
years, I have noticed that the eyes I see
through and the energetic attractions I
experience have changed also.
The work of art, which is my life, is an ever
evolving piece.
I intend to live this day so that what I
honor and cherish, most, is demonstrated
through each brush stroke.
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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Perfection is an idea that always intrigues me.
What is perfection? How is it measured? Who or what has the final say, the yardstick by which perfection is calibrated?
When I read: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” - The Gospel According to Saint Matthew, it makes me wonder what this level of perfection looks like.
Perfection is pretty clear when the parameters are well defined. For example, if we are looking at a bobsled run, in the Olympics, there are clearly articulated rules about what constitutes a perfect run.
When we look at human existence, however, what are the rules which direct one’s life towards perfection?
Isn’t it true that perfection, much like beauty, is in the eyes and the mind of the one who chooses to classify something as perfect or imperfect?
I think about people who raise pets or grow flowers. They have a clear vision, in their minds, of what qualifies as a perfect “American Hairless Terrier” or what features the flawless “American Perfect Miss” rose should possess. Clearly these breeders have a vision, and image held in mind, about perfection in their chosen species.
But what about humans?
Who or what has to right to say one human is perfect and another is not?
I heard, growing up, repeatedly that Jesus of Nazareth was the only perfect human who ever lived. Yet, when one reads of his life, in detail, there seem to be some character traits, which if demonstrated in friends or family today, could, perhaps, be classified as imperfections.
What if everything and everyone is perfect and only thinking otherwise creates imperfection?
But Elliott, clearly Adolph Hitler could not be called a perfect human. Surely one of the cannibals, like Jeffrey Dahmer, could not be put into a perfect category.
It is easier to agree that Mother Teresa, Mahatma Gandhi, or even Martin Luther King Jr. were examples of perfection, but not serial killers or child molesters.
What if perfection is a myth? What if it is an ideal, a goal, which was created by a mind that insists on polar opposites? To have perfection there must necessarily be something at the opposite end of the linear equation which exemplifies imperfection.
What if our ability to love changes the equation entirely?
Usually in a litter of pups, there is one smaller than the rest. This runt could be termed imperfect as it did not measure up to the standards of the healthier littermates. Yet when that dog becomes mine and I love it and receive its unconditional love in return, I would be hard-pressed to see that dog as anything less than perfect.
I find it inconceivable that there exists in Creation a power which loves one aspect of itself more than it loves another. In other words, it defies everything Life has taught me to think that a benevolent Universe could favor one race, one religion, or one socio-economic class over another.
Unconditional Love can not make distinctions of perfect or imperfect. It can not make one right and another wrong. Only the human mind with a thought-based set of rules could define one thing as perfect and another not.
Yesterday I saw this quote and I think it sums this up wonderfully, “To think there is any imperfection, creates it." – Vivekananda.
Thinking something to be perfect or imperfect only has truth to the one doing the thinking.
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| Posted by Elliott Teters at | | | |
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