NEWPORT NEWS, VA–One of the great lessons that problems teach us, as I have been reminded of over and over lately, is that we can resist them and be miserable, or we can step back, surrender, and feel free as Life takes us on Her own journey.

It’s natural to resist, to fight, to try to overcome the obstacles (the personal self loves to control things), but by surrendering your desires and saying, “Come what may,” you step away from the troubles, and then magically the stress just falls away.

For myself at times like these, I like to slide into what I call the Passionate level of Enlightenment–letting go, opening up, and allowing Her to flow through me.

I probably best described the Passionate Level here (and guide listeners into it here). It’s wonderful to feel some higher power (God, Tao, Spirit, Higher Self, Her) moving through you. You almost never know where it’s going, but it always feels “right.”

PS: Some more photos of the truck’s current interior (with new floor and dressers) below the break. (What does “below the break” mean?)

PPS: I picked up the missing bolt on Monday, the truck is fixed, and I should be heading north to cooler air in a couple days.

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COE EAST BANK CAMPGROUND, CHATTAHOOCHEE, FL–Though my message still hasn’t fully clarified, I’m often rewarded with glimpses of it.

It seems to me, when it comes to teachers and students of enlightenment, that there are two primary camps: Those who are attracted to the Stillness (Tolle, Adyashanti, …) and those who are attracted to the Emptiness (Maharshi, Krishnamurti, “Nondualists,” …).

Stillness draws those who seek calmness.

Emptiness draws those who favor logic.

But there is an often overlooked aspect. An aspect, ironically, that is wholeheartedly embraced by most religions: Love.

Love isn’t quite the right word though–it is too vague–but it is closer than “God,” or “Spirit,” or “The Divine.”

It is closer because Love is a verb, not a noun, and this aspect of enlightenment is a movement, not a thing.

Awareness? Perception? Too dry, too clinical.

Life? Not as in “My Life,” but as in, “The Life that moves through this body.”

The Life Force? Aliveness? Living-ness?

I don’t know what to call it, but look at any object, living or inanimate, and you will see Her dwelling there within.

Rumi saw Her. Emerson. Da Vinci. Saint Teresa. Lao Tzu. They spoke of Her, painted Her, wrote songs and poems of Her.

Do you see Her? Can you feel Her “alive-ening” you?

I know it’s a contradiction that I call this moving, living, energy a “Her,” but calling Her an “It” is way too impersonal–way too cold. Disrespectful even. Odd huh?

Am I crazy? Can you see Her in the photo above? Can you see Her in the Snail? In the Lock? In the Wood of the door? Can you see Her in the Light?

I am crazy aren’t I? I just know it.

PALM BAY, FL–I don’t know why I had such a hard time getting this meditation out–either I’d screw up the sound quality or I’d over explain the instructions–but I finally got it right. This is the meditation that I used to stabilize my “enlightenment consciousness” during those precarious three weeks of my awakening. I first mentioned it the September 21st entry, Waking Yourself Up. Part IV: The Practice.

You can download the meditation here.

SILVER RIVER STATE PARK, OUTSIDE OCALA, FL–I’ve made and uploaded a new video today. Shot from inside a canoe as I drifted down the Silver River outside Ocala, FL. Another example of the one-take-push-record-talk-push-stop technique complete with all the expected unexpected interruptions of real life. Sadly, I didn’t capsize or knock the camera into the water as that would have sent the video soaring up the YouTube viewer ratings. Oh well, maybe next time.

Enjoy and have a wonderful Holiday!

LAKE CATHERINE STATE PARK, AR–What is this “Divine Within” that I keep talking about? Why do I keep bringing it up? Why is it so hard to grasp? Is it real?

Imagine that you woke up from a deep sleep and you had complete amnesia. You couldn’t remember anything. No memories of your past, of your family, of your friends. You couldn’t remember your native language–you couldn’t talk or communicate. You could see objects, but you don’t know their names or even what they were used for. The amnesia runs so deep that you don’t even remember how to move your limbs. They just seem to move on their own.

You would be aware of the objects around you. You would be aware of sounds and smells and the sense of touch. You would be aware of breathing, but not why it was happening, or even that it was happening to your body.

With your complete amnesia, there is no personal story. No ego gorilla. There is only awareness of stuff around you.

You would be, in essence, pure Awareness.

With this awareness is a sense of being. A sense of an invisible, but alive, movement.

This is what I mean by your true nature, by the Divine Within, by your Life Force. Really, there is nothing mystical to it at all. It is just your sense of being.

From the Enlightenment of Oneness, it is “felt” as Life/Love living.

From the Enlightenment of Stillness, it is felt as Life/Love radiating.

From the Enlightenment of Passion, it is felt as Life/Love moving.

To the mind’s eye, this being, this Awareness, is seen as Light. From Oneness: Light within a Sea of Light. From Stillness: Light softly glowing. And from Passion: the Light of a brightly burning flame.

I stress this concept–this Life Force–because I want you to learn to feel it and to see it. I want you to become aware of your deeper, spiritual nature because the more you experience this felt sense of You, the easier it will be for you to see the thoughts, the stories, the drama, and the selfish emotions that block that feeling–that block your realization of your true nature.

I call my “flavor” of teaching, Passionate Enlightenment, because I want you to feel it. Not just consider it. I want you to live it, not just contemplate it. I want you to feel the passion of Life living unrestrained and unbound through you.

I want you to wake up and be free.

In my last post, I mentioned how “quiet” motivation now is. Yesterday, while sitting in Stillness, a direction–my next steps–became clear.

The desire to “make things happen” rarely appears anymore and, when it does, I feel clunky and disingenuous. Sometimes though, as I rest in Stillness, Life will softly whisper–like a lover murmuring a sweet secret–and my path will become crystal clear.

This whisper–this revelation–stimulates the Passion. A powerful welling of energy rises in my chest and I feel excited and alert and in harmony with my surroundings as Life starts to awaken and stir and live through me.

Wayne Wirs would have tried to control and bend and manipulate this power (as have countless spiritual seekers before him). But to control it is to kill it, for Life cannot flow through an ego.

If you want Life to live through you, you must surrender to it. You must stop swimming, stop struggling, stop trying. You must give up and allow yourself to drown in it. Give up and give in. It is by surrendering, by complete supplication to Life, that you will find joy, and bliss, and harmony as Life lives as Life was meant to live… unhindered.

Passion. A flower, turning gradually, follows the sun as it arcs across the sky. Two kittens, one crouching down while the other rears on hind legs in a playful attack. A lone sparrow, high in a deep forest pine, sings joyfully. A young woman, taking the arm of her companion, nuzzles close in the cool evening air.

Passion. Life living. For a lack of better words: Love and Light flowing through. All creatures experience it. All creatures are alive because of it. It is the Tao within everything. It is Spirit. It is the Divine Essence. It is the Beloved.

Passionate Enlightenment feels like Light and Love flowing through you. It feels as if you are nothing but an outline, a thin portal for the Divine to enter the world.

This is the love that Christ taught. This is the compassion of the Dalai Lama. This is the non-violence of Gandhi.

Passion is Moving. It is Flowing. It is Beauty and Appreciation and Radiance. It is Life living through Life.

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Tomorrow: The Enlightenment of Stillness.

Though there are many aspects to enlightenment, my “center” seems to shift and flow primarily through these three states:

• Passion (Love)
• Stillness (Presence)
• Oneness (Clarity)

The Enlightenment of Passion is Yang (Active), the Enlightenment of Stillness is Yin (Passive), and beyond both–arising from the merging of the two–is the Enlightenment of Oneness.

Update November 17, 2009: Download a guided meditation to help you experience The Three Enlightenments.

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Tomorrow: The Enlightenment of Passion.

In the West, few, if any, enlightenment teachers (Advaita Vedanta, Non-Dualism, etc.) provide a practical way to cross the Void–the gulf between Ego Consciousness and Enlightened Awareness.

This is no fault of theirs. The teachers listed above can only teach what they know–what they have experienced. Since most of today’s enlightened teachers “stumbled” upon enlightenment, they have little, if anything, to say about a way across the chasm separating them from their students.

But there is a practical and teachable way to cross the expanse, and–though I mostly found it by accident–the path follows traditional and ancient teachings…
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As the spiritual seeker stumbles further across the Bridge of Light, his footing gradually steadies as the last of his ego burns away in the power of the Divine Flame.

Resting easily now, standing midway across the vast expanse of the Bridge, the seeker looks down into the Pit and is surprised that what was once seen as an impenetrable and forbidding darkness is now seen as a glowing, radiant Light. Flowing upward from the Light is a warm, Divine Wind–the Wind of Passion, Love, and Wisdom.

Immersed in the Wind and Light, the seeker steadily makes his way across the Bridge. As he approaches the Plateau on the far side, he notices a shift in the Wind–a radical change in its direction. From behind, the Wind now blows through him.

In a moment of clarity, he realizes that his former, solid self, is now nothing more than a mere outline, a subtle archway, an open portal from which the Light and Wind flow through.

Hidden deep within the forest of religion, myth, and conjecture–along a forgotten and overgrown trail at the very edge of the Land of Joy and Sorrow–lies a magnificent, ancient bridge. This bridge, often considered a legend–a fairy tale told to children at bedtime–humbles any spiritual seeker who is fortunate enough to stumble upon it.

Radiating an ethereal Light, the bridge offers a direct route over the Pit. As the spiritual traveler takes his first, tentative steps across, he is brought to his knees in awe and humility as his entire being is suffused with Divine Light.

His ego, a stubborn collection of thoughts born in the Land of Joy and Sorrow–powerful thoughts which have cruelly bewitched him–is violently shaken. The Divine Spark–the God within each of us–flickers, flames and ignites the kindling of his False Self.

Most spiritual seekers believe that at the core of each of us, lies a glimmering spark of the Divine – Spirit, Source, God Within. It is the goal of many spiritual seekers to find this spark, to awaken it, and to allow its Light to shine forth from within them.

But there is no Divine Spark.

Over these last few weeks, as this transformation has taken place, I have looked deep within my soul and I can assure you that there is no spark, no flickering light.

What I have found is something far more amazing. What I have found is a huge, Divine radiant Sun – a brightly shining core that has glowed from within my being my entire life. Just as importantly, this powerful Divinity radiates within you…

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