The ONE Self

The sum total of your life lived will not be what you have done nor gained but in who you have been while journeying on this little blue planet called Earth.  The courage and risk needed for meaningful success on this journey and adventure can only be enhanced once you acknowledge and recognize the only change you ever needed was not outside yourself, but within.

In the finding, cultivation and practice of innocence, in the subjective experience of freedom that occurs as a result of finding out Who You Are, you rediscover a divinity and peace that lies within: and the emergence of a new life and humanity dawns. The unfolding experience of awareness and inner wisdom is the only true doorway to the freedom and peace you seek in your own life and the world you live in.

The most important relationship you will have is the relationship you have with the Self.   It is through the relationship you have to the Self that will create a relationship with life.  The level of intimacy that you achieve with that Self will draw you into an intimate relationship with life, and through the internal growth and cultivation of that inner relationship you will be inspired and strengthened to cultivate and express within all external relationships. 

The dialogue of this inner conversation and transformation will be less about doing and more about being. The bond of this relationship and the opportunity within the experience called life, is rare, precious and delicate; its consummation, profound.  To know the Self is the greatest gift you could bring to all your relations; your life is the story of this adventure… 

 The Practices:

In the legacy of my life I will have received two gifts:

what I gave to myself and what I brought to this world.

I will remind myself daily how I intend to live my life.

Boredom and fear, struggle and suffering, are prompts from my Soul to move beyond my present life experience and perception to the next step and adventure in my evolution.

I will stop living my life vicariously;

I will abandon who I was and surrender to who I can be.

I will practice taking care of my Self first and in this knowingness find the energy, vitality, inspiration and integrity to be of help to others when needed.

I will take care to not distract or lose my Self in the noise and nonsense of life.

I will not be discouraged.

I will not allow my Self to be overshadowed; to become a slave of circumstance or situations that may be present as part of my daily life experience.

I will be clear.

I will be consistent.

I will be constant in the discovery and expression of my authentic Self.

I will listen to the validity of my own inner voice; to guide and support, to serve my Self and others.

I will live within the guidelines of my own inner integrity; living life with a passionate commitment to what feels important, right and true for me.

I will become what I practice.

While life may sometimes feel like a struggle, I will remind myself of its promise and potential.

In Spirit I believe without a doubt all things are possible.

My current life experience mirrors my present set of beliefs about myself and the world I live in.

I choose to believe in a future unshaped by external circumstance.

I choose to see it shaped instead by the creative capacity of my own inner wisdom and ONE Self.

What I choose to believe I will subjectively become.

Sooner or later, I will learn to question all beliefs I have about myself and the world I live in.

While my thoughts may appear to have the power, and my actions may suggest I have impact, it is the relationship I have to my inner being that will gently foster the greatest potential and possibility.

Fully awakened and in awareness, the Self will effortlessly be.

Self ~ intimacy demands that I live my truth regardless of the consequences.

I was born to cultivate a dream and to share it with humanity.

To know is not enough; I will take mindful action towards my intentions, desires and dreams.

The quality of my journey proceeds from the quality of the choices I make for this adventure and dream.

Every choice I make is an action; every step I take, perfect.

I will pursue choices in life that cultivate my dreams;

I will live those aspirations like no other.

I will elevate the gifts and talents that I have been given to create the dream I envision.

    Desire:

What dream and vision do I have for my life now?

Desire is the language of my Soul; I will listen.

What I desire I become.

Where I find inspiration I will also find joy.

Where I find joy I will find the life throb of the ages.

When I know where I’m going, I’ll find a way to get there.

I will weave a dream of greatness, by living a life of fulfilled desire.

I will work with vision, I will live with passion.

I will play BIG with all my visions.

Spirit dwells within the innocence of my every desire.

I will surrender myself to the seeds of my most innocent desires.

I will surrender each moment to the past while experiencing something incredibly new in the present.

I will commit my Self to those desires and dreams; they will become my destiny.

When I believe in my Self and the visions I have for my life, I have the power to transform not only my own life but the world I live in; ONE vision, ONE energy, ONE life, ONE dream.

 Authenticity:

There is no escape from my small self except through practice.

I will practice being my Self all the time.

I will accept who I am at every moment and practice compassion if I fail.

I will be a witness to not only my own thoughts but also my actions.

When I practice an attitude of acceptance, thought and action become sacred.

With practice comes mastery.

I will define my Self by Who I am being, not by what I am doing.

I will spend time with my Self and in silence, remember.

In silence I will remember the Universe dwells within me, as me.

I will come to know this ONE Self through the wisdom of experience and the ever present silence behind the mind.

I will realize this single, ONE Self and its existence in the present moment, now.

Where will I place my attention?

My authentic ONE Self is intuitive, creative, nourishing and wise.

I will meditate on this Self.

I will center myself.

I will quiet myself.

I will become that ONE Self.

I will practice connecting with my own inner energy and wisdom.

Daily, I will rediscover the life expression of this ONE Spirit.

I will find solace in the silence of my mind; while listening to the wind in the trees or the sound of innocent children playing.

I will see my Self reflected in the branches of a majestic cedar tree;

on the top of one hundred glacial mountain peaks;

and on the shores of a thousand ocean beaches.

I will rejoice in the blessings of my senses.

I will see, hear, touch, feel, and smell this great Earth and experience it as an extension of my own body.

I will honor my body as I also honor this Earth.

I will protect this body, as I also protect this Earth.

I will remember this Earth and all Universes are the playground of ONE primordial being.

Realization:

The path to this realization is through stillness.

The purpose of my meditation is not to acquire, gain, or attain, but to reveal.

My mind is still, my breath is deep, my body is quiet.

In silence my mind remembers; my body knows.

Self knowledge produces the wisdom of wholeness and the experience of perfection.

When my mind is quiet and still, there can only be joy.

In silence I find bliss; in solitude, my Soul awakens.

A single moment of pure, Self awareness is worth a lifetime of good deeds.

I will be a silent witness to all that happens.

Mastery of the mind awakens the magic of the ONE great Soul.

I express gratitude and reverence for my Self!

Innocence, joy and freedom dwell within that Self.

I was never what I took myself to be.

What I seek lies within me, waiting.

I will find out Who I AM.

In solitude I belong to the Self.

At the “Source” there is absolute perfection, and a simplicity and contentment in Being.

What brings meaning and purpose also brings joy.

In awareness I find infinite, unbounded freedom.

All life flows from me, not to me.

I Am the source of all subjective joy and pain in my life.

As I cultivate an inner awareness of Spirit as joy, I will need no outside stimulus.

Awareness within becomes the source and substance of all my good.

Life becomes effortless when I am aware of my own inner perfection.

My Inner peace exists in this present moment: now.

I surrender to the nobility that I AM, and abandon all that I’m not.

I will awaken to the now, to my own inner divinity and holiness.

I will change the world ONE perception at a time;

I will begin with my own.

I will be the change I want to see in this world.

The power of my inner divinity has the power to transform.

It is inner relationship that opens the door to fulfillment of all my dreams

where all thoughts and actions become sacred.

The gift of my life is a bridge between Spirit and form.

More is always built on the foundation of less.

I embrace the perception of creation.

I will receive in life what I believe myself to be worthy of.

I am worthy.

I receive now.

Question:

During the course of my life I will ask myself many questions.  To know where I am heading I just need to listen to the questions I ask myself at every moment.  Sometimes when I ask those questions I will receive a response to every situation as it occurs and at other times I might need to sit with those questions, to accept those unresolved questions unconditionally as part of the mystery of my life experience. 

Most will search outside themselves for answers; they will seek a personal happiness and will never really be satisfied.  Many will ask questions that dwell only on the practical necessities of life and as a result, live lives of mediocrity.  As I practice asking myself my most meaningful questions, I will learn to navigate not only the journey of my life but also, the mystery of my Soul.  Some of the most important questions I can ask are:

Who Am I?

What do I want?

Why am I here?

And,

What will I build?

Where will I go?

Who will I be?

These questions will eventually merge to become one:

What am I doing for others and how can I contribute more to the planet I live on?

I will ask questions only my Soul can answer; questions that bring clarity, purpose and meaning to my life.

I will traverse my life experience with questions based on concern, inquiry, need and affirmation.

I will ask my self Ten Questions to provide a foundation for the emerging new me and life.

I will be attentive to the Spirit of the ONE who is asking, the ONE who listens, the ONE who sees, the ONE who smells, the ONE who feels, the ONE who tastes.

I will be attentive to the ONE source of all humanity.

10 Questions for a New Humanity;

1)     What aspirations do I have that, if pursued, could provide the preamble for more peace, passion, inspiration and transformation in my life and the world I live in?

2)     Do the dreams, desires, gifts and talents I pursue, enhance and elevate the resilience I have to my own life experience, to my own inner wisdom and the service I could provide to the ONE greater Earth community?

3)     How can I elevate the visions and aspirations I have for my life so they are synchronized in solidarity and kinship with all others?

4)     What changes do I need to make in the way I live my life that, if made, could improve the quality of my own well being and the well being of the greater world?

5)     How can I live my life with greater admiration and reverence towards my Self and others?

6)     What unspoken words and conversations do I need to have or hear to foster a culture of peace and affirmation?

7)     What values do I need to enhance or adopt to form a solid foundation for a personal, sacred trust towards sustaining a new life and world?

8)     How can I live my life with a greater reverence and humility for the mystery of Being; with enhanced gratitude for the gift of life, and with greater humility regarding my place in nature?

9)     What can I do to elevate the shared responsibility I have in the stewardship of this ONE Earth and ONE humanity towards the intention and goal of creating ONE global, just, sustainable and peaceful society?

10)     Recognizing that my life is both interdependent and interconnected with all people and things, what three principles am I willing to commit to, affirm and cultivate to elevate a sustainable, ethical way of being for my Self and the planet I live on?

The Doctrine of ONE;

I AM the world I live in.

There is but ONE creation and Self.

All things appear in me and yet I AM beyond all things.

All existence is my existence.

All happiness is my happiness.

All suffering is my suffering.

I will relinquish my obsession with the past while waiving speculation of an imagined future.

I will be present with what is.

With concern and attention focused on the present, I will find response to every situation as it occurs.

The greatest gift I have is Self and life.

The perfect moment is now.

Now is a good time for joy.

Now is a good time for purpose, meaning and quiet attention.

Now is a moment of opportunity to rediscover my innocence, to express my excellence, and to serve humanity.

Now I become a knower of reality.

I set right all ideas of the ONE Self.

I realize the ONE-ness, timeless, dimensionless perfection of my own inner being where nothing can be gained and nothing can be lost.

Living The Doctrine of ONE, I will be attentive to the present moment now:

*  The purpose of life is the expansion of happiness on all levels.

*  The wisdom of happiness, while subjective can be enhanced; harmony occurs when my happiness and the happiness of another meet.

By recognizing the essence of all happiness is never found in things; things that are grasped or feared, things that we identify ourselves with.  Genuine happiness is realized by abandoning who we were; to find out Who We Are.

*  We find out Who We Are through investigation, enquiry and detachment, by stepping onto the path of unlearning and by cultivating an attentive, quiet mind.

In awareness we find freedom from the known.  By stepping into the unknown we lose ourselves to the potential of Who We Are: a field of infinite possibilities, unbounded by space and time.

*  Finding out Who We Are is not about having more, doing more, or being more.

It’s not finding our success or preventing failure

it’s not about fixing, changing, getting or losing

it’s not about being saved or purifying the ONE self

it has nothing to do with what you eat, what you wear, or what you believe

it depends not on whether you are man or woman, black or white, gay or straight or whether see and think of yourself as a Christian, a Hindu, a Muslim or Jew.

Finding out Who You Are has nothing to do with what you know or don’t know.

It’s not about discovering past lives, the burning of the seeds of Karma or the gaming of reincarnation.

Finding out Who You Are has nothing to do with priests or profits, gurus or God (s), dogmas or traditions.

It’s not about mastering a particular asana or the use of a specific mudra.

It matters not whether you have meditated for one year or twenty.

*  First, you imagined this:

I am separate, I am a sinner, I am a Saint.  I am blocked, I am gay or straight.  I am black or white; I am a Christian, a Muslim, a Hindu or Jew.  Once imagined, you entertained and filled your mind with self engendered thoughts and beliefs.  You identified with all that you imagined the self to be.

As you endorsed the illusion of an imaginary self, you temporarily distracted yourself from Who You Are.  You created a story and then you lost yourself in the nonsense of that story.  You imagined a momentary loss of freedom; a connection you always had to your ONE true Self.

First you imagined; then, lost in your story you began to imagine there was a path.  You created a path and a process, a story of how you would return to some garden of perfection; a perfection that was in fact, never lost.

*  To find out Who You Are you need not go somewhere or do anything; just be.

In the doctrine of ONE you become aware of the fact you are aware.

Be watchful, be attentive, be quiet.

Be.

To know the Self, you need to be the Self.

You cannot become what you already are.

*  There is no other:

You are not a person.  Reality is impersonal. You are reality.  You are a timeless, dimensionless being, a centre of perception that momentarily gets caught up in imagining you are a person, a thing, a body, an emotion, a thought, a memory, an association, a perception, a feared future, or a perturbed past.

You cannot move away from perfection; the real you is perfect, whole and complete now.  You are Universal now.  There is no up, there is no down; there is no in or out; there is no here, there is no there; there is no above or below; there is no high or low; there is no “other”.

*  There is no path:

No doctrine, dogma or law, however holy, ancient, wise or sacred, can ever describe in words the truth of Who You Are, who you were and who you will always be…

~

I am not here to live an ordinary life.

I am here to discover the ONE Self;

to realize the ONE Spirit that dwells within me.

Then I will live an extraordinary life.

I am here to realize the ONE spirit of human solidarity and interdependence;

to cultivate ONE kinship with all life.

What I’ve read is not as important as what I’ve done.

What I’ve done is not as important as who I’ve been.

The ONE seed of divinity that lies within me contains the whole truth.

Am I ready to remember?

Am I willing to surrender and allow?

Am I willing to unlearn?

Am I willing to be?

~

“ Creeds and doctrines are like a raft to carry one to the other shore, and then to relinquish.

Neither cling to the raft forever, or reject it when drowning.

Even better, become a strong swimmer.”

 The Diamond Sutra.

 ~

Soulananda ~ by michael sean symonds all rights reserved.

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