Rev. Michael Beckwith | Living Awake: Meditation, Prayer and Purpose

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The meditative portion of the prayer is we feel one
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with life, we feel one with God, we feel one
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with the essence of life. And from there we speak
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the word to have a realization of what we're saying
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is true. We're not trying to make anything happen. We're
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trying to make something welcome. It's already happened. We're already
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one with God. We're already full to overflowing with abundance
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and joy and creativity and intelligent. It's already here. But
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we're speaking the word and affirmative prayer to have a
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realization of what we're saying is so it becomes an
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inner feeling nature, and then we give thanks that it's
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already done. And then we release the word as a law,
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knowing that it can't come back void, it comes back fulfilled.
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There Up.
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Welcome to the Radical Responsibility Podcast. I'm doctor Fleet Maul
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and I'm excited to guide you on a journey of
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authentic transformation. In each episode, I'll bring you insights from
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leading experts to explore trauma recovery, mindfulness practices, positive psychology,
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and innovative breakthroughs in health, wellness, and life optimization. This
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is a space for real conversations that inspire meaningful change,
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helping you find alignment with the person you are always.
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Meant to be.
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Let's get started. What if transformation isn't just about thinking differently,
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but feeling differently. Science shows us that true change happens
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when we align not just our minds, but also the
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neural networks in our hearts and guts. This heart mind
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connection is the key to deeper healing, resilience, and expanded awareness.
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That's why I created the Heart Mind All Access, membership
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and community, a space designed to help you rewire your
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nervous system, cultivate heart intelligence, and live with greater clarity
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and purpose. With over one thousand hours of transformational teachings
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specifically curated to meet your needs. You'll learn from world
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renowned meditation teachers, neuroscientists, and experts in neuroplasticity, all sharing
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powerful tools to help you shift your mindset and heartset,
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regulate your emotions, and unlock your full potential. You'll also
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gain unlimited access to every summit and course we've ever produced,
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a treasure Trouble Wisdom worth over ten thousand dollars in
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growing plus live gatherings, and an inspiring global community to
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support your journey. If you're ready to step into a
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more heart centered, connected, and conscious life, I invite you
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to join us. Click the link to learn more and
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start your journey today.
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If you ever wondered what it truly means to wake
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up and stay awake in a world full of distraction,
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division and despair, Today I'm joined by my dear friend
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and spiritual brother, Reverend Michael Beckwith, founder of the Agapi
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International Spiritual Center and a global teacher of meditation, affirmative prayer,
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and awaken living. Together, we explore how sacred disciplines of
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meditation and visioning are not just personal tools for inner peace,
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but catalysts for global transformation. Reverend Beckworth share stories from
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the frontlines of his journey, from honoring Nelson Mandela with
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the Gandhi King Award to speaking before the United Nations,
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offering us a rare look at how spiritual practice meets
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social action. We dive into the power of affirmative prayer,
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the role of community and spiritual growth, and the call
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to evolve from a paradigm of consumption to one of contribution.
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If you're seeking a deeper experience of freedom, purpose, and
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compassionate service. This conversation is really for you, So let's begin.
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My name is doctor Fleet. Mall you're co host for
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this session, and I am thrilled to be here today
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with Reverend Michael B. Beckworth. Welcome Reverend Beckworth.
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Now Fleet, it's my joy to be with you, brother.
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Always so great to see you again. We had the
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opportunity to have a conversation like this some three or
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four years ago, and I've really been looking forward to
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connecting again. So Doc to beckw You know, I'm hesitant
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to ask you to try to encapsule this in just
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a minute or two, since we have a lot to
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cover today in our conversation, but it would be great
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to start with a little bit of your origin story
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if we could. And you've been a leading voice in
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spiritual transformation, guiding thousands story deeper awakening for many, many years.
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I'd love if we could start with maybe a personal moment.
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There was something that really shifted things for your challenge
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and insight or breakthrough that propelled you toward spiritual paths
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and meditation as a central practice in your life, and
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then the teaching career that you've manifested.
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Absolutely thank you when I think about origin story, I
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always have to go back to when I was a
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senior at USC psychobiology major my path I was go
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to Mexico, actually, and I was having a series of
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inter experiences that at the time I labeled pathological hearing,
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inner voice, having vision, tremendous lucid dreams, astro traveling, was
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a lot of stuff going on, and so at that
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particular time in my life, I thought I was losing
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my mom and it culminated with a lucid dream in
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which I was killed. In this dream, it was very painful.
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A man two men held me down and one stabbed
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me in the heart with a knife, and the pain
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physically was excruciating. Emotionally it was excruciating, and I died.
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When I woke up, I could see that I was
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surrounded by this such beauty. Everything was glowing and glimmering,
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and the love that penetrated my being was beyond anything
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I experienced, and I could see three sixty without my eyes.
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After that, I couldn't get back in the box i'd
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been living in up to that moment, and I went
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on a research to discover what had happened to me,
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and that's when I bumped into the mystical teachings of Jesus.
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I bumped into Katama, the Buddha, the Panishads, Damapada, Walter Russell,
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a lot of individuals fueled my zest to discover what
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was going on with me. And so that's the very
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short brief cliff note of an origin story. And then
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a little while after that, I was sitting in a
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living room and I said at Lata, say, Okay, what
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do you want me to do? I was having these
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great expanded awareness. I said, what do you want me
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to do? Like that? And the phone rang and it
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was a woman on the phone that I went to
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high school with. And she told me that she'd been
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thumbing through her high school annual and she saw my
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picture with my phone number, and that the presence of
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God within her told her to call me because she
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was going through a lot of troubles in her life.
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She called me, and I began to At this point,
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I didn't have any degrees. I didn't it was the
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spiritual therapist. I wasn't the minister. I just people just
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liked hanging around me. And I began to counsel her,
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and she began to tell people about me, and people
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would call, listen to me, send donations. And then I
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discovered there was something called a spiritual practitioner spiritual therapist,
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and I said, oh, that's what I'm supposed to do,
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and began to walk that path. So I give you
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many years in a couple abbreviated stories of having insight
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and then integrating insight into a level of embodiment within
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my being.
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Well, I know that various forms of meditation have been
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part of your path as well and your teaching, and
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many people tend to associate meditation primarily with Eastern traditions,
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but of course it's been a central part of the
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contemporary of Abrahamic traditions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. And I
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know the New Thought movement that you're part of is
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not particularly associated with a particular denomination of religion, but
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it has some relationship there too, And so seems like
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some kind of practice to at least initially go inward
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and make a deeper relationship with ourselves in our mind
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is central to spiritual journeys. So you've created an incredibly robust,
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trans denominational community at the Agapi Spiritual Center. So I'm
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wondering what are some of the ways that you've integrated
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the spiritual practices and meditation methodology from the various traditions
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you've explored into what you now offer at Agape.
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Our foundational practice at Agape is meditation. Obviously, what arises
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out of that is affirmative prayer and life visioning and
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things of that particular nature. But we definitely incorporate the
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deep mindfulness and the stillness that we get obviously from
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the Buddhist tradition, the yoga traditions, to open ourselves up
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to a deep sense of self awareness. They used to
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call us also the sufi end of the New Thought movement.
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Because of our celebration of joy and ecstasy and bliss
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and music and dance and movement, we also participate with Horomeyama.
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It's also a part of our spiritual practice at Agape.
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So there's been a nice weaving of the different traditions
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into the practice of meditation. I teach my own version
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of the Pasula meditation, and so every single service that
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we have at Agape is always preceded by silent meditation
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before we go into the message and the music and
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the celebration and the fellowship, so it's very integral. So
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all of the different traditions and different cultures of the
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world have their particular entry way into the sacred silence
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and the sacred solitude and the sacred stillness, and I think,
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based on my exploration, there's just been an amalgamation of
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them in a way that fits our community and very powerful.
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I think I still believe that meditation is primary. It's
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the primary transportation to true transformation, and so that underlies
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everything that we do at AGAPE International. I'm just in
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my last week of teaching a five week meditation class
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Meditation Evolution of Consciousness two point zero, So every year
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I teach it for hundreds of people a couple of
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times a year as well.
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Well. Yeah, so I want to explore the other methodologies
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you've developed, affirmative meditation and life visioning, But first I'd
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like to explore our current topic a little further with you.
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As you mentioned, you know, the silence that allows us
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to connect deeply with sacredness, with the divine, or just
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with the depth of our own being. What is it
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about silence and entering into deep transformative silence that has
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such power to get beyond the superficial level of our
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experience into the depth of our experience and really connect
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with something meaningful and even divine or sacred.
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Yes, we we give ourselves permission to become still and
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quiet and go into the noble silence, we begin to
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be able to tell the difference between the noise of
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the world. I call it, oftentimes this sea of mental garbage.
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It's the social milieu of thoughts and opinions and points
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of view and agenda is that people have on us.
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Our mind gets hijacked by I fear, worry, anxiousness, materialism.
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So when we go into the silence, we're able to
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eventually observe all of that noise and realize that that's
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not who we are. That's a part of the content
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of our awareness, but it's not who and what we are.
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And when an individual is able to tell the difference
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between the content and their real identity, I like to say,
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that's the beginning of waking up. You're waking up from
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the intoxicated sleep. That these thoughts, thought forms, beliefs, opinions,
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points of view are our identity. They are not. They're
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just things passing through our awareness. And so stillness, silence introspection, contemplation,
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observing all of that, you know, allows us to ultimately
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break free as identification, and then we're waking up and
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we're actually participating in our own unfolding. And I think
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that it's extremely necessary because there's so many things that
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vie for our attention, and many of the things that
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vy for our attention are not good for us. They're destructive,
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they keep us away from our real self. So stillness, silence,
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solitude extremely important.
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So you mentioned how we tend to identify with the
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content of our experience, all the thoughts and storylines and
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emotions and narratives, and so with all the things coming
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and going in the space of our mind and our
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sense perceptions. And that seems to be one of the
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primary obstacles to waking up, is our strong identification with that.
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And you know, we all start off the human condition
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is such that we all start off in a very
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bulnerable situation as infants, and we need to about some
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kind of sense of self to navigate the world. And
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we build out whatever's available to us, and we cling
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to it pretty tenaciously because if that's not who I am,
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who the heck am I? And so as in your
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experience as you guys students and they begin to maybe
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loosen up that a little bit. That can be kind
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of scary, especially you know, some of us, our overall
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sense of identity is a little fragileus or tenuous anyway
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sometimes through the life experiences. So how do you guys
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who support students to gradually sort of begin to let
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go of that what they've known as who they are
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for you know, decades or more, and begin to open
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up to something that's a little less defined and spacious.
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And yeah, we're absolutely right. From the time we're in
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uteral even before you know, we're imprinted by the ways
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of the world, parental, societal, religious fantasies, and we had
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to develop a way to cope with all of that,
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all of these imprints and defend. So the ego obviously
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assists in protecting that limited, temporary identity how we've humanized ourselves.
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And so what I seek to have people do is
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become aware that you are aware of the static or
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the content through and obviously, in the scientific terms, there's
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something called, you know, the observer effect that whatever you
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become aware of you change at a sub atomic level,
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just based on observation. So I invite people to have
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an intention to wake up. We're sleepwalking. We're an intoxicated
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sleepwalking of content. Have an intention to wake up. And
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then as you begin to observe the content begins to
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change because you're not resisting it, you're not fighting it,
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you're not trying to make it go away, You're just
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observing it with an intention to wake up. So in
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the content, which are thoughts and thought forms, which are
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units of mental energy, begin to change. They begin to disintegrate,
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they begin to become transmuted through observation, and little by
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little an individual has a tremendous insight, or it happens incrementally.
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Individuals become more aware that they are awareness. They're not
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their body, you know, they're not the experiences that they've had,
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They're not the content. They are awareness. And that creeps
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up on an individual. Sometimes it's dramatic, but oftentimes there
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is the letting go that which isn't so, so that
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which is so becomes more prevalent. And so that happens
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incrementally through the practice of meditation. For some people that
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are dramatic opening. And so the idea is I try
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to teach people you're not trying to become a good meditator.
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I mean becoming a good man. That's a good thing,
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you know, don't learn how to meditate, but you're actually
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trying to wake up. You're really not trying to just
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be a good meditator. You're actually trying to wake up.
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Because people don't quite understand that there's really no good
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or bad in meditation. They're just different states of it.
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So that's kind of how I approach it.
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Well, following up on that good meditator notions just for
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a moment, in terms of sort of meditation, I don't
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know technology people you've been somewhat describing the path quality
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as well. Then it sometimes it's incremental, and sometimes people
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have major openings, and you have some fairly propound openings
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at the beginning of your life that set you on
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this path. I think when people hear about such experiences
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or even have glimpses of such experiences and sometimes maybe
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want to go right there or go right into sort
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of the fruits of meditation without having really trained the
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mind or stabilized the mind somewhat. And I'm wondering how
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you see that. And in you mentioned you teach you
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kind of your own version of it. Pashna. That training
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of the mind, such as the mind is stable enough
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to then go through that process. You're a discovered however
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incremental or sudden at times it might be, but that
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there's a structure that have that experience to hold that experience, right.
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I appreciate everything's saying. It's absolutely true, because everybody has
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a tendency to want to jump to the fruits or
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jump to some great awakening or something to that effect,
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and most of the time it's not like that, you know.
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I think in the Japanese language is the word kin show,
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you know, which means it's the slow burning away, cleaning
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up the filters. And you have a transformation that sometimes
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it's like a thief in the night. You don't even
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know you've changed until you start getting feedback from the
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world or other people, or the fruits of love or
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compassion or forgiveness or patient start to emerge in you
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and you realize, oh, I'm different than I was last year.
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And sometimes people do have a satory moment where it's like,
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oh my God. But I train people basically to establish
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an intention to wake up and then place your attention
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on the intention until sometimes that intention actually can carry
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a feeling, and then I invite them to have simultaneous awareness.
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Of course, I'm taking them through this on their breath
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because it's impossible to breathe in the future or the past,
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so the breath becomes an anchor point for the present.
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So an individual's embracing their intention to wake up. They're
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aware of the breath, and then they step. Then we
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load in. This is the first time I've ever meditated.
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Whether an individual is a veteran or a newbie, it's
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always the first time. Beginner's mind, childlike nature, however you
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want to describe that. And then I invite them to
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go into deep, lowly listening. But not with your ears.
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Your awareness produced the ears, just like your awareness produced eyes.
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So we have a spiritual faculty of hearing the an
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audible and seeing the invisible. So I invite them to
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go into a deep listening with their being so that
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they're able to catch what I call the perennial broadcast
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of let there be life, let there be beauty, Let
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there be joy, that there be abundance, that there be
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intelligence everywhere. So they're sitting with those things loaded in intention, attention, breath,
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this is the first time and deep listening, and that
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becomes a place by which they're holding a practice. And
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two things occur. Obviously, there's the letting go of the
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mental debris that happens, but also the subtle bodies are
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becoming more stable and more strong to carry more of
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the cosmic energy, more of the energy. It's becoming stronger
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a little by little. So if someone does have some
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kind of insight or an opening the temple that the
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subtle bodies can hold the energy, it's not going to
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fizz off. It's not going to you know, a wire
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that can't carry that kind of energy, kind of phizzicism.
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You know, it won't do that. You'll be able to
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hold it. You know. Notice that you are becoming more you.
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It's not that some foreign thing is coming. You're actually
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peeling away the layers of content to see that who
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you are, you know, even before you incarnate it on
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this planet.
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I love what you said about the primorial broadcast, which
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is quite different I take it than the broadcast we
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offer scenari ears and the what about broadcasts? Right, And
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also I really appreciate what you said there about the
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development of the subtle body such that it can hold
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this energy because otherwise, sometimes you know, we start to develop,
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especially if we do any retreats or a lot of pots,
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we develop, you know, we start to accumulate some spiritual
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energy of us open. Then we usually we just leak
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it off as fast as we can because we're not
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used to holding it. We don't have a structure for it. Absolutely,
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even though as you mentioned before, we're not just the body.
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But it seems like an embodied approach to practice can
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be helpful in that the body, mind, spirit are all
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on a spectrum. So as we connect with the breath,
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as we connect with an embodied kind of presence, that
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takes us from gross body the subtle body, and we
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start to kind of build that inner architecture of the
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subtle body, the awakened subtle body, that can then really
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be a vehicle for our continued development. I wonder if
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that resonates with you.
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Oh. Absolutely. Oftentimes what happens is that some people may
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have like a tremendous opening, but as you said, it
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disappears really fast, or it just becomes a memory of
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something that happened years ago, but they haven't embodied it.
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Now a structured practice, you know, allows you to slowly
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be able to build up those subtle bodies, so you're
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able to hold the energy. So if you have a moment,
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it doesn't just become a memory of something you tell
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your friends about. You know what three years ago, this
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thing happened, you know, and I saw the light or
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whatever it was. So it's actually like an it's like exercising,
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you know, and you're building up something subtly, but it's
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still being built up and you're able to hold it.
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You're able to hold more of the cosmic wattage, so
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to speak, because your filament, your instruments is stronger to
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hold it. And so it becomes ultimately a way of living.
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You know, it's not a destination to get somewhere called enlightenment.
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It's more of a way of life that has tremendous
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fruits of patience and kindness and compassion and love and
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generosity and creativity. And then if a tremendous, magnificent moment happens,
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it gets integrated into your practice. It's not went off,
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you know, it's integrated.
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That's extremely helpful. You've really kind of laid out the
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classic paths of meditation and meditative development, so beautifully and
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it would resonate across traditions in many ways. Within that foundation,
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then you develop what you call a permative prayer, and
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then also the life visioning process. I wonder if you
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could kind of walk us through both of those.
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Well, obviously, when we talk about affirmative prayer, we are
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not talking about begging and reseaching some kind of reluctant
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deity to give us anything. We're beginning with the awareness
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through that our life, of course, is never separated from
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the divine. You know, we're one. We have a real
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unity with us and the presence by whatever name you
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want to call the presence, And so in prayer, we're
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opening ourselves up through gratitude, being very grateful that we
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are awake and alive. Just being grateful is a prayer,
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but just being grateful makes you available to the grace
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and the bliss that's happening everywhere. You become available to it.
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So we become grateful, and it helps us begin to
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recognize that there is a life of beauty and a
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presence everywhere. The meditative portion of the prayer is we
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feel one with life, we feel one with God, we
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feel one with the essence of life, and from there
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we speak the word to have a realization of what
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we're saying is true. We're not trying to make anything happen.
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We're trying to make something welcome that's already happened. We're
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already one with God. We're already full to overflowing with
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abundance and joy and creativity and telling it's already here.
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But we're speaking the word and affirmative prayer to have
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a realization of what we're saying is so it becomes
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an inner feeling nature. And then we give thanks that
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it's already done. And then we release the word as
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a law, knowing that it can't come back void. It
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comes back fulfilled thereof, and it happens immediately, I mean immediately.
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The immediate ramifications are you you start to produce tonic
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chemicals of the body, Your immune system becomes stronger, there's
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a greater coherence of the brain. You know, just in
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prayer and in meditation, so affirmative prayer, we're affirming that
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which is already true until we have a realization and
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not just a belief, not just a philosophy or a hypothesis,
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but we actually are praying to have a realization so
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that we feel that connection of whatever it is we're
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praying for.
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So in the same way you talked about before, you
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talked about as we connect with the observer consciousness with awareness,
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we get identify more with that. And you said that
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we know that the observer, the active observer, actually changes
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what being observed you mentioned before, and that gets it
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kind of into quantum theory and so forth. So in
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this case with the affirmative prayer, the power of affirming
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our own divinity, our own sacredness, the reality of who
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and what we really are, actually has real physiological power
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to it, or subtle body as well as I mean,
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it does begin to change our nervous system.
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And yes, I.
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Want if you get talk about that. It really is
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transforming us at the subtle level as well as sort
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of the grosser level of our neurophysiology and changing who
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we are through the power of that intention, the word
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the affirmation of these truths. I want to because it
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seems so powerful what you're describing there.
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It's absolutely true. I like to say, you're recalibrating your
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nervous system. The nervous system holds thought forms of anxiety,
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anxiousness and Oftentimes people they want to meditate or they
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want to pray, but their body and their subtle bodies
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are working against them because the nervous system is whole
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fear and worry and anxiousness and anxiety. So when you
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begin to pray affirmatively and coming into a deep resonance,
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a deep feeling of your oneness with the presence, whether
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that be love, beauty, intelligence, abundance, whatever the case may be,
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it starts to requalify your nervous system, so that the
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nervous system starts to hold the frequency of love or
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unity or connection. And then of course that affects the
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whole body temple, and then that affects all of the
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subtle bodies. And so that effect and prayer is immediate. Now,
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the manifestation of some other things that a person may
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want to bring into their life may take a period
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of time, but there's an immediate effect that's now obviously registered.
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With bring coherence technology and the measuring of oric fields
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and that you know, bile feedback and things of that
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particular nature. You can see scientifically that when one goes
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into prayer, you know, all all of these different things change,
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you see, and if one can do that on a
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regular basis, then the body of their affairs begin to
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change as well, and how they relate to the visible
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world begins to change. Prayer is very transformational. It is
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not begging pleading for something to happen. It is waking
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up to what's perennially happening. But we've cut ourselves off
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of it by having a limited perception of reality, so
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it's actually expanding our perception. So prayer is very powerful.
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But before we talk about life fasing, just one more
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follow up question. There. You know, you're describing this coherence
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that develops, and it's like a palpable resonance and coherence
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heart brain coherence, heartgut coherence, whether at the more gross
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level of our neurophysiology or at the soubile body level,
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which is all interconnected. So this is palpable, and it
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seems one of the real struggles that humanities facing now.
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So many people feel lonely and isolated, a disconnector so
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much anxiety and loneliness and even suicidality being endemic. And
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so when you begin to experience that level of coherence
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within your own being, it's almost like you're not alone anymore.
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I mean and some people might visualize that as a
477
00:28:17.920 --> 00:28:20.839
higher power or guardian angel or a deity, you know,
478
00:28:20.920 --> 00:28:23.519
thiss might just see it as the more subtle and
479
00:28:23.640 --> 00:28:26.240
true reality of themselves. But there is a quality of
480
00:28:26.279 --> 00:28:29.240
having a home, yes, but finally having a home and
481
00:28:29.319 --> 00:28:30.000
not being alone.
482
00:28:30.200 --> 00:28:33.680
I wonder if you'd, oh, absolutely what happens is you
483
00:28:33.759 --> 00:28:37.680
discover you can be alone but you're not necessarily lonely.
484
00:28:38.240 --> 00:28:42.799
You know, Oftentimes people are addicted to excitement, and whether
485
00:28:42.839 --> 00:28:45.960
it's one hundred and fifty channels on your television or
486
00:28:45.960 --> 00:28:49.599
being around people, even if you're not saying anything meaningful,
487
00:28:50.079 --> 00:28:53.599
you know, people become addicted to excitement and external and
488
00:28:53.640 --> 00:28:57.160
when that's gone, people feel lonely. And so if you
489
00:28:57.319 --> 00:29:01.359
develop some level of practice, you end up bumping into
490
00:29:01.440 --> 00:29:06.240
an awareness that you are definitely by yourself, but you're
491
00:29:06.279 --> 00:29:11.319
not lonely. There's something else, another character, another frequency arises
492
00:29:11.480 --> 00:29:12.480
within you.
493
00:29:12.480 --> 00:29:12.680
You know.
494
00:29:12.759 --> 00:29:16.720
I like being alone personally. I love people too, you know,
495
00:29:17.359 --> 00:29:20.079
but when I am by myself, I'm not longing to
496
00:29:20.119 --> 00:29:23.119
be with anybody, or to go and speak to anybody,
497
00:29:23.279 --> 00:29:24.839
or stand in front of a crowd and teach or
498
00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:28.720
anything like that. I love being by myself. It's so
499
00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:33.359
sweet and wonderful just to be alone, to watch the
500
00:29:33.480 --> 00:29:37.480
thoughts pass, to see what it arises in terms of creativity,
501
00:29:38.400 --> 00:29:40.599
you know. And then I love people too. So it's
502
00:29:40.599 --> 00:29:43.640
not that I'm reclusive. I just when I'm alone, I
503
00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:46.680
love it. When I'm with people, I love that. But definitely,
504
00:29:46.720 --> 00:29:50.200
there is a kind of a pandemic of loneliness in
505
00:29:50.200 --> 00:29:53.200
the world where people are concerned, and a lot of that,
506
00:29:53.640 --> 00:29:56.359
a lot of the after effects of the pandemic, the
507
00:29:56.359 --> 00:29:59.119
lockdown of healthy people the first time in human history
508
00:29:59.119 --> 00:30:02.640
that ever happened, and people didn't know how to handle it.
509
00:30:02.640 --> 00:30:05.759
It created a kind of a scar tissue, sam scar
510
00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:10.640
of a soul going through that fear, doubt, worry, projection
511
00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:14.079
of worst case scenarios onto the future. And people are
512
00:30:14.119 --> 00:30:17.359
still healing from that. And then you have the language
513
00:30:17.359 --> 00:30:21.519
coming up about mental health being a very dominant language.
514
00:30:22.000 --> 00:30:25.759
And then you have contagion, and people don't realize you're
515
00:30:25.799 --> 00:30:29.799
not just contagent. Colds are just contagious. Thoughts are contagious,
516
00:30:30.039 --> 00:30:32.480
you know. So you have a large groups of people
517
00:30:33.160 --> 00:30:37.839
feeling have gone through this particular experience and then the
518
00:30:37.880 --> 00:30:41.400
anxiety around it. Those thought forms aren't staying in a
519
00:30:41.440 --> 00:30:44.960
person's house, those thought forms go everywhere. So you have
520
00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:48.839
this contagion of people being anxious and worried and wondering
521
00:30:48.880 --> 00:30:52.519
what's going to happen next, you see. But there's also
522
00:30:52.599 --> 00:30:56.119
a contagion that happens when small groups of people are
523
00:30:56.160 --> 00:30:59.519
meditating together. You have spiritual groups like yourself, you know,
524
00:30:59.559 --> 00:31:03.359
that come together in community and meditate. That's contagious too.
525
00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:09.079
That changes whole neighborhoods, states, and cities. And so I
526
00:31:09.119 --> 00:31:11.119
think what we're telling people right now is they can
527
00:31:11.119 --> 00:31:13.599
be alone without being lonely. But if you have some
528
00:31:13.759 --> 00:31:17.799
level of spiritual practice and intentionality, you have an insight
529
00:31:17.960 --> 00:31:21.720
into that an event that takes place in your awareness
530
00:31:22.240 --> 00:31:26.880
where incrementally or suddenly, no, oh I'm not alone, Oh
531
00:31:26.920 --> 00:31:30.680
my god, I'm surrounded by such love, such peace, at
532
00:31:30.839 --> 00:31:32.720
a presence is here, you know.
533
00:31:33.359 --> 00:31:36.559
Yeah, beautiful. As you were speaking, I was thinking of
534
00:31:36.559 --> 00:31:39.359
from a New Testament, two or more gather together in
535
00:31:39.400 --> 00:31:41.960
My name and then there's yes than to the Holy
536
00:31:42.000 --> 00:31:43.000
Spirit in that way.
537
00:31:42.880 --> 00:31:44.880
Is absolutely so.
538
00:31:45.240 --> 00:31:51.400
Another social malady that's epidemic today, both for individuals and
539
00:31:51.440 --> 00:31:55.839
society is a sense of meaninglessness and purposeless that at
540
00:31:55.920 --> 00:31:58.519
least all kinds of tragedies and a lot of violence
541
00:31:58.559 --> 00:32:01.359
and the things we're saying. And so your life visioning
542
00:32:01.400 --> 00:32:04.079
process says, I understand, it has through with helping people
543
00:32:04.440 --> 00:32:07.480
rediscover their life purpose or even their soul's purpose, if
544
00:32:07.519 --> 00:32:09.039
you will, so, I wonder if you could talk about
545
00:32:09.079 --> 00:32:12.720
that now, right. That is a transformational technology for that
546
00:32:12.839 --> 00:32:17.599
exact reason, because of what you just said, there is
547
00:32:18.000 --> 00:32:21.960
the appearance of so much meaninglessness in the civilizations of
548
00:32:22.000 --> 00:32:22.480
the world.
549
00:32:23.119 --> 00:32:26.720
You very rarely hear a visionary be president of the
550
00:32:26.799 --> 00:32:30.240
United States or run a particular country. They're basically always
551
00:32:30.319 --> 00:32:34.759
focused on the bottom line of the gross national product,
552
00:32:35.400 --> 00:32:39.279
some kind of level of materialism or power. And so
553
00:32:39.359 --> 00:32:43.119
people grow up in their particular countries and there's no
554
00:32:43.759 --> 00:32:47.799
grand meaning other than we got to get more stuff,
555
00:32:47.839 --> 00:32:50.799
whatever that stuff is. And so after a while that
556
00:32:50.839 --> 00:32:54.720
plays out in a person's heart and soul. So we
557
00:32:54.799 --> 00:32:59.000
are all shocked from the eternal presence called by millions
558
00:32:59.000 --> 00:33:03.839
of names of God, Love, beauty, intelligence, and we have
559
00:33:03.880 --> 00:33:09.920
a purpose of reflecting and revealing that presence according to
560
00:33:10.000 --> 00:33:13.559
our uniqueness. Everyone, I believe everyone has the same purpose
561
00:33:14.160 --> 00:33:19.000
to reveal the face of Divinity, reveal the face of love, intelligence, whatever,
562
00:33:19.559 --> 00:33:22.960
however people want to describe this ineffable life. But we
563
00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:26.119
all have different missions, we have different ways of expressing
564
00:33:26.160 --> 00:33:29.839
that because one of the things that this vast presence
565
00:33:29.960 --> 00:33:35.119
does never repeats itself. There's nothing repetitive in the entire cosmos.
566
00:33:35.640 --> 00:33:38.880
Two rocks aren't the same, two blades of grass aren't
567
00:33:38.880 --> 00:33:42.359
the same. To flowers, to individuals, to animals, there is
568
00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:46.799
nothing the same. So diversity and inclusivity is built into
569
00:33:47.480 --> 00:33:52.559
the whole, the stalls of life. So so we're all unique.
570
00:33:53.119 --> 00:33:57.400
So the life visioning process begins with going into meditation,
571
00:33:58.160 --> 00:34:03.640
cultivating a feeling of love, total love, unconditional love. And
572
00:34:03.680 --> 00:34:06.759
so I'll take people through that process in different ways,
573
00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:11.000
and then we're aware that this universal presence, called by
574
00:34:11.000 --> 00:34:14.719
whatever name you want to call it, by law, answers
575
00:34:14.840 --> 00:34:18.800
every single question that you ask. If you ask a
576
00:34:18.880 --> 00:34:26.079
disempowering question, what's wrong, who's to blame? Why me, You'll
577
00:34:26.079 --> 00:34:28.760
get a series of answers that will take you down
578
00:34:28.800 --> 00:34:33.400
the spiral of negativity, of excuses of things that have happened,
579
00:34:33.440 --> 00:34:36.480
and the woundedness and why you are the way you are.
580
00:34:37.119 --> 00:34:40.119
But if you ask a higher order of question, such
581
00:34:40.239 --> 00:34:43.599
as what is it within me that is seeking to
582
00:34:43.679 --> 00:34:46.199
emerge right now? What gift do I have to give
583
00:34:46.320 --> 00:34:49.000
to the world before I leave it? You know, what
584
00:34:49.079 --> 00:34:52.039
contribution am I to make? What is the vision for
585
00:34:52.119 --> 00:34:56.360
my life as this presence sees it? If you ask
586
00:34:56.440 --> 00:35:02.400
questions like that, you're going to begin to get answers, intuitively, subtly,
587
00:35:03.239 --> 00:35:06.599
sometimes very growth for some people. That will lead you
588
00:35:06.719 --> 00:35:12.239
into a path of participating in your own unfolding. So
589
00:35:12.400 --> 00:35:16.000
life vision process begins with meditation in a field of love,
590
00:35:16.559 --> 00:35:19.559
and then I invite people to ask the question. This
591
00:35:19.679 --> 00:35:22.400
used the word God for a moment. What is God's
592
00:35:22.519 --> 00:35:27.079
idea of itself as me? That's a vision. You know,
593
00:35:27.239 --> 00:35:30.679
God doesn't make meaningless acts. This presence is full of
594
00:35:30.760 --> 00:35:34.159
meaning of love and beauty and intelligence. It's no meaningless thing.
595
00:35:34.360 --> 00:35:36.639
What is God's idea of itself as my life? Or
596
00:35:37.400 --> 00:35:40.159
what is it that's within me that is seeking to
597
00:35:40.199 --> 00:35:44.280
emerge now as a contribution as a gift to the world.
598
00:35:44.760 --> 00:35:47.039
Because we didn't come to the planet to get anything.
599
00:35:47.039 --> 00:35:49.639
There's nothing to get. We came to the planet to give,
600
00:35:50.039 --> 00:35:53.519
to share, to shine, to glow, to radiate, to contribute.
601
00:35:53.559 --> 00:35:55.760
We didn't come to get there's nothing, there's nothing in
602
00:35:55.880 --> 00:35:59.239
the world that can make us happy, zero happiness and
603
00:35:59.320 --> 00:36:01.519
joys in trends. We have to give it, we have
604
00:36:01.599 --> 00:36:04.159
to shine it through some kind of creative act or
605
00:36:04.159 --> 00:36:07.920
generosity your service. So we ask what am I to
606
00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:10.920
contribute or what's trying to emerge? So we sit in
607
00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:16.000
that space meditatively for a while to activate the spiritual
608
00:36:16.039 --> 00:36:20.960
faculty that's been stunted because we've lived so much in
609
00:36:21.000 --> 00:36:24.239
the five senses as and everything we can see and
610
00:36:24.280 --> 00:36:27.199
taste and touch and hear and smell is real. People
611
00:36:27.199 --> 00:36:30.599
have actually forgotten that most of life is invisible. We're
612
00:36:30.639 --> 00:36:33.360
mostly invisible. We think everything that is real is what
613
00:36:33.440 --> 00:36:35.480
you can see. So when we ask that question and
614
00:36:35.519 --> 00:36:38.320
we go into deep listening, we start to activate the
615
00:36:38.360 --> 00:36:42.320
faculty of real seeing and real hearing again not with
616
00:36:42.400 --> 00:36:44.920
eyes and not with ears, but that which created the
617
00:36:44.960 --> 00:36:48.079
eyes and ears, and we start to catch insight. And
618
00:36:48.119 --> 00:36:51.599
then from there we ask the question, what is it
619
00:36:51.639 --> 00:36:56.400
that I must become in order to manifest the vision
620
00:36:57.239 --> 00:37:02.840
that's beginning to articulate itself. That's our growing edge. It's
621
00:37:02.880 --> 00:37:06.800
not a judgment exercise, it's an awareness exercise because we
622
00:37:06.880 --> 00:37:09.599
start to get guidance as to where we're called to grow.
623
00:37:10.199 --> 00:37:13.599
Are we called to grow to be more forgiving, to
624
00:37:13.639 --> 00:37:16.000
be more loving? Are we called to grow to develop
625
00:37:16.039 --> 00:37:19.840
certain skills, some talents that we've allowed to go dormant?
626
00:37:20.480 --> 00:37:23.440
You know? We start to ask the question, and from
627
00:37:23.440 --> 00:37:28.159
within our own soul answers will come as to what
628
00:37:28.440 --> 00:37:32.960
we must become in order to manifest the vision. Third
629
00:37:33.039 --> 00:37:37.400
question is what do we already have that can be
630
00:37:37.480 --> 00:37:41.719
in service to the vision? Why is this important? There's
631
00:37:41.760 --> 00:37:45.159
a scriptural law that says to hear or she who
632
00:37:45.239 --> 00:37:47.760
has more as given to he or she who has
633
00:37:47.880 --> 00:37:51.119
not even that which they have, shall be taken away.
634
00:37:51.800 --> 00:37:54.679
Now that law is not personal. It's just saying that
635
00:37:54.719 --> 00:37:58.199
if you walk with the feeling of having and being,
636
00:37:58.800 --> 00:38:01.199
you open up door more comes to you. But if
637
00:38:01.199 --> 00:38:04.760
you're walking around feeling that you don't have, then you're
638
00:38:04.840 --> 00:38:07.079
using the law reverse and then what you have is
639
00:38:07.079 --> 00:38:10.199
taken away. So we ask what is it that we
640
00:38:10.239 --> 00:38:12.440
have that can be in service to the vision, and
641
00:38:12.480 --> 00:38:15.840
we start becoming aware of resources that we have that
642
00:38:16.000 --> 00:38:21.119
maybe we thought were inconsequential, they weren't important. Talents that
643
00:38:21.159 --> 00:38:23.840
we can develop. There may be all kinds of resources
644
00:38:23.880 --> 00:38:26.960
around us that we're not even thinking about that can
645
00:38:27.000 --> 00:38:29.000
be in service to this vision that we're now beginning
646
00:38:29.000 --> 00:38:31.840
to articulate. So now we're starting to walk with this
647
00:38:31.960 --> 00:38:36.800
feeling of having something. The next question is what are
648
00:38:36.840 --> 00:38:41.199
we willing to let go of that no longer serves us? Conversations,
649
00:38:41.519 --> 00:38:44.599
other habits. You know, we know these things, but sometimes
650
00:38:44.599 --> 00:38:47.159
we hide them from ourselves and then we become willing
651
00:38:47.159 --> 00:38:48.679
to let them go. I mean, there have been things
652
00:38:48.679 --> 00:38:51.039
that we needed in the past. There may be in
653
00:38:51.039 --> 00:38:53.880
a certain defense mechanism that really protected us when we
654
00:38:53.880 --> 00:38:57.280
were going through some abuse as a kid. We had
655
00:38:57.280 --> 00:39:00.440
to have a coping mechanism how to survive until we
656
00:39:00.480 --> 00:39:02.480
can become strong enough to look at it in the face.
657
00:39:03.199 --> 00:39:05.920
But what do we no longer need right now that
658
00:39:06.199 --> 00:39:08.119
Where can we let go if it doesn't serve us?
659
00:39:08.599 --> 00:39:11.360
We ask that question, we start to get answers, and
660
00:39:11.400 --> 00:39:14.159
then we finally come into the feeling tone of willingness.
661
00:39:14.679 --> 00:39:18.719
Where there is willingness, there is a way, when there
662
00:39:18.760 --> 00:39:23.639
is will fullness, you create a vibrational wall. Willingness provides
663
00:39:23.679 --> 00:39:27.519
the way. Willfulness creates a wall. So you come into
664
00:39:27.519 --> 00:39:29.320
the state of willingness. You don't have to know how
665
00:39:29.320 --> 00:39:31.440
to do all this stuff. Yet you just have to
666
00:39:31.440 --> 00:39:34.800
be able to describe the vision. Notice where you have
667
00:39:34.880 --> 00:39:38.920
to grow, embrace what you have, become willing to let
668
00:39:38.960 --> 00:39:42.400
go of what doesn't serve you, and this prayerful feeling
669
00:39:42.440 --> 00:39:47.719
tone of willingness. We become the vibrational match to the
670
00:39:47.800 --> 00:39:52.039
unfolding of a vision. So it's transformational because, for instance,
671
00:39:52.079 --> 00:39:54.840
you know, in the beginning stages of metaphysics, new thought
672
00:39:55.360 --> 00:40:00.320
is visualization. Visualization says, you know, be very specif think
673
00:40:00.360 --> 00:40:04.639
about seeing what you want to manifest, describe it, feel
674
00:40:04.679 --> 00:40:07.400
that you have it, walk as if you have it,
675
00:40:07.440 --> 00:40:10.920
and you will manifest it. Problem with that is, oftentimes
676
00:40:10.960 --> 00:40:13.119
people are visualizing something that has nothing to do with
677
00:40:13.159 --> 00:40:15.960
their soul's growth. It's something they got from society or
678
00:40:16.039 --> 00:40:18.000
commercial I got to have this kind of card to
679
00:40:18.119 --> 00:40:20.880
be happy or something to that effect. And plus, whatever
680
00:40:20.920 --> 00:40:24.519
they're visualizing is limiting. It's from limitation anyways, it's from
681
00:40:24.559 --> 00:40:29.320
the person's limited paradigm anyway, or something that's already been done.
682
00:40:29.480 --> 00:40:31.559
But it's a good step. It's a very good stage
683
00:40:32.039 --> 00:40:35.559
in metaphysics to learn how to visualize and to re
684
00:40:35.760 --> 00:40:40.440
enchant the imagination. But visioning is not saying what we want.
685
00:40:41.000 --> 00:40:43.760
It is asking what's within us and wants to be released.
686
00:40:44.119 --> 00:40:46.639
As Robert Browning would remind us, we want to release
687
00:40:46.679 --> 00:40:49.920
the inner splendor. It's a different focus. It's not I
688
00:40:49.960 --> 00:40:52.519
want this and I want to manifest this. It's what
689
00:40:52.679 --> 00:40:56.199
is it within me that wants to come forward. So
690
00:40:56.280 --> 00:40:59.960
that's the short version of the vision process and somewhat
691
00:41:00.159 --> 00:41:03.639
of the process of it that becomes a technology. You know,
692
00:41:03.639 --> 00:41:06.280
all of our ministries here have a vision group in
693
00:41:06.320 --> 00:41:10.360
which they are constantly available to what's next seeking to
694
00:41:10.400 --> 00:41:15.159
emerge in their particular department or ministry. And people use
695
00:41:15.199 --> 00:41:19.639
this process now it's cross lines is in Corporate America boards.
696
00:41:19.800 --> 00:41:23.840
Trustees are using it, businesses are using it, individuals are
697
00:41:23.880 --> 00:41:28.159
using it. It's become a transformational technology that's a part
698
00:41:28.239 --> 00:41:31.440
of the tools of growth and unfoldment.
699
00:41:31.920 --> 00:41:34.119
Well, it's certainly a beautiful process. I wrote down the
700
00:41:34.199 --> 00:41:37.920
steps incredibly powerful and I love the distinction you made
701
00:41:38.239 --> 00:41:41.440
as you're describing it between willingness and wilfulness.
702
00:41:41.960 --> 00:41:45.039
Definitely, because people can be wilful. It's a lot of
703
00:41:45.079 --> 00:41:47.400
the ego strength. I'm going to make this happen, you
704
00:41:47.440 --> 00:41:49.920
know what I mean? And it creates a vibrational wall
705
00:41:49.960 --> 00:41:52.159
because with that wilfulness, you're actually saying, I don't have
706
00:41:52.199 --> 00:41:54.400
it when to make it happen, I don't have it.
707
00:41:54.480 --> 00:41:58.280
So willingness it's more feminine, it's more allowing.
708
00:41:59.079 --> 00:42:02.719
Yeah, you know that your work is situated within a
709
00:42:02.760 --> 00:42:06.360
broader social vision, and I think very much you're within
710
00:42:06.400 --> 00:42:11.400
the sort of Godhian king Ian social vision. Miliu and
711
00:42:11.480 --> 00:42:14.559
our last conversation, I think early on is growing up
712
00:42:14.599 --> 00:42:16.840
as a black man in America. You touched in on,
713
00:42:17.360 --> 00:42:20.079
you know, the natural angry response to the injustice that
714
00:42:20.199 --> 00:42:23.880
was there, and you were led into a more transformative pathway.
715
00:42:24.159 --> 00:42:27.519
But I know you're still very involved in yeah, wanting
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to bring greater sanity and blessings and transformation to the world,
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not just to any individual, but a larger social vision.
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So I wonder if you could just touch in on
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that could be a whole nother conversation. But I want
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if you could just on that a little bit.
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But you know, we definitely influenced by and embrace liberation theology,
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which is a mention of Christianity, mystical Christianity in which
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we're to be earthly good as well as heavenly bound
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that we're to make a difference on the planet. That
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true compassion is oftentimes actions that you take around social
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justice or you know, like for instance, who were involved
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with the fires that just happened in Palisades, And we've
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had different groups in our community meet to help people
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move through that, but we also put them in the
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direction of where they can get help. We've also donated
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to places that are doing real work, you know. So
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whatever something happens, we always ask as a community, what
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is it that is ours to do to be the
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service of humanity. We're not going to cloister ourselves up
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and say and not see what's happening in the world.
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So we're always asking that question, what is ours to
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do in this particular event, tragedy, or circumstance. So we
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carry on one hand where you know unity, vendota, you know,
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absolute nondual oneness with God. At the same time, all
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of that takes an action, you know, it's calm or yoga.
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You know, where their true practice of unity is in
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actually doing service. So we have programs in our community
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like Sacred Service Saturday, where we every year have a
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Saturday devoted to we contact many of the nonprofit organizations
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that we can in Los Angeles and now in the
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states and countries as well. But it started off just
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in Los Angeles, and we flood these places with volunteers.
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We have all of our congregation go to these places
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and sign up and do real physical work or whatever
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needs to be done in these nonprofits, not to proseetize,
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not to get people to come to AGAPE, but just
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as an act of service. And then what happens is
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many of the people from Agape end up being permanent
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volunteers in these places. And many of those people and
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those places come to a gape they say, who are
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these people? They're not asking for anything, they don't want anything,
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They're just coming to serve. So there's definitely part of
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00:44:51.639 --> 00:44:55.440
our dharma is to be of service and speak and
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00:44:55.559 --> 00:44:57.519
we call, you know, in our ministry we call a
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00:44:57.519 --> 00:44:59.880
thing when something's going on in the world that's not right.
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Are not in harmony with justice? We talk about it,
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not with the blaming vibration, but with an articulation this
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is what's going on, this is what's out of alignment,
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you see, and holding a vision for something better.
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Beautiful. Reverend Michael be Beck with the founder of Agapi,
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the Agapi community and the life visioning process and permittive prayer.
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And thank you so much for the work you've been
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doing for many, many decades now and that you continue
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to do. And really wishing you in your community all
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00:45:32.039 --> 00:45:34.559
the best. I know many in your community have suffered
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from the recent buyers and Los Angeles area, and sending
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many blessings your.
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Way, Brother Flee, Thank you so much for all that
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you're doing to help span people's consciousness. Thank you for
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the invitation to be here with you today. It's my joy.
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Thank you for joining me on the Radical Responsibility Podcast. Remember,
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real change happens when we commit to our growth, face
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00:45:56.840 --> 00:46:00.400
our challenges with compassion, and stay open to transformation. If
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00:46:00.440 --> 00:46:03.679
you found this episode helpful, I encourage you to subscribe
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00:46:03.679 --> 00:46:07.039
and help us spread the message of healing and personal empowerment.
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Stay grounded, stay present, and stay true to you. Take care,