enlightenment, not just for prisoners and reggae musicians anymore

"Because of the extremely rare, golden opportunities of April, we need to make ourselves very visible as who we really are. We need to dress as who we really are, move through all our activities as who we really are, and speak our truth at all times. Otherwise, if we are still disguised, we may not connect with those whom we are meant to meet. Listen for the numerous hints, clues and signposts that are coming our way. We need to be wide open and totally available, as well as ready to change direction in an instant." - Solara, April 2008 Surf Report

Reading that paragraph above, I thought maybe it'd be right timing to re-post a June 26, 2006 post titled "Lightening Up! Coming Out of the Closet" below. This is definitely, if ever I doubted, the time to be true to ourselves.

The easiest way to be truly true to our self is to wake up to our Self.

Since that writing, I've come across a wide variety of bodhisattvas along my travels. Sometimes, as my former teacher Adyashanti said they wear guises of prisoners (he'd visited and taught at prisons - and met two awakened Buddhas - solitary confinement can do that), or grocery store clerks counting change in wayward towns.

Myself, I've encountered them guerilla gardening wheatgrass in the urban cracks of the sidewalk and dancing in purple dresses they salvaged off the streets of the Mission District, San Francisco. Or, sometimes they are a reggae musician I know. Or other times, a single mom and artist. Or, my faun friend last seen picking apples at an organic farm. Or, the barista that handed me the Om Tazo tea at this coffee shop where I type this crossed road dispatch this very moment.

I know, I know, you were looking for white-robed saints with crusty beards and hefty halos.

In case you're thoroughly confused, I'm talking about awakening. Just the tip of iceberg, and really the so-called start of enlightenment. (As if beginnings and endings existed.) I've finally seen it's not doing any bit of good to pretend to be otherwise than awake.

Awakening to Self is going to be quite common now that the earth's shifted to 4D. So, you might as well get used to it. You will be next.

Again, this post was written 6/26/06, and the "awakening" such as it was "happened" somewhere in a nondescript Peet's coffee shop in a nondescript strip mall in San Jose, CA precisely two years ago today, April 7, 2006.

In many ways, I feel more like a 2-year-old navigating tottering through a brand new world. (It can take 4-7 years after awakening for all the habitual conditioning to wear off and for an "individual" self to embody awakening fully.) Well, without further ado, that post:

The traffiic chugged on Van Ness on my way to a friend's private art exhibition (well, more like a party with all of his recent abstract art covering every inch of wall) because of the 36th Annual Gay Pride parade in San  Francisco yesterday.

It reminded me of the touching snippet I'd read this weekend in my research into my favorite retail chain store (that's favorite chain), Anthropologie (the website does not do the experience justice). It reminded me how far we've come that snippets like this aren't taboo, but even celebrated today in story, film, parade, and life more and more:

In his office on the second-floor loft, which over-looks the entire ground level, [Glen] Senk sheepishly apologizes for the clumps of dog hair under his own desk, courtesy of his two beloved Welsh Pembroke corgis, Piper and Cosmo. They regularly visit from the nearby Dutch Colonial house Senk, 50, shares with Keith Johnson, his partner of 32 years. The couple met in Brookville, Long Island, when they were both 10, and Senk says his reaction to Johnson was “chemical”. Hearing this, the quiet Johnson playfully rolls his eyes and adds, “It took me a little bit longer to figure it out.” - Philebrity  5/23/2006 blog post

A January Knight-Ridder piece on "The Art of Retail" (alas now cached) tells us more about the couple: "An artist and former furniture designer, [Keith] Johnson started his global shopping excursions [for Anthropologie] soon after his partner, Glen Senk, a former Williams-Sonoma retailing executive, took over the Anthropologie helm in 1994."

I suppose there was a time when 'coming out' meant that besides placing the burden of possible 'outsider' status upon yourself, you're also under the intense scrutiny of being a representative, an ambassador of sorts, for all gays, those out and hidden and everything in between. Maybe people look at your every move to see what it is 'gays' do and how 'gays' behave. It's hard enough in this life just being yourself, much less being a symbol to uphold. And I can't imagine being an openly gay executive would be a very easy task back 36 years ago at the time of the inaugural gay pride parade either.

Which is all a long-winded way of saying that the parade also reminded me that I feel a heck of a lot more comfortable being a closet mystic. And closet Awakeness. Yet to 'normalize' enlightenment, it's not going to do a heck of a lot of good for me to stay comfortably esconed in the closet. People have all sorts of fantasy concepts about awakening and the so-called process oof enlightenment process. Since I'm less restrained in off-the-cuff email, I'll share a raw tidbit I wrote to a friend this a.m.

Very very luminously content - whole, complete - esp after the striving/ struggling ceased early April. There is still lots of liberation and enlightening of the denser unpurified parts happening,  but whew I don't have manage/direct it or effort it anymore.

There's a myth that awakening and the ever-unfolding enlightening is only for saints, Buddhists, someone holier than thou, someone special, someone-anyone-else. (Ha! I'm totally busting the saint archetype - my imperfections have never been more glaringly obvious and wholly okay.) We think we'd become something Other, maybe we'll morph into Mother Teresa or Jesus or Buddha or Joan of Arc or godknows. That's not it -  we become more nakedly ourselves, without the burden of maintaining an awkward and cumbersome image of ourselves (we most certainly do not become anyone else).

Enlightening isn't a self-improvement exercise. It's more of a stripping away: who/what you are without the heavy weight of ideas of who/what we all are, each and everyone, obscuring our perception and knowledge. This sounds ho-hum but the world as you thought it was totally unhinges, and I mean totally, and you see the world as it is.

The Buddha's description of Nirvana, in the Pali Canon, as "visible in this life, inviting, attractive, accessible," is clearly true and makes perfect sense. So does Master Ummon's statement that the first step along the Zen Path is to see into our Void Nature: getting rid of our bad karma comes after - not before - that seeing. So does Ramana Maharshi's insistence that it is easier to see What and Who we really are than to see "a gooseberry in the palm of our hand" -- as so often, this Hindu sage confirms Zen teaching. All of which means there are no preconditions for this essential in-seeing. To oneself one's Nature is forever clearly displayed, and it's amazing how one could ever pretend otherwise. It's available now, just as one is, and doesn't require the seer to be holy, or learned, or clever, or special in any way. Rather  the reverse! What a superb advantage and opportunity this is! - The Nondual Highlights, issue #2505, June 23, 2006

Many people read this blog for clues on how to integrate spirituality into their business, into their life. Doubtful you'd find anyone more stubborn than I, yet I yielded to the wisdom in one of my teacher's words:

Many people ask, "How do I integrate my spirituality into everyday life?" You don't. You can't. How could you integrate it? You can't stuff the infinite into your limited life. Instead, give your life to divine impulse...Throw your life into Truth. Don't try to stuff Truth into your life."  - Emptiness Dancing, Adyashanti

Just about every religion under the sun has informed me. Yesterday I witnessed a Christian baptism wherein the ritual a woman figuratively "died to themselves", and thereby gave her life to something greater than her sense of self, which she named God. (For nondualists, recall Stephen Mitchell's words: When everything is God, nothing is God. To me God is unnameable.)

I doubt I'll discuss awakening any more every than every couple of months. [Actually in retrospect, 'twas more like once per year.] Enough to make sure I'm not hiding. And to remind myself, anyone reading, that a clear, deep wise Mystery is informing me and what I do and how I think and how I feel and what I write - so you might as well know that upfront. (It's kind of dry to talk about, write about anyway in comparison to the incredible voyage it is to live out. Hint: My last post was really enlightening too. Everyone's had moments.)

It's actually so simple you're missing it. En-lighten-ing. Lighting up. Lighten up. Incredible lightness of being. I see glimpses of it everywhere when people, kids, flowers, dogs, designers, architects, writers, entrepreneurs and other folks glimpse it too. Usually when they connect to silence, their heart, their body, their senses, their gut feel. When they aren't dead from the neck down. That's really what this blog is about: Pointing to that simple stuff which lightens. Enlightens. Affirms Life. In business, in life.

Full circle, speaking of enlightening, again I see the pointers to truth everywhere, little love letters to God everywhere, and I'm totally smitten by Keith Johnson's words and his sense of style (perhaps I'll share the whole piece later). Again, he's the curator of sorts for the thoroughly enchanting Anthropologie stores. Even what he says hints that our imperfectability is maybe what's so lovable anyway. Here he shares a little more about his design instincts:

A cork beehive from Portugal sits in one corner. In another, a huge empty frame with rococo carvings of birds and flowers leans against a wall.

"I bought hundreds of those in an old gilding factory, and we put mirrors in them and used them in store dressing rooms," Johnson says. "They were never gilded, so they got that wonderful, white weathered look. If they had been gilded, they wouldn't have been as interesting to me.

"We've periodically tried building store fixtures, but they don't have the soul of the old pieces. The old things give a life and resonance to the stores that just can't be replaced." - "Mastering the Art of Retail" (Google cached), Contra Costa Times (via Knight-Ridder), Jan 28, 2006

Bonus: "Spiritual people always think the Truth is hidden from them. It is not hidden. What gets in the way is the idea of what it is going to be. Find that place of what actually is. There is only One manifesting as everything. Ponder and meditate on this until you realize it yourself through and through." [You cannot accept it as belief as that'd be replacing an idea with yet another idea.] - Emptiness Dancing, by Adyashanti

Art credits Let you guys surmise why Kwan Yin features so prominently in this post. 1st Kwan Yin (artist unknown via A Heart's Journey site); 2nd Kwan Yin by SpiderLady-Hera; 3rd Kwan Yin (artist unknown via Divine Goddess Kwan Yin site); 4th Kwan Yin is in alternate androgynous form of Avalokitesvara, this statue in Java, Indonesia.

Bonus 2: Snippet from the April 2008 Surf Report by Solara below (to subscribe to Solara's full monthly reports):

FROM THE APRIL 2008 SURF REPORT

FAST FORWARD

April is one of the key months of 2008. Many of us will enter the Fast Track and find our journey into our New Lives greatly accelerated. Our Sacred Quests are going to take us to new places. It is a powerful month of connection and clicking into position. We will be led to our rightful place and are going to connect with some of our true people. Much new information will be coming to us that will have a profound effect.

It will feel as if we've been given a Fast Forward pass that enables us to bypass the old, arduous ways of doing things and puts us on a new super highway of speedy shortcuts with a steady stream of Green Lights. We will move from the meandering backroads full of blockages and detours to the clear open expressway. Our entire life will accelerate and move forward unhindered.

Whether or not we are able to get our Fast Forward pass depends on a few critical factors, such as embodying our True Core Beings and giving our total commitment to moving onto a totally new level. Many people at this time are extremely aware that the ship of duality is quickly sinking. And yet quite surprisingly, some are not making the necessary efforts to get themselves onto dry land. Even though they sincerely long to be in their New Lives, they are still continuing to live their lives as if we are in "normal" times, which we obviously are not. Pretending that everything is "normal", when it isn't, is a huge trap. If we do this, we may go down with the ship.

The reuniting of elements, people and places that have long been separate is a major theme of April, for it is now time for them to join together. These are the ones who are predestined to be together. Many of us will encounter our kindred beings, the people of our New Lives. And some of us will unite with our One True Loves. This is made possible by the heightened activation of our most intimate inner encodings. These encoding are now acting as beacons, helping us find one another. Once this happens, it will be like the docking of two very different worlds. This will enable us to fully access our true destiny and purpose.

Because of the extremely rare, golden opportunities of April, we need to make ourselves very visible as who we really are. We need to dress as who we really are, move through all our activities as who we really are, and speak our truth at all times. Otherwise, if we are still disguised, we may not connect with those whom we are meant to meet. Listen for the numerous hints, clues and signposts that are coming our way. We need to be wide open and totally available, as well as ready to change direction in an instant."   

-- Solara

Comments

[Saba.]

What a great post. I especially loved this statement you mentioned when quoting your teacher: "You can't stuff the infinite into your limited life. Instead, give your life to divine impulse...Throw your life into Truth. Don't try to stuff Truth into your life."

I stumbled across your blog quite by accident, but I always enjoy what I read here.

[krystyn]

Just what I needed to read this morning. :)

p.s. I want a t-shirt that says "Enlightenment. Not just for prisoners and reggae musicians anymore."

[Amit C]

Hi Evelyn,

It's been a while.

So, what is the reason\story behind the "former" w.r.t. Adyashanti?

Regards
Amit

[Evelyn Rodriguez]

Thank you Saba (& welcome) and Krystyn.

Amit, welcome back. I reference Adyashanti because he has met many awakened beings in his 11-12 years of teaching and holding satsang. It's easiest to recognize someone else that knows who they are when you know. Most people have a fixed image that they hold of what awakeness would look like and act like, and then seek to match this pattern.

Awake beings come from all walks of life - it is not a profession, not a race, not a class, not a gender, not a lineage, not a good/bad designation...it is complete, direct identification with all that is. Thus it is available to anyone, anytime - even those who are in jail for life sentences, and even for you (which seems always the hardest to believe).

[Bruce Lewin]

Hi Evelyn,

Loving the blog, especially the perspectives on self :-)

[Bruce Lewin]

p.s. is there a way to follow comments?