Ho'oponopono

agape and the heart as the sense organ of our deepest being ~ forgiveness ~ The spiritual heart is: "Richness of presence, warmth and intimacy." ~ notes from an Adyashanti satsang on the open heart

I'm continuing to stay focused on the heart, while reams and reefs of buried, and re-triggered emotional pain is surfacing. (Remember the post a few back on getting to the oil at the bottom of the ocean? It's not enough to do a cursory quick glance over clean-up. Either in the Gulf of Mexico or our emotional bodies (ahem, as if there's any separateness). That said, there is no need to go searching for any hidden emotions that are NOT surfacing currently in you. It'll be obvious if something is up. Life will show you up front and center.)

It just so happened (coincidences abound) that my main teacher Adyashanti was speaking on the open heart last night. I sharing some notes below. The most eye-opening parts had to do with:

(1) viewing the heart as a sense organ itself -- this could be key for ho'oponopono (perhaps it can be employed rather than the mind)

(2) the idea that when one awakens to Oneness there's often a sense of spaciousness since the conceptual "I" is seen through yet that's only one aspect of Being--the other aspect of the Divine is agape. So there's both qualities of spaciousness and agape. Sometimes individual personalities haven't yet experienced both these aspects of Awareness.

Read on (the very end notes are parts of the answers to the Q&A that stand alone):

"Ego is often closed and guarded." 

"An expert has a hard time opening the heart... The egoic mind likes to be in a state of knowing--this is my [knowledge?], this is my opinion. To be open is a state of innocence."

"As soon as you begin to relax state [of knowing] you come into a state of intimacy. You can't be in a state of knowing and be in the spiritual Heart at the same time."

Mind barricades (often because of "past" experiences where we associate being open with something bad that happened).

"There's a type of awareness that's very connected to the heart. There's an awareness most people are used to that is connected to the mind--it's a sterile, alert awareness. If someone asked us, 'Are we listening?' We'd say, 'Yes I am listening.' But it's a listening from the neck up." {This spiritual heart is an awareness from the neck down.}

"Awareness at the level of heart there is a feeling tone to it... the heart is opening up as it were and really interacting with what's in your environment or what's going on inside."

"It's through the heart that we perceive Oneness."

"I like the word Agape. It's a selfless infinite love. It's just a love for what is. It's unconditional."

"An unconditional love is also un-caused. There's no reason for it. The reason there is no reason... is because it's an aspect of your being. It's a pre-existing aspect of your being. It's just there. It's the love that's just loving. There's no reason why it's loving. It's just loving. It's an aspect of the truth of what you are."

"Other types of love are very conditional because there are a lot of attachments... conditions... You pull back if someone does something you don't like.... Or you can take it back from yourself--"I'm not being the way I want to be"--so I'll take that back, I'll take back that acceptance."

"Love is always there. It pre-exists anything that may happen. Anyone you may meet. A lot of times we don't experience this because we're protecting... some idea or image of ourselves. Or we're emotionally protecting or layering."

"Opening of the heart is necessary if we are going to come to the fullest of ourselves."

We have a lot of painful associations and wounding around the heart. "Sometimes there are literally energetic holds of the heart. A feeling of vacuousness. You sense for intimacy--and there's nothing there. Often these get created in moments of great stress."

"If you find these [holes], you enter into them instead of withdrawing or trying to figure them out [mentally, analytically]. Bring your presence into that "hole." Not to solve it, not to fill it up. Just bringing the Presence of your own awareness. If you're really quiet and willing to be still, these places of deficiency start to open up. They start to be available. They start to be penetrated by the true spiritual heart because they're being seen."

"The deepest forgiveness is realizing there's nothing to forgive."

"When we withhold forgiveness we are putting ourselves in a prison. The reason for this is our nature is agape. It's an aspect of our being. If we cut off an aspect from our being--if we withhold it from some one or some thing or some event--then you're literally severing a part of yourself. It's a way of putting ourselves in a virtual prison. We're withholding our own nature. We're hiding it from ourselves. For most people this is so unconscious they don't really know what they're doing.... In our own minds there's seemingly good reasons to hold on to all this [rage, blame, etc.].... Never mistake forgiveness for consent... It doesn't mean you agree with it, doesn't mean you like it, doesn't mean that you want to experience it again--it simply means you are no longer closing yourself... It's literally like killing part of yourself... The truth is unconditional love. It just shines upon all things and all events unconditionally.... It's not a way of pretending that something that happened didn't happen or that it wasn't very painful. We're not talking about forgetting.... So a lot of people have a lot of unforgiveness in their heart. A lot of people caught up in judgment and blame. And judgment and blame keep you from going deeper into your own being.... True forgiveness is not something you create or manufacture--you discover it. [You didn't discover it before] because you wanted to blame more than you wanted to forgive.... People all around us do this in our culture--it almost seems natural to spend a whole life resentful and rage-ful... You have to let yourself out of that prison. Very very important. You can transcend all this. " [Not to mention many, many dis-eases stem from storing and holding onto resentments and blame.]

"The spaciousness of Awareness is a different aspect of awareness. There is also the agape." So 'awake' people often are hopping on one foot [often aware of spaciousness, but not also of the agape aspect].

The spiritual heart is: "Richness of presence, warmth and intimacy."

"Oneness is lived intimacy with all things... See sameness in all the differences. The beautiful, unified essence in all diversity."

[If this agape aspect hasn't happened/occurred for you] "Ask: How is any thing experienced from the heart? You let your eyes see things. Your ears hear things [etcetera... going through all the senses.] Touch awareness. All of these are different types of awareness. What kind of awareness does the Heart have? Put your attention there and it'll start to open for you....The heart is a sense organ of your deepest being."

"On the human level there is always a becoming. On the awakening level, there is the sense of "It's done."... A sense of always being, always becoming. One doesn't cancel the other--they're both aspects."

"You can be in causeless joy, AND have other emotions--grief, for instance--arising in the midst of."

"Sometimes sorrow is God's reality. Sometimes people think Freedom is freedom from all  negative emotions. That's a very immature understanding of awakening.

Sorrow can get us to hide from sorrow, to contract--or, or we can open to it. This is the response of the spiritual heart--it opens to what is. Even sorrow. If sorrow is what is, the true spiritual heart opens to it. We often open up in very difficult moments-- but it didn't happen TO open us up. (We can chose the other response too--to close [shut].) My teacher said there are great heartbreaks in life, and that is part of life. The heartbreak is also part of our own flowering and our own opening. We can honor the sorrow. We can honor the passing of a loved one. The passing of a loved one can then open us up to more of life, even grief."

"Our fear of death is often equaled by our fear of life."

"The thing with negative emotions like fear is we keep trying to SOLVE it.... I would look at this from a different point of view. Open to the fear not necessarily as a way to get rid of it but there's something here for you to see. And it's not going away until you see what you need to see."

Q "Yes it keeps recycling."

A "You can also ask for only what you can... how can I say this... ask for fear to be given to you in doses that you can incorporate. It's literally like a prayer. You'd be amazed how much Existence listens when you come from your heart. You can't say--"Hey can you get rid of this"--that's at odds.... You're just asking it to be given to you at a dose you can handle and integrate... Make that intention very clear."

"A big part of it is just coming into yourself and a willingness to experience your experience.... "I'm willing to be open to what Experience is trying to show me."

"Garden variety fear you can dive into. The type of fear that is wrapped in with trauma and panic attacks--you need someone at times to be WITH you [face to face] --to help you stay grounded and stay conscious."

"What you don't want to do is putting yourself into situations that will re-traumatize you."

"Anything that happened that you could not stay fully present for, gets trapped in your system... If you can stay fully present, fully here and now -- that's what starts to release it from your system. If you can't stay present, then that says "I'm going to have to find someone [to be present WITH me]."

"Every body and every thing is already what it is. So everybody and everything is already enlightened. You will never become better or worse... The only thing then is: Are you conscious of that?

"Life has an innate desire to be fully aware of itself."

"I can't really explain this... But it's literally not possible to avoid fully not knowing what you are indefinitely."

"Rational mind thinks in terms of time. So you're having this sense of fear and doubt that it may not happen... From the depth of your being, I cannot answer your question that has to do with time. Will I be fully awake before I die? That just keeps the mind in the world of time." Give attention to something outside of time.

"I cannot say anything that is going to calm your rational mind. Your Being is not caught in the cycle of time. From your Being, your question [Will I be enlightened before I die?] makes no sense at all."

"The mind keeps wanting to put spirituality into the context of time.... Your mind has this tendency to dream this kind of nightmare scenario. In the middle of the night, when you dream [maybe] you can negotiate with it. Or you can realize your mind is creating the dilemma... That's the solution: you see--'Oh, it's just mind. It's just rational mind doing what rational mind does.' There's no calming it. You're either acknowledging the fears of your mind,  OR you give acknowledgment that there is something existent that has nothing to do with the movements of your mind. That recognition has all the power."



"Often through sexuality, deepest experience of maybe not oneness, but merging.... Then there's that feeling that I'd really like to experience that level of closeness, that profundity in our everyday life. That's often when people get scared. You can't have that oneness and that beauty and be closed off."

"One fear is that if someone [else] looks within consistently they're going to [see the real me or shadow parts.]"

"Some karmic connections there is simply no explaining."

Questioner was saying something about the relationship wasn't carnal. He cuts her off--"It's all spiritual."

"The way we divide the world: spiritual, human. We're just making that up. It's all spiritual. Whether it's at an altar, or sitting to breakfast. It's all the movement of Spirit."

is there maybe too much mentalizing and symbols and theory going on? Well-being ought to be simple if it's our natural state...

Lately, I've wondered if I've been "thinking" too much about all this. Even Ho'oponopono is a bit long-winded and efforted. Perhaps too much analysis to pinpoint projection? "There's got to be an easeful way," I'm musing to myself.

I partly got confirmation two ways. I was listening to an audio series on "Surrender" by my main teacher Adyashanti, when in response to a woman's question. Yup, being "open" will bring up unconscious material. In fact, the impulse towards consciousness brings the unconscious to light. All our unconscious arises within Consciousness--and the mind thinks it needs to do something about it." (And ASAP!) (Much of this Q&A is in part 6 of the 10-part Surrender series.)

"Don't need to necessarily analyze it--be open... The deeper-seated demons [and here, he digresses into how Jesus had to confront 'devil' in the desert, and Buddha also had his demons under the boddhi tree] actually come as we open because they are deeper-seated. And what you need to do with them is allow them to come, and not fall prey to their temptation or their resistance. It's just forces within yourself that are just being released. It's just stored material that hasn't been conscious before.... It may not be comfortable at the moment, but lucky for you that you don't have the same capacity to put the lid back on... All this stuff has to be squeezed out of us one way or another. It's the purification that happens even when we're not trying to purify."

Purification was the keyword. It's what Zero Point is--Pure. It's what Dr. Len meant by "cleaning."

Later Adyashanti says it's the mind that will try to "manage." Just be with the feelings as they are directly, before they become thoughts, theories, stories, beliefs about what is occuring. He says experience itself is self-liberating-- life is bringing up what needs release, as long as we don't get caught up with the explanations, theorizing, analyzing, etc.

Another confirmation I got was hearing of a near-instantaneous healer from Croatia lately. I am familiar with instantaneous healing myself, personally. So that wasn't the big deal. What was informative was this woman's wise testimony (by Dorothy Walters):

Excerpted from Braco in Boulder post: "The image of Braco, cast on the wall, revealed a man serious, intent, concerned, and loving--just as he had appeared earlier in the flesh in San Francisco. But this time, my reaction was quite different. The result for me was one that frequently happens when deep emotions are brought to the surface--during certain workshops, massage sessions, even acupuncture treatment--one can become aware of unresolved issues, pressing into consciousness during this time of "opening."

As a result of this "unresolved issue" emerging into awareness, I spent a very uncomfortable night--with leg cramps, "burning nerves" throughout my body, and sleeplessness. But, despite my discomfort, I realized that this insight was in fact a boon, for only through unveiling those hidden emotions lurking under the surface, can healing occur. It is the same, for example, with psychotherapy, where one must face certain unpleasant truths and come to terms with them to improve. [My note: psychotherapycan be more mind-management rather than the being with raw emotions without any adornment of a story or theory of why this-and-that. And again Life itself will bring up whatever is getting in way of being your true Self with or without therapy.]"

smile into your heart and open yourself to receiving love and acceptance

If you've noticed, the Gulf oil spill may not be in the news much, but that doesn't change the fact that it's not completely resolved.

Luckily, the number of dis-eases and injuries around my sphere have been waning. However, things have become more subtle in that I'm confronting my own and others' mental and/or emotional blocks, rather than full-blown physical ailments that are in some ways "easier" to pinpoint the symbolism and do the Ho'oponopono for.

Also this repreive has brought into more stark focus the oil spill's message.

Again, you'd have to read back in the archives, but we're working with the symbolism first. The oil representing the blood of the earth seeping/leaking/gushing out has been plugged; yet, the after-effects include so much oil that it's weighing down the flow of the ocean (ocean=emotional body of earth) and threatens the circulation of warm waters of the Gulf stream loop regulating temperatures along the Eastern seaboard and Europe.

Blood problems such as above lack of joy (i.e. that joy is being drained out). And of late I've been thinking that since the heart is also a keystone to the entire circulatory system of blood that I need to focus on the heart squarely.

So the next few (or until necessary) posts until I myself feel a lightening of my heart and a true, authentic joy again, everything is going to be completely dedicated to the heart.

I have known what it feels like to be open-hearted and to have a heart chakra that's radiating. That's not my sensation lately. Having gone through some romantic partnership disappointment in the past year, I have sensed that I've been shielding (well, even quite purposefully walling off) my heart. This is a very common occurence in many, many people. The difference is that I know that something is very "off," whereas many people assume that is the norm, and that it's normal to have a closed heart.

The first time a holistic practitioner cleared my chakras I didn't even know what a chakra was, but I certainly instantly felt that my heart was radically different. It didn't feel dull or numb there anymore.

Yesterday, I ran across the book, The Emotion Code by Dr. Bradley Nelson, and he talks about trapped emotions and the organs they gravitate to being trapped in. In particular, I'm going to hone in on the heart organ as it tends to be the one that holds, or stores, emotions such as those affiliated with abandonment, betrayal, feelings of love being unreceived, feelings of our efforts being unreceived, and heartache. Dr. Nelson stated that about 80% of his patients have shielded their hearts to such an extent that there is literally an imaginary (well, less imaginary and more etheric) wall around their heart that is basically held together by a series of these trapped, and now literally stuck, emotions.

The same evening, I was casually glancing at a local lifestyle magazine (I'm only visiting North Carolina) and read an article by local Tai Chi and Qigong practictioners on the various organs of the body and the negative emotions that they can harbor.

For the clearing the heart of these blockages the authors suggest:

Lightly place your hands over your heart (center of chest).

Inhale into your heart, then breath out using the heart sound: Haaaaa. Release self-criticism and blame on each exhale.

Smile into your heart [an inner smile -- "We all know the good feeling we have when someone smiles warmly at us. In this case, we simply smile inside, directing our smile to each organ, along with our appreciation for the way the organ serves and supports us."] and open yourself to receiving love and acceptance. [Includes self-love and self-acceptance.]

I found it fascinating that Chinese medicine associates self-criticism and blame as ways the heart stays shut and closed, as I've been observing myself and others that when we're critical, judgmental, impatient, stern, and scolding it's actually a defensive posture. We're guarding our heart. When these old emotions are dissolved, the wall held up by criticism crumbles, then love and acceptance (for self and others as it's all Self) is what remains.

Other organs:

Lungs tend to hold grief and sadness, when released then strength emerges.

Kidneys hold fear, when released then wisdom emerges.

The liver stores anger, when released kindness surfaces.

Heart holds self-criticism and blame, when released acceptance and love appears.

The spleen (and stomach) is associated with worry and anxiety, when released trust is evident.

(The entire article starts on page 23, October 2010 issue of Natural Triad.com)

In terms of Ho'oponopono "I forgive you, I love you" mantra -- also forgive yourself for holding onto self-criticism (those that tend towards self-criticism also criticize themselves for being too critical!) and love yourself just as you are.

 

zero point - each possibility already exists, each outcome is real - excerpts from Gregg Braden's The Isaiah Effect: Decoding the Lost Science of Prayer and Prophecy

Below are excerpts from Gregg Braden's book, The Isaiah Effect which when he talks about all possibilities being simultaneous and present is essentially the Zero Point that Ho'oponopono refers to. These snippets are relevant:

"The fundamental tenet of Essene healing is that we are already healed.

. . .

Essene masters viewed the expressions of illness as powerful illusions, stemming from choices and actions made by the individual, rather than looking to external "causes." They believed that we determine our response to the conditions of the world--sometimes consciously, other times not. Through their most sacred writings, we know the Essene philosophy viewed the blueprint of our souls as a divine expression of our Creator, untouched and untainted by the experiences of life. Our souls are already healed, and seek to express that state through our bodies. Accepting our healing through our own beliefs and forgiveness, our healing is mirrored through our souls' expression in this world, our bodies."

"In the example of the disappearing tumor (chapter 4), rather than imposing the will of healing upon the condition of the cancer, the practitioners chose to feel, think and emote from an outcome in which the tumor had never been present."

"The diagnosis of  condition is not necessarily either incorrect or correct. In the absence of allowing for other possibilities, it is simply incomplete. In the same moment, another outcome must exist in which the ill health, disease, or condition is not present. Each possibility already exists. Each outcome is real." -- The Isaiah Effect, by Gregg Braden

"When prayer and meditation are used rather than relying on new inventions to create more imbalance, then they [humanity] will also find the true path." - Robert Boissiere, Meditations From the Hopi

{In this excerpt, Gregg accompanies a Native American. There's been a three-year drought in the southwest USA...}

"The old ones say that it has been over one hundred years since the rains have left us for so long," David replied. "That is why we have come to this place, to call to the rain."

{David's prayer is silent, and is over quickly.}

"Already?" I asked, a little surprised. It seemed as though we had just arrived. "I thought you were going to pray for rain."

. . .

"No, I said that I would 'pray rain'", he replied. "If I had prayed <i>for</i> rain, it would never happen."

{That afternoon it begins to rain--a lot.}

..."When I was young," he had said, "our elders passed to me the secret of prayer. The secret is that when we ask for something, we acknowledge what we do not have. Continuing to ask only gives power to what has never come to pass.

"The path between man and the forces of this world begins in our hearts. It is here that our feeling world is married to our thinking world. In my prayer, I begin with the feeling of gratitude for all that is and all that has come to pass. I gave thanks for the desert wind, the heat, and the drought, for that is the way of it, until now. It is not good. It is not bad. It has been our medicine.

"Then I chose a new medicine. I began to have the feeling of what rain feels like. I felt the feeling of rain upon my body. Standing in the stone circle, I imagined that I was in the plaza of our village, barefoot in the rain. I felt the feeling of wet earth oozing between my naked toes. I smelled the smell of rain on the straw-and-mud walls of our village after the storms. I felt what it feels like to walk through fields of corn growing up to my chest because the rains have been so plentiful. The old ones remind us that this is how we choose our path in this world. We must first have feelings of what we wish to experience. This is how we plant the seeds of a new way. From that point forward," David continued, "our prayer becomes a prayer of thanks."

"Thanks. Do you mean thanks for what we have created?" [, author Gregg Braden asks.]

"No, not for what we may have created," David replied. "Creation is already complete. Our prayer becomes a prayer of thanks for the opportunity to chose which creation we experience. Through our thanks we honor all possibilities and bring the ones we choose into this world." -- Gregg Braden, The Isaiah Effect

Ho'oponopono doesn't polish the mirror. The mirror is immortal and immaculate. It's only our interpretations of the pictures passing by the surface of the mirror that might seem to make the mirror foggy

"While we look in a mirror in some of our dreams, the dream is also looking at us. The whole of a dream may function as a mirror in a larger sense, showing us sides of ourselves and our behavior that we may prefer not to see or that we have simply shut out, in ordinary reality." -Richard Moss, What's In Your Dream Mirror

When I'm clear, I see life as a mirror--everything reflecting myself, the good, the bad, the ugly as facets of God, if you will. When I'm clear, I see life as a waking dream, and that's why dream symbols often work quite well in deciphering "messages" from self to self. (Or as Ramana Maharshi once said that there's not really that much difference between waking life and dream life, and referred to them as dream #1 and dream #2.)

This almost begs the question, What do I see when I'm not clear? Mostly I see "other." Not me. Not me. Nope, defiinitely not me, seems to be the refrain. There are other people to blame, other people that are obviously responsible (not I), other people that are clearly separate and distant from "me." Even other people to worship, or other people to admire is ultimately not that nurturing nor truthful either. 

Awakening to the truth of perfect Unity means to awaken from the dream of a personal self and personal others to the realization that there is no other. - Adyashanti, The Heart of Relationship

So, in a sense, the mirror itself is always clean and clear. Let's call the mirror "absolute Reality" (which is already making a distinction that isn't completely accurate... there is only Reality.)

Ho'oponopono doesn't polish the mirror. The mirror is immortal and immaculate. It's only our interpretations of the pictures passing by the surface of the mirror that might seem to make the mirror foggy -- and leave us feeling confused, or angry, or otherwise out of step with the immaculate present moment, or Zero Point. So any sense of "cleaning" or "clearing" comes from wiping out our interpretation, our judgment which is clouding our perception of the mirror. And taking responsibility means that we are strong enough in our sense of Self that we can accept that the pictures in the mirror come from us. And rather than reject the pictures (or worse, feel guilty or blameful), realize, "Wow, look at what we're/I'm (no difference) am creating here. Okay, I see these pictures as they are." And then from that Zero Point, it is easier to make a creative choice to paint different pictures, if that's even called for.

I really liked how this author (below) also peered into the mirror and saw Reality itself is no threat, in the absolute sense. And then, in the relative sense, it's still no threat unless we imbue it with that slant.  (And by relative reality, I mean the waking state 'dream"--which includes this tangible material plane--which is also the feminine polarity if you are sensing a any "left side" dis-ease or injuries, for instance had a lot of people in my circle with recent left lung, left thumb, left knee, left blah-blah issues.)

Ho'oponopono comes down to a very deep embrace and acceptance of reality as a whole, and of yourself as that whole. So this sentence below stood out: "Acceptance means accepting the fact that you're responsible for a lot of your experience right now."

God-realization is nothing but the ability and expansiveness of the heart to love everything equally. - Amma

(You can listen to the following reading from Thanissaro Bhikku, here, courtesy of CharityFocus.org:) "Things that are real pose no danger to the mind. The real dangers in the mind are our delusions, the things we make up, the things we use to cover up reality, the stories, the preconceived notions we impose on things. When we're trying to live in those stories and notions, reality is threatening. It's always exposing the cracks in our ideas, the cracks in our ignorance, the cracks in our desires. As long as we identify with those make-believe desires, we find that threatening. But if we learn to become real people ourselves, then reality poses no dangers.

This is what the meditation is for, teaching yourself how to be real, to get in touch with what's really going on, to look at your sense of who you are and take it apart in terms of what it really is, to look at the things that you find threatening in your life and see what they really are. When you really look, you see the truth. If you're true in your looking, the truth appears. [...]

Truth is a quality of the mind that doesn't depend on figuring things out or being clever. It depends on having integrity in your actions and in your powers of observation, accepting the truth as it is. It means accepting the fact that you play a role in shaping that truth, so you have to be responsible. You have to be sensitive both to what you're doing and to the results you get, so that you can learn to be more and more skillful.

Many people think that self-acceptance means celebrating what's there already: that you're good enough, that you don't have to make any changes. That's not the case at all.

Acceptance means accepting the fact that you're responsible for a lot of your experience right now. You can't blame anybody else. And ultimately that's a good thing. If other people were ultimately responsible for shaping your experience, what could you do? You'd have to go around pleasing them all the time. But the key fact is that you're shaping your pleasures and pains here in the present moment. Some of your experience comes from past actions, but a lot comes from the way you shape things with each present intention.

So learn to be open and honest about the role you're playing in this moment." - Thanissaro Bhikkhu, Meditations 3, (full text online here)

Art credits: "The Mirror" (1910), Robert Lewis Reid