We Are All Related

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

The Perfect Illusion:
One of the greatest lies ever invented in our society is that we are separate and alone.  Though we live in a world with billions of people, we tend to accept this belief.  In doing so, we engender and even enable a reality of separatism and loneliness.  We may believe that this is what gives us our strength, our purpose and will lead to our destiny.  We allow ourselves to become devoted to this belief, even with our spouses, our children and our family.

Such is the paradigm of the “reality” in which we have been programmed and conditioned to live our lives.  It is the realism of life that has become more of an oppression and less of a liberty.  We have become dependent upon the very lifestyle many of us condemn.  Sure, we may wake up once in a while make some noise in our frustrations of how things are and how we don’t seem to have any control over them.  Yet, after the anger and upset subsides and the daily distractions kick in, we search for the artificial security blanket that our authoritarian society is more than eager to provide.

We hand over our personal power because we simply do not know what to do with it or how to be it.  We are terrified at the notion of experiencing it, let alone living it.  We entrust it to people, organizations and things that we believe (hope and pray) will protect and provide for us.  All the while running a racket of self-distraction with our denial, egotism and our self-imposed victimization.  These are the delusions of our daily experience.  The most effective illusions are the ones we accept and adopt as our way of life which inevitably becomes our reality.

Soul Schism:
The truth is we don’t trust ourselves with our personal power, let alone acknowledge its existence.  We struggle to begin to understand what our true possibility is as a human being.  We fumble around in the shadows of ourselves we enable with our apathy, self-righteousness and cognitive dissonance.  This is sustained by our conditioned social “intelligence” and our sensual desires.  We search for the vital elements of ourselves while we spend the majority of our time burying them either consciously or unconsciously to avoid being responsible for our lives.  We have made integrity and accountability our personal demons.  Our distrust, insecurity and fear have alienated us from our souls.

We become imprisoned in this world.  We allow ourselves to be drawn away from our heart and our soul and captive to our mind and our body.  This is the “Soul Schism” and it is occurring everyday in every moment with every breath we take.  Our current society does not promote or support practices and lifestyles that sustain our relations with our souls.

Many religions teach us we are unworthy in the eyes of God.  Education conditions us to conform to the intellect.  Authority figures enforce us to obey and acquiesce under fear of penalty and loss of freedom.  Entertainment hypnotizes us, when we are lost in the shadows of the life expressions of others.  These influences ultimately seduce us away from our hearts, our dreams, our creative abilities, our purpose and our destiny.  We gradually succumb to worry, insecurity, uncertainty, the pressure from our peers and the distraction of society’s structures.  This is evidenced by our lack of trust and confidence in ourselves and our lives.  We willingly sacrifice our relation with our soul and its expression for fear we won’t survive, succeed or belong.

“Where the darkness uses manipulation, the light creates inspiration.
We know we are projecting darkness when we believe we are alone.
We experience the light when we realize we are one with all.”

The Threshold of the Soul:
We have been taught to live contrary to our souls.  We have been conditioned to believe that spiritual living is equal to daydreaming or fantasizing.  Our natural expression as spiritual beings has been cleverly discredited, regulated and in many cases prohibited.  It does not fit into the standard of society’s “reality.”  This widens the chasm between our selves and our souls.

It can be terrifying to begin to unravel the enigma of ourselves from the influences and impressions of our family, friends and society.  It is equally frightening to acknowledge the unique and beautiful aspects of our selves we have willingly surrendered or distorted during our process of maturity and integration into society.

There is no greater feeling in life than being related with others.  Of course, before we can experience this union, we must first be connected with ourselves.  To some degree, we are all acquainted with ourselves.  However when it comes to knowing ourselves beyond recalling our personal history, likes and dislikes, positives and negatives and what motivates us, we may find we have distant friends and relatives we know better than ourselves.  We discover that we don’t really know who we are, what our truest expression is and what is our purpose and destiny.

Reunion:
It is extraordinary how our life thrives when we are present.  All of the answers to every question we have ever asked about ourselves are simply an expression of our realized authenticity and integrity.  When we are truly experiencing our life, we gain the necessary insights we require to expand our awareness and transform ourselves.  In doing so, we relate very powerfully with our soul and the universe.  The measurement of our relation with our soul is in the quality of the expression of our consciousness.

When we are connected with our soul, we are able to see the invisible barriers and boundaries within ourselves which keep us from becoming who we are meant to be.  We attract into our lives people whom are reflections for us to witness what it is about ourselves we are missing when we are unable or unwilling to see it within ourselves.  It is usually the characteristics or behaviors in other people that aggravate us the most.  When we are willing to acknowledge and accept this truth about ourselves, we can choose to perceive our relations as expressions of ourselves that lead to our personal freedom and power.

The greatest gift we will ever receive in our life is the wisdom that everyone whom is a part of it reveals insights to the mystery of who we are.  When we are struggling or challenged by the people or circumstances in our lives, we can choose to recognize it as an opportunity to identify the obstacles within ourselves we can transcend. What better way to expose our limitations than through the expressions of those closest to us.  What more powerful way to relate with others, ourselves and our souls than through uniting and belonging.

The truth is we can never authentically feel like we belong with others until we accept and embrace belonging with ourselves.  This may be the most difficult work to which we will ever commit.  However, when we establish the relation with our soul and become expressions of the universe, we transcend the boundaries of society and experience life as we were truly destined.  It is in our presence of being and being present to all.  We relate with all because we are in everything and everything we experience in life is in us.

We are all related.

Related

http://www.zengardner.com/related/

The Light in the Darkness

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Into Shadow:

Millions of people around the world believe in evil as depicted in many ancient texts.  Human acceptance of what is portrayed as such is significantly why it exists in grand fashion.  It is very difficult to prove that it does without a shadow of a doubt.  It is more challenging to present or even discuss it without it becoming a debate about religion.  As contrary as they are, it is interesting how linked the light and the darkness appear to be historically and in contemporary times.  They are eternally bound to each other by belief, interpretation, exploitation and fear.  This imposed duality of common opinion has enslaved human kind since the dawn of time.

It is startling how human beings rarely if ever achieve a lasting enlightenment.  We may catch a glimpse of illumination, yet it is a fleeting epiphany that fades as the speeding luminosity of a falling star.  It is lost and forgotten amidst the relentless shower of diversions our society provides.  We allow the distractions to consume the quality and power of our lives.  We surrender to our personalized confusion with our lack of interest in creating them.  This is the ultimate darkness.  Not one that waits for its perfect moment to influence, command, embezzle and seize our energy.  It is one that we enable with our attitude, behavior, entitlement and emotional drama.  We sustain our own darkness with the conditions and restrictions we apply to our lives.  Our darkness is the measure of our human potential unattained and unexpressed.

Soul Persuasion:

We have been conditioned to live almost exclusively from our mind and body.  We exist within a social paradigm commonly adopted as “reality,” primarily steeped in left-brain activity and interaction.  Much as the fish that swims in water not seeing the limitations of its existence, we too are chained to the invisible boundaries of a manufactured lifestyle.  This is one way we align ourselves with negative energy.  We allow the darkness into our lives with our silence, selfishness, disinterest and the anesthetizing of our sensibilities.  We become vulnerable to the chaotic, lower frequencies we tend to perceive as “evil.”  These dark forces attempt to transmute our energetic signatures into a form easier to control, conquer and consume.

We witness the evidence of evil in society on a daily basis.  It is reflected in human behavior with war, destruction, genocide, inequality and injustice.  Darkness thrives in the malevolence of murder, rape, domestic violence, character assassination and the tradition of competition found primarily in politics, business and sports.  These attributes of human existence run rampant around the globe.  They bombard us with such frequency, impact and effect that we become desensitized to their horrors.  Yet, evil is not the monster under the bed or the demon in the darkness.  It is not an existential entity that preys upon our apathy, unconsciousness and fear.  It is we who sacrifice our personal power by the quality of our thoughts, behaviors, actions and emotional and energetic expression.  These traits expose us to negative energies that become hate, anger, vengeance, selfishness and cruelty.  Eventually, we render ourselves susceptible to these dark influences and they become our nature.  We become a conduit of darkness.

Bittersweet Truth Speak:

Our darkness does not appear to us typically as mythical, legendary, religious or commercial.  It is never as it is portrayed in a movie, a television program, a book or even a sacred text.  Our darkness is a customized expression of our being.  It is a reflection of who we are, unrivaled and unfounded within humanity and its communities to which we belong.  The generalizations of human darkness may seem similar, yet the specific qualities each of us conveys are as diverse as night and day.  There are over six billion people in the world with different perspectives, personalities and lifestyles and over six billion potential expressions of darkness.  It is only when we recognize our own contribution to the evil in the world that we may begin to transform its existence and impact.

We are not born to be dark or light.  We are brought into this world with all potential and possibility.  How we live and who we are is a state of being we gradually acquire with our chosen lifestyle, whether we are a shadow of darkness or an emanation of light.  As much as we would like to believe we are victims of circumstance, condition, reality or society, we are not.  This is the lie we tell ourselves when we are unwilling to find the strength and courage to take responsibility for our thoughts, choices and actions.  The more we surrender our personal power, the more we can be influenced and the more our darkness controls the course and expression of our lives.  When we acquiesce to our seductive tendency toward darkness and the false power and pleasure it provides, we yield our connection with one that is true.

The Light in the Darkness:

Darkness is so clever; it uses our own effort, energy and life force against us to further its agenda.  It exploits our ego as a channel to silently and constantly influence us toward choices and actions that go against our reason, free will, common sense and intuition.  The more we are aware of our darkness and its impression upon us, the more we are able to utilize it instead of the contrary.  After all, it is a powerful facet of our being.  It is ever present, no matter how much we attempt to avoid or deny its existence.  We can transform this expression of our being into a positive force that benefits our lives.  It is simply our perceptual fear of the raw, unknown power of our darkness that intimidates, weakens and immobilizes us.  We hand our power over to what may be, not what is.  With every fearful breath we draw, our connection with darkness strengthens and the fulfillment of our destiny wanes.

We are incapable of sustaining a capacity of being-ness for enlightenment.  Our lives are lived ever striving to become something that we can only be in spirit.  Perhaps this is the great mystery of life.  It has been said that the most powerful light is harvested from the greatest darkness.  Within this darkness there is only one thing that awaits us, our fear with which we react to the unknown.  Fear is the demon we all must face.  When we do, what once looked like a monster suddenly becomes a masterpiece of being when we see it for what it really is.  An illusion of existential authority enabled subconsciously by the power of our own fear.  It is an opportunity to draw strength from the deepest recesses of our being.  The meaning of life isn’t to become enlightened.  It is to free ourselves from the devices of our own darkness.  It is to face and transform the only darkness that truly exists, our own.

http://www.zengardner.com/light-darkness/

Guise of Divinity

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

“God is a concept, by which we measure our pain.” – John Lennon

Manufactured Divinity

We are all powerful, all potential and all possibility.  We are organic beings that produce energy rivaled only by the Sun and artificial invention.  We are descendents of the light of all creation.  Our hearts are electromagnetic energy generators that not only emit life force, yet connect us to everyone and everything that expresses life.  We are made from the same chemical compounds that are found throughout the galaxy and beyond.  We have the potential to transform any behavior pattern, thought and hereditary trait we may experience.  We have the capacity to create life and we possess the ability to take it away.

Yet, with all of the possibility we express, we have a tendency to become spellbound by our own belief.  With our reverence, we tend to hand over our personal power to a human invented supreme being presented as greater than ourselves.  Gradually we succumb to this “conditioning of the soul” and fall in line with common faith, otherwise known as religion.  We become dependent upon this invisible and imaginary force that, in some form or other, assumes the commonly accepted countenance of God.

We see this representation of divinity in so many people, in so many things and in so many ways within the numerous cultures across the world.  We not only begin to accept these rituals of belief, we take them, for lack of a better word, as Gospel.  We believe to the extent that we have trust in the doctrines and practices more so than we have confidence in ourselves or our family and friends.  The focus of our devotion toward our selected deity grows as our investment in our lives and in ourselves wanes.  We are diverted from our souls and into the arms of a social myth endorsed as “God.”

Edging God Out

The terminology and definition of “God” is a human invention to prevent us from connecting with and expressing our own spirituality.  When we explore this concept further, we find that the common interpretation humanity has adopted of God is only its perception.  At one point in history, a group of men had the idea to devise something that would allow them to be the “middle men” between God as they presented “Him” and the people.  They witnessed the blind and rapturous devotion the people expressed in their exaltation of the almighty focus of their faith.  They monopolized on it in the name of finance, politics, control, power and spiritual supremacy and segregation.

The agenda and strategy most religious organizations impose within their doctrines is becoming more apparent in our contemporary society.  Through the conditioning of the sacrament in many forms of faith, what seems to be missing is the connection that the devotee has with their chosen almighty.  It is interesting to witness the superiority of the “testimony” of those who are in a position of faith when they express it to their fellowships.  It would seem that the lessons being shared with their congregations dictate more of a principle for following belief rather than learning how to establish and maintain a union with their own spirit.

Our dependence upon a power distinct from our own has altered us to the roots of our being.  This reliance has built a barrier between our souls and us.  It has isolated us from our potential, possibility and personal power.  Our denial, unwillingness and fear have separated us from our relatedness with the natural flow of the universe.  We have enabled the publicity of God with our blind faith and hope instead of experiencing its fulfillment by establishing our own connection with our spirit and living our truth.  We subscribe to follow the ministers of belief and sacrifice our choice to lead our own way.  Where we once stood with consciousness, we now kneel at the altar of acquiescence.

The Voice and The Echo

If God is beyond our understanding, how could we ever recognize let alone understand the truth of its existence?  How could we ever hope to relate with something so superior to our consciousness?  Why are we expected to believe in one perception yet condone another?  How can we distinguish between that which is God and that which is merely a reflection proselytized by a representative of faith?  Why are we so hungry to believe in hope and faith yet eventually dismiss it to the peer pressures of our society’s “reality?”

There is a vast difference between God as we may experience it and its perceptual depiction.  There is no one in the world that has the authority, let alone the ability to accurately quantify, identify and articulate what God is, or what it is not.  Beyond all the meaning that humanity has attached to God, it is simply a word consisting of three letters.  It could be said that our own belief, energy, devotion and loyalty are the very elements that have given the concept of God its power.  It is our denial, fear and unwillingness to acknowledge, adopt and accept our potential for spirituality that has made the assumed existence of God all-powerful.

It is not God that has reaped the harvest of the critical mass of human belief.  It is those who have placed themselves between us and our connection with our souls.  It is human kind.  It could be said that God doesn’t need belief.  If God created everything, why would he need our faith or reverence?  Why would he need anything of us at all?  If the purpose of life as we learn in living it is to honor, keep and share it, why would we choose to dedicate a great deal of it looking outside of ourselves for what can only be found within?

Guide Of Divinity

We sense only a fraction of all that exists in the universe.  We experience life and the world through our own perceptual filter we have established in our lives.   We can begin to acknowledge that everything we have ever experienced of God is only that which we have learned or can relate to within ourselves.  It could be said that there is little difference between God and a human being.  We can create.  We can destroy.  We can express righteousness.  We can cast judgment.  We can bless others with our love and we can curse then with our hate (fear).

Who we are going to be and how we benefit others as well as ourselves is what makes us divine.  We are only human when we believe that is all we are.  As powerful as we believe God to be, we are as well.  When we let go of the stigmata of being human, we can accept the ultimate truth.  We are the guides of our own spirituality.  We are all of which we look to God.  We are the manifestation of God.

We are the emanation of life.

http://www.zengardner.com/guise-divinity/

Who We Are

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

The Fallacy of Physicality:

We are born into what most perceive a physical world.  We burst through the vaginal cavities of our mothers into a cold, cruel, complex and cutthroat reality.  When we are delivered, we possess everything we require to adapt, develop, excel, achieve, transform and thrive in life.  The moment we draw our first breath outside of the womb, we have attached ourselves to the material experience.  It is that expression of our will to live that determines our purpose, commitment and destiny.

The first twenty or more years of our lives we are processed through a vast labyrinth of information, rules, disciplines, social structures, evaluations and tests.  We experience few successes, many failures and parental, peer and authority persuasion.  With every day that passes, we yield more of who we were born to be and become more of a product of that which society conditions us to be.  We are so distracted by what is going on around us we are oblivious to the gradual death that occurs within.  We sacrifice our heart and soul in a needless pursuit for inauthentic belonging.

It is easy to be drawn into the fear, drama and reality of physical life.  The potential of pain, illness, punishment, disease and death is an ample antagonist to ensure our compliance.  Yet, no matter how “real,” dire or shocking it may be, the physical world is an illusion.  We have allowed ourselves to believe that all we see is all that is real.  We have turned our backs on the essence of the universe and ourselves by being seduced, stimulated, entertained and enslaved by our sensuality.

The House of Mirrors:

The greatest enigma in the existence of humanity is the mind.  There is nothing in our being-ness more active, complex, spellbinding, intriguing and bewildering.  From an early age we are confronted with millions of ideas, thoughts and judgments that bombard us and shape the course of our values, opinions and perceptions.  As our intelligence develops, our innocence, sense of wonder, intuition and creativity fades.  Decades of exposure to institutional information deprive us the development of our true wisdom.

There is a schism that matures in our minds during the process of our education, belief and social influence.  Our societal structures are engineered in a way to prevent and even prohibit us from connecting with others beyond our instinct and intellect.  These systems focus on the growth and programming of our left-brain so we eventually resign ourselves to a linear existence.  These methods gradually segregate us from our right brain and our natural desire and necessity to create and express.

As we mature into adulthood, we find it more difficult to experience life beyond the boundaries of our mind and body.  Our ability to feel and intuit with our heart and soul is distorted by the rigid guidelines of the common reality.  When we transcend this two-dimensional lifestyle, we relate emotionally and spiritually with others and we experience vital life epiphanies and insights.  These encounters are the breadcrumbs on our path of illumination, when we choose to acknowledge and apply them to our lives.

The Heart of the Heart:

Society has taught us that matters of the heart are a sign of weakness and a minor priority in life.  Emotionality has been attributed more to women than men.  Like the schism in our mind, this popular perception has caused a division between the sexes that has separated us not only from our relatives and significant others, yet also with ourselves.  The human race has become a de-compartmentalized species afraid of its own shadow.  Our fear of feeling has alienated us from our soul.

Our heart is the forgotten warrior of our being.  Amidst the constant demands of our body and the continual drone of our mind, its enduring and omnipotent presence centers and grounds us into a multi-dimensional existence.  Our instincts may deceive us and our intelligence may outwit us, yet our heart is our truest human quality.  Its very expression offers clarity, guidance, insight and enlightenment.  In the moments of our anger, upset, drama, confusion and fear, it reminds us who we are.

The center of our inner universe is our heart.  It is the eternal, electromagnetic core of our being, the gateway to our soul and the lightning rod of our intuition.  It is of course the most vital organ that pumps and distributes blood throughout the body.  Yet it is also what provides our body and energy field with essential life force.  It balances, sustains and expands our being.  The quality of our experience of life is dependent upon how conscious of, present to and expressive we are with this energy.

The Song of the Soul:

When we choose to transcend the trappings of the mortal world, there is a place within us all that reflects a brilliance, beauty and majesty greater than any beheld on earth.  It cannot be seen, heard, touched, tasted and barely can be felt.  It is only experienced beyond our sensory expression.  It is a feeling, yet much more.  It is in the moments when all of our senses work in concert with each other we are able to capture a mere glimpse of the absolute splendor of our soul.

Every time we close our eyes, ears and mouths we become present to our purest potential.  Our truth can only be found beyond the intimidating silence within us all.  We are related with our bodies, minds and hearts, though we are so much more than we could possibly imagine.  We may never experience the infinite heights and profound depths of our spirit until we transcend the physical world.  The influence and impact of our body’s desires, our mind’s reason and our heart’s empathy are our greatest distractions.  As inevitable and inescapable as they may seem, they are not insurmountable.

Who we are is a conduit of energy that channels the essential elements of free will, creativity, life force and love.  We are an expression of focused being with the purpose of sharing our essence with the world.  Who we are is the manifestation of everything that has ever been, is and will ever be.  We are only as powerful as we choose to be.  Who we are is the missing piece to a magnificent mystery only our true destiny may fulfill.  We are everything we have ever sought to find outside of ourselves.  Who we are is the measure of our passion to live life, affirmed by our birth and freed in our transcendence.  We are the expression of the source of all creation.

Who we are is the vision of pure being come true.

http://www.zengardner.com/who-we-are/

Fool’s Gold

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

Into the Mystic:

Before the era of mainstream spirituality and experiential ontology, religion ruled the kingdom of belief.  Billions of congregational followers flocked to their chosen church, temple, synagogue, mosque, shrine or sacred monument to seek answers only their Priest, Minister, Rabbi, Imam or Guru could provide.  Then, the spiritual revolution occurred and suddenly many seekers woke up to the realization they alone were responsible for their salvation.

Suddenly, the western world was awash with books, lectures, seminars, weekend retreats, weekly classes and You Tube videos selling shamanism as an applicable profession in the “real” world.  For hundreds or thousands of dollars one could become a shaman and almost instantly open a practice and facilitate ceremonies to heal and teach others to become one as well.  Eventually, common spiritualists came out in droves to answer this inauthentic, materialistic calling of the “new age.”

The shaman movement attracted curious, newly awakened, spirit-starved romantics seeking instant enlightenment through the repackaging of the oldest practices in the world.  Enter the opportunist that would reinvent the role of the intercessor to guide the re-born masses to Shambhala.  Now, more than anytime in the history of humanity, we see such a buzz and hullabaloo around the spiritual title “shaman,” and the broad range of modalities in which they may perform.

All That Glitters is not Gold:

In the midst of the excitement and fervor, these ancient ways were “modernized” into a form easier to understand, attain and practice.  The very essence of these sacred traditions and the experience required to properly practice them were sacrificed upon the altar of spiritual egotism and personal profit.  The rituals that had taken decades of time or longer to traditionally learn and perform would take only a matter of months, weeks or even days to the contemporary shaman.

The more this spiritual wildfire spread, the more the traditions were altered and/or re-invented to gratify a popular want in modern society.  Millions of people have been introduced to ways aged in the hundreds and thousands of years.  Yet, their teachers are not all wise and learned elders whose bloodlines had carried the cultural customs for generations.  The majority of the intercessors are merely actors most often playing a role that is far beyond their comprehension, ability, humility and commitment.

Now, it has become a trend to be a shaman.  Many mystify the masses with charisma, confidence, a little bit of knowledge and presentation ceremonies that may even harm the patients or participants more than they heal.  They have shifted the focus of the practice more upon themselves than on the spirits sourcing the medicine or the people requesting healing.  In many ways, the contemporary shaman has stigmatized and discredited the medicine way and caused challenges for the traditional ceremonial healers and their tribes.  The spiritualization and glamorization of these ancient, sacred paths have altered them forever.

The Heart of the Tribe:

There is a vital distinction between one who labels oneself a shaman and one who is a traditional ceremonial healer.   The ceremonial healer most often has grown up and lives in or around the community the medicine tradition has been kept.  The shaman most often has/does not.  The healer is willing to conduct a ceremony for very little financial return.  The contemporary shaman most often may not.  Most people whom practice ceremonial medicine do not call themselves shaman and some do not even know what that is.

In indigenous communities, those whom have understood plants, roots and our relation to the natural world have always held a vital role in the health and well being of their tribe.  Even to this day, when conventional doctors and the medical industry cannot treat the direst of situations, many traditional ceremonial healers are consulted and willing to help.  More often than not, they are severely under-compensated in comparison to modern-day physicians.  Yet, the commitment they made upon first entering their lifetime service far outweighs any concerns of comfort, convenience or status.

For many traditional ceremonial healers their experience began from the time they were adolescents, some from the time of childhood and some even from the time they were born.  It was a way of life for them for decades before the elders of their tribe acknowledged them as a leader on the medicine path.  To this day, it is a custom and a lifestyle that helps to sustain the strength, wisdom, history and ritual of their culture.  It is a tradition that preceded them long before they were born and will succeed them long after they have passed.

Few are called, Even Fewer are Chosen:

With the steady stream of spiritual practices and their accessibility over the last century, a decisive and detrimental shift has occurred.  There has been a gradual disassociation between the roots of these ancient ways and how they are conveyed and exist in the modern world.  To a great degree, the commercialization and popularization of these traditions has diminished their power and altered the expression of their energy.  The contemporary spin of these ancient practices has also provided inaccurate depictions and unrealistic perceptions to the unaware and unsuspecting novice.

The traditional medicine way is not something one may choose to become; it is something that chooses the ceremonial healer.  When this sacred exchange is established between the person who vows to help others and the spirits who bring the medicine, it is as natural as the progression of life.  They exhibit an awareness, intent and humility rarely beheld or experienced in our modern society.  Their commitment and dedication is beyond comfort, convenience, reason, sense and imagination.

As with many ceremonial practices, it is not about service to the self for financial, social or personal, spiritual benefit.  It is not about the number of patients/followers or how many referrals one may gather.  Rarely, if ever, does an authentic traditional healer consider ceremonial medicine an occupation or primary source of income.  It is about service to all without attachment.  It is the understanding and practice that the health and well being of a person in need far exceeds maintaining an image of importance or a lucrative practice.

The path of the traditional healer is one of the most difficult ones to walk.  There are very few, if any, reference points and it requires an extraordinary level of consciousness, compassion, purpose and dedication.  An authentic ceremonial lifestyle requires everything of the traditional healer.  There are no shortcuts and no concessions.  The ceremonial path may be one of the most amazing lifestyles we as human beings may experience.

If the shaman represents the branch of the ceremonial tree, the traditional healer is its root.

http://www.zengardner.com/fools-gold/

A Vision of Truth

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

The Incorporation of the Self

There are events in our lives that incite personal uprisings within us.  No matter how calm, quiet or peaceful we may be, in less than a breath we can become ablaze with upset, frustration and rage.  Something else happens in those moments when we come alive.  We are inspired, motivated, empowered and called into action and, most importantly, being.

These are the moments that make the greatest difference in our lives.  It is in the possibility of the present when we are able to acknowledge the true potential we are and can express when we choose.  The choice is simple.  We can succumb to the traditional conditioning of the fear we encounter through our distress and confusion.  Or we can transcend the self-induced boundaries of our being and embrace what has always been present for us to claim.  Our humanity.

Throughout our lives, we are energetically attacked mentally, emotionally and spiritually to the extent that we begin to adopt the thoughts, words, behaviors and actions of our authoritative assailants.  Be they our parents, siblings, friends, foes, teachers, preachers, co-workers, significant others or ourselves.  It is inevitable we will begin to talk the talk, enforce our false power and act out the given role for which we settle.

Whether it is one that we are coerced into, a family tradition or whatever may seem appealing to us, rarely is it one that we create for ourselves.  So it goes, the eternal revolving merry-go-round of life that promises thrills, chills and fulfillment.  Yet rarely, if ever, delivers.  Eventually, we begin to devise an artificial enlightenment.  It is developed from the weight we throw around, our temperament, intelligence, social status, achievements and the product of all of these, our self-righteousness.

Inside Job

At the heart of our self-righteousness are our greatest insecurities we safeguard with our very life force.  We all don a brave face to survive the daily melee of age, work, family drama and social turbulence.  Our personal boundaries gradually transform from the innocence and awe of a child to the clever and cunning false personality of our adult defense, our unbridled ego.

It is the subliminal development of our ego by the educational, religious, political and popular social paradigms to which we subscribe that commands the tone of our lives.  We have a tendency to acquiesce our true power simply because we do not know how to access, let alone share it.  We are not properly prepared to identify, develop and express the power each of us has been given.

Eventually, we begin to invent appearances, perspectives and beliefs that eventually result in a lifestyle of judgment and superiority.  These opinions construct our personal, perceptual prison that exists to keep us from obtaining all that is possible in our lives.  The focus of our life experience shifts from one of the heart and soul to one of the mind and body.  It is then we surrender to adulthood and the vision of our destiny dies.

The more personal power we concede to our self-righteousness through our own ignorance and arrogance, the more its benefactor influences us.  Our ego is so clever and cunning, if left to its own agenda; we become the victim of our own being, the ghost in the machine.  Unbeknownst to us, our ego uses our self-righteousness against us to control our lives, causing our uncertainty, adversity and needless suffering.

Facing the Music

We are all in a maze.  From the richest to the poorest, the healthiest to the sickest, the compassionate to the careless and the conscious to the unaware.  No matter how much we may believe that we are not shackled to the invisible boundaries of reality, we are.  Simply believing that we aren’t is the manifestation of our soul slavery.  Our self-righteousness suspends us in our own fantasy.

Our personal mystification, romanticism and indifference capture us.  We are at the cause of this epidemic of our being.  The allure of what is not tends to divert us away from all that truly is.  Our daydream lifestyle enchants and hypnotizes us, while an imposed, man-made reality frightens, entertains and anesthetizes us into a waking sleep.  This is the Matrix.  One in which we enable with our apathy, oblivion and life force every day.

We apply numerous filters to the vision of our lives and the world.  We adopt them from others or we devise them for ourselves from our fear, hurt, vanity, defensiveness or pride.  A collapse in our being occurs.  We begin to believe that we are our filters.  In these moments, our heart and soul is confined to our mind and body.  Most of us don’t know when this happens in our lives, and the majority of us don’t even notice that it has.

The Truth of Our Lives

The tapestry of personal filters we have adopted has blinded us to the mere possibility of living our truth.  The fact that living a true life is optional in the wake of reality is the reason there is such a lack of it in our own or in society.  When introduced to the truth, often our first response is resistance, cynicism, criticism and judgment.  What is really there for us is our fear and insecurity of all that we are unaware.

The greatest aspects of ourselves to which we are unconscious are our natural desires for creativity, compassion, empowerment, leadership community and love.  These are all the cornerstones of truly being human that are rarely taught, emphasized, encouraged and practiced.  These are the only qualities that can enlighten the human race toward the greatest of its potential.

Walking our truth is lived with strife, challenge, hardship and pain.  Our true path is not as excruciating as it may appear.  Those who powerfully choose to live their truth must do so in an artificial environment.  This is the most difficult endeavor.  There are few points of reference.  There is very little relativity with those around us.  After all, it is not possible to establish our own truth based solely upon that of another.

We are living in an era when pure possibility is more accessible than ever.  A powerful movement in our society has woken and risen to identify and claim their personal power.  A new experience is emerging from the declining constitutions of what we have accepted as real.  Those whom retrieve their forgotten truth will see it.  Those who stand for their truth will express it.  Those whom live their truth will be it.

Our truth is the vision of who are meant to be.

http://www.zengardner.com/a-vision-of-truth/

Versus

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

All the world’s a…game:
Our society is built upon a foundation of competition.  When we are born, we inherit generations of history lived habitually through cultural integration, relativity, co-dependence and survival.  These are the driving forces that ultimately impose the course of our lives even before we are conscious and present to their gravity and influence.  The more we live our lives, the more we are conditioned and assimilated onto the terrestrial chessboard.  Most of us remain oblivious to the fact that we are incorporated into it, let alone understand the elusive and variable rules of the game.

We are livestock in a global farm.  We are raised and programmed to compete with each other in the grand game of “life.”  Everyday we go through the motions of playing a role to which we adopt and comply.  Our experience upon this earth has and is massively manipulated.  It pits us against our fellow human being in a commonly accepted and dysfunctional community called “society.”  This distracts and amuses us away from obtaining the vision, intention and purpose to establish our calling and create our destiny.

Competition is everywhere, in everyone and in everything.  It begins for most of us at an early age in the mandatory educational system.  We are integrated into classes that signify the degree of our assimilation, comprehension and social programming.  It is then we encounter one of the greatest and most effective stimuli of opposition, sports.  This influence impacts the many facets of our lives.  Through them, we are introduced to dependency, aggression, involvement, and contention.  Spectator sports provide the vicarious thrill of victory and the inevitable agony of defeat.

“War is the ultimate expression of competition…someone wins and someone loses.  We even pray to God to favor our side for “victory.” – Laura Saums

Choosing Sides:
Our participation in the game begins when we enroll and engage by taking a side.  It may be in our selection of a political candidate or party, a spiritual leader or religion, an athlete or sports team or a product or its corporation.  This false choice ushers us into a realm of vicious cycles and endless sparring.  We become conditioned into believing this cutthroat custom is the meaning of life.  We develop an attachment and addiction to this lifestyle.  The fix to the craving is that someone must win while many others must lose.  This approach to life sacrifices our creativity, potential, individuality and spirit.

Once we have drawn the line in our proverbial sand, we further entrench our heels in deeper with our egotistical projections.  Our arrogance, self-righteousness, defensiveness, blind faith and fear constructs the wall around us.  We are eventually isolated from the way society and the world really is.  We become seduced and ensnared within our personal fantasies, simulated security, hollow professional accomplishments and imitated existence.  With every anxious and oblivious breath we take we give away our personal power, possibility, purpose and destiny.

“Competition only leads to destruction.  Whereas amity leads to creation.”

Inner Contest:
In order for us to identify, understand and transcend the competition that motivates, influences and imprisons us, we need to discover its origin.  As it is with every element in our experience of life, it must first exist within us before it is brought into our lives.  We are blinded by the drama of social reaction.  We fail to see our possibility, claim our intention, establish our truth, and express our purpose when we are drawn into the elaborate, two-dimensional web of opposition.  We become so enamored with the game, we relinquish our reason, sensibilities, enlightened emotions and intuitive potential.

It is extremely difficult to create the necessary energetic containment, balance and expression within to transcend reality.  We are constantly provoked, stimulated and influenced by the illusory life of yes and no, up and down, right and left, back and forth, day and night and dark and light.  The more we engage in the energetic vortex of competition, the less likely we are to experience not just the truth of our lives, yet also the truth of ourselves.  When we are immersed in the chaos, drama and synthetic excitement of contest, we sentence ourselves to a life of division and defeat.

This begins and ends within each of us.  As aggressive as we are in our daily lives is as much or even more of how we are with ourselves.  All of us are our most bitter rivals.  When we are sparring with others it is a reflection of how we are relating to ourselves.  What is ultimately both challenging and intimidating is observing and accepting how unconscious we are of the competition we hold with ourselves.   We are always at war within.  When we are oblivious to our inner dysfunction, we surrender our attention, focus, awareness and energy.

Transcending the Game:
For many, life is simply a game.  The design of this game is always the same.  There is engagement, participation, drama, trends, successes, failures and outcomes.  We deceive ourselves into believing that there is nothing more important or worthy of our time.  It becomes our sole purpose of existence.  How we participate often determines our personal, professional and social worth.  We are so driven and obsessed by it we become slaves to its strategy and agenda.  The thrill of the game far outweighs the essential need for an intentional, empowering and fulfilling life.

We are all addicts of the game.  We compete against ourselves with unrealistic ideals, unreasonable expectations and impossible aspirations.  We are distracted from the possibilities, purpose and destiny that originally inspired our engagement in our lives.  There is always a steep price to be paid when we play a game that readily devours our vision, confidence, imagination and inspiration.  We willingly sacrifice the greatest aspects of our lives and ourselves to contend for the mirage of our heart and soul’s desire.  When we “win” the game, the victory is fleeting, lonesome and artificial.

It is virtually impossible to compete with others.  Every person is different based upon his or her social environment, upbringing, family dynamic, inspiration and quality of life.  Yet, we are constantly provoked and conditioned into vying for achievements, assets and greed instead of creativity, illumination and community.  Competing against our selves within the confines of reality is just another artificial endeavor.  It is a simulated lifestyle of civilizing ourselves at the cost of our consciousness, unity, love and destiny.  Freedom, wisdom and enlightenment are experienced when we refuse to comply.  The game is not only fixed, it is an illusion.  Transcending it is the only way we all truly win.

http://www.zengardner.com/versus/

Music in the Key of Soul

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

The Conquest of Noise

It does not take an aficionado to observe the declining quality of contemporary music.  When we dare to explore the radio dial, we often find a barrage of noise attacking our ears and senses.  We may search for the message and our connection with it, though rarely are we able to enjoy or resonate with the songs or the frequency in which they are recorded and broadcast.  Where once we were empowered, inspired and happy in our listening, now we often experience the side effects of corpora-tized sound.

A hostile takeover has been executed with boardroom secrecy and precision.  It has nearly sacrificed the essence of music.  Initially it was the manipulation of the frequency in which music was tuned, performed and recorded.  Next it was the elementary, commercial, propaganda-laden lyrics influencing our listening, perceptions and lifestyles.  Then it was the incessant promotion of untalented people singing meaningless songs to distract us from the real issues in society and ourselves.  Now it is the control of the industry by the unoriginal few at the cost of the passion and creativity of the many.

An Uphill Battle

It has become exceedingly difficult for musical artists, i.e. singer/songwriters and composers, to find their audience and niche let alone succeed in the contemporary marketplace.  The industry has become an exclusive club of untalented and elitist entrepreneurs seeking instant stardom and financial windfall from engineered music that is here today, gone yesterday.  This has produced a system that has mirrored the pyramid schemes found most often in the corporate finance and business sectors.  Creativity and empowerment in music has been greatly replaced by popularity and profit.

The music industry is rigged.  To some degree it always has been, much like many other forms of artistic expression.  Creativity in music has become less about the art and more about what the artist is willing to sacrifice.  Hit singles and endorsement deals are the standards of success.  It is more about pushing corporate agendas then artistry.  The customary recipe for music is repetitive, trance-like lyrics that program explicit and subliminal messages to alter the thought patterns of the listener.  It applies mechanistic beats and multi-layered sounds more so resembling racket rather than music.

The common tuning frequency in music has been 440-hertz since the World War Era.  It was altered from 432-hertz to promote the energy of war and conflict.  The difference is less than a half step in diminished chromatic tuning.  The energy of 440-hertz is dark, chaotic, puts the listener on edge and can incite reactions of aggression, confusion and cognitive dissonance.  Most listeners of music, as well as the musicians that play it, do not possess a heightened awareness or understanding of frequencies.  The denser vibrations of music impose a forceful persuasion upon even the peripheral audience.

Revolution Reveals the Truth

Most artists and musicians have accepted the conditions of the industry, much like most human beings have adopted the rules and regulations of their society’s everyday reality.  Most are desperate, overwhelmed and willing to alter themselves and compromise their artistic integrity just to survive doing what they love.  Very few have been able to manifest their musical vision into its most pure and true expression.  Those that have, find it exceptionally challenging to gain the necessary attention, support and longevity to sustain their craft into a lucrative career.

The most vital and symbolic element in the dynamic of an artist’s successful creativity is their willingness to stand for, be confident with and share their expression.  It is a given in the contemporary climate of the arts that there are far more things against than are with them.  It isn’t merely their passion, desire or even the need to create and perform that can carry an artist to their melodious paradise.  It exists in their way of being and the energetic quality of their expression.  This is when the excitement, creative power and relatedness happens that allows musical artists to transcend the industry’s authority.

The Power of Expression

It may seem difficult to follow one’s vision in the process of writing, recording and performing music, yet it is as vital as our heart is to our body.  Each one of us received the blessing of life in this world.  Each one of us was given a voice and an avenue of expression.  The majority of us rarely discover ours, let alone convey it.  Our creativity isn’t just an ability or gift.  It isn’t even for the love or the freedom we experience while we are playing music.  It is our eternal life force made manifest.  It is our destiny articulated in sound.  It is who we truly are when we allow ourselves to be.

As artists, the measure of our creativity is in the declaration of our truth, purity and illumination.  In this age of contemporary music, it is very easy to be influenced by the external forces around us.  We may even catch ourselves unconsciously imitating the current popular melodies or beats we may encounter. Only our own true expression kindles our creativity, life force and energy.  It transforms our environment as well as our selves in our pursuit to expand our artistic being.

Who Feels It Knows It

All music is born from silence.  Everything that is creatively possible as music is first silence before it is transposed into sound.  The greatest music ever composed has had an evocative presence of silence to enhance its melodies, harmonies and rhythms.  The silence between the notes and beats have always expressed the enchantment and mystery of a song. Silence is the most overlooked yet powerful element in music.  It is in the silence where the soul of music is found.

Creativity is an eternal, multi-dimensional presence.  It plays the artist as an instrument in a communal exchange to become sound in physical reality.  However, the artist must be present and open to this force for it to flow through them and be expressed to its fullest potential.  This requires a great deal of de-programming and releasing what one has learned and believed to achieve an enhanced ability to feel and intuit.  This is the cornerstone of the transcendent relationship between the artist’s soul and the source.

Music is not something that we write and perform.  It is quite the contrary.  It is a stream of consciousness that moves through us when we have reached an enlightened expression of being.  All artists stand at the mouth of this current, yet we are not its source.  It is a sacred, ethereal bond we establish with our willingness and dedication to let go of who we think we are and become who we were meant to be.  It is not in the notes or even the instruments we play.  It is in the resonation of our soul’s harmony in concert with the melodic source of creation where music thrives in its purest and truest expression.

Music is the song of our soul.

The Usual Suspects

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

A Dime a Dozen
They are found on the covers of magazines, books and a myriad of publications.  There are CDs and DVDs of their speeches, lectures and classes.  They host seminars, retreats and special engagements.  Their links are added to hundreds, perhaps thousands of websites.  They write forewords and brief praises for lesser-known author’s books.  They hob-knob and network with celebrities, politicians, athletes, business executives and royalty.  Their faces are even seen on TV, billboards, marquees and in movies.  They are the new age of applied mysticism.  They are “The Usual Suspects of Spirituality.”

Many of them have careers in very different fields prior to their “enlightenment.”  Some are doctors, authors, musicians, ministers, scientists, poets and professors.  Some may have experienced hardship, injury, loss and near-death experiences.  Many of them have had authentic insights that led to a change on their life path.  Most, if not all, have found them selves enamored with the awe, splendor, humility and illuminating epiphany of the expansiveness of universal awareness, relatedness, truth and love.  Yet, in the presence of the greatest experiences they may have had, their sacred union with spirit is often wagered for the fame, fortune and artificial fulfillment of the contemporary marketplace.

Edging God Out

We are all graced with consciousness.  When we become present to it, we transcend beyond our known selves.  In the majesty of this being-ness, we feel connected to everyone and everything.  Within this experience resides all possibility.  There is no desire to prove our intelligence, value, wisdom or spirituality.  There is only a need to relate and express with our spirit to sustain the balance and harmony of multi-dimensional life.  We exist in a beautiful and fluent dance of eternal energy, ever inspired and empowered to be our greatest manifestation.

This is a very challenging union to maintain.  Most human beings have not transformed themselves in this essential way to be present and interactive with the divine mandala we experience as life.  It is nearly impossible not to fall victim to our ego.  After all, as our consciousness and connection with our spirit grows and expands, so does our ego’s presence and influence.  It exists in and of itself, divergent from our reason, intelligence, wisdom and compassion.  It is what it is and forever shall be as long as we are human.

This gives us an insight as to how easy it is for a Spiritual Leader to not only become influenced, yet also run by their ego.  Belief is a double-edged sword.  On one side, there is a natural inspiration and inclination toward innocence, wonder and curiosity.  These qualities clarify and empower personal truth.  On the other side, there are strategies and agendas toward control and manipulation for the sake of self-worth, self-righteousness, spiritual hierarchy, entitlement and monetary gain.  A Spiritual Leader who does not commit to a practice of authenticity, humility and transformation will always misguide the very people they are attempting to lead.

Transcen-“dance”

The onus does not rest completely on the Spiritual Leader who has fallen prey or succumbed to their ego.  The common reality in which most of us exist lends greatly to this unfortunate outcome.  In order for there to be a measure of success in anything within this three-dimensional construct we call “reality,” those attempting to achieve it must interact and become a part of its program.  They must surrender to socially-prescribed conditioning in order to function and excel within it.  This instantaneously diminishes the energy frequencies with which we all connect, relate and unite through our higher level emotional being and our intuition.  The moment we intellectually and instinctually disengage from this extraordinary communion with our heart and soul, our spirituality is quantified into “reality.”  All possibility of living our true destiny is lost.

Our society is overpopulated with “spiritual opportunists.”  They learn just enough to charm, romance and outwit potential, unsuspecting clients, patients and customers.  The less we are aware of the bittersweet truth of authentic spirituality, the more its intellectually modified version hypnotizes us with its false luminosity.  Our pursuit of comfort, convenience, safety, knowing, entertainment and compliance with “reality” are the greatest common distractions from our authentic spirituality and true-life path.  Once we have subscribed to the quest for our mortal luxuries, what we have sacrificed of our soul goes beyond our imagination.

This is the primary reason why congregational religion, new age organizations and spiritual societies work mainly for the Spiritual Leader and rarely for the Spiritual Initiate.  These methods hinder the growth and expression of awareness far more than they help.  They are generalized social systems founded upon the structure of a three-dimensional reality to control the progress and expansion of individual and global consciousness.  They do not represent, relate or harmonize with the universal, multi-dimensional natures of our spirit.  Each person’s soul is unique and diverse.  It is actually impossible for one or a group of individuals to provide guidance or illumination on another person’s life path.  Only the person who chooses to discover the mysteries of their own soul and destiny is appropriately qualified and born to do so.

Soul Savior

Spiritual Leaders are only as genuine as their commitment, loyalty, humility and authenticity.  Their willingness and intention to evolve and transform in the service of their community and the world ought to transcend any notion of personal benefit they may achieve.  They may have knowledge, understanding, experience or wisdom that makes a great deal of sense in the moment it is shared.  However, when it is applied to our own lives, its value may fade as quickly as its appeal.  The wisest people are those whom are able to identify and discern when another’s wisdom, however popular or successful it may seem, does not apply to their own.

Spirituality is not a freedom from ego.  It is a practice for us to manage its relentless and inevitable impression.  An authentic spiritual path is not about belief.  It is all about who we are being and how we are living everyday.  Spirituality is about claiming our personal power and becoming the leader of a destiny to which only we were intended.  We were not meant to occupy a seat in someone else’s vision.  We were born to be the manifestation of our own.  We are the only ones who can bring our unique expression of purpose and transformation to the world.

We live in a society where it is very easy to exist vicariously through the perceptions, judgments, experiences, understanding and wisdom of others.  No other is meant or intended to guide our spirit through its life experience on Earth.  We may have epiphanies of relation, orientation and synchronicity with others when our paths may cross.  Yet, all we are is the expression of our choices and who we are being when we make them.  Living our authentic spiritual path may be challenging, humbling, wearisome, inspiring, empowering, enlightening and transformational.  Though its reward may never bring us a sense of comfort, status and accomplishment, it will always unite us with our soul.

http://www.zengardner.com/usual-suspects/

The Frequency of Being

/ Iam Saums / Leave a comment

Wake:

Our lives are defined and cultivated by how present to, interactive and expressive we are with them.  The nature of our consciousness is the exact manifestation of our experience.  Yet, before we may be able to reap the benefits that awareness brings, we must first wake up to all of which we are not cognizant.  We must be willing to identify with all that we don’t know.  In fact, we need to reveal all that we don’t know we don’t know about our lives and ourselves.  We must transcend the imposition of contemporary reality and our conditioned selves to accept, embrace and live our truth.

This requires radical, unconventional thinking and instincts.  It also necessitates an enlightened emotional and intuitive way of being.  It isn’t for us to simply wake up, discover and contemplate the war, chaos, drama, injustice, competition and violence in the world.  There is little if anything we can do about this.  It is for us to acknowledge, manage and transform these characteristics within each of us that contribute to these common maladies, diseases and atrocities rampant in our society.  None of these things existed until the human race outsmarted itself with its own “intelligence.”

One of the most potent and destructive vicious cycles ever invented by humanity is its relentless tendency to expand its intelligence at the cost of its consciousness.  Our ordinary, two-dimensional life sentence of self-righteousness, condemnation, proving our intelligence, belief, wisdom and importance are all just expressions of our living slumber.  In the presence of awareness, compassion, kindness, cooperation and love, none of these things matter.  They are only traps of the mind that lead us to our self-induced prison.

Awaken:

Once we have chosen to wake up from the dream of reality, it is our human destiny to kindle the fire of our consciousness.  How we tend it and who we are being expresses the quality and fruition of our life.  We need to acknowledge and understand that being “awake” requires a true and continual intention to relate with and expand our consciousness.  Our awakening isn’t an event at one point in our lives.  It is a frequent, multi-dimensional experience that constantly inspires and empowers us beyond the limits of our social conditioning and fear.

One of the greatest obstacles and distractions on our path toward awakening is our ego.  Its militant aspects relentlessly seek to take the spotlight from our soul.  It captures us in its elaborate tapestry of thought, perception, analysis, judgment and narcissism.  Yet, its intention is not one of supremacy or maliciousness.  It is simply exercising its nature in the only way it can.  It becomes dominant when we allow it to be an unbridled force of havoc and harm.  Without appropriate observation and regulation, it becomes a multi-faceted personal weapon.

In our pursuit of comfort, security and escape from reality, we allow ourselves to become idle, complacent and ordinary.  We commit the ultimate self-crime by giving our personal power away and allowing society’s artificial authority and conditioning to lull us to sleep.  Life is not defined by our material successes, possessions or footprint.  It is lived in our awareness, willingness and purpose.  Anything that lives is always in a state of movement.  The power of our life is equivalent to the measure of its expression.  So it is with our awakening.  Our awareness is ever progressing and expanding with our intention, commitment, empowerment and love.

Rise:

There are many times in our lives when a door of opportunity is opened before us.  Yet, rarely do we see it.  When we do, we psych ourselves out using a number of reasons, excuses, obligations and fears.  These are the possibilities that create the life we have always yearned to live.  Though they may seem bold, outlandish, far-fetched and terrifying, they are glimpses of the extraordinary in a reality steeped in the ordinary.  Our opportunities are frightening because they present themselves only to us for our experience.  It simply requires us to choose, to live and to be them.  This is how we express our power.

As human beings, we rarely, if ever, rise to the occasion of our destiny.  Many of us don’t know our true purpose in life.  We are forced through a process of education, indoctrination, conditioning, parental and authoritative guidance/discipline and constant peer pressure.  These influences keep us in a continuous state of anxiety, bewilderment and fear.  We become the effect of an elusive and hidden cause.  One we witness many chasing yet only few achieving.  We are lost in the maze of reality’s distractions till we are inevitably severed from ourselves.

Every moment we live is an opportunity to be in the present.  This is not merely a religious, dogmatic or spiritual principle.  It is our only possibility to be the fullest expression of our being.  Any other way of living is a distraction from this simple yet insightful revelation.  The sooner we acknowledge, accept and apply who we are to how and why we live, the sooner we will fulfill on our destiny and become whom we were born to be.

Truth:

Most of us live our lives in the wake of our reactionary instincts, thoughts and the drama of our unconscious emotions.  This takes us out of the present moment and separates us from our consciousness.  Few are aware of the severity this inner violence has upon us and how it devastates the evolution of our lives.  Who, why and how we are being in our life inspires our awakening.  Our frequency of being is the avenue for our heart and soul’s expression.  Its energetic signature and regularity deepens and expands our vision, truth, intention, creativity, relatedness and love.

There is no textbook, course, lecture, seminar, retreat, guru, shaman, preacher, teacher, friend or family member that can guide us to or establish our personal truth.  Our truth is not offered best with our overconfidence, over-zealousness, self-righteousness, arrogance and competitiveness.  In its truest nature, it is rarely spoken.  It is best shared silently within us for the purpose of personal acceptance, growth and transformation.  Our truth is the one thing our communities and the world needs most.  Only when it becomes our way of being will it reach its fullest potential.

From the moment we are born we have millions of opportunities to wake from our reality, awaken from our perceptions and judgments, rise above our limitations and fears and establish our personal truth.  For most, the expression and frequency of being in life is optional.  This is the slavery of our soul.  It is not some external person or elusive force that prevents us from being.  It is we and we alone.  There is no one else who can lead us.  There is no one else who can free us.  Every moment is our opportunity to free our souls.  Every moment is our opportunity to be.

http://www.zengardner.com/frequency/