Hi,
In the last few posts and audios I have shared that my mind has been very focused on particular judgments. Our judgments keep us mesmerized by the world. With ego being so active in my mind in recent weeks, I see more than ever before how judgment is a distraction that keeps the belief in separation alive-and-well.
I’ve received great lessons and insights on acceptance through these judgments, but still have not been able to let them go. Last week on a morning walk I asked Holy Spirit to help me. When I came home and checked my email, I caught a post from Regina Dawn Akers that contained a “Single Quiet Prayer”:
I want only God now.
I want nothing else.
I ask you, Universe, to help me.
I am not afraid to ask.
I understand you are benevolent-love.
I ask benevolent-love
to help me awaken
to only love,
and I trust you.
Amen.
How synchronistic to receive this after I had just asked for help. I spent the day with the prayer. Later, I felt to share with Regina what was going on with me, and I asked if she could help.
She said that these teachings were the help she had asked for, and that they led her to the next step. She asked me how I felt about the Inner Ramana book. When it was published I had purchased it along with the cds, but have not felt an interest to read it. I had attempted to listen to one of the cds but just couldn’t even hear it. When this occurs, I find that the material is just not what I need at that time. I was willing to check it out again.
After our email exchange I went to take a shower and get ready to go, and while doing this I listened to an audio teaching on NTI Mark, and heard this:
“The Lord, your God, wants one thing from you and one thing only. He seeks all that you think, that He may show you all that you are.” (NTI Mark 12v41-44.6)
I knew this was a message for me. Then I was reminded of a passage in NTI Matthew, chapter 18 that says this:
“Listen to Me. Rejoice at your opportunities to forgive. Be happy that you have found yourself judging or holding a grievance, for what you find, you can let go. In this way, the splinters to Love’s presence are removed, that Love may be known as whole again.”
This is really wonderful! Holy Spirit is not saying that we are to be reprimanded for holding grievances; rather He says to rejoice and be happy because we cannot release what we are unaware of.
Often in religious and spiritual communities, we can tyrannize one another in that, we can deem someone as not spiritual enough because he or she is momentarily angry, judgmental, or fearful, and/or is having particular problems. Remember, the spiritual path is foremost about being willing to look at the thoughts in our own mind, and recognize that they are the cause of the world we see.
Let’s face it; due to ego’s great defense mechanisms of denial and projection, we have been able to remain mostly unconscious of our judgments and grievances. Seeing them is the way to ultimately release them. Every time I see them I have an opportunity to remember what I truly want.
As I left the house that morning, I grabbed the Inner Ramana cds and as I listened to the first one, I was totally present with it. It spoke to me in a big way. The book begins with teachings on practicing a mantra. The mantra that is suggested in the Ramana teachings is “I am that I am”. Regina also gave me another, “Be still and Know that I am God.”
I asked her if there was some sort of significance to “I am that I am” because I preferred “I am as God created me” a mantra I had found helpful for years. I’ll share with you parts of our email exchange:
Regina: I don’t know if “I am as God created me” is the same. It has a thought of duality in it that isn’t in the other two. It may not work the same way.
Sheryl: I wonder what you mean by this. In ACIM it tells us that if we really got “I am as God created me” then all our problems would be solved.
Regina: I think that if one gets “I am as God created me”, that mantra itself would naturally shorten within the mind as clearer understanding came.
As soon as I read this sentence I heard: I am as God. I am as God. I thought, “Wow. That’s it! That’s my mantra!”
Then I read the rest of the email:
Regina: For example, the person may say, “I am as God created me” for a time, but then they might start feeling a prompt to say only “I am as God created.” After some more time they may feel to say only “I am as God.” That would feel very profound, and a person could be with that mantra for months or years. Of course, eventually it would naturally drop to “I am”, and from there possibly even to just “I” followed by a profound silence and expanded seeing. After that, there would be only silence…no more “I”. “Me” would be the first to go from the sentence, not just because it is as the end of the sentence, but also because it is the biggest obstacle to true seeing.
Later, I had an insight on this part as well. “I am as God created me” has been a mantra for me for a long time, and I realized that her email had prompted me to this clearer understanding: I am as God.
Last Thursday I began to use the “I am that I am” mantra and a few days later received the “I am as God” mantra. To my surprise I found it to be a very restful practice and it really worked to quiet the judgments in my mind.
Here is an excerpt from The Teachings of Inner Ramana:
“I ask you to practice. I have given you a mantra. I ask you to practice this mantra to the utmost of your ability. This means, practice it as much as you remember. This mantra shall access knowledge and bring it back to you (similar to the way a computer command can access a saved file and open it into memory).
“Through the use of mantra and surrender, the mind becomes a tool that is used. It is no longer a tool that acts as user.”
So, in ways that I don’t totally understand, my willingness to practice the mantra will serve to remind me who I am.
In the audio (see link below), I shared the chapter on: “Instructions for Using the Mantra” which I won’t share here due to length.
There has been a question in my mind for several months. As I have been more willing to stay focused on my true purpose, I have wondered how to practice this throughout the day, and have asked for guidance about this.
You know how it is: Once we leave the sanctuary of our home and get on the freeway, go to work, or other activities the focus can be lost. I wondered, “How do I do this? Am I just supposed to think “I am that I am” or “know thy Self” all day long?” This didn’t seem practical to me and so I was in a quandary about how to practice.
The next chapter in the book, “The Circus and the Meadow” is an absolutely wonderful teaching that also answered my question. I would love to share all of it but it is too long to share here, so I will share excerpts. First, it likens the thinking mind to a circus and the stillness, our Heart’s desire, to a meadow.
“The mind is very active. If you watch it you will see it as much like acrobats in a circus. It is always jumping this way and that, bending and turning, and it has some very amazing moves. But it is a circus. It is not reality. In fact, it is a complete distraction from reality. You will never notice reality if you remain focused on the circus act of the mind.
“…The mind is going to want to think. You are going to be drawn back to the circus. But an inner response to this desire as soon as you notice it is most helpful to awakening. The inner response is one that turns your attention from the noise of the circus to the quiet love for the meadow.
“This is the purpose of the mantra I have given you. It consistently and repeatedly throughout the day turns your attention from the circus and back toward the meadow, which is your truest of desires.
“Wear the mantra like a layer of clothing. Practice it throughout the day, whatever you are doing. The mantra cannot be practiced too much as we are teaching the mind through desire to remain still.”
As I go about my day and bring awareness to my judgments I can return to the mantra: “I am that I am” or “I am as God.”
It’s not that we are expected to do this all day long, I don’t know if we can, but what we can do is bring awareness to when we have returned to the hype and drama of the circus. If you are feeling pain, fear, worry, or suffering…you have returned to the circus tent, but you can quickly and easily return to the meadow:
I am grateful that I now see this circus
in my mind.
I am that I am.
I am as God.
So this was the answer to my question. No matter what I am doing I can always return my mind to the stillness of the meadow with a simple sentence, I am as God. I am amazed at the benefits I have received from this practice just in the last six days.
The discomfort I was experiencing due to my obsession with certain judgments served to increase my willingness to let them go, and to be led to this next step. Just as Regina’s increased willingness to stop the ego chatter led her to the next step, which was to receive this wonderful material.
And now, for a Single Quiet Thought ~231~
I have asked you
to rest the mind.
This is not a little request.
To rest the mind frequently
will bring the most insight.
To rest it little
will bring the least.
The mantra
“I am that I am”
(“I am as God”)
(Insert your own)
is a gift of awakening.
Cherish it as gift,
and you give love
to your reality.
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The Teachings of Inner Ramana can be ordered through Amazon or http://www.Diamondclearvision.com
“Single quiet thoughts” SQT, can be found at: http://www.Reginadawnakers.com
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The audio of this teaching was recorded on Sunday, 7/24/11 and is 59 min.
Mantras & Miracles
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