Suzanne Editorial - from A Way of Life Issue 12.2 | Book View
My original brief for this issue was Time. Time was gifted to humanity it is said, in order to give the Sonship a sense of spaciousness in which to heal the illusion of separation. Jeshua says in The A Way of Life, "That the only right use of time is The Atonement". He also says in one of his great discourses, The Holy Instant, that "Fear seeks a result", a small phrase that says a great deal.
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Suzanne Editorial - from A Way of Life Issue 12.2 | Text View
My original brief for this issue was Time. Time was gifted to humanity it is said, in order to give the Sonship a sense of spaciousness in which to heal the illusion of separation. Jeshua says in The A Way of Life, "That the only right use of time is The Atonement". He also says in one of his great discourses, The Holy Instant, that "Fear seeks a result", a small phrase that says a great deal.
My specific interest in time was aroused a year or so ago when I read articles and saw some TV programmes around the Slow Movement, (www.slowmovement.com) if you're interested. The slow movement was born as a balance against the fast movement. The fast movement came out of the pace of Western Culture, fast food, productivity, corporate takeovers, multi nationals, bigger is better, profit margins, bottom line, achievement, getting ahead, stress, work hard - play hard mentality. The topic helped me to reflect on my own struggle with time. To reflect on whether I live in expansiveness and trust using time lovingly, or am I it's slave?
In the USA and Australia in particular fast has become so endemic that people work longer hours than they ever have in high pressure jobs, with little or no security. They sub contract and work on contracts that exclude sick pay and holidays and demand productivity, in many cases the hourly rate that they work for is low and they often don't dare take holidays for the risk of being replaced. Americans rarely have more than two weeks vacation a year. The style of buying food 'to go' and eating on the job or on the run is normal, pressure is normal. It has become symbolic of modern sophistication.
The report that I read said that the big department store chain in the USA had cut their hourly wage to the bare minimum and gave workers advice on how to apply for housing assistance because they were below the poverty line. Maternity leave and paid holidays were being phased out and this is a common trend. Strangely enough the high pressure attitude in the US hasn't resulted in higher productivity.
Conversely European countries like France, Italy and Spain who take a break to rest in the middle of the day, offer maternity leave, holidays, and good hourly wages, value leisure, lifestyle, family and community, have high productivity and healthy balance of payments nationally. Some countries around the world like New Zealand are changing the face of their agronomy to embrace Slow Food, specializing in quality and care, moving away from the big farms and multi national profits to create a market environment that allows them to care and create autonomy in their farming methods, lifestyle and economy.
What has all this got to do with Christ Mind you might ask and that's a good question. What originally sparked my interest on finding this information was that it reflected to me the nature of fear versus Love in my own life. The fast movement epitomizes lovelessness. It promotes time poverty which becomes economic, environmental, lifestyle poverty. While the slow movement, promotes Love, care in production, care in creating, care in consuming and promotes the quality of life that nurtures, epitomizes kindness, both in giving and receiving. If there was ever a model for a New Earth, surely it would be based on the tenants of Love like the Slow Movement that embrace and promote unity.
Now for the left field, are you ready? The cover for this issue after a lot of agonizing and waiting is a single lily, recognized by some as a symbol of death. When it finally arrived I smiled inwardly, saying "Good One, Holy Spirit, you have a sneaky sense of humour". For what could symbolize Christ Consciousness more succinctly than death. The constant dying of what we cling to for comfort of the ego. After being with the drift of thoughts arriving on the relevance of this issue and our decision to make a bold statement about Christ Consciousness, I had cause to wonder what I might say to anyone, if I could only say one thing to them relative to Christ Consciousness if I might never talk to them again, and it is this.
A little while ago I was talking to someone and they said something very simple, that was deeply profound, and it went like this. "People mistake Spirituality for Consciousness". And I realized straight away that I had made this same mistake. Being so concerned about spirituality; I get caught up in being spiritual, all the beliefs, rituals, practices. How easy it is to build a life around what seems spiritual mistaking it for consciousness. Spirituality is a given, it is what I Am innately; it doesn't have anything to do with how I am.
Consciousness is a very different thing; it requires real focus, desire, and intention, to every waking moment taking full responsibility for how I AM, or am not present. It is about the Art of Being. Mind will flow through me unbidden and the ego (sub conscious) will pervert it to its own agenda unless I am ever vigilant and take charge of my consciousness. Fear in the forms of judgement, selfishness, depression, anger, victim consciousness, indifference, getting etc. will dominate my thoughts and everything I create. Since everything is a neutral event what I create has no significance except that it is what I create. Everything in the World that I think I don't like is a pure reflection of any lovelessness that still exists in my consciousness, whether it is politics, war, weather or racism.
Comes a time when the degree of Lovelessness caused by being unconscious is just too painful. When the soul simply decides that it can't find solace in the Dream any more and 'Voila' a light comes on. This is a remarkable evolution in Being. No one knows what causes it to arrive, but one day being asleep isn't OK. Suddenly there is a wonder and an interest in the big picture and a passion for what might be termed 'spiritual'. The endless quest of fixating on materialism and fixing the World isn't the answer any more. A profound understanding of Truth is possible and necessary. What Jeshua (Jesus) came to tell us and what Quantum Science is now discovering is so glaringly obvious, this realm is not the Truth of us and it is the result of our Consciousness.
The Second Coming is not about Spirituality, it is about Consciousness. Consciousness is about the death of the ego, pure and simple. A steady and continual melt down of the self, and any sense of the significance of me, or getting anything, is less and less possible. All is God, all belongs to God and I am less than a tube that it passes through, anything that sticks on the way is the debris of the World. This is a zany, weird, process. It almost requires constant vigilance and adjustments to the emotional states that pass, in order to stay oriented in the transformation. It takes breath, discipline and faith and often feels like I am breaking down, and the part of me that feels it, is disintegrating. More interesting however, is what will be left?
Back to time and consciousness.
I recently read a wonderful book, called Good to Great by Jim Collins. It is the result of exhaustive research into what makes extraordinarily successful companies, why are they different? What it boiled down to was a new breed of CEO. These leaders are passionate, dedicated, low profile visionaries who create an inclusive picture, integrating the employee's needs and personal fulfilment into a long term picture that prioritizes values over gain. Their objectives are not born from a need to get results, so much as a holistic vision of what is best for everyone. They built teams that were united in purpose and shared in rewards. Uniformly these men were self effacing, quiet, dedicated and lived simple lives. They are a 180o revolution of the CEO's of the 80's, they didn't take enormous salaries, they didn't promote themselves and they stayed for the long term.
While fixing the World isn't going to change anything, fixing our consciousness is going to heal the World and everything else. What does that mean for me and you? Truth is that you are not reading this magazine unless you are already down the wormhole toward Christ Consciousness. You can waste as much time as you like along The Way, painful though it is, but you can't go back. So how can I become the CEO of a new order in my own life?
Quiet, dedicated, self effacing attention to what is true and loving, embracing unity and kindness, not looking for results or rewards, finding courage in the face of my own death of self, with untiring attention to returning to Love, no matter what. Being honest about what causes loss of Peace in my experience and the experience of others and Forgiveness, Forgiveness and Forgiveness, always possible when I return to what is True and Real, with kindness in my heart.
Not spiritual practice, or spiritual theory, nor beliefs, nor ideas of God, not teachers, saints or angels or ascended masters, not icons or spiritual places, not special knowledge or special gifts. Just pure attention to Consciousness, all the Time and it is taking everything I've got. I simply no longer have energy or heart for anything else, much less what is outside of me.
To my Brothers and Sisters in this quest I salute you. Bon Death!
Suzanne
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