It has been suggested that it is only through human consciousness that the universe can be aware of itself. As I pondered on this thought, I wondered if we humans are perhaps the soul of the Universe:Universal soul, personified.
Light refracted manifests as rainbow. Oneness, refracted through time and space, manifests as individual consciousness. Who we think we are is only a temporary manifestation of something infinitely more vast than our minds can begin to imagine. When we identify so completely with that temporary manifestation two things happen: first, we severely underestimate our true natures and second, we are plunged into a self-created consciousness characterized by mortality, attachment, limitation, pain and suffering.
In the same way that we must experience darkness to know light, it may be that the only way we can grasp the fullness of Oneness or the timelessness of Eternity is to experience their opposites. Hence worldly experience. Coasting through eternity, we may be as unaware of the eternal, as is the fish of the vast ocean in which it swims. After struggling on dry land for a short spell, when returned to the ocean, the fish may have an instant ‘awakening’ or ‘realization’ of what was there all along. Being somewhat more evolved than fish, we do not have to wait until we return to the ocean of eternity to wake up, although some certainly do. Deep, deep within our consciousness we carry the memory of the cosmic ocean from which we emerged. When we experience its opposite, we feel out of our element. We experience so many things that we simply did not have to deal with in our eternal home. It is difficult to ‘flow’, life requires ‘effort’, gravity, (and dragging around a physical body) makes us feel heavy. Ego renders us frightened, insecure, worried, and blocks the flow of boundless love.
Waking up on Earth is like being Cinderella at midnight, or Adam and Eve after lunch. Awakening on Earth is a whole different matter. It is remembering heaven, remembering the palace and dancing at the ball. Yes, we came here so that we would really know and recognize Heaven, Eternity, or Oneness: so that we would really know our true natures. Sometimes the best way to really know something is to be clear about what it is not. Once we get that, then comes the ah ha!
Throughout history we recognize many awakened ones, and how they tried to get the message across to those who were still asleep. Not all are ready to wake up, but more and more of us are. There is a little twist to the story though. The fish that struggles on land wants only to be returned to the ocean. No one would expect the fish to survive on land, much less try to turn the land into an ocean. If we were at the level of fish, then when we became aware, perhaps we would be thrown back into the cosmic ocean. But no, we are left here.
Remember, we are the consciousness of the Universe: and it is all evolving. Our challenge is to move the whole thing up a level: we are soul seedlings come to sprout into a veritable Garden of Eden. Yes, it is our task to create Heaven on Earth. “Ah ha! Now I remember what it was like before the fall into form. It was beautiful, warm, effortless, timeless: love was all there was.” Our challenge is to figure out just what we need to do here to re-create the divine state. All of the limitations, all of the blocks in our way are within us. The divine state already exists. We simply need to eliminate all that it is not! This is the hard part. In any situation, we can access our divinity by asking what an angel would do, what God would do, what Allah would do, what Buddha would do. We always know what they would do, if we care to ask ourselves. Doing what they would do is definitely our challenge. Spirit within us is always ready and willing to provide guidance. Ego is the stubborn problem child who knows he should share, but won’t let go of his possession. Our wise observer grants that this is only a stage. We will grow into the realization of the infinite joy that comes with letting go: sooner, hopefully, than later.
Like a firm and loving parent, who gently unwraps the determined fingers which clutch on so tightly, the Universe has a way of loosening our grasp. Imposed upon us, this releasing is accompanied by drama, resistance, struggle and pain. Holding on takes effort. Choosing to let go makes the process effortless. It is only with empty hands and open hearts that we can embrace divine eternity, and welcome it into the now.
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