A new year...and time to stop playing. Has the time come for you to stop doing things to help make you feel better temporarily and step into the deeper work of self-examination and inquiry?
Greetings, and Happy 2017!
This morning I was on Facebook and I saw that someone I know had liked a page from a “Happiness Coach.” I clicked on the link and saw that this coach has over 252,000 page likes! Not to dismiss this person’s work, but what a perfect representation of where humanity is still at…a kind of “fluff over function” mentality that leaves the collective constantly searching for the next thing to give it a momentary reprieve from its pain and suffering.
Why are you in pain? Why is the collective? The simple answer is that you believe yourself to be separate from All that Is. And in your state of perceived separation, which is based in fear, shame and grief, the only thing that matters to you and the vast majority of humans is to create something to feel good about right now. Why do we clamor after the latest trends, whether they be fashion, technology or philosophy? Because the identification with something the collective deems “worthy” allows us to feel better about ourselves, if only until the newness wears off and we begin searching for the next fix.
There is a class in laughter yoga that regularly meets in my building and it is often running during our satsang sessions. One class promotes the repolarization from negative to positive, to build up a greater sense of temporary “happiness” in its students, while the other works to dig deep into the unconscious levels of pain we have refused to address over lifetimes, leaving no stone unturned, facing our demons and bringing it all into the Awareness of the Light, and what remains after all the digging is true, everlasting joy. Guess which class has more attendees? Obviously, the laughter yoga. Why? Because, who really wants to work that hard, and who is willing to bare their souls to themselves and witness every ugly detail about their own personality, its agendas, power grabs and manipulations? Laughter yoga is fun! And don’t we all just want to have some fun?
Don’t get me wrong, I love laughter yoga and it holds a perfect place in the ladder of our spiritual evolution. But, at some point, one must recognize why he/she is continually drawn to practices like it and then make the decision to take the necessary steps to truly get to the heart of the problem, not by applying another layer of laughter or happiness bandage to the underlying pain but by ripping all of them off and exposing the wound so we can really see it, observe it, and finally see through it, altogether.
At the turn of the new year, the energies were recalibrated and reset to match the collective vibration of humanity. We move into 2017 fresh, with the opportunity to go deeper and further in our growth than ever before. What remains to be seen is what the collective will do with the opportunity that has been presented.
So, where are you in this equation? Do you always go into the new year with the goal to make changes, to better yourself and step into a new, positive and happy you? If so, why? I would ask, why search for new ways to change and re-identify yourself when you can step free of the entire program of identification and embody the “no you” that you truly are? Everything you believe yourself to be, and even this life that you appear to be living, are merely projections of your past…karmic carry-over from unbalanced, disqualified energies that you have identified with over the course of countless lifetimes.
The reality is that this life is a dream…a nightmare of what consciousness imagined could be possible if it believed itself to be something other than The All that Is. You are not your body, your emotions or your thoughts any more than an actor is the person he portrays during a performance.
You don’t have to run from your pain anymore. The guilt, the fear, the shame and regret is not you, nor does it hold any power over you. If you truly desire Freedom, the Will of God will guide you, deeper and deeper, into the objective observation of the program of your personality, where you will learn that detachment from all stories and concepts is ultimately as simple as a choice.
A new year has begun. What was before never happened. You are here now, and now is all that exists. I challenge you to stand in this eternal present moment, free of all desire, attachment and belief, and actualize the pure peace and joy that you are, that you always have been, and that you could only ever Be.
Love,
Shusara
