Your Idols are Your Godliness

From Sita Sings the Blues by Nina Paley

When I was 13 I had a fierce obsession with the teen-pop trio - Hanson. Mmm Bop caught my ear like a dog whistle and sent me straight into a solid 9 months of pure boy-band worship.  The three adorable teens with their unabashedly long hair and pure Oklahoma souls reflected the joyous nights my sisters and I would sing our way through our after-dinner chores, and tackled every need my pubescent soul had for love, acknowledgement, and joy.  I was so enthralled by the trio that no matter how embarrassed other people told me I should be, I was completely immune to the harassment. My elder sister would not-so-sneakily bring her friends to my bedroom to laugh at my shrine of teen magazine prints covering every inch of my walls… blonde, gap tooth boys grinning innocently in their pukka shells and leather wrist bands. They would point and laugh and I would beam at my collection; I was truly in love.

How powerful an idol can be, when even in your most vulnerable condition (peer pressure on a 13 year old girl!), you are immune to the effects of the world.  My story and my kindship with my idols was so solid in my mind, nothing could break me down.  As years passed and I moved on to other obsessions (boyfriends), the leaflets and magazine articles of Isaac, Taylor, and Zac fell away to make room for teenage romantic love and plenty of identity crises.

During my time on my spiritual journey I’ve been criticised for leaping from teaching to teaching, and have been absolutely baffled by the groupie followings that some teachers or either self-proclaimed or fandom named “Gurus” have acquired.  I think my first lesson with Hanson was a great gift in acknowledging the ephemerality and projection of the Idol.  During a wonderful session with Ram Dass and Eckhart Tolle in 2011, Eckhart brought up the point where Oprah asked Eckhart “You’re not a Guru, are you?”. Eckhart was fully tickled by the thought of it, and answered “No of course not, but I have learned of people having my photo on their desk, and it surprised me”.  He continues to explain he has a photo of the Indian sage Ramana Maharshi that gives him a sense of deep stillness and peace. “But I also knew that was not the form I was looking at, that was me… It acted like a mirror... What you see is your own essential reality, reflected to you”.

A Guru can serve as wonderful image of projection, but we must remember that the holiness and deserved-worshipness comes from our own selves, our own stories, our own ideas of who these beings are. Every reflection of oneness and love from the image of Jesus or Buddha or your Guru or Pop-Idol comes from a place within you that recognizes that talent, that skill, that genius, and that wholeness within yourself.  A separate being cannot impose upon you a definition of themselves or of any purpose. It is our interpretation of these other things that give them their power, and when we are able to recognize this ability, we can realize that power is within ourselves. That Guru looks at you through that picture on the altar to remind you, just as Mufasa did for Simba through the thunderclouds on the Saharan horizon, “I live in you”.

When the Bible warns us against worshiping false idols, as does A Course in Miracles, the meaning lies in the interpretation that your idol holds some power that you do not, so you wish to be close to that idol to somehow learn or accumulate the healing you think you need. In A Course in Miracles, the Christ says (the formlessness/consciousness of the person Jesus) “I have nothing that you don’t have, it’s just that I have nothing else.”.

In Reality, the power the idol holds is only recognizable because you already have it, and if you assume the Other is needed to achieve that state then your ego is keeping you separate from your Oneness. Your ego is keeping you from recognising your own holiness, your own godliness.

So next time your Guru or Pop Idol comes into your view and you swoon or fall on your knees in desperate worship of the joy they bring to you, remember they are just there to remind you of the power you already hold within yourself.  You are the fierceness and power and genius that they hold. Your witness to it makes it so.

Namaste. Om Mani Padme Hum. Bless you. May the force be with you. Mmm Bop. Amen. 

You might as well enjoy.

Lesson 72 in the course of miracles:
Holding grievances is an attack on God's plan for salvation.



I still struggle from time to time with the Christian language in A Course in Miracles, but I followed today's lesson instructions and chanted "What is my salvation, Father? Help me know my salvation".
This was a frustrating meditation because I don't know what salvation means, and I don't understand talking to a "Father". But I meditated. I gave myself more than 15 minutes because I had to keep reminding myself to stop chanting in my head and just LISTEN. I listened. I listened to the washing machine tumble and the de-humidifier hum. I heard thoughts and let them go. I flexed all my brain muscles to dis-engage with thought. I heard the birds chirping and the cars drive by outside. I heard a voice in my head get really frustrated and say " This is just a mind game! This is stupid! There's no god, there's no magic hippy spirituality, this is a mind game. This is a puzzle. This is all about your perception and letting go of story and seeing the truth with your mind. Let's go back to non-spirit. Let's go to non-duality. Let's go to where none of this stupid meditating stuff matters." Then I cleared my head again and sat quiet. And the answer was so clear and smack-dab-stupid-easy.
I heard a bird chirping right outside the window and a car drive by, and with clarity I heard "nothing matters. none of this matters. in the human experience everything is so very very dramatic, but here, HERE, nothing matters, so you might as well enjoy. "



And the peace, the clarity, the Knowing was there. I felt suddenly freed up of energy, empowered, and absolutely delighted to take on the contrast of problem and solution in this human life experience. This isn't an apathetic, "nothing matters", this is an energetic, endless possibility of "nothing matters". What an invitation to play.



Amen.



And then I received Mike Dooley's email, A Note from the Universe:


Courageous is the soul, Jenny, who adventures into time and space to learn of their divinity. For while they cannot lose, they can think they have, and the loss will seem intolerable. And while they cannot fail, they can think they have, and the pain will seem unbearable. And while they cannot ever be less than they truly are - powerful, eternal, and loved - they can think they are, and all hope will seem lost.




And therein lies their test. A test of perceptions: of what to focus on, of what to believe in, in spite of appearances.




Tallyho,

The Universe

Mother

2013 Tarot

Now offering 2013, 13 Card Tarot readings! You get one card for each month, with a detailed intuitive interpretation ,and one card for your year and the messages it brings you.

If you wish to review my beliefs about Tarot, why and how I use it, and my spiritual beliefs, review these blog posts below!
Why and How I use the Tarot 
my-brand-of-spirituality

The price is $20! Click the button below.

Examples below, my boyfriend and I both revealed The Sun for January, and The Hierophant for February! What does it mean?! I'll keep you posted. So much fun!!

Really, a Hermit year for me? I've had enough of the Hermit for the last 10 years, please....

Matt is going to have one hell of an awesome year with work! I'm excited for him!

My brand of spirituality...

http://lydiaxstitch.deviantart.com/

A little background: My dad was raised by a depression-era orthodox Christian community. My grandfather was a preacher, and from what I understand, a very loveless man.  My dad was taught to have constant guilt, fear, not to question, and to dedicate his life to ideals that made no sense to him. He seperated himself from the church when he was 13, but even when I was growing up we received mail at Christmas from his former Christian community condemning us to an eternity in hell, because we did not go to church on Sundays. In addition to this, there was a phase in my teen years where my peers would go to "Bible Study" and spend the night licking peanut butter off each others' faces and going away for co-ed ski trips which always led to coming back after Christmas break to hear of all the hook ups that happened over their Christian holiday (not that there is anything WRONG with peanut butter licking and hook ups, FUN! But then they came back calling ME the heathen....) So for me, religion had always been thoroughly confusing, hypocritical, mean, demeaning, disgusting, and hurtful.  My parents raised us to be charitable and kind, open minded and loving, and yet we were still the ones being pegged as "Evil".

I have always, however, been a very spiritual person. I have a big imagination, and have held on to a bit of that child-like wonder about the world, which has served me extremely well.  I have experienced some major hardships in the last 7 years, including my mom suffering severe brain damage, and then myself falling very ill 6 years ago and still working on recovery.  In that time, I found the teachings of the Dalai Lama to be extremely helpful, like a big warm hug that lit up places in my heart that had been quiet for a long time (a feeling I know that can be related to those who "find Jesus", in a real, authentic sense).   And here is the rest that I explained to my boyfriend:

I know seeing  a prayer can be easily confused with religion, but it is not religious.  While for a long time the words God and Jesus etc were like bad words to me, they have come to have new meaning for me, in a non-religious sense. Now they represent things just like Martin Luther King Jr, or George Washington, or Ghandi, or Mother Teresa or even Steve Jobs... I mean Jesus especially, and God is the spirit of those people that made them so damn good at what they did. 


I believe we have powers way beyond our understanding, and that the universe (literally) functions on many levels we can't measure with numbers for now, and in mysterious ways that we can. For example... a group of scientists set up a bunch of computers around the world which generated random sequences of numbers.  They would watch the data and saw that after a major event, like 9/11 attacks, and the Japanese earthquake/Tsunami, the computer stopped generating random numbers, and instead, generated sequences of non-random numbers. Group Think, including group meditation, (and prayer) can literally change the sequence of events, the order of randomness, and in turn, molecular organization, even at an atomic level.

Meditation, for example, is practiced by millions of people all over the world who aren't even spiritual. This is because it has major proven health and psychological benefits journaled by the medical field and science.  Meditation literally regenerates the brain, creating new grey matter, and eliminating dead matter.  It also LITERALLY re-sets the body systems, so they reset, even if just for a moment, to their normal and most optimal functioning levels.

I think religions can be harmful group systems, but they are all based on this awareness of something bigger than ourselves. They're aware of community and the power of people in numbers. The human species would never have survived the ages without community, because we're pretty wimpy creatures.  In order for a community to function, certain beliefs and rules had to be created to ensure some sort of cooperation and peace. We're now at an age where that is being tested to the other spectrum of the pendulum, where it is becoming absolutely essential to accept ALL beliefs and ways of being, otherwise our world is going to go up in a nuclear war! BOO!

Not all religious practitioners function on a dangerous level, I have seen a lot of people really thrive in a religious community, but spiritual power can also be tempting to misuse and to judge others, and at it's worse, find cause for ending their existence.

I have a whole book of prayers I have written, wishes and affirmations for myself, for my life, and for the world as a whole. Cultivating peace and desires is very much all about setting goals and intentions, and that is what my prayers are.  When you start out the day looking for all things red, you see a lot of red in your day. When you start your day off with reminders of gratitude, love, and peace, you life is filled up more with those things.  It's the primal part of our brain that goes hunting for the right food.  When you go to the store and there is a shelf of 100 different kinds of shampoo, your brain hones in and locks in on "your brand" because it is an efficient way of "hunting". Otherwise your brain is using a hell of a lot of energy to try to figure out what to get (why it is so overwhelming to shop in a foreign country or to shop for a new way of eating). So there is a lot in your life that you never even see because you are honed in on one set of ideas.  I find that "spirituality" opens my mind up to a lot of possibilities I never even dreamed of, and makes me even more aware of other opportunities, more creativity, more ways of solving problems.

 I don't believe there is a man in the sky conducting our whims and tragedies, but I do believe in a reality that we do not understand, I believe very strongly that precisely because we are human beings, we are not possibly capable of ever truly understanding the full possibilities of everything that goes on in the universe.  We are just one little spec of the giant and infinite happenings going on just outside our atmosphere, and I respect that hugeness. 

My beliefs also stem from great literature, even fairy tales, because I really believe that metaphors are a really really powerful way to explain ideas that we are total knuckleheads at trying to explain with our own words.  Lord of the Rings, for example, is a perfect metaphor for our internal battles with our own personal evils, and a tale for finding our own personal courage.  Anime has been a really great find for me too, because especially Miyazaki, explores a lot of spiritual aspects that we're too afraid to explore in America because of how "weird" or "politically incorrect" it could be. Miyazaki is obsessed with nature, and the power in nature, and the power of spirit and personal strength.  That is just one ideal that has been kind of squashed out from western thinking because it "opposes" ideas of a feared and all-powerful Christian God which a lot of numb-skulls still think is a useful way of seeing the world. (Not that all Christians are this way, certainly not! Many Christians DO find their spirit and love in nature.)

 My way of believing and thinking I believe is the ACTUAL reality, because we are beings powerful beyond our imagination, and this is my way of harnessing that power, if even a little bit.

P.S. If you are at all interested in starting a meditation practice, no spiritual or religious interest necessary! Good for your health, creativity, concentration, sign up for 21 days of free guided meditations through the Chopra Center... the first day was yesterday, but you have access to all 21 days throughout the event. Enjoy!!!
( link : http://www.chopracentermeditation.com/bestsellers/MEDITATION_WINTER_2012/register.asp )

A Course in LOVE

I have been studying A Course in Miracles (slowly.. this book is freaking enormous), and how quaint and appropriate that I've now fallen on Chapter 6, Lessons in Love, just a day before Valentine's Day. It probably doesn't have a lot to do with romantic love, but I'm sure it corresponds quite nicely to Marianne Williamson's Enchanted Love, which I am now almost finished with. The lessons that Marianne is teaching me through her interpretations of A Course in Miracles towards relationships just fills me with a big "YES" of recognition and truth.  Let's stay in the light! Let's stay in the ecstasy! Let's stay in the glory!
I love that Chapter 6 corresponds to the 6 card in the Tarot.. The Lovers.

"When two hearts join in ecstasy and rapture, an army of light ascends and the world is brought closer to heaven. Literally.  The beloved's hand on us, like a baby's hand, holds power that is straight from God. Heaven is, in metaphysical terms, the experience of our oneness. The world is a holographic universe, with every piece containing the whole. An enchanted love between any two people is a blessing on the entire world."

How lovely.

I love this painting from http://martanael.deviantart.com/ .