Please note that you can unsubscribe at any time by pressing 'unsubscribe' on any of our Constant Contact email communications.

The True Test
The true test of awakening comes not in the meditation hall or while we're on retreat, but in daily life. While the initial movement of meditation is to recover our innate nondual ground of Being, the more difficult challenge is how we embody this realization into daily life when we return to job, family and day-to-day responsibilities.

As we taste nondual Being, make no mistake; we do recover our native equanimity. The myth of separation does dissolve. Love is realized to be the fabric of the cosmos. And uncaused joy is revealed as our birthright. But awakening doesn't wave a magic wand and dispel the longstanding residues of conditioning. Instead, it drives us more deeply into life, into relationship, into authentic communication, into living truth. And like childrearing, there's no owners manual for what to do. You're on you're own, in the thick of it.

Neither the past nor the future offers comfort because you're living the freshness of 'now'. This is definitely not 'good news' to the conditioned mind because the price of admission is all its beliefs and the understanding that the truth of this moment is only relative. Everything is changing.

But make no mistake, there's something stable here. Subtle at first, then vast beyond belief; the revelation of Being, the true ground that can't be shaken because it's what we are; it's what everything is. It's the groundless ground that paradoxically is more solid than where we stood before. It's made of love; and its expression is found in loving what is.

The mind still wants its way, but the longer we live in Being, the more clearly the mind is informed that it's not in charge; never has been and never will be. What is in charge is way beyond the mind, yet our nearest, the very fabric of our Being. Awakening is instantaneous, but embodying this understanding takes time. Life's not easy. It's unpredictable. It's tumultuous. But it's beautiful to walk with others when the emphasis is on Being rather than becoming.

We need our brothers and sisters. The presence of others challenges our conditioning so that awakening can be embodied into every moment and every relationship. It's lovely to be with friends who want to awaken and embody this understanding as much as you. I hope you'll join me in the coming months as we nourish these precious gems of non-separation, embodying living truth, and sharing our understanding in community. I look forward to seeing you soon.