I’m going to share three Donald Neale Walsch videos with you. Two of them are quite long & will take some time to view. Please save them for a moment when you need clarity or comfort. Watch them when you have an open mind & want to see more. All three of the videos touch on so many points I have covered throughout the years on Sunday Is For Lovers. I will mention a few quotes or points that I feel I have discussed before in blog posts, but the rest is for you to experience & to hear what you hear from the videos. I decided to feature Donald Neale Walsch in my “Unconditional Love & Self Empowerment Revolution” series because I feel that he is a perfect example, an honest example, of evolution, of the ongoing process of self-realization, as well as self-empowerment via love. And when I say those words, I don’t mean the he has evolved or realized himself or empowered an individual self, but that he sees that there is no self. And that is something that I have been sharing though my work. And that wholeness (or non-duality) realized is what sets one free. Free from the idea of being an individual one, to being one that is inseparable from the whole. Eckhart Tolle speaks with Neale Donald Walsch
“I am that [god/divinity/wholeness], & all the rest is… I am making it up.”
“Everyone can deliberately access that place of no-ness, nothingness — that place where thought recedes & wisdom emerges.”
“All the joys of life come to us, just as freely as the gifts come through us, if we just allow ourselves to get caught in the flow & get our self out of the way — get any thought out of the way that you think you are doing it.”
“You are convinced that you & I are separate, that you are something other than me. Only when you are clear that you are nothing other than me, will you understand that I don’t have your answer, you have your answer.”
“So that life might know itself, as life itself, through the process of life itself. That you might demonstrate, through the living of your life, what life is.”
“It’s about taking what is happening to us right now & changing our mind about it, changing our thought about it. Holding it in a new way. It’s about embracing the current circumstance, just the way it is. Without it needing to be any different. And beholding the opportunity in that. Beholding the gift in that.”
“What creates anger is the mind thinking that what is going on should not be going on. That something else should be happening. […] Obviously it should be like this. Do you know how I know? Because it is like this.”
“Ninety-eight percent of the world’s people, are spending ninety-eight percent of their time, on the ninety-eight percent of things that don’t matter at all. And their spending two percent of their time (if they are lucky) on what really matters.”
“Life will never make sense to your mind. If you are trying to make sense of life with your mind, you might as well forget it. Mind is very logical, & life is not.”
Neale Donald Walsch gives us 3 things we can do:
I have a short blog post that speaks to the point Neale made in that last video. To view that post, click here. :)
I almost don’t want to read or even look at the blog post I wrote about what I wanted 2011 to be like. I feel so far from the person who wrote it. Actually, a better way to say that would be: I feel so deeply connected to the person who wrote it that, that “person” no longer exists. — Hmm… did I just make that harder for you to understand? Or easier? (*scratches forehead*)
To my surprise this year was the first year I got a glimpse into beingness. How divine it was. I thought I “knew” all about it already. I’ve read about it for more than half of my lifetime. Nothingness, beingness, unconditionalness — it was all familiar to me as far as I knew. But only as familiar as water is to someone who has never drank it. You can read about it & study it & think about it all you want, but until you have surrendered yourself to it, until you allow yourself to get wet — it’s only a concept.
To think of going back to read what I wrote in that blog post, to think of going back to the past to review all the things I wanted — it feels weird because I now know that life is effortless. It just happens. Or better yet, it just is.
I no longer have a deep desire to build anything or become any one.
The journals I have of clippings, the books full of inspirational images — images I aspired to be like, to look like, images of things I wanted to create; in work & in home & in lifestyle, mean nothing to me now. It’s like looking at lifeless images of hollow shells. Everything is now empty — empty of meaning. This doesn’t mean these things won’t get built, or that I won’t be creative, or that I won’t develop myself — it just means I am no longer delusional. I no longer think that these things relate to whether or not I am happy. I no longer think that a “life” or happiness, or peace, or love — can, or needs to be, created. It’s already who we are. Once we see that it’s already here, that we already are it, there is nothing left to do.
Life is so simple. Yet the more we try to manipulate it the more complicated it is. Just let it be. And notice how it unfolds. Notice how it develops effortlessly. This doesn’t mean that nothing is being done, it means that no one is doing it.
If I am wholeness, if I am oneness, if this is what we all are, then how can any one person say that they are doing anything? Without the universe, without others, without energy (spirit), how would anything get done? It happens because we all happen.
For me to create a blog post about beingness & nothingness is impossible. It’s using words to describe something that doesn’t “exist” — something that exists has a beginning & an end, this doesn’t. Also language is all about meaning — this isn’t.
So all I want to say is, 2011 was beautiful. It was perfect. It was whole. And all of the amazing things that happened — happened without me trying to make them happen.
It’s like falling in love. I can say that I am in love with someone. I can tell you that to me he is divine & I feel such a magnetic pull towards him, such a force of energy & resonance — but I really can’t tell you why. I didn’t make it happen. I didn’t create it. It just happened. I didn’t put him where he was when I first met him — he was just there. I didn’t make him talk to me — he just spoke to me. I didn’t look at him in a crowd of people & say, “hmm… let me see, I think I choose to fall in love with you. I had no idea that I would fall in love with him. When I first met him I wasn’t even sure why I was so drawn to him, or interested in him, but I was — copiously. Someone could say that I was attracted to him. Yes, he is attractive, but there are many people that are attractive — & I’m not drawn to them. And all of this could be said for him in regards to me. So who or what made all of this happen? Who or what put us in love? Who or what brought us together? The answer is: no one & everyone, nothing & everything — & that my friends, is beingness. When you just are, everything happens as it should. Sometimes it’s what you wanted, sometimes it’s not, but if you stay “in flow” or “in love” or “in emptiness” everything is beautiful. And everything is effortless. Like breathing. You never wake up & start breathing yourself in the morning, you just surrender to being breathed. It happens for you & it happens in spite of you.
So for myself & for all beings, I hope that 2012 is pure effortlessness, pure beingness, pure love. May we see ourselves as perfect wholeness. May we feel the love, peace, abundance, joy, harmony & bliss that we already are. May we see the world in ourselves, instead of ourselves in the world.
I’m going to present videos & photographs & information about the Occupy Wall Street movement (OWS – also #OccupyWallStreet or #OWS, written as Twitter hashtags). Following that, I’ll write a few words on how I feel about the global need for change & what I think is on the horizon. And lastly, at the end of this post, I will leave information on how you can support the OWS movement.
Occupy Wall Street, New York City
I received a FAQs sheet at Occupy Wall Street being held at New York City’s Zuccotti Park (formerly Liberty Plaza Park) near Ground Zero. What struck me is that the sheet clearly read: “We are not a protest movement. We do not protest against things, and we do not have one or two simple demands. We are a movement which does call for accountability, however – accountability to ourselves and to our country.” To me the key word is: accountability. Personal responsibility for all aspects of one’s life is very important. This movement stems out of people who are tired of living in a country that calls itself a democracy when it is not. And now they have held themselves accountable for being the ultimate source for creating this democracy.
It continues, “We must be accountable to ourselves. First and foremost, we are calling upon ourselves, and upon one another, to wake up and employ our power as citizens: to participate rather than observe, to raise our strong voices together, rather than complaining feebly in isolation. We cannot ‘whine’ about the injustices wreaked upon us if we have been complacent and silent in the face of these injustices. We must take responsibility for our own futures – and here at Liberty Plaza, that is exactly what we are doing, by modeling the kind of society in which everyone has the right to live. Here in Liberty Plaza, having lost our sense that we live in a democracy, we are reclaiming its practice.”
The next paragraph states, “Our government must be accountable to us, and corporations must be accountable to the government. We are saying definitively: We no longer live in a democracy, and we refuse to accept that. We seek an end to the collusion between corrupt politicians and corporate criminals, as democratic and capitalist institutions have become conflated. (*1) As such we must see major advances in the area of the relationship between corporations, and people, on par with the amendments which outlawed slavery and assured civil rights to all people regardless of race, sex, or class…”
I wish I could type the whole FAQs sheet out for you, but this blog post would be way too long (-it’s too long as it is!) So, I will just add one footnote that belongs to the paragraph above, I think it’s important.
*1 “In the United States, the right to become rich has become collapsed with the very notion of liberty. From the time we are children, Americans learn to confuse democracy (a system of decision-making and governance), with capitalism (a system for regulating and releasing money flows).”
Occupy Together: Occupations all over the USA
All over the USA “Occupations” have been popping up from city to city. It’s steadily growing in the number of supporters & in the number of locations.
I was so proud to see this video of my hometown, the East Bay in Northern California. The video is from Occupy Oakland (aka #HellaOcuppy).
No doubt about it, there is much more to come. Not only in the way of government reform, or even epidemics & environmental concerns – but in each one of us individually in a way we haven’t been challenged before.
We will eventually find that there is nowhere to turn for a sense of true security & peace. At that point it will be obvious that it can only come from the one who is seeking it.
The only thing we can truly change is ourselves. The only place we can truly find peace is within us.
Looking for answers or solutions outside of oneself never works in the long-term.
At the same time, yes! – Occupy Wall Street & other movements are important & necessary. Especially when it comes to waking people up & taking them out of their comfort zone – their automatic way of sheepishly & passively speeding through their lives. It makes total sense to be forward moving & create the external changes needed at the moment, but after that, the work just gets deeper.
Otherwise, everything reverts back to the way it was. The work will not be done until we have uprooted the source of the confusion & suffering within us, & cultivate a new way of being.
In my opinion we need a balance between the tangible side of ourselves & the intangible side. Our culture is so wrapped up in the importance of materialistic things, or external things (anyone or anything outside of ourselves). But it is the intangible experiences of love, harmony, joy, generosity, trust, balance, peace, & more, that truly make us happy, that make us come alive & make us feel whole.
Love, harmony, & joy are states of being & they can only be experienced & generated from within. The only one that ever has control of this is us. Each one of us has the power to create & maintain these states of well-being.
For lasting change, the most important revolution that needs to take place, is the one within.
Creating a daily lifestyle for ourselves that is meaningful & healthful, as well as building communities with others based on the values & qualities we believe in, this is what change in action is all about.
So let’s #OccupyLove! #OccupyBliss! #OccupyJoy! OccupyAwareness! #OccupyMindfulness #OcuppyPeacefulness #OccupyOneness!
The ways you can support Occupy Wall Street or other Occupations near you…
Every Occupation needs something, the most important thing you can give is you. Share your love & support by physically being there & by sharing your intentions (what you intend by showing your support) with others. If you aren’t able to be there in person, actions like: donating money, food, blankets, hygiene supplies, drinking water, rain gear, tarps, tents, etc, can also be a great way to show your support. So can blogging, taking & sharing photographs or video, spreading the word, & doing whatever you can to contribute.
To send a donation to Occupy Wall Street in New York, their shipping address along with a link for information on their current needs is listed below. There is also a link to all other city Occupations in the USA.
The UPS Store
C/O Occupy Wall Street
118A Fulton Street #205
New York, New York 10038
“As I go through all kinds of feelings & experiences in my journey through life — delight, surprise, chagrin, dismay — I hold this question as a guiding light: “What do I really need right now to be happy?” What I come to over & over again is that only qualities as vast & deep as love, connection & kindness will really make me happy in any sort of enduring way.”
– Sharon Salzberg
SUNDAY IS FOR LOVERS 