Don't Believe What I Say

You should never believe what I say, or what anyone else says unless you actually know it is true. Just because someone says they know something and happen to have credibility, or lots of agreement about their knowledge, or you respect them does not mean what they say is the truth. Never blindly believe, or you may find yourself on the yellow brick road of willful ignorance and having to backtrack at a later time picking up where you left off. Sometimes where you left off might be as young as three or four years old.

Especially discern what is true about what a spiritual teacher says. Question them, take nothing at face value. Only after discerning and seeing what is actually true within you is it appropriate to believe. If you really do know the truth of something then give your whole heart to it. Go deeply into what you are knowing and pay attention to where it takes you in all the levels you are. It is like a pond that ripples both outward and inward, each ripple taking you to a more subtle level. Keep looking and see what you are knowing and being of it. If you know what you are seeing is true, give all of you to it in your heart.

My teacher, John De Ruiter, gave me similar advice after I first met him. He said not to believe anything he said unless I knew it to be true.

If you do not see things the way others do, stay with what you know, there may be something you are onto. This does not mean hold on just because you believe something. Holding onto a belief and not being willing to examine it is akin to being right. That becomes a slippery slope because what was true has in some way become distorted by your holding. Become aware of, train yourself to see when you are holding onto a belief and are unwilling to consider other possibilities that would take your knowing to a new level. Be open to letting go if another deeper knowing would shift what you previously knew. What is there to hold onto at any level? Hanging on is from habit and fear; neither is worth anything.

The bottom line is, no one has the definitive answers to anything. We are a work in progress; life is a work in progress; so there is always more we can know about what we are both in form and not-in-form. Stay open regardless of whether or not you are comfortable or uncomfortable. It is okay to let a question or an issue hang in the air until something further is known. This can sometimes take a long long time or maybe a few seconds. It doesn't matter. I have unresolved questions that have been hanging around for 30 years, and I may not get them answered, and that is perfectly fine.

As human beings we tend to rush to form. We try to give form to events, relationships before it is warranted. Have you ever tried to get a commitment from a lover before they were ready, or sell someone something before they were ready? We can almost always tell when we are rushing things, and out of willfulness or intention try to move something into form too soon . It is okay to wait. You cannot rush your spirit, your being, your knowing, your seeing. It will come when the foundation is solid, complete, and there is a place for it to land in you. This place that it lands, if you are ready, you will be able in your heart to match what it is and then what you see will be perfect and true.

"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex... It takes a touch of genius --- and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction."    - Albert Einstein

Go there.

Peace and love...