Make The Million-Year Leap In Consciousness GF Live 7-20-24

We're going to look at some ideas this morning or if you're listening to a replay of this whenever you have decided to listen.

That's a difficult concept in some ways for most of us.

The title of the material is called Make the Million Year Leap in Consciousness.

Gosh,

I don't know when it was.

Years and years and years ago I was invited to speak before the Academy of Science and Arts,

Something like that,

And I had selected this talk title as a way to introduce certain ideas that I'm going to bring into a completely new light as we study together.

There's an idea,

I don't know,

It's attributed to the Hopi Native Indians,

But I don't know.

I've read and found different resources mentioning other sources from time to time,

But I've mentioned it in prior talks.

The statement is we are the ones we are waiting for.

We are the ones we are waiting for.

So before I bring up the key lesson to set the stage,

Let me just say no matter who it was that is attributed as having said this,

The premise is that there's no point in waiting if we're going to make a change.

That if there's going to be a real change in ourselves,

In this world,

The world being an expression of this consciousness,

This consciousness needs to change,

And we can't wait for it to change.

And more importantly,

That whatever the changes are that need to be made in this consciousness,

In this world,

It's already within us.

This is the key idea and what we're going to look at together.

Here's the main idea.

One of the hardest things to understand about the true spiritual path and the struggles along the way is that the inner struggle we fear losing has already been won for us.

If only we will remember to take our rightful place in the midst of that engagement.

In other words,

In the midst of this struggle that appears whenever suddenly we may feel inadequate,

When we think this may be greater than our ability to deal with and whatever that moment may be,

I might add,

That within us already exists the answer,

The solution to that suffering,

But only if we remain in the rightful place in the midst of that engagement.

So for the sake of this talk,

There is really only one road that leads to being a spiritually complete human being.

And for the sake of this talk,

And I will look at this much more deeply over the next few talks,

Not just here,

But when I speak online for free,

You can find out about those talks,

That real liberation is inseparable from being liberated from this desire,

This nature that never has the end of its own desires.

And this road that leads to this liberation,

Which in the end is freedom from being identified with all of these desires,

That road is divided into two lanes.

This is a manner of speaking.

The first of these lanes we can call an indirect or otherwise a gradual path.

And it's the one that most human beings travel.

It is an arduous process,

As we should all know,

Where we hope to attain self-liberation through some knowledge that we're going to gain,

Some physical activity.

We're going to somehow or other,

One by one,

Conquer whatever this is that we need to overcome in ourselves through a process of essentially trial and error.

And it's a path that we take as we look at ourselves and judge ourselves and we decide here's the improvement we need.

This is the kind of healing that's required.

And we take on as best we're able,

One by one,

These things that we've imagined,

If we'll just work our way through them,

We'll put the finishing touches on the parts of ourselves that are not yet whole.

This is the general,

The indirect path.

And perhaps why it is said,

And I'm not about to speak to it,

Why it takes thousands and thousands of incarnations for a human being to begin coming to a point,

Not where they've perfected bit by bit themselves,

But in the end,

The actual moksha,

The actual realization behind liberation,

Which is what?

The direct path,

Not the indirect one,

Begins with awakening a new order of understanding that begins or at least suspects,

And then you fill in the blanks,

That wisdom,

Compassion,

Kindness,

That liberation itself is not an achievement any more than we would believe walking outside into the warmth of the morning sun is an accomplishment of some kind.

I want to say it again,

Wisdom,

Compassion,

Kindness,

You fill in the blank,

Love,

Patience.

These qualities,

These characters are not an achievement.

In truth,

They are the expression of a life within us,

An understanding within us that has begun to realize that this direct path to the indwelling light is already within us.

It's not out there.

It's not something we're going to get our hands on,

Not something we're going to dress ourselves in,

And that this indwelling light is revealed to us in direct proportion to our realization that true spiritual freedom,

True spiritual freedom is not about becoming whole and complete in a time to come.

So difficult for our minds to understand that idea,

Because everything about the way we look at this world and our relationship to it is all about I'm here,

That's there,

I need to close the distance between myself and that which I believe will deliver me from my pain or deliver me into whatever the ultimate pleasure is I imagine I deserve.

That my relationship with the divine will develop over a time to come.

But really,

The true path,

The inner discovery is in a kind of radical realization that you and I,

Even though we do not know it,

Are already whole and complete,

And that with enough understanding we can be reborn into a holiness moment to moment to moment whose revelation is the truth that sets us free,

Not in a time to come.

We are the perennial postponers of the practical spiritual work that is required on our part.

If we would understand the following,

And I'm going to ask Kate to bring up the second key lesson,

Please don't post for a second.

Already present within us,

There is a presence that is all we will ever know ourselves to be,

That is in truth the whole of our possibilities as well as its full realization.

Already present within us,

There is a presence that is all we will ever know ourselves to be,

That is in truth the whole of our possibilities as well as its full realization.

What if that's true?

I'm not asking you to believe anything that I say.

I never have,

I never will.

I'm asking you what if it is true that already within us there is a presence,

An intelligence,

A kindness,

A compassion,

A gentleness that is all we will ever know,

The depth and breadth of it already lives within us and that the relationship to the depth and breadth of that divine light,

That life is in itself the fulfillment of all our possibilities and at the same time as we enter into them the realization of our true nature.

We can see this.

We don't have to have a teacher,

A guru.

We understand through experience,

As I'll help you see,

That very much in the vein of the idea,

If you know the story of the prodigal son,

He wanders out,

Look,

Doing what?

Looking to complete himself,

Looking through what he has imagined and then desired will make him whole and then he finds out after this long journey,

Similar to ours,

That nothing that he seeks in the field of opposites,

Right out of Ecclesiastes,

All who struggle in the field of opposites,

Vanity,

Vanity,

And in the moment of that realization his attention,

Instead of being outward,

Is turned inward and he sees himself in the paucity of his position wishing he just had husks like pigs,

That he could just have that and what does he do?

He turns his attention back home.

He starts heading back home to his father and it's said that his father's name is Ecclesiastes and he's going back home to his father and it's said that his father seeing him at a great distance meets him halfway,

Meaning they were never disconnected.

One just had to turn in a new direction.

This is what we're talking about and it is the gradual turning,

This metanoia,

This awakening of a new understanding that begins to bring us into this relationship with something that we've seen a thousand times.

We've just not made the journey.

Imagine for a moment,

Here's a group of people and they live in some deep,

Dry valley that is surrounded on all sides by these mountains,

Fairly sheer,

And that in this valley that's dry,

Sitting at the base of this sheer mountain,

That somewhere above them,

A cloud covering hides the top of these mountains from which they hear distant rumbling and see flashes of light,

But they don't know what that is and so their mythology tells them that it's attributed to the gods that live up there and no one should ever venture up there for surely death awaits them.

But in that same valley and for some people,

And again,

This is,

I know how this is going to sound,

But it's true.

Why did Christ say,

Many are called,

Few are chosen?

Because everybody is going to be brought into that light that reveals within them the kingdom that was already present from the get-go.

Like in the gospel of Thomas,

Christ said,

Split a piece of wood,

Turn over a rock,

There I am.

These are the two teachings that have been hidden from humanity because it alludes to this idea that there is not some time and distance to cover in order to understand what is divine and to share a relationship with it,

But it's innate in the very fact that we are made in the image of this God.

And so here are these human beings living in this dry valley,

Struggling,

Hoping that the streams don't dry out,

Just as we hope that the things that we have believed will deliver us from our unhappiness won't disappear like they always do,

Fighting over the scarcity of what we believe is required if we're going to be secure.

This is humanity.

But from time to time,

For some of these people,

For whatever reason,

Instead of looking at the ground and hoping to scrounge something for themselves,

They,

From time to time,

Are reminded to look up,

And once in a while when they look up,

It's in part because the clouds have separated a little bit,

And instead of being shrouded as they are in these gray mists,

These shadows,

Instead suddenly they see above them,

These clouds have parted,

And there's this green world.

There's some kind of life up there.

They can see waterfalls,

Unthinkable,

And a few put together,

Maybe the streams down here that were so scarce,

Maybe they're connected to this,

And this one man,

This one woman,

They think to themselves,

You know what,

We need to go see what that is.

But unfortunately,

And that is the way it is,

It's just like that,

That little glimpse,

And then the clouds come back in.

Isn't that true?

You have a little glimpse of another kind of possibility.

You're sitting there,

And you're filled with impatience,

And for a split second,

This cloud parts,

And then you recognize the impatience isn't because the other person is the way they are.

The impatience isn't the limitation of the human being I want to blame for this suffering.

This impatience is my limitation,

And all it knows to do is to tell me to scrounge out something that'll make that person suffer for what they've done,

When instead of recognizing as we're intended to,

Wait a minute,

I can understand there's another possibility that my impatience has never told me.

There's something else that lives in the moment of fear,

That fear never even suggests,

And that's what goes on,

But the clouds come in,

Boom,

Relegated the attention back to the little world,

Trying to make things work for ourselves,

Get people to be who we need them to be,

Get people to work for us so we don't have to do it.

But enough times that happens,

Where a person sees that already in that valley,

Where they are,

Something is,

In fact,

And exists above them that intimates the possibility of an entirely different relationship with life.

And suddenly,

And now back to us,

Instead of listening to the people in the valley,

To these thoughts that tell us,

You know what,

This is irresponsible.

Who do you know that's ever come into a relationship with this indwelling divine?

Not these phony baloney gurus,

These liars and thieves with their Rolex watches and fancy homes and all the rest of that nonsense that proves they're as empty as the thing they try to get you to feel so they can fill you with their nonsense.

No,

You understand.

Already within me,

I had a glimpse.

I saw for a split second that shining moment.

And in that moment where we recognize through that epiphany,

Is it not?

Is not an epiphany a moment in which suddenly a lesson that we may have avoided for a thousand years,

Suddenly we see like nesting dolls,

One within another.

Ah,

I can see.

I didn't realize how much deeper that lesson ran.

I wonder how deep it does run.

I wonder how high one can begin to get above these things that have dragged one down.

And that moment of truth,

That little light breaks,

And we want to go up there because we start to understand that all we may hope for or have faith,

Including in the divine.

We realize above us is within us.

Above us isn't in a time to come.

It's within us and it always has been within us.

And it awaits every moment,

But we're not present to the moment where the clouds part.

Because it's when the clouds part and suddenly I can see what I could not see before as a possibility.

That in that moment,

I am called.

I recognize the possibility that somehow or other I've been missing these moments.

My attention has been in the wrong place.

And indeed it is.

And that where I need to keep my attention is in those moments where life as it always does,

Acts on itself to reveal itself.

Make the transition with me.

Every moment life is acting on itself to reveal itself.

And every moment life is giving birth to itself again.

Look at nature.

How do I say it?

There's no moment where this light,

However you want to describe it,

Isn't coming down from a celestial source.

The sun itself is the branch of another greater vine.

Here all this light comes in.

It acts on everything it touches.

And not only does it reveal what it touches,

But as it touches it,

It changes and gives what it touches a new life.

It transforms it.

And that's what rebirth is.

Is the endless perfection of what is being transformed by this living light that acts on itself because all forms are light,

Bringing it into a new relationship with itself.

So if we can see in any way whatsoever as above,

So below,

Meaning if that's true,

That there's no moment that life,

That light,

That an immeasurable intersection and interaction of celestial forces isn't transforming everything that is being touched by it and that it is touching,

Then we can start to understand how much more true would that be for our awareness,

The awareness of our consciousness and its transformation.

Where what little part of us that has sensed this,

What lies latent in us,

Just as we can see it actualized in the fruit that grows from the branch,

What lies latent in this creature is actualized.

Moment to moment to moment.

That's the extraordinary thing.

For most of us,

The idea of being an actualized human being is always connected to some time when through something we've dreamt up and planned for ourselves,

It all comes together and,

Ah,

I'm actualized.

That kind of being actualized is dependent on the conditions that allow it to take place.

And when the conditions pass,

So does the contentment.

And you know it already.

I don't have to tell you this.

But what if I'm being actualized moment to moment,

Factually actualized moment to moment,

Factually having something revealed within me over endlessly to show the full potential,

Maybe not to see the whole thing at once,

But in respect to the whole idea I'm discussing,

Of course,

You can't see more than you can see at once.

I don't know.

I was laying in bed last night,

As I often do prior to these insight timers.

I have to get up pretty early to do this.

And my mind was sorting through,

Um,

How do you,

How do you tell somebody that their true nature and all of its possibilities isn't in the future?

And that the completion of themselves is not in a time to come?

How do you even begin to speak of such things?

And then my mind,

It said,

You know,

I live on a mountain here.

And I call it the magic hour,

Right around 536 o'clock.

The sun is just setting behind the hills.

And there's this,

This light that comes through.

I've spoken of it.

I can't speak of it enough because every time even to remember it.

And in that moment,

I can't know more beauty than that.

There is no more beauty than that.

And that is that moment.

And that moment is inseparable from this nature that in that moment is no longer separate from the divine light and the forms it reveals.

So the realization isn't of the mountain and the light and the trees and the shadows.

That realization is a self-realization.

And it was already there.

And,

And that's what I'm trying to get across to you,

That all we are created to know and to be is already in us in the here and now,

Not in a time to come,

But the invitation for that realization,

Which is always being delivered.

We miss the invitation because in one respect,

There's no one there to receive it.

And that's what every moment is,

Is this invitation,

Intending every moment to act upon us for the purpose of revealing to ourselves,

Not just our possibilities.

Now,

Listen,

Not just what is already present in that presence,

But at the same time that it's revealing that,

In fact,

Inseparable from it is everything that is hindering that revelation.

So that imagine for a split second,

The appearance of a difficult moment.

How hard is that to imagine?

Some fear,

Some anxiety,

Boom like that.

It rises up inside of us.

And if you understand it properly,

When you have an anxiety or a fear and you start to identify with it,

The fact that you have that anxiety and fear and are beginning to find your,

What you have to do.

And it means that this mind in the moment that that arises up and it sees the condition as being asking us for something we don't have.

Why would I be afraid of a moment?

Unless in that moment,

Something is telling me you don't have what it takes to answer this or something greater than your ability to deal with is going to take place and you might lose something that's essential to your happiness.

So something it seems in these unwanted,

Painful moments,

Challenging us is asking us for what the very appearance of that resistance tells us.

You don't have that guy.

You're not going to get through this.

You're dead meat.

And in that moment,

What does the mind do?

It starts to scramble,

Doesn't it?

Helter skelter,

It starts running around looking for a life raft,

A vest of some kind,

Some kind of armor,

Something to protect itself.

But that whole perception in the moment that you don't have what you're being asked for is what has to be realized as a misperception.

But it can only be realized when we start to understand that in these moments,

What life is really asking us is,

Will you accept what I have come to show you about yourself?

That's what every moment is actually asking.

Will you accept what I have come to show you about yourself?

But the deal is that we have to accept the first part of that invitation.

We have to accept the first part of that revelation in order to receive the reward of the second part that comes with it.

And only under these conditions does that take place.

Let's take an example.

Here you are,

Here I am,

And somebody is coming in from out of town that you want to see,

But you know you have some differences with them,

Just like you do with everybody,

I might add.

And you're out to lunch,

And you're having this conversation.

One of the beauties of awakening is that not only do you know ahead of time exactly what the nature of the other person is going to respond to and from,

But you also know that when they respond to and from what they are going to,

That you don't need to respond from the same place.

You say something,

You're in this conversation,

Immediately you can feel the person resisting and there's a disagreement.

That's not the way they see things.

That's kind of natural,

Isn't it?

But what is supernatural is that in that moment by the light of your willingness to turn inwardly and look up,

If you want to use those words,

You get ready to react in kind,

Or I should say you get ready to react in unkindness.

And you've been on that road a thousand million times where you believe if you can change someone else,

Then you won't have trouble with them anymore,

And you won't be bothered by the nature they reveal to you in yourself.

This is why we try to change people,

Not because we love them.

We try to change people so they stop bothering us.

Bothering something in us that we don't know what to do with,

Other than blame them.

But in that moment suddenly,

Wow.

You know what?

I've been a thousand times at a chair in a restaurant at a family gathering.

A thousand times I've been in this exact place.

And a thousand times I've felt this sudden resistance come up inside of me.

And a thousand times I have responded from the same level as the person that has brought that reaction out of me.

And now we're in a fight,

An invisible tug-of-war.

And in that moment something in you goes,

Wait,

Wait a minute,

Wait a minute.

You're about to be you again.

You're about to be you again.

Now,

What in the name of heaven would that insight be?

It can't be the you that you've always been saying you're about to be you again.

It means that suddenly there is another you,

Another order of understanding that is present in that same moment and that came into you,

That came with you into that moment.

And now you have this instant where you recognize,

You know what?

God help me.

I can't be me again.

Because I know if I stay me,

If I say and do the things I've always done,

Finding you responsible for triggering and bringing this torment up in me,

If I do that,

Not only am I going to stay the same,

But you're going to stay the same because nothing else can happen.

It's all at the level of that unconscious nature.

And something in you knows,

I can't let that happen again.

I can't be me again.

And so rather than give voice to what wants to speak for you,

You actually become aware of the fact that something wants to speak for you and it can't be you because you know better than to speak like that again.

Now,

That doesn't mean you're going to stop this.

This takes work.

You have to develop attention.

You have to get so tired of being you in these moments and realizing that all that nature does is reincarnate itself,

Which is why the lessons are never learned.

But this time,

To whatever extent it's true,

You leave that awareness,

You leave yourself,

That understanding right there in the light that is revealing to you what you have,

What has been concealed in you all of this time.

That's what that moment is doing.

It is revealing what has been concealed that you did not know was concealed because you were always convinced to protect it.

And so rather than making the other person suffer,

What you now see is your pain.

The day will come,

But you have to see it.

When you are triggered by some moment,

You'll see that the pain that appears inside of you,

That suffering has been within you for a billion years.

You'll recognize it.

It might have different names,

But it'll be unmistakable,

That energy.

And that energy is,

For all intents and purposes,

That energy is eternal.

And so is the resistance to its appearance eternal.

But also eternal is the revelation that that resistance produces.

So you start to see,

I can't take that road.

I'm not trying to be a good person.

I just can't be that person anymore.

And that means somehow or other,

God help me,

I'm going to have to sacrifice this person that I've always been,

Because that's the only thing right to do in that moment.

You're not thinking about what would Jesus do?

How would Buddha handle this situation?

It's just evident to you.

I can no longer be the incarnation of this level of being.

I can't.

And in that same moment,

Because of your new action,

Remember I said,

The invitation's in two parts.

The first part is the revelation.

The second part,

Born of that revelation,

Is that you have to lay yourself down.

And in the moment you do,

What are you laying down?

You are laying down something that you recognize can no longer be given life.

But you have the revelation it can no longer be given life by another kind of life,

Another light that shows you that's true.

And that's the second part of the invitation,

To enter into this incredibly welcome realization that you are not who you've always thought yourself to be,

And that there is another order of yourself,

Another level of consciousness that you don't have to wait to create,

That you don't have to struggle to develop,

But rather all you must do is agree in that split second to realize that this new understanding I have of myself and of this moment,

I'm being invited to enter into it,

But only to the extent that I leave behind the old nature,

The old level of self,

The old me.

When you have an epiphany,

You see,

Don't you?

This isn't a new lesson.

This is the fulfillment of a lesson that I've been proffered a thousand times and never received it,

But now I do.

And when I do,

The truth that is revealed isn't something outside of me.

It's more myself than the self that was fighting with it.

That realization,

That revelation,

And the liberation that comes in the moment,

This is the million-year leap in consciousness.

It is a kind of a divine gateway that's always there,

A bridge between levels that is never not present from one level of being to another level of being.

And in moments such as these,

And I trust you would have had at least some inclination,

Some indication of it,

We realize,

Without taking thought,

That in order for this divine order,

You can't call it yours.

You can't call it yours.

Sweet God,

Don't make the mistake of saying,

My divine order.

But the revelation of this new order of oneself that is revealed in that light,

What must be given up and what reveals the need to give it up,

You understand what did Robert Frost say?

There is a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go.

There's a time for departure even when there's no certain place to go.

We always want a place to go,

Don't we?

You said this,

I have to go here in order to get what I need to make you understand you're wrong.

I go into thought.

Something happens that challenges my sense of self,

My security.

In that moment,

I'm off on a mission going to get what I need to put everything back together again.

And all of that journey is the going out,

The prodigal son,

Every last one of those movements.

But what I'm hoping that I'm sharing with you is this discovery that this moment where it's evident a departure is needed,

In that same moment,

That which is revealing the need for me to depart myself has already placed me in that place I need to be,

Where I see by that light above me,

Within me,

That it has always been there and always will be there if I'll just accept the moment of that revelation without rejecting it.

This beautiful seminal idea that what we are in truth is already within us,

Waiting to be born and is reborn every single time that we find out for ourselves that the moment doesn't come to punish,

The moment doesn't come to take from us.

The moment is our relationship with this flow,

With this movement of light,

With this love that never stops entering into us.

Not familial love,

Not desirable love,

Not the love of a hamburger,

But the love of something that is always trying to fold us back into this understanding that the freedom that we seek outside of us is being given to us moment to moment if we will stand in that light and allow it to act as the transformational force that it is,

Which always requires seeing something has to be given up,

Something must be suffered for that surrender,

But in that surrendering is rendered a completely new incarnation of an understanding of ourselves.

Let's bring up the first key lesson again,

And then I have two more parts to it that I'm going to read,

And it'll help us understand everything that I've been talking about.

First,

One of the hardest things to understand about the true spiritual path and the struggles along the way is that the inner struggle that we fear losing has already been won for us,

If we will only remember to take our rightful place in the midst of that engagement.

But our task is to stay in the battle long enough to see through the wrong parts of us that are producing both the negative states and the experience these states produce.

Our task is to stay in that battle,

In that struggle consciously long enough to recognize how many times have I been there,

And then if we will learn what it means to endure until the end,

You've heard that idea before,

If we will learn what it means to endure until the end,

To stay awake to these states until they pass,

Which they must,

Because they're mechanical forces,

Then in the separation from these mechanical forces,

You'll find yourself on the next step of the path above you,

Because you are departing this mechanical unconscious nature,

But you can only depart it by giving it up,

Not by trying to change it.

And you can only give it up by recognizing that you have lived within it,

But you understand,

You have seen to whatever extent it's true.

There is something that makes you aware of it,

And that the journey,

The real road is into that awareness and into the transformation that is produced by stepping into that light and letting it do for you what you,

What I have been unable to do for ourselves.

That's the million-year leap in consciousness.

It's like turning on a light in a room that's been darkened for a thousand years,

And everything that you didn't know was in that room that you hear,

See,

Sense,

Smell,

Touch,

That brings up some kind of fear or resistance in that moment.

It's revealed as just being another object in this world,

Just another thought,

Just another reaction,

Just another seizure of some kind,

And you see it for what it is,

And it doesn't belong to you.

It is part of this world,

But you are no longer a part of this world,

Because now you can see that you also live in another world that encompasses,

Includes,

And changes the one you've always been in.

That's it.

Gotta go.

I hope this,

I hope I was able to share with you enough for you to understand this idea.

If not now,

When?