Our Joy Is Within
The Miracle of the Present Moment
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Preface
This is a book about some concepts and principles, given my present perspective on the world (indeed, my perspective on the entire universe and beyond), I know in my heart are actually true. However, the purpose of this book is not to provide you with an understanding of my truth. Rather, it is intended to guide you to your own truth.
If you find some of what is written on these pages does, in fact, resonate within the deepest recesses of your heart, then you’ll know this book reflects aspects of your truth. However, if certain ideas presented here do not ring true within your very Being, it will be because you recognize that some of your deeply held beliefs are not the same as those you have encountered on these pages. Consequently, you will have been guided to your own truth in that case, as well, since you will come to realize what you now believe. In either case, you will have brought your heart-felt truth into your conscious awareness.
My point is you can’t “lose” by reading this book. You will come to consciously understand what you currently believe about some very substantive issues, regardless of what your truth might look like. What I have written down will either reflect what you believe to be true, or not. In either case, you will know what you believe. And that, my friend, is what this book is really about. It’s about your perception of Ultimate Reality. It’s about how you view yourself as an aspect or “part” of the universe and whatever is beyond the universe, as a unique manifestation and expression of All That Is.
You are wherever you are, reading these words, and consequently, you know you must be a “part” of All That Is. At the very least, you think you’re “somewhere” within “Everything.” You have some sense of how you “fit in” among all of the other various expressions and manifestations of Life. Your ultimate purpose — some might say the value you bring to the cosmos — must be evident from the infinite perspective of God. I believe that within yourself (and available to your conscious mind) it is clearly known to you, as well.
It’s my sincere hope you’ll recognize yourself as the critically important “piece” of the Whole you truly are, and you might come to realize, in fact, that the world is actually within you, and not “out there” someplace. I know that within you, within me, and in fact within everyone, is the truth. Anything I can possibly do to help us bring that forth, into our conscious awareness, I will gladly undertake.
You will have gained real value from reading this book, not when you understand what I believe, but when you come to consciously know what you currently believe is true. I will offer you some suggestions as to how we might adopt similar perspectives so we can “understand” one another more completely. But ultimately, my intention will have been achieved if we finish this volume with a clear, conscious knowing of how we truly view ourselves and our world, perhaps realizing that whatever is actually real is within, and not “beyond,” our true Self. Perhaps we’ll realize we have (literally and in fact) decided what the world we perceive around us is like, and what that means to each of us. It’s my intention we will all become consciously aware that we’re always choosing how we will experience everything in our lives, and that we’re actually “making it all up” as we go….
You might find it quite helpful to carefully consider the fundamental difference in the way your mind satisfies its curiosity, as opposed to how your Spirit satisfies its longing to remember and know once again…. The human mind is frequently very curious. It will often want to “understand.” In an attempt to satisfy another human mind’s desire to understand, we can provide it with explanations. We can develop logical arguments and try to fully explain a position or a concept in an effort to convince someone’s mind our viewpoint concerning some matter is somehow “better” than his or her present viewpoint, and that he or she should, therefore, adopt our understanding (or belief) as his or her own.
The mind’s desire to understand can be satisfied with a compelling explanation that employs the logical development of various thoughts and ideas. Whenever you’re curious about something, or you think you simply must understand something, you’ll seek to satisfy your mind with what you perceive to be an acceptable explanation.
A heart-felt desire to know, however, can never be satisfied with a logical explanation. The often inexplicable sense we have concerning our desire to achieve the absolute certainty that comes from knowing — not from having been convinced with a plausible explanation, but from having experienced something so we are clear that we know — can drive some people on quests that consume decades of their lifetimes. And since knowing is not the consequence of having received a “logical” explanation, but rather, it’s the result of direct experience, many people cannot understand why their exhaustive intellectual pursuit of the “truth” always seems to fall short. Their minds can only understand what is explained. During their lifetimes, many people never come to comprehend the fact that while they can know, their minds can only be convinced and decide to believe…. So many people confuse Who They Are with their bodies and/or their minds, and consequently, they generally don’t feel the peace and joy that Who They Really Are knows within the very depths of their Being.
Your mind will seek explanations to fulfill its desire to understand. A good explanation will satisfy its curiosity. (Whether or not the explanation is actually true is usually immaterial, as long as you think the explanation is true. Your mind seeks to be convinced with explanations that are not in conflict with its most closely held perceptions and judgments, and it will attempt to reject any explanation that does not support those perceptions and judgments.) Your Spirit will use your life experiences to remember what it already knows. You will, “at some level,” recognize the truth — what is actually so — when you encounter it. This remembering and recognizing (this experiential “knowing once again”) is what will assuage your Spirit’s longing that you become consciously aware of what is ultimately true.
Throughout this book, we will alternate between exploring explanations that your mind can follow and comprehend, and discussing tools and techniques you can use to check the “truth” of such explanations — ways in which you can come to know, in your own experience, what (within the deepest recesses of your Being) you now realize is ultimately true. Recognize that your mind is not always concerned about truth! It is often concerned only about its own survival. Since most of the concepts we will address are not supportive of the usual misperceptions, judgments, and other “stories” made up by our human minds, your initial ego-derived reaction to these concepts may be that they are not only wrong, but that they are, in fact, threatening or somehow dangerous.
Your ego will demand you reject explanations it does not like — particularly explanations that it finds (in some way or another) threatening. However, it’s possible for you to examine various statements and explanations much more directly in ways that will allow you to realize whether or not you have encountered something you already know within your heart is true. Regardless of what your mind thinks about it, you will know if something is embodied in your truth.
As we proceed through the following chapters, it’s my intention that both you and I will each raise our level of awareness about what we believe to be true. Permit me to tell you, right now, that I’m writing this book to help me achieve greater clarity concerning certain things — and since there is only One of us, I know that if I have greater conscious clarity about something, that will have helped you, as well. Whether or not you intellectually “agree” with the contents of this book does not matter. In fact, even if no one else ever reads this book, it will still have been of value to humankind that I wrote it.
Whatever I might choose to do to raise my level of consciousness has a positive impact on you, too… just as whatever you choose to do to increase your awareness of what is ultimately true has a positive effect on me. And as you and I continue to evolve, our perspectives will continuously change, and that which we “know” to be true will change. As we grow Spiritually, our viewpoints shift so we can see other aspects of what we are encountering (I will often say, “creating”) in our lives. Yes, as our perspectives change our perceptions and beliefs about what is “true” will also change.
I ask if you have not done so already, you now attempt to at least consider the possibility that, in matters of the Spirit, you are your own finest teacher. You might choose to accept what someone else has said, or what someone else has written. I ask only that if you do so, do it because you know that what you have heard or read is true. Please do not choose to believe something you encounter just because someone has presented your mind with a compelling explanation or logical argument that causes you to think his or her perspective somehow “sounds better” than your viewpoint. Rather, believe that which you know to be true.
If you will set aside for a few moments your preconceived notions about Life and how you think you “fit in,” you can then consider and examine ideas that may seem new, and perhaps even strange. There is no need to abandon your present outlook. Just suspend your currently held beliefs and consider what you find on the following pages. You can always revert to your previous viewpoint, if you decide that it reflects how you truly feel about yourself and your surroundings. I suggest, however, that if you encounter an idea or concept that resonates deeply within your heart, you will know that you have once again remembered what is true for you, regardless of what your mind may have previously thought. You might be quite surprised to “discover” what you know to be true, especially since your mind has most likely been trying to suppress or deny certain concepts and ideas that it has, in whatever way, found threatening.
This knowing about which I speak is not an intellectual analysis or logical understanding. It is much stronger than that… much more meaningful than that. It is the direct experience of truth. This knowing has absolutely nothing to do with what you might think about anything. The moment you begin to think about something, you have likely inserted the fear-based misperceptions and judgments held by your ego into the situation. Your mind thinks. You, on the other hand, can directly experience.
If you see an exquisitely beautiful flower, your mind will tell you how big it is, what color it is, its shape, perhaps how it smells, and so forth. Your mind will provide you with a language-based description about the flower. Your mind provides you with information that has been gathered by your bodily senses, processed, and perhaps organized or compartmentalized in some particular way. However, your mind can’t analyze or think “beautiful.” You simply know the flower is beautiful. You experience the beauty of the flower. You do not “think” the beauty. Yes, Who You Are directly experiences the beauty.
I suggest to you that not only do you recognize “beauty” when you see it (as in art or Nature) or hear it (as you might experience with music or poetry), but that you also recognize ultimate truth when you see or hear it. There is no thinking involved. As useful as your mind may be as a wonderful tool to assist you in handling your day-to-day activities, it cannot directly experience anything. You can. Since you are literally a “part” of All That Is, an aspect of universal Consciousness, you can (and sometimes do) directly experience a breathtakingly beautiful sunset, a spine-tingling melody within a great symphony, or the awesome vastness of the physical universe. These things are as much a part of you as you are a part of them. The truth is a “part” of you, as well. It is within you, and you can know it when you encounter it.
Consequently, once again, you are holding in your hands a book that contains no “new” information… because you have nothing new to learn. You already know. You need only to remember what you already know so you can bring that knowing into your conscious awareness. And as you remember more and more about Who You Really Are, you’ll be increasing the level of consciousness of all Life on this planet… indeed, of all Life within the entire universe… and even beyond the universe… because there really is only One of us. So, whatever you do for you, you are doing for me as well — because we are each aspects of the same, indivisible Whole. We are each an aspect of the magnificent, infinitely great, unified Whole of all Life.
Let’s get started…. Our world needs our help. Those “parts” of us that are still so confused and mired in illusions need our help. We can help them by raising the level of consciousness of the aspects of the Whole that we are. Whatever we do to help ourselves truly does help everyone. In fact, it helps everything. So, let’s get started.
Gregory P. Spohr
Adobe PDF Format; 263 pages
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