Weekly Gathering with Rev. Regina Dawn Akers
A universal assembly for true discernment
Everything we learn here at Awakening Together, and elsewhere in the spiritual writings and teachings we come across, there is an emphasis on the Oneness of everything. And it is this Oneness that we seek as we have come to recognize our sense in separation from each other and what we think of as our Creator or God. What we may not realize during this looking within for the Oneness that eludes us is that we create a bubble existence about us and look out at the non-seekers as them and us. Even those who seem to be on a common path with us we judge because we see their methods, their practices, as weak and unauthentic. And then there are the ones we see as wrong and possibly evil. Let me explain.
At my current level of understanding I find myself returning to A Course in Miracles as my primary guide to awakening. Even though I have not publicly participated in the Gentle Healing Groups this go around, I have been following on a daily basis the Gentle Healing Year 1. I have been somewhat stunned at how different these early lessons appear to me given that I first studied them in 2003, and peripherally since then. But to go at them as a daily exercise I find them as though I had barley read them before. Some of the lessons I have stayed with for numerous days even as the group moved on because I saw in them a great resistance to what they were saying to me and what they were telling me to do. And we all know what resistance means. It is time to take a look at what is going on and why the resistance. We are now at a teaching and learning moment on our way to awakening.
Lesson 121 gob smacked me because the person who came to mind that I hated the most and the person I admired a lot could not possibly be reconciled as One and the same. The lesson suggest that we envision a picture of this person we hate the most and imagine a spark or ray of light coming from his or her picture. All I could see was this smirk or arrogance coming at me from the picture in my mind and there was no way I would ever see a spark of light coming out of that picture. Below I will share with you my contemplation of why this was such a prevalent position that I held.
__________
Impossible! Yet if I allow that he too is something other than what he appears to be, just like me, and that I have within the Holy Spirit as my guide, then he too is the same. So, if I accept this as true, what is holding me back from seeing some light or a little spark shining through his picture?
Am I truly afraid of the light? Something is not clicking. This is not working for me.
He is a person – just like me
He can awaken – just like me.
He can hate – just like me.
He can be afraid – just like me.
I hate him because I am afraid of him and his actions. If I allow myself to see the light in him, I am tacitly agreeing with him and his ways. I am afraid I will become like him. I am pure and he is tainted, and I have to protect myself from him.
I am right and he is wrong.
He is doing the best he can and the only way he knows how.
He is acting and making decisions from fear.
I don’t want to give him any room to improve in my eyes.
I want to keep him evil.
He must stay evil and wrong.
I need him to stay evil.
If he makes a turn for the better, it is bad for me.
I will lose something he if he loses is evil.
His evil is my perception of him.
Perceptions are made up and accepted as real.
If I begin to see the light in him that means I am letting go my perception of him. If I let go my perception of him, I am giving something up, I am losing some part of me. And giving up my perception of him is giving him something he does not deserve.
All he does is take and I am not going to give him anything.
I feel to give him something I am losing something.
If I give him something, I will be losing my hate for him, and if my hate for him goes away I become exposed and vulnerable.
If I let go my hate for him I will be in grave danger.
I need to hate him!
I must hate him!
I must be angry at him!
He is a dangerous man.
He is a threat to my existence.
I am in deep fear.
Who is this I that is in deep fear?
Who is this I that hates?
__________
This is where I ended my contemplation. Even though I had minor hits of recognition I still had not come to an understanding of why I had to maintain my opinion of him. And then this morning as I listened to the recording of Regina’s discussion regarding Dr. Jeffery Martin’s interview the full realization of my standing hit me. The discussion between the group and Regina led to the subject of fundamentalism and how religions come to a grinding halt as they plateau. They create doctrines and rituals and begin to isolate themselves from others by believing ‘their way’ is the only way. It is not long after that they find themselves in conflict to defend and protect themselves from the heathen at their door.
As I was walking my dog later on it hit me that I was doing the same thing. This person I hate is doing nothing more than what I am in that he is attempting to find Oneness, as is every religion, political party, government, country, race, and even the scout program that appears to be a wholesome endeavor. All are attempting to return to Oneness by presenting their beliefs to the world and hoping to gather in enough people to create a global critical mass that becomes One.
My endeavor was obviously flawed as I maintained the separation all the while believing that Oneness was what I wanted. When I saw this I suddenly saw that he was doing the same and my feelings toward him made a monumental shift within and I no longer saw him in the same way. I saw the spark I refused to see and recognized his methods that I disagreed with and appeared as wrong, destructive and evil, were nothing but calls for Love and Oneness.
My bubble (balloon) popped and I felt a great weight lift from my shoulders. I give full recognition to the Holy Spirit within helping me see this, for this is what I asked of Him yesterday as I knew I could not see this from the perspective of my ego.
Hal Seeley is an Awakening Together minister and will become Awakening Together’s new Chairman of the Board on July 21, 2019.
In a recent Guest Satsang interview, Dr. Jeffrey Martin mentioned that those who experience fundamental wellbeing at location 4 or above do not feel the emotion of love. This concerned some members of Awakening Together. Some members said all they want is love and they aren’t interested in enlightenment if love is absent from enlightenment.
This begs the question, “What is love?” and “Do the enlightened know love or leave it behind?”
This past Wednesday, Regina and Jacquelyn explored these questions in the Sanctuary. If these questions are interesting to you, we recommend listening to the following audios. Each audio is 1 hour in length.
The Tao & Enlightened Leadership ~ Lesson 20: What is Love?
As It Is ~ Undoing the Ties That Bind
You may also be interested in watching a demonstration of enlightened love in this unofficial Beatles video, The Fool on the Hill:
*Weekly gathering is held every Sunday morning at 10:15 am ET/7:15 am PT in the Awakening Together Sanctuary. Join us after the Gathering for our Fellowship Time, hosted by Rev. Jay McCormick.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
The movie is called The Adjustment Bureau and opens with a chance encounter between a young politician named David Norris, played by Matt Damon and a beautiful contemporary dancer named Elise, played by Emily Blunt. Their spark of romance is cut short unexpectedly by men in suits with supernatural powers. They intervene and deem that the romance to be ‘not in the script’, They take her phone number from David, so he has no way of contacting her. All romance seems lost until a rebellious member of the bureau decides to help David. A frantic chase insures with a surprising and wonderful plot twist at the very end. Join us in a discussion of this fun and heartwarming film, with deep spiritual undertones.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Craig Holliday continues his examination of what it means to be both free and human.
Regina Dawn Akers looked at the first part of the November 18, 1980 conversation in Consciousness and the Absolute.
Rev. Jacquelyn Eckert shares with honesty and passion about the ups, downs, and all-around of the spiritual journey. Jacquelyn is transparent as she shares about the impersonal awakening process we all experience. She moves us with stories from her own journey, with direct insight from inner wisdom and with guidance from spiritual masters, both contemporary and legendary.
Regina Dawn Akers reads from the Tao Te Ching in order to contemplate enlightened leadership.
Regina Dawn Akers guides a group of committed students who would like to make consistent, gentle progress toward genuine peace, joy and love.
*In this particular sharing, Regina reviews the recent Satsang with Dr. Jeffrey Martin. She answers a lot of questions and helps to clear up some confusion and shed light on the what was discussed on June 16, 2019.
If you missed the Satsang with Dr. Jeffrey Martin, you can watch it here.
Rev. Regina Dawn Akers interviewed Dr. Jeffrey A. Martin, author of The Finders, on Sunday night. She will follow-up by discussing this interview and answering questions about it during Gentle Healing Year 3 tonight at 8:30pm ET. Everyone is invited to attend.
Gentle Healing Year 3 students are currently contemplating Step Two in The Seven Steps to Awakening. The introduction to Step Two reads:
Know that the world is a dreamlike illusion. Know that all of the following are dreamlike illusions:
a. The world.
b. The body.
c. The universe.
d. All dimensions.
e. All events, motions and actions.
f. Time.
Almost all of the words in a dictionary describe dreamlike illusions.
Regina feels it would be helpful to discuss Dr. Martin’s research with Gentle Healing Year 3 students while they are contemplating this most extreme spiritual idea–the world does not exist.
Everyone is invited to join this discussion and ask ‘on topic’ questions regarding the Dr. Jeffrey Martin interview.
If you haven’t listened to the interview yet, you can listen at this link.
Regina Dawn Akers interviewed Dr. Jeffrey Martin.
Dr. Jeffrey Martin is the author of The Finders, a scientific work that studied the enlightenment experience of thousands of subjects. This research resulted in the first reliable, cross-cultural and pan-tradition classification system for these types of experience. He discussed how this research has helped to make systems available to help people obtain profound psychological benefits in a rapid, secular, reliable, and safe way.