Innocent Light of God. These words declare the state of Being that has no resemblance to the ego’s identity. And yet, to accept that you are innocence itself, that you are Light itself must be the choosing that changes everything. When the Divine gave us choice, it was to truly encompass choice as the most precious gift that we could ever imagine. And in the direction of Love, Spirit directs to choose to open to the awareness that choice is essential. That it isn’t a gift that was given because it was your birthday, or it was you’re retiring, some kind of parting gift. The gift of choice is the essential power that must be embraced in its totality. And while choice is being learned, mistakes will be made. That’s a given in a sense. It’s not expected or anticipated, but it is understood.
That every Beloved will mistakenly choose the shiny objects, will mistakenly choose the pleasure seeking, will mistakenly choose to be right. But these are places of deep learning. To finally make the true connection of cause and effect. But when you choose the power of Love and you choose to follow and you choose to learn and you choose to not know but to be shown, you are learning the power of your choice. You are truly learning that within your choosing is your road to freedom or your status quo road that keeps you in the belief of separation. Every single time you choose, which could incorporate the entire day…choosing. Because everything that you believed was true within the world and looking for everything outside is being called to be completely turned upside down.
Imagine the spiritual journey like a journey to another country where you didn’t speak the language and had completely different ways of being and different setups, a different time zone and different everything. And you insisted on doing it your way of what you know. It wouldn’t take very long before you’re miserable from the insistence that your way is the right way. And the same thing occurs in the spiritual journey. You become affected by your decisions. And eventually, you will make a much deeper connection that your way is the way of misery and pain. And the way of the light is the way of peace and harmony. But the ego’s decision of being right can be very tenacious.
And so, it is to…in the very first way, to accept that the gift of choice is precious.
The gift of choice is your key to opening the door to truth, to reality, to peace. Embrace the choice. And as you go deeper and deeper into choosing again and again. And the way of Love…your awareness expands. And your trust grows so much deeper. But, eventually, the choice becomes no choice at all. You can’t even imagine choosing pain and suffering. You can’t even imagine choosing to be right when all it’s done is bring to a place of misery in the past. And the reluctant learner, the resistant student becomes the happy learner, happy to be mistaken of your own choices, happy that you weren’t right because God’s way is another dimension. God’s way is Love and Light, the setting of everyone free. Choose the way of sanity and you will never be in regret.
So, in this moment, affirming deeply that choice is the great gift…the treasure. And when you choose based on your willingness, you are the bringer of Light. Affirming in the moment that this universe is all Love. To choose Love is to choose reality. There is only one Presence here – it is the life force of God. And everyone…every living element of God’s creation lives and moves and breathes within that Light, that life force, that Oneness. Only Love. This Sanctuary is filled with Love. Nothing else exists. Holding Truth, holding Love. Moment to moment. As the Heart says YES. Simply YES. YES.
This is a hymn that speaks to the YES. It’s a choice. And this hymn asks for help to teach me how to love. Show me how to choose. Show me the way.
[Sings]
Mother, my mother
Please come here, please,
To teach this child of yours
To teach this child of yours
Who doesn’t yet know how to love. Who doesn’t yet know how to love. Oh mother, Queen Mother,
I ask with all my heart.
Please send your angel Please send your archangel To teach me how to love. To teach me how to love.
Teach me how to love. Well the ego says “I don’t need to be taught how to love. I know it just fine.” Except that everything that has been called love in the world has been based on fear, has been based on negotiations, has been based on differences, proving, getting. And here is the calling. Really teach me how to love. Teach me how to go past all that I’ve made up. And really open to walk in love, as love, with love and in love.
And all that we have to do is to get into the little boat. Let the little boat be navigated. Choose to be led. Choose to follow. Choose to not know. And allow the Divine to lead the way.
The small boat is coming.
It’s the Love, the Light
And it is a small boat that is here.
It’s opening the path to God, our Lord.
Blessed Mother is guiding my boat
As you rest and affirm
I surrender, I surrender, I surrender
To the will of the eternal Light, the eternal Father And in my heart I proclaim
That I am the kingdom of Love.
This prayer can take you so deeply into surrender. To truly be in a small boat and to trust that your journey is being directed by Love itself. And that for the first time in your many lifetimes that you’re finally tired of trying to control and trying to make it your way rather than just the way of God. How easy that is.
Today
I
Do not
Want to step so quickly
Over a beautiful line on God’s palm. As I move through the earth’s Marketplace
Today.
I do not want to touch any object in This world
Without my eyes testifying to the Truth
That everything is My Beloved.
Something has happened
To my understanding of existence That now makes my heart always Full of wonder
And kindness.
I do not
Want to step so quickly
Over this sacred place on God’s Body-the earth,
That is right beneath your
Own foot.
As I
Dance with Precious life Today. [Hafiz]
….
I
Do not
Want to step so quickly
Over a beautiful line on God’s palm. As I move through the earth’s Marketplace
Today.
What a beautiful declaration of an intention. And in that moment that definitely was the choice that was being chosen between my way and God’s way.
The one area that is more than likely the most attached element within the ego life is wanting…we touched on this a few days ago…wanting to correct, wanting to have it your way. Whatever it is. And I began looking at that today.
What if there was a month-long retreat? And in this month-long retreat everything was perfectly orchestrated. And there were Beloveds there that would take care of anything that was needing attention. So that nothing in your everyday, moment-to-moment existence would have no room…there would be no invitation, that there would be no possibility of changing things so that they would be according to how you like them.
So, everybody’s seat would be given to them. And there was no room for correcting where you were sitting or where you didn’t like somebody sitting in front of you…but you have to accept every single element and trust in its perfection. Trust that there was a learning within acceptance. And then you went, in this retreat…everyone took care of their own toiletries and, you know, everything like that, your own personal effects.
But, when you went to work in the kitchen in this retreat, everything had a plan already. And nobody asked any of the retreat participants how they liked their food or what was a better way of making it or anything. It was just acceptance of everything the way it was. And there were musicians, and your mind wanted to say “I wish they played those instruments differently. I wish they would have a different relationship with the violin. I like it better another way.” And all of the gatherings were orchestrated and everything in you could see a different way of doing it and felt that a different way would be better. But, the whole purpose of the retreat was to let go and trust that it was all in perfection, and all for learning.
Where would the need for the correction go? That nobody had any way of changing how the table was set. Or nobody was able to change how the dishwasher was being loaded up. Or nobody was able to change the lights that got used. And you weren’t asked for your preference on where you sat or who sat next to you. And just when you thought this was over the top, you’re seated next to someone who has a really loud voice and speaks their mind. But your intention and your calling to this retreat was that you have no judgments, no opinions. So you’re asked to see this Beloved who’s sitting next to you as the Christ, as the Light of God, and nothing else. Because so far, everything that’s been attached to…the way the kitchen’s run, the way people are doing laundry, sitting, whatever. Everything is a certain way. And your main purpose in all of this is to have no judgment, to have no opinion, and because you have no judgment, recognize that there is nothing to correct. Nothing to correct.
So there’s going to be a ritual in this retreat. And all the chairs are set up. Nobody asked if anybody liked the way the chairs were set up. And then there’s a Beloved going around and lighting candles, turning lights on. And again, nobody asks anybody whether there’s enough light or it’s too dark or anything else. They have a ritual that they’re doing. And over and over and over again you’re called to accept. To just accept that everything is in perfection, even though it’s nothing that you…your habits are completely different. But you’re called to accept.
What is that? To accept and not have an opinion about how things are put together, orchestrated, run. It’s this incredible opportunity and one that is so essential to healing and to Love. Because everything that anyone wants to correct has that urge to have it different, see it different, want it different, believe from the depths of your identity that you have the right way, and it’s better.
In this retreat, you start to see the addiction. The addiction of your way, your habits, of how things are accepted or not accepted in all different kinds of ways. But this is like going to another country where they don’t speak the same language and they do everything in a slightly different way. And you’re not asked about your opinions of how you do it. You’re called to accept it. Everything about trying to be in control and have things…that you have a better way that you want to tell everybody how it should be in a particular way. And everybody’s got a different way about that. But every single thing is going to be about something in form. It’s not about Spirit. And that’s the clue. The clue is is that there’s no healing when you try to change or make better the form. Because what you’re really here for is to choose to see the Light of every Beloved beyond the form. Beyond the form.
So, could you say to the Christ, so here’s the Beloved who you’re here to see as the Christ light, and can you see them as the Christ light and want to correct them? Because the correction would say “you’re not the Christ light.” The Christ light doesn’t need correction. There’s plenty of forgiveness needed. But it’s not about correction ever. As soon as there seems to be the need for correction, it’s the belief in the form. Now that doesn’t mean that there’s never improvement within the form. But it comes from a completely different place. It doesn’t come from a personal knowing. It comes from asking even there, the Spirit of Love, what would be most helpful? Is there another way of looking at this?
Having been in so many rituals and have been able to see how Spirit works within the form of a ritual, that there is a Divine Geometry that can’t be seen by the eyes. It can’t be seen by the ego’s mind. It can’t be a habit…at all. It’s a sacred geometry that is beyond the senses of the ego, the eyes, the ears, which are held as such important elements that they’re really…they’re just seen with the eyes and hearing with the ears. But you’re hearing through the ego in most of that. You have to really surrender the senses into the hands of God so that they can be used in a different way – the Light of Love. But it’s all surrender
But, in those rituals, you could see the sacred geometry and listen to the Holy Spirit…how things were to be orchestrated. The beauty of that, not only the learning of another dimension, but it was the deep surrender of the personal. That there was nothing personal, there was nothing to bring of history from the past to be brought there. And that’s the same thing with correction. You can’t bring love and bring the past of what you think you know and want to correct. You can’t serve love and serve the ego at the same time. It’s not possible.
If you take certain teachings, you see the pattern is so clear of not correcting. So if you just begin with I do not understand anything I see. So, if you don’t understand anything that you see, and that is your schoolroom, then how can you correct it? If you don’t understand anything that you see and you’re embracing that you don’t understand anything that you see. It’s been given meaning that you gave to it. So, where would the correction come in? It would be foolish to think that your way has anything to do with love. All it is is a habit that you’ve believed in. But it has no value because it’s held as so personal. It’s held as “this is my way. This is what I know works. And if I don’t do what I know works, I get scared.” Because that’s really the key. The key is, “if I don’t get to do it my way, I get really scared because I feel out of control.”
So, then you have in this retreat…let’s say there’s 30 Beloveds, and do they all feel out of control, because none of them are having their opinions asked for or invited? Likely there may be 30 fears that are going on. 30 panics that are trying to figure out how to stay at peace, but wanting their way, because it’s what brings the perception of comfort, even though it’s not.
I have given what I see all the meaning that it has for me.
Again, these are…you can’t be in these teachings and also hold onto what you know. Because it’s asking you actually to let go of the meaning and to see that you’ve given this all the meaning and it’s holding you in a hostage place by giving something meaning of importance or righteousness.
I have judged everything I look upon…it is merely an illusion of reality.
I have judged everything that I look upon. These are just, again, these are just teachings that all line up and say it’s time to let go. And it’s time to see that there can’t be a correction of any kind.
What would it be…let’s say someone is behaving in a way that’s more gregarious than you’re used to or that you like around you. And you want to tell them that their demeanor, their energy field is too loud. But the temptation of that is that you believe you’re right, and what you’re usually believing in is the irritation that you feel within. You’re not seeing that the irritation is just coming from your own mind of your own judgment. But in reality, to be able to say that to someone “tone it down,” whatever…is to have the arrogance of the ego to believe that you know what they need to walk through, that you would know how their journey needs to look or what it is that would be most helpful for them. You could go deeply into the asking and be guided to what would serve that Beloved. But, when you’re at the effect of your own judgment, and what you think you know, it’s going to end up, probably, in pain because it’s not offering love, you’re not seeing the Christ, you’re wanting it thus. You have another idea of how it should be. And, it’s a deep, deep learning to no longer be willing to correct or do things your own way.
Imagine that you’re setting the table. And, somebody else is setting the table too. And they’re doing it completely in a different way. They’re putting plates in different positions. And the Holy Spirit keeps saying, leave it be, it’s perfect. Learn from it. Learn, what did you think by them not putting it the way that you feel it should be, that there’s an agitation within you, a feeling of unsafety because you like the known. And yet, this is actually the healing that this Beloved is offering by not putting those plates in the right way…the “right way,” you’re getting the opportunity of seeing a fear, the fear of wanting habits to stay the same.
The fear of the unknown and the belief that knowing something and being familiar with it is actually safer. It’s an illusion that it’s safer. It’s just because your mind agrees with it that it becomes a place of safety. But it doesn’t offer anything like real safety, because safety comes from being undefended, from not being at the effect of any form at all. But trusting that everything is in perfect harmony all the time, and wanting to see the Light of the Christ.
When you judge, you see only form. The body is all that you see.
The body, remembering that the body is outside you. It’s not within. And just as everything is outside. So, everything that you believe, needs to look a different way is part of form. And it’s always going to be changing. And it’s never going to be yours to control. And, there’s nothing to control. It doesn’t have any meaning to it. You’ve given it all the meaning, but it really doesn’t have any power, and it doesn’t have any truth in it.
And then, just imagine yourself at peace and accepting and learning from whatever shows up. Because that’s what the offering really is… is that everything is perfect. That everything has the opportunity of healing. I had so many healings in retreats like that because everything was in a particular orchestration that I had nothing to do with. I couldn’t even guess what it was for. But I had to accept it. And when I was told to go show up in the kitchen to work, I was terrified. I didn’t know what was coming and I didn’t know how to cook. I was terrified. And yet, that’s where I had to be. And I had a deep healing in exactly that place because it was not what I would have orchestrated for myself. Every single moment it’s the opportunity that there is nothing to control. Absolutely nothing that you can control. It’s all momentary, fleeting and moving. And only Love is reality.
If your attempt is to correct a Beloved with whatever you think is an improvement, it is totally the arrogance of the ego that has decided that your way is the right way. Besides it being untrue, and that correcting anyone is for God’s correction not for our own…but it also stops the learning. It stops the opportunity of learning what is actually here. Where if you’re putting your own spin on it and you’re trying to control it, you’re not getting that opportunity of learning what’s really in the way.
It’s like…let’s say this same retreat…nobody knows what time anybody shows up. So, there’s a whole group of other Beloveds that are coming, but they could arrive anywhere from 6:00 to 6:00 the next morning. And, you don’t know. That place is filled with the opportunity of healing. To just drop into the not knowing and really question, “what is it that scares me of not knowing? Why do I need to know what time they’ll be here? What do I believe that time is giving me. How does it make me safe? How does it make me feel better? I’m used to that, I want that. I want to know everything so that I’m in control.”
But truly, if you don’t know what time they’re coming, what difference does it make? There’s nothing to hold in safety. And, what actually happens is on the other side when you’re intention is to not know. Freedom comes with it. Free of the rules of the world. Free from the rules that you’ve made up of how things should be. Free. It touches everything. It touches everything …you wake up in the morning and you look at the clock, because time belongs to the ego completely and has to be surrendered to be used by Spirit. But when it belongs to the ego, and you look at the clock, and the weirdest thing occurs is that if you look at the clock, and you decide, “Oh, well, that was a pretty good night sleep. I had seven hours.” And you immediately feel something about the amount of sleep that you had, even though you’re not out of bed. If you see that you had only four hours sleep, immediately there’s a tiredness that comes from “ahhhh. Gosh, I only had four hours sleep.” And this is where the healing is is to let go of all of this preconceived idea that that means something because you gave it meaning.
It’s a place where you actually are trading this ego mind that is locked into time into a place of freedom that you’re willing to be at peace always. And that the strength of God is your strength and that you’re not going to set yourself up to say this is terrible, this is horrible, I don’t like this, this isn’t what I like to use, this is not how many hours I want. But, it’s all conditioning. It’s all an idea of what you think you know. And it causes pain and suffering, it just does.
You cannot correct yourself.
So, because you can’t correct yourself, most correct others. But, you can’t correct yourself either. You can’t take a belief that you have…let’s say you’re afraid of the dark. You have to surrender your belief in the dark and it’s unsafety into the hands of God, and be willing to see it differently – that’s your participation. But, you can’t correct yourself and change it. The belief in the fear of the dark has to be given to God. The belief that you could be injured, that you could be hurt by being in the dark, that there’s a danger in darkness…there is no danger in darkness. But the correction has to come from the Divine. We cannot correct our own lives. We can be willing to be shown the way that is most helpful, but we can’t correct ourselves.
When healing is occurring, for example, to give up, not to sacrifice, but to surrender your relationship with taste, the senses, the sense of taste…to surrender your relationship with taste is to say please heal me of my judgment of what I like and don’t like, because it keeps me a prisoner. Show me the way to acceptance of whatever is is perfect, and let go of the defense system that I’ve built with likes and dislikes that I narrow my little life down and try to protect myself with these likes and dislikes. But they’re not freedom. Then you’re the slave of your senses, of your taste likes and dislikes, and it’s all surrendering and being free of it all. Loving everything and not being restricted by opinions that, some of them were made at five years old and carried along. But they’re all saying I believe in the body and I believe in everything the ego has given me. And everybody wants to be free. Everybody has to be free. But you cannot correct yourself and you cannot correct somebody else. And there’s so much pain involved in that decision and most of it is an unconscious decision of being the corrector. And the arrogance of believing that how you play the piano is better than how somebody else plays the piano. Who says? Who’s the decider and why? It’s all to prove worth that isn’t the truth. You are the light of God. You are the perfection of the Christ Light. And to want to be better than somebody else at something is insane, because you’re already perfect. You’re already everything that you could possibly be even if you don’t know it.
The ego wants to convince you that you can correct another and it is meant to prove separation. Every time you want to correct something, it’s saying “we’re separate. I know the way. You don’t. I know a better way.” You don’t. And it separates, because there’s no love there.
A Beloved asked “well, can’t you correct with love?” No, you cannot believe in the form as the problem and believe in Love at the same time. If somebody needs to be corrected and you’re the one who’s deciding what it is that they need to correct, you’re looking at them as a form because everything of correction is about form. And it’s the opportunity of surrendering the form and going to the deeper truth of seeing the Christ light. Seeing the innocence of each Beloved, not wanting to see anything else and not judging.
Letting the Spirit of Love show you, teach you, lead you in every way. And all of those habits and the addiction to the doing begins to let go, because it isn’t where your happiness is, it isn’t where the truth of you is, and it’s not the truth of anybody. Just see the Christ Light. Want to see the Light of God. Almost everybody knows this teaching: when a Beloved behaves insanely, the only thing that you can give to them is the truth of sanity…is to see beyond what you believe to be insanity and to see them as sane. To see them as the Light of God.
The ego loves, loves, loves to be offended. To be offended is like desert. Because, with being offended comes a sense of superiority and a sense of knowing, because if you’re offended you know something. Obviously they don’t. But, it doesn’t bring Love at all. It’s just old habits that are just about judgments. And, they make everybody live in guilt. Because as soon as you’re offended or you want to correct somebody or do something differently or showing somebody how they should be doing this…that you have the “right way,” you’re going to be miserable. Because you’re going to be worried what they think about you, you’re going to be holding onto the righteousness of your decision, you’re going to be in turmoil. But you didn’t offer anything of Love.
You made up something that you decided was what was necessary, but it wasn’t Love. And it didn’t serve your remembering, because you can’t learn when you’re believing that you can correct yourself or correct somebody else. How many times a day can you enter into I don’t know. Tons. And every time that you enter into I don’t know, the Holy Spirit is there, wanting to direct you. You’ve never going to be left without a relationship with the Truth, a relationship with Love itself.
No exceptions…I must see the Christ Light in every Beloved. And trust their journey into the hands of the Divine. And have no opinions about their lives or the way they’re walking their journey. We don’t know. But we can ask again and again and again show me how to serve this Beloved. Show me what’s most helpful. Show me the way. Show me how to convey Love. And let my mind be emptied of all its habits and its expectations and its idea that it’s right.
I don’t know why, but correcting somebody is such folly. It would be like me deciding that I was going to teach somebody how to cook. Now, if the Holy Spirit said you’re going to teach somebody how to cook, then the Holy Spirit would bring the capabilities of that. But, it’s the same all the way across the board. Nobody would benefit from my teaching anybody how to cook. And it’s the benefit. What are you offering when you try to correct? What are you offering? You’re offering that you will feel better if they do it your way. That’s the ego’s intention. “I’ll feel better, because it will be my way.”
But, it’s really time to let all of that go and open to the Holy Spirit’s direction for everything. How would you have me look at this? Where would you have me go? Who would you have me help? Show me the way. I don’t know. But, there cannot be any correction. It just has absolutely no truth and no value. And even when you’re in charge of something…let’s say at a retreat…and you’re put in charge of something, it’s still not up to you as a person. It’s up to you to ask the Holy Spirit for guidance to show you the way of how to be of service. When you find that place within that’s humility that says I’m just following orders. I’m following the way of the Divine. That’s all that I can bring. And all the healing just occurs in that way. Only your allegiance to the ego is what makes the decisions, but it’s time to let it go.
I brought this teaching from Hafiz. From his teacher.
Spare the world your good ideas. Spare the world your ideas of good Until you know all is perfect.
Spare the world your ideas of what is right Until you know all is Holy.
So, this teacher brought that alignment for Hafiz and Hafiz had to align with it. Not because he was coerced, not because he was being railroaded, but because he wanted to remember and remember the truth of Love and how to love.
Mother oh my mother teach this child to love. Show me the way.
And let your prayer just be please heal me of all addictions to control and the belief that control means anything. Or correction means anything. Except in the hands of God. Correct me in every way. Because it’s all through Love. And, it’s all through miracles. Only Love.
Chris Celine © 2016
