Bernardo Kastrup

I learned of Bernardo through Rupert Spira. He is a wonderful philosopher who makes a very convincing argument for  idealism, the theory that reality is mental rather than physical. I read most of his books and listened to many hours of him very eloquently discussing this theories on Youtube.

Books that inspired me

Quotes

• Physics is a science of perception. We start with perception and then start to model the behavior of those perceptions. Bernardo Kastrup
• Science does not say what things are. It only says how they behave. Bernardo Kastrup
• Experience is already mind in motion. Bernardo Kastrup
• All of reality is a phenomenon of, and in, mind. Bernardo Kastrup
• The brain is like a whirlpool in the stream of mind. Bernardo Kastrup
• All reality is in mind, including your body and brain. Bernardo Kastrup
• We are all multiple personalities of a cosmic consciousness.  Bernardo Kastrup
• How can consciousness arise from something truly unconscious. Bernardo Kastrup
• Death causes us to remember all that we already know but cannot recall. Bernardo Kastrup
• Every whirlpool represents the subjective world of its respective human being. Bernardo Kastrup
• If you can be sure of anything at all, it is that your conscious perceptions exist. Bernardo Kastrup
• The whirlpool represents a partial localization of the flow of experiences in the stream. Bernardo Kastrup
• The whirlpool of mind ‘filters out’ of itself most subjective experiences unfolding in nature. Bernardo Kastrup
• The brain is like a whirlpool in the stream of mind that filters in our experience and filters out all else. Bernardo Kastrup
• Localized points-of-view become seemingly amnesic of everything that doesn’t fall within their respective vortices. Bernardo Kastrup
• According to idealism, all of reality – the entire universe – exists in mind, although not all in your egoic mind alone. Bernardo Kastrup
• In a sense, we have been deputized by mind at large to look back at itself and try to make something out of what we see. Bernardo Kastrup

Marion, wise seer and intuitive healer extraordinaire

I totally love this amazing and beautiful human being. A fellow South African, Marion is an intuitive therapist and energy healer and played a huge role in my life from 2017 - 2021. Recommended by Tina, her wisdom and insight has had a profoundly transforming effect on my life.  

I recommended all my spiritual friends to her and Shushann, Nic, Sharon, Xenia, Aimee, Lydia, Jane and Chris all ended up seeing her and swear by her.

I don't see Marion on a regular basis right now but just knowing she is there if I ever need her makes all the difference.

Marion's husband is also wonderful. We have met up for lunch on several occasions and had deep philosophical discussions. A wonderful meeting of the minds.  He got me interested in Iain McGilchrist whose books on the left and right brain I subsequently read from cover to cover.

Marion and Alun

Some insights and breakthroughs

• Help connecting to my greater Self and to a sense of oneness with All.  Felt connected for days.  All mental aspects fell into place. 
• Anger as 4 or 5 year old. A powerful "Fuck you!"  Then release and laughter.
• Marion drew a diagram of my head with a line up my neck and across the sides of my head. She said it was something for me to have looked at. Extraordinarily, I had experienced pain up my neck the night before, causing a headache to manifest along the sides of my head exactly as she had drawn. I had never mentioned my discomfort with my neck before.
• Confinement in the womb as the source of my fear of being trapped? Release and compassion for my baby self.
• The source of my strident, incessant voices: "Sergeant Rush More!" and "Sergeant Do More!"  Marion asked "What happened when you were 16?" My answer: "I was depressed and coped by immersing myself in hard work." That was the birth of those voices.
• I am worried that I will cause upset. I am sensitive and I pick up on others' upset energy. Marion's advice: "Give them permission to get upset.  Honour that. Remain centred in being caring and loving."
• The terror is not a place but a momentary experience contained in the One. I am not separate from That.  Be the space for the Fear. Be with it as a sensation.
• What would not needing to try look like?  There is no need to try! Allow creativity to unfold through me from Universal Intelligence.
• I have an attachment to Wisdom Trove being popular. Marion: "That's not the true measure of its success. The true measure is if it deeply effects one person who goes into a position of influence.  What you do (and the wisdom gained in the process) goes into collective consciousness for the benefit of the all."
• Visioning is good and fine as well as surrender. It’s God doing it after all.  Surrender is letting go of attachment to results.
• Disapproval is not personal. I’m as they need me to be to process their own stories and projections.
• Profound experiences of disappearing into stillness.
• Mackie chose to go down the stairs and gave up in order to allow me to goto Nepal. It was a fearful experience but also an act of love.

People I referred to Marion

1. Nic
2. Alessandro
3. Aimee
4. Sharon
5. Xenia
6. Jane
7. Chris
8. Lydia

Michael Singer

I read Michael Singer's book "The Surrender Experiment" thanks to a recommendation from Nic. It had a huge impact on me.  Surrender is now a core spiritual value for me. I also read his book "The Untethered Soul" which I also found very powerful. 

Books that inspired me

Some favourite quotes

Just sit in the seat of awareness and never leave

• Come to know the one who watches the voice, and you will come to know one of the great mysteries of creation.
• Now you are in your center of consciousness. You are behind everything, just watching. That is your true home.
• Consciousness is the highest word you will ever utter. There is nothing higher or deeper than consciousness. Consciousness is pure awareness.
• If you aren’t centered, your consciousness is just following whatever catches its attention.
• You are sitting inside the center of consciousness watching your personal TV show. But there are so many interesting objects distracting your consciousness that you can’t help but get drawn into them. It’s overwhelming. It’s three-dimensional. It’s all around you. All of your senses draw you in—sight, sound, taste, smell, and touch—as well as your feelings and your thoughts. But you are really sitting quietly inside looking out at all these objects.

Withdraw attention from and identification with the mind

• Withdraw your attention, and the thinking mind falls away.
• My sense of me no longer included the neurotic thought patterns that were passing in front of me.
• When your mind is disturbed, don’t ask, “What do I do about this?” Instead ask, “Who am I that notices this?”

Stay open and aware in a state of relaxed allowing (non-resistance)

• Acceptance means that events can make it through you without resistance.
• Your only way out is the witness. Just keep letting go by being aware that you are aware.
• Stop defining the disturbed mind as a negative experience; just see if you can relax behind it.

To stay happy, keep your heart open

• Most of all, keep your heart relaxed and  open.
• No matter what happens below you, just turn your eyes upward and relax your heart.
• The moment you feel a change, relax your shoulders and relax the area around your heart. The moment the energy moves, you simply relax and release.
• Every single time you relax and release, a piece of the pain leaves forever. Every time you resist and close, you are building up the pain inside.
• If you close around the pain and stop it from passing through, it will stay in you.
• The more open you remain, the more  energies and experiences are able to pass through you

In so doing, you are able to fully embrace the experiences of life

• Don’t be afraid of death. Let it free you. Let it encourage you to experience life.
• To see, to experience, and to honor is to participate in life instead of standing back and judging it.

Use your human energies and disturbances to awaken and transcend

• Awareness transcends what it is aware of.
• Now what used to hold you down becomes what wakes you up.
• That which is holding you down can become a powerful force that raises you up.

You now become aware of a universe behind your seat of consciousness

• When the drop of consciousness that knows itself as an individual drifts back far enough, it becomes like the drop that falls into the ocean. The Atman (Soul) falls into the Paramatman (Supreme Soul). The individual consciousness falls into the Universal Oneness. And that’s it.

This is how you know something about God. You become one with Him.

• Such a state exists; one can merge into the Universal Absolute. One can merge into God.
• If you move your search for God down to the mental level, somebody will dispute it. You can’t know God that way. It must come from actual experience. Michael Singer

This centred state of awareness is a state of freedom

• The only way to inner freedom is through the one who watches: the Self.
• To feel great love and freedom, to find the presence of God within you, all of this stored pain must go.
• Let go of the need to control everything with the mind
• Life is continuously changing, and if you’re trying to control it, you’ll never be able to fully live it.

Realise there is a creative Intelligence running the show that is far vaster than the limited human mind

• If life can manifest the DNA molecule on its own, not to mention create the human brain, how is it that we feel that we have to control everything on our own?
• If the natural unfolding of the process of life can create and take care of the entire universe, is it really reasonable for us to assume that nothing good will happen unless we force it to?

Surrender to life’s unfolding

• Life was asking me to get out of the way and let her do her thing.
• I was willing to roll the dice and let the flow of life be in charge.
• I was not in charge, yet life continued to unfold as if it knew just what it was doing.
• It seems as though life knew exactly what it was doing, and as usual, my mind knew nothing.
• What would happen to me if I just inwardly surrendered my resistance and let the flow of life be in charge?
• My personal experience is that aligning one’s will with the natural forces unfolding around us leads to some surprisingly powerful results.
• I decided to stop listening to all the chatter about my personal preferences, and instead, start the willful practice of accepting what the flow of life was presenting me.

Quotes on Wisdom Trove

Rupert Spira

Apart from Eckhart Tolle, no spiritual teacher has played a greater role in my spiritual awakening and evolution.  I have read many of his books and listened to many hours of his teachings on You Tube.

Books that inspired me

Some favourite quotes

• Happiness is in the knowing of our own Being.
• Happiness is simply to allow everything to be exactly as it is from moment to moment.
• In ignorance, I am something; in understanding, I am nothing; in love, I am everything.
• Love is the experience that others are not others. Beauty is the experience that objects are not objects.
• Give your attention to the experience of seeing rather than to the object seen and you will find yourself everywhere.
• There are not two things—one, the screen and two, the image. There is just the screen.
• The greatest discovery in life is to discover that our essential nature does not share the limits nor the destiny of the body and mind.
• Only that which is always with you can be said to be your self and if you look closely and simply at experience, only awareness is always ‘with you’.
• The separate self is not an entity; it is an activity: the activity of thinking and feeling that our essential nature of pure Awareness shares the limits and the destiny of the body and mind.
• Just as a screen is intimately one with all images and, at the same time, free of them, so our true nature of luminous, empty Knowing is one with all experiences and yet, at the same time, inherently free of them.
• Quotes on Wisdom Trove

Key insights

• All I can be certain of is the awareness of experience and the awareness of being aware. In other words, all I can be certain of is the existence of consciousness. The existence of a world external to consciousness, consisting of matter, is pure conjecture.
• Experience is indisputably real even if what is experienced is an illusion (not what it seems). The ego (the sense of being a separate self) is an experience I am having. It is an activity in consciousness.  But it has no stand-alone existence except as an experience in consciousness being had by consciousness.
• Consciousness is not only the Knower of all experience but also the Substance of all experience. Consciousness always only knows Itself. There is only God, Godding.

Tim Freke

Tim Freke is a spiritual author who had a huge impact on me through his books, especially "The Mystery Experience" It was a catalyst to my interest in quantum physics and its relationship to consciousness. He provided wonderful context to the experiences of immense love and wonder that had been arising in my life.  He also contributed greatly to my understanding that Universal Consciousness (God) is experiencing life through us, as us.

This short video moved me so much.  It sums up so beautifully what much I've discovered on my spiritual journey over the past two years.

Books that inspired me

Quotes

• You are different from me and yet we are one. Tim Freke
• You are infinite potential playing at being a person. Tim Freke
• I am the primal oneness of awareness, conscious through Tim. Tim Freke
• The multiplicity is only apparent, in truth there is only one mind. Tim Freke
• All we actually know for sure is what we are experiencing right now. Tim Freke
• Your experience of this moment is all you can be absolutely sure of. Tim Freke
• ‘I am’ is one of the great names of God in many spiritual traditions. Tim Freke
• I am spacious awareness within which my experience of life is arising. Tim Freke
• On the surface of life I appear to be Tim, but at the depths I am God. Tim Freke
• At the depths of my identity I am awareness witnessing Tim’s adventures. Tim Freke
• I am the universal field of being, individualized as a particular being. Tim Freke
• I am a spacious emptiness within which all of my experiences are arising like a dream. Tim Freke
• Is the ‘I’ your mind? The mind is something you are experiencing. It isn’t the experiencer. Tim Freke
• You are awareness witnessing a stream of experiences within which you appear to be a person. Tim Freke
• I am the field of awareness presencing a particular flow of experience that is arising right now. Tim Freke
• There is no little man inside my head who is choosing to say this or do that. There is no ‘doer’. Tim Freke
• Your experience of this moment is not a belief that can be questioned. It is a self-evident certainty. Tim Freke
• Right now, you are awareness witnessing a stream of experiences. This is your permanent essential identity. Tim Freke
• Awareness isn’t something within your experience. It is an emptiness that contains all you are experiencing. Tim Freke
• As a body I appear to exist within the world, but essentially I am awareness and the world exists within me. Tim Freke
• Being one with God and being in love with God are paralogically different ways of experiencing the same awakened state. Tim Freke
• The purpose of the spiritual journey is not to arrive anywhere, but rather to engage with the adventure of life in a new way. Tim Freke
• There is one awareness imagining itself to be everything and everyone, and meeting itself in all its many different disguises. Tim Freke
• We must become conscious of the oneness of being through the separateness. Tim Freke
• You and I are the singularity looking at itself… thinking about itself… confused about itself. Tim Freke
• When we become conscious of the deep mystery, the mystery experience spontaneously arises. Tim Freke
• For me the wonderful thing about awakening is that it enables me to embrace my human nature just as it is. Tim Freke
• Paralogical thinking means understanding reality from opposite points of view that complement each other. Tim Freke
• Logical thinking is either/or thinking.   Paralogical thinking is both/and thinking.  If we adopt a both/and perspective it becomes much more straightforward to awaken.  Tim Freke
• God is the primal being dreaming itself to be all beings. You and I appear to be separate individuals, but essentially, we are all God! Tim Freke
• Spirituality encourages us to pay attention to the elusive subjective perspective. It urges us to ‘look within’ and become conscious of the deep I. Tim Freke
• She’d seen herself as trying to wake up to ‘God’, which felt like an impossible challenge. Now she felt that ‘God’ was trying to wake up through her. Tim Freke
• The primal field of unconscious awareness is ‘dreaming’ itself to be many conscious individuals, through which it is coming to know itself and love itself. Tim Freke
• Haven’t you noticed how full of significant patterns and strange coincidences your experience is? As if there is some hidden meaning? Well, that’s because this is a dream. Tim Freke
• Objectively, you’re an insignificant speck of dust passing through this vast universe. But subjectively, you’re the centre of the universe, around which everything revolves. Tim Freke

Louise Kramer, my therapist in Sydney

Sessions with Louise

• I heard about Louise through Nerium through Louise's relayed wisdom: "You do the best you can with where you're at." The best you can at the level of consciousness you're at.
• Introduced me to Don Miguel Ruiz. Don't take things personally. A person perceives you through their story.  Don Miguel happened to be doing a presentation in Sydney which I went to.
• Introduced me to Byron Katie and The Work.  Inspired my "enquiry" and "assurance."  Helped me get over Dani and hellish thoughts. Also transcend judgements of others.
• First person I spoke to about Wisdom Trove. Gave her access. She gave me a lot of encouragement, especially about approval seeking.

Insights

• Byron Katie's The Work: "Is it true? Can I absolutely know that it’s true? How do I react when I believe that thought? Who would you be without the thought?  Who would I be without the thought? With judgements, come up with turnarounds expressing the opposite of what I believe. Are they not equally valid."
• I am not responsible for my thoughts. I am not the thinker of them. They simply appear to me.
• Effortful thinking achieves very little.  Worrying even less. 
• Insights arise not through thinking, but when the mind is still. 
• Take nothing personally. What you think of me is nothing personal. It has little to do with me.  It's part of your story. 
• It's none of my business what you think of me. 
• Dani would have loved me even more if I'd opened up, stopped pretending to be perfect. 
• The ability to be open and vulnerable opens up love. 
• Don Miguel's 4 Agreements: "Be Impeccable With Your Word. Don't Take Anything Personally. Don't Make Assumptions. Always Do Your Best but know your best will differ according to your state of being at any one time."
• Use your word in the direction of truth and love. 
• Do I have control over this? If not, accept and let go.

Approval seeking (something I wrote, inspired by our sessions)


My need to be approved by others is my own need to be approved by myself. To seek approval is to assume I'm not whole.

In seeking approval, I pay a heavy price ...

• I waste energy and time, the precious stuff that life is made of.
• I'm driven to try to manipulate you and your mind.
• I stop sharing all of myself.
• I sacrifice my uniqueness in an attempt to fit in.
• I pretend to be who I am not. Then when you say "I love you," I can't believe it, because I know you're loving someone that doesn't exist.
• I put my happiness in another's keeping, making myself their hostage, and I become easy to own, control and manipulate.
• I make everyone my judge, opening up the fear of rejection.

Approval seeking is bound to lead to failure and pain ...

• It's impossible to control what others think.
• It's impossible to please everyone. In fact trying to do so is the surest way to fail.
• Even the warmest and most sincere approval can be taken away at any time for any reason.

External approval is actually worth very little ...

• When someone says they approve of me, I can never know for sure if it's sincere or even true.
• The approval of another is just their projection; part of their story. When someone approves of me, they're approving of their story of me; not me myself.
• Approval can be taken away at the snap of a finger.

Letting go of the need for approval brings wonderful rewards ...

• I am able to be me. That's true freedom.
• My eyes are opened to my natural wealth and I start gaining my own approval and respect.
• I become a student. I'm totally open.
• I become tranquil and peaceful.
• Paradoxically, the less I care about seeking approval, the more I tend to get.

I free myself of the need to seek approval from others ...

• Life is too short to waste time waiting for other people to approve of me and how I live my life.
• I do not exist to impress the world. I exist to live my life in a way that will make me happy.  And to be a loving space for consciousness to flow through me.  If others approve of me, that's wonderful. And if they don't approve of me, that's good too. It doesn't effect my life or happiness.
• The only person I want approval from is me. Instead of seeking love and acceptance from others, I work on loving and accepting myself.
• I don't want people's approval. I want people to  think the way they think. That's love. I focus far more on recognising the treasure in others than on trying to get them to recognise the merits in me.
• I realise deeply that the source of what I seek externally is in me already. I am perfect and complete with everything I need right here, right now to be happy. My happiness depends on nothing external, including the approval of others.

David Hawkins and the map of consciousness.

Nic introduced me to David Hawkins and the map of consciousness. It just immediately intuitively felt right and I then went on to read most of his books.

Some favourite quotes

• That which you resist stays.
• Power serves others, whereas force is self-serving.
• Why give the ego more power by resisting and opposing it?
• The more we give love, the greater our capacity to do so.
• I just realized that I don’t have to have an opinion about everything–what a relief!\
• Everybody is like a magnet. You attract to yourself reflections of that which you are. 
• The radiance of God is the light of awareness that reveals the divinity of all that exists. 
• Great leaps in levels of consciousness are always preceded by surrender of the illusion that “I know.”
• Over the ages, it’s been noted that merely observing the mind tends to increase one’s level of consciousness.
• Energy fields are so powerful that they dominate our perception. They are really portals out of which we see the world. 
• It is rewarding to give up the attachment to the glamour of ‘being spiritual’, ‘holy’, or ‘special’. Truth has no trappings.
• The alignment of one’s goals and values with high-energy attractors is more closely associated with genius than anything else.
• We change the world not by what we say or do but as a consequence of what we have become. Thus, every spiritual aspirant serves the world.
• To become more conscious is the greatest gift anyone can give to the world; moreover, in a ripple effect, the gift comes back to its source.
• Love is misunderstood to be an emotion; actually, it is a state of awareness, a way of being in the world, a way of seeing oneself and others.
• Every act, thought, and choice adds to a permanent mosaic; our decisions ripple through the universe of consciousness to affect the lives of all.
• All judgment reveals itself to be self-judgment in the end, and when this is understood a larger comprehension of the nature of life takes its place.
• Power is associated with that which supports life, and force is associated with that which exploits life for the gain of an individual or an organization.
• What the people in the world actually want is the recognition of who they really are on the highest level, to see that the same Self radiates forth within everyone.
• The body is like a companion, a friendly pet that follows one around…One can continue to own the body and be responsible for it without identifying with it as one’s identity.
• The true destiny of man is to realize the truth of the divinity of one’s source and creator which is ever present within that which has been created and is the creator—the Self.
• Force has an insatiable appetite, it constantly consumes. Power, in contrast, energizes, gives forth, supplies, and supports. Power gives life and energy—force takes these away.
• It’s best to heed the traditional wisdom that tells us not to fear evil or fight it, but merely avoid it; yet in order to do so, one first has to have the capacity to recognize it.
• Non-attachment is not the same as indifference, withdrawal or detachment…. In contrast, non-attachment allows full participation in life without trying to control outcomes.  David Hawkins
• There is absolutely nothing in ordinary human experience to compare with the joy of the presence of the Love of God. No sacrifice is too great nor effort too much in order to realize that Presence.
• The ego has to be first accepted as though it is a reality in order to be dealt with before it can be transcended. At the higher levels, the ego is seen to be an illusion, without any innate reality.
• Identification solely with the content of consciousness accounts for the experience of self as limited. In contrast, to identify with consciousness itself is to know that one’s actual self is unlimited.
• Just one instant in a very high state can completely change a person’s orientation to life, as well as his goals and values. It can be said that the individual who was is no more, and a new person is born out of the experience. 
• The energy of a loving thought is enormously more powerful than that of a negative one. Therefore, the traditional solutions of love and prayer have a sound scientific basis; man has within his own essence the power of his own salvation.
• Freedom to evolve requires a world which affords the greatest opportunity to ascend or descend the spiritual ladder. Viewed from that perspective, this is an ideal world and its society is constituted by a wide range of experiential options.
• Spiritual evolution occurs as the result of removing obstacles and not actually acquiring anything new. Devotion enables surrender of the mind’s vanities and cherished illusions so that it progressively becomes more free and more open to the light of Truth.
• The inspiration to evolve spiritually is already a manifestation of the presence of God within, and it’s certainly indicative of good karma. Just to want to know truth, to evolve, to improve oneself, to become a better person, to fulfill one’s potential – those are all inspirations. And the person doesn’t make them up; they just come to them. It’s like an innate desire to fulfill your potential.
• David Hawkins quotes on Wisdom Trove     
• "Power verse Force" quotes on Wisdom Trove

Going to Nic's spiritual group

I started going to Nic's spiritual teaching group in 2013 and kept going for several years. He introduced me to David Hawkins and the map of consciousness which has had a profound effect on my world view.  Nic's teachings were truly transformational. I feel deeply thankful for his presence in my life. He arrived at a time when I most needed his wisdom and his teaching were utterly perfect for what I needed to progress on my spiritual journey.

Some of the many key insights I gained from Nic

All is well 

• All is perfect including who I am being right now
• Love what is. All of it.  
• I am exactly where I'm meant to be, experiencing what I'm meant to be experiencing in order to learn what I'm here to learn. 
• Divine consciousness brought me to this exact moment. I embrace it as it is.
• Trust that everything is for your learning and evolution of consciousness.  
• You're perfect as you are. Who says a gnarled tree in nature isn't perfect?  As it's supposed to be?
• Everything that happens is for the ultimate good of all involved. 
• When a decisions arises with options 1 or 2, neither is preferable. Both are perfect. One may bring greater suffering, but also great lessons.

Absolute verse relative truth

• Absolute Truth is a state of Being. It is the experience of the Presence of God. It is the felt realisation of my Oneness with Being. 
• Relative truth differs according to my level of consciousness. 

  

The ego is not an enemy to fight or resist

• Don't fight the ego for you strengthen what you fight.  
• The ego is something to be healed and seen through, not destroyed. The snake that caused so much angst, when truly seen, is recognised to be but a harmless piece of rope.
• We are here to raise our consciousness and learn lessons.  We have the perfect ego to learn the lessons we are here to learn.  
• I have the perfect mind and ego for me to be where I'm at and to learn what I am here to learn. No level of consciousness is essentially better than another. 
• Create a spiritual ego (good, moral, pure, righteous) that fights with the ego (evil, bad, sinful) and the battle that ensues will leave no space at all for consciousness. 
• The ego is an information processor; a survival tool, that we're evolving beyond.
• Think of the ego as a pet dog. Not something to hate. Smile at its antics and wonder how you've been taken in by it for so long. But also, do not let it ride rampant.

Transcending the need for approval and the fear of disapproval

• Approval is a projection of the approver's story and conditioning.
• Impressing others is pointless for I'll never know if it's genuine or not. And it can be taken away at any time for the least and most irrational reason. My self-approval is what matters.   
• Don't take anything personally. When people judge me, it has nothing much to do with me. It's their projection.  Their story. 
• Let go of being attached to praise.  Let go of the need to be enough.  
• When you stop needing to be worthy, your inherent worth reveals itself.  

Transcending guilt and shame

• Guilt plays a momentary purpose. Harness it in order to feel sorry and intend to do differently next time. Then let go of all guilt and shame.  They vibrate at a very low level of consciousness and do not serve the world if hung onto.
• I'm exactly where I'm meant to be in the evolution of my consciousness. I always do the best I can at the level of consciousness I'm at at any particular moment.  
• Spiritual work is hard enough without beating myself up.   
• Where I am right now is perfect. Consciousness brought me to this point. 
• I do the best I can with where I am at. I am not perfect. I'm human. My humanness is inherited. Perfection is a lie.
• I am a work in progress. We all are. 
• The brain changes at 200. Below 200, there is no choice, only ignorance.
• My level of consciousness is different for different parts of my life.  

Transcending the need to judge others (and myself)

• Judgement gives me a very narrow and partial view of a life and a person.  
• When I think "This person should be... " what I mean is  "I want him to be ..."  
• Let go of desire for him / her to be any way other than what she is. He / she is perfect as he / she is. 
• A person is just being who they meant to be right now.  
• Socrates. "Every man does what he perceives as the greatest good."
• One level of consciousness is not better than another. All levels of experience lead to experience and learning.
• All resistance and judgement has a secret pay-off for the ego.
• In truth, there is never anything to forgive. People are as they are meant to be at any moment.  Be compassionate and loving instead.
• If you want to stop judging, say "Bring  it on!  Give me more judgement." Observe the feelings that arise and let them go.   

Transcending "sin" by avoiding it

• Sin is that which weakens me.  Sin is that which vibrates at low levels of consciousness. Don't fight it.  

 

Transcending thought by allowing it but not identifying with it

• Ego is identification with the radio of the mind.  
• I'm not my thoughts.  Thoughts aren't even of the ego.  Ego doesn't create thoughts. But it reacts to them, believes in them, takes ownership of them.  
• Thoughts are not created by the mind. The mind is an antenna tuning in at a certain level of consciousness. Fear leads to worrying thoughts. Listen to the radio and the thoughts get louder.
• I don't need to ever feel guilty or bad about the thoughts I have. Thoughts are generated before I'm even conscious of them.  

Transcending emotional pain by really feeling it and thereby letting it go

• All emotions, no matter how unpleasant they may feel at first, are merely  physical sensations. Let go of thought and feel (observe) the emotion as a pure sensation. 
• Bring attention to the body and the emotions generating and empowering the distressing thought.  
• Where do I feel it? How does it feel? What is its colour?  Watch it change.  
• The pain I am releasing is built up from the repressed pain of this life and other lives.  It may also be part of collective human pain that is part of my role to release for the benefit of The All.  
• Get in touch with the emotion (unblocked by thought) rather than intellectually think it through (e.g. worry)  Thought blocks and amplifies emotions.  
• When I release what seems like bottomless pain, there will be an end eventually.  I am releasing 42 years of repressed pain.  (This proved to be absolutely correct!)
• The pain of loss opens the awareness that what I truly am cannot be diminished.    
• All the pain of losing Dani helped me realise who I really am. What I did is exactly what I needed and she needed at that time.  (Life ended up great for her with a doting husband and beautiful child. And for me too.)
• When thought ceases (like on recent walks), emotions flow beautifully.  
• I can try to rationalise and reflect till I am blue in face - if the emotions below is strong and unfelt, it will be a constant battle.  

Spiritual evolution is a journey of surrender and letting go 

• A spiritual life will always have challenges. Once I've unblocked one thing, another thing will likely emerge to be healed. The spiritual path is not about constant peace.  
• Think of your future enlightened self pulling you to enlightenment.

Transcending fear ...

• Ask "What is the fear? What's the problem."  Get to the deepest possible emotion by asking "So what?" over and over.
• Fear is ignorance and illusion. Truth is that which brings peace (a higher state of being).

... including the fear of death...

• Death is not to be feared. There is scientific evidence of past lives. Hypnosis has been used to remember past things that can then be verified.  
• People who've come back say there is no judgement at death except some temporary self-judgement. Veils are lifted. 

...and the fear of hell 

• Eternity is not forever. It is the timeless Now. All experience exists in time and passes.  Hell is a state of contracted consciousness (suffering) that passes.
• Hell is not a punishment. It is a choice. 
• Karma is not about punishment or judgement.  It is simply the impartial and impersonal law of consequences.

 

The power of intention

• Use intentions as your compass. They are all you can truly control.
• The energy of the intention behind an action will determine its outcome.
• The only free will you have is to set your intention. In that way, you start to change the field.  
• Set the intention and watch. That's all you can do. 
• Always ask yourself what state (level of consciousness) your intention is coming from.
• Will and intention doesn't come from ego, but from the grace of Consciousness. 
• Where on the map do I choose to be and act from?  
• No level on the map of consciousness is inherently right or wrong. But do look and reflect onthe emotions you'll experience at that level. And the level of love & peace - or suffering.

The power of spiritual will (versus will power)

• Spiritual will comes from a high level of consciousness and is impersonal. It is a form of Power inherent in Consciousness. Will power, on the other hand, is personal. It is a forcing, trying and grasping. Power is infinitely more powerful than force. Force (including will power) is finite and energy sapping while Power (including spiritual will) is self-sustaining. 

The power of Love

• I make love my intention. Love vibrates very high and is extremely powerful.  Everything is an opportunity for love and kindness.
• I don't need to try to force love out of myself. Love is not something I need to do. I am love. I open to the love inside me and let it flow through me.  
• Learn and evolve and be loving and kind. Every situation is an opportunity to love and learn.  

The power of prayer and meditation

• Meditation reduced crime in New York by 30 percent.
• Pray for strength and clearness / rightness of mind, not for events to change.  
• The intention (energy) behind the prayer is most important - where  on the ladder of consciousness is it coming from?  The higher the level, the greater the power.  Prayers of love and gratitude are thus very powerful.

The power of self-care

• Consider the metaphor of the oxygen mask. I need to help myself before I can help others.  

The power of humility that comes with a realisation of the truth of Oneness

• All spiritual progress and the raising of one's level of consciousness is grace from consciousness.  The ego cannot take credit.  
• Feel grateful, not superior or special.  My energy field is not personal. There is  in truth nothing I control.  
• It's not me doing anything.  There is in truth no "me". All is done by the grace and power of God.
• Pride always comes with fear of falling.  Humility is fearless.
• Humility is not thinking less of myself. It is thinking of myself less.

Realise decisions are emotional, not rational

• All my decisions are made by emotion, not the rational mind. The rational mind just justifies afterwards.  
• Even if I know rationally it's wrong, it's the emotion (tapped into consciousness I'm at) that makes the decision. 
• I grow increasingly aware of the emotion at the heart of my decisions. 

Using the map of consciousness for decision making

• Use the map for decision making. What level am I making the decision from (E.g. love verse fear?) 
• Remember my financial decision to do the paperwork myself to get my RA funds from South Africa or outsource it to experts. We looked at it going up the ladder and everything pointed to doing it myself. Then we got to the level of Love and I realised it would be far more loving to myself to outsource it. It turned out to be absolutely the right decision. The paper work revealed itself to be very complex and would have been an awful and long-lasting source of stress!  This was a real eureka moment for me of the power of using the map of consciousness as a decision making tool.

Farewell Geraldine, a wonderful spiritual teacher

Passed away: 27 February 2014

"I would like my life to be a statement of love and compassion--and where it isn't, that's where my work lies."

Celebration of Geraldine's life (March 9)

Letter  (25 November 2013)

Geraldine, you have opened my eyes to indescribable wonder and beauty. Through the consciousness and wisdom that flows through you, I've discovered the power of stillness and prayer and reflection and my experiences of what's within have been so precious and healing that every other experience I've ever had pales in significance. I'll never be the same.  Thank you this priceless gift.  Words aren't enough.

Letter (18 June 2013)

Dear Geraldine  

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your light and your wisdom and your love on Saturday.  Your teachings over the past year have transformed my life already so much.  Saturday for me was a culmination, a turning point, an extraordinary beak through and I'll never be the same again.

First was the revelation that guilt is so low on the ladder - that it veritable sucks up and blocks consciousness.  Second was the revelation of the great healing power of remorse.  Third was the realisation that my life is unfolding according to a divine order, and that I can trust that and surrender to that completely and welcome whatever comes - and that I'll be ok no matter what.  Fourth was your comment, one I've head from you many times before, but for some reason it resonated like a lightning bolt this time: "Pray like mad."  

I haven't prayed since I was a very young child, when I did deeply and regularly, but something happened that scared me and I stopped altogether.  Well, I've started to pray again - pray all the time - and it's opened the gates and I feel like I've come home.  My meditation has given me many glimpses of my divine essence over the past year, and I've wanted to believe so much in the light of my being - that it is there and that's it real, that it's not just wishful thinking.  Experiences I've had over the past few days, through my prayer and meditation, have awakened me to an unshakable certainty.  It's led to a great cleansing and outpouring of pain that has needed to be let free for such a long, long time.  It's led to a deep sense of peace and a deep joy. 

My chat with D the other night was more difficult that I'd even imagined, she was angry and hurt. If I hadn't been with you on Saturday, I would be in a very dark place.  Instead, I've been able to keep my  consciousness flowing, which has helped me to respond with compassion and love - both for her and myself.  And it's been the catalyst to all I describe above.

So, thank you, Geraldine, so, so much.  You are such a light. Consciousness works through you in such profound ways and you've blessed all our lives so, so deeply.

With great love,

Graeme

Key quotes from Geraldine

• Do the work! 
• Be ok with being ordinary. 
• Don't be an approval junkie. 
• Everything has a divine plan. 
• Be the change you want to see. 
• Guilt is the caviar of the ego. 
• Anger is forgetting who you are. 
• The Dalai never goes to rallies. 
• Don't care what people think of you. 
• Show up fully for all experiences. 
• One new habit at a time. Take small steps. 
• Trust is a habit that must be practiced 
• Truth cannot be known, only experienced. 
• Starve your ego by swallowing your pride. 
• Anger is never caused by you. It's in you. 
• Give up constant judgements and evaluation.
• Reacting unconsciously is giving up your power. 
• Meet each person as if for the first time. 
• Spirituality is the ego's favourite outfit.  
• Who are you to know what's best for another? 
• Be yourself and allow others to be themselves. 
• You draw everything into your life for a reason. 
• Be no more for praise and no less for criticism. 
• Worrying is like praying for what you don't want. 
• The quiet moments are not conducive to this work. 
• People change all the time. See them afresh and anew each time you meet. 
• The ego uses past and future to steal the present.
• Be kind and loving.  And expect nothing in return. 
• The ego uses past and future to steal the present. 
• Is what I'm abut to say kind? Necessary? The truth? 
• Chip away at the marble to create your David within. 
• The world is a mirror of your state of consciousness. 
• Be a conscious responder, not an unconscious reactor. 
• Be authentic and real. Stop polishing your self image.
• Really question concepts.  What does this really mean?  
• Each time you starve a compulsion, it loses some strength. 
• Empty your mind of what you think you know.  Drop opinions. 
• Seek understanding before being understood. Ask and listen. 
• Every moment is brand new. In every moment you begin afresh. 
• You didn't choose to come here today. Your divine being did. 
• Nothing that can be born, live and die is who you really are.  
• External events are never as important as the way you react to them. 
• When you judge someone, end it with the words "... just like me." 
• Love what is. Pray "Help me to transmute this and turn it into love."
• Never blame others for how you feel. That's your responsibility. 
• The ego expects.  Essence allows.  Let go of your expectations of others. 
• The best way to teach your kids is to "be it."  Teach by example. 
• Adopt a beginner's mind. Sit down before fact like a little child. 
• We do so much to buy love, forgetting all the time that we are love. 
• In today's society, pride is seen as a virtue. It's not. It's a vice! 
• External events are never as important as the way you react to them.  
• Attachment happens when you mistake something outside for who you are. 
• When I react to someone, what is this person teaching me about myself. 
• The easiest way to avoid falling off your perch is to get down off it.  
• We need a little dose of craziness to break the shackles of the norm.   
• If something affronts, realise there is no self there. Let it go through. 
• Am I showing up for this experience?  Accept it.  Learn from it.  Use it.  
• Everyone is trying to save us from ourselves.  Stop trying to save others. 
• We react most negatively and strongly when we sense the Ego is under attack. 
• Feel remorse but then forgive yourself.  Be determined to do it differently. 
• You won't see the soul in a person if you see through a haze of perceptions. 
• Try not to change people. Their divine being knows exactly who they need to be. 
• Don't comb the mirror.  Don't try to change externals. Do your own inner work.  
• In every good there is bad - and vice versa. Divine being lives beyond duality. 
• Trust everything is for your highest good.  You don't need to know what that is. 
• In relationship, there's only one person there. The other person is your mirror. 
• In a relationship, there is just one of you.  There's no other there. We're one. 
• 7 virtues: Kindness, Humility, Temperance, Chastity, Diligence, Patience, Charity 
• Shake things up. Break repetitive cycles and old routines.  Do something different. 
• If you spoke to you the way your mind does, how long would you stay friends with you? 
• When your ego is on the war path, the first casualties are your compassion and wisdom. 
• The ego is a many headed Medusa of little "i's"  Cut one off and expect others to grow. 
• Respond rather than react. It's not your business what others do. Just how you respond. 
• Pray like mad.  Use prayer and compassion to clean up the ego.  Pray for right mindedness. 
• Stop putting energy into your image.  Stop pretending to be perfect.  Admit your weaknesses. 
• Giving approval puts kids under intense pressure.  Love them, irrespecitive of what they do. 
• We do so much to buy love. Things we do, strive for, say. Yet, we are love - we are what we seek. 
• How aware was I today?  If you can't remember much about your day, you've not been very conscious. 
• People aren't responsible for the way you react. And you aren't responsible for the way they react.  
• Drop all beliefs. Beliefs are illusions. Just constructs of the mind.  The truth is beyond the mind. 
• Every moment has infinite possibilities. Am I accessing them?  Or always choosing the same one over and over? 
• Don't try to change people.  There Divine Beings know exactly where they need to be.  Accept people as they are. 
• Old stuff comes up because it needs to be reinterpreted.  You can change the past by changing your perception of it. 
• May all beings be happy.  May all beings be at peace. May all beings be free of suffering and the causes of suffering. 
• See the potential in this moment. Every moment is brand new.  In this moment, there are infinite possibilities and choices 
• Take full responsibility for the situation you're in.  For who you are and how you show up in the world. For how you respond. 
• Take 100 % responsibility. Make zero excuses. Take ownership of your anger. It's in you.  Take responsibility for your reactions. 
• It's not your business what others do. Just how you respond.  But can learn from it. See what happens when people forget who they are. 
• Give up all self image and concept.  Don't hide your ratbaggedness! Be open about it.  Stop putting energy into your image and pretending to be perfect. 
• The ego demands, the self prefers.  The ego competes, the self co-operates.  The ego fears, the self trusts.  The ego expects and controls, the ego allows. 
• Don't give your opinion. You never know what's best for another.  Let their soul come to its own inner wisdom.   Ask what they think.  Really listen. Help people find their own answers. 
• When you complain about someone, end the sentence with the words "just like me." For example, look at that person acting all mean ... just like me. It stops the feeling of separateness. Reminds us that we have done the same, and now we know how it feels. Do it also if you think positive thoughts about someone.