Divine Currency

Divine Currency

 Are you in the Current Moment,

Present in the Now?

Are you One with the River’s Current,

Engaging with the Flow?

Does the Power of the Current,

Ignite Internal Energy?

Is there manifest appearance,

Of this Inward Currency?

Do you resist every Occurrence,

Or are you watching it Unfold?

Have you learned to trust the Infinite,

AS the Life that you Behold?

Are you separate from this Field,

In perceptual fragmentation?

Or Connected do you Yield,

To Universal Transformation?

Formlessness emerging

Into Visibility,

Ethereal Fabric,

Of a Fractal Unity

Every Wave of your experience,

A Timeless Frequency

The Vibration of your Thought,

Bringing Synchronicity

Alignment with the Light,

In Spectral Harmony,

A Sound so clear and radiant,

It’s One that you can See

Knowing The "Unknowable"

How many people do you know personally? (In your hometown? In the United States? In the world?)
Are you positive that you could count on each of them to react a certain way given a prescribed set of circumstances?
Is it really possible to know anyone intimately enough to accurately determine beyond any shadow of a doubt how they will respond in every situation?
If simply knowing or understanding a person is riddled with intricacies, what does this reveal about "knowing" GOD?

Joseph Campbell, widely recognized author and expert in comparative mythology, believed that all the religions of the world, including their deities, are simply masks veiling the same indescribable Truth which is “Unknowable".

In fact, if we explore some of the common denominators which exist at the core of every spiritual tradition, the incomprehensibleness of an Absolute, Infinite Being, which many call God, is at the very top of the list.

While Christianity reveals a more personal side to God as, "Our Heavenly Father," manifested in the nature of Jesus Christ, there are still numerous references in the New Testament of the Bible which indicate that God transcends mere knowledge.

“ O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!”- Rom 11:33
“To know the love of Christ which passes knowledge, that you might be filled with all the fulness of God.” - Eph 3:19
“If any man thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know.” - 1Co 8:2

Medieval theologian, philosopher and mystic, Meister Eckhart, in referring to the classic writing, “The Cloud of Unknowing,” is quoted as saying:

“If one knows anything in God and affixes any name to it, that name is Not God. God is above names and above nature…….we should learn not to give God any name with the idea that we had thereby sufficiently honored and magnified Him: for God is above names and ineffable.”

If we explore the Judaic roots of Christianity, we may gain further insight from author of Jewish Mysticism, Rabbi David Cooper, who also references the Transcendent nature of God in his book, “God Is A Verb”:

“When we give a name to the Nameless it is a stumbling block that trips most people. We think that if it has a name, it has an identity. An identity comes with attributes. So we think we know something about it…... The word "God" suggests an embodiment of something that can be grasped. We have given a name to the Unknown and Unknowable and then have spent endless time trying to know it. We try because It has a name; but we must always fail because It is Unknowable.”

In an excerpt from Eastern Philosophy and Meditation we find this profound insight concurrently shared, and further clarified, by the teachings of professor of philosophy and Indian mystic Osho:

“Osho Rajneesh describes the world into 3 categories: The known, the unknown and the unknowable. The known is our present state of knowledge about the world through the scientific method and through logic and reasoning. The unknown is that which we do not know now but will find out in time. However, there is also the Unknowable. This is something that can be experienced but can never be made into an object of knowledge. Language, reasoning, logic and concepts are useless to either experience the unknowable or to communicate that experience to others. The Unknowable can be termed as God. God – or the Unknowable – cannot be made into the object of knowledge. But It can be experienced.”

This experience of “knowing,” or what some of the mystery schools refer to as “gnosis,” is not knowledge in the sense of learning or acquired information, but is indicative of knowing the “Unknowable” AS dynamic experiential Reality. This makes it impossible for God to ever be a mere object of intellectual knowledge.

Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi also makes a distinction between God's “Unknowable Essence” and his knowable attributes. He believed that all souls eventually coalesce into complete union with God's Essence, and therefore, that a mystical approach to the Divine attains to a greater degree than mere theological investigation, because it is a participation IN GOD, as opposed to simply knowledge about God.

Buddhism also refers to this “Unknowable Essence,” and it should be no surprise that the Buddha communicated this very same understanding. He would refuse to discuss any philosophical questions that came to him but instead would invite those asking to find out for themselves. By pointing to a direct experience of the Absolute, he encouraged his followers to traverse the inward path as he had, that all their questions about life, the universe, God and the Soul would be answered. The Buddha-Mind is also based upon this experience of the Unknowable which cannot be communicated, but is an understanding gained only through a direct realization of God or All That IS.

In his book, “A Life Divine,” Sri Aurobindo, Indian nationalist, philosopher and poet, eloquently expresses this experiential knowledge as communicated in the term Sachchidananda (Sat-Being-Consciousness, Chit-Mind-Existence, Ananda-Spirit-Bliss), or what he describes more succinctly as, “The Unknowable Knowing Itself.”

“The Unknowable Knowing Itself as Sachchidananda is the One Supreme affirmation of Vedanta; it contains all the others, or on it they depend. This is the one veritable ‘experience’ that remains when all appearances have been accounted for negatively by the elimination of their shapes and coverings, or positively by the reduction of their ‘names and forms’ to the constant Truth that they contain.”

The Apostle Paul affirms this Reality with his statement to the Corinthians when he says that the only aspect of our being which can truly know God is the Spirit of God in us and as us:

“For what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so, the things of God No One knows, but the Spirit of God. But we received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God; that we might know the things that were freely given to us OF God. Which things also we speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches, but which the Spirit teaches;”

To further clarify this statement, he goes on to say later in the same book that not only do we “have the mind of Christ (God),” but also, that “he that is joined unto the Lord IS One Spirit.” – 1Co 2:11-13 & 1Co 6:17

What many sincere seekers of Truth on the path to enlightenment and salvation have misunderstood is that with every experience of Truth there is an immediate reductionism that takes place from the Non-Dual to the relative expression, from that “Moment of Awareness” to the classification of that experience as something “known.” For in "Knowing God," once we try to place any experience in the category of the known in order to express, communicate or define it, it then becomes a memory of the past devoid of the dynamic life of Spirit. For even the most descriptive of attributes viewed through a chronological lens of separation can never adequately express this Vibrant, Perpetual, Present, Living Reality of Oneness which only comes by direct experience of Knowing the Unknowable.


*Full article by JSM (Joe Murawski) as it originally appeared on Columbus Spirituality Examiner

Non-Judgment Day IS Near! (For some it is already here)

What is meant by judgment and non-judgment?

Jesus said, “Judge NOT ACCORDING TO APPEARANCE, but judge righteous judgment." (John 7:24)
This directly implies that any judgment based upon appearance (a material or sensory observation of any outward phenomena) is NOT RIGHTEOUS judgment.

Judgment according to any moral standard of good and evil (or right and wrong), regardless of the subject matter, is NOT RIGHTEOUS, because that type of judgment can only come from partaking of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, NOT from the Tree of Life. For the Tree of Life is "in the midst of Paradise of God", which IS the Kingdom Of God (SPIRIT).

The Kingdom of God "DOES NOT come by OBSERVATION." And we know that, "My Kingdom IS NOT OF this WORLD." (external arrangement of the cosmos). Therefore, "righteous judgment" can only come from SPIRIT because the Kingdom of God IS "RIGHTEOUSNESS, PEACE and JOY IN the Holy SPIRIT"!! (Rom 14:17)
Based on this we can conclude that Righteous Judgment IS Non-Judgment as far as any natural, material or dualistic sense is concerned.

Judgment as it pertains to the realm of duality or relative experience (appearance or form) is completely different than the internal discernment of Truth from Illusion (righteous judgment). Walking in non-judgment does not mean that we cease thinking or contemplating. If that were the case, it would be pointless to even make a distinction between judgment and non-judgment. The key, however, lies in our PERCEPTION. A perception which stems from a universal belief in separation, or an existence of an ego-identity apart from God IS ILLUSION, whereas, SEEing with the One Mind all things (and EVERYONE) as they truly are IN and AS Spirit IS Truth. The ego (false self) perceives (judges) externally through separation, the Spirit SEEs only Oneness through the Single Eye of Unconditional Love.

We are admonished to "Henceforth KNOW NO MAN according to the flesh." (2 Cor. 5:16)
That means if we SEE anything other than Christ (SPIRIT) in people it is equivalent to "bearing false witness" against our neighbor. For truly, how can anyone "Love their neighbor AS themSelf," if they are judging them according to some outward criteria or standard of measure. Hence the reason Jesus also said very simply, "JUDGE NOT lest you be judged." Because when you judge others, YOU ARE JUDGING YOURSELF. The judgment isn't coming from God, it is coming from your own mind.

"Speak NOT evil one of another, brethren. He that speaks evil of his brother, and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law, and judges the law: but if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law, but a judge." (James 4:11)

This is NOT a judgment of Old Testament Law, it is a judgment of the "LAW of the SPIRIT OF LIFE IN CHRIST" as though it is incapable of accomplishing the purpose in our brothers and sisters for which it was intended. It is a denial of the GRACE and GOODNESS of God which is drawing, reconciling and transforming ALL.

Righteous Judgment REVEALS HARMONY.....IT RESTORES......IT MAKES WHOLE. It does not criticize others in the name of discernment. LET US LIVE according to "the LAW of the SPIRIT OF LIFE" in Christ, where there is "therefore NOW, NO CONDEMNATION." Cease to judge according to the appearance while calling it discernment. "Discernment of spirits" is only an IN PART gifting, whereas, when that which is Perfect IS COME, that which is in part is DONE AWAY WITH. Therefore when we walk in PERFECT LOVE, there is no need to point the finger, because "LOVE IS the fulfillment of the law." (Rom 8:1/ 1 Cor. 13:10/ Rom 13:10)

"NOW IS the judgment of this world, NOW WILL the prince of this world BE CAST OUT." (John 12:31)
"And I SAW Satan fall from heaven like lightning (with bright shining)." (Luke 18:11)
"And the Accuser OF Our Brethren IS CAST DOWN which accused them before our God day and night." (Rev. 12:10)
"CASTING DOWN every vain imagination and proud barrier held up against the KNOWLEDGE OF GOD." (2 Cor. 10:5)
"Then shall that Lawless One (false self/ carnal mind) be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the SPIRIT OF HIS MOUTH and destroy with the BRIGHTNESS of His coming (i.e. Manifestation OF HIS PRESENCE)." (2 Thess. 2:8)

THIS JUDGMENT takes place WITHIN CONSCIOUSNESS. The illumination (bright shining) of the Light of Truth within us regarding our DIVINE IDENTITY exposes and casts out the Adversary (Satan), the Egoic mind (the Prince of this world) which perceives separation and division until we no longer find fault or perceive ourselves as separate from any of our brothers and sisters. This IS the state of Non-Judgment in which the Son of Man has truly been given the authority to forgive sin (mistaken identity). "Whosoever sins you remit are remitted, and whosoever sins you retain are retained." We are the only ones who hold each other captive in our minds from the full realization of OUR shared IDENTITY.

Loose your brothers and sisters from every chain constructed in your mind.......SEE them BLAMELESS....HOLD them GUILTLESS....LOVE THEM UNCONDITIONALLY!! "For if you LOVE not your brother whom you can see, how can you love God whom you cannot see?" (1John 3:10 & 14/ 4:20)

Elevate your Consciousness to SEE beyond the veil of appearance....

Integrating Oneness

There is something in the air.
Let’s call it is a paradigm shift in the collective consciousness of humanity.
The waves of this frequency are an energy which can be felt vibrating throughout our shared experience as a race, and they are only increasing in intensity.

With the dramatic advancement of communication and technology in this Information Age, behind the scenes, there is a parallel advance taking place in spiritual circles which is serving as a catalyst to increase receptivity and promote evolving concepts about God. The ideas being birthed in this 'crucible of controversy' are radical, inclusive, progressive, emergent and integral.

From transdenominationalism to metacostalism, we will ultimately come to discover that any new terminology is simply not enough to encompass, or adequately convey, the magnitude of this shift. As with science, we are taking a quantum leap into new dimensions.

"The religion of the future will be a cosmic religion. It will have to transcend a personal God and avoid dogma and theology. Encompassing both the natural and the spiritual, it will have to be based on a religious sense arising from the experience of all things, natural and spiritual, considered as a meaningful unity." - Albert Einstein
"There is an evolution of the consciousness behind the evolution of the species and this spiritual evolution must end in a realization, individual and collective, on the earth." – Sri Aurobindo

One New Thought leader at the forefront of this global transformation related mankind’s evolution in consciousness to a Biblical analogy by saying, "It is like trying to put new wine into old wineskins."
Our definitions and concepts of God are evolving to such an extent that ideas which may have been considered mutually exclusive, or diametrically opposed to each other at one time, are coalescing within the collective consciousness into a cohesive Whole which can NO LONGER BE CONTAINED in any static theology. Eastern and Western beliefs about God are merging and simultaneously removing all fragmentation and division which would cause anyone to view God as a dysfunctional schizophrenic. There is a nascent consciousness emerging, wherein, the Divine is seen as both transcendent and immanent, impersonal and personal, absolute and relative, and yet beyond any restrictive definition which would limit an Infinite God to a finite human understanding.
In essence, our thoughts concerning God are being recontextualized to embrace the Unlimited. For as we recognize the Oneness of God, we must ultimately SEE the Oneness of ‘GOD WITH US’ and/or WITHIN US, and by extension, the Oneness we share with everyone else.

“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.”― Martin Luther King Jr.
“Man can no longer live for himself alone. We must realize that all life is valuable and that we are united to all life. From this knowledge comes our spiritual relationship with the universe.” ― Albert Schweitzer

Humanity is moving TOGETHER into a shared Identity of their Infinite Potential. For, “In Him, WE LIVE and MOVE and HAVE OUR BEING…..WE ARE HIS OFFSPRING.”
Jesus proclaimed that, "I and my Father ARE ONE", but he also said “that THEY (US) may be ONE EVEN AS WE ARE ONE.” Furthermore, the New Testament states that, “He who is joined to the Lord is One Spirit with Him” and that “there is ONE GOD and Father who is ABOVE ALL and IN ALL and THROUGH ALL.”

“The highest and widest seeing is the wisest; for then all knowledge is unified in its one comprehensive meaning. All religions are seen as approaches to a single Truth, all philosophies as divergent view-points looking at different sides of a single Reality, all Sciences meet together in a supreme Science. For that which all our mind-knowledge and sense-knowledge and suprasensuous vision is seeking, is found most integrally in the unity of God and man and Nature and all that is in Nature.” - Sri Aurobindo

As this profound awareness rises like the dawn of a new day in our hearts, and we begin to experience this ONENESS, we are simultaneously able to SEE that “God IS IN ALL THINGS”. We are becoming more aware of that “extraordinary ordinariness” referred to by Adyashanti. We are beginning to realize the miraculous in the mundane, the holy in the midst of the profane, the sacred within the secular, and the Infinite being revealed through the finite.

'To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour.' – William Blake

An essential component on the cutting edge of this movement is the message of Ultimate Reconciliation and Universal Salvation. The faith which was "once delivered unto the saints" is arising from numerous ministers who are not afraid to challenge the outmoded ‘orthodoxy’ prevalent in mainstream fundamentalism: That which has become stagnant and lifeless for having lost step with God because of its unwillingness to ask the hard questions and remain relevant.

Among the more publicly well-known individuals who is asking these pertinent questions is Rob Bell, author of the controversial book "Love Wins", and the newly released, “What We Talk About When We Talk About God,” which was recently featured on Oprah. Borrowing from the Integral Philosophy of Ken Wilber, Rob's probing questions are challenging the very foundation of long held belief systems. Many of these doctrines are based on inconsistent archaic and mythic ideologies which portray a God limited to primarily anthropomorphic qualities. And while some of these possess a form of truth, they have denied the power thereof by rejecting the Essence of Truth which is present and continually being revealed in new forms and expressions.

Another dynamic leader making significant strides toward promoting interfaith awareness and the reconciliation of various spiritual traditions is Bishop Carlton Pearson with his “Gospel Of Inclusion”. In his newly released book, “God Is Not A Christian, Nor A Jew, Muslim, Hindu…” he continues to expose chinks in the armor of organized religion by exploring new ideas about God and faith, ultimately revealing that no particular religion has a corner on the Presence of God.
Among many others, these men are beginning to probe the depths of the perceptions, preconceptions, suppositions and outright fallacies which have been accepted by religion and perpetuated as representative of the nature and character of God. As much as their iconoclastic questions do to polarize some, they are opening the way to the integration of all spiritual traditions through the realization of a more comprehensive Perennial Philosophy.

Until now, many have rejected Christianity as a viable spiritual path, or even as an integral part of the whole, because the gospel message has been distorted into an exclusive salvation club only available to members instead of an all-inclusive work being progressively revealed in all of mankind.
For so long ecumenism has been vilified by mainstream religion as something to be feared because, according to an erroneous doctrine, it is ultimately paving the way for the Antichrist. One must ask themselves, "How is 'living at peace with everyone inasmuch as it is possible' or 'endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace' a bad thing?"

How can a view which separates and divides be valid if we are ever to truly “Love Our Neighbor AS OURSELF?” (A precept, by the way, which virtually every spiritual tradition shares in common)

"If we live in our oneness-heart, we will feel the essence of all religions, which is love of God. But if we live in the mind, we will only try to separate one religion from another and see how their ideologies differ. It is the heart that can have a true intuitive understanding of the height and breadth of all religions. It is the heart that sees and feels the inner harmony and oneness of all religions." - Sri Chinmoy

There is a new breed of Integral Spirituality which sees no walls of separation to divide based on differing beliefs, because the language of Spirit IS Universal, All-Encompassing, All-Inclusive and Unconditional. We must eventually come to recognize that variety and Oneness are not mutually exclusive, but merely complementary to the Whole. Our diversity of expression is the radiance of the Divine shining through the prism of our humanity. We are but an extravagantly beautiful rainbow emanating from That Single Light.

“It is a fact of human history that paradigm shifts do occur—new worlds do open up—and whenever they do it is because some group of individuals found the courage to leave one paradigm behind and embrace a new one. It is nothing less than a shift from one reality to another. It is a journey into a new world. Those who are first to venture forward on this journey must do so without agreement from the majority because they are seeing a possibility that others do not yet see.” – From "Mutual Awakening" by Patricia Albere & Jeff Carreira founders of The Evolutionary Collective

Many wholeheartedly embrace the changes that are taking place. There is a growing realization that a diversity of religious perspectives has no bearing on the Oneness of God, and that Unconditional LOVE for ALL of mankind can only be demonstrated when we cease comparing ourselves with the intention of making our religion better, more important, or mutually exclusive to all other beliefs. The Presence of God is not limited to a specific geography, some secret formula or a prescribed set of doctrines. It is as we willingly lay down our preconceptions, opinions and religious dogma that we actually behold "the glory of the Lord covering the earth as the waters cover the sea," and "No longer will anyone teach their neighbor, or say to one another, 'Know the Lord,' because they will ALL KNOW ME, from the least of them to the greatest."

"You may say that I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us, And the world will live AS ONE." - John Lennon

*Full article by JSM (Joe Murawski) as it originally appeared on Columbus Spirituality Examiner

The Heart Of The Mystic

THE HEART OF THE MYSTIC

The Heart of the Mystic,

                                To SEE beyond thought,

The  Essence of Meaning,

                                Only  Spirit has taught,

The Transcendent Wisdom,

                                Every Seer has sought,

A Stairway to Heaven,

                                Which can never be bought       

This Life of the Ages,     

                                Appears beyond reach,

The Mystery all Sages,

                                Attempted to teach

The History book Pages,

                                Can only beseech,

To Convey the Ineffable,

                                For which there's NO speech

               

Divine Spark of Life,

                                The Depth of Our Soul,

Each Fractal reflecting,

                                A Beautific Whole                           

One with the Journey,

                                Not attaining some Goal,

Experiential Knowledge,

                                Not contained on some Scroll

Initiated by Grace,

                                Sacred Calling not earned,

As Pure Desire is kindled,

                                The Ego is burned,

Dualistic thinking,

                                Must Now be unlearned,

For the Voice of Spirit,

                                To Be Clearly discerned

The Narrow Way,

                The Path Within,

                                To Know AS we are Known

Shed the Shell,

                The Outer Hell,

                                Into which the Seed was Sown

Travailing in Birth,

                Hear the Cry of the Earth,           

                                The Sound of Creation's Groan

As the Light Emerges,

                Divine Power Surges,

                                Until the Butterfly has Flown

-JSM