(Making the darkness conscious)
As Carl Jung so eloquently stated, “One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.”
To help you do that, you can imagine kneeling down to this little child and telling them that it’s OK. That you know they’re in pain and aren’t purposefully trying to hurt you, and you’re here for them. Give that small child a hug and feel your compassion healing them. Whether you know it or not, both of you are being deeply healed in that holy moment.
LIVING THE AWAKENED LIFE “Where the spirit does not work with the hand, there is no art.” – LEONARDO DA VINCI
(Time as illusion, the top-down model of self)
This brings us to one of the most important principles that can help us live life in human form. Namely, modern science has shown us that time is an illusion, so that the “you” without physical limits that is made of pure unending love and joy (which your soul is evolving toward in the distant future) exists in that state now. There is only now. What we perceive of as past, present, and future are actually coordinates in a three-dimensional structure of time, and regardless of the coordinate you choose, it’s still now there. Only the now exists. The most helpful way I’ve found to understand this often-confusing subject is to think of it from a top-down model. Instead of just thinking of yourself as a human or a soul evolving its way toward higher and higher densities, think of yourself as a vast, limitless being who is already in a state of perfection and unconditional love at the highest planes of existence, looking to expand yourself infinitely by experiencing seeming individuation and separation (i.e., becoming individual souls) and then coming back home to yourself with an expanded and deeper sense of self. Remaining in a state of pure love, while beautiful, wouldn’t provide us with an opportunity to expand that love that we are and fully understand it. Creating the illusion of separation, however, provides us with ample opportunities to learn to express love in the most challenging of circumstances. So experiencing the difficulties of being unconditionally loving serves to expand the love that we are in the higher plane of existence and to understand ourselves more deeply. As this experience is occurring, however, on this level, it’s easy to “forget” our true essence and instead believe we are an individual soul working their way up the ladder of spiritual evolution, striving for expansion and perfection. The ultimate truth is that both (and all) states exist now.
Reality, as it turns out, is far different from what we thought. Not only is it holographic but also nonlinear and multidimensional. The “you” who you think you are is really but a tiny fraction of all that you actually are. You are a limitless being that has “split itself” multidimensionally, and you’re now consciously experiencing one small part of yourself on this level.
Your physical self is the vehicle; your Spirit Self the driver.
(Life as a self-designed curriculum)
Remind yourself every single day that everything that happens to you happens for your own good in the ultimate sense. Your Spirit Self knows what is needed for the evolution of your soul and plans everything, no matter how painful or tragic it seems. You planned it all. You are the writer of this play. You are also its director, the actor, and the audience. It’s only when you get caught up in the role of the actor and forget that it’s just a role that life seems to be scary and fear becomes warranted. But how much fear would you feel, if you knew that everything that will ever happen to you, good and bad, is gently planned by a greater part of yourself that knows what is ultimately best for you and knows what you need to learn on a soul level? How much would you resist the events of your life then? And so, to live a truly awakened life and to find deep meaning and purpose, look at your entire life as what it rightfully is: a curriculum. Your life, and everything that happens in it, is your curriculum in this university-level education. Moreover, you customized the entire curriculum for yourself, knowing exactly what you needed to work on and learn. And this curriculum does not only show up when one of life’s major challenges or tragedies arise. Every single moment of every single day of your entire life is part of the curriculum. Why? Because each and every moment you have the choice of whether you’re going to unconsciously react to life’s circumstances and triggers or if you’ll consciously respond. The difference is that the former is dictated by fear, while the latter is inspired by love.
To be truly free, we must feel our emotions with full acceptance. Willingly embrace them no matter how uncomfortable. What you’ll find is that they quickly dissolve. Why? Because embracing and fully accepting them is an act of unconditional love, and darkness dissolves in the light of love.
Of course, I’m not implying that any of this is easy to do. I often still find it difficult too. It’s all too easy to get sucked back into the busyness of life and to forget about of all of this “deeper spiritual stuff.” And yet, as surely as the breath comes to fill your lungs again, so too will the call of your heart come again to remind you of what truly matters in your life. And when that happens, you remember, “It’s OK.” It has always been OK. You are loved beyond measure, and everything that happens is happening for your own ultimate good. So relax. Relax, and learn the beautiful lessons of love.
Feel love flowing from it to you. There is no limit to this love; it is an endless river. Bathe in it. Let it wash over you completely, all the while realizing that it is you embracing yourself.
(The author’s direct encounter with infinite love)
understood this purpose early on. I knew that inside me existed a portal to a place of infinite love. I didn’t know how I knew; I just knew. I knew that there was an infinitely loving Creator, and I wanted to connect deeply with It. I wanted this so strongly that I would often spend hours a day meditating. I would sit or even lie down in stillness and just focus within myself on a point of singularity and feel it as deeply as possible. I knew that if I was somehow able to funnel the focus of my consciousness on one point within me, then I could connect to something far beyond myself. I did this for months on end, each day with a strong desire to unite with that love that I knew existed.
And it wasn’t me, Ziad, who was “feeling” this. It wasn’t a mere feeling. Rather, it was a state of being in and of itself, without subject and object. Not only was I completely enveloped by this infinite ocean of limitless love and joy but also, to my utter astonishment, I was it. There was no me and it. There was no individual separate me experiencing it. I was it. And it was me. And it was a state of completion so full, so complete, and so utterly fulfilling that I have tears in my eyes now just writing about it.
As profound and mesmerizingly beautiful as that experience was, something very interesting struck me about it. Right as the portal of consciousness was opening and I was “falling” into this other realm, I had the strangest feeling. And that feeling was one of “Finally I’m back. I’m back home again.” Even though I was in utter shock about how such a beatific realm could even exist, it was so incredibly familiar that it literally felt that I had been on a long journey, and I had finally returned home to a most beloved place I had all but forgotten.
You see, our true identity is completely beyond even consciousness once we get into the seventh density and above. For being conscious implies something else to be conscious of. But there is nothing else in perfect Oneness.
We thus experience ourselves to be an individual soul that is evolving and that will reach the seventh density only in the long distant future, but because time is but an illusion, the reality is that our true Self, or what I’ve been calling the Spirit Self, already exists there.
That is what I experienced as the ocean of love and joy that is so beautiful it cannot come close to being described in words. It was myself.
And while you may also one day have the beautiful blessing of getting a temporary glimpse of it in this life, don’t get hung up on that. Instead, remember your ultimate goal, which is to return home to it permanently and look to live your life with this overriding purpose. Live your life from a place of love toward everyone and everything, including yourself, and know that what awaits you is nothing less than infinite love and joy, forever endless.
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I— I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.” – ROBERT FROST
(Living the awakened life as a daily practice)
But deep transformation is not just about doing a few minutes of meditative practices and then going about your day unconsciously. The real evolution of consciousness occurs when the very lens through which you see reality changes, and your whole purpose becomes about embodying an attitude of love and kindness with yourself and others throughout the day.
In addition to doing the specific process for each day that I outline below, take one minute every waking hour to remember and reconnect with your purpose for the day, which is simply to be a vessel through which unconditional love can flow. This doesn’t mean that you don’t care about your work or that you neglect your responsibilities. Quite the contrary, the number one rule is to be normal and not “act spiritual,” nor pretend that you don’t care about the seemingly mundane things in life.
Respect the illusion and act like a normal person going about his or her day. But throughout that, cultivate an inner attitude that says, “My purpose is my priority, and no matter what happens during this day, I will place my purpose first.”
You may want to set an hourly alarm or reminder to take one minute per hour to reconnect with your purpose, but it is more valuable to commit to remembering it despite the busyness of the day.
Remember that beyond all illusions, the only thing that exists is infinite love. Channel that love today. Be an instrument for it to envelop and flow through, and perceive yourself not as the body and personality you think yourself to be, but as love itself, wanting nothing but to give of itself. Each time you notice that you have shifted back to the perspective of the physical personality, gently embody the love and see through its eyes. How would love think? How would it speak? How would it treat others, including the physical you? Today, you find out.
Rather, realize that this can be every week. Indeed, awakening is not a destination. It is a beautiful unending process that takes you deeper and deeper into the heart of eternity, which is your true Self. So if your heart has resonated with this process, listen to its call and commit to making it a way of life. Make this week, every week. Look at it as a cycle to continue, with each new turn bringing greater and greater awakening of consciousness. Seen in this way, you don’t have to take a pilgrimage or sit in a cave for years to attain spiritual enlightenment. Rather, your very life becomes the curriculum of your higher learning. You live a normal life in the world, but you live it from beyond the veil.
If one in particular was very powerful and worked quite effectively for you, feel free to make that your daily practice and the lens through which you view the world. The specific content doesn’t matter, as it all leads to living the awakened life. And that life becomes the masterpiece that you offer all beings, in service to the One Infinite Loving Creator. And what life could be better lived than that? All my love to you on this beautiful journey.