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I
create my world and my life by my thoughts. Each thought I think
is revealed in the experiences I have every day.
I left the Absolute Monastery a week
ago to go to New York, New Jersey and Delaware to give seminars and
counsel with students and friends. I entered another world. The tales
of woe and worry, the feeling sorry for themselves for the experiences
they have and feeling the "world out there" is a world over which they
have no control--is a constant song. Unfortunately it is not a new song
in the world away from the Monastery.
In the Absolute Monastery we have a
cloistered existence. We live in the condition of constant listening
within. You might ask: how can that be when you have the work-a-day
requirements there as well as are experienced everywhere else in the
world?
True.
We rise in the morning with delight
in our hearts for the glorious new day. We do our ablutions in
preparation for the day. We take our meals. We workout in the gym, swim
in the pool and walk our miles of meditation paths. We have specific
times for being in mediation and introspection, being in study and doing
our lessons, and proctoring student lessons from around the world. We
clean the Monastery. We "work" at our assigned tasks. All we do is
seemingly so normal.
The difference comes when you
consider the attitude in which we do our tasks and live our daily
activities. Attitude is the "telling" thing that makes the difference.
Everyone is a monk in the Monastery.
Regardless whether a person comes to
visit for a "moment" or a "lifetime" all assume the mantle of a
monk. All wear the attitude of a monk. All live in the now
and are so intensely active and interested in the moment now, all
that which is past or pending is as though it does not exist--and indeed
it does not exist.
Because of this unique and amazing
attitude donned by the monks, each live in their ideal spirit mind and
body. Each monk experiences the original purity and integrity they came
to the Monastery to find and live. Each monk, regardless of their
seniority, has no past, has no problems, and has no desires to be
fulfilled. Every monk lives in the conscious awareness of now.
Now, has no past or future. Now, has
no commitment to achieve or fulfill. Now, is complete in itself and
knows only itself.
What, then, makes the Monastery so
different from anywhere else?
Every monk lives true to their
divine self, listens to their inner voice and follows what their godself
reveals.
Assisting in maintaining the
awareness of this program of living in now is the fact that everyone
knows the Monastery is a school at all times. Being in a
school we are continually reminded to think in the now. Regardless of
any feelings which might arise to test our attitude of living in the
now, we are always being brought back into this reality.
It is not a requirement but a
suggestion for each monk when they are "ready" that they get rid of all
photographs. They are offered the path to either send them to someone
who would appreciate them or to really "dump" them completely. Ugh, is
the first response. These are precious to me. This is my life, my family
and my world!
Only too true!
It is the past which does not
exist for a monk living in the now.
This is but one project for living
in the now.
It is a frightening program since it
unties us from the past. It removes all the chains and anchors that keep
us in that which never was and yet we hold onto it as though it were
important in the now.
In the Monastery we keep every word
positive. As each fledgling monk enters the spiritual routine they often
"bite their tongue" as they make the change from one illusion to
another. Leaving the illusion of one habit that was negative for a
beneficial habit of being positive is a fun-game and has terrific value
to it.
Disciplining oneself to remain true
to living in the now is a most demanding activity since it is something
so unfamiliar to us who have the habit of doing whatever we are doing
without thinking about it. It is not that we object to a change but
rather any change means we must fully reevaluate our thinking process to
the degree of encompassing an entirely new direction. Even the new
direction is not tough since most of the time it is sufficiently
exciting, enchanting enough, to delight us to go on in the new way for a
new conclusion.
I told the monks that to release the
past starts with letting go of any physical or mental photographs and of
one another, which was taken of them even no more then an instant ago.
There is only one-way to define
living in the now.
Hanging onto old pictures of our
friends and relatives taken from even just days before, is not fully
taking advantage of the nowness; in the mind of the monk it meant they
had to toss out any pictures of the past and since all time is the past,
ALL pictures had to go.
With tearful sobs they looked at
their horde of pictures in their wallet, on the desk and dresser top,
hanging on the walls and in picture holding objects that were strewn
everywhere. One by one--some did it with an objective swoop--the
pictures found a new home with relatives, friends and file 13. Some, and
far too many, were "hidden" away out of sight. Unfortunately, I could
read each monk as an open book and while saying nothing about their
stash, the guilt of hiding them showed forth on their wretched faces.
Now it really does not matter if we
release the past, the photographs, the unhappiness and failures of the
past, it is always ours to hold onto as long as we like. It will not
help us or hurt us--it only delays our highest good from flooding forth
into our lives. Nothing can keep our good from us, nothing can keep us
from being who and what we are, nothing can help us rush into being who
and what we are, for we are who and what we are at all times regardless
of our acceptance of it or not.
The only logical conclusion to the
whole experience of life is to be ourselves and have fun at all times.
Nothing else matters! When everything we do is exciting and fulfilling
we can be sure we are doing that which leads to our highest and best.
So I ask myself "How soon do I want
to experience and enjoy who and what I am?" My answer is, "Now!"
So I train myself to think in the
now. I do not plan for the future or worry over the past--I see myself
enjoying every moment now and all which I do is so rewarding in
activating pleasure and happiness in me in the now that is all I think
about.
Even the thought of wishing it were
so is placing it in the future. Even the thought of dreaming is in the
future. Even the thought of wonder whether it ever will be denies the
reality that it already is and always will be.
I make it my choice to live in the first person, present
tense, positive in everything I do. This is the theme of the University
of Healing.
-Dr Herbert L Beierle |
