\u00a0\u201cIt certainly seems as if all of life is a conversation, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John didn\u2019t have to think much before responding. He even noticed that this was something so typical about his relationship with this person \u2013 there was no need to think before speaking \u2013 she never took offense, never seemed to judge what he was saying \u2013 instead listening intently in the moment. He found that he did the same.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m either talking with myself or with somebody!\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They both laughed at that. \u201cBut seriously, or as serious as I can be in any given moment\u201d \u2013 laughter, again \u2013 \u201ceven my thoughts seem to be a conversation that I am having \u2013 as if one part of me is talking to another part of me!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cExactly what I was saying!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOf course it is! Doesn\u2019t it even seem as if when you are talking to me that you are really talking to yourself?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYes! That\u2019s it! I guess you really are me!<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAnd you are me!\u201d John gestured with his index finger as he spoke, pointing to her heart and then to his own. \u201cIt is the same with all perception, really. How we see the person in front of us is a reflection of how we see ourselves. There is no separation.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cSo anytime I am aggravated by someone in front of me, I need to step back and see what it is that I don\u2019t particularly like about myself?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John nodded in agreement.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s a bit scary, isn\u2019t it? What if I am watching CSI Las Vegas and I am seeing dead bodies and evil perpetrators?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John paused to allow words to bubble up through his awareness. He didn\u2019t shape the words, except with his lips, and spoke them to himself as much as to her.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019d like to believe that there is no murderer within our mind, wouldn\u2019t we \u2013 that there was no way that we could ever be so callous or intentionally cruel \u2013 but if we dared to look deep within \u2013 to that place from which our greatest irritation arises \u2013 we might not like what we see there.\u201d John paused to consider the words that he had spoken into the space. \u201cI can easily see that when I am truly angry with someone \u2013 even the guy who cuts me off in traffic \u2013 I \u2018wish\u2019 the worst for them! I know that I have even imagined the person getting in a wreck, and feeling rather self-satisfied with the idea that justice will be perpetrated.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou sure do have a thing about traffic, don\u2019t you? You seem to attract just that sort of situation into your life all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou\u2019ve noticed, eh?\u201d They laughed together, the cadence of their laughter almost perfectly aligned. \u201cYou bet I doo doo!\u201d When their laughter subsided, more words arose. \u201cThere is definitely some deep intention that I have to release judgment of what is in front of me. Every time someone pulls in front of me and isn\u2019t doing the speed limit, or whatever I seem to perceive as \u201cwronging\u201d me, I am giving myself the choice, once again, to release my perception from its continual habit of judging. Notice that I have to first take responsibility for what appears to be occurring. From this perspective, then, I am able to be at choice. The world isn\u2019t happening to<\/span> me, it is happening for<\/span> me.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cWow. So whether I am irritated by a mosquito or perceiving a war, the \u201cwrongness\u201d of it is something that I made up?\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYes and no. You are not responsible for the war in Iraq, obviously, nor for Hitler having killed a million POW\u2019s \u2013 these ideas, which are thoughts in our minds, arise from the One Mind which our \u2018thinkers\u2019 are all a part of. That is why it is so important to watch what we think \u2013 what we hold in our minds either diffuses or strengthens the ideas in the One Mind. Like John Lennon said: \u201cImagine there’s no countries, it isn’t hard to do; nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too\u2026\u201d She joined him in singing the rest of the lyric \u2013 \u201cImagine all the people, living life in peace\u2026 You may say I\u2019m a dreamer\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBut it\u2019s a great dream, isn\u2019t it? It\u2019s like in the Sixties \u2013 \u2018Make peace, not war\u201d \u2013 the characters held onto a dream of peace and love, and although it didn\u2019t seem to manifest immediately, the consciousness of the planet did seem to shift. And it is the same no matter what \u2018time\u2019 it is \u2013 what we hold in our minds as \u2018true\u2019 is what we will experience.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThat is so true! It\u2019s like being afraid that I don\u2019t have enough money \u2013 then I don\u2019t! It seems to be especially true about anything that I fear. It\u2019s like fear attracts exactly what I am fearing into my life!\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cEven spiders!\u201d They laughed at this \u2018private joke\u2019 that the spiders that seemed to be in the house, which definitely bothered her, weren\u2019t about to leave the premises until she released her fear of them.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cOooooh, even spiders? Can\u2019t I make an exception there, at least?\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cThere are no degrees of \u2018upset\u2019 in the Mind. Judgment is judgment. And you can forget the whole \u2018jury of my peers\u2019 concept \u2013 it is always us judging ourselves by judging the world. The beauty of it is that if we can hold onto thoughts of love and peace and joy and come from that place all the time, then the world does shift! And all we really have to do is to change our mind about what it seems to perceive. The Berlin Wall seemed to suddenly fall, didn\u2019t it? I can make up a story of why it fell, and add all sorts of characters to the story, but in the end it fell because it was no longer useful in the dream.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI like the way you think!\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cI made you up that way!\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 They laughed loudly at that, until tears of joy rolled down their cheeks.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cAnd I attracted you into my life to say all of the things that I already knew but seemed to need someone else to say so that I could release my own ideas about the world!\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cYou may say I\u2019m a dreamer\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u201cBut I\u2019m not the only one\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n “My heart expands every time I look at you, for my perfect sight looks only upon what is real. This is the only true gift I can give myself because it is the only gift I can truly receive. Do you understand what I mean by this? Your ego believed that it could receive things that do not belong to it. What I AM saying is that the only thing you can truly receive is what belongs to you now and always – that which could never be taken away. Accept this and it’s yours. Your acceptance is the only thing I’ve been waiting for.” ~ I Am (JamesTwymanAdmin@BelovedCommunity.org<\/a>)<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0\u201cIt certainly seems as if all of life is a conversation, doesn\u2019t it?\u201d \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 John didn\u2019t have to think much before responding. He even noticed that this was something so typical about his relationship with this person \u2013 there was no need to think before speaking \u2013 she never took offense, never seemed to judge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-livinglasvegas2008"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.drivingprinciples.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}