The Vanishing of Everything But Love Itself, part I

The Vanishing of Everything But Love Itself – Part 1

Since I claim to have practiced the Art of Forgiveness since 1999,  people have naturally, asked me,  ”Well…what happened in 1999?”

The following is an account of an unprecedented experience I had beginning in February of 1999, following a period of profound disenchantment with my life and the world in its entirety. Utter bleakness enveloped me in a total mental and emotional devastation that brought me to my knees in prayer. I begged God for a Real Solution. I wanted Love Itself to come to my aid!

An Answer came that went beyond religion, beyond everything I had tried and exhausted. I had tried relationships, material success, artistic fulfillment, deep involvement in my faith (Baha’i) and a vast array of self-help, psychological and spiritual cures. I knew I needed something that far exceeded the narrow limits of my own machinations.

Little did I know that I was asking for far to little, even though, at the time, I felt I was praying for a great thing. I did not understand that I was asking for my disenchantment, my depression, my frustration, my ego and with them–the world itself –to vanish.

My prayer went something like: “God, I don’t know what I need, I can’t do this by myself, I need your power, I just want you…and on, and on, desperately, like that.” This prayer was recited mostly on the floor, vigorously for weeks.    

After a succession of events that led up to the magnificent event described in this article, I received the Answer to my prayer. Here’s what happened:

It’s 6:00 am and I’m standing in the Continental Check-in line at San Francisco International Airport. I feel a sense of wonderment curiously laced with nonchalance. This is going to be no ordinary plane ride.
From somewhere else in another line down the terminal, a caged rooster crows, “Time to wake up!” Strange thing: a rooster in the airport. But I know the rooster and its crowing are just for me. Spirit is speaking directly to me through everything around me and, for once, I am hearing the language that I’ve longed to hear since I became aware of its absence.

“You are about to come to full awakening.”, the Voice says. This is not an imagined voice. It is certain and spoken clearly– somehow without sound or timbre.

I take my window seat on the plane. Seat B and C are taken by an older couple. The wife is nagging her husband. He is apparently ill and I get the sense that they have just visited a medical center regarding his illness. I glance over at the man who is sitting next to me. The glance becomes a gaze. “Hello”, I say. “It’s nice to see you.” And although I’ve never seen him before, he seems utterly familiar to me.

His eyes have a timeless, holy light in them, which belies his ordinary human disguise. He gives me a tiny smile of recognition. His pant leg is touching mine. Yet, I do not mind. Instead I’m aware that our physical proximity is a necessary facilitation for what is occurring in another dimension. My light body has become an energetic channel seemingly having its own will and purpose: the reclamation of projected thought. Energetic whorls spiral from my midsection into the man seated next to me and seem to be clearing out old ideas about his identity as a sick old man. I soon forget to think of him in this way.

I glance over at his wife. She does not smile. She has noticed that her husband’s pant leg overlapping mine. Still, her eyes, too, have a deep timelessness to them. They seem to glow. As I glance across the aisle and behind me, I notice that everyone’s eyes appear this way.

“Don’t sit so close to people. You’re bothering her!”, the wife nags.

“That’s all right”, I hear myself say in a soft, courteous voice. “It’s not bothering me.”

The energy spirals continue of their own accord to clean out my historical images– this time, of the wife. I watch while thoughts of: old woman with a sick husband who nags and lives a dreary existence, disappear into me. A whole ethereal happening is superimposed upon the surface of our verbal exchange.

A moment later, the three of us relax. Apparently, the clearing has come to completion in our joint release from the past. Gifts of a different order have been given through me and I have similarly received through these two souls. There is a quiet, tangible bond that now exists here, though it would be inappropriate to speak of it. Indeed, it requires no verbal communication to be understood.

The aircraft taxis down the runway and lifts off. As I climb higher through pink- shadowed cumulus clouds, I have the uncanny sensation that I am climbing into Heaven itself: it’s something like hearing exquisitely beautiful music with my whole body.

“Your assignment with these two is complete. You’ll be moving to the back of the plane now.” The Voice directs.

“Excuse me,” I say to my two traveling companions. “I’ll be changing seats now. Feel free to take the window seat. I won’t be returning to it.” I get up and move past them. I walk down the aisle to the very last row.

There is a young, blond woman in business attire seated there. She’s napping. I drop into the seat beside her and the energetic whorls become activated. “Over-privileged, too-attractive-for-her-own-good career girl.” I hear my old ideas about who I think this young woman is. They flow back into me via these fibers of energy that circulate between us as she naps.

As my thoughts empty and the whorling subsides, she suddenly jolts awake and looks around her. She is initially annoyed that someone has infringed upon her space by taking the vacant seat next to her. “Wow, you sure woke up!”, I say. “Do you remember me?” I ask her, smiling.

She looks perplexed. “Do I know you?” she asks.

“Not from here, no.” She stares at me.

“From…?”

I smile again. “From before either of us got here, remember?” I do not wonder if she thinks I am a kook. She understands me perfectly. We speak as dear friends; we both are elevated by our meeting.

I am instructed again to move to another seat. “You will meet a Friend of God. Start heading towards the forward rows. I find my new traveling companion who looks up at me and smiles as I take the empty seat next to her.

“Hi there.” We both smile. There don’t seem to be any words of explanation. We both know why we have come together. She begins to sing a chant into my ear. Simultaneously, in the other ear, the loudspeaker comes on as the grating voice of the stewardess announces landing information. The gentle Hindu chant being sung in one ear and the jarring voice of the stewardess in the other, produces the effect of my awareness being split, opened somehow. A see a golden light, a kind of elixir flowing down over my crown and forehead. I sense that this is a gift, an essential bestowal for what is about to occur.

The Voice informs me that time is about to speed up. I do not yet know that time will go so fast that material reality– everything–is about to vanish. Conversely, I feel slower, calm, completely quiet inside.

(the astonishing story continues… proceed to part two)

The Vanishing of Everything But Love, part II

The Universal Experience

The Universal Experience,
The Universal Manifestation
and the Glory of God

“Your glory is the light that saves the world.”-A Course in Miracles

The following are first-hand accounts of individual encounters with the Divine. These are extra-ordinary events that have no parallel in the world of “peak” experiences. They speak of a oneness beyond communion, a luminosity that defies description and are striking in their similarity. The details of each encounter differ, but the essential nature of each happening is what we call the Universal Experience.

“Suddenly with a roar like that of a waterfall, I felt a stream of liquid light entering my brain…the illumination grew brighter and brighter, the roaring louder, I experienced a rocking sensation and then felt myself slipping out of my body, entirely enveloped in a halo of light…the point of consciousness that was myself growing wider, surrounded by waves of light…I was now All Consciousness, immersed in a sea of light, simultaneously aware of every point, spread out, as it were, in all directions”. (Gopi Krishna)

“Hence it is that he forgets himself and the entire creation on account of this dazzling divine light. On account of this forgetfulness, all awareness of self is lost. There is no calling upon the name or observance of customs; awareness of whether one exists or not; explanation, allusion, or divine throne. In this world, all things pass away. There is no splendor except at this stage. Here, “everything perishes except His essence.” Here alone is God actually seen face to face. (Sufi Sharafuddin Maneri)

“For when the true lover and devoted friend reacheth to the presence of the Beloved, the sparkling beauty of the Loved One and the fire of the lover’s heart will kindle a blaze and burn away all veils and wrappings. Yea all he hath, from heart to skin, will be set aflame, so that nothing will remain save the Friend.” (Baha’u’llah, Seven Valleys, p. 36)

“Suddenly I was standing in an ocean of light. Everything -including my body -had blown to light. Waving lines of energy were emanating from the horizon in all directions and flowing towards me and through me finally rolling up behind me like waves on the shore. There were no separate objects, nothing had a name. My thoughts had ceased…I was pure experience, pure being. All was unified, connected in these waving flows of energy, ecstatic, alive. This experience was somehow, utterly familiar. I was profoundly quiet within. No matter which direction I turned my head these waves rolling up were always behind me. The “rolling up” seemed to correspond with the flow of eternity…As though time itself was rolling up behind me. There was no link of memory between each moment and the next; each was a total NOW.” (Oraea Varis)

“Losing the human form is like a spiral. It gives a warrior the freedom to remember himself as straight fields of energy and this in turn makes him even freer.” (from the works of Carlos Castaneda)

“Always has no direction. Time seems to go in one direction, but when you reach the end it will roll up like a long carpet spread along the past behind you, and will disappear.” ACIM T;13;I;3)

“Today physicists believe that sub-atomic phenomena should not be classified solely as either waves or particles but as a single category of somethings that are always somehow both. These somethings are called quanta and physicists believe they are the basic stuff from which the entire universe is made. Perhaps the most astonishing of all is that there is compelling evidence that the only time quanta ever manifest as particles is when we are looking at them.” (Talbot, The Holographic Universe, p.94)

“…we think that there is a world of objects out there only because of our awareness. But what’s really out there are the Eagle’s emanations, fluid, forever in motion, and yet unchanged, eternal.” (from the works of Castaneda)

“…all the variations which the wayfarer in the stages of his journey beholdeth in the realms of being, proceed from his own vision.” (Baha’u’llah, Seven Valleys, p18)

“…the kingdom is inside you, and it is outside you. If you know yourselves, then you will be known; and you will know that you are the sons of the living Father.” (The Gospel of Thomas)

On the Universal Manifestation:

“Briefly, we say a universal cycle in the world of existence signifies a long duration of time, and innumerable and incalculable periods and epochs. In such a cycle the Manifestations appear with splendour in the realm of the visible, until a great and universal Manifestation makes the world the centre of his radiance. His appearance causes the world to attain to maturity, and the extension of his cycle is very great. Afterwards other Manifestations will arise under his shadow, who according to the needs of the time will renew certain commandments relating to material questions and affairs, while remaining under his shadow. We are in the cycle which began with Adam, and its universal Manifestation is Baha’u’llah.” (Abdul-Baha’, SAQ, p.184)

Glory- n., Great honor, praise or distinction accorded by common consent; renown. – Adoration, praise and thanksgiving offered in worship. Majestic beauty and splendor; resplendence. The splendor and bliss of heaven; perfect happiness. A height of achievement, enjoyment or prosperity.

Baha’u’llah literally translated from the Arabic, means “the Glory of God”. His life, His person and His Revelation of Divine Scripture delineate the current “mold” that sculpts the soul of mankind. His imprint is the prevailing, ubiquitous myth that is being played out by every soul in this current cycle whose theme is Salvation, the Great Awakening– the Promised Day of God. Familiarization with the details of His life and with His Scripture are necessarily pertinent to every individual in order that understanding and ultimate enlightenment can take place.

“All terms are potentially controversial…Theological considerations as such are necessarily controversial, since they depend on belief and can therefore be accepted or rejected. A Universal Theology is impossible, but a universal experience is not only possible but necessary.” (ACIM. TM, p.77)

Baha’u’llah, being the Universal Manifestation, when encountered beyond the farthest veils of limitation, is the Universal Experience that has now become available to Mankind.

“Christ takes many forms with different names until their oneness can be recognized.” (ACIM, Clarification of Terms, 5)

The Universal Experience spoken of here is an encounter with the Universal Manifestation, the Glory of God.

How better to actualize the salvation of the world than to understand that the world is contained within you and is under the auspices of your all-pervading consciousness.

When the Universal Manifestation becomes your experience, you will know that the Glory of God is the light in you that saves the world!

Salutations.
Oraea

Note: The ideas expressed in this article are based solely upon the author’s experiences and are not intended to represent any official Baha’i viewpoint.

Single Heart, Single Soul

Ending Loneliness Forever

We are in truth, a single heart and a single soul.  The fact of our singleness turns out to be our salvation as we learn to forgive, truly. When forgiveness dissolves the boundaries that keep us distant and apathetic, we will find that loneliness, disenchantment with life, sorrow and boredom are forgotten. Instead of a stream of special relationships that end in frustration and letdown, we find a deep satisfaction with the delightful beings we find surrounding us.  Depression, restlessness and the need for endless distractions are replaced with a constant fascination with life and its joyful unending surprises.

“So intensely hath the glory of Divine Unity penetrated souls and hearts that all are now bound one to another with heavenly ties, and all are even as a single heart, a single soul. Wherefore reflections of the spirit and impressions of the Divine are now mirrored clear and sharp in the deep heart’s core. I beg of God to strengthen these spiritual bonds as day followeth day, and make this mystic oneness to shine ever more brightly, until at last all shall be as troops marshalled together beneath the banner of the Covenant within the sheltering shade of the Word of God; that they may strive with all their might until universal fellowship, close and warm, and unalloyed love, and spiritual relationships, will connect all the hearts in the world. Then will all humankind, because of this fresh and dazzling bounty, be gathered in a single homeland. Then will conflict and dissension vanish from the face of the earth, then will mankind be cradled in love for the beauty of the All-Glorious. Discord will change to accord, dissension to unison. The roots of malevolence will be torn out, the basis of aggression destroyed.”  (Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 19)

What a world this can be!  Why wait?  This can happen now…in fact, it must be now.  The shortening of the time that it will take to realize the end of dissension and strife, loneliness and estrangement, can occur every time you choose love.

Forgiveness is an exquisite Art.   We must pay exquisite attention to our relationships because it is there that we will find the gemstones, the precious metal that are treasured in the mine of the heart…our heart, my heart, all hearts.  Once you get the hang of this art form, loneliness will seem impossible, absurd even.  You will learn to give love, real love.  This Love emanates from the Source of all Hearts and Souls: the Source of Love itself.  As you love, you will be loved. And when you heal one heart through the miracle of your love, you will heal all hearts.

The root of banishing loneliness forever is  in our inherent Singleness.  There is not one among us who is not a whole, integral part of this Oneness and thus a part of Our Very Self.  At the core  of exquisite forgiveness is that we can give but to ourselves, because we are a Single Heart, a Single Soul.  

“The bright rays of union will obliterate the darkness of limitations, and the splendours of heaven will make the human heart to be even as a mine veined richly with the love of God.” (ibid)

 When the inner light of the individual is released through forgiveness,  it will join the greater light and the “Bright rays of Union” will produce undreamed of results.  The human heart can then become “richly veined with the Love of God”  as the light of our union opens us to the “Splendors of Heaven”.

Let us focus our attentions on training the mind in the exquisite Art of Forgiveness.  This will catalyze the release of the inner light of the soul. Then the Splendors of Heaven, the Light itself,  will do the rest.

Your heart is part of the Single Heart, your soul part of the Single Soul.  As such it is part of my heart and soul.  Here is my blessing for you: May the mine of your heart yield up the gems and precious ore that are treasured therein and become more manifest as day follows day. May you find yourself discovering that you have so much love to give that it will be impossible for you to be lonely ever again.

~ D. Oraea Varis

Note: The ideas expressed herein are based solely upon the author’s experiences and do not seek to represent any official  Baha’i viewpoint.