Uradiance

Raindrops in dogwood just after dawn, a single thrush among the alders, plaintive seals on faraway rocks, and the deepening silence between. Drink here. A well makes no sound, yet we answer and come because the heart is an empty pail and thirst listens. Photo by Heartwhispers

The Vedic literature of India describes four Yugas (ages) repeated in never-ending cycles. The Vedic rishis passed this knowledge to the pre-Socratic Greek philosophers. The Vedic Sat Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and Kali Yuga became known in the West as the Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, and Iron Age. These four ages are not just chronological events on a horizontal time-line. They are simultaneous concentric spheres of energy emanating from the heart. If you want to return to Sat Yuga, the Golden Age, don't wait 432,000 years. Just return to your heart. An awakened heart always lives during the Golden Age. This is why Jesus said, "The kingdom of heaven is within you," and, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Surrendered to the light of the heart, one lives in heaven while on earth. Enter the Golden Age of your heart by dissolving mental duality, and thus dissolving time, into primordial light. This happens through the ...

Our problem is not that Mind and Heart are in conflict, but that only one of them is awake. Most of us live by the light of mind, in a kind of night. We see things dimly. We do not see the world as it truly is, bathed in the golden splendor of love. The light of mind is only a reflection of the Greater Light that shines from the heart. At sunrise, moonlight is subsumed in the glory of the dawn. So at heart-rise, mental duality is subsumed in radiance. The average human heart is numb and half-asleep, merely pumping. We barely glimpse the capacity of the heart to be a master gland for the endocrine system, a neural complex richer than the brain, a holographic processing system that integrates and broadcasts information from the galaxies, turning mere data into love. To transform life on earth at this moment in history, no technology, no economics, no political action is more crucial than awakening the Heart.   

God said to Moses, Take off your shoes, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. ~Exodus 3:5 Go outside in your own backyard when the grass is still wet with dew. Take off your shoes. Stand with eyes closed in the cool grass and breath. Don't just breathe through your nose: breathe through the soles of your feet. An ancient Chinese manual on the martial art of Tai Chi says, Today men breathe through their nostrils, but the ancient masters breathed through the soles of their feet. Feel the weight of your body as a sacrament rather than a problem, a doorway to the Earth rather than something that needs to be reduced. Gravity is a sacred force: the sign of the Mother's hug. Let your breath flow out of the ground into your legs and hips and belly. As you exhale, release the pent-up tension in your muscles. From your face right down to your ankles, give it up to gravity. All your tension discharges into the ground, yesterday's stale thoughts and ...

When information overshadows awareness, it is ignorance - even if the information is correct. When awareness outshines information, it is enlightenment - even if awareness is empty. We have lived through the Age of Belief, the Age of Reason, and the Age of Information. Now the Information Age is over. The Age of Awareness has begun.   When information overload drives us crazy, the essential practice for mental health is not to know, but to un-know: to recover the formless prior to in-formation, to restore the self-luminous awareness. The grace of un-knowing needs only a few moments of practice to clear our inner desktop, empty the trash, and refresh our software. Then awareness is freed from the imprint of the past, free to know again. Of course we need to know: but how much? There are many over-educated folks who amass information for in formation's sake, and end up as fools. The delicate art of discrimination is knowing what needs be known and gracefully letting ...

"The Guru is both outer and inner. From outside he gives a push to the mind to turn inward while from inside he pulls the mind towards the Self and helps in quieting it. That is the Grace of the Guru. There is no difference between God, Guru and Self." ~Sri Ramana Maharshi Darshan is the blessing of the Guru. Diksha is the initiation of the Guru. Darshan may add a little zing to your life, temporarily. But Diksha removes and destroys, permanently. Diksha comes from the Sanskrit roots Da, "give," and Kshs, "destroy." Diksha is the gift of destruction. So if you want to receive some blessing and some light, go to the Guru for Darshan. But if you're ready to be destroyed, go to the Guru for Diksha. In Christian tradition, St. Paul explains the mystery of Baptism as Diksha. In the waters of Baptism, you don't just get a cleaning. You participate in the death of Jesus. Baptism isn't for babies, but for adults who are ready to die. ...

Life coaches and inspirational speakers often tell us we're not thinking "big" enough. But is the path to happiness and sustainability really to "think big"? The very concept of "big" makes the mind smaller. Big is only big in comparison with small, and comparison is the root of our anxiety. You are incomparable. You don't have to think bigger than anybody. And you are uniquely happy, until you begin comparing yourself with others. Comparison stifles creativity. Comparison doesn't allow us to do what is new, just what is slightly better than the competition. Beauty doesn't have to be big. Beauty more often lies in the small, the delicate, the local. Beauty happens off the grid of comparison. Be incomparable.   Painting: 'Tiny Flowers' by Alexis Baranek

The only authority in the universe is awareness. I Am not represented by any authority in Congress, the Supreme Court, or the White House. I am represented by my own breath before the throne of fire in my heart.

The entire cosmos is made out of one essence: Satyam Shivam Sundaram, Truth-Love-Beauty. Ancient rishis noted that this divine essence is a trinity, a three-fold shakti , three energies in one being. Omnipresent yet transcendent, the subtle glory of Satyam Shivam Sundaram suffuses each photon of light, each petal of the apple blossom, every star and the darkness between the stars. For space itself is awake with Satyam Shivam Sundaram , who is, quite simple, the Self. She is both subject and object. The entire material universe blossoms out of consciousness and is made of consciousness, as waves of different size and shape are all made of water. Every object is suspended within the transparency of the subject, as a mirage appears in empty air. Therefor, the Goddess creates the universe out of her own awareness, pervading each particle, yet remains completely separate in order to gaze with love at her creatures. But the supernal gift of her Truth, generosity of her Love, and g...

 Unconscious breath is just an organic process that keeps biological life moving; and disembodied awareness is just space. But when we unite them, infusing breath with awareness , healing happens and wisdom is born. Now your breath becomes Prana, Chi, Ruach Elohim, the Spirit of God. Awareness touching breath is Shiva touching Shakti, the kiss of Christ and Mary Magdalene. When this conscious breath touches the body, in the merest sensation, it is the birth of their divine child on earth. You own body is your Yoga teacher, and your breath is the asana customized just for this body. The most advanced Yoga asana is a good old-fashioned stretch. Forget technique. Forget "correct" posture. Just luxuriate in the movement of this incomparable breath, the miracle that can't be helped, because it is happening now. Let your inhalation open the smallest segment of your spine. Let your exhalation send currents of light into your joints and muscles. Experience ev...

"Things are not as I want them to be." This is suffering. "Things are just as they are." This is liberation. Accepting the universe exactly as it is in this moment is the first graceful step toward transforming it. Unconditional acceptance is the most potent invocation. A blessing descends, stillness envelops the chaos, and the energy of innocence begins to create. All the angels in the cosmos respond to the prayer of my heartbeat when it goes, "I agree, I agree, I agree." Chinese calligraphy: 'Wu Wei' - action arising from stillness.

Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul. ~John Muir Young men and women, abandon your cars, abandon your cities, abandon nations and governments! Go to the village, and beyond the village, to the woods. Leave Jerusalem: Wander through Galilean meadows, among the pagan wells of Samaria. Leave the palace: take off your crown and pearls, dance with the cowherd girls and boys at Vrindavan. Make your marriage bed of moss, find the oasis of the river otter, learn of the anthill and swamp lantern,  kneel in the place where the elk shed their antlers  dreaming of Autumn bugle song. Leave the ruined towers, the bank vaults of emptiness, erase the borders, smash leveler and compass. Nature laughs at edges, she knows no straight and narrow. Love wanders in fractals, and lovers get lost in all directions at once: they call their bewilderment "home." Let your morni...

Blessed are the hopeless, for they have no alternative but the present moment. Blessed are the disillusioned, for they awake from their dreams. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for they are empty. Blessed are the confused, for they sink from the mind into the heart. Blessed are the alone, for they are all one. Blessed are you when people insult you, and mock you, and throw you in a ditch, and no one comes to save you. For then you have only one clear choice: either die or pick yourself up. Shake off the dust. Wipe away your old story. Become the author of your own existence, undaunted, incomparable. Let the grace of Self-luminosity enfold you. Let wings of joy carry you. Let life unfold as no one but you can live it. Walk in natural harmony with the teachings of Jesus, Buddha, and all scriptures without reciting a single verse, entering a temple, or believing. Move like sunlight through the air. Sit like a mountain on the earth. Sing like water flowing to the sea. ...

God was made in the image of a Tree. That is why your naked toes root in the ground and breathe sap through your soles. Your arms branch out toward mine in tangled forest touching. The palms of our hands are leaves exchanging golden coins of sunlight. Through your hollow trunk flow rivers of love into the sky. Offer your knots and clefts for nests to whomever may come. Stand in a field of clover and dandelions if you don't believe me. Let the sun open all ten thousand petals in your brain. Let the wind carry your thoughts away like seeds.

The real Guru is a spiritual shock-jock. But the false Guru just makes you comfortable. He invites you to his pricy spa, takes all your money, and never pushes your buttons. A Guru's job is to get you ready to meet Kali. Kali is the holy terrifying cosmic bitch, who is so sublime she pushes every button in your body and soul, until you're so wide open you become the universe. That is the only real comfort. "Jesus said: Seek until you find. When you find you will be troubled. When you are troubled you will be astonished. Then you will reign over All." ~Gnostic Gospel of Thomas

This is the morning you wake up trembling with delight because you know you're going to run barefoot through the wet grass to baptize your toes in stinging dew. You're going to kiss the dark light of the earth with your body, a mothering shock from sole to crown, and through that kiss conceive the day, the season, the rest of your life. O choose which gracefully befallen moment shall have no end! Painting by Maggie Cross

In the moment of silence our differences become beautiful and unite us. Just gaze...

You can remember a memory, but you cannot remember being alive. This is it.

Jesus is an anarchist for Love. He teaches no system of politics, economics or religion, yet he proclaims the destruction of the old temple and the rise of a radical new order, a new kind of government: government from within. "For the kingdom of heaven is within you" (Mark 9:17). His kingdom is established in consciousness. Jesus is an anarchist for Peace. He makes friends with rich men, like Joseph of Aramethia, as well as the poor; with Roman soldiers, like Jairus, as well as the powerless. His radical party includes us all: the 1%, the 99%, the tax collector and the black-masked zealot, the pacifist and the proud Vet. Jesus is an anarchist for Truth. His only title is "I Am." His revolutionary act is to be Present. His authority is healing Breath. The entire religion of Jesus is one simple Truth, the Truth that sets us free, the Truth that shatters every temple dome and palace wall, the Truth that archons of the old order cannot hear without fear and t...

I don't understand praying out of books. A prayer that is written down is no longer alive, as it was in the moment it was felt and sighed to the Mystery. Why not feel and sigh the prayer that you are in this moment? You don't even need words, let alone written ones!

Master, I can be without you, as the apple bud and robin's egg can be. But without you, my being would not overflow. Your grace is the overflow of my being.

You've overrated your cerebral cortex. Now listen to your insect brain. That's what caterpillars do and they turn out beautiful, with wings. If it smells like mother's pudding, eat it. If it hugs you, hug back. If it glows umber-gold in valley mist, go that way, follow the warmth. Inch by inch, your belly invents the path with hundreds of meditating toes and a quivering antenna tuned to the sun by a brilliant stream of mindless photons. The glistening stick of the Way has many branches, but never a wrong turn toward the goal that is everywhere.