全然去愛，而沒有失去自己
你需要多少催化劑來自我了悟？
我們根本的本性是純淨的光與光輝的愛的本質，當我們沒有在每個當下經驗到這些時，是因為我們沒有校準，這意味著我們的注意力被相對和短暫的現象所分心，就是那些世俗的事情與頭腦的東西。這表示我們並沒有處於自己所是的本質的中心。當我們從自己的本性來生活時，經驗是純淨、神聖和幸福的。
生活在內在或外在並不是非此即彼的選擇。理想上，我們處於自己的中心，錨定在那真實之中，然後由此與世界連結。困難與幻象的出現，是因為我們與自己的中心失去了連結，迷失於外在。當失去連結時，我們就會失去對於我們即是永恆與無限的知曉；這使我們感到沒安全感、缺乏且不停抓取。當與中心失去連結，我們就會活在恐懼中，讓我們忘卻事實上，沒有東西能夠真正傷害我們，從我們身上奪取，讓我們變得渺小─至少在真正重要的層面不會。當我們從自己的中心來生活時，它是明晰的，整體性和完整性在內在得到了實現。
我們不斷的被外在所吸引，並且外在也反過來被我們所吸引。即時的滿足感和基於感官的享樂都是現成的與明顯的，而自我了悟的果實是更微妙的, 一開始不一定是明顯的。很容易在世界上失去自己，很難拉回到我們中心的寂靜和安靜。在我們純粹的本質中沒有戲劇或燈光秀，而且靈性道路通往哪裡並不是顯而易見的。只有緩慢、逐漸的吸收進內在的領域，揭示了持久的幸福完全是內在的現象，屬於靈魂的領域。這並不是說它不能共享，但它是從內在深處誕生的。當我們錨定在自己的深處，我們的幸福是自我維持的，即使世界也不能歸還我們相同的振動。當我們從擁有自己而來，因此有得真正的分享，參與世界才頓時呈現真正的意義。
然而，當我們進入關係時，有一個更深的演化衝力在推動著我們，無論我們知道與否。當我們與他人連結，以試圖從經驗中「得到」什麼時，實際上，我們所「獲得的」，基本上是我們自己的自我體驗中的變化。我們的清晰告訴我們，我們根本上去連結，是為了透過別人來知道自己。透過我們與其他人的對比，我們的樣子就會更擴大和表明，我們的極端和更細膩的細微差別都會浮現。我們在關係中被測試的方式，是我們獨自一人時沒有的。關係是故事出現的地方，所以當我們進入內在時，我們就有要去處理的内容。
自我了悟的直接途徑是深深的潛進內在，是我們核心本質的純粹經驗。另一條途徑是透過關係的世界來循環，因為我們尋求觸發器，來幫助我們經驗和記得自己失去或斷開的各個方面。如果我們沒有找到時間轉向內在，最終所有分散注意的事物都會自己消失，我們就會面對自己的基本內在底線狀態。當我們的福祉不再被忙碌、目標和干擾所支撐，在某個時刻，我們就會終於見到自己，只有我們自己。我們在世界和關係之間舞蹈，直到我們準備好安靜下來，面對我們存在的單純性。
一般思維的人會爭論生命是關於關係，連結和社區，但沒有與自己的基本連結，如何連結超越自己之外的。理想是接觸關係的世界時，保持在內在錨定，並且不會失去自己。希望與他人連結是沒問題的，但如果是出於匱乏，或者更甚於想知道自己，就是一種自暴自棄的形式。人們容易忽略他們自己，但最深的滿足是從內在培養的。從那份親密的自我連結中，誕生了我們真正與世界連結的能力。
詢問所有向外尋求和活動背後的動機。如果你真的與自己連結，你會這麼忙著試圖獲取你在世界上所做的嗎？當你連結時，它是否來自於連結的美，沒有目的或期望？當你在世界上舞蹈時，你會把自己拋在後頭，忘了你所追求的可能已經是存在了？
~ Avalon
Loving Fully Without Losing Oneself
How many catalysts do you need to self realize?
Our fundamental nature is the essence of pure light and radiant love. When this is not experienced moment to moment, it is because we are out of alignment. It means our attention has become distracted by relative and transient phenomena, the stuff of the world, the stuff of the mind. It means we are not abiding at our center within the essence of what we are. When we live from our essence, the experience is purity, divinity and bliss.
It is neither an exclusive choice to live in the inner or outer. Ideally, we abide in our center, anchor in that truth, and relate to the world from there. Difficulty and illusion arises when we disconnect from our center and become lost in the outer. When disconnected, we lose the knowingness of our eternity and infinity. This causes us to feel insecure, lacking and grasping. When disconnected, we live in fear and forget that in reality, nothing can truly harm us, take from us or make us less… at least on the level that it matters. When we live from our center, it is clear, that wholeness and completion are realized from within.
Relating for the sake of pure relating is rare. Most people engage in relating in order to acquire something – as though what they needed were outside them. We are constantly absorbed by the outer, and the outer is also in turn absorbed by us. Instant gratification and sensory-based pleasures are readily available, whereas the fruit of self-realization is much more subtle and sublime. It is easy to lose oneself in the world, and harder to pull back into the quietude and stillness of our center. There is no drama or light show in our pure nature, and where the spiritual path leads is not readily apparent. Only slow, gradual absorption into the inner realm reveals that lasting bliss is entirely an inner phenomenon, belonging to the realm of the soul. That is not to say it cannot be shared, but it is birthed from deep within. When anchored in our depth, our bliss is self-sustaining even if the world cannot return us the same vibration. Participation in the world suddenly takes on real meaning when we come from possessing ourselves and thus having something to truly share.
There is however a deeper evolutionary impulse moving us when we engage in relationship, whether we know it or not. While we relate to the other in an attempt to “get” something from the experience, actually, what we are “getting” is basically a variation in our own self- experience. Our lucidity informs us that we fundamentally relate in an effort to know ourselves through the other. Through our contrast with the other, what we are is more magnified and revealed, our extremities and more delicate nuances all come to the surface. We get tested in relationship in ways that we may not otherwise when alone. Relationship is where story arises, so we have material to work with as we go within.
The direct pathway to self-realization is a deep dive within, the pure experience of our core essence. The other pathway is looped through the world of relationships, as we seek triggers to help us experience and remember various lost or disconnected aspects of self. If we do not find time to turn within, eventually all distractions fall away on their own, and we are faced with a very baseline experience of our true state. When our well-being is no longer being propped up by busyness, goals and distractions, at one point we finally meet ourselves, by ourselves. We dance between the world and relationships until we are ready to just be quiet and face the simplicity of our being.
The average mind-set will argue life is about relationship, connection and community, but without the fundamental connection to self, how to relate beyond the self. The idea is to remain anchored within and not lose oneself, while engaging in the world of relationships. It is fine to want connection with others but to want it out of lack, or to want it before wanting to know ourselves is a form of self-abandonment. People evade themselves all the time, but the deepest fulfillment is cultivated from within. From that intimate self-connection is then born our ability to truly connect with the world.
Inquire into the motives behind all outward seeking and activity. Would you be so busy trying to acquire what you do in the world, if you were truly connected to your self? When you relate, does it come from just the beauty of relating, with no aim or want? When you dance in the world, do you leave your self behind, and forget what you seek may already be present?
~ Avalon