THE PRESENCE AND POWER OF ETERNITY

'For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place …'
Isaiah 57:15 (KJV).

There was once an Australian soldier and evangelist John G Ridley MC who preached a sermon titled ‘Echoes of Eternity’. Actually, he preached more-or-less that same sermon more than once, and perhaps many times. A copy of an audio file of one taped version of the sermon, preached by Ridley in his later years, can be found here. Ridley was a dynamic and powerful preacher. He painted the most wonderfully evocative word pictures ...

… Eternity … This word is a solitary word, wonderful word, just like a great mountain peak standing up and leaping above all its fellows and casting a kind of glorious shadow over the whole mountain range, an Everest of scripture, snowcapped in the purity of God. Eternity! Eternity! … Eternity. What a remarkable, uplifted, glorified word! Once uttered, because there is only one eternity, and the eternal God is in command of it. I seem to hear it coming out of the past like a distant sound of thunder, bursting with a clap in the present, and rolling on with mumblings and rumblings into the unknown future. Eternity. Eternity. How can you preach on eternity? Yet, if a preacher does not touch on eternity, he’s missing the great mountain ridge and glorious throne that God has given us in this verse, who inhabited Eternity. … [We] are travellers to eternity.

... Eternity, Eternity, I wish I could sound or shout that word to everyone in the streets of Sydney. You’ve got to meet it. Where will you spend Eternity? ...

When John Ridley preached this sermon in Sydney, New South Wales on what was perhaps the first occasion—this was way back in 1932—a man named Arthur Stace (pictured), who had been a soldier himself and who was a reformed alcoholic who had been converted to Christianity a couple of years earlier, was so moved by Ridley’s words that he went outside the church building and wrote the word ‘Eternity’ in beautiful copperplate writing with chalk on the footpath. He continued to do that on the footpaths of Sydney and even beyond Sydney and the State of New South Wales for about 35 years—some 500,000 times.

Now, Ridley and Stace had their own evangelical understanding of the word ‘eternity’. By the way, that word appears just once in the King James Version of the Bible, and it is in the verse set out above.

The Sydney Harbour Bridge lit up with the word ‘Eternity’.

What is eternity? Well, as I see it, we are in eternity now. We are immersed in eternity. We live, move and have our be-ing-ness in eternity. Eternity is not a ‘thing’ we enter into at death. No. Eternity is now. Everything is contained within eternity, that is, the eternal now. All duration – or time – is total and complete in the now. There is an eternal quality about the now. It is forever new. The present moment has its unfolding in the eternal now for it is nothing other than that which presents itself before us in and as the now, which embraces past, present and future. It is in the eternal now that we have our presence.

For me, God is the eternal now—omnipresence. There is only one eternity, one eternal now and it is both the medium in which all things have their be-ing-ness as well as Be-ing or omnipresence itself.

You may or may not share my understanding of the word eternity. That is your prerogative. The important thing is not to wait until you die in order to experience its tremendous presence and power.

GOD IS THE PLACE---THE SPACE OF THE WORLD

There are many names for God in Judaism. The Midrash, an early Jewish interpretation of or commentary on a Biblical text, teaches:

Why is God called by the name Makom meaning ‘place’ or ‘space’? Because he is the space of the world, but the world is not his place.

Perhaps you don’t believe in God. That’s OK insofar as I’m concerned. My concept of God is far from traditional. J B Phillips, the English Bible scholar, translator, author and minister, wrote a little book entitled Your God is Too Small. The book contains some good ideas but the God that Phillips says is the 'real,' 'big,' and 'true' one is, in my view, still far too small. My concept of God is essentially nontheistic, at least when viewed in traditional terms. It's outside the square. It's big ... as big as the universe and even bigger than that. My concept of God, now shared by many others (including a number of influential theologians), is still a biblical one, that is, it is supportable by reference to sacred scripture. What's more, it makes sense in the light of what we now know about life and the universe. Traditional concepts of God don't.

Now, having said all that, I think we can safely say this much is true---there was something uncaused and self-existent at the very beginning ... before there was even space and time. We can call it self-existent being, and it is still 'here.' It is still a case of---it is. It exists, not from itself, but of itself. And this pure actuality of existence or being-ness, having within it the plenitude of all being as well as all activity, is the undivided and indivisible wholeness of all existence. The what is is forever becoming the what will be, forever releasing and so realizing its innate creativeness. This being-ness---as well as becoming-ness---fills all time and space with its presence, hence the Biblical concept of omnipresence. 

Omnipresence. What a wonderful word! We are talking about an ‘all-encompassing’ uncreated reality ('Presence')---reality in self-expression, if you like---that, although unmanifest, forever takes shape and form as manifest existence and being-ness. Omnipresence means ... there is. That's it! There is. That's all of reality. That's all of life. The past? Well, the past is 'there is ... no more.' And the future? The future is 'there is ... not yet.' We are talking about a reality that is truly limitless, encompassing all things including all of space---and yet beyond all space as well. This Presence is not ‘transcendent’ in the sense of some supposed anthropomorphic deity in the ‘upper regions,’ nor can it be said to be immanent for the Presence is not actually contained ‘in’ or ‘within’ anything, nor can this Presence be said to be in any way ‘separate’ from the universe (that is, the sum total of all that is) for the notion of separateness denotes divisibility whereas this Presence is essentially indivisible. It is not only present everywhere, it is Presence itself … everywhere! You can call it the ‘spirit of life’ if you wish. It is to be found everywhere, but especially at the very centre of your being.

As mentioned, makom is the Hebrew word for place. The word comes from a verb (קוּם) meaning ‘to arise,’ suggesting the idea of resurrection, metaphorically at least. I prefer to see it as an unfolding or a manifestation. Be that as it may, the word makom appears in the Hebrew Bible (the Tanakh) over 300 times and in the Torah (the first 5 books of the 24 books of the Tanakh) over 100 times. Its first mention is in the very first chapter of the Book of Genesis where God is said to have created the world and collected the water to one ‘place’ (see Gen 1:9). 

Now, all talk of God as a ‘person,’ in the sense that you and I are persons, is problematic, indeed wrong. Whenever God is referred to in sacred scripture in physical terms it is meant as a metaphor. Got that? A metaphor. Indeed, all theology is metaphor. It is more akin to poetry. It is axiomatic that the Divine---that which is sacred, holy, and of ultimate importance---is not physical and has no physical properties as such. No one should be expected to believe in a God that was so limited, finite, and contingent. We, however, are physical---at least in substantial part---and by reason of our finiteness (in particular, the limitations of time and space) we can only understand things from a physical frame of reference. Hence the need for metaphoric language.

So, what is the metaphor of HaMakom (‘The Place’)? Well, we all know that a ‘place,’ any place, is much more than a geographical location. It’s a space which is capable of containing something else---for example, people, plants, animals, and rocks and minerals. When used in reference to the Divine it means a sacred place, a place where everything is contained, that is, has its being-ness, within the Divine, at least conceptually, but the divine is not contained in anything as such. The Hebrew sages would say, ‘He [God] doesn't have a place, rather He is The Place of the Universe.’ Got the idea?

The New Testament puts it this way, ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, “We are his offspring”’ (Acts 17:28). Now, that’s not pantheism. It’s panentheism, that is, God is the ground of all being, God is in all things, all things are in God, but all things do not exhaust the actuality of God. Similarly, Jesus (pictured) is reported to have said, ‘I am in my Father: and you in me, and I in you’ (Jn 14:20). 

The God of which I am speaking is the one form-less, essence-less, self-existent, self-knowing, self-giving, self-becoming, self-actualizing, absolute, indestructible, and abundant existence that forever takes form, that is, incarnates, as you, me, and everything else, but which is never even for a moment absorbed by the innumerable objects of its Self-expression. Indeed, this Be-ing---or Being-ness itself---transcends the limits of matter … and even time and space which are really one, and no more than mediums in which all things exist. Life is flux and movement---ceaseless movement---and life itself is timeless and spaceless. That much is clear. Another thing is clear---everything is contained within ‘the now.’ All duration (time) is total and complete in the now, and there is an ‘eternal’ quality about the now. It is forever new. The present moment has its unfolding in the Now.

You may not like the word ‘God’. The word may conjure up unpleasant memories, or otherwise have unpleasant connotations, for you. If so, don’t use the word. ‘The word is not the thing,’ as the Indian spiritual philosopher J. Krishnamurti so often said.  The true nature of the Divine, as pure and ever-perfect Be-ing, is revealed in these Bible verses from the third chapter of the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible:

13 Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?’

14 And God said to Moses, ‘I AM THAT I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’’

The words 'I AM' refer to the subject---note that word, 'subject,' not object---of all existence. The Bible says that I AM is God. So, God, that is, the very essence and being-ness of life itself, becomes what God has said that which God is---'I AM THAT I AM.' We are talking about the very presence and power of life itself---there is only one such presence and power---which forever gives of itself to itself in order to perpetuate itself ... and to become. In a deeper sense, we are talking about the Self-knowingness of God, for we too can be conscious (or rather self-conscious) of that very same I AM presence and power that is the ground of our being, indeed, the ground of all Be-ing. It is the All-in-all. 

So, HaMakom is the life that is the subject of true existence, the very life that lies within, and otherwise manifests itself through and as objects, being all persons and things---the very livingness, or rather Self-livingness, of life itself. Put simply, perhaps even too simply, each of us is I AM in expression---as you and me. Yes, each of us is an 'eachness' within the ALL-ness of the Divine.

God is the place, and God in you, as you, is you. Yes, as you live out your daily existence, know this---you are I AM in expression.

I AM has spoken. And so it is.

LUCILLE BALL ON MINDFULNESS

‘In life, all good things come hard,
but wisdom is the hardest to come by.’

‘Not everything that is faced can be changed,
but nothing can be changed until it is faced.’

Lucille Ball (1911-1989)

 In an article entitled ‘My Dearest Memories,’ published in the September 21, 1966 edition of The Australian Women’s Weekly, the legendary actress, comedienne and producer Lucille Ball [pictured left as well as below right] had this to say about God:

'To me, God is a hill, a cloud, a tree, a Christmas eve on top of a high bridge, my grandmother Hunt's backyard during a rainstorm. That backyard is where I sensed the presence of God. Every nook was utilised, beautifully arranged with flowers and rocks, young bushes and fruit trees. The seasons seemed holy---an incense of hyacinths each spring; oak golds and purples in autumn; a snow-covered stillness in winter with the hieroglyphic tracks of birds, rabbits, cats, and dogs in the drifts.

'Is it possible for a backyard to be a church for a child? It was for me---it was my sanctuary.'

That's pantheism, some will say, to which I say, ‘So what? Pantheism makes more sense than traditional theism.’ Actually, it’s not pantheism at all but a mindful appreciation of the innate sacredness and holiness of the eternal now---and that’s something very beautiful indeed.

Here's an even earlier memory of Miss Ball's---taken from her posthumously published autobiography Love, Lucy---that once again reveals her incredible capacity for mindfulness:

'My father's condition never improved. His grippe turned into typhoid fever. He died not long after that storm. He was only twenty-eight and my mother was almost twenty-three. I was not yet four, but I remember vividly the moment she told me Daddy was gone. I could tell you where the tables were, where the windows were, what they looked out on, where the bed was. And I remember at that very moment, a picture suddenly fell from the wall. And I noticed on the kitchen windowsill some little gray sparrows feeding.'

Mindfulness is the presence---note that word presence---of bare attention to, and choiceless awareness of, the action (be it internal or external) of the present moment from one moment to the next. Presence refers to both physical and psychological presence---your presence, that is. Insofar as your psychological presence is concerned, we are talking about a curious, deliberate, intentional, and reflexive awareness of what is, but in an 'un-self-conscious' frame of mind such that you are and remain ever open to whatever happens.

Miss Ball’s memories of her Grandmother Hunt’s backyard, and of her father's untimely death in 1915, have all the key elements of mindfulness, namely, a remembering what is present, and a remembering to stay present in the present moment from one moment to the next (it’s demonstrably clear that Miss Ball did both of those things, given the meticulous detail of her memories), and, finally, a remembering in the present moment that which has already happened (the remembering of a past event is an experience in the present). As respects the detail of her memories, attention to detail was one of Miss Ball's hallmarks. She once said, 'Perfectionism has become a dirty word but I think it means attention to detail, and it is the secret of many successful people.' Including herself, I might add.

Your moment-to-moment experience of the action of life as it continually unfolds from one moment to the next---when ‘accompanied’ by your simultaneous and instantaneous mindful physical and psychological presence with that action---is your ‘church,’ your ‘sanctuary.’ You see, worship has everything to do with ‘worthiness’ or ‘worth-ship,’ that is, ascribing worth to that which is worthy of the ascription, and very little to do with God or gods in the traditional, ‘church’ sense. Worship is a mindset that shows reverent love for the sacredness of the eternal now---and what could be more sacred or divine than that? 

However, a sense of the sacred or holy needs to be combined with what Miss Ball once referred to as 'that enchanting quality of being able to develop ... a "sense of play".' She noted that her old friend, film actor, comedian and producer Harold Lloyd, had that particular quality, along with 'authority and understanding ... vitality ... incomparable timing ... awareness of material ... [and an] ability to execute them all with a complete credibility.' Miss Ball had all those qualities, too---in spades.

Miss Ball was right to use the words ‘church’ and ‘sanctuary’ to refer to her childhood experiences and her later memories of the events in question. Hers was, in her own words, 'an everyday religon that works for me.' Although she was a close friend and 'disciple' of Dr Norman Vincent Peale and his spiritual philosophy ('I can talk to him on the phone for five minutes and feel I've been to church for a month,' she said in a 1974 interview), she was not into organized religion or dogma, didn't believe in an afterlife, and was fairly agnostic on most things 'religious' (despite saying, 'I regard myself as very religious without going to church'). 

Religious or not, there is no doubt that Miss Ball was very, very spiritual---and she understood what mindfulness is all about.

Images of Lucille Ball are licensed by Desilu, too, LLC.
Licensing by Unforgettable Licensing.
All Rights Reserved.

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PERFECT PEACE CAN BE YOURS---YES, INDEED!

‘Thou wilt keep in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on Thee’ (Isaiah 26:3)

Deep down, we all crave peace of mind. Call it serenity, tranquillity, equanimity, or imperturbability, we certainly know when we don’t have it. Wanting to be happy all the time is, well, silly, and quite superficial, but peace of mind is an altogether different thing.

This verse from the Hebrew Bible contains a valuable formula for obtaining, and maintaining (‘keeping’), peace of mind. It says that God will keep us in perfect peace if our mind is ‘stayed’ on God.

Who or what is this God? Some theological construct? A person, albeit a supra-normal (whatever that means) one? No, not at all. I know many, many people who call themselves atheists---and that they are, at least when one applies traditional theistic definitions of ‘God’---who have perfect peace. They know God, even though they choose not to use that term---and that is their prerogative.

The word ‘God’ is not the 'thing,' rather it directs us to the reality to which the word 'God' refers. What is that reality, I hear you ask? Well, this is it---God is simply a word that some people choose to use (and others choose not to use) to refer to the medium in which all things live, move, and have their being. Time and space---spacetime, to be more correct---are other words that refer to more-or-less the same 'thing.' They, too, are mediums---or rather the medium---in which all things exist and subsist. No wonder mystics have referred to God as the Eternal Now. Yes, God is the All in all. God is not a ‘thing,’ nor a ‘person,’ as we ordinarily use those words. Got that? God is not a thing, but rather ‘No-Thing’ or ‘No-Thing-ness.’

Now, some or all of the foregoing may be hard to understand but, when you think about it, it makes much more sense than believing in a so-called personal God. Actually, the God to which I refer is both personal and impersonal. It is impersonal in the sense of being general, universal, all-embracing, non-discriminating, and infinite, but it ‘becomes’---for want of a better word---personal in and as you and me and all other persons and things as well as being personal to all who are at-one with its indwelling presence, power, and activity.

So many people have a terrible concept of God---anything but the truth. The true nature of the divine, as pure and ever-perfect Be-ing, is revealed in these Bible verses from the third chapter of the Book of Exodus in the Hebrew Bible:

13 Then Moses said to God, ‘Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ what shall I say to them?’

14 And God said to Moses, ‘I AM THAT I AM.’ And He said, ‘Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’’

The words 'I AM' refer to the subject---note that word, 'subject,' not object---of all existence. The Bible says that I AM is God. So, God (that is, the very essence and being-ness of life itself) becomes what God has said that which God is---'I AM THAT I AM.' That is the name by which God is called---at least in the Hebrew Bible and in metaphysics---and it describes the Presence or Power of God (being the spiritual or divine 'image' of each person's creation) declaring Itself---to Itself. This is the Self-knowingness of God, and we, too, can be conscious (or rather self-conscious) of that very same I AM Presence and Power that is the ground of our being, indeed, the ground of all Be-ing. It is the All-in-all. 

Yes, God---pure Be-ing or existence--is the one form-less, essence-less, self-existent, self-knowing, self-giving, absolute, indestructible, and abundant existence that forever takes form, that is, incarnates, as you, me, and everything else, but which is never even for a moment absorbed by the innumerable objects of its Self-expression. In other words, God---if you choose to use the word at all---is the life that is the subject of true existence, the very life that lies within, and otherwise manifests itself through and as objects, being all persons and things---the very livingness, or rather Self-livingness, of life itself. Put perhaps more simply, you are I AM in expression---as you. In the words of the renowned Unity minister and author Eric Butterworth, you are an 'eachness' within the ALL-ness of God. Yes, 'Thou art That.' Whether or not you are aware of it, you are divine and one with this 'God-ness,' being the point---and just one of an infinite number of such points---at which the Great I AM reproduces and experiences Itself. Amazing!

Back to our Bible text. What is meant by the word ‘perfect,’ in the expression ‘perfect peace’? Well, peace is perfect when it is true, real, and substantial, as opposed to being false or insubstantial. Material things, and even intangible things such as status and reputation, are false and insubstantial because they are ‘grounded’—actually, they are not even ‘grounded’ in any real sense---in our false selves that clamour for attention and the approval of others. Peace is ‘perfect’ when it is grounded in the eternal and infinite; this peace is imperturbable, for it subsists at all times and under all events. The great Swami Vivekananda described this state of mind as 'eternal calmness which cannot be ruffled, the balance of mind which is never disturbed, whatever happens.'

Now, if you want perfect peace in your mind, then keep your mind ‘stayed’ in the Eternal Now, that is, in the medium in which all things live, move, and have their being. Keep your mind grounded in the consciousness of the moment, from one moment to the next. For me, mindfulness is the best form of prayer and meditation. It is the primary means by which I stay grounded in the Eternal Now---God, if you like. You don't need to believe in someone else’s concept of God---not even mine, for heaven’s sake. You don't need to use the word God, or think in theistic terms, at all. All you have to do is to stay mindfully aware of, and alert to, the content (both internal and external) of the present moment at all times or at least as much and as often as you can. Angels---assuming there are any---can do no better. 

And how do you know when you are living mindfully? The answer is simple---you are living mindfully when you are no longer fretting about or fighting the past, or fearing the future. You are able to accept, with calm contentment and total equanimity, whatever is. Perfect peace, just like perfect love, drives out all fear, anxiety, anger, and resentment (cf 1 Jn 4:18). Indeed, there is simply no room in a mindset of perfect peace for any negative thoughts or emotions.

The photos in this post were taken by my son

Peter while on vacation in Baja California, Mexico

MINDFULNESS---THIS IS THE REFRESHING!

‘To whom [God] said, This is the rest with which you may cause the weary to rest;
and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.’ (Isaiah 28:12)
[King James Bible/Cambridge edition]

‘This is the refreshing.’ The renowned pastor, lecturer and author Norman Vincent Peale wrote, ‘These few words remind us of a spring of cool water because of their renewing quality.’

Each new day---indeed, each new moment in the eternal now---is, or at least can be experienced as, a ‘refreshing,’ for that is what it truly is. Each new moment is a renewal. The moment is so brief---as I write these words, many such moments have come and gone----it is virtually timeless. Time is simply a medium in which all things live, move and have their being. So, what we call ‘life’---or reality, truth or God---is nothing other than a timeless renewal in the present moment. Each new moment is a re-creation---or a refreshing.

The only power that can be ours is that which is found in the reality of the present moment that is ever-before us ‘in’ the now. That is the only ‘place’---for want of a better word---in which we can find ‘refreshment.’ Indeed, it is a refreshing. That is the only ‘place’ wherein we can find help in time of trouble, for if we seek that help in the past or in the future we look in vain. Indeed, trouble really only occurs when we allow ourselves to dwell in either the past or the future. True peace and acceptance can only be found in the calm acknowledgment of the omnipresent reality of the present moment. I have said as much on so many occasions. Not only peace and acceptance, but inner transformation as well. In one of his many classes the spiritual philosopher and teacher Vernon Howard, whose ideas about life have had a big impact on my life and thinking, said this:

‘Truth exists at this very present moment. Truth, which is the great power, the only power, therefore exists right now by man-made time, about a quarter after nine, exists for anyone in this room who is no longer living in man-made time, that is in his acquired sense of self, developed from experiences of past and hopes of the future.’

Truth not only exists at this present moment; it is this present moment---at least when we are mindfully aware of what is going on. That's a refreshing thought. Mindfulness, itself, is a refreshing, for it is the choiceless awareness of awareness itself. If we stay fixed and focused, and fully grounded, in the reality of the eternal mow---that is, if our minds are fully and mindfully engaged in what is taking place in and around us now---we will experience a refreshing, no matter what happens.

If you really want to come alive, start to experience each new moment as a refreshing. However, this can only be done from one moment to the next. It cannot be done ‘in’ the moment itself---despite the omnipresent reality of the present moment---simply because the so-called ‘moment’ is so brief, so ephemeral, that no sooner has it arrived, it's gone. It's the past. One cannot experience or live ‘in’ the moment because the moment, although ever-present, is always changing ... into the next moment ... and the next ... and then the next!

This is where mindfulness comes into its own. You see, mindfulness is awareness---in a deliberate and purposeful but ‘soft focus’, gentle and kind sort of way---from one moment to the next. Got that? Mindfulness is concerned with being fully present, and living with awareness, from moment to moment. Mindful living is living receptively with choiceless awareness from moment to moment---that is, being aware step by step, breath by breath, thought by thought, feeling by feeling, memory by memory, sensation by sensation, and so forth. Such is the flow of life, for what is life but the ongoing moment-to-moment livingness of living things and beings living out their livingness from one moment to the next.

Now, that is the refreshing.

NOTES.
1. The photos were taken by the author during a trip to Japan in June 2011. 
2. For those who are interested in the writings and ideas of Dr Peale, I have compiled and edited a book entitled The Norman Vincent Peale Book of Quotations.

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MINDFULNESS---A VERY PRESENT HELP IN TROUBLE

Here are two Bible verses that have always meant a lot to me, even though my understanding of the verses has changed considerably over the years. First, Psalm 46: 1, which says, ‘God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.’ Second, Isaiah 26:3, which says, ‘You [God] will keep them in perfect peace, whose minds are stayed on You …’

I do not believe in some anthropomorphic God ‘up there’ or ‘out there.’ Such a ‘God’---or rather an image of God---is nothing other than a human construct, and not a very good one at that. For me, God is the presence and power---the very ‘livingness’---of the Eternal Now as it unfolds unceasingly from one moment to the next. We live fully---indeed, we can only be said to be truly alive---when we live and move and have our being, that is, are fixed and focused, in the reality of the Now.

The verse from Psalms affirms that this God---if you choose to use that word at all---of which I speak is our ‘refuge’ and ‘strength’ and a ‘very present help in trouble.’ That is indeed the case. The only power that can be ours is that which is found in the reality of the present moment. That is the only ‘place’ in which we can find rest and peace and solace. It is the only ‘place’ wherein we can find help in time of trouble, for if we seek that help in the past or in the future we look in vain. Indeed, trouble really only occurs when we allow ourselves to dwell in either the past or the future. True peace and acceptance can only be found in the calm acknowledgment of the reality of the present moment. I have said as much on so many occasions.

The verse from Isaiah says pretty much the same thing, namely, that if we stay fixed and focused, and fully grounded, in the reality of the Eternal Now---that is, if our minds are fully and mindfully engaged in what is taking place in and around us now---we will know and enjoy ‘perfect peace,’ no matter what happens.

Everything---and I mean everything---is contained within ‘the Now.’ All duration – or time – is total and complete in the Now. There is an ‘eternal’ quality about the Now. It is forever new. The present moment has its unfolding in the Now. That is all we truly ‘possess,’ but it is more than sufficient.

May the peace and power of the Now be yours---now and always.

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YOU SHALL CEASE TO BE NEVER!

There is really only one ‘message,’ one ‘truth’ to be known and lived, and this is it:

Never the spirit was born; the spirit shall cease to be never;

Never was time it was not; End and Beginning are dreams!

Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit for ever.

I am a minister to people of all faiths---and none. Each year I conduct a number of funerals, and I almost always include in my oration or invocations the above lines taken from Sir Edwin Arnold’s [pictured above] beautiful ‘translation’---or rather poetic version---of the Bhagavad-Gita (dubbed ‘The Song Celestial’).

Now, you may have read much from the world of philosophy and religion, and you may be quite confused as to what is, and is not, 'true.' You may have been told that this person, or that person, is the only way to ‘God’ or ‘Truth.’ You may have been told that only your church was the 'one, true church,' and that all other churches---and religions---were man-made. You may have been told that you must believe in this or that particular person, or this or that set of dogmas, or that you must follow a certain path, or lead a certain kind of 'moral' life, in order to be ‘saved,’ to be ‘enlightened,’ or to know ‘truth.’ Forget it. The people and institutions that expound that sort of 'message' are a menace to society and world peace---and they are seriously deluded, and sometimes very dangerous indeed. I kid you not.

There is no need to believe anything. If you want to know truth---which is what is---my advice is forget all about beliefs, for they put a barrier---a wall---between you and truth. You see, you are always in direct contact with truth, wherever you are, and whatever you are doing from one moment to the next---even if you are not consciously aware of that fact. You are a manifestation of truth, for truth is life, and that is what you are. You are life---an inpost and outpost of life---and you can never be less than life. So, there is nothing to ‘find.’ There is no ‘self’ that you need to know or get in contact with. Some people spend 20 or 30 (or even more) years trying to get to know their ‘self.’ They keep trying to ‘expand’ their consciousness. Ha! There is nothing to ‘expand.’ All you get is 'mathematics,' in the form of multiplication and division---that is, more and more little ‘selves,’ more and more mental images of ‘self.’ I have news for all of these people. They are wasting their time, because what they are hoping to find and know is and always has been---an illusion.

And forget about 'following' some other person. As the Indian spiritual philosopher Jiddu Krishnamurti would say, ‘when you follow somebody, you have destroyed your own thoughts, you have lost your own independence, you have lost your freedom.’ Yes, and that is one of the very worst things you can do with your life---following others, even someone you have been told is 'God.' If you persist in doing that, what do you ‘discover,’ assuming you discover anything meaningful at all? Someone else’s version of ‘truth'---that's what---which is not truth at all, because it is 'filtered' down to you through someone else's words and thoughts. In any event, as Krishnamurti would also say, 'The teachers, the gurus, the mahatmas, the philosophers, have all led us astray.' Ditto the so-called saviours and messiahs. And just because I quote Krishnamurti does not mean I am 'following' him. There is no such need. What he says is demonstrably true---it is a self-evident fact. Look around you, and you will see it for yourself.

You may ask, 'Ellis-Jones, how can you say all these things?' I say to you, how could it be otherwise? When it comes to what is truth anything else is ‘unspeakable.’ Truth is---what is. Truth is---life. You are life---an individualized part of life’s self-expression, life’s ‘aliveness.’ You cannot be less---nor more or other---than that, and you can never be separated from life. Never! Not even for a moment! This is not a truth which can be known by the use of so-called conceptual or analytical thought. No, this truth---Truth itself---can only be known in the livingness of life, and as life, itself … in the moment … and from one moment to the next. That is, in the Eternal Now, which is (to use, yes, a figure of speech, a metaphor) ‘God,’ ‘Life,’ or ‘Truth.’

I have said all of this before, but I will continue to say it for so long as there is life in me because not all people have heard it or got the ‘message.’ The truth is, there really is no ‘message.’ There is no ‘path.’ There is nowhere to ‘go.’ There is nothing to ‘believe.’ There is no one to ‘follow.’ And there is nothing to 'transcend'---except, perhaps, your own limited thinking. There is, however, a truth to be known---and lived---and it is this: you shall cease to be never. Yes, you will die, and you will vanish from view---at least, the ‘form’ of the person that you are---but the real ‘part’ of you, the essence of you, which is life itself, will never cease to be because it was never ‘born,’ and it was never ‘created.’ The spirit of life will never cease to be. It changes not, even though all forms and things are in a constant state of change and degradation. The spirit of life forever takes form, is forever being incarnated, is forever being crucified, and is forever being resurrected into newness of life. That is the true meaning of those Christian teachings---but please don't believe that. Know it, for there is nothing to believe.

‘Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the spirit [of life] for ever.’ That is the one way of being. That is the way things really are.

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