The Day of Awakening: A Book of Revelation and Self-discovery

By Tony Titshall

The Day of Awakening is a book of revelation and Self-discovery, challenging our misconceptions and inviting our self-inquiry. It deals with states of awakening to mystical consciousness and the true nature of man; the practicality of mysticism and the simplicity of its healing truth in everyday life.

It speaks of the path of initiation and includes examples of the highs and lows of every man’s earnest endeavor to accommodate and adjust to himself as he goes through the inevitable changes encountered in the Ocean of Consciousness on the way to Self-realization.

But before we can proceed on the path of enlightenment, there are aspects of the spiritual life that need to be understood, facets of every righteous man’s journey, about which he may entertain false concepts and universal beliefs, such as: this world, healing, supply, mind, and body.

In this book, a modern-day Mystic’s Manual, all these are dealt with, as well as aspects of belief that assail man: what is Law, the effects of karma, understanding the nature of God, error, and prayer; meditation, forgiveness, and the truth of Individual Being.

Like a germinating seed breaching the confines and limitations of its shell, it is the Call of Awakening, leaving us ultimately with no choice but to respond to the irresistible unfoldment of Soul, whose revelations of the moment lead man to an understanding of the truth of his being and his oneness with God. Life then becomes an awareness of the Living Word and not just words, such that thereafter everything speaks.

REVIEWS:

"A priceless gift to mankind. Perfection itself."
--Allen Marsh, editor of Joel Goldsmith Acropolis publications including "The Foundation of Mysticism"

"A masterpiece of inner revelation and mystical literature."
--Joy Powell, teacher, practitioner, and author of The Stillness of "My Peace"

"I have the strong impression that something very important has been spoken through Tony Titshall and that this volume could come to be regarded as a Christian spiritual/mystical classic . . . In my mind, I compared this book to the writings of Jacob Boehme, the 16th century German mystic . . . I recognize in Tony one who is authentically experiencing and living from the mystery of Godliness. I have found insight and delight on every page and have been deeply moved by his poetry. He has somehow managed to express what I thought was inexpressible!"
--Peter Sumner, editor/publisher of Inner Light, an online magazine on emerging Christian and interfaith issues.

"Recommended Reading" in the "New Titles" section of the of the Watkins of London Review.
--Watkins of London Review

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tony Titshall
• Release date: Jun 17, 2011
• ISBN: 9780981754772

Tony Titshall

TONY TITSHALL writes and speaks on the practicality of mysticism and the simplicity of its healing truth in everyday life. After 40 years as a student of Joel Goldsmith's Infinite Way, and taught by Lorraine Sinkler, herself a student and editor of Goldsmith's writings, he now willingly shares the fruits of his own journey with those who likewise prepare for the coming of the Day of Awakening, a moment forever come and ever present within and as every man. He has been a sought-after practitioner of spiritual principles for over 40 years and traveled extensively, teaching and sharing the ways of Spirit and the silence of mystical consciousness, giving over 700 hours of recorded lecture work. Throughout his teaching work, a work that leads the student from demonstration to revelation via the path of dissolution, he acknowledges the universal, indivisible nature of the One Life, the One Self, as the reality of true identity and the truth of All Being. His experiential classwork sessions, which he calls "Revelations of the Moment," are spontaneous outpourings and impartations offered as a result of silent awareness and inner surrender. Originally from London, England, Tony Titshall now lives in South Florida. He took two years off from travel and classwork to write The Day of Awakening, described by readers as "a spiritual classic," "an inspirational message for the ages," and "a work for all mankind."

Book preview

Contents

Preface

Author’s Note

* * * * *

PART I

LIVING SCRIPTURE

The Years of Awakening

Ch 1 A Process of Introspection

catalysts for awakening • those of god • christ consciousness • the concept of reincarnation• eternal identity • true to ourselves • the true dimension

Ch 2 Remaining Steadfast

building on basics • dominion: factual reality • piercing the veil • a perfect freedom

Ch 3 Realizing Omnipresence

the abundance of spirit • tares and wheat • reading the signs

Ch 4 The Spiritual Path

forbidden fruit • call no man on earth evil • holy ground • the phenomenon of man • behind the seen

Ch 5 Being a Beholder

tell no man • silent heart • the son of man cometh • the art of stillness

Ch 6 The Need for Vision

greater works • how else but by thee • a single spark • the comforter • the peacemaker

PART II

THE PROCESS OF PREPARATION

Attaining the Vision

Ch 7 The Transforming Element

an exercise in detachment • the canvas of belief • seeing through appearances • induced misperception • this world • personalization: malpractice • one man’s demonstration

Ch 8 The Final Journey

a healing influence • the final call • living by the rules • breaking the spell • just be natural • in the time of flood • no smell of smoke

Ch 9 Understanding the Law

karma: action and repercussion • the naysayer • god is not mocked • lessons of repentance • learning the lesson • the now testament • regaining dominion • time to bloom

PART III

LIVING IN THE NOW

Incorporeal Being

Ch 10 Principle in Practice

life lived by principle • a matter of degree • one power, one presence, one activity • staying in the now • it said I will • standing on principle • a work in progress

Ch 11 Staying Awake

the illusion of time • understanding healing • the saga of apparency • the illusion of mortality • is alone does • there is only one • there is no baby • who died • don’t be fooled

Ch 12 Nothing Is Real

non-resistance • final absolution • elemental misperception • double entendres • temple gate • a two-way process • true relationship • thy faith • raising our vision • faith, trust, and hope • an illustration of mind

Ch 13 Prayer Beyond Words

a life of faith • thy will: to be • praying aright • the pure in heart • breaking the hold

PART IV

FULFILLING THE LAW

Individual Completeness

Ch 14 Setting Supply in Motion

a matter of principle • self-completeness • the living essence • the gift of love • the gift of service • fulfilling our destiny • seeing through to love

Ch 15 Giving and Sharing

teaching by example • the practitioner’s role • conviction, not concern • a process of reciprocation • the purser’s call • where our faith lies • an attitude of recognition •completing the circle

Ch 16 Casting Our Bread

commanded to give • instruments of infinity • such as I have • neither pray I for me alone • selfless service • consider the lilies

PART V

SURRENDER, PURIFICATION, AND DISSOLUTION

Transformation and Revelation

Ch 17 The Path of Surrender

the frame of misperception • facing the dragon • the misfit • a private practice • selfless being • mellowed by love

Ch 18 A Process of Purification

attachment to form • the process of transformation • the ways of love• the dawning of humility • worthy of welcome

Ch 19 Dissolution and Revelation

the one relationship • love divine • stay awake and pray • self-preservation/ procreation • the concept of sexuality • sufficient unto the day

PART VI

THE WAY OF GRACE

The Greatest Sacrifice

Ch 20 A New Vision

dominion by grace • the mystery of godliness • call no man your father • higher consciousness • the miracle of being • the prayer of surrender • the vineyard

Ch 21 The Call of the Eternal

the work of the mystic • discernment in action • a call in consciousness • effectual prayer • a call to arms • spiritual maturity • attracting the detractor • captive to sense

Ch 22 The Practicality of Mysticism

in that find this • to every season • the new mysticism: a practical way • the simple truth • multitasking • answered prayer • mutual awareness

Ch 23 Understanding Forgiveness

forgiveness, redemption, and condemnation • a place of transcendence • self-condemnation • vision beyond belief • the work of ministry • an act of humility • aught against thee

Ch 24 Conviction and Determination

divine purpose • eye of the beholder • beholding god • true to the call • our deepest challenges • the robe of consciousness • not on my watch

Ch 25 Freedom’s Call

the sword of discernment • the gift of revelation • divine imminence • the human legacy • get thee hence • a journey of self-discovery

PART VII

THE EXPERIENCE

Meditation — Mysticism — Awakening

Ch 26 An Act of Reconciliation

the experience of meditation • the eternal message • the voice of being • my beloved son • the experience of mysticism • the experience of awakening

Ch 27 The New Day

times of initiation • the tranquility of mind • a simultaneous process • who I am • being not-being • the symphony of soul • the last word

* * * * *

Postscript

References

Index of Poems

Notes

About the Author

Preface

Until man gives all back to God and truly lives what he professes to believe, indeed what is ultimately true, that God is Omnipotent, All-mighty, he will continue to live in fear of material power. Through the spiritual path, man is beginning to realize there is only One Power, and it does not exist in the realm of effect, in the realm of appearance, in this world. And so as we pursue our religious ways, the natural man in us, through a process of self-surrender, begins to diminish and God begins to come into being in our awareness. Once that process is begun, out of the ashes of dissolution of personal sense and the belief of power in the realm of effect can then come forth the new world order, the beginning of a New Day for Man, the Day of Awakening. And in that time, they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.¹

That day is come and although those words of Isaiah were from 700 BC, only now are we beginning en masse to go deeper into those realms of mystical consciousness that contain and reveal the true nature of God, Man, and Individual Being. How slow the mills of God grind, yet they grind exceeding fine.² Timeless in eternity is man’s evolution in awareness of the divine activity of Everpresence.

In our discoveries and Self-pursuit, we are finding that the more we come to know the truth of ourselves, the clearer the nature of this world becomes. Once this point is arrived at, we begin to regain the dominion that is truly ours, an open door that no man can shut,³ and reclaim our spiritual Sonship promised to us in the beginning. We realize and discover for ourselves the only solution to the world’s problems exists in awakening and realization, the development of spiritual consciousness, understanding, and awareness.

Spiritual power is not a power over anything, for in that realm, in that dimension, there is nothing over which Spirit might or need be a power. It is merely the power of awakening over all dream state and condition, the power of light over darkness.

But we do need to wake up to the environment in which we now find ourselves before rude awakening does it for us, for it is a time of extremity and a time when possibilities of global, ideological conflict threaten the earth. Yet it is also a time of emerging Peace, a time when man is realizing his oneness with God, heaven on earth, Thy kingdom come, awakening to the truth of his omnipresence. The tides of spiraling downward direction in world affairs are beginning to turn as more and more begin to realize the necessity of making a contribution towards world peace through the transformation of individual consciousness. Man is waking up to his responsibilities, the challenge and opportunity to maintain himself according to the high-calling standards of spiritual precept.

It is time to awaken out of the dream and illusion of the belief in two powers and the existence of a selfhood apart from God. It is time for man to return to the Father’s house, time to rediscover the true nature of his being and his oneness with God. Then, and then alone, will the solutions the world so badly needs be forthcoming.

The watchman in us all may be fully conversant with and observant of activity outside himself, even capable of thwarting and overcoming it materially, but is he aware of the potential for danger and disruption that exists within himself on the mental level through indulgence in sense, buying into the dream, and the loss and surrender of self-dominion? Does he know how vulnerable he is within his own borders, his own boundaries, his own perimeter, through lethargy, complacency, and the lack of understanding and awareness of the true nature of Individual Being and of God? Can the walls of his temple be brought down without even a cannon firing?

Through the return to Self-awareness, we must be alert to mental influences and gain an understanding of the true source and impersonal nature of evil, the evil that has forever assailed and found expression through man, if we are to play our part in and make a contribution towards the upliftment, resurrection, and salvation of the world, the re-establishment of the harmony, peace, and perfection of the spiritual creation, for nothing less than the influence of God-consciousness can show the world a better way.

There must be those among us, unfooled by good or evil appearances, who recognize the Call to know the truth of One Power, that the government is on His, God’s, shoulders; those who understand the need and who are willing to do sufficient work within themselves to prepare ye to meet thy God,⁴ to make straight the paths of the Lord,⁵ to leave all for My sake,⁶ and ultimately raise up and resurrect the Son of God in Man; those who realize the omnipresence of God’s omnipotent Life, Love, and Grace, forever constituting, enfolding, and embracing Individual Being universally; those who know it is time for the Day of Awakening.

Nations, empires, have fallen through the slow permeation of corruption: the corruption of laws, standards, and ideals; motive, mind, and intent; the corruption of power and people into the slavery of greed, lust, sensuality. And in this age of instant communication and computer technology, as nations respond and react to the decoys of appearance, individuals of all ages, backgrounds, religions, nations, colors, creeds are more open and exposed than ever to the influences of those who have much to gain from the undermining and enslavement of the mind of man. Technology has opened the door to data, reference, and wisdom, and is a perfect form and medium of education and communication, but it has also opened the door to other aspects of detrimental human belief.

When man is deeply asleep enough not to notice the thief in the night come in, that is when we must be most on guard. And that time is Now. Man in general is lost to the dream and incapable of waking himself. And so we, as students of awakening and universal spiritual wisdom, must fulfill the righteousness of knowing for our world, the earth that groaneth and travaileth for the coming of the Children of God and the state of awakening that they bring.

We must see through the good as well as the erroneous appearances and suggestions that present themselves to us. We cannot bury our heads in the sand, disowning or ignoring the situation, and say it isn’t happening, but we must let the appearance wake us up to the ever presence of the One Divine Activity, that which truly IS the ONLY happening. We cannot walk past on the other side. We have to be as vigilant as those whose task it is to be that. We have to play our part in healing and upholding our world.

First and foremost, we must do our utmost to awaken ourselves; then let the Light of our knowing flow out to and embrace our entire world, saint and sinner, unconditionally. Despite all evidence to the contrary, we must realize God’s Love omnipresent, uniting and enfolding all men in righteousness, oneness, and brotherly love, a spiritual union beyond division, the reality and truth of Man. To this end are we born. For this very hour are we come to this place. This is the New Crusade, the crusade of the twenty-first century, the action of non-action, bringing freedom and justice, equality and hope to all men — not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit.⁷

It is a New Age, an Age of Enlightenment, not Darkness; an age of spiritual awakening, not material power; an age of the return of unity and the dissolution of division; an age of sharing, not acquisition; compassion, not complacency. How far from the goal we have fallen. And so, there is much work to be done within and on ourselves, for how blind we have become to the reality of us all.

In order to be instrumental in this process, we must rally to the call worldwide and respond with determined, renewed righteousness and recognition to bring peace and stability, security and a sense of purpose to the lives of all men everywhere. We must know the true nature of God, the nature of Individual Being, the nature of error, and in order for it to be as it IS — the kingdom of God on earth — the true nature of Prayer, fully understanding the nature of this world of appearances, lest we pray to the non-existent god of false concept to change a non-existent world of material belief; like praying to the light to heal the darkness it knows nothing of.

Awakening surely IS a Journey; it also has its Day, its time, and so, in the writings of this book — a book that challenges our misconceptions and invites our self-inquiry, speaking of the necessary preparation for the day of the coming of the Lord, the Day of Awakening — it is hoped you will find pointers in the direction of resolution of some of these issues and a sense of recognition dawning in your awareness that the truths revealed are the truth of your own being, infinitely individual, autonomous, and utterly unique in the eyes of God as we all are, each one having a purpose in being, a value, a place, a worth, the remnant set aside for him alone.

For all that is written, the total text of mysticism will never be fully documented in a definitive way, for though it remains changeless, it is eternally evolving according to man’s vision, bringing all men ultimately to the place of realization, understanding, and awakening. And so it is for us, through silence and stillness, to bring ourselves into the Light and awareness of God’s Presence, that we might be used as instruments through which the Peace, the Power, and the Presence of God can flow out into Its creation, to will and to do unto Its Good Pleasure.⁸ There is no greater purpose or peace for man to attain than this, to be willing to leave all for My sake and be used as an avenue of Light unto a world in need of awakening.

God is omnipresent, the totality of being, filling all space, pervading all existence, the underlying substance of all form, the reality and truth of all identity. There is no life but God. I is God, completeness, Here, Now. If it lives, it is God living. If it is, it is God being, God appearing; God, the One Life, witnessed and beheld in infinite form and variety, universally, but always only ever God.

And so, not judging by appearances, we must henceforth know no man after the flesh, but after the righteousness of Spirit,⁹ each living the highest, purest principles of Universal Faith, following its precepts unto our own enlightenment and awakening; for whatever name we give to it, in whatever part of the world we find ourselves, whatever our denomination or creed, it is still only ever that one Universal Presence, the one true God in us all. And this book, challenging the false concepts or conditioned thinking we entertain about the Truth, and dealing with the true nature of Man and the universe of Spiritual Creation, eternal verity and present need, is intended to be a contributory factor in that worldwide Call to Awaken.

Author’s Note

Despite the fact that the original class from which the idea for this book came forth was given in 1998, the challenge to live the truths that found expression in it lives on, day to day, moment to moment. More than ever now, more than ten years on and many hundreds of hours of lecture work later, I speak from experience when I say, glorious as it might be, it is not always easy to live the spiritual life: to pay the price, to resist not evil, to seek not the good of the human experience, but to cease from man; to know the truth of manifest perfection and the spiritual creation that is the truth of Being as the only presence; then to live as if this were really true, which it is.

Though The Day of Awakening grew out of the original booklet, Preparation for the Day, one session from that class, it was never intended that I should continue to expand on its theme; in fact it has been a little like unexpectedly opening the floodgates of my life’s experience in Truth, fearlessly bearing my Soul in trust, and sharing the fullness of my discoveries on the Path of Awakening.

It has unlocked the door and released much poetry that was written decades even before that and, as a result of the experiences of awakening through which all men pass, hopefully conveys to the reader the magic, the mystery, the awe and the wonder of the spiritual journey of awakening to God’s Presence, God’s Power, and God’s Love; the truth of the Spiritual Creation, the true nature of Man, and the nature of this world of appearance. To illustrate this, not in an orthodox way, but as evidence of principle in practice and my way of sharing Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works [the truth of principle] and glorify your Father which is in heaven,¹ many examples are given in testimony of the fruits of application. And so it embodies and includes examples of the highs and the lows of every man’s earnest endeavor to accommodate and adjust to himself as he goes through the inevitable changes encountered on the way to Self-realization. It speaks of the joys, as well as the Dark Night of the Soul, which through still being mortal, and to some degree believing in and touched by the suggestions of sense, he is unable to entirely avoid.

It has been an interesting time of absorption in and unfoldment of the writing of this book, so much so, there were times when I wondered, does the process that never ends, ever stop? It has been a time of ceaseless outpouring, an exciting experience of watching and witnessing Consciousness unfold, reveal, and disclose, through illustration and clarification of principle, the inner meaning and secrets of Its message as to that which is the truth of Itself, the Living Word made flesh, the Truth of Man and his oneness with God. Once those floodgates opened, there was no stopping the torrent of Self-expression that poured forth, speaking from the Heart of the Eternal, of that which is the Truth of All Being.

When thinking of the two years Miriam and I had spent on the book, I saw so clearly, nothing happens in time; the only happening is in being, consciousness. It either IS, or it isn’t, in which case, it never will be. We have done nothing, for there was no we to do. There was, as there IS, only Being. Conceptual existence is not happening. Only Being IS. Only God, Being, is being.

And so, writing a book, as is reading it, is a personal journey; it is the author’s, editor’s, or reader’s journey of discovery, reflection, and recognition of that which is the truth of himself in the eternal Now. What I write is shared from the standpoint of individual, personal self-observation as I watch and witness the mesmeric influence of the hypnotism of this world ceaselessly in operation.

What is written in these pages is that by which we are all invited to live our lives, revelations of the moment that embody whatever truth has gleaned and revealed itself to me throughout this lifetime’s many mundane and sometimes even sublime experiences.

So, from a standpoint of principle and practice, in reading this book may you be spoken to in both heart and mind by the voice and revelation of the truth of your own Being. May you recognize in what you read, the Light unto the Path of your own way forward.

May inquiry precede you; may inspiration dawn and recognition take place in the Now moment as we journey together in the Oneness of Being towards the Light of Knowing on the Path of Reconciliation, Revelation, Self-discovery, and Awakening.

It only remains for me to say how at one with Thee I AM and know myself to be, at one with you, the reader, no matter who you are, where, or when, for in this moment, reader and writer are but One Presence, One Consciousness, and as such, nothing less than the fullness of compassion, appreciation, love, and understanding exist in me for you, knowing so well as I do, you are none other than the One Self I AM, as all is One, inseparable, indivisible.

My Friend

In the Peace of the Light, I AM,

Everywhere as I AM do I love Thee.

Beyond and yet within and as All things, I AM.

Forever One with Thee, My Friend, I AM,

Inseparable, Indivisible, The ONE, I AM.

How sweet is the Light of Forgiveness,

how my heart sings and is glad,

how grateful I am

to know You,

the One

Self.

~ 1 ~

A Process of Introspection

It takes so many words to say what no words are already saying, yet there is no way to soften or cushion the blow of revelation. Once we are touched by the Spirit, as life inevitably ultimately renders us, we begin our journey into Truth, and there is no turning back; we become immersed in and baptized by the Living Waters of Spirit, challenged to awaken, returned to the fold, and welcomed back to the Father’s House, which invitation we spend our lives endeavoring to accept. Life then becomes an awareness of the Living Word and not just words, such that thereafter, everything speaks.

There is no easy way to say or accept that all that has seemed forever to be reality, isn’t; and that all we have held to for so long, must be released. Man was never born. Man is eternal in the heavens. Mortal man as a selfhood apart from God is naught but the product of universal belief, for there is no selfhood apart from God. That which God did not make, was not made. Everything we have ever learned about life must be open for adjustment and re-education. We must be fearlessly willing to leave all reliance on the old city of conceptual awareness and be transformed through the renewing of the mind, while the New Heaven and the New Earth come into being. Once our time has come, we have no choice but to respond, for we cannot resist the call of awakening to mystical consciousness if we are to remain in this ever-deepening awareness of our true divine estate and fulfill our purpose in being. Change of perception has to take place and evolution in awareness has to happen as the inevitable process of transformation and dissolution has its way. The journey has begun, and will continue with us or despite us. And so there is no easy way to begin to present the truth, no point in beating about the bush if we are to begin to lay the axe at the root of false concepts entertained and be willing to embark on the journey of awakening, realization, and Self-discovery.

The whole of life as we see it, is conceptual — mental imagery, mind formation, or mortal thought, images in the mind of man, material creation — when all the while, filling all space, eternal in the Now, is the Consciousness I AM that is God being All Being. In that dimension, only I AM, and that I AM we all are, the One Self, is Self-perpetuating. So rest, assured, and let It perpetuate Itself.

And so, in order to begin the process of preparation for the Day of Awakening, we must bring ourselves to the Seventh Day, the Sabbath, when God’s peace reigns over all the earth, for within the depths of our own withinness, approached and attained only through stillness, exists the kingdom of God. The experience, the awareness, or the realization of this fact of truth renders null and void a material sense of life, the appearance world of both good and evil, the apparency of duality in which we seem to exist.

But even though it already is so, the end being from the beginning, we cannot just have this experience without the necessary preparation, and so the years of awakening are entered into to make straight the paths of the Lord so that when in a moment ye think not and in a way ye know not,¹ He does utter His Voice;² when that experience of revelation and awakening does finally take place, we are ready and able to fearlessly and willingly allow the earth [of sense] to melt³ and the Holy Ground of Spirit to be revealed, knowing this to be an unfoldment of the consciousness we are, the purpose of our being, our spiritual destiny — awakening.

From the standpoint of our present state of attainment, our human sense of life, this is a radical adjustment. It is a transition even whilst yet in the flesh, out of the flesh; from sense to Soul, from mortality to Immortality, from corporeality to Incorporeality; and needs those years of preparation, adjustment, and transformation for the mind to be able to accommodate its newfound dimension, for man to become a whole new creature in Christ.

Truth, or reality, is radical only to the delusion of mortal mind with its misconceptions of truth. To spiritual discernment, the totality of One is the simplicity of All. Yet to the mortal, it is a radical truth to accept that in reality there is no such thing as a material world. There is a material sense of world, a universal, impersonal mental concept of life and creation, which in a moment of change in consciousness can dissolve before our very eyes, and as such, there is an appearance world: the manifestation of duality, the belief in two powers, temporal existence, life materially perceived; man the mortal, separate and apart from God. This is man’s material perception of the Spiritual Universe; it is not God’s Divine Creation. What we see isn’t what is; it is simply how we are seeing what is. Where appearances seem to be, the kingdom of God IS, but seen through the glass darkly of material sense and not face to face;⁴ for in truth, Life and the world in which we live, move, and have our being is Spirit, and in that divine dimension, through our oneness with God, we can experience the freedom of our own infinity.

We are in the world, but we really are not of it, and as such, must attain dominion over it, over all things in the sky, on the earth, and beneath the sea;⁵ over material sense, lest, as we all do, we become hypnotized by appearance, mesmerized by illusion, and captive to the flesh, for all such dimension is but the imposition of universal belief, mental suggestion and impression, mind formation, thought; creation as matter, matter as form, form as identity, when Consciousness IS what I AM and GOD, Spirit, the substance of all form.

Catalysts for Awakening

There is no doubt or denying, to the natural man in us all, riddled with belief as he is, this world is very real. But as we evolve through ever deepening experiences of different states, degrees, and varying stages of consciousness, we come to realize that all is not as it seems, and that there really is more to life than meets the eye. The visible world, sense perception or material awareness, is but the tip of the iceberg compared to the underlying reality; or as my then seven-year-old daughter once said in a poem she wrote called, The Place I Need: Life is not just fun, it’s more than that.

We are no longer content simply to live the human life, not even a good one. We have begun to understand that there is an erosion, a revelation taking place, an undermining influence in operation, an activity in consciousness, awakening us from the material sense of life to the spiritual base that is the truth and reality of our identity.

As a child is happy whilst in the relative freedom of expression he finds in the family of his friends, ultimately he becomes bored, unsettled, discontented, and quietly or even eventually loudly wants only to return to his home. So are we in the world, for a long time happy to be in it, and then eventually, as we begin to feel the memory and the pull of our true home, we become unimpressed by the pleasures, unmoved by the pains, and anxious only to go home.

And so we begin to respond to and seek life’s true purpose: to return to God, to God-consciousness, to prepare for the Day of Awakening. This must be our sole and greatest purpose in being, for ultimately the human life, the dream of this world, wears thin and is seen through, for it can at best fulfill the empty promises of human or material good, and the time comes when we seek only to return and to remember, to return to the Father’s house and to remember our true home; to emerge from the cocoon of the imposition on us all of the limitations of material sense, and to awaken once more to the awareness and freedom of spiritual consciousness.

Distant memories vaguely form,

Forgotten states to be reborn,

Like silent visions of cloudless skies,

As open spaces fill the eyes

that are beginning

to open.⁶

Yet even when we know things are not as they seem, that does not always mean we have already attained any great degree of understanding. For the mortal in us all, it is but the beginning of our questions on the path of awakening and self-inquiry, all of which serve a purpose and which lead us, through a process of introspection and contemplation, to the feet of the Master within ourselves. It allows us to see more clearly than ever that there is no way of accounting for or reconciling appearances with the reality and truth we are coming to know and brings us to the interrogative stage where we start to question our world, our being, our purpose.

What am I to make of how I find myself to be?

The one I am is not the one I always thought was me,

Something’s happened somewhere, though I know not how or why,

I only know the changes made I no more can deny.⁷

The experience, like the slow, irresistible movement of a glacier, scars our attachment to and identification with form, cutting a swathe through the landscape of our perceived reality. There is just no stopping the inexorable process. It is the fulfillment of our purpose in being and leaves us with no choice but to rise to the occasion, accept, allow, and respond to the Call to Awaken.

Once I was blind, but now I see, but more than I can say,

So much is known in moments clear, when mist has slipped away,

The veil is drawn, I breathless hang, suspended HERE and NOW,

’Tis not as it has always seemed, don’t ask me why or how.⁸

It causes us to question our reality, our truth, our understanding and our identity. It even causes us to question who is asking the questions; who is it in us that does not know, whose nature is not that of Omniscience Itself, and who seeks an answer to his existence.

Who is this asking questions? Let go the need to know,

Let go, let be, let flow, let free and see the reason show,

For life will solve itself, just let it, don’t try to understand,

I only need to sow the seed of staying where I AM.⁹

Stop seeking and be found. Truth is self-revealing; let It reveal Itself. It is the reason for our being and the solution unto every issue of our existence. But the questioner, thinking he is the doer, imagines he has to do something other than be, for it to be so. Herein exists a paradox as we invite the interrogative mind to be still, for told as we are, With all thy getting, get understanding,¹⁰ we are also told to Lean not unto thine own understanding.¹¹ Yet to the mortal, the aspirant in us all, the interrogative stage of awakening and self-analysis is also the beginning of wisdom calling, for:

Questions are but answer’s song, that call you to the Source,

As bubbles from the deep they rise, retrace their upward course,

Dive deep to where the pearl awaits, to where the treasure lies,

The open space within the heart, concealed behind the eyes.¹²

And so chance encounter with person or situation; everyday opportunities for practice provided by challenges of protracted disease, pain, lack, or debilitation; moments of extremity or times of heightened awareness; bereavement and grief or the joys of birth or even falling in love; all can be contributory to or catalytic in the direction and early stages of our awakening, finally bringing us to the point where we reach out for or find ourselves on our spiritual path.

Those of God

Constant presentation can be tiresome and discouraging, but regardless of the extremity of those times through which we might seem to have to pass, by forcing us to deepen our conviction, they serve only to sweeten the moment of our release. They too play their part and fulfill their purpose, invaluable moments used for the purpose of our own awakening. We simply unfold or evolve out of the grip of one moment’s hypnotic suggestion into the very same moment in which perfect freedom alone is known, the freedom that was, in its fullness, even though limitation or extremity might have seemed to be. Every soul can break free of the fetters that bind it to earth and enter the kingdom prepared for us all from since before the world was, the kingdom wherein is greater joy over one sinner that repenteth, than over all they that are righteous.¹³

Through the extremity of life, causing him to steal, condemned by man, the thief on the cross at the moment of his death found himself beside the very Christ of his own Being, the Savior: not judged, not condemned, but in his hour of deep desperation found himself recognized, known, loved, and forgiven the moment he saw and reached out to that Christ. In that moment of repentance, as he touched the hem of the robe of that Christ Consciousness within himself, the Gates of Heaven opened unto him, melting, forgiving, and releasing his humanhood, dissolving his material sense, awakening him from the dream, and revealing the reality of his true identity in the light and embrace of Christly love and recognition. In that moment of awakening, he was welcomed back to the Father’s house of his own Being. He had come unto himself.

Sometimes it takes us being brought to our knees, to the end of the line, to the end of our tether, before we know who we are. We seem to have to walk through veil after veil of the mesmerism of material sense before life’s lessons teach us and we learn the true meaning and deeper realities of the truth of our own being.

And so our darkest hour comes just before the dawn,¹⁴ the dawning of the New Day, the Day of Awakening, the Day of Revelation, for which we prepare. In that day, all sin is forgiven, all healing complete, all illusion dispelled, and all promise fulfilled.

All, no matter who they are, how they labor, or how heavily laden, are called into the melting pot of redemption where nothing but healing and forgiveness await, nothing but revelation and awakening can happen, nothing but light and love be found.

Some have furrows on their foreheads,

some have lines upon their arm,

some have nail holes in their hands

and sword wounds in their side

to show the scars.

What matter,

for once the pain has gone,

these are but shadows of a distant dream,

whose pain awakened how it seemed

to Life’s New Hope in Christ and Love.

I die, to live, to find, to give,

within the Being that I AM,

a Land of Light, a Wonderland,

wherein are peopled

Those of God.¹⁵

The Call of Awakening, like a germinating seed breaching the confines and limitations of its shell, leaves us ultimately with no choice but to respond, like a flower to the light, to the irresistible unfoldment of Soul, the true dimension; and human experiences undoubtedly have an effect in molding us, opening us up or breaking us down, revealing the divine intoxication of our own withinness:

What is this intoxicated way I seem to feel,

Dissolving all within my sight, the dream that once was real,

I’m drunk on life, the Wine of Spirit flows within my veins,

The horse and cart have parted now that I’ve let go the reins.¹⁶

Intoxicated by the way I find myself to be,

So much to say with feathered words like graspless air so free,

The dreamer wakes, if you could only see me as I AM,

For so to see is so to be and so to understand.¹⁷

Or in the case of the opposite, the inner strength we find as a result of the challenges of adversity that present themselves to us.

Christ Consciousness

Everyone is the Christ. Our shortcomings are simply the degree in which we are not aware of it and though it would always seem that external forces other than ourselves are responsible for our well-being or otherwise, it is really only ever the degree of our individual state of consciousness, our state of mind (as ye believe, so shall it be unto you) that manifests and appears as our mortal experience. That is why we have dominion, the dominion of Christ Consciousness.

On the mental level there can appear to be other than ourselves communicating with us, leading, guiding, directing, but this is still only our own consciousness unfolding, because there IS only One, and the fact that we think there are other than ourselves is but a sense of separation, the belief in two powers, or a selfhood apart from God, in which division exists. Ultimately, all belief shall be transcended as we come into the fullness of our realization of oneness with the source and substance of all being and all life, which is God.

Even the thief on the cross was not seeing the Christ outside himself. Had his extremity not forced him to that place of dissolution, beyond his ability to contain, where he found he became the Christ of his own being, there would have been no recognition or acceptance of the words spoken to him by the man on the cross next to him. Had he not been ready and prepared within himself, within his own awareness, even hearing the same words, as was the case with so many, he would have thought the words coming from Jesus were just the babbling of a dying, crucified man. It was only because of his own condition, his own state of mind and consciousness, that Christ was able to speak to him and be understood. For all outer apparency, the externalized Christ is always only conceptual, for the concepts entertained are what manifest as appearance. What is on the film of acceptance appears on the screen of experience. Yes, this was the Christ and Savior unto him, the thief on the cross, but opposing concepts were entertained by others, to whom this man, Jesus, was nothing but a threat, a heretic, and a blasphemer.

This is not to detract from Jesus, the greatness of his teaching or the passion of his pain, in any way, regardless of how others saw him, for Jesus already was the Son of God in full measure, the attained state of consciousness, the hem of the robe of which the thief on the cross had touched and was becoming aware of within himself.

We are letters of Truth, letting Truth be in us, letting Truth live in us moment to moment, and as such, you are the truth you know, which is why as our awareness grows, we appear to change, for ultimately you can only come to know your own Self — the fullness, the fact, the reality, the Truth of the One Life, of which you are the totality. You are the fullness of the One I AM. You have never been other; there has never been less. Only the acceptance of the illusion and the hypnotism of a dream state of existence separate and apart from or other than It has clouded our vision. But the Light, the Truth, the Reality of that One I AM, has always been the same. It has never changed — and you ARE that I AM throughout eternity.

The ultimate change of identity the world knows — as if we had a beginning and an end — is what it calls birth and death. But death is an illusion, as is life as we humanly imagine it. In fact, the last enemy itself, like this world in its entirety, with its birth and death, is naught but the Grand Illusion, the hypnotism of sense, the belief that Life, that which IS, ends, or suddenly ISN’T. But like the horizon that always seems to be there, we never actually come to it. Death for Truth — the reality of true identity, Spirit, Soul, Consciousness, Life Eternal — is an impossibility; it is but the misconception of the limits of man’s vision and is not a reality.

The Concept of Reincarnation

When there is no time, there is no such thing as a lifetime. There is only Eternal Being. And so is it with the concept of Reincarnation. There never was a selfhood apart from God. Although on one level life’s recurrence might appear to be the case and would seem to account for our eternality — as we are in fact Eternal Being Itself and there is only One Life, changeless and ever present — it cannot be the ultimate truth. It is but mortal theory and remains only so long as the belief in separation exists. I AM; there is no again to being; it just IS. It doesn’t come and go; it doesn’t re-appear; it never isn’t. It is only in the realm of illusion where duality prevails that apparency testifies to more than one. In reality there is no coming back, because in truth there is no going or leaving. We only come ever more so into being, evolving in awareness, for there is only the Now moment of eternal being. We do not reincarnate in terms of having or being a different life, we remain forever the same Life; we simply continue our uninterrupted journey of consciousness unfolding forever in the Now into the Light of the ever present and eternal Reality we truly are and have never not been. And that which we have never not been is the Light of Consciousness, in the world, that which is the Light of the world, continually unfolding, revealing and disclosing Itself in a process of effulgence, revelation, and awakening, which process can only be the effulgence of what IS, the One Eternal Life, beyond division; revelation of the Truth that I and my Father are One; and awakening to the reality of All Being, inseparable and indivisible, the process of Self-discovery.

On two occasions I have seen beyond the suggestion of this lifespan experience into what might be called previous life experiences, into what appeared as two separate previous parallel lifetimes happening simultaneously as expressions of the same One Life I AM. While both were similar in context, moments of awareness of the same imminent happening, though in different theaters of war and by different means, in both cases — perfectly illustrating the point of Eternal Life, ever present, yet seemingly out-picturing the belief in separate lives — I was a soldier on the battlefield. I had no sense of identity as them, but I was the reality and life they truly were, the reality of their Soul identity, the truth of their Being.

At the moment of their or my death, execution-style, all just instantly went black, but I, or whoever they were, was still there, still being. As I (the I that in one moment was who they were) opened my eyes, I (the SAME I) was in the SAME MOMENT the I that is me. Just One I. There had been no sense of the ending of one life and beginning of another, no movement or transference of consciousness. There was only the continuation of the SAME One Life, seemingly appearing as different forms, different mind ideas, thereby revealing the ever presence of the One, even though there appeared to be separate lives. ALL is the SAME Life, the same presence, in the SAME eternal MOMENT of Now. Those who might dismiss any such experiences, realizations or revelations as mental, thereby claiming to invalidate their authenticity, have to realize it is ALL mind, of the senses, the material universe, the second chapter of Genesis, the mental creation. As vision or consciousness evolves, we see it is ALL the out-picturing of the impersonal universal belief or suggestion of a creation, life, identity, activity, selfhood apart from God; a life that is born and can die, neither of which parameters are reality, for we ARE Eternal Being, the One Life, eternal, ever present in the Now.

Yet although all vision but that of unconditioned infinity is mind, visible only on the mental level and never external to us, inner revelation unfolds through our perception and registers in our awareness as the unfoldment of consciousness appearing, a seemingly visible out-picturing in the mind in a moment of experience as we almost instantaneously evolve from sense to Soul. It is a cataclysm for the mortal that must be released and can happen in the blink or twinkling of an eye when Spirit moves. These timeless moments are those unsought experiences that take place inevitably and unexpectedly, in a moment ye think not, as awakening and revelation happen. We are not capable of transformation without transition and so we appear to go through states and stages of mental transition and consciousness unfolding as Spirit is revealed as the reality of true identity, establishing Itself where mortality once seemed to be. We cannot, neither should we, ever seek these experiences, though they are, at least for a season, common occurrences for the initiate on the path of awakening.

Eternal Identity

What happened to the babe you once were?