FOR DECEMBER 21, 2012

    We are in our last month before 2013. Some of you may have read my November Message on my website: theclearandsimpleway re: December 21. This is more about that. As students in the school, you are asked to think for yourself and not just believe what you hear. Do not think that people outside of you necessarily know more than you do. Yes, they may know more about chemistry, sewing, or hiking; we are not talking about that kind of expertise. We should get expert help when we need it.

    We are talking about thinking for yourself. Do not blindly believe what the world says. You are here to go beyond this world, beyond time. This is possible. Yes, the body lives in a time world and this cannot be escaped. But your spiritual self is timeless. Your true divine self is eternal. When we fret and worry about what might happen on December 21 (or any other future time) we are entering into the maya. What is the Mayan Calendar, really? Look at the word: MAYAN and you will see that it contains the word: MAYA.

    MAYA: in Hindu philosophy it means: illusion.

    The 'end of the mayan calendar' means to go beyond the illusion (maya) which means beyond time. Let December 21 be a time for you to re-commit yourself to your spiritual path, to moving from the unreal to the real. The world will not end; there will be no mass transformation of consciousness. It doesn't work that way. It never will. There can be only an individual transformation of consciousness. When you change, the way you see the world changes, and so your world changes. 

      Resolve to learn to think for yourself. Watch the way the world (media, other people, politicians, friends, and lovers) tell you what to think and how to feel. And watch yourself mechanically reacting. Just watch. Become aware. This is the best gift you can give yourself. Become aware of your mechanical reactive nature. Watch yourself being pulled emotionally. Watch how you suffer. Just watch. Be aware. And ask something higher than yourself to show you the way to freedom. Your lessons are something higher than you habitual mechanical reactions. These words are something higher. We have the possibility to let something higher in, but it is hard to do that when our false self (false thinking, feeling, and acting) are talking up all the space. Watch the false self taking up all our precious space, getting fatter, causing us to suffer. Watch it. Become aware. Awareness is the great healer, the great revealer of both lies and truth.

     With Love,
      your teacher & classmate