Writing and more...

Dearest Students, I like to think we are growing and evolving together, as one. One of the features of my work, as you know, is that so-called "enlightenment" is not a one-time static explosion that remains constant forever — meaning you never have to do anymore work on yourself. That has been the idea perpetuated by some new-age gurus, many of whom were eventually exposed to be living in ways that violated certain laws as well as moral ethics. That doesn't make everything such a spiritual teacher said necessarily invalid, but it does call into question the definition of enlightenment.

You and I are growing together. I never claim to be enlightened, nor can I imagine I would ever make this claim. Who is there to be enlightened, after all? If there is someone to be enlightened, we can safely surmise that the enlightenment is a myth.

I love the angels and the teachings that have come to me from them, although I have often struggled with this celestial contact, since it has not been an easy road for me. Something in me has struggled often to resume a more 'normal' life, one where I have a regular paycheck with benefits and 'security.' The voices that deride me for my chosen path are not kind or loving. They are not my friends. How can they be when they insist that I be someone other than who I am?

Each of us must look at the negative voices that cause us pain. Then we will see that God is our true friend. Voices that cause us emotional, mental, and spiritual pain are not friendly. They are not loving. They do not care for us. And yet we listen to them because that is what we have always done. The voices I refer to are, of course, thoughts. When you listen really well, you can see that these thoughts have voices. They are patterns of thinking that have been received and accepted from outside sources. What are the thoughts that cause you pain?

For instance, if your father constantly ridiculed you or told you you'd never amount to anything, you will carry that voice within you. It will attack you at your weakest points. Voices can also be those of society telling you how you should look and what you should be doing. They can be the voices of comparison — making you suffer by comparing you with other people, even with your own idea of yourself.

One reason your lessons exist is to help you become aware of these many thoughts and the way they speak to you. What you are not aware of controls you. When you become aware of something, it begins to lose control over you. This is the most basic teaching of our school. Awareness is the great healer, the great revealer of both lies and truth.

I have always encouraged you to work together, should you have the good fortune to be in contact with other students. You also have the opportunity to engage in Your Open Classroom. The more intimately connected you are with other students, the more chance you have to work on yourself. What do you think intimacy is?

Most people have wrong ideas about intimacy, such as: Intimacy should always feel good. You will always feel close. You will be happy together forever. You will be best friends. You will always think highly of each other. You will never hurt or betray each other.

These ideas are often the downfall of marriages, partnerships, and friendships. It is the idea of intimacy that can come between you and a happy relationship with your husband, wife, children, parents, friends, lovers, or anyone at all. The sooner you give up your ideas, the happier you will be.

A relationship is not an idea. It is not static. It is not a sudden merging where you become best friends forever and everything is lovely. Everything in life — everything — for a true student — is an ongoing process. You are always in the middle of your own story. A relationship is a changing, growing and evolving process. What is the main reason you are in relationship with anyone? To learn. To evolve. To learn to evolve into love.

At some point, before your incarnation here, you and another soul, many souls, came together for the express purpose of working together here on earth to evolve into love. To resolve past karmas into love. To solve the confusion into love. To absolve yourselves till there is nothing left but love. To stop revolving on the wheel of karma so that you exist in continual love. Love is the great healer, the great revealer of both lies and truth.

Become aware of what your mind tells you about love. Become aware of what you think intimacy is. Stop letting yourself be governed by other people's voices. Stop living in drama and agitation. Stop the blame. Stop the recrimination. Just stop. Stop! Stop now! Right now!

Of course, you can't just stop. If you could, you would. But you can work towards it. You can be open and receptive and allow these words to penetrate your mind and reach your heart. You can be willing to understand. You can be willing to stop. You can be willing to let go of your ideas of intimacy, friendship, and love — so that true love, intimacy and friendship can enter your awareness.

Then life will come to have a deeper meaning for you. Relationships will become clear to you. You may even begin to have soul memories of why you are here, what you need to learn, why you incarnated with particular people. There is nothing quite so beautiful as being spiritually connected to other people on the path because it gives you the opportunity to work together, to solve, absolve, resolve everything into love, and stop revolving on the wheel of karma. Each of those words contains the letters for love. This is why you are here. To turn everything into love, and then you stop turning endlessly on the wheel of karma.

Let the past go. The past has already been burned in the fire of time. Forgive yourself for being the only way you could be yesterday or even a moment ago. Today is new. You are new. This moment is new. This moment you can start new. It doesn't matter if you have to start new all by yourself. Remember this: It is not necessary to have another person’s permission, presence, goodwill, or agreement to experience inner peace. Healing and resolution can take place completely within you! You are that free! When you cannot come to terms with another person, despite your best efforts, you can still find inner resolution.

You are this free! You can be free of all arguments and disagreements now. Now! You are not compelled to harbor anger or resentment towards anyone. You can understand that no matter what happens, it can be turned to beautiful results. Even if you don't like the outer results, you can turn any situation to beautiful results — inside you! You can change your thinking. You can forgive yourself. You can realize that the past has already been burned in the fire of time. The past has already been burned in the fire of time! It exists only in your thinking, in the many voices that want to tell you stories about it and keep it brewing inside you where it can cause you pain.

As students, you have the opportunity to step out of the world — to be in the world, but not of the world. Even if you must do this all alone, you can do it! Every interchange with another student is an opportunity for both of you to use the situation to understand. You can also do this with all other people, even when that person is not able or willing to rise to higher understanding. You can still rise. You rise though understanding. You rise though becoming aware of the negative voices that are hurting you. You rise by letting the past die. When you let an unhappy past die, you let a little bit more of the negative aspects of your ego die.

There are also positive aspects to your ego. These positive aspects do not come from the ego; they come through the ego, from a Higher Voice that is urging you on so that you might complete your destiny here and keep moving onto ever higher destinies in the great journey of the soul. Just as a loudspeaker can have positive and negative uses, so can the ego. Someone can blast horrible sounds through a loudspeaker, or someone can pour beautiful music through a loudspeaker. Either way, the loudspeaker just is — it is neither good nor bad; it is neutral.

And so another way to look at the ego is as a tool of God. When you turn towards Spirit, towards Truth, towards Understanding, then that which you seek turns towards you. That which you are looking for is looking for you. Look for darkness, and you will find it. Look for light, and light shall appear upon your doorstep, where it has always been, waiting for you to open the door.

Hmm. This long writing was begun in response to the following quote about ego, which I thought was spiritually applicable enough to post here. It is by George Orwell who wrote an essay, “Why I Write,” in which he lists ego as his first motivation — here’s how he defines his compelling desire to write:

"Desire to seem clever, to be talked about, to be remembered after death, to get your own back on the grown-ups who snubbed you in childhood, etc., etc. It is humbug to pretend this is not a motive, and a strong one. Writers share this characteristic with scientists, artists, politicians, lawyers, soldiers, successful businessmen — in short, with the whole top crust of humanity. The great mass of human beings are not acutely selfish. After the age of about thirty they almost abandon the sense of being individuals at all — and live chiefly for others, or are simply smothered under drudgery. But there is also the minority of gifted, willful people who are determined to live their own lives to the end, and writers belong in this class. Serious writers, I should say, are on the whole more vain and self-centered than journalists, though less interested in money."

I am a writer, so I will take this to heart. Smile. Thank you for being here to write to. I just sat down and wrote this spontaneously, without stopping to think. You can do the same. The same spontaneity that exists for me, exists for you. Of course, I have been practicing for years. Writing is what I do. It is like my breath. I can't live without it.

I strongly encourage you to embark upon your own exploration of writing and what it can do for you. It can relieve stress. Teach you. Relax you. Enliven you. Surprise you. Connect you with God and angels. Numerous studies have shown the healing power of writing at many levels. So, please, write! Not for me. Write for you. 

I love you now and always, each of you and all of you. This is the only truth I know. Love is the great healer, the great revealer of both lies and truth. Love speaks to me. It speaks to you. It comes to me as my Teacher as I write. Love speaks to me as the wise and wonderful angels speak to me, allowing me to offer the gift of their loving expression to you and to me, so that we can continue to grow and evolve together -- into love. 

Thank you for making this soul journey with me. I remember.
Love, Indira aka Judy