Returning To Wholeness

“Basic goodness lies in our wholeness, not in our struggle against evil.” -Rodney Smith. All virtue arises from a place of wholeness. When we let go of the defense mechanisms of the ego and surrender to the will of the soul, we find the peace and wholeness that is our essential nature. It is the place that we arise from, and the place we will one day return to, just as the wave arises from the ocean and, eventually, returns to it. This is a 20-minute talk followed by a 20 minute guided practice.

Transcript

Last week we talked about the metaphysics of love and light,

And how there are these polarities of light and dark,

Of love and fear,

That we all struggle with in living a human life.

And that ultimately,

Whatever we focus on,

Whatever we put our intention into,

We give more strength to,

And it grows within us and within our experience of ourselves,

Others,

And the world around us.

As we focus more on love and light,

And we let go and move beyond the fear and the attachments and aversions that the fear creates,

That generates darkness from obscuring the clarity of the mind and increasing the aggressions of the ego,

As we let go of that and focus on the love and the light,

Not only does it bring those forth in our experience,

We move towards wholeness.

And this is something that we all crave,

Is this deeper sense of wholeness,

Of unity,

Of oneness.

It's been given so many different names throughout time,

But it's that felt experience of being inherently connected to something beyond this limited sense of self.

As we move towards that state of wholeness,

Virtue naturally begins to manifest.

It brings forth all that we generally would perceive and define as good,

As beautiful,

As meaningful.

It's from that place of wholeness that we fulfill our destiny.

As we surrender,

Using the free will of the mind,

We surrender to that destiny of the soul,

We move towards ourselves,

And we move towards something that transcends this limited sense of an individuated body that is separate from others.

I'd like to share a quote from Rodney Smith,

Who's a Buddhist chaplain.

This is from the book,

Lessons from the Dying.

Basic goodness lies in our wholeness,

Not in our struggle against evil.

The goodness that manifests from the absence of conflict has no opposite.

When something contains everything,

There can be no force aligned against it.

It stands without opposition,

Rightly integrated.

Basic goodness lies in our wholeness.

Some of you may remember in the class last week when I was talking about these polarities of light and dark and love and fear,

I mentioned how they're sometimes termed as good and evil,

And how sometimes with those terms we can start to think that that represents some inherent quality of someone that is essential to their very nature.

But really,

What Rodney Smith is expressing here is that it's through that wholeness that what we term goodness manifests,

Not through struggling against evil.

Often when we use the paradigm of good and evil,

Then we think to be good we have to fight against what we perceive as evil.

And yet,

Not only do we have to be good and evil,

But we have to be good and evil.

And yet,

Good and evil so often are relative constructs.

And really,

That which we perceive as good or evil is really just a manifestation of greater wholeness on the one hand,

Or greater separation and darkness on the other.

And when we move towards that state of wholeness,

Nothing can stand against us because we are a part of everything.

We realize that we are inherently connected,

And we're able to see that when someone is acting from an unskillful or hurtful place,

That is stemming from their own internal hurt,

Their own self-judgment,

Their own past trauma,

Their own fear.

And so this is why as we move towards wholeness,

All of the virtues will naturally manifest,

Will naturally have greater humility,

Will have greater patience,

Greater courage,

Greater love.

Our very presence and actions and words will express greater beauty and will bring benefit to others in the world around us.

And as we do so,

As we move towards that wholeness,

We find a deep sense of peace and stillness within.

We find that which we have always been seeking,

The pure unconditional love of our true nature.

And once we reach that state of wholeness,

We find that freedom that comes from being liberated from all of the conditioned habituated patterns and thoughts and fears that drive so many of our thoughts and actions before we reach the state of wholeness.

And so as we move towards that state of wholeness,

We move beyond unnecessary suffering.

It's those accgressions of the ego that we've talked about in the past that create the darkness because they cover over the filter of the mind.

And that's what creates a felt sense of separation between self and other,

But also a felt sense of separation within ourselves.

And that leads to an incredible amount of angst and insecurity and fear.

That which we truly seek is within us.

And as we surrender those defense mechanisms and we move towards that light of the soul,

We find that we have everything that we need within.

Because it's that separation created by the ego that causes so much suffering,

That clouds our perception so that we no longer perceive reality clearly.

As that clears,

We perceive ourselves as we are in our limitless,

Unbounded,

Complex nature.

We perceive the world as it is,

In all of its beauty and love and complexity.

And that leads to this merging where we no longer feel separate from ourselves or from others or the world.

And that sense of non-separation is expressed as love.

And as we love,

It removes all separation,

Circular in that manner.

You know,

When you truly love someone or something,

You become one with it.

You're still separate,

But it's not two,

Not one.

There's a deep connection there.

You become a part of each other.

And so as we cultivate this light and wholeness within,

We naturally become a part of everyone and everything around us and they become a part of us.

We're able to see clearly into their true nature.

And so as we cultivate this light and wholeness within,

We're able to see clearly into their true nature.

We're able to see clearly beyond the contrivances of the ego and understand where their actions and words are coming from.

And it allows us to relate to them more skillfully.

This learning to surrender is a letting go of fighting against the flow of life.

It's letting go of fighting against ourselves.

Because in this search for happiness and fulfillment and light,

We are almost always our own worst enemies.

We often project that out into the world and onto others and think that our sense of separation and our suffering is due to this event or this person or something that's happening out in the world.

And as long as we do that and we keep our focus outwards,

Looking for it out there,

Trying to find what's wrong,

Trying to find the evil that's out there and fight against it,

We actually reinforce that sense of separation.

And in that way,

We are our own worst enemies.

As we surrender and let go of those defense mechanisms,

We stop fighting against ourselves and we stop fighting against the world as it is,

And we naturally move towards that place of wholeness.

As I said,

This wholeness is simply another expression for that light,

That love,

That unity.

These are all different conceptual constructs,

Words that are symbolic,

Trying to gesture towards a felt experience of being human.

And so it's important to not get too attached to the words,

To understand that they are notions,

They're concepts.

And if we get too attached to them,

This in itself will actually become counterproductive and create greater separation.

It's about moving towards a state of experiential awareness.

And this misunderstanding,

This getting attached to the words themselves and the concepts,

Is a significant contributor to so much of the fighting and wars between different religions over the ages.

And so,

As we continue to move towards that state of experience,

Over the ages,

When we get attached to those words and concepts,

We try to limit the infinite.

It's only by moving beyond those concepts,

Understanding that they are guideposts along the way,

Helping us on our path,

But not stopping and thinking that the signpost is the end,

But realizing we have to go beyond it.

That's what takes us into that felt experience of unity,

Of God,

Of the ocean of being,

Which we are all immersed in and a part of and expressions of.

You know,

I've used the metaphor before of the wave in the ocean,

And the idea being that we can pick out an individual wave as it's forming,

As it's crusting,

And as it's crashing back into the ocean.

And as we look at it and point to it,

We can name it and we can see it as an individuated distinct entity,

And we are like that wave.

And we look at ourselves and we see ourselves as individuated distinct entities,

And we see others as individuated distinct waves that are manifest.

But when we focus on that individual aspect of the wave,

We lose connection to the underlying unity.

When we focus on ourselves as individuated waves,

It strengthens the ego.

It strengthens the sense of separation,

Of seeing ourselves as separate entities,

And in doing so,

It augments our suffering.

The wave we can see is inherently impermanent.

We know that the wave is impermanent.

We know that its nature is to rise out of the ocean,

Manifest,

And then crash back into the ocean.

Similarly,

These individuated bodies and selves that we have are waves that are impermanent.

When it is their time,

They manifest and come into being.

They come through their full fruition,

And eventually they crash back into the ocean of oneness.

And so if we get attached to that impermanent manifestation,

That leads to greater suffering.

Instead,

We have the option to focus on the actual essence of the wave,

And we know that the essence of the wave is water,

Is the ocean.

And if we focus on that aspect of the wave,

We tap into that underlying wholeness and unity that it is always a part of and an expression of.

Similarly,

As we look deeply within ourselves,

We can see and find and experience that inherent essence that is greater than this individuated wave of our body.

We can start to understand how we are always connected to the ocean,

The ocean of being,

The ocean of the divine,

The ocean of light and love.

And then we can use this individuated wave of our body to experience and express that ocean of love.

Another metaphor that's commonly used that involves water is if we look at clouds and the formation of clouds,

We know that a cloud is water vapor.

Now,

If we got attached to the form of a cloud and wanted it to remain a cloud always,

That would lead to a lot of suffering because it won't remain as a cloud.

The cloud will eventually create rain,

It'll form into rain.

Those same water molecules that were the water vapor that created the form of a cloud will transform into rain droplets that will fall to the earth.

And we can't get attached to the rain then either because that is simply the form the water is taking for a period of time until it falls and enters the streams and rivers.

And then that same water that was a cloud and became rain is now a stream or a river.

And that stream or river will make its way down and eventually enter the ocean and transform.

And then out of that ocean,

Water molecules will evaporate and rise up to the sky and form clouds again.

And so if we get attached to any one of these limited forms that the essence of water vapor manifests as,

It creates suffering.

If instead we step back and look at the big picture of how everything is interrelated and interdependent and one thing leads into the next and how everything in existence,

Everything in manifest existence is a continual,

Impermanent transformation of form from one thing into the next into the next.

And then we look beneath that to see what the essence of that is.

Then we find that wholeness that we seek.

I'll share a quote that I've shared in the past from Hazrat and Ayat Khan.

There are many virtues but there is one principal virtue.

Every moment passed outside the presence of God is sin and every moment in his presence is virtue.

And that's what this is referring to.

As we shift our consciousness to focus on the essence,

On the wholeness,

On the light,

On the love,

That brings us into the presence of God.

We become experientially aware and present to the divine play of life as we move into the presence of God.

We become more aware of life as it's occurring that we are immersed in and a part of.

When we focus on the wave and we focus on the individuated sense of self,

That is sin and that's what gives rise to suffering and that which is perceived as evil.

There's all these different ways to describe this throughout many different traditions and cultures and religions and spiritual philosophies that are all gesturing towards the same underlying truth.

And as we move towards that place of stillness and light within,

We become experientially aware of it and it becomes easier to perceive that truth in its many forms and to not get attached to the words that are gesturing towards it.

So if you will,

Let us practice.

Please find a comfortable and stable posture for meditation.

Can be seated or lying down.

Most important thing is that you have a stable base beneath you,

Supporting you and holding you up so you can completely let go of any unnecessary tension,

Holding or guarding.

Of any unnecessary tension,

Holding or guarding.

Once you arrive in your posture,

Bring awareness to the natural movement of the breath.

Observe the breath as it flows in and out,

Keeping you continually connected to the air around you.

Notice if the breath is long or short,

Choppy or smooth,

Shallow or deep,

Shallow or deep,

And simply allow it to be as it is.

Begin abdominal breathing with each inhalation,

Allowing the abdomen to gently expand,

With each exhalation allowing it to gently contract.

As you continue abdominal breathing,

Bring awareness to the felt sense of the body as a whole.

Notice if there are any areas of tension,

Discomfort,

Resistance,

And with every exhalation allow those areas to soften.

Notice how as you use the breath to consciously soften and release tension and resistance,

Notice how the body becomes more integrated,

More whole.

This softening and surrendering allows the body to become more connected within itself.

As you continue abdominal breathing and using the exhalation to soften and surrender areas of tension and resistance within the body,

Bring awareness into the solidity beneath you that's supporting you and holding you up.

Allow the breath to lead you into softening and surrendering,

Into that stability beneath you.

Into that stability beneath you.

Notice how Notice how as you surrender into that stability,

You move towards a state of non-separation with it.

Notice how as you surrender into that deDRE.

As you continue breathing,

Bring awareness into the felt sense of the air around you.

And with each exhalation,

Soften and surrender into that experience of where the air meets your body.

And with each exhalation,

Soften and surrender into that experience of where the air meets your body.

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Notice how as you soften into the air around you,

You move towards a felt experience of non-separation.

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Notice if the breath has shifted since the beginning of the practice.

Notice the stillness within.

Become aware of the felt sense of the body as a whole.

Notice if this has shifted since the beginning of the practice.

Notice the stability beneath you and the air around you in which you are immersed like a fish in water.

When you are ready,

Maintain a grounding in the stillness and peace within,

The sense of connection,

Of wholeness.

As you gently and slowly begin to open your eyes,

A soft gaze taking in the world around you,

The world which you are a part of.

I would like to share the quote from the beginning again from Rodney Smith.

Basic goodness lies in our wholeness,

Not in our struggle against evil.

The goodness that manifests from the absence of conflict has no opposite.

When something contains everything,

There can be no force aligned against it.

It stands without opposition,

Rightly integrated.

When we find the state of peace and wholeness within,

When we surrender the contrivances of the ego and surrender to the soul,

We let go of the inner conflict that most of us struggle with in being human.

And as we let go of that conflict,

The separation within diminishes until we reach that state of wholeness.

And from that state of wholeness,

Goodness,

Light,

And love,

And virtue,

Will naturally manifest.

It takes practice and dedication.

But as we move towards it,

It becomes easier and easier to access.

So throughout the day,

Try to return to this felt sense of connectedness,

Of peace and stillness within,

The sense of wholeness that has no opposite.

Thank you all for joining me today.

Reviews

Thank you Thomas! That's so beautiful and so delicate. The meditation was like a soft feeling of inner world.

What an incredible practice to revisit often. Powerful and beautiful and sacred. I resonate deeply with the ocean of awareness as a whole, and the wave which seems separate but is rather a part of the wholeness. What a paradigm shift for me! Thank you 🙏🏼 Thomas for another powerful class! So grateful.

your voice , your vibe is very calming. i especially love the meditation in this one. i often put your meditations on repeat at night. having that calmness creates a safe and peaceful space for me to sleep ✨namaste ✨

Thank You Thomas. 🙏🏻🕯️🐢

Whole/Holy = sacred unity. Grateful for the lack of a opposite. Everything belongs.
Radical resposibility to shift and soften in the pivot is a skillful practice I want to learn in order to embrace peace found in my wholeness.
Focusing in practice with you is a discipline that will transform and create. Gratitude!🐢🙏🏻🕯️
James

I hear you Thomas , it is work to relax into love when conditioning had trained guarding, veiling and conflict.

One breath of awareness at a time. One softening into Love at a time. Inch by Inch through the valley and up the mountain to the wholeness already within. 🙏🏻🕯️🐢

Much work but worth the effort.

Peace

Dear Thomas, there is no word to describe the essence of your teachings. So much gratitude 🙏💞✨

Dear Thomas, thank you for this talk and meditation. I have been integrating some of the practices in my yoga classes when I teach and they are very beautiful and helpful. Have a wonderful week! Kind regards from Austria.

Thank you, Thomas, for once again helping us to find that deep sense of peace and stillness that lies beyond fear, beyond conflict 🙏🍃🌟

Goodness truly comes from wholeness. Your explanation, your words, your metaphors, your reading, the practice we did together, all of it really helped me understand better how I can be happy. Thank you Thomas.

Thomas thank you, simple yet I get in my own way, thank you for these talks & guidance so much gratitude
✨ 💛 ✨

Thank you. That's healing. Deep understanding.
Acceptance in sensible awarenes.
♥️ Heartfelt devotion for Peace. Namasté.

Thank you Thomas. This talk really brought everything together for me. 🙏🏼