Beyond5

When two people stand at the altar and exchange vows, we assume a marriage involves only two people. But in reality, there are usually four people entering the marriage: You, your spouse, the image you have built of your spouse, and the image they have built of you. The quality of your marriage, and the peace in your home, will depend entirely on whether you choose to live with your actual spouse, or with the ghost (I mean image you have built). How the Ghost is Created Unknowingly, from the time we are young, we are architects of an invisible image. By watching our parents' marriage, by consuming movies and social media, by reading books, and through our own past hurts, we slowly sketch a phantom in our minds. It is the image of the "Ideal Husband" or the "Ideal Wife." It is a subconscious checklist of how they should speak, how they should act, how they should show love, and how they should live. The Cycle of Judgment Once we are married, a mechanical, invis...

  The Context:   Reflecting on Joel S. Goldsmith's teaching regarding the state of Grace, where there is no opposition and no belief in "Two Powers". My Insight:  In the physical world, the manifestation of opposition—whether it appears as clashing powers, disagreements, or outright war—is simply an indicator of multiple identities. It is the illusion of multiple, separate "selves." When consciousness is fractured into these separate egos, each individual identity is inherently driven to safeguard its own survival and interests. In this state of self-preservation, people will...

  The Gravity of Love: A Surrender to the One I am with my beloved, and she tells me how powerfully I attract her. Relaxing completely, she intertwines her hands with mine and rests her head against my heart. In that warmth and moment of absolute rest, she whispers: "The Sun continuously attracts all the planets to itself, yet the planets fight to stay far away just to maintain their individuality. They must be so heavy, so inert, to resist the immense gravitational pull of the Sun instead of simply merging into its fire. Such are the ignorant—those clinging to an individual identity—who choose to live by the exhausting law of humanhood rather than surrender to the gravitational pull of Grace ( Pure Consciousness ). It only takes a single moment of tasting the pure love of their True Self —the One Self —for that resistance to collapse." She continues: "I cannot fathom how much love Ganga must have possessed to leave the silent, perfect abode of her beloved Shiva just ...

  The Rule:   If an individual (a personal sense of "I" or "me") is involved at any degree, then it is not spiritual. True spirituality is the absolute absence of the individual. The moment an "individual" enters the equation, we have dropped from the pure "Platform" (One Consciousness) back into the "Noise" (the dream of separation). We can use this rule to test the reality of any spiritual practice, master, or religion: 1. Validating Religion The Test:  Does the religion involve a human individual pleading, praying, or bargaining with an external God...

  The Illusion of the Individual: Shifting from "Somebody" to the "Platform" The Quote:   "It is only when we stop thinking in terms of health and sickness, wealth and poverty, and begin to think in terms of spirituality that we transcend..." - Joel S Goldsmith My Insight:  The concepts of health, sickness, wealth, and poverty only come into the picture when I identify myself as a localized physical body—when I believe I am a "somebody." However, when I step back and see myself as the  Platform  (Pure Consciousness), the perspective entirely changes....

  The Passage:   "We live in a state of spirituality in which there is neither good nor evil—no degrees and no comparisons: There is only Being." - Joel S Goldsmith My Insight:  God consists of me and my beloved. Together, we are God. "Me" represents the pure consciousness of "I". "Beloved" represents the state of being. My choice is Love. How this state of being reflects in the physical world is unknown, and I am joyfully open to however it chooses to manifest. Any attempt to dictate the specific details of this manifestation immediately i...

 Related to the earlier one. The Canvas of Creation: Choosing the State of Being Insight: When I rest entirely in the "I" (as pure, unconditioned consciousness ), there is no creation; there is only the Unmanifest . Creation begins when I allow a specific "state of being" to surface upon me. That chosen state of being then reflects outward, manifesting as my physical world. The power of choice lies entirely in selecting this state of being: If my choice is Love , reality may reflect the vision of One Self living in all beings. It may manifest as intimate moments of love between a man and a woman, a mother and a child, or a compassionate king and his people. If my choice is Personal Achievement , the physical world will instantly arrange itself as a reality of competition, struggle, and comparison. If my choice is Serene Calmness , my reality might manifest as meditating in the remote, silent peaks of the Himalayas . We do not have control over the exact, microscopi...