Life is Wholistic

I really only wanted to create this blog to detail my experiential exploration spiritually speaking. However, this piece will be a little different, but yet pertinent to spirituality.

I've been looking for a good holistic nutritionist and I found one who does phone consultations as I am looking for someone to interpret hair mineral analysis to test for heavy metals and mineral imbalances. The woman I found does something called nutritional balancing which basically takes a person's entire lifestyle into consideration when interpreting lab results and offering nutritional advice. While I am going to sign up for a consultation with her because she's incredibly knowledgeable, I still don't believe that this approach alone is the answer to chronic health conditions.

It's kind of interesting when you look at the allopathic medical establishment and see how they treat patients. They treat every part of the body separately. They treat every health condition with a separate drug or approach. Heck, they have specialists for every body system! I work in the mainstream medical field reading medical charts for a living as a medical coder, so I see this every day of my life. A patient has congestive heart failure and Diabetes, and they are treated as two completely separate conditions, not taking into account the ultimate cause of both is likely the same. It's almost comical reading medical charts how very few in medicine consider questioning why patients reached the level of poor health that they are currently at in the first place. Nope, instead, just throw more drugs at the patients and enhance the notion of separation. This is how our society works. The Pharmaceutical industry absolutely has a stranglehold over mainstream medicine and often control many of the lab studies on drugs. I'll digress for now :)

Even the holistic health field does the very same thing sadly. Granted, they don't use drugs. They use herbs to treat every body system/symptom/disease separately. Again....separation.

Then, you have the other group of people who do understand that our bodies are whole organisms that need to be treated whole-istically and they understand how everything in our lives affects everything else including our toxic exposures especially here in the Western world. They approach  health from the perspective that the body/mind needs to be treated as a whole and they factor in that a spiritual lifestyle is an important complement to physical health.

Yet, all of these approaches are approaching health from a backwards perspective. Would you like to know why? No? You don't want to know why? Well, why did you ask? Oh, you didn't ask. Sorry. Basically, it's just me rambling to myself then. Well, I'll tell you anyway because I'm a nice guy....

All of these approaches take the perspective of the human body/mind and treat outward. Not taking into account that everything including the body/mind is already a manifestation of Pure Energy. If everything is already Energy, then essentially any health condition, is at the focal point, merely an 'Energy issue'. The physical ailments we find are merely byproducts of something energetically out of vibration largely from lifelong stress that has built up in the body. Stress is the number one factor in all chronic health conditions. Emotional stress in our lives gets stored in the body's memory cells and as a result, causes a breakdown in immunity in the GI tract (where 70-80 percent of the immune system is located) which then allows us to be more susceptible to dysbiosis (imbalance of bacteria in the gut), heavy metals, mineral imbalances, chronic infections, allergies and chronic fatigue. The gut is the physical health center of the body. Yet, Energy is the only actual health center since there is nothing, but Energy in reality. Your energetic projections (thoughts/emotions/feelings/most of all beliefs) are the precursor to all health conditions.

When emotions stemming from fear build up over time, the cells break down and immunity becomes a problem in the gut which then leads to every other potential health condition out there. Understand that from the greater perspective of totality, all of this is perfectly fine and you can do no wrong. Healthy or not healthy has no bearing on your true nature which is always whole and complete as Unconditional Love/Pure Being. But, relatively speaking, meaning, relative reality of appearances, meaning, the human vehicle of expression that you are experiencing through/as, we can't deny that chronic health problems exist, especially in the US. So, what's the solution?

Well, it's definitely not about positive thinking. I don't believe in positive thinking. I believe we need to wake up to who we are in the first place if we ever want to address healthcare in the way that it was meant to be addressed when we incarnated into these bodies. Wake up to the realization that we are Pure Potentiality as Being and we create our own realities by our own belief structures. Therefore, the future approach to healthcare needs to focus on a spirituality oriented paradigm and only then, can we address the body physically speaking as opposed to addressing the body first and foremost (which is only addressing the effects) with spirituality merely being a complement. This is why I believe schools should be focusing on providing spiritual studies for children, especially in the form of meditation at a young age, at least as an option. Let children see at a young age that they are not merely just their thoughts/feelings/emotions, etc. Like you and I, they are Brahman/Atman.

Getting away from the notion of separation is the only way to understand that true healing stems from a wholistic approach to life, but not merely in the context of the body/mind, but in understanding that wholistic in this context is in reference to life itself. There is only Being.....with an interconnected web of experiences with everything affecting everything else. There is not anywhere or anything that is separate, merely Being expressing itself in different ways. Everything is already whole. All separation only exists within appearance. Therefore, treating each body part or even each aspect of our experience (body/mind/soul) as something separate is missing the point.

As a result of all of this, I really would love to work in the whole-istic health and spiritual field in the future and really help people whole-istically to heal emotionally, physically and most of all, spiritually. Perhaps, I will become a teacher of sorts. Who knows what's in store for me.

On to my Thanksgiving lunch/dinner now with family

Much love to all

Being....the Universe...and everything in between

Talking to one of my close friends today and he told me about someone's facebook status which showed a picture of the Sun in our galaxy as compared to an even larger Sun known to us and the facebook status indicated that 'we are so tiny and insignificant'. 

This comes from the perspective of separation by only seeing yourself as a body/mind. Taking a less limiting perspective of Being itself, the Universe can be seen as a living organism that is awakening and learning about itself through every possible aspect of its existence. Through every human form which acts as the arms and legs of Source Being, every cell, every particle, every planet, every galaxy and fractals upon fractals outward, and fractals upon fractals inward. We are the universe and from an even greater perspective, we are Being itself, knowing itself in every way imaginable experiencing itself as the Universe.

But, at the same time, due to the subjective nature of our experience, claiming that we are small and insignificant is also a perfectly valid perspective even if it is defining/limiting. As Pure potentiality, we as Being, have the potential to create anything we choose to, based on our beliefs. There are ultimately no right/wrong beliefs. All beliefs are valid. Some more limiting than others. It's merely a matter of either creating by defining and therefore limiting your experience by thinking you are a tiny speck in a massive Universe, or going deep into your experience and seeing that you are anything and everything already as Pure Being and you are also the tiny speck itself. :)

Vacation fun

Exactly one year ago, I was closing out one of the strangest vacations I ever took. I was on a cruise to the Bahamas with my family. Fun trip. Lots of warm weather, awesome beaches and spending time with family was a blast. Watching the pitch black ocean at night all alone was really breath taking. The trip was strange because I spent such a good portion of the trip completely alone as my family retired early each evening and I chose to walk around and try to mingle with other people since I had my own cabin.

The boat was largely catered to the night life scene, yet the majority of the people on the boat were couples or families. I felt very lonely on the trip at certain points, especially at night, and very much missing being home and largely missing the company of other people. But, yet what I realized as the cause of my loneliness was the resisting of 'the uncomfortable'. Being alone on the ship was merely a metaphor in a way to something 'outside of my comfort zone' and the easy way out would have been to have people surrounding me that I was comfortable with. Yet, the experience I received at the time was exactly the experience I needed. I needed to be uncomfortable as a form of introspection to see the part of myself I chose to keep in the dark. Some call this Shadow work which a friend recently brought to my attention this past week. As I've mentioned previously in other posts, relating in any way, is a form of reflection. We awaken through our experiences and see more and more about ourselves when there is something to reflect on. 

Going out by myself to a night club on the ship involving dancing and realizing how incredibly uncomfortable I was in that atmosphere (as a fear of how silly I would look dancing by myself) awakened me to a side of my self that I have chosen to hide for so long. My insecurities really showed on the ship and it was a wonderful thing to have myself being put in such a vulnerable position and having to learn to embrace that. Over the years, I tend to stray away from the uncomfortable in place of only facing the comfortable. I stayed in my comfort zone and only looked for experiences that matched that. Even when I feel physically ill, I would always be looking for the next 'feel good' experience, not allowing for or embracing the fact that I was not feeling good at the moment. I was resisting such a vast part of my experience, simply because I didn't understand it.

Some people I believe stay in their comfort zones because of fear of the dark side. The more and more open and honest I have become with myself involving others and with my own experience, that dark side has become illuminated by the light of my embrace and the more free I feel in that there is nothing in my experience that is not a part of me....including the uncomfortable experiences which no longer seem as dark as they used to. Yes, they can be very difficult to deal with, but facing and most of all embracing the part of us that we feel uncomfortable is a sign that we were previously resisting aspects of ourselves and that is truly enlightenment. 

I AM

Perception/experience is how I (as Being) am knowing myself in multiple limited ways. I/Being am always unlimited. How can that be known directly? Being simply IS. There is no restriction on simply Being. Allow experience to be. There is only unlimited potential. The only restrictions are through mental labels/concepts/definitions I apply to Being which in turn.....creates more limitation on what I actually AM. There is only knowing as everything as myself. Being is all there is from any and every potential perspective.

Knowing myself via this human body/mind is one limited way for me to know/express myself.  Yet, I am also knowing myself through Jane, Mark, Mary, Tom, the ocean, the hair on Derek's head, his organs, the cells in his body, through every tear drop of his, every breath of his, and every particle making up Derek's cells. Being IS. There is only Being.

 I am awakening to myself/AS myself through this human expression known collectively as Derek. I am learning about myself through/as this human expression known as Derek, but not only as Derek. When Derek's perspective is incredibly limited and even judgmental, I am still Being as I AM because I cannot be anything other than 'I AM'. When Derek's perspective becomes wider, I become more and more unlimited via the limited expression of Derek and therefore more aligned with a higher vibrational frequency closer to Pure Being. Even when the body of Derek becomes ill and sick, that is me becoming ill and sick because there is no separation between Derek's experience and my experience of I AM because they are one and the same! I AM Derek. I AM everything that Derek experiences, yet I AM.....not only limited to Derek. The more I allow in my experience through this human form and the less I resist, the more of my true nature comes to light as simply 'I AM'. Presence simply IS. There is only NOW! 

Some insight that came through tonight. Wanted to share. Now, try implementing that into your everyday experience. Not nearly as easy when ego takes over. It's all good though. Enjoy the ride of life. :) I recommend the I AM as a form of mantra in meditation.

Much love to all.

Perspectives upon Perspectives

Consider the following perspective. It is my own perspective. I don't claim it as truth, but as merely a perspective:

Experience is merely perspective if you think about it. 7 Billion or so people, along with animals, rocks, trees, particles, every cell in your body, bacteria etc all co-experiencing from different unique, perspectives to co-create what we call.....objectivity. Meaning.....objectivity is essentially....subjectivity. Blow your mind yet?

Experience is perception and perception is experience. Meaning, the only world we know is via our direct experience. Not just human experience though. All experience through every physical and non physical form in existence.

But, while in these human bodies, our perspectives will always be inherently limited. Therefore, anything and everything you do will affect anything and everything else, like the butterfly effect.....no, not that movie :). All perspectives are inter-connected to co-create this energetic world of physicality.

My perspective might completely differ from Mary's perspective. However, I can never hope to fully understand Mary's perspective because her own unique perspective is just that....unique. When I try to impose my own beliefs upon Mary's perspective, I become more limited. When I can stand back and understand that Mary's perspective is Mary's perspective which stems from Mary's own life experiences, regardless of whether I agree or not with her, then I become less limited in my allowance of Mary's perspective to be as it is in Love and my vibration raises to a higher frequency. That is true compassion and empathy.

So, if this entire universe is merely perspectives upon perspectives, then how can we claim one perspective more right than another perspective? It's only our limited understanding (myself included) of who and what we are that claims as such, not grasping that we are all just experiencing through these limited entities finding our way back to Love which is our home. Open your perspective up to Pure Being and stop limiting yourself so much through judgement and defining of others and life itself and come to understand that defining and labels only limit your potential into the Unlimited.

Here's a couple of cool quotes which detail our limited views on Consciousness from two near death survivors:

"So creation is God exploring God's Self through every way imaginable, in an ongoing, infinite exploration through every one of us. Through every piece of hair on your head, through every leaf on every tree, through every atom, God is exploring God's Self, the great "I am". I began to see that everything that is, is the Self, literally, your Self, my Self. Everything is the great Self. That is why God knows even when a leaf falls. That is possible because wherever you are is the center of the universe. Wherever any atom is, that is the center of the universe. -Mellen Thomas Benedict

"Although we arbitrarily assign consciousness to only a few things in our current definition of what is real in this physical universe, it becomes clear in the expanded consciousness perspective that all form has consciousness. And all of consciousness cooperates to co-create and mantain what we think of as our physical world reality"-Natalie Sudman 

Relating/physicality and Experience

Conceptually grasping a teacher's teaching and experientially exploring the depths of the human experience are two different things. I feel many grasp the nature of the teachings, but fail to incorporate it into their daily lives which can often lead to spiritual nihilism or the avoidance of life. Granted, no choice is wrong from the greater perspective of Love, our relative existence here in physicality calls for action when action is needed and calls for non-action when that is needed.

Life for me, would likely be a whole lot easier if I lived like a Monk in a mountain with no contact with the world and merely meditated 24/7. (That actually sounds really enticing!). There would be less stress on my body/mind and less chance for worrying and thoughts going through my mind.

On the other hand, that kind of life would be boring! There is not much chance for growth and evolution living in the way mentioned above, plus, I don't think the human body was really designed for that. Interaction with life means diving into life and actually inter-acting.....acting within Love. Consider that our true nature is the One Being. The purpose of physicality (if there is one) is to explore what it is like to be a separate being, to explore human feelings of fear, love, betrayal, anger, happiness, sexuality, etc. Therefore, there are relationships all around us all of the time in physicality. You can't wake up and get out of bed without having a relationship of some kind with something, whether it's how you relate to an inanimate object such as your pillow, or how you relate to another human being. Relationships of all sorts are wonderful opportunities for us to really see things within ourselves as opportunities for growth and evolution because they reflect in others, which we really see in ourselves. Without relating to another, we are essentially back where we came from as Oneness which is always the case, even with the appearance of separation.

Physicality therefore was manifested in the way it is experienced for the sole purpose of growth and evolution of Love. We can only grow and evolve in the game of physicality if we learn from experience and experience IS relating. There is no experience without relationship. I'm not just talking about romantic relationships here, which is merely only one potential opportunity for relating. I'm talking about simply relating to anything or any one at any given moment, whether it's the bed, your neighbor, your family member, partner, friend, co-worker, tree, animal.  So, seeing yourself and how you are, in relation to another, is where we can know if we are operating from a place of Love (who we are) or a place of Fear (Ego Perspective).

Understand that no person is responsible for your own happiness. Only you, yourself are. Loving is allowing another to be as the beautiful expression of life that they are. Fear is wanting to change another to fit your own expectations.

The next time you get angry or agitated with someone, take a moment and consider why you are blaming another for your own feelings/emotions and look at yourself as the sole cause of your own freedom and Love....... which you already are as your nature.

You are already liberated

Liberation is the freedom to know that nothing and I mean NOTHING in life can ever harm you. Sure, the body will go through changes and can be physically destroyed, but you can never be harmed.

But, most of us are too trapped in our minds to realize this at this point of our lives. Then how does liberation occur? I'll give you my own experience and let you decide from here going forward.

For years, I was trapped in my mind with stress, anxiety and even depression at times as I believed everything in my mind. I was only the story of my mind and nothing more. After reading Eckhart Tolle's 'A New Earth', it had a nice impact on me, but nothing earth shattering. It wasn't until I went through an intense period of suffering after the end of a dating situation. I created the image in my mind of an ideal romantic partner and when I met someone who I thought matched up perfectly to my idealistic image, I thought....this is it! I have found the one! When we went our separate ways, I was very distraught. The experience with this girl, led me to an intense path of spiritual searching because she too was a big fan of Eckhart Tolle, so spending some time with her made me delve back into Eckhart's teachings. One day, a few weeks later, I was laying on my bed watching an Eckhart Tolle video on anger when it finally hit me. I was the space for the anger as opposed to only the anger. Granted, I wasn't really angry at all at that point, but anger in Eckhart's example was a metaphor for the anxiety and stress I was dealing with at the time. Oh my! (in George Takei's voice) This was the most liberating thing I have ever, ever experienced. I was free from the ego perspective. None of my (perceived) enemies could ever harm me anymore. I was Existence itself! Love, Love, Love were the only words in my dictionary! What happened in that moment was that my perspective expanded so greatly to include all of my anxiety and stress that I realized, I no longer was just any...one....of those things. I was that which allows all of those things to be there, but yet I was those things as well! I was all of it! Liberation and Love.

Later that week, I emailed the girl I had broken it off with to thank her for leading me to this experience. If it wasn't for her, I would not have gone so deeply down the spiritual path, nor would I have thought to watch Eckhart Tolle's videos and most of all, her experience with me led to such an intense period of suffering for me that I finally exploded with a revelation of pure Liberation which would come and go, come and go from then after.   

Point of all of this? Fear runs rampant in our lives. I have a lot of fears still as well, but I realize that I am not just my fears anymore. Love is what is. When fear becomes the primary energy frequency, it clouds that Love which lies underneath the fear and makes us feel limited (ego perspective). But, Love never truly leaves. Love is that which allows even fear to exist as it does. Love is Energy. Love is Awareness. It is unconditional. When fear is running the show, we believe that our lives are limited. We believe that we can only do this and that in our lifetimes within the confines of limitation, but in the back of our minds, that fear is still lingering like a cat waiting around the corner to pounce on a mouse. Most people tried to avoid their fears by escaping them, which seems logical, right?

No, that doesn't work I've found in my own experiences. Love, unconditionally is about embracing and including everything in our experience. When I embrace my fears and allow them to be as they are, when I realize that, what I am at my core is so unlimited and whole and complete, my goodness, it brings tears to my eyes to see how nothing at all can ever harm me as a whole. My mind and body can be harmed, but they are only parts of what I am. What I am at a greater level, is Pure Aware Being. Love is truly who and what I am. When I acknowledge this, I am absolutely liberated from that limited (ego perspective). Mind you, that doesn't mean that ego never rears its head. Of course it does! It's going to be with me until the death of this human body. At times it's very strong still. Sometimes much more so than others! However, the ego perspective has grown and grown and grown almost to the point of dissolving into the greater Beingness that I am. 

Point being....I've experienced the unlimited and Infinite blissful Self that I truly am. It's a matter of inclusion and embracing of our every moment in experience and loving every bit of it. 

Our Source (who we truly are) is an unconditionally loving Energy field of Pure Awareness. Therefore, Unconditional Love is truly who and what we are and we will realize this at the death of our physical bodies. But, because of conditioning, we believe we are limited and that too is perfectly fine! All perspectives are valid! Whether you awaken or not in this lifetime is perfectly, perfectly fine. What I am providing here is merely a context for those who want to Be as they truly are and end suffering. Allow experience to come and go exactly as it is. Let your fears be there and feel them and experience them to the fullest degree and embrace them lovingly as they are a part of you.  

Throw away concepts! Throw away all limiting ideas, definitions, and concepts about what Consciousness is and what it is not. 

Embracing all experience as it comes, is the only gateway to Unconditional Love. 

I send this to you with only Love. 

Oneness

What is 'Oneness'? Man, that is quite a loaded term! Isn't it? 

It's actually not. When we try to conceptualize terms like 'Oneness' and 'Being', we end up back in that limited perspective of human mind which makes it seem loaded. But, when we go by our own experience, there is only Love. 

Understand that ego (the identification with mind) very much exists! There is no question that the ego perspective (which almost every person experiences for a good portion of their lives), exists for a purpose when we incarnate into these human bodies. From the greater perspective of Being, there is no right/wrong. Those are relative human terms. Life merely just 'Is'. Therefore, the ego perspective is in no way 'wrong'. It's just merely a limited perspective of our experience and it is beautiful just for that! Awakening, is when that perspective grows and grows and grows and grows and becomes more and more un-limited. We can never reach the Absolute while incarnated into these limited human bodies. However, our perspectives can widen in all directions to incorporate a more inclusive perspective of reality. 

Therefore, back to oneness. What is 'Oneness'? Are we all just stardust? Well, yes and no. However, this is a conceptual understanding of 'Oneness'. On the other hand, Being Oneness, without delving into the hard problem of Consciousness and other labels and definitions, is simply Being. Oneness is Pure Being, Pure Unconditional Love, Pure 'I am'. Life in human form is merely Being....human. Being exploring what it's like to be limited in this human form. There is only Being, but each of us as a unique conscious perspective of Source Being, creates, vibrates and expresses in a unique fashion. Ultimately, it's all a play in the seamless whole of Pure Love/Being. 

So, to experience Oneness, Just sit and Be with what is. Watch your thoughts, watch your emotions, allow anything and everything to be there fully and lovingly as they are. Embrace it all. Embrace everything, the fear and the happy thoughts. It's all part of YOU and your experience. This is YOU. This is Pure Being/Unconditional Love....which means.....Loving it all without conditions. You don't have to do anything to be Love because you are Love already. Even if you are incredibly lost in your thoughts and your mind, Love is still underneath that allowing it to be exactly as it is. You are unlimited at your core, but unlimited includes the limited. Anything that exists is valid in Pure Awareness. When we sit and simply allow life to happen and embrace it all....and I mean....it all....what's left over is simply Unconditional seamless Love. Love is the core of everything. Every good experience, every (perceived) bad experience. When there is only Love, where is the separation? It's just one seamless, whole experience that is co-created by everything and everyone together.

So, take a deep breath and dive on in to life. Or not. It's all good 

Welcome

This is my first time blogging. So, this is an awesome new experience for me! I'm excited to express myself on a public forum and really put myself out there for potential scrutiny. I really don't care if I have a lot of (or any for that matter) followers as I have created this blog for the sole purpose of expression, expression of not only my human self but, an opening to channels of greater Awareness. Writing has always been a creative outlet for me (along with music). So, I'm excited to get this thing going. I was inspired to create this blog after a friend recently recommended to do so. Here I am! This blog will be an open, honest, creative outlet of my own experience and a chance for me to open up more and more to a grander, more inclusive perspective of Awareness. A chance for me to really openly see all aspects of myself via my direct experience as I open up more and more to life.

So, much more to come. But, it's late now and I'm exhausted.

Much love to all

-Derek