Neale : This is another of the several things you have repeated here, I am clear that you wish me to understand that the moment of merging into self-realization, the moment of experiencing my Oneness with the All, is not something I have to wait for until my death.
N : You’ve already mentioned meditation, deep prayer, certain disciplines (yoga, tai chi, and so on), dance, and ritual as ways in which people move toward greater harmony, peace, and a state of divine resonance, or oneness. Are there any other ‘tricks’ you can share❓
G : “Moving into a place of wonder and awe with all of life, and a simple willingness to experience the fullness of that, a desire pure and true, is all that it takes to open oneself to the possibility of such moments of transcendence.
Many people experience this melting into the Oneness quite spontaneously, in the middle of some very ordinary activity. Doing dishes. Vacuuming the carpet. Washing the car. Dressing the baby. Handling an assignment at work. Driving down the road. Standing in the shower.
“Suddenly, abruptly, without warning or cause, there is a sense of ‘no separation,’ an experience of unity with everything. It is usually for a split second, and then things go back to ‘normal,’ but it is an experience that one never forgets."
G : “Well, whatever you do, don’t ignore it. For many people its meaning is often missed or ignored. If you have, or have had, such an experience, you can go back to it in memory and recapture much of the feeling that was experienced there.
“There are people who are able to move into this experience of Oneness at will, and who remain within it for extended periods. Some remain within it for the rest of their lives. It is simply a matter of focus, or whole presence centering.”
G : “Well, we are going to encounter the problem with words again. It is very difficult to describe certain experiences using the limitation of words. That is why I have encouraged you to form pictures whenever you can. Even though the pictures in your mind are metaphors, they will often come closer to bringing you the feeling of ‘knowing’ than words can ever do.
“By ‘whole presence centering’ I mean those times when you are wholly present in the moment that is occurring right now in your life; when there is not a single part of your body, mind, or spirit that is ‘somewhere else,’ This is very rare for most people--but it can occur, and people with a real willingness can cause it to occur regularly.
“You can, with determination, take your mind off of everything else and bring it to this moment right now. Some of you call this the experience of being ‘centered,’ or fully ‘present.’
“The trick is to not turn away if this deep looking becomes uncomfortable. If you are able to hold your own gaze for more than a count of ten, you will begin to experience such compassion and love for yourself that you will almost not know what to do with that feeling. It could be very difficult for you to take in this feeling if you are not used to loving yourself--and most people, sadly, are not. Just be with the feeling and embrace it.
“Continue looking deeply and more deeply into your own eyes. If you use a hand mirror, you can be sitting when you do this. Now, all at once, after looking deeply into your own eyes for as long as you can, simply and quickly close your eyes—and be with the feeling that follows. Very often you will feel merged with the Essence. This could last only a moment—or for the rest of the day.
“If you have a life partner or a friend with whom you feel close, you may also try a variation of this process by looking deeply into the eyes of another. Again, do not turn your eyes away, even if this deep looking begins to become uncomfortable. It will soon pass, melting into a softness and an inner glow as you feel yourself merging with the Self of the other.
“You may remember that, earlier. I said that if you look into the eyes of another, or into your own eyes, and expect to see God there, you will. If you do not, you won’t. Either way, however, you will become fully present. And becoming fully present to the Here and Now is a very effective way to slough off the distractions and excursions of the meandering mind and bring yourself into a much higher experience of the life you are living.
“You cannot look into the eyes of any living creature without becoming fully present. That includes your dog, your cat, even a wild animal. Stop in your tracks and lock eyes with an untamed animal—a lion or a tiger or a bear—and see if you do not fully present.
“When you become fully present this way with another living being, you may very well start to love them. People do fall in love with their pets, and the feeling is very real.
“It is especially difficult to look another human in the eyes for any period of time at all without beginning to fall in love. That is why people look away from each other so quickly.
“They don’t dare look each other right in the eye for very long. The love that will follow will overwhelm them. Yet it is because they do not know what to do with that love that they are overwhelmed.
“The moment you surrender to love and allow it to lead you to exactly where your soul wants to go, you will have no difficulty. All struggle then will cease, and you will know Oneness.
“This is what happens at the Moment of Mergence. This is what occurs at the time of Total Immersion with the Essence. It is a very healing way to start a day—or to end one.
I mean, you’re saying, aren’t you, that some people can experience this merging, this melting into oneness, during their physical life, but that all people experience this at the moment of their death❓ Do I have this right❓
“In the second stage of death you still identify with your mind, and so your experience is dictated by what is IN your mind. Your beliefs create your experience.
“Once you drop this identity, your experience is created not by what you believe, but by what you desire. This is the beginning of your experience called ‘heaven.’
G : “We are talking about the same thing. We are talking about the death of the idea of separation. This is what happens at the moment of your physical death, and that can occur at any time.
“As soon as you think that you are something, or that you are NOT that, then you begin to imagine yourself as limited. Yet the Essence is in no way limited. In the Moment of Mergence you identify with the All-which means that you identify with nothing in particular: Nothing at all.
G : “And you will not have seen anything yet. This merging into the Essence is not the end of it. In fact, it is just the opposite. It is the beginning.”