We Are All One: Full interview with Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee

"It is time for the world to remember that it belongs to God."

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee is a Sufi teacher and author. Since 2000 the focus of his writing and teaching has been on spiritual responsibility in our present time of transition, and an awakening global consciousness of oneness. More recently he has written about the feminine, the anima mundi (world soul), and spiritual ecology.

Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee was interviewed in Fall 2002 as part of an independent film project titled ONE The Movie. The project, an exploration of spirituality in the new millennium, began in 2002. The filmmakers interviewed over 100 people across the world. Asking the same thirty questions of all interviewees, from spiritual teachers to atheists to the homeless, they sought to produce and promote messages of mutual respect, understanding, love, and oneness. This is the full interview with Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee, excerpts of which were used in the final film. [Scroll down for video]


SELF REALISATION

Sri Ramana Maharshi

Effortless and choiceless awareness is our real state.

We usually identify ourselves in terms of name and form: “I am John, forty years old, 180 pounds. I have this job and live with that family, etc.” This is all quite natural.

But those fortunate few who are destined to look deeper into their own nature will discover a Self much different from what outward circumstances dictate. The eternal, free and perfect Self is always present within us, while the veils of body-identification prevent us from experiencing who, in fact, we really are. The Maharshi stresses this point again and again.

In the following extract from Gems from Bhagavan, we are reminded of this truth and inspired to realise the True Self.

♣ ♣ ♣

THE STATE WE CALL realisation is simply being oneself, not knowing anything or becoming anything. If one has realised, he is That which alone is, and which alone has always been. He cannot describe that state. He can only be That. Of course we loosely talk of Self-Realisation for want of a better term.

That which is, is peace. All that we need do is to keep quiet. Peace is our real nature. We spoil it. What is required is that we cease to spoil it. If we remove all the rubbish from the mind, the peace will become manifest. That which is obstructing the peace must be removed. Peace is the only reality.


Doubt Not That We Shall Found The City

Hilary Norman

Doubt Not That We Shall Found The City” came to Hilary Norman as a clairaudient experience. She writes:

“The reception of these words was preceded by what may best be described as a spiritual experience. Not only spiritual, but earthed by visible remains. Alone in a Scottish glade, two summers ago, I became aware of an uncomfortable, and unaccountable, sense of suffocation. Accustomed to the often difficult results of having an empathic nature, I searched for a cause and found mounds, covered with moss and trefoil. I began to peel back this layer and only stopped when I felt myself again. A number of stones had lain beneath. Two were especially beautiful. One a fallen standing stone, its surface rippled with grey, cream and pale terra-cotta. Nearby a large crystal in the shape of an egg. Sat beside the latter, I heard a single note that seemed a part of it. I call it the Singing Stone. And its song was of a deep and ageless place where all endeavour is reconciled. Once raised, much later, the standing stone could be seen clearly. The shallow surface ripples formed a face, indiscernible at close quarters. An expression that blends the bleakness of the Easter Island statues with the calmness of certain Buddhas. And a few days later on a train to Perth, surrounded by Scottish boy cubs with packets of crisps, a voice began to speak to me.”


A Step Away from Peace

John Ptacek

Imagine that you are standing under a waterfall. The water pounds down on your head and shoulders and pins your feet to the ground. The steady rush of water feels good. At times, it feels ecstatic.

But often the force of the water is too much. It hurts. You want it to stop. You tilt your body slightly, hoping to find a gap in the sheets of water cascading down on you. You do, and for a moment the pain lessens. But then the full force of the water finds you again. The pain is intense. You feel trapped.

Now imagine that one day, for no reason you can think of, you step back from the waterfall. You had no idea there was a space behind you the whole time, a cavern cut into the rock that easily accommodates your frame. The relief you feel is immense. Your body feels light. You witness the water pouring down inches from your nose. The inches seem like miles. Now the water begins to flow from you. Tears of joy are streaming down your cheeks. You have stepped away from the steady rush of water, from the endless cycle of pleasure and pain you’d been experiencing for as long as you can remember.

We spend our lives immersed in a flood of thoughts, unaware that another dimension of consciousness is available to us. It is a dimension in which we come to know ourselves as something other than thinkers. By taking a step back, we become the witness of our thoughts. Of the millions of steps we’ve taken in our lives, this subtle but radical step may be the most important because it leads to a profound sense of peace.

We cannot think our way into this witnessing dimension. It only emerges when thought subsides, hopping like a bunny from the bushes when the coast is clear. The thoughts that pleaded for our attention gradually recede in the presence of our steady witnessing gaze. In this transformative moment we have stepped back from the flow of thought into the serene space of our awareness.

This space is not as mystical as it might seem. Haven’t we all experienced moments when we’ve witnessed the thoughts flowing through our minds without getting dragged into their current?


Ramana Maharshi — Abide as the Self (C)

Ramana Maharshi -- Abide as the Self - Videos
ABIDE AS THE SELF: The Essential Teachings of Ramana Maharshi - Book

Abide as the Self is a transforming video which takes one on a meditative journey into the teachings Ramana Maharshi and the path of Self-Knowledge. Comprehensive film footage of Ramana comes alive, with emphasis on the teachings of Self-Enquiry and its practice. A special collection of rare photographs enhances Ramana's presence and captures the compassion and grace of one of the most respected sages of this century. A heartfelt narration by Ram Dass provides an overview of Ramana's teachings. There are also interviews with H.W.L. Poonja, Douglas Harding, and Allan W. Anderson, as well as others who sat in the Maharashi's presence.

Ramana Maharshi — Abide as the Self (A)
Ramana Maharshi — Abide as the Self (B)
Ramana Maharshi — Abide as the Self (C)
Bhagavan Ramana Maharishi Rare LIFE Photos

Realization.org: Self-Inquiry
Website: Sri Ramanashramam
Ribhu/Bhagavan: THE ESSENCE OF RIBHU GITA

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Peace Chaplain

William T. Hathaway

From the Book
RADICAL PEACE: People Refusing War
By William T. Hathaway

RADICAL PEACE is a collection of reports from peace activists in the USA, Europe, Iraq, and Afghanistan. A seminarian contributed this chapter about learning to love her enemies. Because of her activism, she prefers to remain anonymous.

To celebrate Armed Forces Day the military base near my seminary held an open house, a public relations extravaganza to improve their image and boost recruiting. They invited the public in for a marching band parade, a precision flying show, and a sky diving demonstration. They even offered free lemonade and cookies.

A subversive seminarian, namely me, decided to disrupt the festivities and remind people that the military's job is murder. I bought a jump suit and dyed it orange like the uniforms the prisoners in Guantánamo have to wear. I bought two U-shaped bike locks, three diapers, and a pair of old-people's rubber underpants.

All suited up, I had a friend drive me onto the base before people started arriving for the celebration. She dropped me off at the traffic circle just inside the main gate, kissed me on the cheek for good luck, and drove back out the gate. In the center of the traffic circle stood a flagpole flying the Stars and Stripes. I ran to the pole, fastened my foot to it with one bike lock and my neck to it with the other — pretty uncomfortable — and started shouting, "Close Guantánamo! No More Abu Ghraibs! Free the Prisoners!" People gawked as they drove by, some laughing like I was part of the show, some waving, some giving me the finger.

I had an anti-war speech all prepared to give the reporters. I had a bottle of water in one pocket and a bag of trail mix in the other and was wearing the diapers and rubber underpants for toilet emergencies. I was locked on for a long stay.

A couple of minutes later, a van and a truck full of soldiers drove up. The GIs jumped out and surrounded me. They stood at attention facing the traffic, blocking me off from view. The van backed in next to me. I shouted my slogans louder, and they started singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" to drown me out. To people driving in, it must've looked like a patriotic demonstration — soldiers around the flag singing to greet them.


The Confession of All Georgia on the Day of Repentance

Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II


A Prayer to the Most Holy Mother of God

Catholicos-Patriarch of All Georgia Ilia II


THE DIAMOND SUTRA

Translated by A.F.Price and Wong Mou-Lam

SECTION I. THE CONVOCATION OF THE ASSEMBLY

Thus have I heard. Upon a time Buddha sojourned in Anathapindika's Park by Shravasti with a great company of bhikshus, even twelve hundred and fifty.

One day, at the time for breaking fast, the World-honored One enrobed, and carrying His bowl made His way into the great city of Shravasti to beg for His food. In the midst of the city He begged from door to door according to rule.

This done, He returned to His retreat and took His meal. When He had finished He put away His robe and begging bowl, washed His feet, arranged His seat, and sat down.


SECTION II. SUBHUTI MAKES A REQUEST

Now in the midst of the assembly was the Venerable Subhuti. Forthwith he arose, uncovered his right shoulder, knelt upon his right knee, and, respectfully raising his hands with palms joined, addressed Buddha thus:

World-honored One, if good men and good women seek the Consummation of Incomparable Enlightenment, by what criteria should they abide and how should they control their thoughts?

Buddha said: Very good, Subhuti! Just as you say, the Tathagata is ever-mindful of all the Bodhisattvas, protecting and instructing them well. Now listen and take my words to heart: I will declare to you by what criteria good men and good women seeking the Consummation of Incomparable Enlightenment should abide, and how they should control their thoughts. Said Subhuti: Pray, do, World-honored One. With joyful anticipation we long to hear.


THE MEDITATION ON ALEPH


THE MEDITATION ON VAV


Where Do We Take Our Instructions?

Vincent Di Stefano

We tend as a society to remove from sight those realities that may disturb our sense of order, of control, of comfort, of civilised pleasantness. It is very tempting to arrange things so that one lives a predictable and well-cushioned life shielded from the human wreckage that lies just below the surface. Yet something as simple as spending an hour or two in a railway carriage outside of peak hour can reveal how wafer-thin the veneer of social order and civility can be. And the surprising number of young people begging for food and money in and around the streets of central Melbourne reveals further what lies behind the façade of affluence and self-satisfaction that is everywhere projected. One does not need to walk the streets of Calcutta to know the faces of the dispossessed and the privation and deep need that everywhere burdens the life of so many.

Mother Teresa of Calcutta was born of a peasant family in Albania in 1910. Her father died when she was a young child and she was raised in the simple faith of her community. She joined the Loreto Sisters at the age of 18, having already decided when she was 12 years old that she would one day serve as a missionary in India. After a short stay in Ireland, she arrived in north India in 1929. Over the next 20 years, she formalised her religious vows and served as a teacher in a Loreto convent school for girls in Calcutta.

In 1948 after experiencing a profoundly transformative personal revelation, she departed the convent, replaced her regular Loreto habit with a plain blue-lined cotton sari, and immersed herself in the street life of Calcutta. After securing modest accommodation, she immediately started a small school for girls and began visiting the destitute and the dying who were everywhere to be found in the city. Her work was sanctioned by Rome in 1952 and the small group of women that had formed around her took on the name "Missionaries of Charity."


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