God Immersion

God said:

When you hear Me speak to you — when you read My words, you are hearing Me speak to you — do you feel a sweetness course through you? Do you feel an exquisite sweetness that melts you, and makes you almost awake and almost asleep simultaneously deep in a moment of stillness?

When you hear My words and they speak intimately to your aching heart (a heart without awareness of Me aches), what happens to your desires? Are they there? Is there something else that you want beyond the burgeoning of this love in your heart? Why, you cannot even think of anything else.

So beneath all your desires is this one desire, for that awareness of the love stirred in your heart, that mutuality of love, unburdening itself, moving itself, engendering itself, loving itself, loving itself for all it is worth. And love is worth a lot. It is worth everything. It is everything. Think of it, that which you are seeking resides in your heart.

When the love I speak of nourishes itself in your heart, you are not embroiled in your individuality. You do not even think of it, because even a thought of it separates you from the Source of all that love, even an inkling away is far, even taking your eyes off the greatness of love for a split second rifts the Oneness in your heart.

When you are immersed in My Love, you know that there is nothing else. You know that My Love is all that there is, and you know it is yours because, at this peak, you know nothing else, and so you know Reality.

And then you think about it, and the awareness of awareness comes, and the sense of fullness of love eclipses itself in your thought of it.

But even remembrance of My love serves you. If even for a moment, you once had a great love. You experienced and knew that which you were seeking. You reached the pinnacle once, and your wonder was so great, it felt as if you were the first to reach it, no one ever had before, although at the moment of the pinnacle, you are so immersed in the Love that you don't think of first or ever or time or anything like that. You don't think at all.

A diver may have studied and know a lot before he takes his dive into the water, but at the moment of diving, thoughts are out of the question, for diving and thinking about diving are two different things. When he dives, he forgets everything he has studied and has trust that at the moment, everything will meld this dive into perfect form. The dive does not come from himself but it does come. He knows that any effort at the moment of his dive is an affront to smoothness. He knows his dive is one motion. He runs to the edge of the diving board, takes his position, and dives.

From trust, his dive comes. His dive is trust.

And each dive is new. Each dive is its own.

Every composer dives. Every artist. There is that moment in which they just dive. They let go and the pieces of themselves re-assemble into Wholeness. Great music, great art, great writing do not come from the mind. The mind cannot fashion it, but the greatness does come, and it comes from somewhere.

Just as the greatness of you has come from somewhere.

Dive into the Love from which you came. Swim in the currents all the way to the embrace of My Love. There is Great Love for you to reach right now. And it is a little thing really for you to reach it. Dive into the depths of your being, and here I am, diving into you.

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awareness of awareness

When the love I speak of nourishes itself in your heart, you are not embroiled in your individuality. You do not even think of it, because even a thought of it separates you from the Source of all that love, even an inkling away is far, even taking your eyes off the greatness of love for a split second rifts the Oneness in your heart.
 
When you are immersed in My Love, you know that there is nothing else. You know that My Love is all that there is, and you know it is yours because, at this peak, you know nothing else, and so you know Reality.
 
And then you think about it, and the awareness of awareness comes, and the sense of fullness of love eclipses itself in your thought of it.

 
 
Is this the big secret then? You have often said, dear God, that all of this is not about me. I thought I understood that, but I did not expect it to be so not about me. Not even marginally. It seems I have to be out of the way 100% for love to happen. Then what am I here for? Or what is an imagined self here for?

If I am intruding

Jochen, If I offend, please forgive my intrusion into your rhoughts.

The way I see it, in our normal lives we move between two extremes that you might call realms of experience. It is not a jumping but a smooth gradient of movement up and down toward these extreme ends. This letter describes the superfiacial realm as our "embroiled individuality." The other extreme is down to our source: the love that "nourishes itself in your heart." The "God Immersion" that his letter describes is the extreme end as we see through His eyes.

It sure does seem like we are to 100% lose our individuality in order to immerse in love, from some of the phrasing of this letter. This can't be a correct interpretation, though. I think the key to this is the phrase: "And then you think about it, and the awareness of awareness comes, and the fullness of love eclipses itself in your thought of it." I read this awareness of awareness as a new kind of thought that transforms our individuality without destroying it. I see this as supporting our role in bringing Heaven to earth, as we eventually begin to see our individual lives through our Creator's eyes.

Commiserating with you concerns.....Chuck

Dear Chuck, how could you offend

Dear Chuck, how could you offend or intrude with a kind and thoughtful response? What you write is very interesting because it makes me wonder whether perhaps I misunderstood the awareness-of-awareness sentence altogether. I usually try to interpret as little as possible, keeping very close to the words themselves or referring to other Heavenletters when something is difficult to understand or at least putting possible conclusions in the form of questions as in this case.

Now you as a native speaker, Chuck, have to halp me understand the sense of fullness of love eclipses itself in your thought of it. If eclipse is to "obscure", "block out", "make invisible", then the whole image for me is of the thought of love being something like a large decal of love itself covering and obscuring the "sense" or actual experience of love. Since that is what I understand, I am unable to construe awareness of awareness as some new kind of thought. I still read something like "that old thinking about life that only reduplicates our perceptions and therefore covers and blocks out much of life itself".

This is a very important point for me, Chuck. For if this awareness of awareness already is a new kind of thinking, that would mean I totally misunderstood this Heavenletter. What do I understand? I understand, "Don't think." The image of the diver seems to support that. More fully, I understand: "Let your thinking become so light, so transparent that it will no longer eclipse reality/Reality."

Thank you for showing me my new favorite Heavenletter!

In yoga there is a state of awareness called Samadhi which is when awareness merges with the Divine. There are different levels of unified awareness (Samadhis) which eventually transcends from I am aware of xyz aspects of the Divine, to I am aware of the Divine and eventually to the highest state where there is no more I am aware of.., just I. There is no seperation, just One.

I understand God Immersion to mean Samadhi.

I'm in love with this Heavenletter!

God Immersion

Dear Santhan,

Yes, no doubt there are many points of contact with what we call spiritual paths some of which have existed for millennia. There is something of this in shamanic trance, in the dance of the Whirling Derwishes, in some forms of Christian mysticism and certainly in Hindu or Buddhist samadhi teachings and many other traditions. This can only mean that many of the old traditions are God-inspired. Unfortunately (from my point of view), many or most of those teachings have tended do develop technologies of enlightenment that usually go with big and heavy toolboxes (and tons of manuals). There is nothing wrong with that, of course; every approach in existence is good for some of us and therefore wonderful.

For me, the unique thing about Heavenletters, the feature I love most, is that they have no toolbox. I pray they will never have one. When I read Heavenletters, they never remind me of those many things I have read about or even practiced myself. They are like a fresh start for me, as if nothing ever went before. If I nod, it is not because I recognize something I have read in the sermons of Meister Eckhart or in the Upanishads or in the Heart Sutra. I don't know why I nod. There is a yes coming from some nameless, formless place, and out of the blue, I nod.

Even though I am scared of Godwriting, I sense quite distinctly that a conversation is going on all the time and now. Everyone is involved. It is immediate, more immediate than minds can grasp or words can say. This is the time, a gnostic time you might say, of meeting God bare-handed and face to face with nothing, I mean nothing, in between. For me it feels as if I have lived in a LEGO world of doctrines, techniques and formulas and now the time of "direct contact" that does not need the tiniest bit of preparation has finally come.

I hope, dearest Santhan and everyone else, I hope you know I'm not objecting to anyone or anything, I'm not advocating anything as being better (more intelligent, more spiritually evolved.....) than something else. I notice I'm shaken to the core by this Heavenletter and conversation and cannot even ascertain myself whether what I'm saying makes sense or not.

Would Godwriting be the

Would Godwriting be the practice reading Heavenletters lead to? Good thing there are no tons of manuals required for Godwriting! Looking forward to seeing you at the workshop :)

Oceans of Love

I don't know, blessed and

I don't know, blessed and blessing one. I do know that your mind is beautiful, funny and no-nonsense, no-treacle. ^_^

Hugs

Beloved Jochen, are you

Beloved Jochen, are you coming to a simple easy Godwriting workshop?

Today, I don't think so,

Today, I don't think so, Querida.
I don't know what I will think tomorrow, however.

On metaphors and psychotherapy

Dear Jochen and Santhan, this is a very valuable dialogue for me, as we consider the import of this letter. I come to understand my thinking so much better by the process of trying to communicate it, and better yet by reading your insightful responses and mulling over your views.

We are discussing important and complex issues that have been captured in this letter in deceptively simple phrases. My gut feeling, Jochen, is that your concerns (which, by the way, you articulate in a marvelous fashion) are multilayered in their complexity, but do not arise out the specifics of your understanding of the English language nor your native German. I will try to provide my impressions of what you and Santhan are saying by discussing some of the layers of the complexity that I am perceiving.

I believe that part of the problems we are discussing, perhaps a big part, involves the limitations of human language. Not any specific language, nor translations between languages, rather, limitations of all human language. If my understanding is accurate, Reality, as God is discussing here, is enormously multidimensional and, consequently, an exact understanding of this multidimensionality is beyond our human reasoning and beyond any precise description using our one dimensional languages (that are based predominantly on our physical senses). The way the Author of these letters transcends some of these limitations is to make generous use of metaphors, often describing the same concept through many different metaphors and with a lot of repetition. But any given metaphor can never be completely precise, it can only give a glimpse or an impression, and its benefit is lost if we try to push it too far.

I think this is the problem with the phrase: “….and the sense of fullness of love eclipses itself in your thoughts of it.” I interpret this to mean that our view of the “fullness of love” is changed in the same way that our view of the moon changes during eclipse, rather than the sense of this metaphor that would imply covering over of truth. You might say that the eclipsed view is no more true or false than the un-eclipsed view, they are just two different perspectives.

A second part of the problem relates to our view of the purpose of creation. Again, as I see it, many of our mystical traditions and some of our religions have included a bias against physical reality, implying that it is somehow corrupt and must be escaped or its illusions removed from our consciousness. To me, this is illogical, for why would our Creator create us and our physical world if it is only a condition to transcend or escape? Instead, I see our purpose as being to remain an integral part of the physical world as we raise both it and our understanding to new levels of awareness. The universe is already constructed totally out of the non-physical substance of love, it is replete with love, we have just somehow become blinded to this truth. We are not to escape or ignore it, we are to plunge ourselves completely into it while still seeing its true nature clearly. Again, as I see it, if our Creator could have accomplished His goals in a better way, the world would never have been created and we would not be experiencing ourselves as a part of it. Our thinking and reasoning processes are also a vital part of this process.

A third part of the problem relates to what I see as the multidimensional nature of the Heavenletters themselves. I view the letters as a sort of psychotherapy for mankind. The Author is the Ultimate Therapist who is writing the letters for everyone who is ready to read them. The therapy comes about as we read the letters and allow our minds to be reformed into a healthier state. For this effect to be manifest, our analysis and reasoning are unnecessary, we need only to focus our minds on the words, the ideas and the images. I call them multidimensional since they can also be useful to people who wish to analyze and intellectually explore, but their primary purpose seems to be to bypass the mind and speak directly to the heart. I wonder if a byproduct of their nature is that our logical minds may be easily misled by them.

My last point is more of an observation than a discussion of a problem. I think that our "Ultimate Therapist" has been utilizing the world’s sacred literatures for His therapeutic purpose from time immemorial. Each generation’s revelations are tailored to the time, the specific people and their level of consciousness. In comparison to the Heavenletters, many of these traditions may well feel like they come with a “heavy toolbox.” The message of the letters seems to be that we are now at a new stage of our spiritual evolution. There is no longer any teacher or scripture that is as ideal for us as the Teacher who speaks directly to us in our heart. We are now able to begin to hear and truly no manuals are necessary. To me, the Heavenletters and the Godwriting workshops are a way for us to help each other transform our understanding more efficiently than in the past and make use of a “new technology.”

My fondest hope is that your time in reading all this has been rewarded by at least moving us a bit further along in this discussion………Chuck

Dear Chuck, I happily

Dear Chuck, I happily subscribe to most of what you say. Let us just as happily disagree on the "eclipse" thing; we can, can't we, without casting shadows anywhere?

Beeing quite complicated myself (rather: having had pre-Heavenletters time enough to work myself into a lot of unnecessary complications) and feeling thoroughly fed up with complexity, my being in love with Heavenletters springs from what I perceive as their utter simplicity. Although I sense that God's Letters are working on me in a deep, subtle and powerful way, I never detected a "therapeutic" intent in them. Therapy would imply that there is something wrong and diseased, and although I deeply bought into the "wrongness paradigm" myself, I refuse to accept it, paradoxical as that may sound. God wants to remind us of what we know and only learned to pretend we don't. For me, that's the whole story.If even for a moment, you once had a great love. You experienced and knew that which you were seeking.

So, what I really yearn for is to be able to follow Jim's beautiful lead and remember that it's about diving in and nothing else. I have no difficulties at all with the "multilayered" nature of things; I don't care whether I understand it or not. No space, no time – I'm not worried about any of that or even puzzled any more. So everything is and everything is all at once "in" one single dimensionless pinpoint of nonexistent space and time while attention (which is perception informed by intent) decides what stands out as "reality". Great. My mind does not grasp that and doesn't have to because I know it to be so – and to be unimportant.

When you hear Me speak to you — when you read My words, you are hearing Me speak to you — do you feel a sweetness course through you? Do you feel an exquisite sweetness that melts you, and makes you almost awake and almost asleep simultaneously deep in a moment of stillness?

What else is there? Yes, I feel the sweetness and it's killing me because I would love to dive in but don't feel I can. But if I feel I can't, can I really say I want to? Anyway, if fear still holds me back, I certainly haven't reached the stage where I cannot even think of anything else.

But what's that trail of bubbles there in the water? Must be Jim.

Let Sweetness swallow you!...

Jochen....here is what you said toward the end of your previous post:

What else is there? Yes, I feel the sweetness and it's killing me because I would love to dive in but don't feel I can. But if I feel I can't, can I really say I want to? Anyway, if fear still holds me back, I certainly haven't reached the stage where I cannot even think of anything else.

So many of us are gathered in the vestibule, comparing notes and sharing stories...fascinated with the terrain of the shoreline, conveniently ignoring the quiet depth of the altar nearby...such is the nature and perspective of the seeker. But even this is never to be judged...but softly embraced within our hearts. For this very embrace engenders a soft love that carries us Home.

And when you said: "...I feel the sweetness..."
Let this sweetness be your guide...be your steadfast inner compass...that you carry everywhere. This sweetness is who you are. You do not have to postpone this until ...perhaps...you feel you are worthy or ready (that is the voice of separation) This sweetness is the God that you are already! Allow this sweetness to swallow you whole! And at the same time...be gentle with all of this.

So much love...Jim...and Jimi (who wrote these words)

Compass

Yes, compass. I have one. It doesn't seem to be working so well much of the time, swinging wildly. Sometimes it's steady. That's probably when I'm not gyrating....

Thanks for your generous input, dear friend.

Jochen, good friend

Jochen, good friend, of course we can disagree without causing any shadows or discomfort of any kind. What are our opinions but temporary things, anyway? I know my opinions will be at least somewhat different by tomorrow.

To me, the word "therapeutic" does note cannote changing something wrong or diseased. This may well be a very individualistic quirk of mine -- I know that "therapy" is often taken in this negative sense. I do not see us as diseased, just in a process of wending our way trough illusions with God leading the way. What I see as this therapy is just another of His many blessings.

Yes, I agree that Jim (and Jimi's) lead is beautiful.

Another area where we disagree, though, is that I see you "diving in" all the time and your words carry what you pick up along the way.

Enjoying the love anf fellowship and appreciating the kind words.......Chuck

no problem

I will repeat what Gloria said, Chuck. Your comments are very clear and most welcome. It makes sense that you are using the word "therapy" in a more modern way, meaning something like "loving facilitation of growth". And the problem of "problem" will solve itself in a similar, simple way. Perhaps Gloria wants to encourage you to more fully use the quality of heart that is so evident in your comments.

But it's really improper for me to speculate about her meaning. Let me try to take another approach. You say that you see me diving in all the time. You make me smile. But since you said it, I feel encouraged to tell you a little about it. It's about trust, not the trust of the big dive but at least the trust of the little grab.

Imagine someone in the water where one can still stand, shutting his mouth and eyes tightly, squeezing his nose shut with one hand and using the other to try and grab something he thinks he saw down there. That, by and large, is my diving in. Sometimes I only get hold of my own feet but all in all it works because even in this proto-diving my thoughts and ideas are useless. I have to simply trust that what I saw is worth retrieving and worth expressing in the most direct way I am able to. Heavenletters are teaching me this. I used to explain a lot. Now, when I comment on a Heavenletter or respond to someone's post, I learn to trust my first impulse and let it guide me without questioning it. It is still work, of course, but work that has a clear anchor. Sometimes that anchor fades or gets blurred and that is when I know I have started thinking too much, losing touch with that original impulse. Or it turns out that the topic wasn't really worth writing about to begin with. Or I notice the sinking, queasy feeling I get from too much ego involvement.

Many years ago, in a very beautiful spiritual autobiography, I read a sentence that has burned itself into my soul like no other: "The first thought is from God." Now I'm learning the truth of this sentence. If I trust that first impulse, what I say or write then may feel as if I were reading from something like an Inca quipu or Braille text. Perhaps this is a preparation for Godwriting, I really don't know. What I want it to be, however, is a path toward spontaneity which is one of the pseudonyms for love of self.

Thanks, Jochen

Jochen, I think we agree on just about everything we discuss. I see you as a role model for concise communication. I also agree that spontanaeity is quite important, I strive for this also but I've got a lot to learn there, too. Appreciating your insights......Chuck

Beloved Chuck, I read every

Beloved Chuck, I read every word you post. I am missing something, however. Where is there a problem? Do you mean problem, dear one?

Dear Gloria

My Dear Gloria, your response and question strike me as very similar to Jochen's, two people whose ideas I value very much. It seems my use of the word problem may be seen as critical. If you are missing something, it is only in understanding my intent. You asking the question, though, makes me wonder if I am not making myself very clear, and perhaps many others are responding similarly. The last thing I would want to do is detract in even the slightest way from a superb experience for everyone who shares here. If there is a problem at all, it must be in my choice of words in trying to express my ideas and feelings.

With loving concern and admiration.......Chuck

Dear One, you are very

Dear One, you are very clear. Of course, you are to say what something feels to you. You are more than welcome. And I may not be making myself clear. The basic premise I'm coming from is: What is the problem? I am unable to see a problem! If I were to substitute another word for problem, I would ask: What is the fuss about? You see one way. I see another. I don't see what needs to be solved!

Solutions

Thanks, hon, for your note. The short answer is that there is actually no problem and nothing needs to be solved. I think I just used a poor choice of words that did not convey my feelings very well. I have nothing but the deepest esteem for you and those that contribute to such wonderful forums. With love.....Chuck

Beloved Chuck, you are a

Beloved Chuck, you are a dear. I am wondering -- well, in the Vedic tradition, there are two paths to God, both of which lead to God. Each path has a different emphasis. One is the mind, and the other is the heart. Nevertheless, seekers on either path can hold hands with each other. And now I'm going to be quiet.

Gosh, these comments are

Gosh, these comments are like a trail of breadcrumbs (organic, Essene) leading to the chocolate (organic, dark, 80% cocoa mass) house. I'm having fun.

At work I often play around with the guys when they come to me saying that we have a problem. I say, "No problems, only opportunities." When I do use the word "problem", there is always a team member around to remind me, "No problems, only opportunities!".

Jochen's comment about diving reminds me of something I call Ocean Mountain theory :) In a coconut shell; In the relative world we are climbing mountains to reach the highest peak and diving oceans to reach the deepest depth. The less you know, the higher you go, the less you contrive, the deeper you dive!

Oceans of Love, Mountains of Peace!

The less you know, the

The less you know,
the higher you go,
the less you contrive,
the deeper you dive!

What a lovely little masterpiece of poetry! Should have a permanent place somewhere on every page of this site.

But could we get the cocoa mass down to, say, 72%? We might reach it sooner then. Especially when we make it biodynamic quality.

(What a pity the final post doesn't have the nice look of the preview when using the block quote.)

(I just saw a recent post by Heaven Admin that has the proper blockquote look. Something to do with browser settings?)

Sinking into the heart of Love...

Yes...this is an exquisite Heavenletter...and the last paragraph is an invitation:

Dive into the Love from which you came. Swim in the currents all the way to the embrace of My Love. There is Great Love for you to reach right now. And it is a little thing really for you to reach it. Dive into the depths of your being, and here I am, diving into you.

And at the moment of immersion...little "me" cannot be found...and Love is revealed. This is so sweet.

Love and blessings, Jim and Jimi