Sometimes you are little periwinkles hidden in the sand of the ocean.

You are soft-shelled. No matter what armor you may add to yourself, no matter what distance you keep, no matter what hole you bury yourself in, you are a tender morsel of God. No disguise is good enough. You are mortal immortal beings, and everyone knows it, and you know it too. And you pretend other things. The world sets an unreal stage for you.

One moment you see yourself as a power in the world. You swagger. The next you feel chagrined, and you falter. You pirouette in this universal charade, this repetitive show of shows. And all of this is to hide the truth of you that everyone knows.

You chatter so you won't say anything.

You hear by chance.

Two recordings go on at once in your mind. Or three or four. The true, the almost true, the half-true, the false, the stuttered false, the remembered false, the unfettered false. You use much energy just to carry on. It is heavy wearing so many overcoats.

How wonderful to feel the breeze of truth on your skin! How wonderful to exhale it! How wonderful to shake pretense off! How wonderful to be free of the false and to rise as the pure simple truth of you!

I do not embroider you. I do not build you up. I do not pretend you. I do not exalt you. You are already exalted. You are a being from Heaven. You are the same as everyone else, for they are exalted beings as well. All the distress you see is nothing but the cover-up.

What do you think would happen if you let your light shine? What terrible thing would happen? Do you think you would disappear?

You would not disappear. You would appear. You would shine. You would be yourself shining. And yet you fear the day when you rise. You fear it is dissolution, this unmasking of you. Unwarranted fear, for you would not dissolve. YOU are indissoluble.

Only the untrue surrounding the myth of yourself would dissolve. Everything that is you would remain. Only the disheveled would fall off. How tightly you hold on to tattered rags in preference to the shining truth of you!

You are afraid to be laid bare.

Then you say you do not know how to bare your soul. You have not done it in so long.

Baring your soul is not the same as telling the story of your life. Baring your soul is not the telling of deep dark secrets. It is the telling of beauty. It is the naming of beauty itself. From a cave in your heart, the light of truth emerges and lights up the landscape. Strip yourself of subterfuge, and you appear in your shining glory.

Be silent. Put your ear to the silence and listen to your truth. It is not hidden. It would wish to reveal itself, the truth of you. Truth says to you: "You are not this small insignificance you have pretended you are. You are not relegated to this ephemeral body of yours. The body has the least to do with you. Nor does your soul appear in words. Words do not say much. Words, yours and others', have skirted the truth of you for a very long time."

So how do you get to the truth of you?

You leave falsehood behind.

Begin by being silent for once. Observe.

And when you speak, say only words that are true. That means they match your inner heart. That means they are true for you. When you say only words that are true, you do not lift yourself up nor do you put yourself down nor anyone else. It is not your truth that says you don't like that person or another. It is not your truth that says you don't like yourself. It is not your truth that judges. It is not your truth that tries to improve someone else or to change yourself. You do not have to change. All you have to do is to leave off the untrue. All you have to do is to step up into My heart and know that here is the truth of you.

You have to look into the eyes of people you see. Let your eyes dwell on the light revealed. Light is not revealed in clothing or body shape or hair color or car or house. Only eyes reveal light. Others' eyes will ignite your own. This is a big secret I give to you now. Look into eyes. Stop looking elsewhere. See into. Do not look over. Alight your eyes on light. Do not glance. Peer. Do not look away. Look. Eyes call to you. Let eyelights meet in an ecstasy of recognition. You have been avoiding. Look deeply into eyes. Look deeply enough and you will see Me looking at you.