Saturday is Prose & Poetry Day here on the blog, a time to take a moment once a week to relax the mind, open the heart, and access the soul through the gift of prose from one of the many books of The New Spirituality, and through the poetry of m. Claire, author of the forthcoming volume, Openings.
This week’s prose…an excerpt from Tomorrow’s God…
How can I “open to the highest level of consciousness within me”?

This is what The New Spirituality teaches. It is explained and contained in many books, in many programs offered by many teachers. It is a multi-faceted process that goes on for a lifetime—and can be completed in one minute. It is a process that never ends, because the higher the level of consciousness you reach, the higher the levels go. Even if you reached the Highest Level, that level of Consciousness would create another level, instantly. Aware that you can never reach the “end of the line,” you may then choose to start over at the beginning, just for the sheer fun and the unbridled joy of it!

“Starting over” is fun? Boy, you have a different idea of fun than I do.

LIFE is fun! Life ITSELF is fun! Creating is fun. Creation is the stuff of Life. It is the Prime Act, the First Purpose. Yet you cannot create anything if you know that everything has already been created! Therefore, “starting over” IS fun, because in starting over you forget that everything is already created, and you begin creating it all over again, as if it wasn’t already there.

Okay, if you say this will all be fun, I’m going to believe you. But right now I’m in the middle of this cycle and I want to expand my consciousness and “open to all the Knowledge Centers” within me. How do I do this? You still haven’t told me yet how to expand my consciousness.

As I began to say, the complete answer would fill—has filled—many books. Toward the end of this dialogue you will list some of them.

I will?

Yes. These will be just a few of the many, many sources from which humanity may obtain this information. But I don’t want to make you have to go to another source, other than this one, right now, because I know that it would be frustrating to you to have to leave this dialogue and go somewhere else for an answer that you seek right now.

Thank you. That would be frustrating.

So I will give you the short answer here, with the stipulation that there is much more to it, much more that can be said, much more to understand at a much deeper level, and with your promise that if you are interested in pursuing this further, you will refer to some of the many other teachers and sources in your world from which this information may be obtained in greater depth and detail.

Fair enough.

The most immediate way for most human beings to expand their consciousness is to become conscious of the fact that they have a “consciousness.”
Having a Consciousness is something of which you must become consciously aware. This is called self awareness, and developing this can be a fairly easy thing.
The next 100 times you look at yourself in a mirror or reflection, do the Who Meditation.
The Who Meditation?
Say the word “Who?” to yourself three times, for ten seconds teach time, stretching the “oo” sound of “who.” You may do this aloud, or silently within. Either way, stare directly at your own eyes in the reflection, take a deep breath, and ask, on a single breath, three times….
Whoooooooooo?
The question you are posing to yourself is, “Who is this? Who is this standing before me? Who is this being that I think I am? Who? Who?”
If you do this 100 times in the next 30 days, you will become aware of your Self. You may not have come to a full understanding of Who You Are, but you will come to an awareness that you ARE. That is, you will become Self Conscious.
Once you know you have a Consciousness—that is, a part of you that is larger than you, that can separate Itself from the Little You and talk back to you, you are well on your way to discovering the truth of your being and stepping into enlightenment.
You will soon understand that enlightenment is experienced by not seeking to experience it. One does not become enlightened because one wishes to. One becomes enlightened because one is. That is, you are already enlightened, and simply now become aware of it.
It is awareness that we are talking about here. And now I will tell you a great secret. You cannot become aware of anything within yourself without seeing it outside of yourself, and you cannot become aware of anything outside of yourself without seeing it inside of yourself.

Oh, great, Catch 22.

Not so. Both things can be done at once, and always are.
When you are open to the Outside World, when you are moving in it and through it, keep keen your awareness of everything around you. Look at things as you have never looked at them before. Make every moment a medication. See the cracks in the sidewalk, the leaves on the tree, the petals on the flowers, the faces in the crowd. Practice seeing them all as You.
Just see yourself there. Don’t ask yourself what you are doing there or how you go there or how it’s possible for you to be there, just see your Self there. Call yourself that. Do not say, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” Rather, say, “There, because of the grace of God, I go.”
“There I go again, being a street person without money. There I go again, being a flower in that field. There I go again, being a domineering spouse. There I go again, being a dictator in a foreign land oppressing my people. There I go ahead, being that blade of grass.”
Just see yourself everywhere. And smile when you see yourself there, knowing that you are there, and that what is there is in you.
Now then, set aside time each day to go to the world within. As you move through this Inside World, lose all thoughts and images of the Outside World. Allow your mind to go blank. Breath deeply and simply concentrate on the sound of your breath. Make your breath your mantra—the sound that takes you within.
Now focus your awareness on a spot in the center of your forehead, just above your eyes. Keep “looking” there with your inner eyes. Stare into the dark space of that nothingness until you “see” something. Keep focusing on your breath and look at what you see. Look deeply. Do not “put” something there, but wait until what is already there is opened to your consciousness.
Something will suddenly appear to you. To many, it will look like a dancing blue flame. You will not only see this flame, you will feel it. The feeling of it will wash over you. You will call this feeling Love. It may bring you to soft and gentle tears. Let that happen. And…
…say hello to your Soul.

Wow. It is really that simple?

It is. Every one of you can do this. Very few of your have tried. You have said that you haven’t known how. I have now given you a simple process. .Use it and you will become aware that you are aware. You will become conscious of your Consciousness.
Now, take this vision and this feeling of the Self that you have experienced in your Inside World and place it in your Outside World, overlaying it on everyone and everything. You will soon fall in love with everyone and everything. You will have literally turned your world Inside Out.

I can’t believe this. I have never had anything like this explained to me so simply. What happens to me after I experience something like this?

You gain access to all that you know, and also to All That You Are. This, in turn, expands your choices of action. It increases your options. You find yourself thinking things you never thought before, saying things you never said before, doing things you never did before. You experience being “ín this world, but not of it.”
Everything changes in your reality, and everything changes in the reality that you create. Thus, you wind up changing your world. The part of the world you touch is never the same, nor is the World Entire, for your impact reaches beyond your imagining.

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This week’s gift of poetry
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It has been said that when it rains
this hard, as if the sky is falling
that it is God, crying tears for us.
In a New Age, it might be said
that what is happening outside of us,
is always a reflection of what is
being experienced inside of us.
What is it like, I wonder, to be
washed away
from the inside, out?
Our inner sky falls, and our dreams begin
to float by so rapidly in their new course,
that even the ocean, becomes wary.
We experience that calm before the storm,
then the instinct to shelter oneself, as it approaches.
And as everything starts to move
and disband, under the feet
and the sod and earth of our familiarity
is seen passing quickly down the street,
its own happy boat –
we pray that a calm,
will come
after the storm, as well.
(After the Storm – m. claire – copyright 2007 – all rights reserved)

For more of the work of this new American poet, go to www.mclairepoet.com.