From time to time, I receive email questions from someone who seems upset. Instead of a sincere desire to learn, the motivation of the questions seems to be to find a flaw in me and/or my teachings. The intent seems to be to make me wrong. I usually try to find a way to help the person. Truth is, that rarely works because they have already committed themselves to their attitude. But at least they have then heard something from me that may (if not right away then in the future as they reflect back) help them.
I believe that such resentment is often rooted in some sort of competitiveness. Perhaps a husband resents the fact that his wife likes my teachings and would prefer that she look to him for spiritual knowledge. Perhaps the person wants to see himself as an authority and therefore feels threatened or offended by me. Perhaps they feel they need to maintain their dogmatic world-view, feeling threatened by anything that may challenge their current understanding.
I hope the following response might be useful to anyone who may find himself feeling at odds with another person:
I sense hostility in the emails you send. I would like to suggest that you take a look at your motivations. What feelings, what emotions, lie within you when you write these emails? What do you really want from me? What is going on with you? I am not asking you to give me those answers. However, I do feel it would help you if you could honestly answer them for yourself… what you are really feeling about me, my teachings, and why. Just please remember that self-honesty is a most difficult task in such situations. Of course you could always deny any negative feelings. Perhaps then you could once and for all make me wrong in your eyes, which may in fact be what you have been hoping for all along. If that is so, consider this my gift to you.
I then returned to the world…
… to offer what I had gained
… to teach
… to heal
But then there were too many to heal one by one…
So I began teaching others to heal…
But to heal is not to learn techniques
To heal is to be… to be established in your own being…
… in your own true nature
… which is to say, in your spiritual nature
… once that is attained, the ability to heal comes naturally, with every breath.
So I now focus on cultivating the spiritual growth of individuals… of groups of individuals… of the world
There is so much wanting in this world…
To answer every wanting on its own level is not possible…
There is no end to all those wantings on all those levels…
But to bring fulfillment to all wanting by introducing individuals to their True Nature
That is attainable
That must be the fixity of purpose
There is a natural inclination to answer every wanting…
But to remain focused on the highest purpose… is my purpose… is our purpose.
Years ago, as a tennis player, I wondered if my game would suffer after not playing for a couple weeks. Instead I went to a woman’s professional tournament every day and watched. When I did go out again, I played the best tennis of my life.
I have been studying hip flexibility. Recently, I sat in on a conference call with a martial arts master discussing it. It was just a few small comments he made here and there. It was nothing that was not already in his book, but it was just something about the tone and inflection in his voice as he spoke the words. It made all the difference. I learned a tremendous amount in that forty-minute call.
My uncle was a cabinet maker. I remember as a kid noticing when he picked up what I recall being a 2×4 about two feet long as he contemplated his plans of what he would make out of it. The wood seemed to become clay in his hands… something he could mold however he chose. I learned more about woodworking in that moment than from anything else in my life.
My teacher gave great lectures, but it was what I experienced and observed in his presence that transformed me. It baffled me… how some would miss the very best of his teachings by ignoring all but the surface of his words. Really, ignorance (ignore-ance) is not a lack of facts. It is a state of mind. Many highly knowledgeable people remain quite ignorant. Yet there are those with little knowledge of a topic, who know it profoundly.
When people come to my lectures for facts and information, if they are not attentive, facts and information is about all they may take away. An attentive student would gain much more if we all just took a walk in the park. A chess master once said that an hour with a chess master is worth a lifetime of study.
Just to be sure it is clear, when Jesus says: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
He is saying that he is one with the Transcendent. There is only one Transcendent and that is (He is) the only way, the one and only Transcendent. To become it is to become one with the Father.
God’s Grace is that we are all one with that… I am That, thou art That, all of this is nothing but That. We have only to find it within ourselves.
Now, that is something for which we can all be really, really thankful.
Modern Physics calls it the unified field. It is also called the transcendent and the absolute. The ancient rishis, as well as some modern physicists, call it consciousness. It is oneness… the one thing out of which all things emerge… similar to how all sorts of ‘things’ emerge from your consciousness when you dream. As you evolve, this understanding moves from an intellectual notion, to an inner sense, to a clear certainty, to a direct/perceptible experience. That evolution takes place within you. Though it may be prompted by a notion presented to you, it is how clearly you find it within yourself that really matters. To take the notion and put it in your closet proclaiming, “I already know this, what else can you teach me?” is a wasteful relationship with that knowledge. Your ‘knowledge’ must become your ‘Knowledge’ with a capital ‘K’. All knowledge is there deep within you, but it is shrouded, not totally clear. Yet it is that inner knowing that spurs you on, that you live in dedication to. You do well to work with the knowledge of the transcendent in diverse ways to make it more and more clear, more and more of a certainty for yourself. Proper meditation is, of course, the most important tool. But deep thought and careful reflection are also of great importance. Everything has to make sense TO YOU. And making sense is not just about the intellect. It includes all level of your being… thoughts, finest feeling, emotions, common sense, wisdom level, etc., etc. It is not a matter of convincing yourself. It is a matter of finding the truth of the Absolute within yourself, through your OWN convictions, your own reasoning, your own personal experience. Without that, you are merely parroting something you heard. You only own it when you become it, when you find it within you. That process of becoming is called evolution.
What are examples that may help you find the Absolute within? Well, how is it that all fields of knowledge parallel one another? How is it that principles in business parallel principles in music and science? If you reflect on this you will see that it is only possible if all things are coming out of the same one thing, like spokes of a wheel all spinning around the same one axle. But it is up to you to see this from within yourself more and more and more clearly. It is not a matter of accepting it, or clinging to your current level of understanding of it, but of exploring that notion more and more to see it more and more clearly. Do not try to convince yourself. Try to find truth within yourself. These are two very different things.
Another example: Look around you right now. What do you see? What do you hear? What do you experience? Now for an exercise in total honesty: How do you know any of it is real? How do you know it is not just an illusion, like in the movie “The Matrix”? What do you really know? Maybe everything you are conscious of is an illusion, but one thing is for sure… irrefutable: Consciousness is. If you are just honest with your ongoing experience, the deepest secret of the universe is revealed to you. All is born out of one thing… consciousness… your consciousness. There is only one consciousness, or as it is said, you are one with God. The only difference is your angle of approach, your relationship with that one consciousness. That is what makes you uniquely you. So there you have the second example, but are you going to work with it and explore it and discover the truth of it within yourself? Or are you going to put it in your closet and say you get it? The exploration is yours, no one else’s. Exploration tills the soil that uncovers deeper and deeper understanding. Evolution is not so much about learning more facts as it is about finding a deeper relationship with the facts you already know.
Remember, real knowledge of anything and everything is found within YOU. Find ways to explore the notion of oneness for yourself. To own it, you must become it. And that is a process called evolution.
So Point #1 is Discernment. Point #2 is that there is one thing that birthed and underlies all things. Spend time with these.
"Take the time to reflect on what is said here. If you find yourself associating this material with things you have heard elsewhere, please take the time to diligently explore how they are different. This knowledge is elusive. I share it here because I have seen how much this knowledge helps people – the potential is enormous." – Michael Mamas
"True knowledge slips through the fingers of those not willing to ponder…" – Michael Mamas
"Take what I say and work with it to develop a deeper understanding of life, rather than taking what I say and forcing it into the mold of your current relationship with life." – Michael Mamas
"Evolution means change." – Michael Mamas
"Your disposition is the tone with which you hold yourself, your cells, your psyche, your beliefs. More than anything else, it determines your life." – Michael Mamas
From time to time, I receive email questions from someone who seems upset. Instead of a sincere desire to learn, the motivation of the questions seems to be to find a flaw in me and/or my teachings. The intent seems to be to make me wrong. I usually try to find a way to help the person. Truth is, that rarely works because they have already committed themselves to their attitude. But at least they have then heard something from me that may (if not right away then in the future as they reflect back) help them.
Years ago, as a tennis player, I wondered if my game would suffer after not playing for a couple weeks. Instead I went to a woman’s professional tournament every day and watched. When I did go out again, I played the best tennis of my life.
