Category: Wholeness

Blogs that clarify wholeness

2 Comments

Thy Will Be Done – A Non-Personal Perspective

  By , , , , , , , ,

Thy Will Be Done npacentral.comThis Easter musing on NPA & Life takes a good look at the idea of ‘Thy Will be done’. From a Christian-centric Easter perspective and the story of Jesus in The Garden of Gethsemane – the events that lead to The Passion of Christ – through to a very non-personal perspective on the idea of ‘handing it over to God’.

So let’s crack open this sweet egg, and take a ride down the Easter Bunny hole…

The Garden of Gethsemane, Jerusalem, 2008

In 2008 I had the privilege of teaching the first ever Journey Intensive Weekend for Brandon Bays in Israel. During that trip I had the opportunity to visit Jerusalem – an opportunity I was NOT going to miss.

I was raised Christian, my Grandpa was a Vicar; I went to Sunday school and sang with the church choir. I didn’t really relate to all that bible stuff, but no doubt it’s in my blood. Later as I walked the path of awakening, I was re-introduced to the core spiritual ideas that appear in Christianity, but also within the other main religious texts. In my ‘conversations with God’ over the years, Jesus has regularly been a ‘form’ through which the Divine has spoken to me. And often when Christ was around there was a good deal of talk about the nature of surrender and Divine Will.

So, on reflection, it is no surprise to me that of all the places I visited in Jerusalem, it was the Garden of Gethsemane that touched me most deeply.

The Garden of Gethsemane, Jerusalem, Circa AD 33

What took place in the garden marks Maundy Thursday and begins the Passion of Christ and all the Christian events associated with the Easter Festival. While much of the Easter attention falls on the crucifixion and the resurrection, in my mind ALL of that is cradled in the teaching of surrender that was reached through Jesus’ very human conversation with God; often known as his anguished prayer.

In case you don’t know, The Bible tells how after the last supper, in full awareness of Judas’ imminent betrayal, Jesus takes his disciples to their usual hangout, the garden of Gethsemane. As he waits there he goes off to pray, beseeching God to spare him. He basically says: “God, I know all things are possible to You, so please show me if there is another way? In fact, if there IS another way please, please, please do that!”, and yet with full authenticity he finishes his prayer with “and always, Thy Will be done”

The lesson here is not one of personal power, it is one of non-personal awareness. Jesus does NOT set a personal goal of living without suffering and make that happen, glorifying in his awesomeness when he hits his goal or entering a self-blame/critique/lesson scenario if he misses.

Rather, he shows us that you can be fully present and acknowledge the human expression (the experience of the frightened personality in this case) and still be fully connected to the true source of all decision, consequence & experience: The Infinite, The Origin, God.

Non-Personal Responsibility

You see, often ‘Thy Will be done’ is interpreted as a personal doing. In other words, “It’s my personal responsibility to hand it over to God”.

A non-personal interpretation would be that if, like Jesus, you become fully awake to the realisation that there is no personal causality, and every perceived reality is, in fact, at consequence only to God (or ‘The Field’ if you prefer) – then you will understand that the fundamental spiritual dictate: ‘Hand it over to God’ is not an instruction for ‘you’ to ‘do’ the handing over. Rather, it’s an invitation to simply realise the True source of all experience, inspiration and action.

So, Jesus understood that no matter what personal action he undertook, God was in charge. In the end; Thy Will be done. Byron Katie (author of Loving What Is), who’s term for God is ‘reality’ puts it nicely, saying “When you argue with reality you lose, but only 100% of the time”.

So, this Easter, I invite you to entertain the notion that Thy Will is being done. I encourage you to notice how you are being moved, being breathed, being ‘done’. I also invite you to honour your personal experiences and wishes in that, and be with them as kindly as possible. The Morning Prayer which I share on my Heaven & Earth CD (http://www.shop.npacentral.com/other-products/), provides a format which fully embraces these ideas, so that could be a great resource for you if you’d like a little support with that.

Sending you always, love & blessings

Joel

[JY-General-Bio]

10 Comments

Do You Need A Hug?

  By , , , , , , ,

Do You Need A Hug?If you tend to rationalise the crap out of feeling alone, well I understand.

Especially on ‘Saint bloody Valentines day’…

Maybe you question why you haven’t got that special someone with you and berate yourself with some bugger’s reason why you should have.

Perhaps you rage at the vulgarity of Valentines commercialism and scorn the couple’s who fell for it; displaying their loved up life on Facebook like a badge of honour. Perhaps you quietly, secretly, wish them a nasty break up.

Perhaps you hide your heart in the Haagen-Dazs pot – cookies and silent scream.

These are culturally acceptable strategies for dealing with feeling alone. They are seriously rubbish and usually serve to make you feel worse.

Here’s the thing. You need a hug.

(And, by the way, the same goes for Christmas, New Years, Birthday’s and all those traditionally ‘social’ occasions…)

You Need A Hug

And I’m not talking about one of those civilized, love & light, bromance kinda hugs you see happening everywhere these days – although I’ve gotta say I’m all for them over a hand shake, an air kiss or an awkward stand-off.

No, I’m talking about one of those uncompromising, unhindered, full out, full on, ‘I’m totally f***ing here – this moment is. my. everything.’ kinda hugs. A hug that says everything you ever wanted to hear without a single word being said. A hug that has exactly nothing to do with sex or orgasms and yet gives every cell in your body the deepest permission to sing and cry and laugh and scream in one dizzy, crazy, out-of-control yet safely held moment. A hug that says yes to everything you are, everything you’ve been and everything you long to become.

THAT, dear reader, is the hug I’m talking about.

The Big Question

And here’s the big question: Can you feel it? As you read the description of the hug – did you feel it? Can you go there? Can you LET yourself touch into it?

Because, while it’s flippin’ wonderful to get that from someone else, the truth is there are parts of you that are looking for THAT kind of hug from you, and only you. In the same way that sometimes toddlers just need their Mum, and no one else will do – not even Daddy. This can be true whether you are in a wonderful relationship, a crappy relationship or no relationship. Sometimes you’ve just gotta get in there and hug yourself!

A Deep, Out-Of-Control, Yet Safely Held Moment

This week I worked with a client in his 30’s who had undergone a very traumatic event when he was 18. Out of the experience a great deal of positive inner searching, personal and spiritual growth had come and yet he, his 18 year old traumatised consciousness, was still somehow alone and locked down. For all the work he’d done and help he’d got, this inner kid needed to feel it. He needed to down-to-his-bones know: he wasn’t alone anymore. He needed THAT kind of hug.

And no, I didn’t give him that hug. I simply helped him to realise the man he’d become was the one that his 18 year old self was looking for. And helped him to realise that the man he’d become was ready; that all that he’d been through, all that he’d been inspired to learned and all the ways that he’d grown meant he could finally meet his younger self, hold him and give him THAT kind of hug.

It was indeed a deep, out-of-control yet safely held moment. And although he hardly moved a muscle – it was a deeply physical experience and the key that unlocked his long held defences and set him on the road to outward fulfilment.

Your Turn

So, if you’re alone this Valentines, or at any time – whether you’re single or in a relationship but not getting that hug – perhaps it’s you you’re looking for – and you wont settle for less. If you can even begin to connect emotionally with my description of ‘THAT kind of hug’ or it points you to your own description that you can connect with then you’ve gone a long way to finding the perfect love today.

If you wanna go for it, then…

I invite you to imagine there’s a younger self that’s looking for THAT kind of hug today. It doesn’t matter how old she or he is – whatever age ‘you’, shows up in your sense or imagination is perfect. And if there are many – form a queue – there’s plenty of hugs to go around, and just pick one for now.

Once you have a sense of them, just feel, sense or see yourself go over to them and connect. You’re ready, so just take them in your arms and give them THAT kind of hug. If it helps to re-read my description – great, do that. Or simply feel your way through it organically – you know what they need. You know what you need. Hug it out.

And if you would like help with that, you know where I am.

This is my Universal hug for you this fine day, and I hope it touches your heart and makes your world a little brighter.

Please share the hugging love and let me know what you experienced in the comments.

[JY-General-Bio]

2 Comments

Am I Supposed To Be Ridding Myself Of The Ego?

  By , , , , , , , , ,

Am I Supposed To Be Ridding Myself of The EgoThought I’d get 2014 rolling with a bit of hard-core spiritual heresy, and happened across some video footage from a panel talk I did with two excellent non-personal friends in Toronto last year.

So, here’s an extract from: “An Evening of Dynamic Conversation on The New Wave of Non-Personal Development”

It’s moderated by Dave Clark (President of the publishing agency – Solutions Inc.), and I was joined by Arnold Timmerman (Author of Leadingship – Exploring the essence of leadership dynamics) and Philip Shepherd (Author of New World, New Self – Coming to our senses in the 21st century).

Arnold & I had talked many times about doing an event like this, and it happened that our schedules coincided in Canada last May. It was a great bonus to be joined by Philip and have an opportunity to offer multiple takes on the non-personal perspective, spirituality and personal development.

Show Me The Heresy…

The particular aspect of heresy we express in this clip, is on the topic of The Ego. We take a look at where the non-personal perspective on it differs from much of the popular personal growth and spiritual dogma that’s fashionable these days.

In this extract the conversation addresses topics like…

  • What is the nature of our authentic selves and who we think we are?
  • What is the impact of self inquiry on who we think are?
  • Does the Ego disappear when you become present?
  • How does the Ego relate to the human condition and Divinity?
  • Can you actually get rid of the ego?
  • What is the mechanism that creates the ego?
  • What is the mechanism that creates states of enlightenment?
  • What is the true nature of Unconditional Love?
  • How does conscious experiencing effect your life’s purpose?

It’s amazing what you can cover in a little over 6 minutes.

Enjoy The Video…

You Can Quote Us…

“When you start self-inquiry, you’ll find that who we are is much more fluid than we think it might be”
Arnold Timmerman

“I don’t even think about ‘is my ego involved or isn’t it’ – I want to be fully present and whole”
Philip Shepherd

“The minute you start making anything in your experience bad or wrong you instantly step out of the availability of your wholeness”
Joel Young

Comments & shares are, as always, welcome! :0)

[JY-General-Bio]

No comments

Are You Suffering From Arrogance Of The Heart?

  By , , , , , ,

Embrace Mind Heart and InstinctDemonise the mind and become ignorant
Demonise the heart and become passionless
Demonise the instinct and become passive

Embrace them all as your best companions…
And become amazing in all the ways that matter to you!

Embrace Mind, Heart & Instinct

This is an invitation to embrace the human mechanisms of experience. Our tendancy to raise one particular aspect of ourselves to dominance and demonise (or make less than) the rest can reduce the fullness of our experience.

The Rise & Fall of Prominence

In openness and presence you can ride the rise and fall of prominence of each faculty as you meet each moment.

One of the traps in the modern Spiritual and Personal Growth landscape is that an ‘arrogance of the heart’ can emerge where the mind and instincts become denied.

This can be AS debilitating as the more prevelant trend on the planet; that of promoting the mind and mental faculties over the others.

Seductive Snares On The Spiritual Path…

Here are some scenarios to help you get a sense of what some of these traps can look like in experience with some suggestions on steps you can take  to free yourself and move towards wholeness…

Bare in mind in the scenarios below that ‘Do you ever‘ is not saying ‘you should never…‘ These questions are simply an opportunity to self reflect and bring more awareness to where you may be selling yourself short…

Also, this is by no means a complete list, but I have chosen to focus on the main traps that I see people on the spiritual path fall into…

TRAP: Demonising the mind…

Do you ever hear yourself say ‘Oh, that’s just my mind’, perhaps in a dismissive or self-reproaching tone? Dismissing the mind is dismissing part of you. It’s dismissing one of the avenues of communication that the Universe has to connect with and guide you. It’s not that the mind doesn’t come up with some unhelpful rubbish, but let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater!

The Mind is Not BadTHE MOVE TOWARDS WHOLENESS: Embracing the mind…

Soften your judgement of the mind. Be willing to hear it out – it might have a point! The mind is not bad, it’s just a like puppy. Sometimes it pees on the floor. Start being gentle but clear in response and it will grow up to be a faithful companion. Also it loves to fetch information – a very useful thing!

TRAP: Demonising your instincts…

If you have a problem saying ‘no’, making decisions or asserting yourself, there’s a very good chance you have learned to supress and demonise your instincts. This can be the scourge of nice spiritual people whose identity has become invested in ideas that promote positivity, love and joy and spell out dire consequences if less than rosey emotions are entertained.

THE MOVE TOWARDS WHOLENESS: Embracing your instincts…

Question any tendancy to be passive. Of course there are times when it’s good to be lead, however there’s a difference between actively and passively arriving in that role. Check with yourself whether any reticence to say no, make a decision or assert yourself is really to do with fear of conflict?  The main job of embracing your instincts though, is in getting comfortable with unsettling feelings and learning to relate to them in ways that give you access to tremendous life-force and clarity. As the instincts are born from the gut I also recommend spending some time focusing your awareness about 2cm beneath the navel.

TRAP: Elevating the heart above mind and instinct…

If you want to fall into both of the above traps simultaneously, you can’t beat this as a strategy. If you hear yourself say ‘Listen to your heart’ but never hear yourself say ‘Trust your gut and go with your instincts’ or ‘Think about it for a moment’ – be aware that you may have slipped into this seductive little snare. So what’s the problem? The heart is super lovely and all Soulful is it not? Well, yes it does hold a beautiful perspective, but not necessarily always the most healthy perspective – ask anyone who has stayed in a relationship way past it’s sell-by date because their heart could see the potential and longed for it to be so, even as every instinct was screaming MOVE ON!

THE MOVE TOWARDS WHOLENESS: The Humble Heart…

The humble heart is always available to offer it’s beautiful perspective but is open to the swift clean knowing of the instinct and the 3D rationality of the mind. Together these three pistons are the engine of your life force. They pump power to your purpose and, when allowed to work with the rhythm and harmony of life, will carry you Gracefully through the adventures of your life experience.

Embrace them all as your best companions…

So, be open to the instincts, the rational mind and the heart and trust the natural rhythm in which each of them takes the lead.

If you would like a helping hand getting to this harmony where all of these faculties are fully available and free, give me a call – you can use the link here or below to set up 10 minutes for a chat.

Peace and wholeness my friends…

Joel Young
http://www.NonPersonalAwareness.com

Please SHARE if this resonates, and comments are welcome

[JY-General-Bio]

One Comment

Personal Responsibility in a Non-Personal World

  By , , , , , , , , , , ,

Personal ResponsibilityAs the whole solid and separate model dissolves, we see it’s impact happening all around us.

The status quo of North Africa and the Middle East is dissolving as unsustainable despotic behaviours take the system critical, people rise and political tyrannies fall. The status quo of Western Culture is challenged as unsustainable economic behaviours take the system critical, people occupy, and financial institutions fall.

Spirituality, like science, throughout the ages has been a reflection of humanity’s understanding and culture – whether we like to admit it or not.

PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY

In the Personal Growth arena we have had a period of being very inner/self focused and have revelled in the idea that we create the entire universe from within ourselves. That’s a large responsibility for mortal shoulders!

Of course, there is a degree of truth to it and certainly there’s been a great need and purpose to come into ourselves, asking ‘Who am I really?’ To connect inwardly, and mature in Spirit as individuals.

We walked from the notion of ‘the power outside’, to ‘the power inside’ – two opposite personalised perspectives. Personal experience has been the primary conduit of human experience – now it’s time to go co-personal.

“It’s time to step into a collaborative mindset and engage WE thinking, not ME thinking”

It’s time to INCLUDE the power of our selves and yet go BEYOND our selves, beyond our local-ness . It’s time to go beyond the idea that ‘If I only think positive thoughts myself, then the whole world will change’. It’s time to step into a collaborative mindset and engage WE thinking, not ME thinking. It’s time for powerful animated PERSONAL PARTICIPATION in alignment with a bigger picture.

It’s time to INCLUDE the power of our selves and yet go BEYOND our selves

Click To Tweet

PERSONAL PARTICIPATION

Now, you can approach this from a very personally responsible mind-set and decide, yes, ‘let’s DO that’, but the beautiful thing I notice with people who do a lot of NPA is that it just sort of happens – it becomes the automatic modus operandi all by itself.

This is because NPA aligns you with and beyond the self automatically. It invokes awarenesses and powers with and beyond the self that just start to work through you – and it becomes the most natural thing to behave in much more competition free, altruistic ways.

Personal responsibility and personal power alone are unsustainable models. The natural effortlessness of transformations, changes and growth through non-personal awareness has shown to make them sustainable.

“NPA invokes awarenesses and powers with and beyond the self that just start to work through you – and it becomes the most natural thing to behave in much more competition free, altruistic ways”

 

Learn How You Can Make Rapid Sustainable Shifts…

NPA Basic Training - Start Here“This video programme will walk you step by step through the core training of The NPA Process and give you what you need to get started making a difference in your life right away with NPA.”

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

So NPA is an expression of the evolutionary changes afoot. It starts out as a way to look at your personal stuff – but what it REALLY does is open you into the non-personal perspective…

JY-GodSky400v3

The ‘Face in the Clouds’ has NOT been added in later – it was noticed only after we reviewed the photo’s from the days shoot.

Into the relational space – the space between us as individuals, which is becoming more solid, more distinct, more tangible. And we start really learning how to operate with this connection between us – not just as some amorphous Unity idea – but as a distinct operational matrix (beyond just the self)…

As I have said – this is what’s happening in the energy of the planet anyway, and if you love to participate CONSCIOUSLY in this amazing shift, you need to go beyond the AWAKENING, go beyond just personal power, go beyond the chase for a holy grail ‘sustained God-Self experience’ and meet your humble authentic expression where you are. You’ll find it’s all right here, right now in the wholesomeness of simply BE-ing. Are you ready?

“The unconditionally loving witness is realised to be awake and aware. It rests as the foundation of well-being and at the heart of your life experience”

Joel Young, Creator & Custodian of NPA

[JY-General-Bio]

One Comment

Togetherness in Wholeness (New Paradigm Relating)

  By , , , , , , ,

TogethernessInWholeness300

Have you noticed how the hand-me-down models of relating suck?

In this second of my 3 foundational articles on Non-Personal Awareness I speak to the wonder of wholeness and a new model of relating… which emerges naturally from engaging with the non-personal field…

Going beyond just our personal selves and into the new evolutionary paradigm, we are seeing that our habitual ways of relating to each other fail over and again. Time for something new…

BEYOND THE PARADOX

As you engage more and more with Non-Personal Awareness, it’s teachings and the NPA Process a new freedom emerges, which takes you beyond the paradoxes of spiritual dogma – ancient and modern.

Apart from the very personal stuff (the magic of life falling into place, letting go of painful energies and opening to gracefully aligned and wholesome ones) you ‘train in’ an alive perspective that is very unattached to ‘who is showing up’. You become very present to WHAT IS, with your feet firmly on the ground, in the world.

WHOLENESS

What that gives you is freedom. Freedom to stop trying to become more than you are, but to actually BE who you are fully. And I’m not talking just in terms of the ‘OM vastness’ of who you are – because yes you are that – but you are also THIS, this very human Being, right here.

“In this GENUINE BEING, the ancient war of Enlightenment vs Ego has ended”

In this GENUINE BEING, the ancient war of Enlightenment vs Ego has ended. It doesn’t deny the vaster context of ‘who you are’ but is also willing to be right here in the local, very personal perspective – celebrating the magnificence and ordinariness of all of it. I call it Wholeness.

In Wholeness, you are truly open to allowing the mechanism of the Bigger Being (God / the Universe / Humanity even etc) to happen through you…

Beyond-the-paradox400

TOGETHERNESS

And THEN – Then (as is already happening across the planet) that’s when we start to get into genuine togetherness.

We exclaim “OMG – there’s other people and other perspectives and other ideas!”

And we ask “What would happen if we put aside the habitual attachment to our very small and local perspectives and looked at the bigger picture?” Not just “What would feel good to me locally?” – rather “What would benefit the whole of us?”

And here’s our growth edge – at this point we discover how our ‘solid and separate’ culture is deeply enmeshed into our values, strategies and ideas of relating.

“Inevitably, we are realising that our current relating models suck!”

As we discover that the entire fabric of reality is energetic and connected, and begin to understand that it is wholly relational in nature, inevitably, we are realising that our current relating models suck!

Structured into the offerings and message of NPA is a new model of relating. It transcends the dualistic paradoxes and invites a new relational way – a way that genuinely enables Togetherness in Wholeness.

“NPA gives ‘who you are’ in the moment space to breathe, and live and express itself. Over time, Self-consciousness dwindles and radical self acceptance emerges. This is where true self-discovery begins!”

Joel Young, Creator & Custodian of NPA

In the last of my 3 foundational articles on Non-Personal Awareness, I address the question of personal responsibility in a non-personal world.

[WARNING] Be prepared for some heresy and a personal growth Dogma Detox, as this articles introduces the co-personal model of creation. It challenges you to meet your humble authentic expression (exactly where you are) and engage that power beyond the self… read it if you dare! 😉

[JY-General-Bio]