Feelings aren’t the problem—but chasing them like they hold the keys to your spiritual life? That’s a trap. This reflection on The Power of Being explores why presence is not a mood, how our inner posture shapes reality, and why the real transformation begins when we stop trying to feel holy and start being real.
Great post. I particularly like “Trying to rearrange the horizontal without accessing the vertical is like feng shui-ing your prison cell and calling it freedom.”
I have to admit I like that Up feeling of being spiritually aligned. But it is not sustainable. It's actually exhausting. I'd love to "stop trying to feel holy and start being real". Presence is not about experience and doing, doing, doing; it's about opening up to being. Like a flower.
In my journey, I think I was stuck in the horizontal too long. The is a lot of commentary from many directions (religious organizations, spiritual directors and a plethora of self help). I got tired of feeling that nothing I would ever do would be correct. Somehow I was able to change the direction to vertical. Blessedly there is a lot less critical noise in that orientation.
And you are so correct, it is something you consent to. We are so disoriented from our being that we still think we are expected to figure things out. We are taught to get - but rarely to receive or consent.
I didn’t know there was a part of me that’s stable, spacious & rooted in divine reality. I HOPED there was but seemed too far beyond my reach. I have to remind myself..
A relief to know that feeling unsure, scattered & overwhelmed - i.e., a normal day for me - doesn’t disqualify me from showing up in Being….and that I can consent to Presence right now, in my little funky house that’s still half Halloween, half Christmas decorations all trying to figure out which closet they belong in. And ignoring the 51,331 emails panting in their Yahoo inbox.
I will never forget remembering a dimension of being unlike any other when I read “The Kingdom Within: When Jesus Sounds Like a Sufi”.
That made all of the above possible. And still does. When I remember.
"Where feelings are witnessed", not worn, and Being is not an experience to attain, but the very ground from which all experience arises. A silent move from ego to witness.
This is a call to intent, with sobering grace. Thank you for pointing the reader towards the unshakable.
Well, go ahead and fracture all of my illusions, will ya? 😏 Seriously, this is a more erudite discussion of what the 12-step programs promote when dealing with feelings. "Feelings aren't facts." "It's just a feeling - you don't have to do anything." "It's a feelings disease." Looks like mainlining spiritual highs and ecstatic dancing around bonfires are another drug.
🙏😌♥️♥️♥️ Beautiful truth. ♥️ Thank you for helping us to embrace Presence more and more over performance. 🙏
Great post. I particularly like “Trying to rearrange the horizontal without accessing the vertical is like feng shui-ing your prison cell and calling it freedom.”
I have to admit I like that Up feeling of being spiritually aligned. But it is not sustainable. It's actually exhausting. I'd love to "stop trying to feel holy and start being real". Presence is not about experience and doing, doing, doing; it's about opening up to being. Like a flower.
I like what you say about presents not being something that you achieve but something you consent to.
In my journey, I think I was stuck in the horizontal too long. The is a lot of commentary from many directions (religious organizations, spiritual directors and a plethora of self help). I got tired of feeling that nothing I would ever do would be correct. Somehow I was able to change the direction to vertical. Blessedly there is a lot less critical noise in that orientation.
And you are so correct, it is something you consent to. We are so disoriented from our being that we still think we are expected to figure things out. We are taught to get - but rarely to receive or consent.
Thanks for the piece.
I didn’t know there was a part of me that’s stable, spacious & rooted in divine reality. I HOPED there was but seemed too far beyond my reach. I have to remind myself..
A relief to know that feeling unsure, scattered & overwhelmed - i.e., a normal day for me - doesn’t disqualify me from showing up in Being….and that I can consent to Presence right now, in my little funky house that’s still half Halloween, half Christmas decorations all trying to figure out which closet they belong in. And ignoring the 51,331 emails panting in their Yahoo inbox.
I will never forget remembering a dimension of being unlike any other when I read “The Kingdom Within: When Jesus Sounds Like a Sufi”.
That made all of the above possible. And still does. When I remember.
Brilliant...!
"Where feelings are witnessed", not worn, and Being is not an experience to attain, but the very ground from which all experience arises. A silent move from ego to witness.
This is a call to intent, with sobering grace. Thank you for pointing the reader towards the unshakable.
Reverence
🙏
Well, go ahead and fracture all of my illusions, will ya? 😏 Seriously, this is a more erudite discussion of what the 12-step programs promote when dealing with feelings. "Feelings aren't facts." "It's just a feeling - you don't have to do anything." "It's a feelings disease." Looks like mainlining spiritual highs and ecstatic dancing around bonfires are another drug.