From Zacciah Blackburn...
We often begin our practice with spaciousness, because it opens us to such a profound connection with the greater mystery. From that place, the practice begins to unfold naturally, guiding us into deeper layers of the work.
When we enter a state of spaciousness, we are collaborating with the very nature of the great feminine body of wisdom — the primordial ground of life itself, the source from which nature arises.
In that state we begin to connect with the living tissue of existence. We feed into it, and it feeds and nourishes us in return. We begin to feel the cohesion of that vast field of life.
Through that connection we begin to cohere as a body of light workers, not only within the circle of practice we may be sharing in the moment, but as part of a much larger body of transformation. That body includes people across the world who are engaged in awakening and healing work, and it reaches far beyond that as well — into the celestial realms, into the vast communities of life throughout the universe.
We are interlacing with that greater tissue of existence. We are informing it, and it is informing us. We are feeding it, and it feeds us in return. When we speak of the light of wisdom, we are invoking that living connection. It allows us to enter deeply into the work and to remember our own inherent nature within that greater field.
Wisdom itself is the art of how we use our perception and knowledge. It is the skillful application of what we know in the choices we make and the actions we take in life. Spaciousness supports this process because it brings us into what might be called a state of clear view.
Imagine standing on the summit of a mountain at night, looking out across the vast sky filled with stars. In that immense openness there is a clarity of perspective. We can see for miles and miles.
When we enter inner spaciousness, something similar occurs. Our perception opens and we begin to see more clearly. From that clarity we are able to make wiser choices and take more aligned actions. Our lives become more coherent and more fulfilling. These states help us evolve because they bring us into resonance with the greater wisdom of life itself.
The more we enter into synchronous resonance with the universe, the more we both feed and are fed by that greater field. We inform it, and it informs us. In that exchange we find nourishment and support. Resting in these states is deeply sustaining. They naturally produce a sense of luminosity and freedom. Who among us does not wish to be free? Self-liberation arises naturally when we learn to rest in stillness, spaciousness, and silence.
All of us are seeking fulfillment in our lives, though that may appear in many different forms — a new job, a new home, a new direction. Yet beneath all of those expressions lies a deeper impulse toward self-fulfillment. In the wisdom traditions this is often described as self-realization.
Self-realization is the discovery of who we truly are. And within that discovery is also the understanding of why we are here. What is the purpose of being alive on this planet at this moment in time? To explore these questions requires entering into living relationship with the greater principles of the cosmos.
There is so much alive and communicating with us in every moment. Step into nature and feel its beauty. The forest itself is a living organism. The trees, the soil, the insects, the animals — all are feeding and communing with one another. They entrain with one another through rhythm and resonance, forming the living community of the forest.
Science is beginning to describe these relationships in terms of frequency and resonance — how systems interact and either cohere or fall out of harmony.
Cohesion is an important part of this process. Cohesion is coherence. The positive feeling states — joy, love, kindness, compassion — literally bind things together. They draw us into alignment with the greater principles of life. When we abide in these coherent states, we naturally align with those universal patterns.
Understanding this helps us pursue and embody these states more fully. We begin to enliven them within ourselves and make choices that strengthen them. In doing so we enter more deeply into the fundamental wisdom that already lives within us.
At our core we are good. We are joyful, loving, kind, luminous, and free. These are our inherent qualities. When we lose touch with them it is usually because we have learned to focus our attention on lesser beliefs — the belief that we are not worthy, that we are not divine, that we do not have enough.
Our culture often reinforces these ideas until they become deeply embedded in our thinking and even in our bodies. We begin to believe that life is meant to be a constant struggle, and that we are somehow separate from the greatness and abundance of the universe.
Yet there are other ways of living.
When we return our attention to the deeper principles of life, and come into resonance with them, we begin to remember our place within the larger harmony of existence. We align ourselves with the greater rhythms of the cosmos, and that alignment nourishes us.
This movement lives within a principle known as reciprocity.
Reciprocity is one of the great laws of the universe. Life moves through giving and receiving in balanced relationship. We are constantly giving to the universe through our thoughts, actions, and presence, and the universe is constantly giving back to us.
Sometimes we do not notice this exchange because our attention is not placed where we can perceive it. Yet direct experience reveals it again and again. Experience is the most fundamental way we come to know something.
When we trust those experiences and continue to return to them, the path of self-realization begins to unfold naturally. Over time it becomes as simple as the turning of a wheel. We find ourselves moving within that wheel of giving and receiving, living in harmony with life itself.
And when we understand that movement, and participate in it consciously, life becomes much simpler and far more beautiful.