Are You In?

You are a member of a team, along with some 6.8 billion other souls. Let’s call it Team Earth.

This team has great potential, most likely beyond what any of us imagine. We have come so far, and yet we can be so much more. Because you are an interconnected part of that team, as you go, so goes the team. All the progress you make is progress for the team. And the same holds true for everyone on the planet.

So you want to be a great team member? Here’s how. Best the best you can be. And what does that mean? It means right here, right now, make the commitment to be and do your highest good in every single moment. Regardless. It’s called commitment. It is commitment to yourself, and it’s commitment to the team.

Let’s address that commitment. Within you is a sacred intuitive capability called Inner Guidance. That guidance will lead you to your highest good, always. Commitment means surrendering TOTALLY to that highest good. Yes, that could mean leaving a job or keeping your mouth shut or going out for a jog. Whatever it means, just do it. In commitment, there is no compromise. In that way, commitment is easy because you KNOW the path you are ALWAYS going to take. No negotiation, no procrastination, no compromise, no fear.

The predominant attitude you have is WHATEVER IT TAKES. This attitude is not only for your highest good; it is for the highest good of the team. Every action you take and every thought you think ripples out into the human family and determines who we are. How is that for responsibility?

Great leaders take responsibility for their team. Do you take complete responsibility for you? Better yet, do you take responsibility for Team Earth? Are you here to do whatever it takes to raise the human family and our Earth to a higher dimension? If not you, who? If not now, when?

The team does not reach its greatest heights until we each give 100 percent. And what does that mean, giving our best? It means being totally open in mind and heart and willing to respond in full to the Universal Force. It is getting out of the way for the divine to be expressed. It is the willingness to let go of anything that hinders us from realizing and expressing our authentic self. It is simply refusing to acknowledge anything that stands in the way of our greatness.

We each are endowed with free will. How we use that free will determines the depth and breadth of our perspective. Do we choose a perception of the limited, smaller self or do we allow our free will to dissolve into the infinite Universal Will? Making the commitment to ourselves and our team is taking the consciousness “step” out of the conditioned mind and into the unity of which we exist.

When we see and experience the greatness in ourselves, we will naturally see it in others, regardless of appearances. If we see faults in ourselves, we will see faults in others. So, who cares if there are those in the 6.8 billion who are “all wrong.” See the greatness of spirit within them. They will rise to your vision of them. They long for it; they just need someone who can show them their perfection and purity.

You see, it all starts with what goes on inside each of us. We each have a special role to play on the team, and it is our responsibility to live that role to the fullest. And when we all do, we will be a team like none other in the universe. Yes, it will be worth what we have given to the cause, and many times over. But we each have to take care of our business and “give it up” for the team. We have to be everything we can be for the team to be all it can be.

Commitment is the conscious decision to live the passion that resides within us. It is answering the call to come Home, to be who we truly are, to live our best life. And it is a passion for Team Earth, because each of us is a cell in the human organism. When we care as much about Team Earth as we do ourselves, it is then that we feel the unity of the team. It is then we become greater than our individual selves. When we love ourselves deeply, Team Earth is feeling that love. It is that love.

So in your darkest, toughest moments, know that there are billions with you, behind you, supporting you and cheering you to be your highest self. And as you are your highest self, know that you are being applauded by the millions, the masses. We shine in glee when you follow your highest good and we have the deepest appreciation for it. We love you for simply being who you are. We need you and we thank you.

You have a very specific and incredibly important role to play. It is equally important to all the roles that your teammates are playing on Team Earth. Tending to your outside garden is equal with being the political leader of a nation. We all contribute in our own way, the role the Universal Force, our expanded self, sees for us to play. And we do it in such great joy and love.

We are all on the team and we’re all in the game. How are you playing the game? The time for half-heartedness is gone. It’s all or nothing. It’s your moment to step up and shine in the spotlight. It’s time to carry the team forward. Game on.

Are you in?

Finding Freedom

Experiencing unity consciousness is the ultimate experience of freedom. While we may believe that freedom is something given to us from a external source, freedom is innately ours as it is the nature of our being.

The concept of freedom is at the forefront of our collective attention because of the plethora of restrictions and limitations that we accept in our lives. Though we may wish to blame external forces for our lack of feeling free, in actuality it is our own accepting of such limitations that diminishes our sense of freedom.

When confronted with such restrictions, we are faced with a choice: Do I choose the way of freedom or the way of restriction? For example, in my state the government passed a law requiring all vehicle drivers to wear a seat belt. Though the government imposes its decision on us, we are still free to decide whether or not to buckle up. No one is forced to wear a seat belt.

A policeman exercises the authority to stop a driver that does not wear a seat belt (at least in my state) and issues a ticket ($15 fine) to the driver for not wearing a seat belt. It's the rules of the societal game, just as there are rules for athletic contests, broadcasting television shows and dumping trash.

One might assume that we must wear a seat belt in order to drive. Not true.

Unity consciousness tells us exactly what to do in each and every given situation, seat belt or otherwise. It is not inherently right or wrong to wear a seat belt; it is simply a choice that is offered the driver. Unity consciousness is infinite awareness and we need only to express it fully to live a life of complete freedom. From the unity state, we simply live our Truth in the moment, whether or not that is contrary to our conditioning or any directive from an "external" source.

The mind is our greatest friend -- and our greatest enemy. A mind full of restrictions and limitations will argue with our divine nature, as if it knows what's best. The conscious mind is a shoebox; our spirit is infinity. Yet, the mind in all its cleverness will convince the all-knowing divinity, particularly through fear, that it is the master.

The essential personal question becomes: "Do I follow the dictates of my mind, or do I tune into my deeper consciousness and express my true self, my divine nature?" When we commit to following our divine nature, we are free. It does not matters what our conditioned mind, husband, wife, boss, government official, religious authority, teacher or anyone or anything else says.

This is not to say that we experience freedom only in becoming a societal rebel, shunning and turning against anyone and anything that wishes to interact with us. It means being of such self-awareness that we act from within, bypassing the mind chatter and heeding to the call of our divine nature in every instance -- regardless. The entire world may disagree with our expression of Truth, but Truth does not need the support of others. It only wishes to be expressed. It is our highest responsibility as human beings, as god beings, to do so.

An Ocean in a Drop

A study of freedom exposes a paradox, one that deals with "individual" freedom and another more far-reaching freedom called "collective" freedom. This is in alignment with the idea that we are both individuals and the whole.

The prior post, "Finding Freedom," touched upon the idea of individual freedom, or that state which can be realized by being aware of one's divine essence. It is necessary for one to experience this basic and innate state before understanding the nature of collective freedom.

Once one has touched upon individual freedom, it is discovered that one is not ultimately free until the entire collective is free. For an individual is the collective and the collective is the individual. One's consciousness simply expands from the borders of the self to the borders of the whole, thus what is experienced by all is experienced the the individual.

For example, imagine a basketball team that competes to win a game. A particular individual will strive to play his (or her) best, not only to give all to one's self, but also to the benefit of the team. However, an exceptional leader will take responsibility not only for his own playing ability, but for the playing ability of the entire team. His envelope of awareness extends to the entire team and envelops the wider-ranging environment. The success of his teammates is his success, and vice versa. It's no more just about "me." It's equally about we.

In such realization of the "we," the individual comes to understand that the needs of the team or collective will create a response from him, based on his unique abilities and characteristics. His responses will come not just from what his egoistic, limited mind thinks, but instead what the collective mind guides him to do. He simply gets out of the way and acts on behalf of the greater whole.

When an entire collective acts as such, it becomes an multi-cellular organization that acts in harmony as a collective intelligence. Such is the nature of a school of fish or a flock of birds, who are able to act in perfect harmony through a single mind.

Giving service to others is simply a reflection of our innate nature to contribute to the collective. From a unified consciousness perspective, though, there is no difference in service to one's self and service to another. This is because there is no distinction or boundary between oneself and the collective.

Imagine a drop of ocean water being dropped into the ocean. When it is in the water, is still has it's own sense of individual "dropness," and it takes on all of the qualities of the ocean. It is the ocean, in every sense. It can identify as a drop, or release the identity of the ocean, both at the same time. As that drop of ocean changes, the ocean, too, morphs. And as the whole of the ocean changes, those changes will be reflected in the drop. Again, a paradox.

Upon realizing freedom, the heart of man becomes the heart of the universe. It beats with the collective and lives as one with all humanity, all life. No longer is it "someone else's problem." To clarify, this does not mean that one will attempt to take on another's problems and carry around unnecessary mental and emotional burdens for all. It means that one will feel a strong and deep connection with all existence and will naturally respond in a way that will best support the universe, the matrix, the unified state.

Then, the ultimate goal becomes not just freedom of self, but freedom of the whole. One takes responsibility for the state of the "team." It's a leadership, a responsibility that one gladly assumes as one experiences the unity consciousness. In a sense, it is the giving of one's life for another, or for the all. One does not lose one's life; only the identification with the self is released in order to experience and benefit the whole.