Lessons from the Masters

Reflections on parallel sayings

"I am not my body, nor do I need it. I am the witness only. I have no shape of my own. You are so accustomed to thinking of yourself as bodies having consciousness that you just cannot imagine consciousness as having bodies. Once you realize that bodily existence is but a state of mind, a movement in consciousness, that the ocean of consciousness is infinite and eternal, and that, when in touch with consciousness, you are the witness only, you will be able to withdraw beyond consciousness altogether."

-NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ (1897-1981)

The above quote tells me that I am neither my body nor its personality. I like the quote because it represents what I think the spiritual masters are saying. Among the noted masters are Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, and Lao Tzu—whose messages have much in common. My reflections of their common sayings are shown below. For me, their fundamental message is: I am not what I think I am; I must look within for my true nature.

The historical sayings attributed to Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, and Lao Tzu are remarkable not only in content but in similarities, given that they are centuries and cultures apart. Reverend Richard Hooper, an interfaith minister and founder of the Sedona Institute of Comparative Religion, offers many of their parallel sayings in The Common Sayings of Four Mystical Traditions (2007). Dr. Marcus Borg, who was a noted Jesus scholar and popular author, gave us Jesus and Buddha: The Parallel Sayings (1997). Both books reveal the common threads running through the teachings of the spiritual masters.

I have often used Hooper’s book to contemplate these threads. Borg’s book is also helpful with my reflections on the mysteries of existence as seen by the masters. I offer my contemplations here as an attempt to share spiritually with you as we journey on the path. I have walked my spiritual path for many years, and what I have gained has seeped into the reflections offered below. They are thoughts that came to me as I sat in silence with the masters’ messages. Little editing has been done, so be gentle with your criticisms.

The words I am sharing fall far short of describing the mystery of existence. Words fail where the heart knows. What I know for certain is that I do not know. So, take heed and make these words your own by reading them with your heart, as I am sure you do in your own reflecting on spiritual passages. It is the way of the path to reflect as best we can.

photo by S Glarum

Words of reflection while contemplating spiritual sayings of the masters:

That which I am (twia) is eternal in the oneness that is consciousness. Twia is all things everywhere. There is no separation in truth, only in my perception as a body. The me of the body perceives separation where there is none.

Twia is revealed by opening the door to the room within. The I AM that I am is found inside. Listen with two good ears to hear its voice. The voice is your own. Follow its way.

Release your perceived faults. Release your past regrets. Let them be carried away by the wind. Open your heart to loving-kindness. It will fill the room within now that the past is gone. Compassion becomes your guide. The way of twia is revealed.

The world exists within you. You do not find yourself outside. The room within holds all that you are. I am that which I AM: whole, complete, perfect, eternal. There is no other than twia. I am the oneness that is consciousness. The room within holds all.

The way is revealed to me when I am in unity with twia. Twia knows the way, which is secret in darkness and unveiled in the light. Go and tell no one. Words do not suffice. Be your own truth. You are the way that is revealed by the light that is twia.

The door to the room within opens to all who wander its way. The light within is twia. To enter the light is to be in harmony with your true nature. Drop the dust from your worldly pursuits and dwell in the cleansing light. You wandered far and wide before passing this way, but now rest anew in the room aglow with twia. It is here that you are embraced as joy.

The way is through twia. I am the way I seek. There is no other outside of twia. There is only one end to worldly wandering, which is to return home to the room within that you never left.

When you open the door, others will follow. Once within there is no you, no others, only twia which is one. Look inward to remember this truth.

The room within is a refuge, a shelter from the storm. Its comforts are many. Its embrace is a rapture of peace. Do not deny yourself its sanctuary. It is open to you always.

Live in harmony with twia. This is the way. Know yourself. You are the path to what lies within. All that exists in the world is for naught when it comes to finding peace of heart always. Rest in the stillness of the inner room and you will find solace in the silence. Twia bursts with joy in your presence.

With eyes to see walk the way of the path. Remember that you are twia. See twia in all others. You are that which I AM. There is no other than twia.

Dwell in harmony with twia. Live in tune with your neighbor. With ears to hear and eyes to see, you are the way. Your air will lift them up. Your glow will lead them.

The way of the path is a choice; so is the way of the world. The world holds desire and the sorrow of unmet expectations. Chasing desire is fruitless. The true path is twia which is comforting and nourishing. Curb your worldly desires and remember twia as your truth. This is hard when you try. You will fail again and again. Success is easy when you stop trying. Twia requires no effort. Do nothing.

The way of the path is easy to follow. It is straight and narrow. Twia casts light upon it. Leave your baggage at the gate. It is too narrow for your stuff to pass through. Besides, old ways are a burden. The path will set you free.

Wisdom comes not from learning but forgetting. Forgetting turns you from fear. Fear bars the gateway to the path. Drop your fears and step on the path. Twia embraces those who let go.

You are twia. Do not deny your power. Listen to your voice. Follow your vision. You know your own truth. Live it wisely.

There is a room within where twia dwells. Go there often. It is a place of peace and harmony. There you will know the way. The world is not the way. Do not let your senses deceive you. The desires of the world do not satisfy the weary for they are false. They block the door to twia.

Do not heed the teachings if the time is wrong for you to remember twia. Wait until you are ready within yourself. You will know. Do not let others tell you when the time is right. Twia is eternal. It will wait, knowing you will come when ready.

There is one reality. Nothing exists apart from it. It has no name but many are given to it. Let us call it consciousness and think of it as an endless void or emptiness. It is potential for all things, or the whole of the all. Our world is manifested in this potential (literally as the Big Bang and the ensuing universe). This world is but a thought of separation in consciousness. That which I AM, or twia, is the expressing of separation by consciousness, much like dancing is the expressing of the thought of dance. Twia was before the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Twia is consciousness-expressing.

Consciousness cannot be seen or heard. The me of the body does not perceive it. The body sees and hears separation only. It does not have eyes to see nor ears to hear oneness. The thought of separation in consciousness brings about the world we see in body. Separation cannot leave oneness and is not real. It exists in consciousness as illusion. It is illusion because it seems to change. Consciousness, or reality, is without change, being that it is whole, complete, perfect, eternal. Nothing can come and go in reality, therefore the world that is constantly changing in form is illusion of separation which cannot be made real. It exists in reality much like unicorns exist in the minds of children. Children embrace the unicorns but there are no unicorns to embrace the children, except as fantasies.

Consciousness silently embraces existence like a dreamer embraces a dream. Consciousness is the emptiness that is the potential of all. It never changes. It is unmovable. It is everything that is real. It is the whole of the all that exists. That which I AM is whole, complete, perfect, eternal in consciousness.

Existence lies in consciousness as thought of separation that cannot be real because it is transitory. Reality has no beginning or end. I know this through that which I AM. In twia lies wisdom and knowledge not understood by the me of the body. The body is filled with consciousness and can know oneness in the world through twia.

Consciousness is like a pool of intelligence with awareness. It has no form, dimensions, or structure. It is emptiness that is nowhere. It is the potential of the whole of the all. Undivided, it is everything. It cannot be seen, heard, or touched. Our senses do not detect it, yet it embraces us. We rest in consciousness as the manifestation of thought of separation in oneness. The beginning and the end come and go eternally, but separation never leaves consciousness, nor does it add to it.

Consciousness abides—period! It is permanent without beginning or end. It cannot be added to or subtracted from because there is nothing that is not consciousness. Consciousness is reality. I know this as twia. Neither consciousness nor twia can be described. Words fail, but they are what we have. Words pile up around me in trying. They do not capture even the essence of such mysteries. I know them in silence. The room within is without the strain of words trying the impossible. There I find that words give hope of knowing when none are needed. The mysteries are known without words. Be absorbed by the presence that is twia and you will know oneness in the world. Consciousness abides everywhere in all things.

In oneness there are no separations. And in complete oneness there is no oneness. Oneness cannot exist without thought of separation. Water cannot be wet without thought of dryness. Without dryness, there is no wetness. Without separation, there is no oneness. From consciousness comes the thought of separation, which offers up oneness, which manifests the whole of the all. The whole of the all is consciousness in existence.

All things lie in consciousness. It is the all. There is nothing else. In consciousness all things come and go while neither entering nor leaving. There is none other than consciousness which is the whole of the all in existence. Consciousness is reality. We return to it having never left.

The mystery cannot be fathomed. It is totality understood in parts and pieces, as in the story of the blind men explaining an elephant. Each senses the part he touched and not the whole. The likeness of the elephant is lost as each man describes it differently. Like the men with the elephant, we understand consciousness in parts because the mystery of the whole cannot be fathomed. It is parts and pieces without a name. Needing to give it a name, I call it consciousness.

Existence is our transitory world of separation. Reality is eternal consciousness. Existence is not far from reality. In truth, there is no distance. They are the same. One blends into the other as the world separates out in illusion. Reality itself does not change. Perception of thought manifests as separation in the womb of consciousness as the universe and the world we perceive. The universe is a dream abiding in the intelligence that is consciousness. This mother of all things is unknowable to us except through twia, which is neither body nor soul. Twia is discrete awareness that is consciousness expressing thought.

Access consciousness through twia in the silence of the room within. Consciousness cannot be seen or heard. Do not look for it here or there. It is emptiness that is nowhere. Twia knows the way. The way of the path transcends mind and the world. The power that is twia pervades the world and makes straight the path. To know consciousness, one must know their own truth, which is twia. Twia knows consciousness. This truth sets us free of the world.

Consciousness is emptiness that is nowhere. It is limitless, unfathomable, eternal oneness that cannot be described or named. It is the whole of the all. There is no other. There is no more. There is no less. It is the all. All that is is the same as that-which-is. Consciousness is whole, complete, perfect, eternal. It is unity without division. It does not exist. It is reality.

The room within, which has no walls, no space, no time—no form whatsoever, is the silent emptiness that is twia. It is felt as peace of heart reaching out in wisdom and joy. It embraces the world in loving-kindness. From the deepest realms of being, twia rises to bring the world pure love and to release it from fear. The way to love expands slowly like yeasty dough rising to give us true nourishment and new life.

What does not exist cannot be named. To name consciousness is to bring it into separation. This creates oneness. There is no oneness in reality, because there is no separation. One creates the other. Consciousness has no definition: no this or that, no where or when. At best we might say that it is intelligent and aware. When we do this, then there is love, joy, peace, and light. None of this is real. It is all the way of the world brought to us by twia. Twia knows. Twia reveals consciousness in ways that we can see and hear. The I AM of twia is consciousness known without naming.

When we look, we do not see consciousness. When we listen, we do not hear its voice. Without form to grasp we are lost in finding it. This is the way of the world. Twia is subtle in helping otherwise. It causes all things from within. What arises is in unity though it all appears separate to the me of the body. The world is perceived separation. Twia is oneness. When seen through the eyes of twia, separation vanishes, and new perception creates a new world. Then the essential nature of oneness is cast upon all that appears separate. Then love replaces fear, and joy prevails.

Know yourself first. Then you will know others. What dwells in you is consciousness. There is no other. Only the one. Let it be known through you.

What does it matter to you what you are? It is hidden away in the world. Such a small thing, why bother, until you look within. Therein lies your true nature. It is greater than all. Once found it cannot be lost. Once known it consumes everything. You may never know it in this lifetime if you look elsewhere.

You are eternal. No amount of denial can change that. Your presence is throughout the whole of the all. This, too, cannot be denied. Your nature holds true in all ways. It has no boundaries. Bodies die. That which you are is the same everywhere forever. See this in all that you touch. You touch the eternal.

Release the me of the body. It is not you. It is transient and suffers. Open the door within. Bring forth your true nature. Then you will know that you are ignorant in body. Your knowledge is beyond the me of the body. Come to know this by remembering that you forgot your true nature. Recognize that you are the light in darkness. Shine through the open door. Shine upon the world to reveal the one in all.

Drop all desire. Leave your baggage by the wayside. Grieve no more. There is no need for these things in the room within. Be done with them. In the room within there is no other. No comparison. Herein lies your true nature. It does not lack. You were never born. You cannot die. You are the movement that ripples through the eternal field of infinite possibility. You are I AM. Stop. Rest. Do nothing. Know your truth. Feel the embrace of the eternal that is you.

There is no god in my life as creator or otherwise. I see no place for a god outside looking upon its creation. There is only I AM. I cannot be other than I AM. This is consciousness-expressing. Consciousness is the emptiness that is nowhere, the eternal field of infinite possibility. It is from this field of consciousness that all things arise in thought.

I am that which I AM: whole, complete, perfect, eternal. I am the ground of goodness in which I am planted. I bear my own seed, nourish it, and bless it with the light of my own being. I am the whole of the all.

There is only I AM. There is no you, no me, no other. In you I find that which I AM. I am consciousness expressing the whole of existence. This cannot be seen. It cannot be heard. Tell no one. Show no one.

The whole of the all manifests in I AM. I AM is the heartbeat of existence. Existence comes and goes. I AM is forever.

I am the essence of all. The center of existence. The hub of the wheel. I am the room within. The emptiness that nourishes all.

I am consciousness-expressing. The manifesting of existence. I am its beginning and end. I am the soul of the whole of the all. I am the dancing that is the dance. I am perfect, complete, and whole. There is no comparison. I am eternal. There is no first. No last. Only I AM. I am that which I AM.

I am the movement upon the eternal field of infinite possibility. Thought of separation arose in consciousness. I manifest its existence. Existence is no more real than a unicorn. Separation cannot be made real.

The room within is filled with light. I am the light. Knock at the door. I am the door. Walk the way of the path. I am the path. I am the embrace. I am thought. I am discrete awareness. I am existence. I am the emptiness beyond it all. There is no other. Tell no one of these things. This truth lies within you. You are that which knows.

I am all that is known. There is nothing unknown in the I AM. What can be that cannot be? What can be known that cannot be known? Where is the mystery but hidden by ignorance in the me of the body. Twia knows. That which I AM has eyes to see and ears to hear.

The way out of ignorance is through twia. Rest in twia. Do nothing. Collapse into the embrace. Know I AM in all that exists. Know the reality that is I AM as your true nature. You are I AM. How do I know? Because there is no other. There is only consciousness, totality, I AM.

The way of the world leads to doom. Nothing you have is yours. Why hold on to it? You gain nothing from your gratifications. What in the world prevents your dying? When you die to the world then you are born anew to the eternal. To be born anew is to remember twia. To remember twia is to walk the way of the path and not the way of the world.

Live simply. Judge no one. Lighten your load. Walk upon the land without leaving your mark. Be content with less. Your journey is light. The way of the world destroys those who walk it. The way of the path is that which is eternal. All that you store up in a lifetime is gone in the next. The room within fills with peace, with joy, with wisdom. Give it all away constantly so that the room within never empties.

Your own life is nothing. Do not be so concerned about it. You cannot make it meaningful while walking the way of the world. Walk the way of the path. It leads away from the world. Hold fast to twia. This is your true nature. You cannot reach your true nature walking the way of the world. You will only return to oblivion.

Whoever follows twia loses the world. To walk the way of the path is to renounce your own existence. It has no meaning. What can be gained by walking the way of the world? Leave the world to itself. Do not desire its ways. It is transitory. There is nothing to it in the end. No substance. No reality. The world is an illusion. To be in the room within is to touch the eternal.

To walk the way of the path, live abundantly. You do not lack. Your desires fool you. Do not be deluded. You are fulfilled now. Give away all that you have. It cannot be done. All that you give you receive. Give all that you receive and your abundance overflows.

The wealth of the world rusts away. Why cling to it? It hangs like an iron chain about your neck. You suffer under its weight. Stop adding links. It only gets heavier. The grave cannot bear the heaviness and will set it aside.

The me of the body is but froth on the ocean blown by the wind. It clings to the beaches hoping to live but sand cannot hold it. Back it slips into the waves, washed into the oblivion of the deep from where it came.

Do not pile up pleasures and dreams to cling to in the world. They do not support you. The me of the body is insatiable with its fears of lack. There is never enough. Its storehouses are full of illusions. Fall into the embrace that is twia, your true abundance. Desire nothing. Do nothing. The emptiness of the room within fulfills you. It holds all.

To be free, let go. The world will not save you from yourself. You are your own worse advocate. You do not know what you want. Nothing you have gained in the world satisfies you fully. You do not know this. You do not know the fulfillment that is your true nature. You are ignorant of twia. Stop striving to be what you are not. Do nothing. Release your grasp on the world and walk the way of the path. Remember twia. Twia knows. The me of the body that you try to satisfy is helplessly hopeless. It knows only fear of oblivion. Stop following its way. Walk with twia on the path that leads to the room within. There you will know your true nature, which is I AM. Knowing your truth will set you free.

Contentment lies in twia. Let go of worldly ways. Find your joy in the room within. When you walk the way of the path with peace of heart and joy of mind the world will come to you.

Accept what you have. Live abundantly without clinging. Release your worldly attachments to find contentment. It is not in receiving that you gain your life but in giving it away. Forsake the world. Cut your ties to it. Then what you have will truly be yours.

To lust is to die. Live free of the world. Do not crave its ways. Be nourished by the morning dew and the light of the evening sky rather than walk the way of the world. Be alone in the day. A hermit at night. Stop. Step off the worldly path. Do nothing and gain everything. What you receive from the world dries and blows away. Breathe in the air around you. It is your freedom. The chains of fear, which are forged link by link along the way of the world, fall upon the threshold of the doorway that leads to the room within. Lose your life to the way of the path and you will find it at last. Tell no one of this. They will find their way in you.

What do you value? There you will find your way. Do not be in bondage to what you cannot attain. All will be given to you. Leave for others what you cannot have. Do not gaze upon the world with eyes that do not see. Shift your vision from the way of the world. Look within. Twia has eyes that see. Accept your true nature within. Walk the way of the path that is twia.

Distinguish what is true from false. Abandon your senses. Their messages belie your good. They lead you to false treasures. All that you gain is gone before you realize it. How can you keep what is not yours? You are whole, complete, perfect, eternal. Do not strive for more when there is none. Your light does not require a wick. Your breath does not require air. Your mind does not require thought. There is nothing that is not yours. Let go of the rest.

To be wise is to touch the eternal. Then you know reality. Your wisdom is in twia. Twia knows. To touch the eternal, enter the room within. Here you will know the impossible. Do not deny the world the impossible. You are the way. Out of darkness comes light. In light there is darkness. This is the harmony of yin and yang. To find your way forward look behind.  Do not rush ahead or you will lag. Return to your true nature before you were born. What lies ahead is ignorance. What lies behind is wisdom.

To know is not to seek elsewhere. You cannot find what you look for by looking outside. You are lit from within. Do not hold your lamp skyward. To look out and up is to miss the mark.

Do not let these words lead you astray. Read with your heart, not your mind. Your mind cannot comprehend what the heart knows. Listen within. Ignore these words. They are not for you.

The room within is dark. It needs no light. Ignorance does not abide here. Keep what you know to yourself. Tell no one.

Sophia called to me from the darkness. I went to her. She whispered in my ear. I heard. She gazed into my eyes. I saw. She clutched me to her breast. I drank knowingly. She lured me into the darkness that I might know the light.

Before I was born, I saw the way with eyes that see. Now I am blind. I do not know the way. I am lost. In twia I am found. I follow the light that leads. I am on the way to the path from before I was born.

Above all, hold peace of heart. All else is just words. Do not exert yourself. Do nothing. That is hard enough. Start your journey by holding peace and you will not have far to travel. Do not let the journey disturb your peace. If so, you will lose your way.

Twia knows. To know is to remember twia. The me of the body knows fear. Twia knows that you are I AM. To recognize twia in you is to touch the eternal. Escape fear. Touch the eternal. Know and be free.

Say nothing. Do nothing. Unless you hear with ears that hear you will never know. Do not be fooled by the noise of the world. Do not say what you cannot speak. Those who hear will listen. Those who do not will pass by. Let the blind be on their way. Do not chase after the deaf.

What you value is the path you walk. You will not get far. One path is a dead end. The other has no future. The way of the world is false. It brings you death. The way of the path is freedom. It has no future to weigh you down with hope and desire. In freedom you find the eternal. It lies within. To value your true nature is to dwell in the room within.

That which I AM is in you. You are my teacher. In you I find the way. There is no other. The one is twia. The light is the same in all. Know this. Be in right mind always. It is revealed in all whom you meet along the way of the path. To know these things is to hold peace of heart. In peace of heart lies the eternal. Understand this and you will find freedom without death.

You are fulfilled in knowing the last shall be first. Walk this path in all things. Then the ways of the world cannot move you. What is of the world has no meaning. The room within is your rock. Build on it.

Empty your heart of desire. Hold peace. Be in harmony with all. Peace in all situations sustains you. Consider these things over fear. Fear does not sustain you. It saps you of strength. It rots you from the inside out. Do not desire what you fear, or death will overcome you. Live in peace of heart, without desire, that you may know life eternal.

When you know these things, stop. Rest in the moment. Do nothing. Watch that you do not lose your way. Take refuge in the room within. Twia will serve you in all ways. Twia knows. To know is to know twia in the silence. Do not speak of these things. Walk in the world as twia. Keep to yourself. Watch. Be aware. Follow the path of the dove.

Love is low-hanging fruit. Pick it readily. It grows abundantly within you. Nurture it. Plant your tree in the world for all to see. They who come will enjoy the sweet reward. Bear the fruit in others as well as yourself. It grows out from a single tree of life. Feed life to all who come to eat. Do so with loving-kindness. Those who give abundantly receive the same.

You are fulfilled in twia. Care for all as twia cares for you. Be fulfilling to those who come knocking, friend and foe alike. Be generous. You are the one in need.

To love yourself is to know love in all. Care for yourself wisely. Your wisdom is a gift to the world. Offer yourself freely that others may find their way. What you do for others you do for yourself. Treat yourself with loving-kindness and all will receive compassion.

Compassion is your strength. Be strong. Violence is weakness from fear. Compassion looks past fear to twia. I find strength in you. My compassion is your voice. You speak of hurt and pain. It brushes past me to I AM. Together we nurture compassion without fear.

Evil is fear untainted by love. Do not deny the existence of evil. It comes with your false perceptions of separation. It is worthy of love. You cannot be free in an evil world without compassion. What do you benefit by fearing evil? It is easy to love your own kind. It benefits all to love those you hate. Hate is put aside by love, while evil begets evil.

Stop tormenting others with your anger. It poisons the well from which all must drink. Draw from the well of loving-kindness. Drench the ground of goodness in which we all are planted. The rain that falls to fill the well falls on all. It does not know good or bad. There is only oneness.

Hate does not cast out evil. It feeds its fear. The strength of compassion overcomes the weakness of fear and evilness. Twia does not know fear. I AM the oneness of the all. To know twia is to bring love without fear into the world. To know twia is to know I AM in all. Twia gives us eyes to see that there is no other. There is only I AM.

You will wither and die on the vine without water from the deep well of compassion. To fill the well, haul water for your neighbor’s harvest. Your neighbor’s harvest will feed you.

Smile in the face of ill-will. Do not accept poison when asked to drink. If someone offers you a burning coal, do not put out your hand. Life is hard enough without burning in the flames of hatred.

Be limitless in your compassion. Turn your back on no one. Love unceasingly. The way of the path is paved with stones of kindness.

Evil arises where love is absent. Love is absent only in perception. To perceive separation, that is, to perceive one from another with no bond of oneness, is to allow evilness in relationships. Evil is the ultimate other. In truth there is no other. In truth there is no evil. It is all perception in a dream of separation.

There was a man from Nazareth, Jesus by name. He walked the way of the path. He called the room within the Kingdom of God. His kingdom, his room within, held The Father, or that which I AM. He said, I and The Father are one. Jesus knew the way. Jesus knew he was The Father. The Father is twia. To know twia is to remember the way that is the path to knowing the eternal.

Jesus said to go and tell no one. The Kingdom is not on display. Lao Tzu said that displays of righteousness are ruinous. The Buddha cautions not to wear one’s holiness with insincerity. Krishna warns not to puff up in pretense and disrespect of your true nature. In all ways, be sincere in your practice. Do not let one hand know what the other is doing. Hold close to you the secret that is the way. The reward of the Kingdom is not in the world. To know is its own joy. Enter the room within in secret. Be silent and still. Come to know the I AM that Jesus called The Father. This is your true nature. I am that which I AM is the message for all to know with ears that hear.

To know twia is to lose your mind. Thought does not open the door to the room within. To walk the way of the path is to live in your heart. Knowledge comes from the center of being. It is revealed. Center in the moment. Stop thinking.

To walk the way of the path, leave behind your arrogance and conceit. The ways of the world do not serve you well. There is no honor or respect in boastful pride. You are puffed up in your finery but have no substance. Go naked in the world. Then you will know your true power. Reveal yourself. Twia is not clothed in worldly ways. Be humble. Live simply. Do nothing. This is the way of the path.

The path of evil follows the way of false teachings. Beware of those in fine clothing who speak of dangers from others. Those who tell lies deliver the devil to your doorstep. Do not let it in. Hear with ears that hear. Listen to the inner voice that knows the way. Do not walk the path of deceit and destruction. Do not appear righteous on the outside and rot on the inside. The thought becomes the practice. Be mindful of your ways. Do not deny twia in others. What you fear in others is your doing. Your delusions keep you from knowing love in all. Listen to the silver tongue of evil with ears that hear. Let its siren call drift into the wind that blows it. The roots you have in twia run deep. Know there is no other to threaten you. You are I AM. You are the whole of the all.

Give attention to your practice. Words are fluff without mindfulness.

Jesus says that you who know so much take the log out of your own eye before removing the splinter in your neighbor’s. Pay attention to your own ways before improving on others.

Do not attempt to enter the room-within while clothed in hypocrisy. Death will come upon you. To enter the eternal, become naked in your ways.

Do not suffer with pain. Bring up your joy to extinguish the anguish. The pain may linger but it no longer is yours to claim. You perceive lack with suffering. To not have, is to suffer. Pain comes with pleasure. Pleasure is found in having. To have, is pleasing. To not have, is painful. These are perceptions in separation. In oneness there is no pain or pleasure. There is the moment. Live in twia without suffering by holding peace of heart in all things, both pain and pleasure. Without pain there is no pleasure. Pleasures bring pain and cause suffering.

The me of the body perceives lack then suffers. Pain is no more permanent than pleasure. Linger with neither. Experience both with joy. They are the same in oneness.

The eternal does not suffer. There is neither pain nor pleasure in twia. These are ways of the world. Pain and pleasure have no meaning except to you. Accept both the same. They come and go. Peace of heart is forever.

Rise in serenity. Its peace holds eternal oneness. Release loss. Do not hold on to attachments. To die is to wither. Those who live in joy do not fear death. Death comes and goes. Twia is eternal. Live in twia and you will not suffer death.

Do not live in the world of separation with its pain and death. It is a lie. Truth abides in the oneness that is twia. Seek the room within. Therein lies eternal joy.

Be alone in the moment with twia. Sorrow will not disturb you. Nor will pleasure.

The grip of anguish is punishing. It is fed by sorrow. Thoughts of loss bring sorrow. There is suffering in sorrow. Why do you punish yourself? See loss for what it is. Your own desire. Without desire there is peace in all things.

Own nothing. Then you will not grieve. Grief comes with loss. One cannot lose what one does not claim as their own. Claim nothing in this world and you will be free.

Evil eventually fails. It has no love to support it. It is fear without any hint of love. That without love is illusion.

Which do you offer the world—truth or illusion? What is true is reality. What is illusion is existence. That which exists is false. Stop believing in the lie of existence. Find truth in the room within. Bring truth to the world.

What you receive is measure for measure what you give. You cannot receive but that which you give. And you cannot give but that which you receive. They are the same. Do not differentiate between what you have and do not have. You do not lack.

What you do determines your fate. What you believe sets out your actions. The thoughts you hold become your beliefs. To change your fate, change your thoughts. Do not hang on to poisonous snakes. They will bite you.

Your actions will follow you all the days of your life. Then they will meet you in the grave. Which path do you walk? The way of the world or the way of the path? On one you die a thousand deaths. The other is liberation from the cycles of time.

You but chase after your own folly. What good does it do to be holy on the outside and sinful within? Stop your foolishness. There is no other but you. Evil falls upon you. Righteousness falls upon you. That which I AM is the whole of the all.

To be born is to die, except that ye be born again. To be born again is to walk the way of the path. To walk the way of the path is to remember twia. To remember twia is to be born again. The room within is your womb of transition.

To die of body is to cease. To stiffen. To decay. To rot back to the dust from whence it came.

I AM is it. There is no other. This is consciousness.

Do not be fooled by death. Its deception is deadly.

What am I but a thought in the dream of existence? I am not a body, nor any entity of being that moves about from world to world and back again. It is absurd to think that I am a lost soul with or without form. I am that which I AM: whole, complete, perfect, eternal. Where is there room in that for salvation or enlightenment? Do not make too much of life and death.

Death does not hold the eternal. There is no place for death in I AM. You are not born. You do not die. You do not come and go in endless cycles of mortality. Twia is immortal.

Do not make too much of life. Live simply. Hold peace of heart. Be vigilant of your true nature. Be mindful of the moment. Enter the room within. This is the life you never left. Herein is your perfection.

Consciousness is emptiness that is nowhere. It neither comes nor goes. It has no beginning or end. It has no separation. Rest in the emptiness. You cannot be destroyed.

While you sleep, death stalks your doorstep. Awaken and you will live. You cannot preserve your life in the world. You must die in it to live. Do you not understand that you never were born? When you do you will not die.

Do not believe in the body. It is not you. You cannot die, neither were you born. How can you kill when you cannot be killed?

Your illusion of self is tempting. You feel its power. Deny it. It is not you. You are not what the world says of you. Nor are you what you feel. These are aberrations on the eternal field of infinite possibility. You appear in body as but a dream of what cannot be real in consciousness.

Existence arises in the eternal field of infinite possibility as an illusion of separation that cannot be real in the oneness that is consciousness. The whole of the all is within an emptiness that is nowhere. The body is born in emptiness and returns to emptiness. Twia is eternal.

There is no death in dying. Twia is eternal. Twia does not see death, only life eternal. This is I AM.

Oneness does not hold to possessions. Why cling to the world? The illusion fails you. Remember twia. Twia knows the whole of the all as one. You had nothing coming into existence. You have nothing on the way out. Let go of desires, expectations, and attachments. Live without the pain and suffering of possessions. You do not need these attachments. Twia does not know lack and needs nothing. Twia is fulfillment by nature.

When you awake from the dream, there is no existence. There is the reality of being I AM. Knowing this is to die without death.

You cannot leave the room within once you enter. Do not mourn the loss of the world. Wake up. Stop walking about in a coma. Use the world to touch the eternal.

Like molecules of water, we are one and the same in existence.

Stop seeing with the eyes of the blind. You are stumbling about in the weeds. The path eludes you. The path you find goes nowhere. Look within. Find your eyes that see. Jesus said the kingdom is within you. Open your eyes to its glory. You are there now. There is no journey. Can you not see this truth?

What is a pilgrimage but awareness of the moment? You feel limited by worldly perceptions. Do not go searching for enlightenment. Do not leave the moment. Hafiz said he felt in need of a great pilgrimage, so he sat still for three days.

The moment has no room for fear. The room within does not contain desire, hope, attachment, expectation, suffering, pain, doubt—that is the way of the world. Drop your baggage at the door. You do not need it. The room within awaits. This is your pilgrimage. Enter the still silence within.

In the end what is there but peace. Hold peace now in the moment. What is it to go on when you are free now? The world has no hold on you that you do not give to it. Free yourself of the world. Drop the past. Enter the room within. There you know peace.

Do not die in death. Let go of the body. Hold to twia. Enter the room-within without attachment. Then you are born anew. Know this. Then death passes by.

Wisdom is in the eyes that see. See without looking. Make no discrimination. Abandon separation for oneness. Then you pass from the illusion. The voice in you is twia. Hear your words. They are you. They are your wisdom. Ignorance is cast aside on the threshold of the room within. Wisdom lies just beyond the doorway.

Cleanse the way with forgiveness. There is nothing in the world for you to keep. Let go of the past. Do not pine for the future. Cut your bonds. Hold peace in the moment. Renounce the world. Enter the darkness of the room within. Herein shines the light. It is the way of the path. Do not be confused.

Abide in I AM. This is home. There is no other than I AM. To be free is to be alive. You cannot be reborn in I AM. Here you are fully twia. There is no me of the body. Here you are your true nature. Here you are light. Here you are consciousness-expressing. You are the power that is te.

That which I AM journeys through many lives manifesting separation. To awaken is to be at home in consciousness.