God Lives in Your Depths

In the depths of your consciousness,
God waits
for you to discover 
your true Self. 
This is an actual experience.
You are much more than you think.

What’s it like to write in mystical consciousness? Picture an old monk sitting at a table before a softly glowing ancient manuscript. In the shadowy quiet of his hermitage, illuminated by a single candle, the monk merges his consciousness with the all-pervading Presence. Holding a quill pen dipped in ink, he awaits inspiration for the next line of sacred poetry. Like an aging monk, I write in this Presence.  

But there is more. When he is finished, the old monk steps out into the light of Creation. This, too, is part of my practice, for after writing, I venture out with my dog, Oona, into nature’s now-enchanted wonderland to witness neighbors’ yards overflowing with vibrant colors of rhododendron, hydrangea, and dogwood blossoms along a road sheltered by whispering pines. Everything is highlighted by Puget Sound’s sparkling waters that surround our island home. Soil, bushes, ferns, and grasses tease me with complex fragrances, luring me further into the world’s mystery. Like the Tarot’s Fool, I wave happily at each passing walker, loving everyone I meet. While Oona enjoys a new scent on our path, I stand mesmerized before Creation’s latest greatest show, my heart joyful. Finally, resting on a bench, I am overcome with gratitude for the generous gifts of nature’s sacred incarnation. In this way, my life begins anew each day.  

Mystical consciousness has been my spiritual practice for decades. In an intentional, thought-free state of heightened awareness, I sense God’s consciousness all around me. Here I find peace, joy, and love. I receive insights about God’s nature and how our absorption in it transforms our lived experience. In my 75th year, I took a sabbatical from professional activities to deepen this immersion. I wanted to fully imbibe the mystical life I had written about for a quarter century. Not only did I remain in its thrall, I began writing mystical poetry.

Some people approach the divine through scripture, others through ideas, beliefs, and intuitions. The mystic seeks direct experience of the divine to explore its perceptual, emotional, and metaphysical nature. For the mystic, the entire universe is conscious and alive, saturated by an all-encompassing eternal and loving Presence. Those who awaken from the ego-driven, patriarchal dream of reality discover who and where they really are—divine beings in a divine world. Mystical poetry awakens us to this transfigured world, a vision embraced by Rumi, Kabir, Hafez, Whitman and so many other poets who leave ecstatic, liberating, and radically hopeful footprints.

Poetry written in mystical consciousness carries spiritual energy. It awakens the same states, perceptions, and realizations in the reader. To accelerate this awakening, I encourage people to read mystical poems aloud, discuss them with friends, use selected lines as mantras, prayers, or silent contemplation. Approaching the verses with a still and silent mind lets poetry become a personal workshop for mystical realization. 

The logical brain categorizes the world as objects –house, tree, rock, car, person. The mystical brain sees the world as subjects, each mysterious and alive, conscious and sacred, all living together in Eden. In mystical consciousness, we discover the enchanted land we left in early childhood, woven of mystery, magic, and myth. Talking animals, welcoming trees, singing streams, great mountains, and divinity itself respond to our presence. Entering this world, we share the awe of Creation. Let’s awaken our God-nature. The widespread experience of this purer state of consciousness will bring the next stage of humanity’s spiritual evolution.  

Lending Soul Our Voice

The soul speaks quietly inside
but has no physical voice of its own.
It waits, sometimes for decades,
for us to listen
and lend it our voice in the stands we take
for love, justice, and awakening.
When we speak as soul
we speak with
authority and power.

I left the world of compulsive doing to recite poetry in the luminous Garden of divine being. I invite you to join me there. Listen, the songbirds are singing sacred verse! Come visit me at i-am-god.net and facebook.com/becomingspirit to sample the inspired poetry in my new book I Am God: Wisdom and Revelation from Mystical Consciousness.