The Miraculous Power of Isnessby Liz Mitten Ryan
Excerpted from her book Sabbatical: Resting in the Miraculous Power of Isness
I have read many spiritual, metaphysical and new age books and understood and believed in the principles. What I haven’t understood is why they are limited to human concepts and beliefs. Having spent a considerable time (ten years now) in the company of my animals and nature, I have absorbed a different perspective that is all encompassing in its parameters. If one were to imagine a world very much like the original Garden of Eden state where all the creatures, animals, man and all of creation walked and talked with each other and God, it would be similar to the animals understanding when they connect to higher consciousness. From there, the force of love permeates all of life. There are no opposites, no death, only life everlasting. All experience is enjoyed through the power of the imagination and there is no possibility of harming another to obtain your desires. Removed from physical constraints, there would be no need for work or war to obtain assets that were always available. We would not need to kill. Life would be a sabbatical.
This vision comes from a higher plane of existence, both before and beyond our immersion in matter, a place where we can visit in our consciousness whenever we can leave the boundaries of our physical self. When we are not confined to a single identity we are free to travel wherever our consciousness would like to go.
That is true wisdom, truth, joy, freedom, abundance and love. That is who we truly are: UNLIMITED MIRACULOUS BEINGS — resting in the power of Isness. All of us one, in the creative genius of the Universe, the imagination of the All.
In the beginning
“Isness” is the glorious state of God manifested in his entire creative splendor here and on all planes. It is the active form of being, more of a becoming — an awakened journey carrying one toward the adventure of vibrant aliveness, L.I.F.E (Love In Finite Expression) forever.
Isness is an extension to being . . . being in the ALL, the animals term for God as opposed to being in the now.
Isness just is — it exists for all time, in all dimensions. It is not a brief interlude, a now experience, but a knowing and becoming — a fluent state of wisdom and grace that embodies all creation.
Many spiritual teachers tell us that living in the present moment is the secret path to enlightenment. If we can let go of the past, the future, and time itself, and still our busy minds, then the ego will be forgotten, and in that brief instant we will connect with God.
The biggest secret in this method is when thought ceases, quiet remains, and in that quiet, we let go of our physical identification and allow our spiritual truth to resonate within us. This truth is our heritage. It is from whence we came and to where we will return. In between we glimpse a memory of it in rare moments of selflessness — rare moments of reconnection with our higher selves, and, in turn, God.
The horses said it beautifully in my earlier book, The Truth According to Horses. When asked the question “Can you give us a simple definition of what you call religion? I’m sure it differs greatly from what we believe,” the herd replied:
Religion is to us a certitude, not a belief; not an indoctrination; not a confine, but an absolute; a knowing and a truth that is given the moment we connect to the ALL (God). It needs no doctrine, no rules; it is absolutely remembered as the fabric of all life, an understanding that is our first and last breath and everything relevant in between.I have begun to know a whole new reality through connection to animals. They live in a place devoid of ego, past, future, and time. This does not imply a state of inaction where one must lie about in a meditative state, blissing in that connection. Going back to the word “Isness” again: My cat Ben — Min Buddha Ben Puss Ha, a true contemplative — gave me that word. He sent me the thought “Isness is my business,” and it was certainly true. A big white Buddha, Ben purred his way through life, never making a sound; he would just open his mouth to transmit a message and nothing would come out. True silence. In the end, when we had to have him put down, the vet said in disbelief, “I have never seen a cat purr his way through euthanasia.” A true spiritual master, he was not dependent on circumstance for his bliss.
I have learned from my animals another secret path to enlightenment. It involves simply living in a quiet, natural state, as does all of creation except humans. Very much like rocking a baby to sleep, the peaceful lull of the natural world is hypnotic. In our original state, before our fall from grace, we lived as the animals do. We absorbed and communed with our surroundings. In this state of communion, there was no separateness, no barriers; we were one with all life and God, or the ALL, which is all life. Living here in the quiet, surrounded by the natural world, I am somehow allowed to slip back to that state. Barriers dissolve and my sense of self diminishes until I am at once lost and yet found in the congregation of spirit.
Once one has experienced a moment when self fades, its boundaries melding with the larger Self, which is God (ALL), there is no going back. We have experienced the knowing that passeth all understanding. “He who hath seen me has seen the Father.” In that moment, all knowledge, all understanding is given, and we are forever changed. We remember; the Christ within us is born, and that star will forever after shine in our hearts. “Amazing Grace,” it has been called, but words cannot describe a state where words are meaningless, diminished in the infinite knowing that makes words unnecessary. Here in this state, all is given. There is no definition, and language, species, color, and creed are all forgotten—drops of water in the same ocean.
As my horses said in Life Unbridled: What Animals Have to Teach Us about Spiritual Freedom:
Imagine living with the perspective of being inside and outside of yourself at the same time, as we do. We can experience all aspects of life on this plane and beyond— the greater ALL existence. The moment you make that connection, everything is given. It is like a drop of water becoming the ocean, a beam of light blending with all light. Within and without there is nothing else — we become all form itself, Oneness — ALL. The moment we touch the ALL, we become the ALL. It is a joy and a homecoming that is immeasurable. This is what we have to teach you about spiritual freedom. Do not imagine yourself as a drop of water or a beam of light when you are the ocean and the sky. Do not imagine yourself to be the world when you are the universe. You have nothing to fear but fear itself. Fear is a finite piece of freedom, and freedom is all there is. As a drop of rain falls into the ocean and evaporates again to become a cloud, such is your life. Let us help you gain a new perspective.In six days God created the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day he rested. This is the model God created for us to follow as fully actualized spiritual beings co-creating with him on the earth or physical plane. Actually he co-creates through us when we invite Christ, or God manifest, into our lives. It is no longer the little “i” but the big “I” manifesting the individual and unique personal skills of each individual to create on the physical plane. God, being Spirit, can only exist on the physical plane through us. The Sabbath day — or Sabbatical — is the time we must spend “resting in the now,” as Ekhardt says, meditating and connecting to God. Then we must go out into the world and co-create with God, armed with that peace, understanding, and connection that we have obtained. If we were all to sit around in the Now all week, then what would God accomplish—how would we evolve?
This is Isness as opposed to “Being” — Being in the ALL as opposed to being in the Now. As unlimited God-beings, or more accurately, God-becomings, we have the creative freedom to travel anywhere we desire in the ALL, within God’s creation — past, present, or future — anytime, on any plane! We must not dwell in the moment of the Now, but get on with God’s work and then rest and reconnect in his presence. As we become truly adept at this communion, then we can carry God’s presence with us, around us as the cloak of Christ, everywhere we go.
Excerpt from Sabbatical: Resting in the Miraculous Power of Isness by Liz Mitten Ryan
Come experience Gateway 2 Ranch in British Columbia, Canada, home to crystals, vortexes, and natural flora and fauna as well as author Liz Mitten Ryan, her husband, and their sixteen horses, dogs, cats and Tesoro the steer. In this pristine setting, all things properly align for the highest earthly vision human beings can possibly experience.
Here, the free-roaming herd shares the barn/house with Liz and Kevin. Born to this paradise, the horses are loved and treated as family. Indeed, the animals of Gateway 2 Ranch have co-authored Liz’s four award-winning books. The four books have garnered eight Independent Publishing awards. As a result, visitors come from around the world to seek the healing connection with higher consciousness this land and animals facilitate.
In the pristine grassland, lakes, and forests of Gateway, the horses interact at liberty, sharing their healing gifts and teaching the subjects of truth and intuitive connection.
Five exclusive workshops in the summer of 2010 will offer individual attention to eight participants per session. This all-inclusive experience in “Manifesting our Heart’s Desires” will illuminate your life and personal journey forever. Facilities at Gateway 2 Ranch include a spirit lodge and spirit quest wall tents.
Please visit www.lizmittenryan.com for more information.