This is a series created from the book “Be Love: A Book About Awakening” authored by Ned Burwell. This series is a guide for people who are seeking a life of purpose and peace told through the life experiences of Ned Burwell. The material is told through a variety of concepts, practices, anecdotes, and experiences. Hosted by Seamus Evely
The Awakening Podcast series was created to give you the tools to live a more purposeful and peaceful life through the teachings of Ned Burwell, author of the book “Be Love: A Book About Awakening”.
Session Twelve – The Creative Side of the Soul: Both Ned and I feel that this is one of the more far-reaching and compelling episodes of the series. Ned discusses his concepts on creation and how it works according to what he believes. I would definitely try to maintain an open mind with this because chances are, your mind will have a difficult time trying to comprehend some of this. Whether you choose to believe what is said or not, it is incredibly interesting what Ned has to say here. f11e0
Tools for Session 12
This is a series created from the book “Be Love: A Book About Awakening” authored by Ned Burwell. This series is a guide for people who are seeking a life of purpose and peace told through the life experiences of Ned Burwell. The material is told through a variety of concepts, practices, anecdotes, and experiences. Hosted by Seamus Evely
The Awakening Podcast series was created to give you the tools to live a more purposeful and peaceful life through the teachings of Ned Burwell, author of the book “Be Love: A Book About Awakening”.
Session Twelve – The Creative Side of the Soul: Both Ned and I feel that this is one of the more far-reaching and compelling episodes of the series. Ned discusses his concepts on creation and how it works according to what he believes. I would definitely try to maintain an open mind with this because chances are, your mind will have a difficult time trying to comprehend some of this. Whether you choose to believe what is said or not, it is incredibly interesting what Ned has to say here. f11e0
Tools for Session 12
session 12:
The Creative Side of The soul
Positive Affirmation: I invite the power of creation to come and use me as a vehicle to move through. There is no limit to the creative intelligence that can flow to and through me.
Ned: I’d like to start this session with a story about an experience I had during a meditation retreat in Mexico. An opportunity came up to go see the pyramids outside of Mexico City [Teotihuacan] during my two-month retreat.
I took a bus to Mexico City to meet up with the Ishayas in the Mexico City Centre. Later that afternoon we set out to Teotihuacan. I spent most of the day on top of the Pyramid of the Sun. It went way up into the sky. While climbing to the top of the pyramid I remember thinking it was much bigger than the ones in the Yucatan.
That afternoon I spent most of my time doing a solar meditation technique, which is a mantra based on the sun. I thought that would be most fitting—to do the sun mantra while sitting on the Pyramid of the Sun.
That night we drove back to the Mexico City Centre. The teachers turned in early, leaving me to my own in my room. I was wide awake and completely wired from the experience of the day’s adventure. There was no way I was going to sleep. Being that I was about halfway through my two-month meditation retreat, I was starting to get in the rhythm of longer periods of meditation. I decided I would meditate through the night.
Around three o’clock in the morning, I suddenly became aware of all this knowledge. What came into me was knowledge was about our relationship with and the mechanics of creation. I suddenly knew all this information; it blew my mind! The experience was so surreal that I doubted that I was even having it. I second-guessed whether all this information was actually true or real. My thoughts were, “This is a fantasy. I’m just making this up.”
The next day I got on a bus to Taxco; it was time to return to my retreat. [Taxco is a little silver town about two hours outside of Mexico City.] When I arrived at the hacienda, I went straight to Maharishi’s house. When I walked in the door, Maharishi looked at me and said, “You were downloaded.”
I’m thinking, “Holy crap! It was real.” At the time it didn’t even dawn on me—how did he know that? I just stood there lost for words. However, I felt I needed to begin writing immediately.
Maharishi then says, “Not now.”
I told him, “I need to get it on paper. I’ll never remember it.”
His only reply was, “Now is not the time. Just let it go.”
I remember feeling crazy about the whole thing. I knew what I had been given was a gift. However, my teacher said, “Go and meditate. It will come back to you when you are ready.”
I let it go, and of course by the next day I could hardly remember any of it. It was such a high vibration and then suddenly it felt like it wasn’t there anymore. For about ten years I tried to write about it. I started with a personal blog and then I eventually started writing for my Umatter blog. No matter how much I wrote, only little snippets came out. When I decided it was time to write Be Love: A Book about Awakening, I thought the download would come out. And some did come out during that book, particularly in chapter twelve; however, most of it is still in me.
Being an artist for the last twenty-five years has taught me a few things about creation. However, I have lots more to share on this topic. I also have a sense that in my next book, called After the Awakening: The Reality of What IS, I just might get out the rest of the knowledge that has been hidden inside me.
Seamus: That’s an amazing story. You say in the book that you have never divulged this information publicly. You’ve kept this to yourself for over a decade.
Ned: It was so unreal that I had a hard time believing it. How could I expect anyone else to believe it? At this point in my life, the story about it is not all that important. What is most meaningful to me is to stay on purpose. I know the knowledge will come when I’m ready, and when it does, it will serve a great purpose to those who find it.
Seamus: That’s fascinating. The first thing I want to ask is, can you explain your ideas about and experiences with creation?
Ned: I’ve learned that creation is something that comes through me. I’m not responsible for creation; I have a role to play in it, but the true power of creation lies in the grace of God. We tend to think that we are responsible for the things we create. However, there is a deeper force at play. What’s really happening is that creation is using us as a vehicle to express itself through. I’m a co-creator. Another way to put it is that creation is a collaborative expression with us and our Creator. I join the Divine in expressing the nature of creativity. There’s only one true Creator, and in my experience, it’s God. That is my idea about how creation works. I’ll get a little bit deeper into it as we go along here.
Seamus: You say that being an artist has taught you a different way to live. What do you mean by that?
Ned: I’ve learned that our role in creation gives us instructions for life. Creation doesn’t require any input from my mind. Rather, if I just rest my heart, my best work comes forward. When I’m tattooing, my best work comes forward when I let go of my mind and allow creation to move through me. The same applies for life. If we are caught in our mind, trying to figure out and predetermine how life is going to unfold, we miss the moment. That is also true when it comes to creating. I have learned that I don’t have to push the ball uphill. It’s not productive to force life or to force creation; rather, we become a witness to and participant in our life. This sums up my experience as an artist. I’m more of a participant in the process. It’s not me doing the creating; it’s creation doing me. When I surrender, I flow with all that’s moving around me. Creation happens the same way. When we surrender to life, we allow what’s being created in our life to come in and evolve around us.
Last, by pouring love into my life or pouring life into my creations, what is created is more divine in nature. It gives us the best life and creations possible. The more love we can pour into what we create, the more life we find in love.
Seamus: I’ve always understood creation as being something that I have control over. People really fret about coming up with their ideas. They tend to think that whatever they create is entirely them. It’s their creation. What you’re saying is very different. You are just a vessel that creation comes through.
Ned: Knowing how creation works helps me get out of the way and allow it to use me. I no longer restrict the process by inserting my ego. Highly tuned athletes or musicians will talk about the zone. While visiting that space, it’s like you’re not even doing it. It’s just happening. When you are drumming, do you think about where you’re going to place each stick?
Seamus: Everybody always says the same thing: “Once you start thinking about it, that’s when you make mistakes.” Ned: That’s right.
Seamus: I think we all need to develop our skill sets. Becoming a musician requires practice. That gives you the foundation. If we were to relate it to playing drums, you need to learn how to play the drums. Practice is a requirement to advance your skill set. However, in the moment, when you’re performing with other people, you are responding and reacting to everything that’s happening. The less you think, the better it is.
When you start overthinking things, that’s when you tend to fumble. When you get in the zone, there is a heightened sense of everything that you are doing. You’re thinking less but you’re feeling more. You feel a lot more energy as well, and what comes out tends to surprise you.
Ned: When you are experiencing a peak moment while drumming, it’s not you; it is creation taking over in those moments.
Seamus: I agree with that entirely. A lot of people are going to hear that and relate to what we’re talking about. The big mystery is, what propels that? What makes it happen?
In your book you say that when you are in the act of creation, you get lost in the presence of God. That’s a heavy statement that you make. Can you expand on that a little bit?
Ned: What propels creation is the movement of the Creator flowing through you. How does that happen? When I’m lost in the act of creation, any sense of me dissolves. My ego is no longer present. All that’s left is the pure essence of my soul, which is God. When I say I get lost in the presence of God, I’m lost in the presence of my soul. I’m lost in the presence of silence that resides in me. Being in the zone is being in our silence.
The idea is to keep letting go until there’s nothing left of you in the process. By letting yourself go, you allow creation to gift you with its presence. This is our role in creation. With understanding of our role in creation, we assume our position. We don’t interfere with the transmission of creation, with it using us as its vehicle to express itself. Our desire to control the creative flow squishes out the divinity in our creations.
Seamus: Can someone tap into the zone more if they spend less time on their instrument and more time practicing meditation?
Ned: There’s a place for developing our relationship with the silence. It helps us to be a better musician or artist. It also helps develop a deeper understanding of who we are. When we know who we are, life becomes more effortless and joyful. It’s not that all our problems go away; it means that we can relate to them from a different place.
What’s happening when we are in the zone is that we are in the moment. We are not thinking about next week or what happened last week. We are aware of what’s unfolding now. This helps us show up for our life. When we show up intently, the moment comes alive. We can do that without closing our eyes.
We can learn how to live in that space all the time. We begin to live there when we make it a practice to keep turning inward and surrendering. Seamus: Can you explain to me what you mean when you say creation awaits your invitation?
Ned: The answer is in the question. Creation awaits your invitation. We are merely co-creators in the process. We invite creation to come and move through us.
Seamus: When I read this in the book, it blew my mind apart. You said, “The nature of creativity is drawn from the unknown and manifests itself into the known.” What does that mean?
Ned: Creation comes from God; it is the feminine aspect of God that is responsible for creation. I think of God as being the “Unmoved” in the unmanifest. The unmanifest realm is the totality of ISS [Infinite Supreme Spirit]. The movable aspect of God is what’s created in the physical realm; it’s God made manifest. I refer to creation as the “Movable” aspect of God, and it’s feminine in nature because all things are born through the feminine.
The Divine Feminine is what moves through us when we are co-creating. For you, Seamus, when you’re in the zone while drumming, you’re experiencing the Divine Feminine. For years, I couldn’t understand why I could sense femininity while I was tattooing. Now I get it: creation itself is rooted in the feminine. God cannot move itself out of its place in the unmanifest, so the Creator moves through creation in the movable aspect of itself.
The created maintains a constant relationship with the unmanifest. Quantum physics around particle theory gives us a glimpse of how creation moves between the manifest and unmanifest. When we magnify an object, we see that it’s atoms. Inside the atoms, there is a particle called the nucleus. The nucleus is the solid part of matter. Now, if we magnify the solid particle further, we find out there is more empty space and a smaller piece of matter. As we keep magnifying the nucleus, what we discover is that the particle is blinking in and out of existence: it’s here, it’s gone. All physical matter that makes up creation is here but simultaneously not here. My theory is that it returns itself back to God, to the unmanifest.
This table in front of me right now is actually blinking in and out of existence. It’s here and it’s gone. It’s simultaneously in two places at once. When it returns itself back to the unmanifest, it is evolving God through what is created.
Seamus: That opens my mind a little bit.
Ned: When I learned that about particle theory, how [a thing] appears and disappears, I asked myself, where does it go? What came to me is that it must go back to God. Form can never be lost, because it has been placed by another. If something has been brought into manifestation, it holds itself here by the consciousness of the one who placed it. It can’t be lost, so when it disappears, it must be going back to itself.
Seamus: Will you explain the concept that when we have an idea that comes to us, that it is the end of creation, not the beginning?
Ned: When an idea comes to us, it comes fully formed. We think we are seeing the beginning of creation. However, when an idea comes to us, it’s the end of creation. It’s the beginning of what we know, but 99.9% of creation is worked out before the idea ever occurs to us. Thousands of potentials are required and have been put in place, all of which has been worked out in the unmanifest before an idea ever comes to us. Everything we need is here and ready when we begin to manifest something into our life. As soon as the idea comes, all the potentials are there for it to happen. We cannot be given an idea unless we can actually form it.
The gift of creation is that it comes to us, or rather, it chooses us to be actualized, at which point we become co-creators with God in the process. It’s not us that has done all the work; we are only the completion of creation. That last little one percent is all we’re doing; the rest is already worked out for us.
In my book, I talk about Walt Disney and how he had a deep understanding of how creation works. He said, “If you can believe it, you can see it.” We are limited only by our own imagination. There are lots of quotes by him that talk about creation, because he was a master creator. He understood the potential reality of our imagination. He knew that when an idea came to him, it could be done. I’m convinced that the proof that we can create something is the fact that an idea shows up in our mind. If it couldn’t happen, you wouldn’t have the thought.
Seamus: What I’m really curious to know is how you perceive the act of creation now, compared to when first you started tattooing. Do things come to you more easily? And what kinds of differences are you noticing with creation now?
Ned: I used to try to force creations by exerting my will upon what I was trying to create. It was a difficult experience for me. I felt like I was trying to squeeze out the images. It wasn’t until I learned how to let go in the act of creation that my best work started happening.
We learn how to create and manifest in a more effortless way when we stay focused on letting go and allow creation to use us. It makes everything flow more freely to and through us. We just keep our focus on being a witness in what we are doing. It is always by the grace of God that creation happens.
Seamus: If people don’t understand or can’t wrap their mind around this concept of creation, how should they approach their creations? What’s the entry point to begin creating this way?
Ned: It’s a matter of learning how to relax into your creations. When you learn how to relax and allow things to unfold in your life, then your creations are more of a collaboration with the Divine. For example, in this conversation I could be very uptight and try to control where it’s going, or I can allow it to unfold as a creation in front of us.
If I’m silent and I’m listening to the silence within me, I don’t have to think about the words that I’m about to say. Three seconds ago, I didn’t know what I was going to say right now. All we have to do is stay surrendered within ourselves and the dialogue will just happen.
We do have some structure that we are following, but for the most part we are allowing what comes up. I always try to stay out of my mind and stay present with what’s at hand; that way I can allow what it is being created to have its own life.
When we try to squeeze our creations to fit our mind’s view of how they should be, we squish out the divinity; we squish out the life that creation contains. The radiant spark of God that moves into this world that’s being co-created with you gets dimmer and more lifeless the more we try to control creation.
Allow yourself to just glide along with creation. Imagine creation as a spark of God coming into the world and that you’re just gliding along with it. We slow it down in the process when we touch it. By touching the spark of creation that’s moving through, you hinder the process. When I say touch it, I mean when you try to insert your ideas and how you think it should go or will go or how it ought to go. Instead, you just move with it. Creation is like water going down the stream. All we ever need to know is what’s resting in our heart.
Seamus: You use the term “Hiranyagarbha” [Her-on-YAG-ar-buh] in the book. Could you explain what it means?
Ned: Hiranyagarbha is a fascinating story for me. In my book I was writing about how creation comes to us fully formed and how it’s feminine in nature. The understanding that we have very little to do with it came to me as I was writing and reflecting on my own experience with creation. We just go along for the ride. One evening while I was writing about this, I started to feel really self-conscious about what I was writing, and so I thought, “I’m going to set this down because this sounds a little too ‘out there.’”
When I say that an idea is the end of creation, how can I prove that? What proof do I have? A lot of times if I write something, I need to have a certain amount of logic worked out around the concept before I’m willing to share it.
That evening I decided I was going to take a break from writing. I flipped on the Gaia network; the Gaia network is like Netflix, but they have only spiritual programs. I began watching a thirteen-part series on yoga. What comes on the screen, after I’d been writing about this concept of creation, is this guy who says, “When we are in the act of creation, we’re not the ones doing the creating. All creation comes to you fully formed. It’s feminine in nature.” He went on to say everything that I was talking about, just in different terms.
He said, “In the Vedic culture, we have a term for this and it’s called hiranyagarbha.” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. The term ‘hiranyagarbha’ refers to a golden egg, and it translates to ‘golden womb.’ Creation comes into this world through this golden egg; it’s the seed of creation. It gave me something to validate what I was experiencing.
Seamus: What if somebody who’s reading this doesn’t feel as if they’re inherently creative? Does this session still apply to those people?
Ned: Absolutely. Your life is a creation. It is one of the most elaborate creations that you’ll ever, ever participate in. This applies to everyone, not just artists or musicians. It applies to the whole of your life. How you converse and relate with other people is a creation. How you dress, decorate your home, how you navigate your life—all these fit into the realm of creation. Everything is a creation in your life. Everything that you do sets creation in motion.
Seamus: How do we call forth our creative side?
Ned: We start by understanding our role in creation. In my book Be Love, I compare creating to driving a car. You sit in the car and all you need to do is steer and push the gas; the car does all the work. It doesn’t require much effort from us. Creation is the same way. How we call forth our creative side is we allow it to pour through us. When we know our role in creation, we don’t force it; rather, we allow it.
People tend to try to push creation and force it to come out; or they’ll say that their creative side is blocked. There’s no such thing as writer’s block. You may be experiencing it, but creation never restricts itself. The tap never turns back. It’s us that gets in the way. By inserting our ego, our mind, into what we are creating, it’s like we turn off the tap; we restrict the flow of creation coming through us.
On the path of creation there are no bumps on the road. When you enter God’s grace, God paves the way for a smooth ride.
It is you that gets in the way and creates all the bumps.
Seamus: You also say in the book, “The presence of creation has a way of guiding you into the depths of your soul.” How’s that so?
Ned: In the act of creation, we rest in our soul. I’ve had thousands of experiences where I have entered the silence. In the silence I find myself; I find the soul. When I’m doing my tattoo work, painting, writing, or when I’m talking, I allow it to move through me. I just relax and let it happen.
I used to watch my tattoo artists do their work. I would tell them, “Relax. Let yourself go in the process. You don’t need to get so involved.”
Seamus: You’ve said that when you add love to your creations, you are inviting God to join you. Can you expand on that?
Ned: When you add love to your creations, you are inviting God to be with you in larger capacity. It amps up the grace and the power that we experience in the act of creation. When you pour love into your projects, they take on a divine radiance. Our creations that contain love enliven the divinity in the viewer who’s looking at what has been created.
Love is an intricate part of creation. When you love what you are doing, your connection to God’s grace is amplified. It
profoundly alters your ability to make a deep connection with
the Divine and to channel its creative power through you.
Seamus: Hold on. What you’re saying is that because of the love poured into your creations, the person who looks at your creation feels love? Love stays in the creation?
Ned: Yes. When a person looks at what’s created, it enlivens their divinity. It enlivens the God, that lives within their soul. It creates an experience in the viewer. That’s why we get moved by the presence of something that has had love poured into it.
Seamus: Sometimes when people look at a painting, they will get lost in it. If they’re asked, “What is it about the painting that you really like?” they might respond with, “I don’t know, but I’m really drawn to it.” Sometimes you can’t specifically tell what’s so fantastic about it, but you just love it.
Ned: You’re moved by it. What part of you is moving? It’s your divinity. Your spark is being ignited through the object that has been created. The act of inviting love to come join you in your creations enables that divinity to pour into the things that you create.
Everything comes into creation because it has been called by you or by another. That’s how and why. It’s been called forth. I would say that it’s your destiny that moves the greatest creations that we’ll ever create.
The will of what needs to be created in your destiny is called forth from you. Your destiny is slowly on its way to you. We speed up our destiny when we learn how to rest in our soul and follow what we know to be right for ourselves.
Seamus: How does the mind tend to create disruption within us when we’re branching out into that unfamiliar territory? This is a big thing, because it could keep you stuck in a mode. You may never evolve or experience new things.
Ned: When the mind disrupts the process, it takes away from the creative aspect of what we are doing. The mind has a negative tendency. Doubt and worry can very easily creep in. If you see a flaw in what you are doing, the mind will sometimes fixate on that, then create a whole dialogue about it.
It reminds me of a story called The Two Bad Bricks, by Ajahn Brahm. It’s a great metaphor that I’ve used before with my artists when I was training them. Ajahn was a Buddhist monk who was asked by the master leading the monastery to build a wall out of bricks. Ajahn replied, “I can’t do that.” The master responded, “We need you to do it. Just do your best.”
When Ajahn he started building the wall, he found that when he would tap one side of the brick, the other side would come up, going out of level. He was having a heck of a time, but he took pride in taking his time completing the wall, brick by brick.
When he finished the wall, he stood back to admire what he had accomplished. Suddenly, he realized that there were two bricks in the centre of the wall that were crooked. He was furious. How could he have missed that? He wanted to tear down the wall and start all over. He even tried to remove the two bad bricks by chipping out the mortar, but it was too hard; he couldn’t get the bricks free. For weeks, he beat himself up over the two bad bricks.
After the monastery was finished, they had lots of visitors come for tours. Ajahn would always insist that he do the tours so that he could lead the visitors away from that hideous wall.
Then one day, one of the masters who was visiting the temple made a comment about the wall that Ajahn had built. He said to Ajahn, “This is a beautiful structure you have built here.”
Ajahn looked at him and said, “How could you say that? Are you blind?
Don’t you see the two bad bricks?”
The master replied, “No, I don’t see the two bad bricks. I see the 998 good ones. You’re the only one looking at the two bad bricks.”
This is a good example of how our mind can beat us down. We are never going to be flawless. Life is full of mistakes, and thank goodness for that. I have grown considerably from my mistakes. In my book, for example, there are spelling mistakes and grammatical mistakes, but I tell people that’s proof that a real human made it. I don’t look at the two bad bricks anymore because my mind doesn’t run my life.
There’s so much goodness in all the things that we create. The mind will want to focus on the two bad bricks. In creation, we kick the mind out. It’s just a feeble voice in your head. Allow the beauty of what you’re creating to come over you.
Seamus: I think that’s a really great message, because the common thing with artists is that they’re never satisfied with what they do. That keeps you pushing forward, trying to perfect your craft.
You have an interesting story about a visit you had with a man from the Hudson’s Bay store. Can you share that with me?
Ned: One day I was sitting in the back tattooing and this guy came in. At one time he owned a section in the Hudson’s Bay Store in London, which used to rent out sections to different people. When he closed his section, he had all this stuff left over that he wanted to sell.
My receptionist came back to me and said, “There’s a guy here that wants to sell you some things.”
I said, “Bring him back.”
This little man came to the back of my store. Suddenly, I felt something about him. He proceeded to tell me about the section he used to own and said that he was looking to unload the balance of his inventory. At the time I had a gift shop in the front of my store, so his enquiry about selling me some giftware made sense. I told my receptionist to set up a meeting with him as soon as possible, and they both made their way back out to the front of the store to book a time for us to meet.
As I returned to tattooing my client, an intuition came over me: “He’s a spiritual teacher.” The intuition was very random; it didn’t seem logical. Of all the people who could stumble in off the street, what were the chances that this guy was a spiritual teacher?
I excused myself from my client to investigate my intuition. The man and my receptionist were up front of my store, setting up the meeting for the next morning.
I didn’t know how to ask him my question, so I just blurted it out: “Are you a teacher?”
He said, “Yes, I am.”
In my mind I’m thinking, “Wow, I was right!” I reply with, “Okay. That’s what I want to talk to you about. I will look at your giftware as well.”
He said, “Very good.” Then nodded at me and walked away. The nod and the look in his eyes made me feel like he was acknowledging why he had come into my store. Maybe he had a feeling or a sense that I needed to see him.
The next morning when I arrived at work, my receptionist informed me that my first client had cancelled. That gave me two hours to meet with the mysterious man who had stumbled into my life. I called my friend Shaun, who had wanted to come with me after I told him the story of meeting this man, and of my feeling that this man was a master.
When we arrived at the cafe up the street from my store he was in the back waiting for us. I had barely said hello to him when out came my first question: “Can you tell me about the beloved within?”
Once he began talking, he didn’t stop for over an hour and a half. I remember fighting to stay awake because the energy coming from him was so high. It felt like he was frying my mind.
At the end of the conversation I asked him, “Can I meet with you again?”
He replied, “If you really need to see me again, you’ll know where to find me. If you don’t, it will be like I never existed.”
Who says stuff like that? That’s just weird. After he left, I remember sitting there trying to take in all the concepts he had shared during our time together. He’d talked about being multidimensional and about astral travel for a portion of our visit. He also gave me an exercise on how to maintain a constant awareness of the present moment.
I looked over at Shaun and said, “Did you catch that? What did you think of the part where he was talking about being multidimensional?”
Shaun was like, “No, man, I didn’t catch that at all.”
Then I asked him about another part and he replied, “No. I didn’t hear that.”
I said, “Shaun, what did you hear?”
Again, Shaun says, “I don’t remember anything.” He had blanked out for the entire conversation.
I guess that conversation was not for him. It was just for me. It was a wild experience. We never know what’s moving into our lives. I think that guy was a gift from God. He was someone whom I needed to come into my life at that point. I feel that I attracted that man to me.
Seamus: Wow! What is your understanding of the beloved within, then?
Ned: Most simply put, it’s the soul in me. It’s God inside of me. That’s why when I asked the man in my story “What is the beloved within?” he taught me a practice to become deeply rooted into the present moment. It’s only through this moment that we can understand and touch the beloved within.
Seamus: We talked earlier about whether this session applies to people who consider themselves creative. Of course, the answer was yes, because we’re creating our lives. How do our choices impact our lives?
The ultimate meaning of free will is to choose your highest potential that lands you in a conscious life. A conscious life
is one that is lived with the grace of God leading the way.
Ned: Our choices create chain reactions. When we make a decision, it becomes a creation. We then draw all the forces of nature to attract the essence of what we have set into creation. When we make a choice, it changes our life. Every choice changes the direction we are going. The choices we make lead us either to our higher nature, toward our purpose, or toward our lower nature. The choices we make change our trajectory.
Seamus: Trajectory is the next thing I wanted to talk to you about. What is trajectory?
Ned: The topic of trajectory is important. The further you get down your path, the more important it becomes. Think of it this way: if you were standing at the edge of a field and you started walking, you would end up going in whatever direction you followed. If you were standing in the centre and I turned your head just a degree to the right, by time you reached the other side of the field, you would end up a long way from the centre of the field. The longer we walk pointed in any direction, the further we get from our starting point.
Therefore, trajectory is an important concept to understand. Even if the choices you make seem small, they can cause you to move a long way away from your centre, in a direction that perhaps doesn’t serve you.
Consciousness has a great deal to do with our trajectory. Within our range of consciousness, we have our lows and our highs.
When we make a choice that’s in alignment with our purpose, we grow in consciousness. Our consciousness grows when we continuously make choices that are loving and in alignment with our purpose. As we move into deeper states of consciousness, this affects our range of trajectory. Our trajectory gets wider and farther-reaching as our consciousness grows. Our circle of influence gets larger and we manifest things faster. Our actions affect more and more people in the process. In the Native American culture, they talk about the razor’s edge. Discernment becomes increasingly important because the path we are walking gets narrower. The more conscious we become, the more impact our choices have.
For example, say you join Instagram and you post a picture. The picture is loving and positive, but you only have one follower. Now, if that follower sees your picture, you have affected one person. You keep posting loving and positive things and then, six months down the road, you now have about 600 followers. Now every time you make a post, you affect up to 600 people. It keeps growing. That’s how it works with consciousness. As we become more conscious, our range and reach grow.
Can you imagine the reach and the effect you would have if you had two million followers on an Instagram account? If you said one word that was negative or racist, you could suddenly incite a massive social backlash; conversely, if you said something positive, you could really move and influence a great number of people. All it takes is one little action.
Seamus: When it comes to our path, how do we identify truth? I think that’s important when we’re talking about trajectory and the overall level of responsibility that goes with that.
Ned: Well, the truth never changes, but our understanding of it varies greatly. There’s a big difference between your truth and the truth. Just because something is your truth doesn’t make it entirely true. The absolute truth lies at the heart of our soul. On a soul level, I know the ultimate truth. It’s in my soul. We identify that truth by bypassing the mind.
When you bypass the mind and your emotions, you bypass all your filters. You bypass your emotions and you let your heart determine what’s true for you. Now, it’s tricky to discern what is your heart and what is the mind creeping in. Learning how to identify truth takes practice. Make it a practice to rest in your heart versus your mind and emotions.
Seamus: You also say in the book that completing your destiny only requires your consent. What does that mean?
Ned: It means all of your destiny is on its way to you. Remember, I was saying just a few minutes ago that your destiny is a creation and it’s on its way to you.
Seamus: You just grab on and away you go.
Ned: By staying anchored in your heart, you begin to know what to do in any given moment. All you must do is say yes. This isn’t easy to do, because the mind enters the equation and says, “No, I don’t want to do that. I’d rather take a more comfortable route.” What if your destiny says you need to walk across Canada? There have been people who have done that. For example, Terry Fox started running across Canada with one leg. What told him he had to do that? He could very easily have said, “No, I don’t have two legs. I think I’d much rather try to get across town than across the country.” All we have to do is consent and our destiny reveals what’s next.
Seamus: How can we wake up to our potential, then?
Ned: We do it by living in the present moment. By living from one moment to the next. The mind likes to plan; it maps out a route. It’s like a GPS that never shuts off. It’s constantly plotting a route. When we embrace love for self and others in the world, we reach our potential at an exponential rate. We must be willing to fall and fail along the way. We must also let go of fear. That’s another big one that keeps us from reaching our potential and living life like it’s an ultimate creation. We reach our potential by setting down our mind and resting in the eternal silence that’s found within.
Seamus: To wrap things up, is there anything you would like to add to summarize the importance of creating your own life?
Ned: Understand that your life is your greatest creation. It’s one of the biggest contributions that you’re going to make to this world. You will do many things, but your life itself is your biggest creation. When you think of your life as a creation, it changes how you approach it. Understand that you are on a collaborative co-adventure with God. You’re not alone creating in your life. Being a co-creator with the Divine makes you connected with God. Connection with God in your collaborative co-creations is a gift you are given. Creation is a gift, and your life is a gift. All we have to do to make the best of it is accept it and allow it to be created through us.