Essence
We human beings are all the same and paradoxically we are all different. As human organisms we are the same, but we differ in specific functions, as fingerprints are different in each individual. Our conditioning is different. Our process, our way of living and thinking, may be very different. However, as human energy in the planet, we are all the same—we are human energy.
Like these flowers (pointing to flower arrangement)—they are “plant” existing in plant consciousness. They all operate in general like plants. But through some specific functions they develop differently from one another in color and shape. But they still remain “plant” in plant consciousness. One is not more beautiful than the other—except, of course, in our conditioned minds full of learned likes and dislikes.
All are beautiful and different . . . and still the same, using chlorophyll for cell nourishment, just as all human organisms use blood for cell nourishment. So in general, flowers are all basically the same, just as we, all the members of our species, are basically the same, having the same kind of organs, muscles, blood, etc. Some of us start with what we call perfect bodies, through genes; others are born with what we call defects.
Some flowers, according to the genes and other factors, are larger or smaller, even in the same family of flowers, giving the appearance of difference. However, essence is still the same—still remains “plant”. Also in their essence, all humans are the same. As in flowers, the human form, color and shape is determined by genes, nutrients and environment. Of course, in addition to these we have behavior—interaction with one another—conditioned by our cultures and personal milieus.
So our true nature is this essence, this energy which cannot be explained. It can only be lived. That essence is life itself. It appears sometimes as if this essence was pushed away, covered up, but it has the same force as plants that grow through cement. You as essence will flower, no matter how many people try to interfere with your unfoldment. It will flower. It has that power. If it is given to do so in the world, it will come through. So we are responsible as human beings for that essence to express itself in the world, in whichever way is given to each human being to be expressed. We are responsible for respecting the way of expressing, or manifesting. We are responsible for respecting each human for being the way they are, just as we respect this flower (pointing to arrangement) for being the way it is.
Because we function in thought, and it is the nature of thought to be linear—each thought separate, almost like units—there is this ostensible division within ourselves and separation from one another. Because of the divisiveness of thought, separation has become a reality for us, and believing that separation, we act and behave accordingly. Of course, this way of thinking in separateness is extremely useful when we are in front of a moving bus. I certainly will not consider myself to be physically one with the bus! (Laughter). All senses tell us of the separation and warn us of dangers to protect the integrity of the whole organism. Therefore the sense of separation serves for the purpose of survival.
To live in the awareness of the reality of our illusion is to live by the way things are, not pretending them to be otherwise, just being as we are, functioning as we do. Not forcing ourselves to function differently than we do is to live life as is.
Rosette brought up that to observe ourselves as we are and to be with the observation of our pettiness or our own reactions is embarrassing to us. We need to be willing to take the impact of this realization of the way we are behaving in the world, and be willing to have the embarrassment. It is important to be with it all, not pointing fingers or projecting—just being there with that impact, with the discomfort of seeing how we are conditioned. But also it is important to be with the beauty of being human without taking credit, not doing anything with it. Both are important. To see how we are functioning in the world and how we are conditioned and to be with all that occurs in us as human organisms, is to somehow allow the experience of the beauty of being human in the sense of love and compassion. This beauty is not the opposite of ugly. You don’t do anything, it just comes. All we can do is just look at our conditioning, our ego structures, not trying to be different than we are.
Questioner #1: Is being asleep part of our conditioning? Were we ever awake?
Ms. Dantes: You have to have memory in order to know you were asleep, dreaming. We function in memory. What does it mean to be awake, to be enlightened?
Questioner #1: We can only know by contrast.
Ms. Dantes: We perceive in contrast. Do we know what it means to be awake except by concepts? Maybe we would realize we were asleep if we had an experience of ourselves and others as human beings, simply and totally. Maybe we call waking up experiencing love for one another, without resentment, seeing everything the same, without separation. And we call asleep when we have difficulty with others, and are not careful with our surroundings. We may consider ourselves awake when we realize what we are doing to ourselves, when we can see how mechanical we are, when we see we do not love.
Questioner #2: From unconscious to more awake and call that awake, then more awake and call that awake.
Ms. Dantes: . . . Always waking up. We have this concept that someday we are going to be enlightened, that we are going to wake up and that’s it. (There is a silence, and then Ms. Dantes: continues.) When we wake up in the morning, how do we know we’re awake? Is there a thought that says, “Oh, I was asleep” and a thought that says, “I’m awake” . . . ?
I think, therefore I am, as in Descartes’ statement; or, I am, therefore I think. Is it either or both? There has to be ego, something first. “Me” has to be real. If Descartes was questioning existence, it is because somehow human beings have the ability to question, to perceive themselves and to communicate. There has to be an innate ability, function, for these organisms to be able to think, speak, communicate through symbols, words. We have the ability to be proprioceptive and the ability to abstract, in words.
We are in a state of consciousness that we can only do what we’re doing. We are behaving in the world in a certain way and somehow we are able to see the consequence of our way of behaving.
There has to be awareness of thinking for us to experience thinking; an ability we call awareness that encompasses thought, something larger than the limited thought process.
Questioner #3: Then being awake includes being asleep?
Ms. Dantes: Not in our concept, but in our dialogue now it seems that way. It is part of the harmony of the planet to have forest fires and earthquakes. Is it possible that man, acting as he does, is part of the harmony within the universe in a global picture? Of course, not for us. The way we think is that war is not harmonious. It seems unnecessary to us to pollute the planet and kill ourselves. But in the sense of universe, there is a possibility of a different way.
Beautiful islands are the end result of volcanoes. Maybe that’s how we are in the perspective of the universe, destroying the planet, in its course. From a global experience we can love a Hitler as we love Mother Teresa. This does not mean that we have to have a Hitler kind of behavior, but it is still here. Maybe there is another way to view ourselves, to exist as does the island—the result of being lava. Life is out of time; it is just life. Compassion, love come from experience of the whole. We live within rules, guilt, disharmony, chaos, suffering. However, the context of our conduct can be that of the whole, not judging. . . (Pause) . . .
Or maybe all we can do is to not be honest with ourselves and view only the particular and not the whole, which is living without truth. . .
Questioner #4: Opportunities are given to become aligned or in harmony through realization, then there is more opening to opportunities.
Ms. Dantes: We always have the opportunity to see what is, to wake up and smell the flowers. We can only see that we’re asleep. Seems like we have to be slapped in the face to see our pettiness.
Questioner #5: We try to preserve nature but not ourselves. Maybe we need to allow something of ourselves to pass through.
Ms. Dantes: We need to be aware of what we are doing and how we are behaving. We may become extinct and a different kind of organism may become manifest. We are not the end of evolution . . . life . . . It is an eternal movement of energy.
Thank you for being here today.