Journey 6.3

Seven Years of Journey Work
By Mary Rocamora, M.A.

For the first six months of 1993, I acted as "secretary to Awareness" and the Personal Journey course was written. The inspiration came from my long association with Carlton Salter, who was an avid reader of Krishnamurti's
writings, and my own interest in adapting aspects of Buddhist metaphysics
and Western psychotherapy into a precisely sequenced lesson plan that was
fresh, accessible and profound. When we sat down with our first group of
students in June of that year, we were all admittedly clueless as to what
this course actually was. Throughout the last seven years and hundreds of
students later, much has been discovered about this course work. It came
out of paying attention while I was teaching it and by editing it annually
to tighten it up and incorporating feedback from the students--what has
confused them and what has resonated. Here's what has been discovered.

A new paradigm has been introduced. The spiritual and personal growth work
of the past has always had some inherent dimension of separation characterizing it. There have been priests and parishioners, gurus and
followers, teachers and students, therapists and clients, all examples of
hierarchical separation implying that one has a superior knowledge over
another. In Western culture, God is depicted as a remote perfect father
figure, while we lowly sinners can only aspire to overcoming our original
sin. New Age reinventions of these traditional models haven't done
differently. At best, we have been in a constant state of striving for what
seems to be just out of reach, and at worst, we have been left shame based
and feeling less than.

The Journey work is peer process. There is no hierarchical separation. We
are all doing the work, and we all learn from each other. It does not
foster dependency on teachers or facilitators who purportedly "know more."
It recognizes that everyone has equal access to their own answers and to
higher states of consciousness. It teaches us to pay attention in ways that
make it possible to end the separation--from who we authentically are, from a
continuous state of presence, from others and from our open hearts. The
group process illustrates that the whole is more than the sum of its parts
-- the power of the group carries its members into an accelerated deepening
and expansion.

Unlike Western psychology, 12-step programs, or many other New Age models,
this work is not pathology based or problem-centered. It works with the whole range of states of Awareness.

The facilitation method is inductive, which introduces a new way of paying
attention. Induction means asking, "what does it feel like to you?" This
approach allows people to access their own responses, using their own words. It also strengthens our trust in our own perceptions, which get more fine-tuned as the course work progresses.

As Elaine McBroom has astutely pointed out, this course work not only gives
us a way to get free from Ego and its patterns, it gives it a place to go to, which is the free state.

The structure of the course work involves recognizing contrasting states in
the same context. For example, there is a noteworthy difference between
being frustrated or impatient and being present when we are stuck in
traffic. It's still not fun, but we can be present with what is.

By learning how to relax out of trapped states or old stories in to the
moment, we can choose to be more sustainably in free and expansive states.
All situations we face in daily life are opportunities to see how each is
experienced from both states. This develops a choice point, and if we're
willing, we can shift our attention back to the free and present moment.
Catching ourselves in Ego stories and patterns and having the
self-discipline to not indulge them is the path to being sustainably in the
Now, with, as Jeff Whitman coined, hands off and hearts open.

What's real depends on our view from within the field of Awareness.
When we talk about contrasting states, we're simultaneously bringing up the
question of what is real. If we're completely trapped in a pattern, the
overlay of pattern seems real at the time. Typically, we're reactive,
separated and uncomfortable. However, when we're present in the same
situation, we are able to see what is, and that feels open, real and
natural.

While the view from a simple state of presence allows us to see what is
actually going on, the deeper view from the open heart is a more profound
sense of what is real. When we are present watching a spider spinning his
web, we see his industriousness and his process. From the open heart, we
are filled with the wonder of nature.

The course work opens the way to a much more expansive life. In that it is
the nature of the Love to expand, as we become more consistently heart
centered, we begin to step into a larger life.

The Transpersonal Journey was formally offered in January, 1999. When we can
see that Ego is an illusion, it is a further progression to begin to explore
the free state, and to discover that the view of what is real evolves as we
go deeper. How is the free state actually constructed, and what is it each
of us is really here to experience, express and contribute?

In the Transpersonal work, we learn to become comfortable taking the
risk of stepping into the Unknown. We soon realize that the resources
needed to support those steps are right there. Sometimes the resources
aren't what Ego thinks they should be, but they are a perfect match for the
expansion that is taking place. To walk away from a debilitating
job even when the next job isn't in sight allows new employment
opportunities to come in that are more rewarding and more lucrative.

We also begin to look for things that feel synchronistic--the external events
and the inner impulses that move us to engage them. This allows us to see
what direction our current life themes are heading toward. By following a
synchronistic chain of events, we can recognize a trend -- that we are going
to be able to buy a house, or that we are being diverted from a career in technology toward a career in public service.

When synchronistic occurrences can be seen clearly, we can begin to perceive
where they come from. We discover that there is a grid or matrix in the
free state through which the limitless field of Love and Awareness passes
into the world of form and time. As the Love passes through the grid, it
creates differentiation of the field into its myriad unique sentient forms, which in turn energize the field. We can then see what is coming into manifestation in our own lives and how those events are distributed throughout the lifetime.

Then there is the discovery of the pre-existent (not predetermined) life plan, of which this lifetime is only one chapter of many. We begin to notice that certain experiences feel like they are already there, and all we have to do is step into them. The unexpected inheritance, the theft of the car, or the writing project that just fell into our lap all open life up in new ways. By staying congruent with the life plan, we end the last dimension of separation we can in human form. We also fulfill everything we are here in this life to be and do.

The most significant discovery has to do with the rapid and profound evolution of the students, including MacMinn and myself. This course work has attracted some truly amazing spiritually and trans-formationally gifted people. Everyone deserves the credit for demonstrating the integration of it in daily life. It is a real inspiration to see the progress from week to week. Given a lifetime of being stuck in Ego, we all have shown how fast progress can be made in getting into a sustainable free state. It's so exciting!


Another Adventure in Free Awareness
by Jason Riordan

I was on vacation in Costa Rica with my friend Michelle. We had just
finished breakfast and I had a half of a plate of food left. Michelle
was up at the market exchanging our money for the local currency.
Suddenly a patch of leaves stood out to me. They were over the entrance to
another outdoor restaurant. Although they were no more beautiful than the
surrounding jungle, they seemed somehow brighter and more crisp to me. It
occurred to me to walk over there. But when Michelle returned I tried to
shake off the feeling. I was a little too embarrassed to explain to her
that I somehow intuitively felt that I must go to the leaves. I did it
anyway. Walking over, my mind was clear. I expected something to happen
but I had no idea what. As I stepped inside, I knew exactly why I came.
There on the floor was an extremely undernourished dog. His ribs and hip bones stuck out. I scooped him up and carried him back to where we were eating. I fed him my leftovers and bought him more food. "Funny thing," Michelle said, "when I was in the market a thought came to me to buy dog food."