Oneness Ministry

We are One

Jul 10

Taking Authenticity to the Next Level

by Sequoia Elisabeth

What does being authentic really mean?  Does it mean being your true self?  And if so, who is that?  The question “who am I” can be asked at any time because it is constantly changing… evolving.  So if we are constantly changing how can we ever really know who this authentic person is?  Perhaps this is about more than just a material existence as a body with a name, family, and history.  Perhaps we need to look deeper to find our answers.  Self-discovery is a life-long pursuit and evolves with each step on the path or layer removed from our onion.

I just took a long walk and the layers were falling right off!  These moments of clarity are so precious!  My connection to self has never been deeper or stronger.  Or felt so good.  These glimpses of heaven are what we live for.  They make it all worthwhile.  So take a deep breathe and relax.  Look deep within… not with your eyes but with your heart.  It is more like feeling, connecting, and imagining the beauty within.  Let us embark on a journey of discovery!

For me this starts with what many call the physical reality and what I call the dream within a dream.  My reality involves having a male body and a feminine soul.  My Spirit is beyond both of these dualities.  After years of contemplation I realize what I look like is such a small part of my being.  It is really not important at all.  What works best for me is an androgynous look, because this aligns with my inner feelings now.  My woman has revealed herself and for this I am grateful.  I can still honor my past appearances and know that it is what is on the inside that matters. (pun intended)   So what’s left after all the layers of the onion are removed?  The discovery continues, however I expect to find nothing.

Why would I say nothing?  Because as a pantheist I know God is all there is, there is nothing more… or less for that matter.  Anything we think or believe exists beyond the absolute are just that, dreams within a dream!  On a more practical level how does one cope with this reality?  The answer I have arrived at is acceptance.  Or as my Taoist teachers would say “Make everything Ok”.  Just be the observer, step back and let it all be.  Then know that you are what you observe, without attachment or judgment.  It is what it is and you are who you are, make this Ok.  There is no “supposed to be”, no expectations, no good or bad, no right or wrong.  There is what there is, be Ok with it.  Labels will limit your experience so avoid them when possible and if you cannot avoid them, embrace them, make them Ok.  I am that, I am!  (the name of God is my name, your name, and all there is)

Sequoia Elisabeth 🙂

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Jun 8

Identity Vs Role Play

by Sequoia Elisabeth

Identity vs. Role Play

When was the last time you considered your identity consciously?  I mean were you really aware of your self-identity and how you relate to the world?  Who are you?  Where does the roles you play fit into your identity and where do they separate?  These are questions I ask myself regularly so I will share some of my insights.  Your experience here will likely be different than mine, but then this is what makes life worth living.  Variety is the spice of life.

Breaking down the question “Who are you?” leads to who = person, are = state of being, and you = ???  “You” is a broad term and as we grow spiritually we realize that there is a lot more to “you” than realized. There is the individual you (the self-identity), the roles you play as you (Mother, Daughter, housewife, friend, etc.), the larger you connected through community (teacher, activist, citizen, steward, etc.) and the Universal One you, which is the only “real” you there is.  I use “real” loosely here which is why I put it in parenthesis.  Perhaps it is “real” which we ultimately seek, but for now we will stick with identity and roles.  Using them as the barometer for which we measure these things.

We each play roles constantly and this includes the one you are playing right now as you read this. It is important to clarify the roles in each situation of your life so you may more fully experience who you really are.  Wait, is this true?  Are you the roles you play?  Perhaps the answer lies in context and it is the very Matrix you exist in that determines who you are at that moment.  Not to say because you swim in the ocean you are fish, but it does mean you are fish like and the connection to life in the sea is that much more relevant to you.  The sea will also inform your actions and vice versa.

I believe life to be circular, meaning who you are informs life and life itself informs who you are; it is a give and take, an ebb and flow!  This means that who you are is constantly changing depending on your thoughts and the feedback you get from “the Universe”.  Descartes said, “I think, therefore I am”.  Does this mean we are our thoughts?  Or that it is thought that creates us?  Who is this “I”?  Most likely you have some idea to your answer to these questions and it is as valid as any I can offer, however since this is my blog I will offer up my answer.

Identity is like an onion with many layers each informing the whole as an aspect of the greater whole, the totality of existence.  As one aspect of this totality, Universal Intelligence or “All that is”, I am as I identify, and in each moment this identity takes the form of a role I play.  So I am not the role, but the role is who I am at the moment.  The role will shift often instantly from one to another and so does my identity from the perspective of the Universe, but not from my own perspective.  I see myself as unchanging (often we identify with our body) and so to really know who I am, I must interact with this Universe (other people, nature, etc.).  We know ourselves through others; they reflect back the identity I project.  This is done through thought, so what you think about yourself determines your identity in this world.  To know what this is one must engage life.  Looking in the mirror only shows you the exterior form, which is far from who you really are. This is one page in a very long book!  In the end the only way to know what is, is to know what isn’t.  This is the lesson we are each here to learn in our own way.  For more on this scroll to the bottom of this page, http://sequoiablessed.info/page5 and experience the Journey of Love!

Sequoia Elisabeth 🙂

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Sep 29

I AM

by Sequoia Elisabeth

Greetings family!  As I sit here thinking of what I would like to say for this segment, I am reminded by the author Neale Donald Walsch that it is our actions that define us.  Not only am I who I say I am and think I am it is through my actions that I am defined.  This is an interesting fact to consider.  Do you like what you see?  I mean as you look back over your life at all your accomplishments, are you happy with what you have demonstrated?

How often do you use the words “I am”?  These are the words that Moses uses in the bible to describe God, “I Am That, I Am”.  Powerful words, because they define us!  Now the version that most bibles use does not have the comma and that is a sore oversight by the men who translated the original document.  James Tywman pointed out in his book the “Moses Code” that the comma was missing so you can see how much that little detail changes the meaning of the phrase.  No longer is it “God is that”, it becomes “I” am that as an individual, I am God.  God is no longer outside us but within, through and as us!  The way I use this is to point to something and say, “I am that, I am”.  It matters not what you are pointing to, God is all there is.  The way I look at this is if I am an aspect of God and God is all there is, then I must be all there is.  When we say be “all that,” we mean it literally.

I am walking down the street pointing to a dog, “I am that, I am”, then to a tree, “I am that, I am”, etc. The feeling I get when I do this is one of inner-connectedness. Try it and see how you feel.  It may seem strange at first but when you think about it and let the reality sink in the Truth reveals itself.  We are all a part of the whole, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts!

The ego or “little self” part of your mind is probably screaming at you about now and that is to be expected.  So let’s go a little deeper.  God is all there is and we are merely instruments!  God works in us, through us and as us to express Divinity.  While this may seem a tall order, it is something that you have been doing all your life, only now you are aware of it.  Going back to the beginning of this blog I said that our actions define us, and so now you know who you are!

😉 Sequoia Elisabeth

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Mar 9

I am not my body

by Sequoia Elisabeth

What do I mean by this? You may not fully understand what I mean when I say “I am not my body”. So let me clarify for you. My body is what has shape and form, it is typing this message and it is the image I see when I look in the mirror or I look down to see these hands.

If I or someone else were to thrust a knife into my heart there would be bleeding and most likely the heart would stop functioning along with the rest of my body. My body would start decaying immediately even though it would take years for the process to complete. What happens to me when my body stops functioning? I exist as I always have and always will! Our bodies do not end till our journey is over. “Here is the test to find whether your mission on Earth is finished: if you’re alive, it isn’t.” -Richard Bach This quote says it all. It is sort of like saying how do you know when your vacation is over? If your still laying on the beach then it is not. We talked in a previous blog about the car(our bodies) taking us where we need to go and providing us with the experiences we need.

So if I am not my body, then who am I? The question must be answered in your own mind. I can tell you, but before you will know, you must experience it. You can think of who you are, but that does not mean you are that, until you experience it! Let me give an example for clarity. I can think I am a woman and until I experience “being” a woman I am not that. It is our experiences that define us, but we are still not all the way to who we are. Look out and see the world around you. This is how you experience the world, with the five senses. We still need to figure out who we are.

Who is reading this message? Is it your body or the consciousness that fills the body? The “I” of “I am that” is who you are. You are the consciousness behind the individual considered to be “me”. This consciousness is individual, but it is also connected to all others, like hairs on a dog we are separate but connected. If you trim a hair, does that change the dog? Yes, but only in appearance and is hardly noticeable. If you pull the hair, then the dog is changed also, and in a more profound way, but still hardly noticeable. The dog continues to live, regardless of what we do to the hair. Our bodies are the same.

We can change our bodies and do so in order to experience life differently be it in a more or less congruent fashion. Does this change who we are? No, it does not. It matters not what you do to your body, only what you do with it! One way to know who you are is to remove all that is not you! What is left over is you. Even when your body is dead and gone, you will still remain. How is this powerful? No longer do you need to worry about your body, death or anything in this material world. What you do need to consider is your mission in this life. We are all here for a purpose, so the sooner we discover that and focus on it, the sooner our “ride” will be complete and we can move on! Just remember to enjoy the ride!   🙂   Sequoia Elisabeth

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Feb 14

I am that

by Sequoia Elisabeth

Greetings family!  As I sit here thinking of what I would like to say for this segment, I am reminded by the author Neale Donald Walsch that it is our actions that define us.  Not only am I who I say I am and think I am it is through my actions that I am defined.  This is an interesting fact to consider.  Do you like what you see?  I mean as you look back over your life at all your accomplishments, are you happy with what you have demonstrated? 

How often do you use the words “I am”?  These are the words that Moses uses in the bible to describe God, “I Am That, I Am”.  Powerful words, because they define us!  Now the version that most bibles use does not have the comma and that is a sore oversight by the men who translated the original document.  James Tywman pointed out in his book the “Moses Code” that the comma was missing so you can see how much that little detail changes the meaning of the phrase.  No longer is it “God is that”, it becomes “I” am that as an individual, I am God.  God is no longer outside us but within, through and as us!  The way I use this is to point to something and say, “I am that, I am”.  It matters not what you are pointing to, God is all there is.  The way I look at this is if I am an aspect of God and God is all there is, then I must be all there is.  When we say be “all that” we mean it literally. 

I am walking down the street pointing to a dog, “I am that, I am”, then to a tree, “I am that, I am”, etc. The feeling I get when I do this is one of inner-connectedness. Try it and see how you feel.  It may seem strange at first but when you think about it and let the reality sink in the Truth reveals itself.  We are all a part of the whole, and the whole is greater than the sum of its parts!

The ego or “little self” part of your mind is probably screaming at you about now and that is to be expected.  So let’s go a little deeper.  God is all there is and we are merely instruments!  God works in us, through us and as us to express Divinity.  While this may seem a tall order, it is something that you have been doing all your life, only now you are aware of it.  Going back to the beginning of this blog I said that our actions define us, and so now you know who you are!  🙂  Sequoia Elisabeth

Spirituality Transitions

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