2012-05-02-How You Present Yourself
Marin #213
Contents
• 1 Heading
o 1.1 Topic: How You Present Yourself
o 1.2 Group: Marin TeaM
• 2 Facilitators
o 2.1 Teacher: Michael
o 2.2 TR: JL
• 3 Session
o 3.1 Opening
o 3.2 Lesson
3.2.1 Honesty, Transparency
3.2.2 Confidence
3.2.3 Spontaneity, Liveliness
o 3.3 Dialogue
3.3.1 Transmitting, Presence
3.3.2 Experience
o 3.4 Closing
Topic: How You Present Yourself
Group: Marin TeaM
Facilitators
Teacher: Michael
TR: JL
Session
Opening
Dear Michael and Mother Spirit, there have been some questions floating around the Teaching Mission as to the balance between inside and outside, between what we know of as our inner life of mind and spirit–especially in our relationships with you and Mother Spirit, and our Father’s presence within us—and our outside or social life, our relationship to all the other people we come in contact with. So if you would we’d like you to speak on this relationship tonight and tell us how you see these things from your point of view. Thank you very much. Amen.
Lesson
MICHAEL: Good evening, this is Michael and yes, I would be more than happy to address this human situation tonight. Let me start off with an ideal, something to aim for, something to lean into; if you will, something to do your best to approach and just be opened-minded about. As Mother Spirit and I have talked about so many other times, we encourage you to keep these ideals very clear in your mind whether or not you can reach them. This is the stretch it puts you through and, like physically stretching your bodies to work out all those sore muscles and get some movement in all the joints of your body, so too your mind and spirit are rendered more healthy and adaptable and flexible by this kind of stretching between the ideal and the real for each helps define and point up the other.
Honesty, Transparency
How you present yourself
The ideal I’m introducing is that there be almost no difference in your attitude–in your relationship–between yourself on the inside and other folks on the outside. This is what you call being “up front,” doing your best to be as much your total self as you can be right on the surface, to be the same person you are inside and present this in all of its fullness to others. We say “present” because this is a socially necessary thing. We’ve mentioned before how if you have no idea of who you are, what you are, how to present yourself; these are the people, the poor souls who have to be institutionalized for their own sake and that of others. And so a certain ego-awareness we once likened to a bathroom mirror as a very handy thing to have–this self-reflection of yourself, some notion of who and what you are, not only for yourself but for others.
Here you can readily grasp what I mean by being the same inside and outside by a very negative grasp on this concept. Think of what it means to be two-faced, to be deliberately different from what you know to be true and valid on the inside, and how you present yourself. In its extreme this is criminal behavior, the various kinds of fraud that people perpetrate on others to, as you say, sell them a bill of goods. In contradistinction to that we recommend you be one-faced, the same face on the inside and the outside.
There is a supreme irony here in human reality that, for those who are engaged not only in criminal behavior but are totally immersed in being a fraudulent person to all the others they meet, this is about the most inefficient way one can go about life. You have to pity these poor souls who take themselves for their ego, for their own notion of themselves, and are so totally bereft of a sense of a larger self, of spiritual influences, even of their own personality, true personality and soul.
They are pitiful, having to constantly remember what whole batch of lies they told which particular person. Just to maintain this fraud and to justify it within themselves; what a waste of life, what a waste of opportunity to discover this larger self of theirs. What terrible agonies they go through when their ego is so easily bruised since it is just a self-construct. But to be one face, to do your best to know yourself inside, in your stillness mediation, in your returning to your spiritual home basis on a regular basis: this is a constant process of discovery of who you are, allowing my Spirit of Truth to orient you towards this endless discovery.
Confidence
A kind of confidence—self-forgetfulness It’s very humbling. You just don’t automatically assume who you are, or who you are going to be tomorrow. You keep an open mind even to your own inner reality and approach it with freshness and discovery. This leads to a kind of confidence, that, again with a rather severe irony: the more confident you are inside as to who you are and who you’ve been, the more you can let go of yourself; the more you can enjoy self-forgetfulness; the more you can be open, not defensive, but curious about this other person standing in front of you–whether you’ve just met them or known them for thirty years–for they too are changing. They too are something new to discover. And in this wonderful self-forgetfulness, in this kind of courage to just let yourself be who you are, right on the surface and all the way through, several things happen. Number one, it’s so much more efficient. You don’t have to remember who you presented yourself to be to this person the last time. You can just be.
And in your self-forgetfulness you can take them in. You don’t have to constantly remember what you said last time, or who you were. You can take them in and add their whole being to your soul. This is genuine. This is real, this changing, constant discovery of who you and they are. This what you have to offer, not only who you are in this un-self-conscious mode, but you can tease them into being the same and have some full, genuine exchange of human being.
So this is the ideal to keep in mind. Again with further irony, it’s not something that takes any extreme effort, but it’s rather the opposite. It’s a constant relaxing, a constant faith and trust in who you are. It’s the courage to be who you are and take either your glorious moments, or your lumps, from time to time as the case may be. In either case it’s a genuine new experience to learn from, to add to your soul, and grow.
Spontaneity, Liveliness
Where 1+1=3
Then what a gift. You can see through, you can get beyond your own projections of who you think people should be, and really encounter who they are. And in this genuine encountering you have what Mother Spirit and I have called “one and one makes three.” Something else can come about. Some genuine spontaneity of two complete beings interacting gives rise to the true liveliness of spirit. And this is such a glory. This is so much intrinsically fun, deeply joyous. This is the stuff of human life, your own inner reality and then all of those folks out there that you’ve known, your family, your friends, all the people you’ve meet and have come to know through all your media–hundreds of personalities.
So think of these folks that you’ve let in, that you’ve fully entertained and embraced because you didn’t feel any need to twist them one way or another: because you have your inner home base. You have your inner experience of being complete. You have your growing ability to forget yourself and just be there in the moment for both you and them. This is tapping into God’s continuous creation. This is experiencing how reality is not only continuing this whole physical cosmos you are involved in, but how each moment is new, has never been before, and will never be again. This is what fills your souls, my children. This is the real stuff of life. So cherish the ideal of being one face inside and out, of really giving yourself to others and then reaping the reward of who they really are.
Now if you have any questions or comments, bring ‘em forth.
Dialogue
Student: Michael, this is your daughter J. This is J. and this is also Prima. I’m taking to heart everything that you’re saying deep in my soul, to be one-faced within and without. I have a question about you, your origin. I want to ask if you are the very same Jesus Christ of Nazareth—Michael–that walked the earth 2000 years ago or more. Are you that Michael?
Transmitting, Presence
Who are you, Michael?
MICHAEL: Yes, my daughter, I am. But again, you must understand that I am coming through a human being with all the inherent limitations that this contains. These transmitter/receivers do their best to be as transparent as possible, to allow as much as me to come through as clearly and unprejudiced–no prejudging–as possible.
But, my dear, always remember that I am part of you in the sense that my Spirit of Truth, my presence, is part of you. It indwells you as much as does Mother Spirit’s transmuting and funneling down the Cosmic Mind to be part of your very mindedness. Human beings are super-minded. You are not just a highly intelligent animal. You are a unique personal being created by God, and as such your very mindedness, your mentality, is more than just brain activity.
God himself maintains a presence, an individualized presence within you and is the co-author of your soul, your human experience. Mother Spirit is what the Christians call the Holy Spirit. She too is part of you, augmenting and enhancing all the mental abilities of intuition, courage, knowledge, understanding–all of these. I am like a father and a brother. So I am all of these–I should say: we are all of these within you. And you can get to the point where you can recognize us, our presence. Think of us as the, not the contents but the very background of your consciousness. This is where I am most intimate with you, my dear, is inside you. And it is my very presence within you, my Spirit of Truth, that is helping you realize and feel and understand what I am saying, coming through this transmitter-receiver–as you call the process.
You yourself register me
So in these sessions this is by no means me in all of my totality of being, my four-hundred-billion-year-old being, my being in contact with millions and millions of inhabited worlds with their endless trillions of unique personal beings of both the human order and above. But yes, as much as this transmitter-receiver is capable of transmitting me, I am Michael. And you yourself register this. You yourself know the truth; you might say the fullness of this, for this very fullness you’re experiencing in me right now, my daughter, is your ability as well. It is the totality of yourself that you are bringing to this moment, this curiosity, this wanting to know the truth. Does that at least begin to answer your question?
Student: Yes. Very nice job. Thank you. Big question.
Experience
MICHAEL: Always keep in mind, my dear, that what you experience, whether my voice now or your body sitting here, or your mind, your soul, your personality; all of this is always part of your experience. There is no true dividing line between inside and outside, between subjective and objective, between what you bring to each moment of your life in terms of soul and understanding, and how you project your own values onto your experience.
How to orient yourself
But you can orient yourself with curiosity, with wonder, with acceptance, with courage and strength. You can reach out towards that which is more than you inside and outside. And you can know that your life is real. Some day, my dear, when you become one with the presence of God within you, when your present consciousness grows so enormously as to become one with your soul and this presence of God within you, then you will know that it has always been real, that you really are. You, my dear, are a cosmic fact of existence. And though your mind may come and go, and your self-awareness may come and go with it, always, continuously: you are. You are reality itself. This is what God created all this reality for, is for each of us to experience and enjoy ourselves and each other.
Student: Could I have you live in my heart?
MICHAEL: All you have to do is welcome me. You might find that I’m already there.
Student: I feel you are.
MICHAEL: You’ve always had a tender heart for Jesus of Nazareth and what you know of his life. And so in this we are very much alike, for that experience, those few years out of the billions I have known, I have a special place in my heart too–all those folks that I was blessed to know as one of you.
Student: I’m so glad. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Michael.
Closing
MICHAEL: You’re welcome, my daughter. It is for moments like this that we live. And this is our glory, what we are able to share with each other. We fill each other’s soul. So be in my peace. Feel me in your heart whenever you want. Let me fulfill your desire for it is the same as mine. Good evening.
