The Enlightened Vision is who you are before your physical body takes its final breath. We offer this practice of the Enlightened Vision to frame what is truly important to you as millions of people around the world are setting goals for themselves–to distill all the things, projects, responsibilities, and tasks down to their very essence… how all of it makes you feel, who you want to be, and what values you are prepared to devote your life to.

Transcript:

Welcome to the live webinar on your enlightened vision. Today, we're going to walk through the journey of life. And then move from talk a little bit about death and enlightenment. We're going to, I'm going to walk you through a guided meditation on the Enlightened vision chart out of the do have a values, commitments and rituals, and then create a 10 year vision, and one year of commitments. This will be approximately an hour long. And the objective is to walk away from this webinar with a clarity of who you would be the kind of life that you want to create, and where you will apply your energy. The journey of life is a journey from having to doing to being everything we have or do is there to create a feeling when we buy a new car or a house, what we're seeking, what we're really seeking to do is not actually just own a car or live in a home, we're seeking the safety of the house, we're seeking the joy that we feel when we raced down a highway. In the pursuit of wholeness on the blog, on the ceremonial website, I shared that all fears are falsehoods because they do not exist. There's a state of being that actually persists in our, in our daily life, in the its presence, that is the source of truth. Feelings are generated within us, when we I mean, actually mute some of these. Tomorrow, you might help mute the participants, I would appreciate it. So the state of being is what persists. Feelings are generated within us. When we say that we are in love with with somebody, that person is really just helping us tap into the place of inside of us that is love. Our expectations versus reality is actually what generates our feelings of disappointment, or feelings of gratefulness. If we expect traffic, for example, and the reality is easeful, then we feel good. But if we expect a smooth ride, and then there's traffic, we might feel bad. The reality is, is as it is, it's our expectations that lead us to feel good or bad. So this goodness, is actually generated within

anywhere, who is a hospice caregiver and a best selling author, shared five wishes of the dying. The first is I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me. The second is I wish I hadn't worked so hard. Third is I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings. The fourth is I wish I'd stayed in touch with my friends. And the fifth is I wish I'd let myself be happier. Everybody is going to meet this final end. And rom das shares a story that demonstrates that everyone achieves enlightenment in the end, he tells the story of being in a hospice, who he used to love to be in hospice is with being with people who are about to pass away. And he tells the story of being with an old woman of about 90 years old. And her family was just outside the room. She was in a great deal of pain and didn't really communicate with the family. And as he sat next to her, they just locked eyes for a moment. Right. And that moment turned into a minute. And then she got up out of the bed and she hadn't moved for days. When she got out of the bed. I just gave him a big kiss on the lips. Afterwards, he smile, looked her in the eyes and said now you know what I know. It's okay to go. And that night, she passed away and her family shared that she passed away with with seemingly with a great deal of peace in her heart. You see, at the end of life, in that final breath. Everyone achieves enlightenment because it's the final letting go. It's the final surrender. If you look at the great religions of the world, and spiritual teachers, they all teach the pathway of surrender to get to the place of letting go of the grip have whatever is here for us in life that we're still holding on to the grip of righteousness, the grip of anger, the grip of shame, right. And as we let go more and more and more, we can get to a place of what Rahm das calls becoming nobody. In Buddhism and Hinduism, there's this idea of karma, that shares that the final state of being when you pass is how you begin the next life. Right. And so, the inner journey always takes us to this final destination, where we have the opportunity to breathe our last breath, with peace and joy and gratitude in our hearts. So I'm going to walk you through a meditation. And if it feels safe for you to participate, I'd love to invite you to close your eyes and take a deep breath

now, as you continue to breathe deeply, invite you to picture in your mind's eye, the moment you came into this world, a baby of great purity arriving and inhaling your first breath the world bright and alive. A big ruckus heralding your entry breathe into this moment of your creation

next, I imagine imagine in your mind's eye, you as a child playful, any object can be a toy, a stick in the ground, can be a sword. Plant can be a princess. As a child, you had great connectedness to your troop. No fear, to express yourself fully of what you wanted. And what you did Imagine yourself making friends so easily. With the purity of imagination unfiltered

picture in your mind's eye becoming an adolescent discovering your body learning for the first time, the knowledge of the world now your identity begins to form. You choose the colors of your bookbag the clothes that you wear, the hobbies that you pursue and there's a sense of joyfulness with discovering who you are what you begin to enjoy

next, picture yourself going to college or your first job here the sense of wonderment as a child has now evolved into a responsibility to discover your meaning your purpose there is an exploration With your mind who you are to this world perhaps you have already had some loves and some loves last you've explored romance you've explored playfulness now imagine becoming an adult bearing the weight of your world on your shoulders now your days are filled with work with responsibility with calendars and to do lists and spreadsheets people may start depending on you

the time and freedom that you felt as a child has now given way to schedule and promises your path may have become blinding and unclear that's okay wherever you are imagine moving to old age

your hairs are gray now as you look down on your hands they are papered with wrinkles knowledge has become wisdom you've lived a full life what may feel like many lives you've created a family of your own you've worked as many hours as you've slept creating this slide

take a deep breath

Imagine yourself lying comfortably relaxed on your final bed

Imagine yourself resting surrounded by those that you love

your breaths are slowing in this place imagine in this vision of an inevitable future that you have great Peace Joy love and gratitude in your heart

deep breath into these energies where are you? Who are you just before you pass who is in the room with you? And what is their energy

What would you have done in your life? To pass with this love, peace, joy and zero regret how will your family and friends remember you? How did you live your life and what have you created in your life would lead you to the ability to pass with great peace and joy

take a deep breath into this vision of the future this vision that you get to create this vision where we will inevitably go to that with your commitments now you can arrive at the place of enlightenment but zero regret

who have you are given but values Did you devote your life to it? Will you be remembered?

Let's take a deep breath together come back to the present moment.

We just walked through the arc of life from conception to death, the beginning and the end this physical body around us says that death may arrive at any moment. And this is something both scary and exciting. We may pass 50 years from now, or it might be tomorrow. And so the opportunity that we have is to live our lives as if we were living our enlightened vision. This begins with values. Values is the codification of our being the manifestation of our self with a capital S. So, a value is you might you might notice in companies, they codify values that define their culture. And no matter who the executives are, no matter the direction of their company, those values end up end up determining informing the direction of the company. As individuals we can do the same because values are what we get to dedicate ourselves to in this life. So I invite you to bring out a paper or pen and or a phone and write this down this sentence stem I value x because I enjoy feeling y for example, I value spiritual growth because I enjoy feeling connected with my highest self take a moment to write down your values and why you enjoy committing to those values. I value x because I enjoy feeling why now give you a moment to do that.

Wonderful. As we forecast into this enlightened vision, in the imagination of who you are before you pass if you were to pass with great love, and joy in your life values are what we commit to. Values are what we devote our lives to. In the book, the second mountain by David Brooks, he shares that there are multiple levels of joy. The first level is physical joy, which is a runner's high. The second is group effervescence, which is being in a group sharing vulnerably maybe being with your closest friends, right? Third is spiritual joy, which is a connection to higher power. But he says the fourth and most, the deepest and most pervasive level, person basis, pervasive level of joy is moral joy, which is a commitment to values. So these values enable us to have clarity on when we feel uncertain, because that clarity comes from the emanation of what is important to us, and where what will lead us to live a life of joyfulness such that we will pass the piece. The second is commitments, commitments is the manifestation of doing so in this paradigm of B do have values as the being and commitments is the doing. Now, there are four commitments that David Brooks outlined as the commitments to to project our values into that will lead us to great joyfulness. The first is spouse and family. The second is career and vocation. The third is faith in philosophy. And the fourth is community and village. So that's again, spouse and family, career and vocation, faith in philosophy, and community and village. Now, when we have clarity on our values, we're able to create commitments to these values in these categories. Right, for example, in my case, where I value spiritual growth, in spouse and family, this this means constantly including spiritual readings and learnings and sharing my spiritual path vulnerably, with my family, including those that don't have, that may disagree with my particular spiritual beliefs are doing so from a place of non dogma, and from a place of, of sharing my own truth, without impressing upon them my beliefs, that allows me to grow my spiritual connection with my family. The second is career and vocation. So for me, in my value of spiritual growth, I am dedicating my career dedicating all of my energy within the context of work, to spirituality, case in point ceremonia, which I've co founded, the third Faith and Philosophy. So even though spiritual growth, spirituality is part and parcel part of faith in philosophy, there's so much that I am exploring within the philosophical context, by using my own felt sense of spirituality, to write about and decipher. deeper levels of consciousness and spirituality and what they mean to me. And then fourth, community and village. So since I began this spiritual journey, my favorites list on my iPhone has swapped out maybe three times already. And that's because I've been honing the kind of community and the people that I surround myself with, as, as I've developed my own spiritual practice, and that's become more clear. So, commitments can look like this. An example for me is I commit to being in service to my wife when she is feeling down. Number two, devoting my resources and energy to spiritual work. Number three, committing to reading more spiritual teachings, and number four activating ceremonia as a spiritual center for our Colorado Community So my invitation now, and I'll give you a few moments is to take some of the values that you've written down, which came from your enlightened vision of what would happen if you pass with great peace. And, and share your commitments to those values under the four categories, spouse and family, Korean vacation, Faith and Philosophy, community and village. Just take a moment to maybe write a commitment to one of these that represent your values I'll give you an.

Beautiful now that you've had at least one example of commitment, know that you can go back after this webinar, meditate into this enlightened vision again, discover the values that would lead you to pass with peace and joy and love, and then create commitments so that you can enact those values. The next on the scale of be do have is your environment. To have an environment is to have an environment to support you in in, committing to your commitments to activate your commitments, which support your values which support your enlightened vision. And so now we're filtering down to what the environment that you will create, so that you can have the best chance of, of living true to your values and commitments. These are built on three things, rituals, community, and accountability. Now, rituals, there are two rituals, reactive and proactive. A reactive ritual is something that you can do when you feel triggered. So in ceremonia, we create these visual and bodily met metaphors called a power move. For example, my old way of being and a new way of being in power move, is my old way of being is mirrored Buddha souvenir. So neared Buddha souvenir to me, is I'm not actually Buddha, just a cheap, fake version of Buddha, and a mirror in that every time somebody says something to me, like, Oh, I'm angry at you, Austin, I just reflect deflected back to them or reflected back to them, Why are you angry, and just put the conscious question back to them. And then my new way of being was sensitive samurai. So a sensitive samurai envisioned as someone who has armor lists, ready to, you know, armor lists and open and vulnerable, but also INTEGRIS and dedicated and devoted and skillful. And my power move was this, I would go like this, and then open my heart. Now, where I would use this, as in moments where I would feel triggered, I would use this motion to remind myself of who I can be when I am in my highest self, right when I am that sensitive samurai. And so as an example, if I got into a, an argument with somebody, I might take a deep breath, do my power move, or even excused myself to the bathroom and do my power move in the mirror, look at myself and recenter and then come back with vulnerability with openness. That's a reactive ritual. So I invite you to create maybe after this webinar, your new way of being and a power move to remind you of the values and commitments that you can, you can commit to the second is a proactive ritual. So a proactive ritual is something that you can do on a schedule, for example, a routine, right like an evening meditation, instead of drinking a glass of wine, or a morning cold plunge, which is something that we do in our ceremonial journeys to wake yourself up instead of the morning coffee. Right? So, my proactive rituals are are cold plunge and steam room and meditation when I wake, instead of looking at my phone, and reading spiritual books before I sleep, like also, again, instead of looking at my phone, this combination of reactive rituals that you can create and proactive rituals can help you train and work out that muscle of being your highest self aligned with your commitments aligned with your values. And that's where you get to have that environment that's supportive for you. The second, the second thing that you can have is community, the community is developed through vulnerable and authentic connection. And once you hone in on the values that you have, as an individual, you can much with greater clarity go seek out that community that aligns with your values, right. In fact, let's say one of your values is, is honoring the body as a temple. Okay, that's another value of mind, for example. And so if this is a value of mine, I might go seek out yoga communities who are or healthy eating communities are people that are are representative of those two intersections, and develop community around that. Right. So that way I can be around people that are supportive of me and my own values. The third is accountability, which is very related to community. But we like to think that accountability is much more personal and one on one. So in ceremonia, for example, we have buddy partners that are accountability partners, where they check in every day or every week with each other, to hold each other accountable with values and commitments, through rituals, community and accountability, you can develop the environment to have the things to have the supportive environment to support you in the doing of your commitments, which support you in the being of your values, which aim towards this enlightened vision of who you can be. What did you create? who is around you, when you pass with great peacefulness and joy in your life? Now, we've walked through this enlightened vision, we've walked through the beat you have. And from there, I invite you to consider a 10 year vision. Right? The ROM das says, How do we know who we are, we might be one breath away from enlightenment or death. Or who knows? The uncertainty is great. It keeps it wide open. The word enlightenment itself means to fully lighten, which begins adding an awareness and letting go of limiting beliefs. So the question is, why do we wait until death to lighten if that can come at any moment, we have the opportunity now to develop a vision that is far enough away, even though we might pass tomorrow, where we can work towards this 10 year vision. So I invite you, after this webinar, to develop your 10 year vision, your B do have a values commitment and devotion and your environment, all in the service of answering the question, Who are you? Who are you 10 years from now that would lead you to a place of great contentment, such that at any moment, if you were to pass, you would pass with love in your heart and a smile on your face. In this case, ask yourself the same question as in an enlightened vision, but in the present tense. When we ground our vision of the future, in the present tense, it allows our body and our minds to to live that experience such that it's much easier and smoother for us to manifest it. Right. For example, there's the body actually doesn't have a sense of time. When, when there is when our ancestors were chased by a saber toothed Tiger, right, and then remembered that in the past, that memory would would trigger the same neuro chemicals of cortisol of dopamine. That's as if it was happening now. Similarly, when we project into the future, we are experiencing future memories. In other words, we, when we're projecting to the future of a 10 year vision, we are we are living our bodies attuning and, and injecting the chemicals into our from our brain into our body of what it would be like as if that was now and so So the opportunity here is to develop a 10 year vision in the presence. In other words, 10 years from now, when you're asked who are you? You can begin with a sentence stem? I am. When you're asked to where are you? You can begin with I am here I am in I am living on Oceanside. Looking over the looking over the beach, you know, who is with you? And what is their energy? You could say I'm surrounded by XYZ by my family members, my children, my, my ex partner, etc. Right? And what is their energy? The Who are you 10 years from now? Where are you? Who is with you? And what is their energy? What are you doing that leads you to love, peace, joy and zero regret every single day. When you wake up? What do you look forward to? How does your family and community regard you? How do you live your life? 10 years from now, describe your morning ritual. Describe what you devote your day to? And what are you creating?

Write down your 10 year vision as if it's a day in the life of you. If you were to wake up exuberant and inspired, what is exciting you what is your morning routine. Now from this 10 year vision, what you can do his homework and please email info at ceremonia circle.org. And we'd be happy to review it and give you suggestions. describe who you are such that you aim your be do have your values, your commitments in your environment, towards the Enlightened vision of who you could be. Once you've created this 10 year vision, now you have the opportunity to create your one year of commitments. And it's so timely, that at the beginning of the year, we are able to build out this projection into the future. And then create commitments, plans, milestones for who we are today, and who we will be a year from now. And so this is our opportunity to trace back as you can see this enlightened vision of who you are when you pass the 10 years from now to one year. And if you filter this process all the way through. You can find a level of clarity where when you're met with challenges when you are asked to allocate your time and energy in certain in certain scenarios. You can be informed by your values you can be informed by your commitments, and you can be informed by your vision. Thank you very much. This has been thank you for participating in this enlightened vision. So excited to see what you bring out. And please feel free to email us at info at ceremonia circle.org. What came up for you during this webinar?

Transcribed by https://otter.ai