Week 9/21 #3

So here we are reaching for the stars, and thinking that we are not worthy or able to get there.

I think the dual purpose of our journey here is to realize that we are worthy and able to make the reach and that in reaching we will understand that what we have been grasping for is already here. (When we say the “Kingdom of Heaven is within” we don’t mean in your tummy or any the part of your body. When you enter into a meditative or relaxed state, you “go within.” That means you begin to drop off your focus or attention on your physical body, you become an Observer of your thoughts and feelings rather than becoming enmeshed in them, and you become aware there is a “you” deeper that all this other stuff. There can be both a sense of calmness/peace as well as a flow/a connectedness with all things. That is not something you are thinking about, you just ARE, you are in it—you are in the Kingdom).

 from the book: (hereafter I will work on putting book quotes in bold print to distinguish them from my comments)

There can be no Christ in man without man’s aligning to it. It is there as a silence until it is awakened, and when it is awakened it has one duty, which is to seek itself in realization.

Now we do this with an intention.

I can't say enough for willingness and intention. Many of us were taught that "Hell is paved with good intentions." How utterly ridiculous! There have been times when good intentions were all I had, and even though there was not much progress in the outside world, I had something to keep me going.
Willingness and intention are not about results, they are about our openness to grace/to the movement of God's love and transformational power within us. 

(The) restructuring the self in alignment with the Christ frequency is the work of the time, the work of the time, the work of the time.

Again, this is not new stuff—when I look at that last quote I think of the St. Francis Prayer—“Lord make me a channel of your peace…” in the language of this book, “Let me vibrate as the same frequency of love as You do.”

we talk about Christ as a creation of the God Self inhabiting man in its fullness. Just think about that one.

It’s not an easy path, and it’s only not easy because it moves things. And when you unleash a cave by rolling away the boulder that has blocked its entrance, its face, and everything that had been sealed within comes out screaming as it’s exposed to the light, that is the process you have undertaken. And those you work with, like it or not, have a similar experience.

Now it doesn’t need to be hard. It doesn’t need to be hard at all. It simply needs to be, and all that is hard is your attachment to the regulations you have placed on the self for the self to be and see and experience the world in a certain way. That’s all there is to it.

One of my teachers put it a little more gently. She said, “When you ask to be in the Light or to be One with the Light/God, all the stuff that you are holding onto that is getting in the way will come up in your consciousness in order to be cleared.

Once we know that, the path becomes a little more understandable. Instead of getting all crazy about not being perfect, or getting angry at ourselves for being angry or fearful, etc. We recognize, “Oh, that’s my stuff asking to be cleared away!” I pray; I meditate; I share; I love; I support; I ask for help; I heal; I open myself to grace. I allow myself to move in this current of Divine Love that is guiding me home.

When you are in the Creator’s love, you are one with who you are in truth, and all of the things that embellish the self, that keep the self separate through embellishment, which means, “I am this, I am that,” all of those false tokens one hangs on their shoulders as reasons why they are separate from God’s love, or others’ love, or the self’s love, all of those things must be cleared. (I can’t add anything to that one!)

When there are enough people, frequency, at present, vibrating at a certain level, the change will be significant and will be felt, and will resound in a wonderful song.

Remember the old 100th Monkey story years ago? Well, here it is again. Instead of speaking of numbers, we are now speaking in frequency and vibration. 

(Back in the ’60’s we did this little exercise where a group of people would lie down on the ground, and everyone would put there head on the next person’s stomach—so we were all chained out in a linked but haphazard way. The the first person in the chain was asked to start laughing [if he or she were not laughing already]. It didn’t even matter if he or she was faking it.

Well, that would start the next person’s head  moving up and down, and inevitably that person would start laughing, giggling, for real, and then the next and the next.) 

So instead of laughing all the way to the bank—we are laughing all the way to Heaven, and helping each other along the way.

Week 9/21 #2

Before I get into a short review of Sunday’s gathering, I feel compelled to share a striking image that came to me the other evening as I was thinking about the journey we are embarking on together. 

The image is this: The disciples on a wind-tossed Sea of Galilee and they see Jesus walking on the water coming towards them. Even though he offers reassurance, they are still frightened, and then my old friend Peter enters the scene. He says, “If it’s really You, then tell me to come to you on the water.” Jesus says, “Come.” and Peter steps out of the boat, takes a few faltering steps, looks down (instead of looking at Jesus) and freaks out. “I can’t be doing this; I’m just Peter the ignorant fisherman. I cannot possibly possess the same power strength as the Master; I must be nuts to even try this.” And, of course, he begins to sink. (Matt. 14:22-33)

Peter has always been one of may favorite Biblical characters. He’s like Charlie Brown with the football, falling on his behind time and time again, but getting back up.

That’s me! Walking on water sounds very cool; just like realizing myself as being the Loving consciousness of God. So here I am; I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked down, freaked out, sunk like a stone and had to be pulled back onto the boat, flopping around like a fish until I got my breath again.

Then do you know what I would do? I would go find another book or another workshop about “walking on water” (I hope your realize now that is a metaphor). I would read the book, feel good for awhile, and then maybe try it again.

Well, my impressions are that this is not a book about "how to walk on water," the is a book that opens us up to experience of walking on water. But it is not about just jumping in; surrender can happen in stages. We might need first need a raft or swimmies or a life vest for awhile—whatever that means for you—no judgment, no comparisons.

Wherever you are is fine. We will grow; we will let go; we will transform. That’s a promise. Period!

There is also no need to get hung up on this “guides or ascendant masters” thing. Just know that God, the Source of Love, is leading us to a state of mind where there is only peace, joy, love, light; no judgment, no comparison, no conflict, no separation. It is called the Kingdom of heaven and it already exists inside of you. We are simply waking up to that truth. 

Ideas from week of 9/21

I am so excited about this work that I want to try to say everything at once, and,of course, everything I have to say right now is simply a refection of where I am at this moment—Alas! That might change tomorrow, in fact it is changing right now.

I was going to plug in a quote from the Buddha here, but I just discovered that there are some people who think Buddha didn’t really say it, that the idea originally came from the Hindu scriptures , the Kalam Sutra  (now don’t get all excited about that, it’s not the Kama Sutra, its the Kalam Sutra!) So not to bore  you with quotes or misquotes, the essential message is to LISTEN TO YOUR HEART.

When your ego speaks, the message or directive will always be tainted with a sense of guilt, fear, coulda/woulda/shoulda, "what if I make a mistake, I’m probably not doing it right." You know the drill.

The heart speaks gently, quietly, without judgment. It leads; it guides; it offers. 

Just as a for instance, many of you felt drawn to this gathering on Sunday morning, you might not have known why intellectually, but there was a sense of “rightness” for you about it. Then in the natural course of events, since we are still connected to our limited ego consciousness, we might find ourselves falling into doubt or fear or even just “spiritual laziness.” Then I have to go inside again—not to look at or analyze the struggle, but to listen to the voice within that will guide me. We might get a hint of “be patient, no one gets it all at once;” “relax, take in what you can take in, there are no rules here; there’s no test at the end.” OR you might genuinely decide “this is not for me right now.” This is not just about our Sunday School. We are encouraged to use this kind of discernment all the time.

We can probably look back on our lives and notice times when we listened to our inner voice (which I truly believe is the voice of The Holy Spirit) gently guiding and leading us to a certain book, or workshop or encouraging us to call a friend on the phone. It’s happening all the time.

There are always positive results when we listen to the wisdom of our hearts.

Here is an excerpt from the e mail I recently sent out:

I am on this journey just as much as you are. I am struggling with the same things and being challenged by the same questions. I am always willing to share any of my own journey if you would like to ask.

I realize this work can be a little frightening. I would encourage you to recognize that fear is just part of the process. Essentially we are moving from a comfortable identity, which we have worked on forming for years, to a deeper reality of who we truly are. For much of our life we have identified with this little self, and know we are being asked to begin to peel back that layer and to look more deeply.  It’s a process—we are all moving with it. 

Although no one really reinforced the message, one of the things we learned very early on was that “we were made in the image and likeness of God.” What a beautiful thing! But then we leaned we were bad and good, and smart and dumb, and that money and success, and why people think about you is impotent, and all sorts of other stuff—-And so that became our focus. Now we are focusing differently.

That’s it—we are NOT becoming Christ or the Christ Consciousness, we are simply being asked to begin to recognize that I already exists within us and within others.

We are not becoming God in an egotistical sense, we are becoming Love, because that is the substance that we were made from and that is the substance that we are.

There is really no difference between what we are exploring and experiencing here, and the Unity Prayer we say so often:

“The light of God surrounds me; the love of God enfolds me; the power of God protects me; and he presence of God watches over me; wherever I am God is.”

and other expressions of truth we have heard all our lives.

“I live now, not I, but Christ lives in me.” (Galatians 2:20)

“God is Love and he who abides in love abides in God and God in Him.” (1 John 4:16)

I am not separate from the Power and Source of Love, and because I am not separate from it, I Am in It and It is within me. (Please note the “me” we are continually referring to is not my self-centered little ego self; it is the me that loves, that forgives, that lives in compassion, that is willing to s-t-r-e-t-c-h in order to embrace and be embraced by even more Love.

The fear or anxiety we might feel is a natural result of consciously moving these principles from our heads to our hearts. This is a HUGE transformation for all of us. Our poor little ego is frightened that it is going to be discarded or thrown away.

This is NOT TRUE, or ego or our little personal self will remain, we will simply realize that is not who we are, we are much more than that.

Take this book in tiny does if you need to, savor, digest, assimilate. 

As I was thinking about all this I recalled a favorite parable from Richard Bach:

Once there lived a village of creatures along the bottom of a great crystal river. The current of the river swept silently over them all -- young and old, rich and poor, good and evil -- the current going its own way, knowing only its own crystal self.

Each creature in its own manner clung tightly to the twigs and rocks of the river bottom, for clinging was their way of life, and resisting the current was what each had learned from birth.

But one creature said at last, "I am tired of clinging. Though I cannot see it with my eyes, I trust that the current knows where it is going. I shall let go, and let it take me where it will. Clinging, I shall die of boredom."

The other creatures laughed and said, "Fool! Let go, and that current you worship will throw you tumbled and smashed against the rocks, and you will die quicker than boredom!"

But the one heeded them not, and taking a breath did let go, and at once was tumbled and smashed by the current across the rocks.

Yet in time, as the creature refused to cling again, the current lifted him free from the bottom, and he was bruised and hurt no more.

And the creatures downstream, to whom he was a stranger, cried, "See a miracle! A creature like ourselves, yet he flies! See the messiah, come to save us all!"

And the one carried in the current said, "I am no more messiah than you. The river delights to lift us free, if only we dare let go. Our true work is this voyage, this adventure."

But they cried the more, "Savior!" all the while clinging to the rocks, and when they looked again he was gone, and they were left alone making legends of a savior.

 -- from Illusions by Richard Bach

Next blog this week, I will address  what we read  together on Sunday.

Peace, Gerry

Reflections on INITIAL DISCUSSION 1

Some of my thoughts and reflections.

As soon as we begin to perceive ourselves as energy, we begin to realize we can choose our level of vibration.

As I was re-reading I Am the Word, I also was re-reading the Prologue to John’s Gospel, when all of a sudden I was transported into a different perspective.

Ever had that happen? Something you know already, all of a sudden has a deeper meaning. It wasn't something you missed before, you are just seeing it differently. It becomes fresh and new again.

“In the beginning was the Word…”

You/me we are here from the beginning.

Wait, it gets better!

“The Word became flesh. This aspect of God(Word) that you are, took on human form.

Now here is where we walk some parallel lines via Jesus and ourselves because our language and our ability to fully conceptualize this is limited. 

Jesus (who, of course, is also Word)--the Word became flesh in this person called Jesus, and while he was in flesh/in a body/in physical form, He completely realized His Divine Nature. He realized and became One with the experience of being Word.

Which sets the stage of us.

Jesus broke through a barrier, a barrier of the thought energy of separateness, and by doing so provided the means for us to break through as well. 

There are many examples of this kind of “breakthrough” model in the material world. When a seemingly impossible barrier is shattered (at great energy expense) it seems to open the door for others to break through as well.

Eg. climbing Mt. Everest; the 4 minute mile; reaching the North/South Pole.

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If you would like to explore this idea more, here is a brief explanation followed by a web site that goes into much more detail. 

There is mounting evidence that as more and more people learn or do something it becomes easier for others to learn or do it. In one experiment, British biologist Rupert Sheldrake took three short, similar Japanese rhymes -- one a meaningless jumble of disconnected Japanese words, the second a newly-composed verse and the third a traditional rhyme known by millions of Japanese. Neither Sheldrake nor the English schoolchildren he got to memorize these verses knew which was which, nor did they know any Japanese. The most easily-learned rhyme turned out to be the one well-known to Japanese. This and other experiments led Sheldrake to postulate that there is a field of habitual patterns that links all people, which influences and is influenced by the habits of all people. This field contains (among other things) the pattern of that Japanese rhyme. The more people have a habit pattern -- whether of knowledge, perception or behavior -- the stronger it is in the field, and the more easily it replicates in a new person. In fact, it seems such fields exist for other entities too -- for birds, plants, even crystals. Sheldrake named these phenomena morphogenetic fields -- fields which influence the pattern or form of things.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rupert_Sheldrake

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if you are not getting my emails—usually one a week regarding the class, please send me an email so I can record your address correctly.

INITIAL DISCUSSION 1

I would like to highlight a few passages we covered this week, and I will probably be posting a similar reflection on a weekly basis.

Since you already know I like to talk, I will be posting additional comments and thoughts of my own as well.

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You are what you perceive yourself to be and you attract energy/life experiences accordingly.

Or another way we have heard this idea spoken is “energy follows thought.”

“…many of the chapters are etched in light and will be read in the higher frequencies once the key has been placed in the lock by the reader,* that is going to be the process here.

*A huge piece of our active role here is through our  WILLINGNESS AND INTENTION.

This book is much more than a reading/studying experience. It is a transmission of energy/higher frequency.

John’s Gospel: “He who abides in love abides in God and God in him.”

or as Paul states, “I live now, not I, by Christ lives in me. 

(from the book)This is both a beautiful statement and explanation: “When we talk about Christ, we will be clear now, we talk about Christ as a creation of the God Self inhabiting man in its fullness.”

A few paragraphs to ponder: 

“Now to wonder what a miracle is is to ask yourself: What am I? What is the one before me ? What is the sky? What is love? What is a tree? What is my name? You are a miracle. All these things are miracles. And what we are consigning to you is a miracle of understanding that will bring forth, in its way, the triumphant Christed Self into manifestation. Now we do not say this lightly. This is not a tour book . This is not a how-to book. This is not a book that will solve your problems or take away the responsibility for your lives. That is very significant. Because when people buy books that are going to save them, they are paying someone to do the work for them, and, in fact, that is always a false truth, because the work can only be done by the self and the self’s own worth is received in consciousness. So when the self does not believe it can be fixed, healed, responded to as Christ, you know well that that cannot be undertaken.”

**********

“The time that you are standing in is a time of great change. And the change that we speak of is a cosmic one. And it is an interfacing with the consciousness of man and man’s creations in a grand scale.

Now trials come to every man when he decides, “I am going to go forward and claim my consciousness as the Christ.” Everybody you know of who has taken this one has had a hard time. So why, Paul, would you assume that your path, or the path of those that you teach, would be a whole lot different? It’s not an easy path, and it’s 

only not easy because it moves things. And when you unleash a cave by rolling away the boulder that has blocked its entrance, its face, and everything that had been sealed within comes out screaming as it’s exposed to the light, that is the process you have undertaken. And those you work with, like it or not, have a similar experience.”

As a teacher of mine put it: "When you ask for/invite the light, all that is holding you from the light or blocking the light, comes right up to be healed and released. Just be ready for that one.

“Now it doesn’t need to be hard. It doesn’t need to be hard at all. It simply needs to be, and all that is hard is your attachment to the regulations you have placed on the self for the self to be and see and experience the world in a certain way. That’s all there is to it.”

Reflections on the Forward and Preface

In these first sections we hear from the two people most responsible for the manifestation of this book, Paul and Victoria, and we begin to get a feel for the guides working with and through them.

Victoria will not be mentioned very often, but a little later on, she will be asking some direct questions to the guides. Paul, on the other hand, will crop up continually. He will ask questions, challenge, form useful and instructive images, and on occasion the guides will deliberately ask him to step aside (essentially saying, “Just shut up for a moment and let us get the message through!).

I have met Paul, and I sense him as a highly intelligent and humble man who will lovingly remind all who will listen that he is on this path and learning just as we all are.

As he says, 

“I am a conscious channel. I am aware of all that is happening but am somewhat receded. I take a step back and allow the information to come forward. I am often questioning the information that I receive as it comes, because I am very much a student of this work, and not the teacher.” 

"What may be most significant about the work that I do is that when I channel, the energy that comes with it is tangible and can be physically experienced, not only by me, but by those I work with. My guides have promised that this will be the experience for those reading this book as well."

As I re-read Victoria’s words in the Forward, I am reminded, again, of all the many choices that have brought us to this learning place. Some of us might have never suspected we would be doing or thinking or working with what we are working with right now. As she said, this is both “an adventure and a mystery.” 

It is also "a special kind of reading experience on two levels of consciousness: as the mind takes in the printed words on the page, the whole person is being ‘worked on’ at the level of pure energy—but only if the person wishes and permits it.”

This is such a powerful idea. It is in our willingness and intention, not only to affirm the Truth found in this book, but, at the same time, to be energetically worked on to allow that Truth to become even more alive in us. Wow!

In his own words, Paul put is this way, “What may be most significant about the work that I do is that when I channel, the energy that comes with it is tangible and can be physically experienced, not only by me, but by those I work with. My guides have promised that this will be the experience for those reading this book as well.”

I’d like to close with Victoria’s reflection: 

“As a witness and novice participant in the birthing of this book, I find on the surface that my feelings about it are sometimes complicated. The deeper I go, however— stumbling suddenly into realms of ‘joy joy joy joy joy,’ then stumbling out again— the simpler they get. Whoever or whatever they are, the self-described “collective energy” that informs these pages is by turns mystical, humane, ethical, optimistic, and above all, loving. ‘We are all in this dance together,’ the guides tell us. ‘This dance, finally, is in its perfection and cannot be otherwise.’ And so, reader— will you join the dance? Blessings on this book and all who come upon it.”

INTRODUCTORY THOUGHTS 2A

FYI another term/word/idea you can use here is “energy” or “energy field.” 

Energy is a concept we are all familiar with, but we do not think about very much. We do not usually perceive ourselves or the world we inhabit in terms of energy, but we are energy, we are energy systems. Our bodies are energy systems here in the material world. Our emotions are energy and also create energy beyond our senses, and then there is the realization of energy in deeper and more subtle ways. Music is a powerful example here. We have all probably experienced ourselves being moved by music--energized, relaxed, moved emotionally through joy or tears.
If you are familiar with Reiki, Healing Touch or any of the other energetic forms of healing, then you have a realization experience of energy/frequency/ vibration. 

For a practical example, let's use the metaphor of a radio.

Suppose you tune into a new age music station, and the music is soothing, calming, but you are wanting to clean the house or mow the lawn. It’s going to be quite difficult for you to align yourself with that frequency of calmness if you desire to do something that requires physical activity. Can you get a sense for that? Hard work/soothing music--I can almost feel the energies conflicting and competing with one another. 

Using the same radio station metaphor, imagine you find yourself agitated, depressed, upset, in other words in a low vibration or low energy state, you could choose to listen to some soothing music, Pachelbel’s Canon comes to mind (there is a wonderful version with the sounds of the ocean in the background, and since this is fairly short piece, the recording plays it over and over) and by gently relaxing you begin to allow yourself to align with the frequency of that music.
It’s all energy!

Personal example:  House Cleaning—-I set my ipod on my ’50’s rock and roll play list and even though cleaning the house might not be fun—it’s a heck of a lot easier.

When I want to relax, recharge, the frequency of ’50’s rock and roll is not going to cut it. I’m going to need to tune into another channel, a different frequency that will allow me to be more calm and restful. There are times when I might just let the music “take me” and there are other times when the music will be background as I am doing other things.

It might be difficult at times, but the same kind of choices are available to us.  When I discover I am on the angry channel or the self-pity channel or some other form of negativity, I can begin to choose to change the frequency of my thoughts.

I’m not going to pretend that kind of shift in consciousness is easy for us. I know for me, many times,  it takes effort to move my lower frequency to a higher one.
I’m not sure why, but sometimes the lower frequencies of anger, fear, self-pity, etc. can be quite seductive, and for some perverse reason I want to stay there.
That’s pretty crazy isn’t it?

These stuck times are when I really need to ask for help—which is a great gift of this book—to realize the help is right here. Sometimes, but not always, the simple act of asking for help begins to break or loosen the attachment to that negative vibe I found myself enmeshed in.

INTRODUCTION 2

It is not stretch for most of us to realize and feel the energy of anger, fear, joy, peace. Please note, when I use words such as anger, joy, etc. I am not referring to them simply as emotional states: "I feel angry; I feel joyful." I'm asking us to go deeper than that. When you recognize you are feeling angry or joyful or whatever the feeling might be--notice how the feeling feels. Notice your resonance/your vibration when you are experiencing that feeling. 
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There are the times when we are drawn to a certain person—or group—we begin to realize we enjoy being in that energy, and as we allow ourselves to be in that energy—we are transformed as well.

This is what the books would refer to as “aligning” ourselves to a certain level of consciousness.
Now the ultimate goal is to continually allow ourselves to be aligned to the Christ Consciousness, and that requires us to let go of all limitations in thought and in mind that we might still be clinging to.

Again, please be aware that this is not about the “you” as an individual. It not about you huffing and puffing to make something happen. That’s the ego’s image of what is going on. In truth, it is more the realization of your connectedness with all things; touching the yearning in your soul to be at peace; to be One, and allowing that yearning to take you. This process goes way beyond the limited thinking of the individual self.

Prologue 1

(please note: All the following messages are my ideas, interpretations, and opinions, and they are limited by my own limited thinking and perception. You are the one who knows your truth—trust it.)

The new vocabulary of frequency, vibration, alignment etc. can be a little confusing at first.

I think what the guides are wanting to do here is to help us let go of our close identifications with our physical bodies and the material world. (I'm not suggesting we deny the material world or our bodies, simply let go of our over-identification with them).When we think in terms of frequency or vibration we begin for realize more and more that we are not solid matter, we are much more than that. We also begin to realize that our thoughts can effect and even change our vibrational level.

In the sixties we used to speak of “good and bad vibes.” Good vibes are naturally lighter, freer, and flowing; bad vibes are heavy, uptight, and stuck. I don’t think we have much of a problem realizing that same thing today. If you are in joy and peacefulness, notice your vibration; if you are in fear or anger, notice your vibration.

Perhaps a little “meta/physics” lesson is in order. That’s what metaphysics is—it is the study that goes beyond ordinary, everyday physics and physical laws.

Everything vibrates, and the measure of that vibration is called frequency. We are experiencing this and processing information on a vibrational level all the time. We are already attuned to this knowing and awareness even though we might not be conscious of it. 

Simple example: If you are on an elevator with your eyes closed, you would KNOW if someone else got on, even if they did not make a sound. YOU WOULD KNOW. You would feel a shift in energy, a change in the frequency of vibration that you are sensing or picking up.

When you find yourself in anger, fear, resentment, there is a huge difference in the energy you are giving forth and the energy that you are attracting to yourself as compared to when you are joyful or peaceful. In other words, you are not only vibrating at a particular frequency in those states of mind, you are also, like a magnet, attracting those frequencies to yourself.

We “tune into” a certain frequency, like we are tuning a TV or radio (often we will be doing this unconsciously—-one the goals here is to become consciously responsible for what we are tuned into). 

We can begin to become aware that we have a choice of what station we listen to. Then again we have to be “aligned” to that frequency in order to hear it. I don’t just say to myself, “I could see peace instead of this.” I am needing to choose peaceful thoughts, peaceful actions. In other words, I am aligning myself to the vibration/frequency of peacefulness, not just saying the words. That would be like saying, “I’m on channel 2 right now,” when you are really watching channel 3. You can say you are on channel 2 all you want, but you will continue to be on channel 3 until you change it!

Now this book is proposing that there exists a frequency, a vibrational level, that we are referring to as the Christ Consciousness.
Just stop for a minute and notice that for the last few moments you have not been thinking of yourself in physical terms, you have been perceiving yourself as energy. (Get it?)

OK. Christ Consciousness a very hight frequency. We are working/moving to aligning ourselves to that, and at least part of that alignment is to realize that frequency already exists within us.