Let’s Get It, Together
- olivierbranford
- Feb 17, 2024
- 15 min read
Updated: Jan 29
For my 81st article I felt a calling to take account of where we have got to, what we have learned, how we have changed, and how far we have come together on our journey.
St Francis of Assisi wrote "You have to go through the emotional turmoil before you can know peace." Bill W said "Pain is the touchstone of spiritual progress." I have shared your pain. I have so much compassion for you. I have felt your joy. This is the greatest journey of your lifetime: A journey from overwhelming pain to peace, bliss, love, joy, abundance, and Real Personal Power.
The Universe is called the Universe because it is a University - life itself is your greatest teacher - you cannot learn wisdom from books. We are taking a walk together into conscious living.
That's what this article is about. We each need an Enlightened Witness to walk us home: When the student is ready, the teacher appears.
This is our only way out of the collective unconscious that leads to all drama, conflict and so much mental illness. One million people die each year from suicide: That's one every 40 seconds. A dozen people will have killed themselves by the time you finish reading this article. Also look at how many millions of people died in the last century in wars and conflicts 'killed or allowed to die by human decision': There were 231 million deaths from conflict over the 100 years of the 20th Century! We live in a Dystopian world.
Most of us don't want to die: But we don't know how to live. We need, now more than ever, a collective awakening to conscious living. We need to respond to the call: For ourselves and each other. We need to seek peace and bliss rather than oblivion. We need to wake up from the illusion. The 'conscious', asleep, conditioned ego-mind is in a hypnotic trance. We need to stop taking the blue pill.
Let's take a moment to celebrate our own evolution on our journey of awakening together into conscious living. Welcome home. I salute the divin you. Namaste...
Gratitude
First of all I wanted to express my gratitude to you for coming on this journey with me. It has been, as Joseph Campbell wrote, a ‘Hero’s Journey.’
It’s been the hardest thing that we have ever done, but also the most worthwhile and liberating, empowering trip of our lifetime. We used to follow a drive to oblivion, through ‘imitation love’, you know, external validation, such as career, success, admiration, and addiction to people, places, events, things, and above all thoughts and feelings, that made us temporarily feel good or at least numb from the pain of existence that is the human condition in this dysfunctional, broken world. Now, instead of chasing oblivion, we follow our bliss.
Let's get it together: Let's do this, together
As Joseph Campbell said: “Follow your bliss. If you do follow your bliss, you put yourself on a kind of track that has been there all the while waiting for you, and the life you ought to be living is the one you are living. When you can see that, you begin to meet people who are in the field of your bliss, and they open the doors to you. I say, follow your bliss and don't be afraid, and doors will open where you didn't know they were going to be. If you follow your bliss, don't be afraid, and doors will open for you that wouldn't have opened for anyone else.” Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is as useless as a chocolate tea pot. Fear is as helpful as using a rocking-chair to run a marathon.
Joseph Campbell - 'Follow Your Bliss': In Sanskrit, the great spiritual language of the world, which relates to transcedance – the jumping off place into the ocean of awakening, the term ‘Satcitananda’ is translated as "Truth, Full Consciousness, Bliss", "Reality, BEing, Rapture", or "Existence, Consciousness, Bliss"
Learning a whole new language
We have learned many terms together, that were before not part of our vocabulary, or we had only a very vague idea of what they meant, especially in spiritual terms. Here is my glossary of the top 50 terms that we have encountered and understood:
Following our calling: It's a journey inwards
We have stopped bowing to the necessity to be driven, and now follow our intuitive wisdom through prayer and meditation, instead, now following our calling: The purpose, or ‘blueprint’ that we were born for. This may have involved dying a psychological death. The Bible tells us that Jesus died and rose again not only so that we could receive forgiveness, but even more so, He died and rose again so that we might have life. It is through His death and resurrection that we receive life. As Jesus said, according to the Bible in John 3:3, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the Kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
We have taken a journey inwards, so that we may take a journey outwards. In Luke 17:21 in the Bible, Jesus said, "For, behold, the Kingdom of God is within you," in response to the Pharisees asking when the Kingdom of God will come.
BEing in the present moment
Presence is the gateway to BEing. There is no need to ever leave presence. Presence is the fundamental pillar of personal transformation. Presence is a 'pre-sent' moment that has been sent to you from above. It's the key that unlocks every door. Without this keystone anything you construct in life is built on sand. It’s dust. And dust always returns to dust.
As Eckhart Tolle, the contemporary voice of presence, says, “The present moment is all we have.” His book, the Power of Now, has the subheading “A Guide to Spiritual Enlightenment.” It is only by BEing fully present that you connect with your deeper Self. That is why people go on retreats – they are actually retreating from themselves and their thinking. The power to bring you into the gap, the space between your thoughts, is where you find deep serenity, stillness, peace, and intuitive intelligence devoid of fear and limiting assumptions. The highest possible version of you. Most of us live trapped in the movement of thought inside our heads. We create fears that have no foundation. Continue practicing being fully present in the moment, with ‘vibrant stillness,’ which encapsulates the feeling of movement and serenity. I call it ‘energetic serenity’ or 'alive srtillness'. It’s a unique combination of peace and energy that you may not have felt before. Nothing like the constant pressure to hustle and achieve that ultimately invariably leads you to fail, burn out, become mentally ill, even death, like any addiction.
Eckhart Tolle and 'The Power of the Present Moment and Conscious Living'
Eckhart Tolle's 'Masterclass on Conscious Living: 4 Hours to Transform Your Life'
Meditation is the key to finding presence. You can also find it in Nature. And in moments of mindfulness throughout your day. You can practice throughout the day by returning to focus simply on your breath. This drops you out of your closed ego mind and into your open heart.
Living from our Higher Self
We live in our conscious mind - the ego. Ninety percent of our mind is subconscious: It is in the subconscious mind that all your true power lies, with infinite potential and possibility. Your Higher Power, or True Self, includes both the conscious mind and subconscious mind. Paradoxically the conscious mind is asleep, and the subconscious mind may be awakened. This is a massive move to consciousness. It is as if you are bringing your whole mind to consciousness and being fully integrated and awake. This happens during meditation for example. Functional MRI scanner studies of the brain show that you go from using your ego that lives in your reptilian survival brain (yes it really is a thing) to using your whole brain including your emotions (which are the key to Truth) and your higher brain cortex.
To live from your Higher Self, simply choose in every moment "What would love do?" Then respond, in God's time. Never react from ego. This is how you call forth your new life. Realise that you will be different but not dull: Were Jesus and Buddha dull? I don't think so!
In this way you can check every thought, emotion, and action to see that they are in alignment with your inner purpose. Make moment to moment choices from a place of love. The only difference between us and Jesus is that he only ever made choices from a place of love.
We are afraid of our emotions. We've have unfelt feelings that simmer inside us. The fear that we feel is proportionate to the distance between us and our Higher Power. Emotions come from thought. Much of our thought comes from our ego, or 'monkey mind' as the Buddhists call it - you know, the intrusive, fear-based illusory thoughts that fill our mind. Most people are totally consumed with, and by, themselves. 90 percent of our thoughts come from this place of self-obsession, our conscious mind - those thoughts are negative, repetitive, catastrophising, and don't help us in any way. The key is to change every monkey mind thought to a new, helpful thought then and there, as it happens.
'The Work' by Byron Katie is a systematic way to go back and take a second look at the thoughts that make you stressed, anxious, and afraid. The first step of 'The Work' is to identify a stressful thought. Then you simply ask four questions, and turn the thought around. This is beautifully described in her brilliant book 'Your Inner Awakening': The Work of Byron Katie: Four Questions That'Will Transform Your Life.'
The Four Questions by Byron Katie:
Is it true?
Can you absolutely know that it’s true?
How do you react, what happens, when you believe that thought?
Who would you be without that thought?
Here’s a helpful analogy if you want to understand The Work of Byron Katie and how to use the four questions and turnarounds:
"The bright, Arizona sunshine warmed his bones as Jason climbed the trail up to Cathedral Rock. It was beautiful out here, the blue sky contrasting deeply with the red rocks of Sedona. Suddenly a jolt of primal fear shot through his body. Every hair was standing on end. He jumped back and ran back down the trail. A rattlesnake had been sunning itself on the path, and Jason had come just inches from stepping on this deadly animal. His heart was pounding as he made his retreat. But something made him stop, and he went back to have a second look. When he returned, the rattlesnake had not moved an inch. As Jason cautiously approached it for a second time, he could make out the fibres of an old decaying rope."
We are scared of old decaying ropes. There is no threat.
We make a commitment to remain conscious and to live for liberation, not external validation. Free your (Higher) Self from your (ego) self. Michael Singer, the author of 'Living Untethered' recorded his reflections in the following video.
Michael Singer 'The Commitment to Stay Conscious'
Before the journey that we are taking together, we had lost the state of being connected with, and rooted in, BEing our True Selves, our souls, our Higher Selves. The most famous psychiatrist that the world has known, who was also a spiritual Master, Carl Gustav Jung. described the process of 'individuation', or in other words 'How to Find Your Soul.'
Eckhart Tolle, the spiritual teacher, wrote “Until you practice surrender, the spiritual dimension is something you read about, talk about, get excited about, write books about, think about, believe in, or don’t…It makes no difference. Not until you surrender does it become a living reality in your life.” As Epictetus wrote “Don't explain your philosophy. Embody it.”
Tolle defined surrender as:
Surrender is the same as 'letting go'. This is the result of letting go of judgement (of your Self and others) and resentment. It is key to healing, Self-compassion, and any spiritual awakening and Enlightenment. As part of this we need to let go and surrender our attempts to control people, places, events, and things. If we don't, we will never find joy or peace. Without it there is no Utopia and no 'Heaven' - only 'Hell'. When we surrender, all is well. When we don't surrender, we become spiritually dis-eased, deadened and dead to the world, and mentally ill. Being able to let go is also called emotional sobriety. It also means letting go of thoughts and emotions about those people, places, and things. It means letting go of your ego and embracing who you truly are.
Letting go of what other people think
Other people will try to control you, as they are afraid of your power, and they don't realise that one can only change one's Self, no-one else. Your Truth and your voice are a call to power. Speak Truth to power. Stand in your light. Those people who gossip and 'bitch' about you are asleep, in denial, haven't done any inner work, and live from a place of envy, hate, jealousy, greed, and psychological projection, as described by Carl Jung. As Jesus said in Luke 23:34 "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing." It is never about you, it's about them.
As Marianne Williamson, the author of 'A Return to Love', the advocate of 'A Course in Miracles', and American Presidential candidate wrote: “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing Enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.” Your presence, vulnerability, and light are beacons and light-houses inviting others to step safely into the light.
Fall in love with the Universe. Ram Dass, the clinical psychologist from Harvard turned spiritual Master, recorded his wisdom in the following video:
Ram Dass and 'How to Keep Your Heart Open in 'Hell''
We have discussed twelve gifts of Truth and healing if you want to find peace, serenity, love, joy, purpose, possibility, abundance, wisdom, Truth, and real success.
The reason that these Truths are timeless is because these gifts are Universally True and never change. These gifts are reiterated throughout all the healing disciplines, whether it be philosophy, psychology, spirituality, or Transformative Life Coaching (TLC).
Every philosophical genius and spiritual Master in human history as far back as we can remember, through to those people who change the world today, including the Enlightened Witnesses amongst us, have told of these same Truths.
These Truths never fail. Here they are:
This too shall pass
Nothing is either good or bad
Non-resistance to what is
I collected them for you in this article, in service of you:
Embracing vulnerability
Vulnerability heals as it is the opposite of conflict (which has a false victim narrative and is based on ego). It’s unmasking the Truth of who you are BEing. You are loved for who you truly are. Words touch souls. Souls love each other. We are meant to be perfect in this dysfunctional society but we are not allowed to express and unmask our true Selves. This may be fatal: We are so busy killing our icons. We love, destroy, then love again, killing each other in the process.
Vulnerability is the key to human soul connection. It's the antidote to the loneliness that we feel in our ever more digitally-connected but soul-disconnected world. In a recent study, it was demonstrated that 80 percent of people are on their iPhones during restaurant meals out with friends and family. Normally we are preoccupied with our own stuff so we don’t listen. Interjecting comes from our own pride. Very few people don’t interject. If you listen to another it shows that you are loving.
Click here to be taken to my article about my 'VOICE for men' VIP community: 'Vulnerability & Openness Is a Choice Ensemble', 'Visibility Is Power', where men can find their strength, courage, and authenticity, by dropping their egocentric fears and instead communicate openly with vulnerability:
Walking the path of Enlightenment
We each have a unique path to Enlightenment, although the speed which we travel along it varies. Our ultimate destination is always the same.
Enlightenment is like rungs of a ladder and people are on different rungs, but that's ok: We can still help each other up. Pardon the cliché, but it's the journey as much as the destination that matters. Being on the path is all you need. You can start right now.
Enlightenment occurs when all the moments of bliss that you feel during presence - you know, the alive stillness inside - become connected and you never get up from your seat of ease. It's a journey from the mind to the heart, from ego to your Higher Self; from thought to awareness (which is the feeling of Truth).
Click here to download a free pdf of my book about Enlightenment:
Namaste.
Olly
Email me:
My gift is to be your guide on your very own 'Hero's Journey'...
Hello,
I am delighted and enchanted to meet you. I coach men with 'Deep Coaching', 'Supercoaching', and Transformative Life Coaching (TLC). Thank you for reading this far. I very much look forward to connecting with the highest version of you, to seeing your highest possibility, and to our conversations. Please do contact me via my email for a free connection call and a free experience of coaching on Zoom or in person.
“Transformative life coaching uniquely creates and holds the space for you to see your self afresh, with clarity, and step into new ways of BEing, which will transform how you perceive and intuitively create your world. My work is to guide you to raise your own conscious awareness to the level that you want to achieve.”
I have a Bachelor's degree in Natural Sciences from Trinity College, Cambridge; a Master's Degree in Philosophy from Trinity College, Cambridge; a PhD Doctorate in Scientific Research from University College London (UCL); a Medical Degree (MD/MBBS) from The Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, London and have been a doctor and reconstructive trauma and cancer surgeon in London for 20 years. I have a number of other higher qualifications in science and surgery. I have published over 50 peer reviewed PubMed cited scientific journal articles, have been an associate editor and frequent scientific faculty member, and am the author of several scientific books. I have been awarded my Diploma in Transformative Life Coaching in London, which has International Coaching Federation (ICF) Accreditation, as well as the UK Association for Coaching (AC), and the European Mentoring and Coaching Council (EMCC). I have been on my own transformative journey full time for over five years and I am ready to be your guide to you finding out who you really are and how the world works.
I hear you. I see the highest in you, and I will continue to do so until you see it for your Self. I have ultimate compassion for you I will never judge you. We will fulfil your dreams and discover your purpose and what gives your life meaning. We are dealing with infinite possibility here. Together, we will lead you to remembering the light that resides in you. I have written 400 articles for you and an eBook to guide you on your transformative journey, which are all available for free on my website - click on the link below:
Please let me know if you would like to join our 'VOICE for men' VIP community: 'Vulnerability & Openness Is a Choice Ensemble', 'Visibility Is Power', where men can find their strength, courage, and authenticity, by dropping their egocentric fears and instead communicate openly with vulnerability. We are co-creating this space. It will change your life. It will empower you. This community is a safe space for men to connect and discuss philosophy, spirituality, positive psychology, awakening to Self-realisation, wisdom and timeless Truths, to share our experience, strength and hope, and to find solutions to our pain and fears. Our meeting is free to join. There is no script, just sharing.
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