Great discussion here.
Redezra, love the Linda Bruce poem.
To me it's important to understand this, we are here to learn to BE. No one can do it for us, we can connect to the divine within and let it be the doer, but we have to make the decision to do so every Now. That's because we're free willed individualization's of the whole. We're not meant to be robots, we're in a schoolroom here to learn to Be even in the toughest conditions where the illusions of seperation seem so real. Only our own false created self, the human ego stands between us and our Divine state of Being where we are One with the still small voice within, the divine direction within.
Yes, the experience of Oneness, the Gnosis Truth, this must be the goal.
I agree with previous thoughts in this thread that the way up is with the guidance of One(s) who are already in that state of Being. Without a teacher we are rudderless in the sea. For example, I believe in this thread a man was mentioned who was not pursuing enlightenment and one day it just hit him. He basically was unable to function in the world for 30 years until he finally got control back so he could be in the world but not so much of it. It most definitely does not have to be this way. The Way up is with the guidance of the guru.
My personal Guru is in my Heart, in the Ascended realms of Pure Being. I work with the Masters through meditation and spoken Word. The path is not for all, but some are indeed called to do so and some indeed do. The inner teacher is the True teacher for me.
On a totally different note, here's a Website I bumped into the other day which shares a similar technique discussed by others in this thread maybe worth reading for some:
http://www.seegodseengod.com/god_will_see_you_now
Nice poem Mudra, I like it, emptiness ~ in Stillness within do we BE.
The paper example Redezra you are correct that it is not a good analogy with the multiple sheets of paper. The real analogy is that there is only one paper. The paper has no edges. The paper is the All-ness. The original circle is the creator of this universe and sphere of creation. When the four points in that circle ascend to the level where they are the fullness of the circle each, they each see they are the circle, the original creator point also still exist, and each of the four points is an individualization of that creator point, yet it is also a free willed fullness of the circle. The creator point now is free to go back into the Allness and just rest in the Allness, or create a new creation, an even more complex one as that creator point has learned through all the Eyes in the previous creation.
Each of the four points also each has the opportunity to either just Be the allness or to create their own creation out of their own causal body.
Once a point has Acended to the All-ness, it can rest as the All-ness, and can at any Now, decide to go out and create again as the point. Life is eternal.
If they choose to do so, they do it on the same sheet of paper, only now the paper grows to incorporate their creation. One point may choose to create a universe with flat planets. Another with round planets like ours.
They're both God, they're both creators, they can both rejoin the allness or create their own creations. They can only create what they have earned through their experiences in the previous creation, through the causal body they grew ~ you reap as you sew, the eternal Law. Or they can just Be the allness.
Each point from the original circle that creates a new circle, remains an individualization of the creator of this circle. So each point that creates a new circle will in effect also be growing the experience of the creator of this circle, eternally Now.
And of course every creation by every point in all creations grows the Allness that God is. God is a Living God. God Be's. Through creation, there is a harvest as Jesus discussed. There is fruit.
This is why loving your neighbor is so important. This is not just a dream. This will result in fruit. The neighbor you love is truly an individualization of God, a child of God that can continue to grow in Oneness with their source and eventually create a new creation to add to the whole.
Now all that being said, of course there will be "I"s merging at different points, but in the end there are many more than one "I", there is a lot of fruit.
To illustrate, many people here are individualization's of the same I AM Presence, the same God Being who may have many thousands in embodiment at one time. But when we eventually ascend we don't cease to be, we simply return to our source with the momentum's we've gathered and add to the whole. We remember who we truly are and we are Now that I AM Presence. The ego prevents us from Being who we really are, from Being below all that we are above.
Espavo ~