Wisdom from Rabbi Ted Falcon

I only have one thing to say. There's only one thing happening and it's happening all the time and it's happening right here and it's always happening now. And no matter what we think, it's always now.

Future and past are simply imagination. Everything's happening now. And ordinarily when we think about it, now is this tiny little fragment of time between an ever-expanding future and an ever-expanding past. And the fact is we spend much more of the time in the past or in the future than we do in this tiny now that we kind of conceive of as moving along in this linear track of that we call time. We've been trained to believe that's what's happening. Our culture has trained us. Our classes have trained us. Our education has trained us. And we are all good students. In one way or another, we have absolutely been convinced. And the problem with that has to do with awakening. So if we believe that now is this fragment of time that moves forward.

We always think that where we need to go is somewhere other than now. And what makes what I do and what makes the enterprise of spiritual awakening so so challenging is that it requires us to remember what now is. Which just sounds ridiculous. To remember now.

I'm really not into religion. It's one of the problems I have - being a rabbi and not being into religion any longer. But I am into the wisdom of a tradition that is my tradition. So I have a tendency to refer to that tradition when I teach. But I'm not looking at my tradition as a religion. I'm looking at the wisdom in my tradition as a reflection of a universal spiritual path. Because the truth is, if the path is not universal, it's not spiritual. So if anybody says "we've got it and you don't," run.

It's like we have to allow ourselves to release the prison of everything that we've been taught about the nature of reality, which is the hardest thing in the world to do because it's so convincing. We make appointment books that tell us what's going to be. We can look back and see what was and, by God, there's almost no now. Oops. Now it was now, now it's not now. Now it's now.

Unless we start from the premise that it's all now, there is only one now. I don't care when you notice it or where you notice it, but there's only one now and this is it. And in this now, we have some remarkable choices. And one of the choices is a remembering of who we are and what we're doing in this now.

I'd like to share a verse from Psalm 46 verse 11. Harpu an Elohim means “stop.” It is usually translated “be still.” But the Hebrew is actually a little bit more inclusive. Stop whatever you're doing, whatever you're thinking, whatever you're feeling, whatever you're remembering, whatever you're futuring, stop. Harpu, stop and know. Now, it's not stop and find out. It's stop, and the act of stopping opens the knowing.It's not knowing something you don't know. It's knowing something that you've always known. It's knowing something you've always known and it's been trained out of us. Because we've been trained to believe that we are separate beings. We are not connected. It's nice to be kind to each other. It's good to take care of each other, but we're separate beings. And we're not.

You probably know it in terms of trees. You know that all the trees are connected. And not only are they connected, but they're conscious. And if one tree is suffering, other trees know that and send restorative chemicals to feed and to help heal the tree that's wounded or sick. This is consciousness. This is not self-reflective consciousness, you know. So, we have a little trouble getting the difference. Human beings have self-reflective consciousness. So we know we are conscious which leads us into some difficulty because in our knowing we limit the ways we are conscious.

Stop so that you remember, so that you know that I am, and this is the problem with translation, it's usually translated “that I am God.” That's not what the Hebrew says. One of the things about the Hebrew language and this follows even in modern Hebrew but in biblical Hebrew it's even more pronounced and that is there's no fragment that is inserted in the present tense of being. So if I say I am happy, there's no “am” that shows. It's just an I happy. And to translate it into English, it's I am happy. So if it says an Elohim, an is, it's the way that what we call The Ten Commandments (the ten principles) begins. I am is the eternal one, your God.

When Moses asked God, "What's your name?" It's the one time anybody ever asked God, "What's your name?" which is great. And the answer was very clear and very direct. “A” in Hebrew is a verb of being without limitation. First person being namely “I am.” And then “A” is “I am as I am.” In modern Hebrew, those words would be translated, “I will be what I will be.” And sometimes the biblical Hebrew is translated that way, but it misses the point because there's no “I will be” that assumes “I'm not now.” AIA represented what we know of as past, present, and future. “I am” is absolutely inclusive. It's a way of forming the verb “to be” without limitation of space and time.

Be still. Shut up. Stop. And know. How do you know if you've stopped? You'll know. Because if you really stop, you'll know. Stop and know that I am is God. Which is a very different statement. Because be still and know that I am God sounds like there is somebody out there we will know of as God.

Be still and know I am is God. It's a meditation. It's a mantra. Be still and know I am is God. Be still is to enter into the universal silence. It's the one thing we know is universal. You know, people go, "What is the same for every human being who's ever been and ever shall be?" What's been the same for our whole lives? What's been absolutely the same? Which is another way of saying in what context are we simply meeting?

There's no Jewish silence (although some consider that an oxymoron). There's no Christian silence. There's no Muslim silence. There's no Buddhist silence. There's no Hindu silence. There's just silence. And in that silence I am. In that silence I am aware. In that silence I am awareness of whatever. You know how you say God is love. People tend to agree with that but what does it mean God is love?

The awareness that is I am, is the universal awareness. If you think about awareness, awareness holds everything. It doesn't deny anything. And it doesn't choose. It's aware. It's aware of good stuff. It's aware of bad stuff. It's aware of beauty. It's aware of ugliness. It's aware of everyone. It's aware through all the senses of everyone. It's aware through all the eyes and all the ears and but all that is content.

So awareness automatically welcomes joyfully, peacefully awareness of it all. That's love. What is love but unconditional absolute acceptance. Now I'm not talking about romantic love. Romantic love's great and it's a aspect of that kind of acceptance. However, the love that we are is universal. It's not limited to any particular person who does any particular series of acts or who speaks any particular series of words. It's yes to whatever is happening. Is there going to be bad stuff happening? Well, if there's going to be good stuff happening, there's going to have to be bad stuff happening because in the physical world, a coin can't be a coin unless it's got heads and tails. You can't have light without darkness.

It's nice to be kind to each other. It's good to take care of each other, but we're separate beings. And we're not. You know, you probably know it in terms of trees. All the trees are connected. And not only are they connected, but they're conscious. And if one tree is suffering, the other trees know that and send restorative chemicals to feed and to help heal the tree that's wounded. This is consciousness. This is not self-reflective consciousness. So, we have a little trouble getting the difference because human beings have self-reflective consciousness. So we know we are conscious which leads us into some difficulty because in our knowing we limit the ways we are conscious.

Stop so that you remember, so that you know that I am, and this is the problem with translation. It's usually translated “that I am God.” That's not what the Hebrew says. One of the things about the Hebrew language, both in modern Hebrew and in biblical Hebrew, is that there's no fragment that is inserted in the present tense of being. So if I say I am happy, there's no “am”. It's just “I happy.” And to translate it into English, it's “I am happy.” It's the way that what we call The Ten Commandments (The Ten Principles) begins. “I am is the eternal one, your God.”

When Moses asked God, "What's your name?" The answer was very clear and very direct. Namely “I am.” And then it is “I am as I am.”

In modern Hebrew, those words would be translated, “I will be what I will be.” And sometimes the biblical Hebrew is translated that way, but it misses the point because “I will be” assumes that I am is not now. The ancient tradition knew that the AIA represented what we know of as past, present, and future. I am is absolutely inclusive. It's a way of forming the verb “to be” without limitation of space and time. Be still. Stop. And know.” How do you know if you've stopped? You'll know. Because if you really stop, you'll know. Stop and know that I am is God. This is a very different statement because “Be still and know that I am God” sounds like there is somebody out there we will know of as God.

Be still. Stop. Be still and know I am is God. It's a meditation. It's a mantra. Be still and know I am is God. To be still is to enter into the universal silence. It's the one thing we know is universal. What is the same for every human being who's ever been and ever shall be?" What's been the same for our whole lives? What's been absolutely the same? There's no Jewish silence. There's no Christian silence. There's no Muslim silence. There's no Buddhist silence. There's no Hindu silence. There just silence. And in that silence, I am. In that silence, I am aware. In that silence I am awareness.

When you say, “God is love,” people tend to agree with that but what does it mean? If you think about awareness, awareness holds everything. It doesn't deny anything. And it doesn't choose or judge. It's just aware. It's aware of good stuff. It's aware of bad stuff. It's aware of beauty. It's aware of ugliness. It's aware of everyone. It's aware through all the senses of everyone. It's aware through all the eyes and all the ears. So awareness automatically welcomes joyfully and peacefully - awareness of it all. That's love. What is love but unconditional, absolute acceptance.

Now I'm not talking about romantic love. Romantic love's great and it's an aspect of that kind of acceptance. However, the love that that we are is universal. It's not limited to any particular person who does any particular series of acts or who speaks any particular series of words. It's "yes" to whatever is happening. Is there going to be bad stuff happening? Well, if there's going to be good stuff happening, there's going to have to be bad stuff happening because in the physical world, a coin can't be a coin unless it's got heads and tails. You can't have light without darkness. This reality, this world, is a world of contrasts. And we have a tendency to decide which contrasts are right. We'd like only the good ones, but it can't be done. Not in the world of contrast. But with awakening to the wonder of awareness itself, it can all be held.

Be still and know I am is God.