Ed Rubenstein
As a spiritual aspirant for over 30 years, and in
my profession as a Ph.D. Psychologist, I have experienced numerous
practices and approaches for enhancing well being and spiritual growth.
I now realize that the path through the Heart is the most direct approach
to our ultimate fulfillment.
As I share this statement, many people will agree
that they know we are meant to follow our hearts, listen to our hearts,
and live from our hearts. Many will also believe that they are already
following and living from their hearts. I know this from personal
experience, because I used to think I was in my heart. However, after
I began studying with the Padmacahaya Foundation, I came to realize
that I was actually in my head, and just beginning to scratch the
surface of my heart. I was not truly heart centered nor was I experiencing
the depths of my heart.
We cannot follow the heart while focusing through
the brain. We cannot use our heads to get into our hearts. Experiencing
the peace, joy, love and gratitude of our hearts is actually a simple
process. However, it may seem difficult to us because, due to our
conditioning, we try to be in the heart. It is this effort that keeps
us anchored in our heads. Many people have come to believe that the
experience of being brain-dominant is normal. They have not fully
realized how this colors their perceptions, determines what they think
is reality, and keeps them disconnected from true joy and from their
deepest purpose here on earth.
Our head is the center of our ego. Our educational training
has taught us to depend on our intellectual and mental functions excessively
Unfortunately, many of us have never received proper guidance or education
on how to be in our hearts. Thus we miss out on the greatest gift
that life offers.
As I said before, most people are actually in their
heads when they imagine they are in their hearts. Although they may
attempt to be heart-centered, they don’t recognize that it is
this “effort” that keeps them anchored in their heads.
While some people may have achieved a start in being
in their hearts, the biggest part of them may still be observing the
process. It is this act of observation that keeps them separated from
their hearts. While they think they are having a great heart experience,
in reality, they may only be experiencing a minute fraction of what
is available. Joy and love are boundless. However, such expansive
awareness of the depths of the heart is only available to us when
we are able to be fully in our hearts with our whole being.
The Open Heart Workshops guide and teach people to experience the
joy in their hearts in a way that they most probably never did before.
As people feel the deeper essence of their hearts, they also come
to realize that up until that point, they were not embracing the heart
or benefiting from and enjoying the gifts that it offers.
Some people are hesitant to open their hearts because
they believe this will cause them to reconnect with emotional hurts
from the past. However, opening our hearts does not mean that we will
be easily exposed to negative emotions. On the contrary, as our hearts
open and becomes stronger, positive heart felt feelings will grow
and automatically reduce negative emotions. The heart cannot hurt
us, and completely opening our hearts will heal us on the deepest
level. Then we can move towards feeling whole, complete, satisfied,
and fulfilled in our moment to moment lives.
In Open Heart Level 1, we will learn to recognize
and experience the difference between emotions and feelings from the
heart. Anger, fear, worry, resentment, guilt, sadness, jealousy, insecurity
and arrogance are examples of the many difficult emotions people experience.
Following such emotions is not productive because it’s like
putting wood on the fire. These emotions end up complicating our relationships
as well as leading to unpleasant experiences. Following emotions also
obscures the field of the heart and creates clouds that block the
radiance of our inner sun.
In contrast to emotions, feelings are the subtle
qualities of the heart. Love, joy, compassion, appreciation, and gratitude
are feelings from our heart. That is why we say "heart-felt love
and gratitude”. Being filled with positive heart-felt feelings
is the key to happiness and true fulfillment.
Opening our hearts as wide as possible is the greatest
gift that we can offer ourselves and the world. Opening our hearts
has a profound healing affect on all levels of our being as well as
on our families and communities. The more we open our hearts, the
more we share unconditional love by our presence.
The Source of Light and Love, the True Source, is
the Source of our True Self which resides in the very core of our
hearts. This is why the heart is the key to our connection with the
True Source, (or whatever name you choose to call the Source of Light
and Love). The core of our hearts is always radiating, even when we
do not experience it because we have learned to live our lives from
our heads.
Our life on earth is a gift, and to live this life
without opening our hearts is to miss out on the deeper meaning and
purpose of why we are alive. The core of our hearts is calling to
us. Our hearts want to open so that we can have the very best, on
all levels that Love offers. When we open our hearts, we deepen our
spiritual connection to the True Source, and this allows us to live
genuinely and authentically in the sacredness of love. Then we can
live our life as instruments of the True Source, and Light and Love
will radiate out in all directions. We will wake up to why we are
here on earth. May we all pray that the True Source bless all beings,
so that all hearts will hear the inner call to awake, open, and follow
the Love.
