A man asked the other day why it is that there are not more enlightened people around. As I answered him, consciousness loomed uppermost in my focus. "Do you feel the consciousness of enlightenment in your daily living?" I asked him. He replied, "No." "Why not?" I asked. "You're a man on your spiritual path, and you spend quite a lot of money each year on week long seminars with the person who is your spiritual guide. I have no doubt that you are told, over and over, to live the Truth of who you are. Correct?" He affirmed that I was correct.

At the seminars he listened to the words of wisdom, bathed and replenished himself in the consciousness of Truth, but once he was home he moved back into the consciousness of the old. As I told him, what you have to do is bring the Truth into your own consciousness. If you cannot develop and live within your own consciousness of inner Love and Truth, then you will never find it outside of you. Nobody can give it to you. Enlightenment is not finding something you don't already have; it is realizing that you already are the full consciousness of Truth - in denial. Every word, every thought that does not acknowledge your Greatness, your beauty, is a step away from that ever-present Greatness/beauty. Every time you look in the mirror, you are speaking directly to consciousness. If you see beauty, you are acknowledging the consciousness of inner beauty. If you see a reflection that draws criticism from your inner thoughts, you are denying your consciousness of beauty. Not only that, but you are also sowing and fostering the seeds of habitual dissatisfaction with self. And this can repeat from one lifetime to another.

Many women, and men, are having facelifts, breast implants, tucks and folds, liposuction, etc., because we now have the skills and methods to do this. Every one of these operations is a statement in consciousness. And let's be clear about this, consciousness is forever. None of this is wrong, nor right; but in consciousness it is a statement of dissatisfaction. After the surgery, mostly the patient is happy - for a while. All they have done is implant an illusion of satisfaction over a dissatisfaction reality. In other words, they are attempting to change the physical, while the far more powerful metaphysical reality remains the same. In consciousness, there is no improvement; in consciousness the emphasis is on 'self is not good enough.' Even though the person may look into the mirror and like wha t they see, it will not last. Self- criticism was reinforced by the operation, not eradicated. Eve.rything we do, think, or say is a statement into the consciousness of Self, and self is required to live and express it. Be very careful what you do to your body, what you think about your body and your self, and what you say about your body and self, and about other people. Remember, in consciousness, there is nothing outside of Self. If you criticize another person's body, that criticism moves into 'your' consciousness for 'you' to live. And when it does, you will wonder why. Imagine, if you will, consciousness as rather like the air we breathe. It is One air that we all breathe, regardless of location. And you could say that this One air unites and connects us. If you poison the air in one place, then to that same degree, you have poisoned it in all places. Consciousness is the same, in-as-much as we all live within One human consciousness. If you poison the consciousness of yourself with hostile, Self-denying thoughts, then to that degree you poison the consciousness of all humanity. Believe me, that's a dangerous practice! There are much better ways of living. Imagine now that you are an enlightened Being. Just imagine it, and live how you imagine it would feel to live in this enlightened state. There is no right way to imagine this, and no wrong way. Just imagine it, and live how it feels for you. This is a magnificent way to put a statement of beauty into the human consciousness; and what we sow, we always reap. Always. Remember, all consciousness is One. Think about it, but very lovingly, gently, and with lots of self- honouring. Speaking for Self, I 'know' you are beautiful.

When Truth ignites life, life ignites with living Truth

In Love and Light, Michael