I am honored to be part of this LOVEly short video!

My LOVEly friends, 

This short video is a wonderful glimpse into the mystical art of my friend, Yvonne Rosenlund. I have the great honor to be a part of this. During one of my evenings of meditation and reflection, at The Port of Dubuque, I wrote a poem, and shared it on Facebook. Yvonne asked if she could create one of her fabulous Zendalas, with my poem as the theme. I, of course, said, "YES!", and I am joyful for this collaboration.

Check out the video...less than two minutes long...and then check out her work. It really is beautiful, like its creator. Blessings! I AM LOVE, and know YOU as LOVE!

Patrick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nKQwa4CKiVQ

Imagine this... A true story!

Imagine this... One day, you wake up to a bunch of smiling strangers, wearing lab coats. They are clearly glad to see you, and they look vaguely familiar. Yet, everything feels strange. This is not your bedroom. This room is filled with computers and bright lights and wires, and some of these wires are connected to you.

Imagine this... After what feels like a very long time, one of these smiling strangers says, "You ran the simulation well. Really well. That is our best run yet. Tell us, did it feel real? Did the amnesia protocols do their job? It seemed like you were completely immersed in the game. What was it like?"

Imagine this... You have no answers, at first, because as she is asking you these questions, you are trying to process two distinct sets of memories...your life, in the simulation (the one that you are experiencing, as you read this), and your life before your participation in the simulation. At first, they both feel true, and not true.

Imagine this... As you are able to more easily hold both sets of memories as true, you realize that everything you experienced, in the simulation, was a game, and one that you created. You are the designer of this whole project. This lab. These people. The simulation. They are all because of you, and your groundbreaking work.

Imagine this... You realize that everything you experienced in your simulation was very real, while it was happening, and at the same time, a construct of your mind and emotions. It was real because you believed it was, and now you realize just how beautiful all of it was...still is.

Imagine this... As you get your bearings, you realize that you still feel the love for all of your loved ones, but none of the hate for those you thought of as your enemies. In fact, you feel a fondness for them, as you might for a bad guy, in a movie. This is new. This is the first time you have felt like this, after a simulation. A breakthrough.

Imagine this... Days go by. Tests and meetings and computer diagnosis and medical examinations fill your days, and you still feel  a deep love for the people and experiences of your simulation. You realize that the you, of the simulation, will always be alive within you. As will all of your experiences...the people, your choices, your feelings and thoughts, all of it.

Imagine this... About a week later, you hear a knock at your office door. You open the door, and it is one of the new senior engineers. For a brief moment, you have a funny feeling about them, and it passes. You invite them in, noticing that they will not make eye contact with you.

Imagine this... They sit down, across from you, still not making eye contact, and they ask your forgiveness, in advance of what they are about to tell you. You agree, and when they look up at you, your heart skips a beat. What an unusual feeling. If you didn't know better, you would say that you were feeling something like love.

Imagine this... As you are trying to pull yourself together, they look at you, and say, "Again, I am really sorry. I was told to do it, by the project manager. I was new, and I didn't feel like I could refuse. I was in the simulation with you. I know you feel it. Even as I am telling you this. You know that I was your love. You can feel it."

Imagine this... You are reeling, and they continue, "I remember when we first met. When we got married. I remember the births of our two children. I remember burying our oldest. I remember the day you died, and I remember the years of living without you. And I can't help myself. I still love you. Are you angry?"

Imagine this... As you sit, across from them, with tears of great joy, in your eyes, you have no words. So, you come around the desk, and they stand up...and then you are holding each other. It is strange, at first...you are different than you were...and then, all of a sudden, it is familiar and beautiful.

Imagine this... For a long time, you simply hold each other, and they say, "Do you remember what you said to me, whenever I was sad or worried? You would always say, 'Nothing is ever lost, and nothing ever dies.' I always wanted to believe it. Now, here we are, and I have you again." And with a little smile, you say, "And I have you again."

Imagine this... This is just a story. As all stories are, it is true. Is it real? It is as real as the emotions you felt, when you read it. It is as real as you believe it to be. Just a couple more questions. How would you live, if you knew that nothing ever died, and nothing was ever lost? How would you live, if you knew that your every experience is your creation, and it is perfect and beautiful?

Imagine this... When you woke up this morning, you actually entered a simulation, with implanted memories of all kinds of experiences...worries, joys, hates, loves, feelings, thoughts, etc... Your whole past, a construct, created by you. Your whole world, existing because you believe it does. How do you live, today, with this freedom?

Imagine.

Blessings. I AM LOVE, and know YOU as LOVE!

Patrick

It's only pretend, right?

Can you let all of your opposites...love and hate and joy and pain and sadness and happiness and light and dark and so on and so forth...be whole and perfect and true, living within you? 

Can you imagine yourself letting them be, with no need to make some wrong, and some right? Can you imagine that, whether you see them all as beautiful, as blessing, they are? Can you imagine that you are the one deciding factor in the existence of each one? Can you imagine that what you call blessed, though it seem otherwise, is blessed...that even what you may have called cursed, may be blessed, if you say it is?

Imagine yourSelf as perfect LOVE...as That, in which all is perfect and true and whole. Imagining is a nobler sounding word than pretending, but pretending is no less powerful. If it is easier for you to say "pretend", remember this little mantra -- "Pretending is practicing, and practicing is remembering."

Pretending is practicing, and practicing is remembering. Say it a few times, to yourself. Then say it a few times, aloud. Feel it. Let yourself feel it. What are you practicing today? Can you let yourself practice blessing everything, regardless of how you have previously known it? Can you practice being LOVE, and allowing your world to be LOVE? Allowing all of it, then being easy with yourself, when it is hard, or when it feels like lying?

Pretending is practicing, and practicing is remembering. What you are remembering, and what no one else can remember for you, is that you are LOVE...perfect being, perfect understanding, perfect allowing. You are remembering that you are LOVE, and that everything you experience is you, is LOVE. This is what you are remembering. You are LOVE, and LOVE is all. You are LOVE, which knows all as LOVE.

Today, can you let all of your opposites...love and hate and joy and pain and sadness and happiness and light and dark and so on and so forth...be whole and perfect and true, living within you? Can you pretend that they are? Can you pretend that you are LOVE, in which all is perfect and whole and true, living within you?

It's only pretend, right?

Patrick