Silfan's blog

Life

2012-01-12T08:03:00.000-08:00

Ultimately what we see is that life, exactly as it is, is the open intelligence of nature. The intelligence of nature is what courses through your body right now, it is every thought, every emotion, every sensation – it is the space in which and as which everything occurs. Nothing can be found but Open Intelligence, therefor we can rest easy and complete, and live life naturally and joyfully for the benefit of all to the best of our discernment at any one time.

Natures Intelligence Pervades Everything

2011-11-26T03:05:00.000-08:00

"Everything about me is 100% perfect humenness"
Balanced View participant

Invulnerable

2011-11-18T10:43:00.000-08:00

Open Intelligence is the sole cause, substance and effect of everything.

Education

2011-11-12T16:45:00.001-08:00

The Mainstays of Balanced View offer such diverse opportunity to serve, which bring forth various different skills and qualities within us, held in a culture of inspiration, support and total safety. For me it has been the richest education system imaginable, and far richer a circumstance than I ever could have reasonably hoped to encounter in my life. I feel so fortunate and full of gratitude!!!

Obedience to the Unenforceable

2011-10-28T05:40:00.000-07:00

Be entirely open to the intelligence of everything, by relaxing mind and body for short moments, rather than needing to contrive decisions and actions based on any learned ways of behaving, thinking, and relating. The beneficial intelligence of everything opens up an entirely new world, inseparable from and not limited by the reified labels, definitions, descriptions and assumptions we have been accustomed to. How wonderful that this is our nature, and what a gift to be introduced to and supported in it!

Outshining

2011-10-05T16:56:00.000-07:00

"This is the key to outshining-- letting it be as it is."
Candice Odenver

Magically Present as Everything

2011-09-24T16:02:00.000-07:00

When we rely on Open Intelligence, there is the wisdom of uncontrived beneficial conduct – and this is not something that can be pinned down. It is magically present as everything.

The Basis of Wise Action and Speech

2011-08-29T16:44:00.000-07:00

Rather than thinking about how we should, should have or will rely on Open Intelligence, it is always best to just rely on Open Intelligence. This is so very kind, and gives us a spontaneous perspective of wisdom.

Spontaneous Responses of Love

2011-08-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

"Spontaneous responses of love leap from OI into the heart of the beloved! OI is the uttermost heart essence saturating everyone and everything with love beauty and feasts of kindness"

Candice O'Denver

Unconditional Love

2011-08-11T18:05:00.000-07:00

When changes are requested of us from others, usually what the request actually is is that we rely on Open Intelligence and show them unconditional love.

Open and Supported

2011-08-08T20:30:00.001-07:00

Society is composed of individuals, each with sole responsibility for the way they use their minds and bodies. Society is as beneficial and empowered as its individuals are open and supported in their inherently empowered and beneficial nature.

Home

2011-08-04T17:39:00.000-07:00

Instinctively recognise reality as the one true love, exactly as it is, exactly as it has always been.

Love

2011-08-01T06:12:00.000-07:00

As the defences are relinquished in relation to our disturbing states, the love which is their true nature becomes what is predominantly obvious to us and we feel so deeply for ourselves and for all beings.

Ramping up the Era of Great Benefit

2011-07-19T07:28:00.000-07:00

http://www.balancedview.org/ramping-up-the-era-of-great-benefit

Instinctive Recognition

2011-07-07T22:47:00.001-07:00

"The Fact of Love Never Wavers"
Candice O'Denver

Affliction Equals Intense Beneficence

2011-07-02T05:23:00.000-07:00

It is such an all-encompassing relief to leave afflictive states completely unrejected – it is only when we allow this, while not getting lost in descriptions, that we discover our power and stability as being inherent and invulnerable.

As long as we insist that our power and stability are vulnerable in the face of the changing display of thoughts and emotions, then we are busy all the time trying to sort them out.
When we take short moments to rely on Open Intelligence, relaxing all efforts to reject or emphasise, then we find with increasing certainty that we never needed to waste our precious potency in trying to fix the flow of experiential data. When relying on Open Intelligence, we increasingly see through the life we have described to ourselves and to others, and find that what was always pervading everything was the beneficence, luminosity and openness of the intelligence of the universe, rendering its display in unending timeless unity.

WHAT A RELIEF

2011-06-12T16:04:00.000-07:00

"Rest naturally. Body and mind completely relaxed. Wow! What remains? Alertness. Clarity. Open intelligence. Whether relaxed or upset, open intelligence pervades the entirety of the here and now."

Candice O'Denver

Such Good News!

2011-06-03T14:11:00.000-07:00

Your mind is exalted! Every perception is nothing but the dynamic display of the luminous, always present, space of mind.

Empowering Simplicity

2011-05-21T15:23:00.000-07:00

"Open Intelligence is the platform of reality"

Candice O'Denver

Love–Intelligence

2011-05-14T18:32:00.000-07:00

Rely on open uncontrived intelligence for short moments, repeated many times, rather than emphasising habitual assumptions and reactions, until it is instinctively obvious that love–intelligence is the all pervading nature of reality, internal and external.

Ungraspable, Exalted and Simple

2011-05-07T18:14:00.000-07:00

Foregoing the need to rely on reification, extremes such as 'cause and effect' or 'no cause and effect' are no longer contrived, and the intelligence of everything exactly as it is - ungraspable, exalted and simple - takes care, and loves everything.

Reality As It Is: The Truest Love

2011-04-28T23:19:00.000-07:00

"Once you say hello to it, it says "I am your's forever".
Candice O'Denver

Looking at Death with Naturalness and Responsibility

2011-04-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

31.01.11 Young Person's Clarity Call
Clarity in Everyday Life, Ch.12 - 'Illeness, Aging and Death' : Commentary by Silfan.

Ultimately, the most fundamental way of being ready for death is in coming to know the inseparability of all appearances; the indivisibility of reality.
This serves us on the deepest level whereby we feel ready for absolutely anything, including death. There is an instinctive knowing that it isn’t that we are separate individuals going through life being assaulted and humiliated by points of view, but that actually the expanse of uncontrollable points of view is us. We are not being assaulted by it- we are it. Knowing that deeply within ourselves is the most fundamental way to be prepared for death, or to be prepared for anything, and this is what we allow ourselves to recognize or gain familiarity with when we take short moments to rely on clarity.

Practically speaking, preparing for death by having all wishes and preferences laid out and documented - like what to do in terms of funeral, possessions, money and decisions of care during and after the dying process - can make the time as easy as possible for the people who are left behind. They can then also feel satisfied within themselves that they are really honoring your wishes, and not just guessing at what you would have wanted to happen.
When somebody dies and these things haven’t been clarified beforehand, in some cases it can be that the people left behind feel in disagreement with each other about what the deceased would have wanted. This can lead to unnecessary fall-outs and difficulties for people in a time that is already intense.

So I just wanted to share my experience with making these preparations, which I began to think about when Candice recommended this in a few of her talks. I decided to start putting pen to paper, writing things down as they became clear- on how I would like the different aspects of my death to be arranged. I found that there are also helpful websites on the Internet that lay out the requirements to make such a document legally valid. Just in the last couple of weeks I’ve more or less come to finish it. Although it did make total sense to do these things, now, having actually done it, I am suprised how profound it feels - it is a deep rest to just be ready, for my sake and for my friends and family's sake, which is why I am moved to share about it.

What wonderful support we have when we allow ourselves to gain confidence in clarity and learn from the people that we can see demonstrate the ultimate well-being of clarity in all aspects of their everyday lives, including the totally natural and beautiful inevitability of death.
It is wonderful to enjoy the repetition of the teaching in the Balanced View texts, audios and videos, where this ultimately relieving clarification of what we are is re-versed in thousands of different ways; ways that click clarity recognition into place in all of its subtle nuances and qualities. We increasingly know our nature exactly as it is - always, already free, inclusive of everything, beyond birth and death.

Ineffable Beauty

2011-04-16T00:06:00.000-07:00

By relaxing the emphasis on the limited play of belief systems and assumptions, the ineffable beauty of reality exactly as it is, timeless and spontaneously present, exhaults us and springs forth the open ended passionate orientation towards the benefit of all.

Meeting Candice O'Denver

2011-04-08T21:57:00.000-07:00

I was waiting, together with about 80 other people, in an attractive circular hall in Rishikesh, India, where a person called Candice O'Denver was scheduled to give a talk and present a teaching on actualising the vast potential of the human mind. It would be the first time for many of us, and the atmosphere, partly, was tangeable with doubting, questioning, and almost an impatience to debate. I sat fascinated to see what would happen - how could one deal with walking into a room so dynamic with expectation, and not always openness?

After some minutes, Candice entered the room........
She was completely worry free, worry free to an extent that you could actually feel her peace, there was not a trace of concern in her, nothing..... She simply stood smiling at the whole room for a minute, with a potency of freedom and a tangeably deep and spontaneous care for all beings that silenced every single one of us.
In no rush, without saying a word and before even taking her seat, she had answered every question in the room, pre-emptied all debates and soothed all doubts without them even finding their way into vocal communication. I was just astonished.

This was my first direct experience of an order of intelligence housed in a human being, that went far beyond anything I had ever whitnessed before, and yet, it was displayed with an air of total naturalness. It was literally life changing just whitnessing this right in front of my eyes, some part of me always suspected this level of potently beneficial being was possible, and available to all of us - and finally I had met somebody in whom it was instantly obvious, and who was offering every moment of her life to creating the opportunity and necesary support to bring anybody interested to the same discovery of potent benefit within and without themslves.

www.greatfreedom.org

Companion of Love

2011-04-01T18:39:00.000-07:00

A beautiful post among many, from Cheyenne Rivers' blog

"Clarity is the great companion and completely stable so we are able to face everything and avoid nothing no matter how difficult. This seamless soothing energy of total love and well-being has never left you, is always here, and will never leave. By allowing yourself the opportunity to completely take responsibility for all points of view, you are tapping into not only your complete true nature of naturally occurring love, but the connection with everyone and everything that we have always been looking for. One short moment equals all wisdom, all beneficial action, and for the benefit of all."

Spontaneously Respectful and Beneficial

2011-03-26T00:01:00.000-07:00

My first experiences of Great Freedom amounted to the single biggest shift in my life -in terms of my sense of the potential of human society to exist in a spontaniously respectful and beneficial way. The first few Open Meetings and teachings showed me that this was not just possible, but already in reality, as demonstrated by the founder and committed community of this recently-born Great Freedom organisation.
before this, the possibility that I may one day find this kind of culture to actually be in full swing, demonstrated by normal people in an everyday uncontrived way, had never so much has crossed my mind - so to suddenly be confronted with it was like winning the lottery, and yet seemed even less likely, and incomparably larger in its worth. It was the most surreal, fortunate and life changing event of my life!

Since then, my fortune has not wavered, having had all the support I could ever wish for and seeing with great rejoice, in myself and in my wonderful friends in the community, an increasing familiarity with this spontaneous altruism as being the natural state. When one leaves their experience unadorned with beleif systems or assumptions, then its expression is naturally altruistic. What a discovery! On a wide scale, the consequences of this discovery could potentially bring about a quality of society never seen before, and in those who are open and have discovered the Four Mainstays of Balanced View - it already has!
I feel totally blessed in every way, and to share that blessing with so many others is indescribable!
Thank you Candice!

www.greatfreedom.org

We Each Choose What Kind of Society We Have

2011-03-16T17:10:00.000-07:00

The foundations of a culture of gratitude and respect for the well-being of all, lives in the core of each person, in the form of their deepest longing.

With just a little open mindedness, such a prospect is irresistible when there is exposure to its possibility through the example and invitation of others who are demonstrating a society of mutual benefit for all, in their everyday actions, words and decisions. It is so important that such exposure is made available to everybody, and the necessary bridges of communication put in place to make the fundamental natural perfection of everything experientially accessible to any person from any background, either via face to face or virtual communication via the internet. This way, by the simple power of each person's commitment to living a life for the benefit of all, an entire world can see that it is possible, and an actual society that is based on gauging everything according to what will be of most benefit to all, can emerge naturally.

www.greatfreedom.org
www.balancedview.com

The Source of Light

2011-03-02T15:21:00.000-08:00

"Clarity outshines even the sun"
Gary Rainbow

Universal Intelligence

2011-02-12T15:01:00.000-08:00

It is the greatest relief, and the greatest good fortune to be introduced to our being nothing other than a rendering of the universe's intelligence. That our 'faults', gifts, sustinence, circumstances, desires, aversions along with every other concievable and inconcievable nuance of our being, has only the substance of the universe's intelligence. The universe has no other, and therefor rests as its totally undivided nature that cannot be anything other than pure benefit. We see that we do not need to assign any of our power to any project other than the total respect of our indivisibility with everything, the unparalleled honour of being a demonstration of nature itself, and to ongoingly explore the practical capacities to bring about benefit for all, that are empowered by reliance on the clarity of the universe's effortless intelligence.

The Balanced View Daily Reader

2010-12-31T00:50:00.000-08:00

You can sign up to receive the amazing posts from the Balanced View daily reader, conveniantly waiting for you in your email inbox every day!

Here is one post that I love:

Clarity Society
In very great clarity society, all afflictive circumstances are increasingly outshone by each individual’s powerful commitment to a single short moment of clarity.

True Freedom

2010-12-20T20:44:00.000-08:00

A beautifully complete and concise post from Toby Lewis' blog

"True freedom is to see beyond every adopted frame of reference and to recognise our power to bring incredible benefit to all."

The Clarity View

2010-12-12T18:17:00.000-08:00

Enjoy this post from Adrian Stephen's blog!

"Relying on clarity is a lifestyle choice that brings great and ever-increasing rewards. There is no point to get to in terms of a final destination. There is also nothing to get.
Clarity is the power to know, the easeful alertness and presence at the basis of all experience. You already have this.

Reliance on the Four Mainstays simply refocuses our attention from the points of view in our lives to the clarity view which is completely relaxed and potent.
Short moments of clarity, repeated many times until continuous is the sure-fire way to outshine all of our points of view with the super-beneficial clarity view."

Balanced View on Second Life!

2010-12-02T23:54:00.000-08:00

You can enjoy all of Candices second life talks here
If you would like more information on how to visit the incredible Balanced View center in Second Life please contact AdrianGodard@balancedview.com

Goa Season Starting Again Soon!

2010-11-26T15:25:00.000-08:00

See links below:
Nothing Effects Sky Like Awareness
Goa Schedule

The Era of Great Benefit!

2010-11-20T01:13:00.000-08:00

www.greatfreedom.org/theeraofgreatbenefit.html

Thank you so much Candice, I cannot describe how benefited I am by listenining to these talks!

There Are No Independant Phenomena

2010-11-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

Phenomena are empty of anything other than the entire universe

We Are Empowered With A Choice

2010-10-22T04:13:00.001-07:00

Suffering as it is = freedom from suffering

Avoidance of suffering = suffering

Clarity in Everyday Life

2010-10-14T15:57:00.000-07:00

By relaxing your hold on the way you think everything has to be, you allow for everything equally. You begin to experience everything as it is, and you experience yourself exactly as you are. There may be all kind of thoughts, emotions and sensations you've been avoiding, but once that avoidance stops, you just are as you are - open-hearted and open-minded.

Extract from the 'Clarity in Everyday Life' book, soon to be published on www.greatfreedom.org

There is No Two

2010-10-10T07:37:00.000-07:00

There is one with no other, and therefore there is only pure unopposed peace. There is no subject relating with an experience. The subject is the experience, and the experience is the subject.

Care

2010-10-02T01:24:00.000-07:00

In having the courage to allow my heart to be broken open by the pain of the whole world, with no longer any shifting around, life is turned upside down. Everything is seen to be free and inseperable, a sense of 'realness', responsibility and care ensues.

It's Our Choice

2010-09-18T17:05:00.000-07:00

Recognising the natural perfection of everything shakes clear the dependancy on victimhood, illuminates and grieves the arrogance of reifying limitations, and shows every perception to be the fire of love.

Final Relief

2010-09-11T08:36:00.000-07:00

The natural perfection of everything is equal to final personal relief.... spanning everywhere, through all times all at once.

It is apparant in every short moment, just as it is.

May the deepest benefit truly touch all beings

Heartbreak of love for all beings

2010-08-04T15:45:00.000-07:00

When our heart breaks - it is actually breaking open as love for all beings.

This becomes obvious to us when we do not try to edge away from our broken heart and just let it potentiate and flow to its full naturalness. With no attempt to manipulate, categorize or describe it, the limited view of 'me and my broken heart' is outshone by the obviousness of the essential nature of all appearances - unadorned universal empathy and love.

Just Emphasise Awareness

2010-07-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

Concerns about progress in awareness appear within awareness, which is their very resolution

Nothing Complicated To Do

2010-07-02T16:47:00.000-07:00

Rely on awareness for short moments, repeated many times, until it becomes automatic.

The Intelligence of Love and Wisdom

2010-06-02T18:32:00.000-07:00

The more we avoid ourselves exactly as we are, the more we avoid love and wisdom. When we stop avoiding (i.e. escaping, indulging or replacing) then we are gifted with the insight that there is nothing scary there to avoid. Every perception is the intelligence of love and wisdom.

The Power of Peace

2010-05-20T05:49:00.000-07:00

The most powerful way to change the world is to first come to peace with it exactly as it is.

Short Moments for the Benefit of All

2010-05-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

Relax and stop describing, relax and stop describing, relax and stop describing
until we are irreversibly certain about our innate freedom as awareness.

While doing this, we go about our practical daily business, orientating everything to the benefit of all, to the best of our ability.

Always Unconfined

2010-04-13T00:54:00.000-07:00

Recognizing that the nature of all phenomena is open, clear and ungraspable equals complete relief from the obsession of needing to control what is going on internally or externally.

Also, it is seen that the points of view of 'internal' and 'external' themselves are also ungraspable, pure clarity.

Short moments of recognition of the way things actually are unwinds the claustrophobic grip of both conceptual and non-conceptual frames of reference, resulting in increasingly spontaneous and ecstatic freedom beyond what was imagined to be possible when there were blind assumptions back-dropping ones experience of being alive.

Limitations only exist in relation to structures of understanding, when those structures are seen exactly as they are, without the unsteady confusion of rejection or indulgence, then they are directly known to have no authority or power of their own.

Limitation is just another face of the always-already unlimited, self-aware reality which encompasses everything.

Openness of Mind

2010-04-03T14:31:00.000-07:00

By taking short moments to relax all descriptions and assumptions about anything, the compulsion to believe in them settles and the suffering that they entail no longer concerns us. We are left with only openness of mind, with no need to prove or reject any view.
Openness of mind = freedom from suffering.

Fearlessness

2010-03-17T23:35:00.000-07:00

In the very moment fear arises, it simultaneously flowers and passes within the space of awareness, which remains unaffected, pristine and free. Since fear cannot be found even in the perception of fear, we start to learn to take the word fear and all of it's popular connotations lighly and find we are living life with increasing freedom.

Timeless Safety

2010-03-09T23:41:00.000-08:00

Awareness is not effected by any of our points of view.......

Notice this for short moments, and relax knowing the complete, timeless safety that it entails. This complete and timeless safety is the basic state of everything, irrespective of any condition or absence of any condition. Awareness is all-pervasive, it is completely satisfied. This is wonderful!

Reality Satisfied As It Is

2010-03-04T01:31:00.000-08:00

Personal peace, rooted in reality as it is, relieves us of the endless hamster wheel of chasing "better experiences" that never satisfy us.

True Love

2010-02-15T11:56:00.000-08:00

"True love is knowing you need nothing from anyone else for your well-being, it is knowing wholly and completely your already interconnectedness and completeness with all things. Then you are left simply appreciating and supporting every single person in your life to be the best they can be. Hooray for bright, perfect love!"
Katherine Ballam
greatfreedom.org/blogkatherine.html

Eternal Flame of Love

2010-02-04T20:39:00.000-08:00

"Just as fire is the essence of the sun, love is the essence of everything that appears"
Candice O'Denver
greatfreedom.org/videocandice.html

Great Freedom

2010-01-22T18:39:00.000-08:00

Relax mind and body for short moments, many times while going about everyday life. Over time the settled-openness that is experienced in these short moments pervades and empowers all actions with stability of mind and clear discernment. Games of avoidance and control relax, and everything is seen as it is.

In Complete Peace

2010-01-02T15:46:00.000-08:00

Natural awareness spawns all appearances, without any sense of graspability, dimensional origin or location.
Everything exists only as a unified self-experiencing moment, a moment that never began and lasts forever, always spilling wildly into itself, in complete peace.
Apparent extremes, along with their descriptive particularities are all one.

Appearances that feel natural are natural, appearances that feel unnatural are natural.
Natural, peaceful perfection is the context of all appearances, with nothing left out.
Every single nuance of being a human being, whether describable or indescribable, tangible or intangible, is all the tremendous beneficial power of the Basic State of Natural perfection.

Spontaneously Self Illuminated Reality

2009-12-21T16:57:00.000-08:00

Sitting again in my room at home, it's funny to notice that everything changes and nothing changes. I go and do so many things yet the basic fact of the here and now just blazes unchanged. Regardless of how much or little effort is made, success' or apparent failures incurred, it all joyously amounts to what it has always been - ungraspable, spontaneously self illuminated reality, profoundly satisfied exactly as it is.

Short Moments of Openness

2009-12-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

Leaving ourselves without assumptions, belief systems or agenda we are just as we are - open and free of any type of victim hood whatsoever. Circumstances, complaints, problems are seen to be so only if they are presumed to be so. For short moments many times, what a gift it is to recognise this as our own experience!

Although habitual viewpoints continue to arise, in relaxed openness they are not accepted or rejected and so there is effortless non-distraction in their immediacy. As no one way of seeing things is held to or avoided, multiple ways of seeing the same situation are all free to arise, giving a balanced view and deeper sensitivity and skill in any given situation.

Effortless in all Circumstances

2009-11-20T10:11:00.000-08:00

Being effortless in all circumstances, we find a tremendous power within ourselves. Short moments, many times.

Like the Summit of a Mountain

2009-11-16T11:51:00.000-08:00

Stability is naturally present when we take a moment to relax the need to arrange and control our experiences.

When we relax for that moment, we are spacious and carefree - relieved of the endless task of trying to be a certain way. In addition to this relief, we find that we have a higher sense of perspective, a balanced view, which is characterised by a fluidity of skillful conduct. It's is like being on the top of a mountain where you can see the landscape of any circumstance clearly and can orientate through it in a way that is of most benefit to all involved.

Reality of Joy

2009-11-11T15:31:00.000-08:00

Earlier in my life I had an undefinable reluctance to relax enough to allow joy within myself. There was always something more important to busy myself with! With a tone of somehow needing to keep things under wraps, keep myself in order, make sure I'm "on track", make sure I'm satisfied, make sure of something but not really knowing what!
In short moments of relaxing the need to follow this fuzz of habitual effort, reality shows us it's joy - a joy that is all encompassing and dependant on nothing.

Peaceful Nature is Primary

2009-11-04T09:06:00.000-08:00

"Each moment of peace tells the story of our origin"

Quoted from the book World Peace Yes We Can

Natural Perfection

2009-10-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

When everything is allowed to be as it is, there is the taste of natural perfection.

Since natural perfection characterises all experiences, its repeated recognition in short moments releases us from belief in the descriptional differences between this experience and that experience. It is seen that natural perfection is common to all of them, and the suffering of feeling like we need to gain control over what will happen softens out, leaving open hearted clarity.