Personal Mastery

From Knowledge to Embodiment

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / Leave a comment

It’s one thing to know about the teachings of Jesus. It is another thing to embody them.

For centuries, institutional religion has placed an almost exclusive emphasis on knowing about Jesus, about scripture, and about the teachings of the religion to which one belongs, while ignoring what Jesus himself modelled.

Knowing about something is limited to intellectual knowledge alone. One might be able to pass a written test on what Jesus said and taught. But can they live it?

More importantly, can they live it without having to be told, or because they’ve been threatened with damnation if they don’t. Actions that arise out of fear of threat, or because an outside perceived authority told us to are neither authentic nor sincere.

Embodiment transcends the limitations of doctrine and interpretations that have been handed down by an outside perceived authority. Embodiment clears the way for Love (God) to speak directly to our hearts, and in the way that is unique to each of us. Here we are able to access and live from the place of our own truth – not that which has been handed down by some outside perceived authority.

Jesus’ teachings were never meant to be intellectualized. His words were not meant to be blindly memorized and then spit out as proof that one is good at memorization. Instead, Jesus’ teachings were meant to be embodied in the same what that he embodied them.

Embodiment moves beyond the acquiring of knowledge, to the application of the teachings such that we are profoundly changed. In moving beyond knowledge to embodiment, we move away from the person that we were with our limited beliefs, conditioned fears, and unhealed wounds, and more and more toward Love. Love, in this instance is not an intellectual knowledge of, or idea about love. Instead, it is living as Love because we have turned Jesus’ teachings inward and have come to know, as Jesus did, ourselves as Love.

In the embodiment of Love, we move through life differently. We act, not because we are told or expected to, but because this is what Love wants from us. In embodiment, Love simply arises out of us naturally and without effort, because it is who we are and who we are meant to be.

How are you supporting yourself in being the embodiment of Love?

Supporting Embodiment

All of the online courses and trainings with Lauri Ann Lumby support you in embodiment. Utilizing mindfulness and creativity practices, you are supporting in moving beyond sheer knowledge, through transformation, and into the embodiment of each lesson. Check out the menu tabs above to learn more.

Pride is an Obstacle to Love

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As much as Jesus’ teachings have been convoluted by institutional religion, I still consider Jesus to be my teacher, and find profound guidance and wisdom in his words – especially when understood through the lenses of scholarship and Love.

Scholarship provides us with knowledge of the times in which Jesus was living, the social and political environment in which he found himself, and the context in which the authors of scripture were writing. We cannot even begin to understand scripture without sound scholarship.

Love, as we understand it here, is our Source, our Cause, our Purpose, and our Mission – that which some have called God. When we allow ourselves to be fully open to Source/Love, we can see beyond the human constructs and conditioning that have turned Jesus’ words into the cause of division, prejudice, hatred, and pride.

The author of the Book of Proverbs was correct in acknowledging that “pride goeth before the fall (Prov 16:18).”  It has been said that pride is the cause of our separation from God. More accurately, perhaps, we can understand pride as being that which has caused us to forget that we are Love, and in this forgetting, perceiving ourselves as being separate/rejected/forgotten by God. We might also understand pride as being the natural consequence of choosing the human condition and that it is out of pride that our original core spiritual wound arises, and it is out of that wound that all of our fears have arisen (See Authentic Freedom – Claiming a Life of Contentment and Joy for a deeper discussion on this).

Regardless of how we understand pride and its origin, the consequence remains the same. Pride is an obstacle to our knowledge and embodiment of Love.

Jesus spoke often of pride as an obstacle. Over and over and over, he admonished those in positions of perceived authority for their prideful behaviors. He called them out for drawing attention to themselves, lauding their religious or charitable actions, taking the seats of honor at banquets, putting themselves ahead of or over others, and for all the ways in which they made themselves appear special or better than others.

In contrast to Jesus’ warnings against prideful behaviors, he celebrated humility and acknowledged it as the greatest of human virtues. Over and over again, Jesus notes that “the last will be first,” meaning that it will be the humble who will remember their true nature, live as Love, and experience the contentment, peace, and joy that comes with that knowledge.

Jesus didn’t just preach humility. He embodied it. As Paul said in his letter to the Philippians:

Though he was in the form of God,
he did not regard equality with God
as something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.
Being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself,

and became obedient to death,
even death on a cross.

Phil: 2: 6-8

Through Jesus’ spiritual journey, he came to understand himself as One with God and sought to support his companions in coming to understand the same truth. Remembering this Oneness is the “source of eternal life” and the “Kingdom of God” as Jesus explained.  

Equality with God, however, was NOT something Jesus considered of himself, neither did he lead anyone down a path through which they might consider themselves equal to God. Instead, Jesus preached humility – the characteristics of which he described in detail through his teachings and provided by his example – echoed here by St. Paul.

Therefore, if Love is our intention, then humility must be our action.

Being Salvation

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In the Apocrapha of James (Nag Hammadi Library), Jesus makes a distinction between those who accompany him and those who pursue (follow) him:

“Instead of accompanying me, you pursued me.” – Jesus

Those who pursue (follow) are those Jesus identifies as:

  • Listening but not hearing.
  • Preaching but not living it out.
  • Memorizing but not embodying.
  • Chasing after Jesus as the cause of salvation without first being saved within themselves.

In this Jesus is calling out a kind of co-dependency among those who pursue rather than accompany – looking for an outside perceived authority to do the work of salvation for them.

In contrast, those who accompany Jesus, are known for:

  • Coming to know the Love that they are in Union with Source – as Jesus himself did.
  • Hearing Jesus’ teachings and applying them in their everyday lives.
  • Applying these teachings and in doing so, being transformed through the healing of separation and the return to Oneness.
  • Embodying Jesus’ teachings such that they understand that they are their own source of salvation.
  • Achieving the salvation that can only come from within, as Jesus taught.
  • Being that salvation in the world through the embodiment of Love such that others are inspired to discover and deepen that love within themselves.
  • Understanding that salvation is only the beginning of the journey. It is being salvation that the purpose of our lives is fulfilled.

We are all pursuers at some point in our journey, but the ultimate goal, as it relates to Jesus, is to accompany him on that journey of inner salvation, and then being that salvation in the world so that others too might know the fullness of Love that they are and be that Love in the world.

PS: We don’t have to call ourselves Christian or proclaim Jesus Christ as “our personal Lord and savior” to apply his teachings, thus embodying our original nature as Love. The Love about which Jesus spoke is universal and meant for everyone regardless of their race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, or nationality.

The Practice of Peace

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We find ourselves at a fragile time in our human history where violence and hatred seems to be more palpable and troubling. Please enjoy this FREE recording of the weekly spiritual service that I provide for the Order of the Magdalene Membership Community.

To learn more about our membership community and services provided there, please go HERE.

Revelation, Rapture, and Apocalypse

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With the recent (ongoing) war in Palestine and Israel, there has been an uptick in talk of the apocalypse, the rapture, and the end of days. This uptick is based on the belief of a fringe group of evangelical Christians that the return of Jews to the Holy Land and their eventual conversion to Christianity are both necessary for paving the way for “The Second Coming of Christ.”

Christian Zionism is an insult to our Jewish brothers and sisters and to the faith they rightly hold. It is also an affront to the Palestinian people who have been displaced and increasingly sequestered since the partition of 1948. Christian Zionism is a gross misrepresentation of what it means to be an adherent to the Love that Jesus embodied and taught. Finally, and the point of this writing, Christian Zionism’s beliefs are based on a grave misunderstanding of the writings of John of Patmos, specifically his creation of The Book of Revelation.

Throughout the centuries, The Book of Revelation has defied interpretation and has been used by many (if not most) to put forward their own fear-based agenda. The Book of Revelation falls within a specific and unique biblical genre, that of apocryphal writings. Apocryphal writings have one intention only: TO REVEAL. To reveal what is hidden. Unique to apocryphal writings are the language of code – a code that is known only to the community for and to whom they were written.

In the case of John of Patmos, he was writing to and for his own community of Christians who were suffering persecution under the Roman Emperor Nero. John was writing to remind them of the teachings they had already received. He was writing to encourage and support them in their ongoing endeavor to remember and live as Love – the Love that John learned from Jesus and that John was called to bring forth into the world. John wrote in a code that his community would understand. Like Jesus, John was writing in a symbolic language (parable), that would be fully understood by those who had received the fullness of Love, but which might confuse others.

The Book of Revelation was never meant to be a predication of future end times. It was not meant to herald “The Coming of Christ” as it has most often been perceived (Jesus coming out of the sky on a cloud to save all of humanity). It was not meant to predict plagues and horrors that would mark the end of days.

Instead, The Book of Revelation is an instruction manual for the inner journey of transformation. By following its instruction, we are each, in our own unique journey, led to the remembrance of Love, and supported in embodying that Love as Jesus did and as Jesus instructed his followers.

In embracing the guidance of this text, we will indeed experience “The Second Coming of Christ,” but not in the form of Jesus on a cloud.  Instead, we will come to know The Christ within us and in this experience our own salvation. This is not a salvation experienced in some heaven light years away. Instead, it is the peaceable kingdom Isaiah foresaw, the promised land that Moses pursued, and the kingdom of God about which Jesus spoke. This is a salvation that is present within ourselves and when known, leads us to the Love, peace, contentment, understanding, compassion, and joy that is our true nature. In this Love, we know that all of humanity is One and that this oneness is independent of religion, race, nation, or belief.

Come and explore this mysterious and often confusing book of the Bible from a different perspective while reclaiming the role of the Divine Feminine as the true heroine of this epic mythological tale. 

Victory of the Holy Bride shatters over 2000 years of patriarchal dogma that cast the Book of Revelation in the role of doomsday prophecy and presents to you the tools for discovering a profoundly simple truth that is the key to inner peace and the formula through which we endure the “times of tribulation” while building a whole new world – one rooted in peace, understanding, wisdom, harmony and love. 

Learn more here.

Can We Love Humanity Enough?

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The most radical form of love is knowing when to let go. This is the way that we are loved by our creator. Love made us. Then Love let us go so that we could live our own life, pursue our own dreams, make our own mistakes, distance ourselves from Love, only to hopefully and eventually find our way back. But indeed, out of love, our Creator let us go. Not intruding. Not interfering. Not interjecting its own intention or desire for our lives. Instead, our Creator just is. Present. Watching. Listening. Holding us in Love. All while letting us live our lives in our own way.  

Love means letting go.

This is the meaning of the story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32). The wise father, knowing his son, let him go. The father left his son to his own devices, knowing that his son’s wanderlust would not be quenched by forcing him to stay at home. He let him go to discover the world, apart from the love and protection of his father, where he could learn, and grow, have adventures, and make mistakes. It was through the father’s love that he let his son go. The father did not intrude. He didn’t go out and try to save his son or attempt to protect him from himself. Instead, the father let him be. In letting him be, the father never stopped loving his son. He never stopped waiting, watching, allowing, and hoping the best for his son. But he did let him go. And when the son returned, the father didn’t punish or shame him or taunt him for his mistakes. Instead, the father welcomed his son home with open arms and celebrated his return.

This is the radical kind of love that we are invited to embrace. Indeed, it may be in living this kind of radical love that we can finally be free from all the ways we wish, hope, dream, that humanity will one day work itself out, get its shit together, and learn to live as love. We cannot change those who don’t want to change, and we cannot heal those who don’t want to be healed. All we can do is be present.  Wait. Watch. Listen. And Allow. Humanity is working out its own salvation, in its own way, in its own time. And it is none of our business, except to be the Love that we are and welcome humanity home to that Love when they too are ready to embrace it.

Is Self Awareness the Road to Hell???

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This past week I learned of a sermon recently preached by a pastor of a local super-mega church. (I won’t name the church, but if you live in the Fox Valley of Wisconsin you might know of whom I speak.)  This pastor told his audience of thousands that “self-awareness, self-help, and personal development are the road to hell.”

WHAT!?  Not only is this bad theology, it’s scripturally inaccurate!  As it’s not my job to prove to fundamentalists that their beliefs are wrong, and since they won’t be able to hear my arguments anyway, I will speak instead to those who seek a more awakened view of scripture, including Jesus’ teachings.

Knowledge of self and the application of that knowledge is absolutely crucial for accomplishing what Jesus prays for us to do:

“The glory that you have given me
I have given to them,
so that they may be one,
as we are one,
I in them and you in me,
that they may become completely one,
and thus the world may know
that you have sent me
and that you have loved them
even as you have loved me.”

John 17: 22-23

In these words, delivered as part of the Last Supper Discourses, Jesus prays that his disciples (us) might come to know the union/oneness that he came to know in (that which he called) God. He spoke of this oneness as the kingdom of God. In this state of union, which Jesus found within himself through contemplation and prayer (MT 6:6), he found the peace, contentment and joy that define the kingdom that is right here in our midst (Lk 17: 21). It was also in this state where Jesus found guidance and direction and grew in the knowledge of his true nature as One with God as Love (1Jn 4: 7-12).

I could go on and on and on with scripture references that support growing in self-awareness and knowledge, and doing what we can to improve ourselves, but I won’t.  Suffice it to say that scripture (both Hebrew and Christian – canonical and non-canonical) is abundant with invitations to become the best possible versions of ourselves and that to do that we first uncover all those places within ourselves that have forgotten our true nature as Love, and do the deep inner work of healing those areas of woundedness. Yes, there is a Source that assists us with that healing, AND we have to want to be healed.  As Jesus himself said, “Ask and it will be given to you. (Mt 7:7-8)”  

Now, to the fundamentalist preacher’s point, the only person to whom self-knowledge is the road to hell is the one who doesn’t want to know the truth about themselves. For the rest of us, the path of self-knowledge is the path of liberation and salvation. Yes, it’s a challenging path, as it is in the journey of self-awareness that we discover all that is not part of us and must do the often difficult work of letting those things go (like the church we grew up in) while allowing ourselves room to grieve those perceived losses.  It is also on the path of self-awareness that we uncover our gifts and how we are called to use these gifts for the sake of our own fulfillment and in service to the betterment of our world.  As Jesus once said:

 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. (MT 5: 14-16)”

The Ego Trap of Future Thinking

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 3 Comments

As human beings we are gifted with an instinctual response to pain. This response urges us to do whatever we can to escape pain. In many cases, this instinctual escape response has saved our lives. It may have caused us to pull our hand away from a flame, to run from a burning building, or to seek shelter in the face of a storm. This instinctual response has proven beneficial when facing life or death situations and has ensured that humanity would endure, despite the hardships of being human.

An important quality of this escape response is that it serves us when danger is imminent. This instinctual response is meant for the present moment only, and was never meant to become part of our ongoing psychology. Animals, for example, experience those moments of fight or flight and then are done with them, free to move about their daily lives with a certain measure of ease. They do what they need to do to obtain nourishment. They sleep. They play. They poop. They mate. They don’t waste their time on worry.  As such, they live their lives free of the ongoing obsession with preparing to flee (or fight).

Such is not the case with human beings. Instead, we have been conditioned to exhaust our thoughts and our energies with preparing for possible threat so much so that the present moment itself has become a threat from which we must escape. This is where future thinking has come in.

Future thinking is anything and everything that takes us out of the present moment. (Past thinking does the same thing, but in the opposite direction).

Future thinking arises out of the idea that where we are right now isn’t good enough.

We’re not happy enough. We’re not well enough. We don’t have what we want. We want for more. We’re not pretty enough or skinny enough. We don’t yet own red-soled shoes. We’re lonely. Alone. Afraid. We’re not good enough, rich enough. We aren’t famous. The goal we once set out to accomplish has died on the vine. We haven’t yet met our soulmate. Love has eluded us. We’ve accomplished all we set out to do and we still find ourselves dissatisfied.

Future thinking casts us into the hell of wishing, hoping, dreaming, praying, manifesting, for that which we do not currently have, enforcing the illusion that there is something out there, in the future, that will finally make us happy and ease the pain of being human. Future thinking then causes us to seek outside of ourselves, reach outside of ourselves, throw money at things outside of ourselves that promise to have the secrets to what out there, and in the future, will make us feel better – take away and ease our pain.

Literally every industry is guilty of enforcing future thinking. Education that tells us we will have a meaningful job and abundant wealth after investing thousands on their degree. Healthcare that tells us this treatment will save us, and while there might only be a 0.03% chance of a cure, it will be worth the millions of dollars spent and months of agony for the 0.03% chance we might be cured. Corporations who promise their product will guarantee happiness, make you beautiful, stop the signs of aging, help you lose weight, become cured of … etc. Religion for promising our suffering will be rewarded by a lifetime of happiness in the afterlife or that our prayers will make our circumstances change. Self-help programs which promise wealth and happiness. The Secret and similar new thought programs which tell us our future depends on our good thoughts. Astrology that promises us love and money after x,y,z planet becomes aligned in this perfect way. Psychics who promise better times ahead. Mediums who promise that if we heal the wounds of our ancestors all will be well. Shamans who promise to remove the demon from your second chakra which is blocking your way to wealth. New Age and Ascension practitioners who keep promising if we buy their program, we will receive the codes we need to open our pathways to love, happiness, and wealth.

The key words used in future thinking are: If…then

If you do this, then you will get that. The devil (an outward manifestation of the inner adversary/The Ego), used this trick with Jesus in the story of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. (Ref Luke 4: 1-14)

“If you turn this bread into stone then you will prove to me you are the son of God.”

“If you worship me, I will give you all these as your kingdom.”

“If you throw yourself down from this parapet you will prove to me God’s words that the angels will pick you up.”

Today’s future thought purveyors are no different. “If you do what we tell you, buy what we are selling, believe as we believe, do as we describe, THEN all your dreams will be fulfilled, and your pain and suffering will come to an end. But the truth is, NONE of these have the power to change the present moment, neither do they have the power to change the human experience.

Pain and suffering are the consequences of being human. So are happiness and joy. It is all part of our human journey and there is absolutely nothing we can do to escape this. There is no magic pill, right thought, or future fantasy that will change the reality of being human.

The key to finding peace and contentment in the human experience has nothing whatsoever to do with the future, and instead has everything to do with being fully present to the NOW. Jesus did not say the kingdom of God was in the future. He said it is in our midst, right here, right now, within and among us (Luke 17:20-21). The NOW is not something to escape. It is something to embrace, allowing ourselves to be fully present to what is right now, instead of wasting our time wishing, hoping, dreaming, fantasizing for a better tomorrow.

Disclaimer: I fully admit to being occupied with future thought myself, throwing my money at future thought purveyors and making future thought promises myself. It’s an ego trap I admit to having fallen into and I am making decisions today that are helping me to unravel from this trap. Join me if you feel so-called.

The End of the Guru Age

/ Lauri Ann Lumby / 1 Comment

For the past 5000-10000 years (since the advent of hierarchy), we have been conditioned to believe that there is some outside force who:

  1. Is the source of Truth (universal Truth and our own truth).
  2. Is the cause and source of salvation.

Every tradition has its own names for these outside perceived authorities: guru, priest, savior, psychic, etc. For all these years, people have sought after these outside perceived authorities for guidance and direction in their lives, hoping for them to tell them what to do and how to live their lives. During this time, people have also sought after those who others have told them will save them (from whatever it is they need saving). For thousands of years, people have given their money, their soul, their devotion, and their worship to these outside perceived saviors when all along they have within them the vehicle and knowledge for their own salvation.

There is no one outside of us who can save us! Period!

Jesus knew this. The Buddha knew this. Indigenous teachers knew this. And yet humanity has taken and twisted their messages in such a way as to further condition society’s addiction to outside saviors.

Jesus did not come to save us in the way we’ve been taught! He was not some divine sacrifice for humanity’s “sins.” (In the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, Jesus is quoted as saying, “There is no sin.”)  Jesus never said that we had to proclaim him our personal Lord and Savior in order to be saved. These are the hierarchy’s words used to enforce humanity’s obedience to the religion they created in Jesus’ name.

Instead, Jesus taught his companions how to access and take root in the salvation that was already present within them. He showed them how to unhinge from the hierarchical conditioning under which they had been enslaved. He supported them in finding the source of their own inner truth and to understand that this source (which Jesus called Love) is God within them.

It was for this that Jesus was killed. He spoke Truth to power, questioning the status quo, and challenging the culture of codependency that had been fostered by the self-appointed religious and political authorities who benefitted from those who feared them.

Two thousand years ago, Jesus, and others like him, presented a new (original) example of personally responsibility to our own Truth and to the Source of salvation within us. Today, we find ourselves at the threshold of the world they envisioned and where the fruits of their labors are finding their fulfillment. Here we are being given a profound choice: we can continue to remain enslaved by the guru mindset where our salvation and the path of our truth are only accessible through some outside perceived authority, or we can enter into the new world where we are our own guru – knowing that the Source of Truth is within us, and that this is the true path to salvation.

In other words:  stop throwing your money and obedience to some external source of Truth and learn how to find the answers within.

Jesus Never Promised Utopia

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Jesus NEVER spoke about or promised utopia.  He never said that heaven would be brought to earth.  He never promised the golden age in which there would be peace on earth and that humans would live in peace.  In fact, he said quite the opposite, “there will always be poor among you,” “render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.”  Not once did he bother himself with the politics of humanity.  He never challenged or even mentioned the Roman rulers of the culture in which he lived.  And if he did bother himself with religion, it was to remind the religious leaders of the love that was at the core of their beliefs.  No, Jesus did not promise peace on earth and good will toward men and he did not work to make the world anew.  Instead, he made one promise, and one promise only:

The kingdom of God is within you.

THIS was the good news that Jesus preached – that the kingdom of God – the experience of peace, love, joy, harmony and contentment is right here, right now, when we take the time to go within and remember.  Jesus then demonstrated how remembering this truth of our original nature, brings forth all kinds of miracles in our lives.  In and through this connection, we come to know ourselves, we come to know our unique giftedness and we come to understand and then become empowered in how we are called to use these gifts for the sake of our own fulfillment and in service to others.

As Jesus taught his disciples, achieving this peace is an inside job and has absolutely nothing to do with what is going on in the outside world.  Nothing.  As Jesus himself demonstrated, we can be experiencing the most unspeakable form of torture (death on a cross) and still find this peace. 

Jesus taught his disciples how to remember the kingdom of God that was already there within them.  The word Jesus used to remind them of how to access this peace has been translated repent.  In the original Greek, however, this word has nothing to do with sin or punishment.  Metanoia (repent), means turning again and again and again and again to the place within where we know love, peace and joy, that which some might call God.  Period.  It is as simple as that. 

When the world out there disturbs us and causes us to fear, turn within.  When we are distracted by the events of the world that speak of violent, hatred, suffering, war, turn within.  When someone betrays us or breaks our heart, turn within.  When we experience loss, disappointment, condemnation, ridicule, turn within.  HERE is where utopia lies – not in some time or place light years away, not in some perfect alignment of the stars or when we finally think the right thoughts.  Heaven on earth is right here in the core of who we are when we take Jesus’ advice and remember.