Presence

In this Pulse of Spirit blog, I’ve been writing about the seven-dimensional reality in which we live and how the higher vibrational ranges of it activate and empower the lower ranges. Without that activation, our thinking suffers, emotions turn dark, and the human spirit deflates and loses hope.

Here are three names for what is at a higher vibrational level: Power, Presence, and Wisdom.

What is Presence? We are talking about more than the existence of a thing and more than the existence of an energy. We are referring to the Presence of Being. We are naming the existence and nearness of a higher state of Self. We are speaking of Divine Presence.

We could refer to Divine Presence using more familiar religious-sounding words. However, it might then seem that we are speaking about religious belief or dogma. But we’re not. We are referring to Reality. And how do you know it is real? When you experience it.

What stops people from experiencing Presence?

There are so many ways that people have explained the answer to that question. Here is a simple word for the answer: self-activity.

Here is how Merriam-Webster defines self-activity:

…independent and especially self-determined activity.

What is a self-active presence? It is human personality devoid of a higher Presence. It is selfhood that is self-created. It might be funny or entertaining. It might be charismatic and compelling or attractive and seductive. But if it is motivated by what is within the four walls of the immediate human experience, if it is not bringing a Presence that transcends human personality, it is a self-active presence, and something is missing.

The essence of who we are lives in the higher vibrational ranges of human experience. So, when a person’s experience of themselves leaves that out, they are not being who they are. None of us truly are the self-active human personality devoid of Higher Presence.

This is not a statement of moral judgment. It is a compassionate recognition of what happens for us as human beings if self-activity takes over.

The formula for the solution to this problem is simple and effective.

The first step is to turn down the volume on the self-active personality. How the self-active personality manifests is different for each person. We each have our own personality tendencies. And it is not a question of judging which aspects of personality are good and which are bad, then turning up the good ones and turning down the bad. That is all part of the self-active experience of self.

As long as the human personality is self-active, it is dominated by a vibrational pattern that interferes with the vibrations of the Higher Self. That interference pattern makes it impossible for those higher vibrations to fully activate and influence the person’s experience. So, the person has to be willing to let the sense of self become neutral, not attempting to be good or to eliminate the bad. They just have to allow the personality to come to a place of stillness from the standpoint of self-activation.

Nature abhors a vacuum, and so does human experience. So I am not suggesting that a person attempt to stay blank. I am not suggesting that we should have a personal presence that is a void. It is just that the self-activity of personality has to subside so that the interference pattern diminishes enough for the individual to tune in to a Higher Presence. Then the vibrations of Higher Presence can resonate in and through the person. Once that process begins, it can increase over time to the point that the personality is animated by Higher Presence. It is no longer self-active. The person knows who they are, and their Presence fills their world.

Times of heightened Attunement with Higher Presence are sacred. We can feel the holiness of what we are touching and knowing. And there are times of intensified Attunement with Higher Presence we share with others. In such times, there can be a heightened stillness of self-activity so that the activation of Higher Presence can intensify and descend deeply into a person and emanate through them to their world. This is the principle behind the Attunement process.

But most of our lives don’t involve such intensified experiences. Having opened ourselves to Higher Presence, it abides in us and flows through us in the living of our life.

There is a passage in the Bible that addresses this process.

Much of the original translation of the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English was done by the English scholar William Tyndale in the 16th century. His translation showed up in the King James Version of the Bible that is common today and is reflected in other translations as well. It was William Tyndale who originally translated the words from the Creation Story, Let there be light. 

It was Tyndale’s hope that his translation into English would be so clear that the Bible would be known by the common people, including the boy behind the plow. So he translated in the clear, simple language of his day.

We speak the English of today, about 500 years after William Tyndale completed his translation. So, what was modern and current to the people of his day might sound antiquated and obscure to us. If we are able to correct for that in our own mind and appreciate Elizabethan English, it comes alive.

In this case, to amplify this consideration of Higher Presence, I am taking the liberty of translating a verse from the Book of Isaiah (55:6) into the English of today.

Seek the Presence while it may be found. Call upon the Presence while it is near.

We could think of these words as an instruction to the seeker, someone seeking the Presence and longing to know it. Actively seek it. Call upon it.

Here at Sunrise Ranch, where I live, that is our invitation. You do have to look for it. You could be in the kitchen or garden, or any place on Sunrise Ranch, and you might not seek it or call upon it. You might walk around, oblivious to the Presence.

The same is true wherever you are on the planet. And that is the experience for many people. They can be so absorbed in a self-active personality that they ignore the Presence. And there is something active they must do if they are to know it.

That is one perspective from which to understand what Isaiah was saying, the perspective of the seeker. But what would it look like if you saw it from Isaiah’s perspective?

What did he mean by saying “…while it may be found”? What did he mean when he said, “…while it is near”?

Divine Presence is eternal. It is infinite. It is omnipresent. So, isn’t it always available? Isn’t it always near?

The Presence is always near, always closer than breathing. So, was he an ignorant man that he should say such a thing?

I will give you my take. He was saying that people could find the Presence at the time he said those words because he was there, bringing the Presence. Not that it is impossible to find it any other time. But the Presence becomes immediately available when someone knows the Presence and it is emanating through them. This is someone who is saying, It can be found because of me.

Call upon the Presence while it is near. Why was it near? It was near because he was near. He was bringing the Presence.

So how about us? Is that what we say?

You can find the Presence because of me. You can call upon it and seek it and find it. It is near to you because I am near to you.

If we are lost in self-activity, the Presence is not shining through. But if it dawns on us that if we tune down our self-activity and tune in to the Presence ourselves, we convey the Presence and make it available. We bring it close to the people in our life and the world where we live. I would think that if that dawned on a person, it would make them ecstatic over the possibility of doing so.

It excites and inspires me. How about you?

Perhaps you would like to speak these words with me, owning them for yourself:

Seek the Presence while it may be found. Call upon the Presence while it is near because of me.


Subscribe
Notify of
guest

8 Comments
Newest
Oldest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Anne-Lise Bure
Anne-Lise Bure
March 9, 2023 9:54 am

Said with you, David – ‘Seek the Presence while it may be found. Call upon the Presence while it is near because of me.’

Blessings All – who stand with you in this, may our radiant attractive Presence become so compelling that those who wish to join us, gladly do so out of their free willing, and fullness , and ‘urgency’ – we all wish to be whole and fulfilled.

So let it be.

Thank you so much for Standing in the Presence so clearly and wisely and caringly.

Kari Bye
Kari Bye
March 5, 2023 8:24 am

The presence I bring, into any situation, can make a difference. In the awareness of that, my presence is refined, and more clearly reaching my world without my self-active interference.

Sece
Sece
March 4, 2023 5:01 pm

David,
This message resonates so deeply. I know the truth of it, from the depths of my Soul. Having gone through many cycles of turning down self-activity, I see now how the Presence is ever increasing in my unique experience. It IS SO EXCITING to see and to know that the Presence that is coming through me and through WE, is indeed bringing the transformative power to our world. I SEE the evidence. And it is glorious!

Fiona Gawronsky
Fiona Gawronsky
March 4, 2023 7:20 am

We have a celebrated Rugby captain in South Africa, Siya Kolisi. He is a Xhosa, growing up in the Eastern Cape Province – poor and rural. Yet, through sporting prowess, he got a scholarship to a very good school. It was hard for him, however, to live in two worlds. His humble home-life was full of abuse. The posh school was his weekly respite, yet it was not his culture. He went through his tribal initiation rites to be recognized a man in his culture; hard to explain to his ‘white’ mates! He was a man without a true sense of himself, taking to bouts of drinking and bad company. With a hard-knock life, and a passion for sport, he has emerged a hero. It would make you cry.

“Master Class” is a play about opera diva Maria Callas giving a master class to aspiring music students – it is currently on stage in Cape Town. In the role, Callas is abrasive but speaks from deep experience – in real life, she sang with not only passion but with an unmatched intensity that shaped her voice. It was not just personality, or the portrayal of a character that electrified audiences, it was something else.

In the play, Maria uses the German word mut, meaning courage; as having boldness, nerve, heart, attitude. Perhaps, deep in the cauldron of oneself, brews true greatness. Like rugby player, Kolisi, she brought her whole life onto the stage.

I wonder if I can match that? I think this is what presence requires in order to become genuine in the outer world.

Maverick
Maverick
March 2, 2023 11:43 pm

I’ve only been reading your Pulse articles for maybe half a year, but I’d have to say this is the best. You’ve shown me that you understand how spirituality works itself out in our lives.

They just have to allow the personality to come to a place of stillness from the standpoint of self-activation.” Oh, the benefits of entering into the stillness — while it may appear that nothing’s happening to those who love activity, entering the place of stillness ushers in divine forces. “Be still, and know that I AM God.” There are many who are so conditioned by self-activity that they have great issues with this concept of being still.

And it’s great how you mention the thought from Isaiah, how the onus is on us to seek out the Presence. I don’t know all the reasons why that is, but one of them is that God, or whatever you call the Divine Being, isn’t about controlling people (contrary to what many religions propose). We must do the inviting if we want to experience the Presence; we must be convinced that the Divine will make it worth our time and effort. “Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it” is the way the Psalmist expressed it (81:10), the implication being that the Divine doesn’t force anything on us; we must trust enough to open ourselves up. My experience is that when we do that, we’re blessed beyond measure. Even when Jesus wanted to heal someone, he’d always determine whether they wanted to be healed; never forced himself on anyone. And as Ron Free mentioned, if you’ve seen Jesus, you’ve seen the Father — that’s what God is like.

Tara
Tara
March 2, 2023 9:56 pm

Thank you David, I appreciate the insight, it’s very helpful! – “As long as the human personality is self-active, it is dominated by a vibrational pattern that interferes with the vibrations of the Higher Self. That interference pattern makes it impossible for those higher vibrations to fully activate and influence the person’s experience. So, the person has to be willing to let the sense of self become neutral, not attempting to be good or to eliminate the bad. They just have to allow the personality to come to a place of stillness from the standpoint of self-activation.”

It excites and inspires me to say Seek the Presence while it may be found. Call upon the Presence while it is near because of me.

Katie-Grace
Katie-Grace
March 2, 2023 5:03 pm

Said with you – Seek the Presence while it may be found. Call upon the Presence while it is near because of me.

Blessings All

Ron Free
Ron Free
March 2, 2023 4:30 pm

David, your words remind me of words attributed to Jesus when he said something to the effect: …if you have seen me you have seen the father. Sounds similar to me to what Isaiah was saying. Both men could be seen because they were physically present on earth. Nowadays, to my knowledge at least, that is no longer the case.

That doesn’t mean the Presence of the Father is no longer available to us, but whereas Jesus and Isaiah could be seen, heard and known on Earth, they have long since ascended unto the Father. But there have always been human beings who embodied the Divine Presence.

What about us? Is that not our purpose for being here on earth? To not only embody the Spirit of God, but also to exemplify the process of Ascension?

I give deep thanks, David, for your example in this regard, as well as the examples of our Spiritual Ancestors… Uranda, Martin, Moses, Abraham…there is quite a long list actually.

How blessed we all are!

8
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x