Bursting Wide Open!

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From Dr. James Mellon, 6/13/21

So when this song popped up on my screen, the music video of this song really got me. Because on the surface, you can imagine that this song is about somebody meeting someone, finding their soulmate, finding the love of their life, and thinking to themselves, finally, I found you, now I don't have to liv"e without you anymore.

And at the beginning of the video, he's finding this girl, and they fall in love. And then there's their wedding. And then there's one moment where she walks past a pillar and comes out the other side, fully pregnant. And I just, I had a "William moment," I just burst into tears, and I'm watching this and then the baby's born and, and so the whole thing went from, I don't have to live without you with the love of my life. I don't have to live without you, my child. But then by the end of the song, I was like, wait a minute, this is about enlightenment. This is about

I don't have to live without the person I know myself to be anymore.

I don't have to live -- because when the child started running and playing, I realized that both parents were putting all of their love on this child, and realizing that it was all about -- the entire song came to be about self discovery, finding this little child, giving it every chance in the world to find itself. Tthat it never has to live in a world where it feels alone, because it knows who she is. It was a great little girl. Of course, you know, having lost my daughter, my own daughter three years ago, you know, it was just so emotional for me. And when I got to "I don't have to live without you anymore," I had this very visceral feeling all over my body of like, No, I don't, I can reinterpret this. Yes, Nora's not here. But I never have to live without her. And so it was such a beautiful, beautiful way tol, well, start my week, finding the song.

I want to go to the beginning of the lyrics, it says, "Way beyond the stars was a dream there waiting for a dreamer." So way beyond the stars there's a dream waiting for a dreamer.

So you are the dreamer. And within you are all of these things just waiting for you to dream them.

Way beyond this life that you're living right now, this very physical world that you live in right now, is something so amazing, just begging you to hear it, to listen to it, to dream it up. And I do mean dream it up into the highest level of consciousness and then find your way to living it out loud.

He goes on to say, "I never saw it coming. Then one day, I saw it coming. And there was you, you, you. Riffing off of what William said, y'all have been in this teaching for as long as you've been in it, if even if this is your first day, you're here, you were brought here on purpose, for purpose, by purpose.

So that discovery of who you are, that moment when it's like oh my god, I'm not all of that. I don't care what that was. I'm this.

I am the very presence of the Divine. That's who I truly am.

That's who I really am. And I don't have to live without you anymore. I don't have to go back to all that old stuff. He says "How could it be so that a heart this full could burst wide open? Be re-awoken." And I love that he made up that word because there's no such word as re-awoken. It's re awakened, but it doesn't rhyme with open. I love that. Why re-awoken? Did you know what he meant? We all knew what he meant. So it's a valid word. Re-awoken.

So how could it be so that the heart this full could burst wide open, be re-awoken? The title of my talk today is "Bursting Wide Open." And that's what I'm here to get you all to do today. Did y'all hear him? He went? "Oh".

But that is what I want you to do today. Are you ready to burst wide open? See you are, I know you are. Right. So to burst wide open.

So my call to you today is this: if you are ready to burst wide open, what are you waiting for, an invitation?

Are you waiting for something to happen? to burst wide open, because here's the thing. It may or may not happen.

But what's happening inside of you, is the only reason you need to burst wide open.

When you get to tap into what you really are, who you really are inside, there's your invitation to burst wide open. William's correct. That day when you suddenly realize what this teaching is all about. These guys, when they did their panels yesterday, when they're sitting there spouting out what they know. And finally hearing, congratulations, you passed, it's like, there you go, burst wide open. I know who I am. Let's all say that. I know who I am.

Now, the more you mean it, the more you really know who you are, bursting wide open is a given. It just happens. That's who we are. That's what we are.

Rumi said this, if you could give me that slide, William. Rumi said this,

"Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames."

Who's ready to burst into flames? You are come up here, we have a whole trick set up. No. So set your life on fire. Sometimes you really do have to set it on fire to figure out what's happening. How many of you -- when was the last time you really set your life on fire? And I don't really mean where you like, took these big chances and everything fell apart? I'm not talking about that, although that's one version. But I mean,

When's the last time you really set your heart on fire?

What does it take for that to happen? Sometimes it just takes music for me. Sometimes I can just play the music so loud and dance all over the house. Just dance and have fun. And that bursts me into flames. And I have fun. I'm generally alone when this happens.

Seek those -- and here's the other part of this -- seek those who fan your flames.

Do you know why most people don't set their lives on fire?

Because they have surrounded themselves with people who don't set their lives on fire. Because they have somehow become accustomed to the ordinary life of just living from morning to the afternoon to the evening to bed.

That's not how we were really brought into this world. The baby doesn't know what time it is. How many of you have raised children? Did they ever know what time it was in those early days? No, if they were hungry at 2am, they just let you know. That's who we truly are.

We are these babies inside, these infants of passion waiting to just let ourselves be known to the world.

But you must find and cultivate those people in your life that see you that way. That know you, know that that's who you are, that honor that's who you are. So that when you decide to just turn something on the radio and start dancing goofily around the house, they're fine sipping their coffee and watching you. And maybe, just maybe the fire will hit them, and they'll start dancing with you. Are you ready for that kind of challenge in your life? To live that way? I don't see a lot of nodding heads. I think most of you are thinking it over. Okay, we'll keep going and see how you do by the end. Because that's just the beginning of my charges for you today.

So, the next slide, William. Emily Dickinson said this,

"The soul should always stand ajar, ready to welcome the ecstatic experience."

The ecstatic experience. So here's a question I have for you.

When was the last time you felt ecstatic?

Did someone just say last night? Good for you. The rest of you. When was the last time you felt ecstatic? I want you to just think about that word, put it in your mouth. Just say it. Ecstatic. Ecstatic. When was the last time you actually felt that, that you really felt this, this amazing -- I have to tell you. So I changed my routine.

I have a whole new morning routine. And right now when I wake up in the morning, I literally fall out of bed and get dressed with whatever I've left over from the day before and leave the house and start walking. And I walk for a half an hour, a fast walk, and I see everything. I don't just look. I see everything.

And this morning. Talk about having an ecstatic experience, because it can be this simple. This morning, I was walking around a golf course, which you're probably not allowed to do but it was early, no one noticed. And I'm walking around a golf course and this little rabbit started popping and I just kept walking and then I noticed it was kind of hopping after me and I just turned and stopped and looked at it and it went on its little back paws and just looked up at me, and was like shaking its head. I was like, What? And my heart was just so -- and then the sprinklers went on. And it ran away. And so did I.

But I had this moment, I was like, this is so awesome. I was talking to a rabbit. And I was getting a bath simultaneously. And I just went running along my way, and the sky was gorgeous. And I was like -- and I knew I had this quote, to come in here and talk about and I was like, This is what it means to be ecstatic.

But what did it take? It took me getting out of bed at 515 in the morning, throwing on clothes, and just going for a walk, trusting that the universe was going to show me something. Something. And I didn't care what. I wasn't outlining it, saying, here's what I'm gonna see. Here's how it's gonna work. No, it was just like, here I am. I surrender to all of it. And then I get little Peter Cottontail coming up just talking to me.

So when was the last time -- and I mean, ecstatic. When was the last time you had a moment like that?

Here's the thing about those moments. They don't just come oh so very seldom They're there, every moment. I can have one right now. If I want one, and I'm choosing it, just looking out at all of your faces. I know most of you don't get to be in the position. I'm in that I'm standing up here. But if you did, and you got to stand up here and look out at everybody's faces. I know some people are afraid of that. I'm not, clearly, I'm not afraid of that. I love that. I absolutely love that.

And here's the funny part of this. When I was first starting out in ministry, this was the scariest part because I was an actor. I love acting, I've starred in Broadway shows. And I've acted all over the world. And I have no problem acting, hiding behind a character, playing a character.

When you get up like this? Even when I used to be the singer at Dr. Walker's church, you get up and sing. There's no character to hide behind. Right, Mindy? It's just you. I now love that. But you know, what was the -- you know, what shifted me? I finally remembered who I was.

Once I remembered who I was, there's nothing that isn't fun. There isn't anything that's that you can be afraid of.

So are you willing, today, and I mean today, to find some moment to find ecstatic joy in your life? Yes? And I don't even mean you have to go searching for it. I mean, you have to be open to it. Because if you're willing to just be open to it, I guarantee you, it's gonna hit you, it will show up. And it can be the most subtle thing. So don't think it has to be a marching band coming down the street. It can be the most -- the quietest thing, which Mindy sang a couple weeks ago. Would you give me the next slide, William. So back to Rumi,

"Stop acting so small. You are the universe in ecstatic motion."

When I say I remember who I am, it's not that I remember everything that I've done. That's not what I mean. Not "I remember who I am." I am an actor, a singer, a father, a husband. No, not that.

When I say I remember who I am. I'm understanding it now on a quantum level. That all there is is this creative energy, that we are nothing more or less than this infinite creative energy. That is part of everything. It's the entire universe, moving itself through me.

So when he says stop acting so small, you are the whole universe in ecstatic motion.

There is a creative energy inside of you that is just begging you, begging you to say Cheryl, do you not hear me see me, feel me, think me, know me, live me? I don't know where that came from. But that felt good.

That's what's going on inside of you at all times. No matter what. Even if you're in the midst -- Holly -- of your most, most struggling piece of arithmetic in your job. Within that is still ecstatic joy, somewhere, somewhere.

And I guarantee you, if you live life from that premise, you're going to find more joy in your life than you ever knew could happen.

Because you will no longer be just looking for the problems. You will no longer just be aware of what's not working.

Because that's what quantum physics is all about. Teaching us that where we put our attention expands.

And if we constantly spend our lives, putting our attention on the problems, they're just going to expand. But if you just collapse them and come over here and put your attention on who you truly are, these get handled effortlessly, easily. And with even some joy involved.

So. Conclusion. Set your life on fire. Everybody ready to do that? Great. And that was better than last time. So we're entering the dawn of a new day here at this center. I think about almost 50 years ago when Dr. Tom created this center, and I am a huge fan of Dr. Tom. He was one of my mentors as I was becoming a minister in RSI. That little man, that little powerhouse had so much fire in him. Yes? How many of you remember Dr. Tom? Great, yes, let's give it up for him. So he had so much fire in his belly as Ernest Holmes said, he really did.

And you know, stop acting so small, you are the universe in ecstatic motion. Dr. Tom Costa was the universe in ecstatic motion. They didn't call him Dr. Love for nothing. Because he really knew that he was love only.

And so right now at this center, we are on the precipice of stepping into a fire, a gigantic field of pure momentum and energy and expansion and growth. This teaching is at an apex, which is willing and ready now to be the floor of the next jump. And it is time, yes? It is time for us -- if you would go to that next slide there, William, it is time for us. Don't feel so lonely. The entire universe is inside you.

You know, next week, we're gonna have this big meeting and we're going to talk about going independent. Don't feel so lonely. Don't think independence is about suddenly becoming one thing in the universe. No, it's about giving ourselves the opportunity to actually allow the entire universe to move through us. So that we can separate ourselves from those that do not want to see that and step into the world saying,

We are one, one immense, enormous, fabulous, expansive teaching. And that teaching says that right where I am, God is. Right where I am, the universe is ready to just ignite and take off.

So I invite you, as you go through this week to really, really set yourself on fire. Set your heart on fire, or as Dr. Holmes says, as Ernest Holmes says,

Find the fire in your belly and then let it lift itself up to your heart.

Feel it here, feel that fire, feel that passion, feel that ecstatic emotion that comes over you when you find out that who you are, is not who you thought you were.

Who you are, is the entire universe. The entire ocean in a drop. It is time -- go to the next slide, William -- it is time for every single one of us to not see that slide. Go back to my first slide, talk title.

It is time for every single one of us to burst wide open. Are you ready to do that?

Ready to do that? Let me hear you. Yeah. Okay, so you've got a whole week to do it.

Find as much as you can to get excited about. Find as much fire in your belly as you can. And go out there and find a bunny rabbit. And I guarantee you, you are going to be on your way to the most amazing trip of a lifetime. Namaste.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai