Lola opened our June Series, “TRANS:FORM” with her talk titled “The Genius of the Universe is You”, reminding you that your mind has the capacity to create perfect outcomes when you release attachment to how you get there.
Transcript
This “talk” is electronically transcribed. Please excuse any errors or omissions.
Lola: Life has this way of occurring. Perhaps you’ve had the experience where there is something that you desired in your life and someone said though that’s not possible. Have you ever had something that you wanted to create, and the feedback that you got was, that will never happen? Basically every job I’ve ever had I did not have the qualifications for, right. There was a whole list of things that I was told needed to be in place that weren’t in place. And if I had operated with the expectation that I needed those things in place, I would not be with the experience that I have today. Someone said that light was not possible. Someone said that gasoline fueled cars was not possible. Someone said that electrically driven cars was not possible, right. Someone said that, and then someone else said, no, but I think it is possible. All that is between those two ideas is a thought. There is something that is occurring in anyone of our lives that we are either saying yes to or saying no to.
Lola: When we were in Europe and found out that this festival was occurring, and we looked at it, and I thought well first of all, it would be very cool of me as a mom to take my daughter to a festival. I knew that, that would be a very cool thing, but I didn’t know any of the names on the bill except for Erykah Badu and Nas. All of the others were like Twiggy, Figgy, and Cloey, and Lowey, and I didn’t know any of them. And unlike festivals in the United States, the last act goes on at 4:00 in the morning, so it was a very large gamble for me to spend 100 euros per ticket on Twiggy Figgy at 4:00 in the morning. And so, my daughter said, “Yeah, I don’t think it’s a good idea because I want to see that Twiggy Figgy, and you probably won’t last until 4:00 in the morning.” I said, “Well, that’s probably true.”
Lola: It was funny that the thought was there. The thought existed, it would be fun to go to the festival. I did not have a whole body yes to 200 plus euros for the festival. And then, isn’t that funny that I would run into a friend in Barcelona who said, “Lola, you should go to this festival, and your daughter should be there, and I’m going to see what I can do.” We went to the festival. We didn’t even have to pay for the festival in Barcelona. I’m saying, your mind has the capacity to create outcomes when you release attachment to how you get there.
Lola: It wasn’t an accident that the thought occurred. First of all, it wasn’t an accident that my daughter who is a singer, songwriter, producer in Berlin studying music now in Barcelona in one of the largest Coachellaesque festivals on the three days we were there. And that then I would have the thought it would be cool to go, and I had unwillingness to cut the check, and yet a way was made. You could say, are these really the biggest issues that you’re working on? I would say for today, yes. I work on lots of issues, but a music festival it served us.
Lola: Now, what’s ironic is that Erykah Badu for some very odd reason made an appearance on my 2018 Vision Board. First of all, she’s a reiki master. She is a doula. She’s a DJ. She’s a producer. Her whole house in Dallas is literally like a sanctuary. And who she is for me is a wholly integrated human. She’s not just a recording artist. She’s not just a doula. She says yes to all of what she’s interested in being, and then she steps into it. And so, who she is for me is a mental equivalent of a life I desire, a fully integrated life where you can be this, you can be that, you can be this, you can be that. You are not only this, or only that. She lives as a fully embodied expression of life. It’s so interesting that she would show up on my vision board.
Lola: See, you’re in a quantum field of awareness. You think that time is linear. Time is made up. It’s not real. A thought comes into your awareness and you literally have everything that you need to amplify that which you desire. The only thing that gets in the way between you, and me, and the life we want is a thought, is a thought. That’s it. This idea of transform to rise above form, the world of form, the material realm, the material realm is the out picturing of a field of conscious awareness. That’s all that’s happening here.
Lola: Someone had a thought floor and created floor. Someone had a thought platform sneakers, and created platform sneakers. I wish they’d make some more because they haven’t put them out in about five years. But, all of life is just the creation, the amplification, the animation of a thought into form, so there is no reason why you and I cannot have that which we desire. Now, what would be even more interesting than manifesting concerts and guest lists would be that and who are you here to be? What’s the impact? You pressed into this dimension of reality at this time and space with the unique and wholly expression that only you can bring forward.
Lola: There is this guy, Ernest Holmes… Thank you. Thank you, right. [inaudible 00:07:15] That’s my son giving me props for that download of truth. Ernest Holmes says it like this, “The body is healed as the inner mind is transformed.” I just want to pause there for a second because if you see that you might take this literally and think the body is healed. That could be, but what it’s actually talking to here, the body is the world of form. It’s not talking about your physical body. It is also talking about your physical body, but it’s talking about the material realm. “The body is healed as the inner mind is transformed.”
Lola: Remember, consciousness creates, mind proceeds body, thought proceeds form, so the body is healed when the inner mind is transformed as the old and false images of thought are renewed by images of truth and life. The process through which this renewing takes place is a conscious one, and may be practiced by anyone who understands the principle involved. See, the creative process is always working. The creative process is always creating. You’re either creating with it consciously, or unconsciously. See, this invitation is… This practice is a conscious practice. If you want to renew your mind, if you want to transform the experience of life that you’re living in, you have to first start at the level of the mind.
Lola: The very premise of this place is that nothing is happening to you. Nothing is happening to you. It’s very, very tempting. The world will give you all kinds of seductions to lead you into a school of thought that something is happening to you. That doesn’t mean injustice, or inequity does not exist. It just means that you choose to be at the effect of it, or not, so the opportunity is to really transcend into a new realm of consciousness. That is what is needed and wanted on the planet at this time and space.
Lola: We all can see that victim states of consciousness are not moving anything forward. We have been living entrenched in schools of thought of blame and criticism. It’s highly addictive. Your biology, it’s like a hit. It is addictive, and when you give it, it wants more. It wants more. Who is to blame? Who is to blame? Who is to blame? Who is to blame? Why is it like this? Why is is like this? Why is it like this?
Lola: This is so ironic. We were at the Erykah Badu concert. If you know anything about Erykah Badu her whole field of existence is about life, about the expansion of life. My daughter and I are singing. It’s beautiful. It’s Barcelona. We’re singing. It’s Erykah Badu. This man turns around and he goes, “I didn’t come to hear you. I came to hear her.” Now, first of all, you obviously don’t go to many concerts. But, it was very ironic that someone would have that kind of a prickly disposition at an Erykah Badu concert. I watched my mind, Lola, will you let this man take you out? I was about to take him out, but will you let him take you out? Because you know me, and I’m not afraid of a fight. But I was like, my priestess is before me. I need to be in reverence to her. Let me breathe because we are not here for that.
Lola: But life will show up however it shows up, and you have this thing called free will. You choose. The promise is not that life will be easy. The promise is not that you will be applauded for your brilliance everywhere you go, likely not going to happen. While we were together it was just in the wake of the release of this TED Talk. My daughter had just released a single, and it was really brilliant to watch her. My experience was her as a reflection of me. Who does not love some affirming feedback? We love affirming feedback, right. But, you can get 97 affirmations and one critique, and out you go, and fixated on it.
Lola: I had a friend who does not speak for a living send me a very thorough email of all their feedback of my TED Talk, and I was like, uh. It really took me something to transform, to rise above the appearance before me. Whether it is the man who was telling us to zip it, whether it is the friend that is giving a bounty of feedback, can you rise above that which is before you?
Lola: See, this Ernest Holmes quote is actually based on a quote from the Christian Bible. For me, The Bible is not dissimilar from Greek mythology, for example. I do not relate to The Bible as anything with greater credence than any other number of sacred text, whether that be Harry Potter, or whether that be Shakespeare, or whether that be Audrey Lord. The Bible was just a channel, a body of work that actually exceeds Greek mythology in terms of qualification for mythology. I just want to create that context, so in this mythological book of literature it is said, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God.” What is the will of love, what is the will of life, what is the will of good, whatever word works for you. What is good and acceptable and perfect, “Do not be conformed to this world.”
Lola: What it is saying is if you are in reaction to the manifest realm, the material realm, you are always a puppet on someone’s strings. But, if you can first get clear here, have your mental space be open, available… I was saying this morning it can be unnerving to live this way. It can be unnerving to live based on the unseen realm. To not know what is coming next is unnerving. I don’t experience it always as easy. We know we have this physical space until the end of July. That means we don’t know what is happening August 1st. That is unnerving, and yet it is what’s so, so you got to trust something greater is happening here.
Lola: Now, perhaps there is something in your life that you cannot see the next step before you. Does that mean it’s wrong? No, it means you’re on some kind of master level journey. See, I prefer to know exactly what’s going to happening. And when I know what’s going to happen, I’m exceptional at executing the plan. When the plan is not there, it is a trust walk. That though in my opinion is the real opportunity for spiritual maturation. Anybody can take a walk when they know the way. Anybody can follow GPS, but when you’re just one foot in front of the other, I don’t know what’s next.
Lola: We put out a video last week saying, “Change is inevitable. That much you can count on.” That was the video. And then someone commented, “So, you’re not going to have a physical space,” to which I responded, “Do you want a physical space?” What do we want to create together? What do we want to take collective responsibility for having? If we were to transform the model of community, what would that look like?
Lola: I talked to my good friend [Galen McDowell 00:18:08] recently and he said to me, “You know Lola, you told me to look into this thing, the drama triangle, victim, villain, hero. And your suggestion to me was that living in drama was not of highest experience, and that in drama there always must be a victim, a villain, and a hero.” I said, “Yes, that’s right.” I said, “What do you think?” He said, “I think you’re right. And I think that most communities occur within the drama triangle where there is a victim, a villain, and a hero. And the leader is usually dancing somewhere between villain and hero. When things are going well, they’re the hero. But, when things aren’t going well, they’re the villain.”
Lola: Now, someone has a situation playing over here, some music. Tony, brother, Tony, I think you have some music going. [inaudible 00:19:25]. I didn’t mean to wake you up, but I know you’re just getting the download, so it’s collective responsibility. We’re all in this together, right. Because I will tell you my experience has been like I feel sometimes we’re up here and folks are watching TV. It’s not very inspiring, so if we were to shake this whole thing up and transform, rise above the form we currently know, what else could be possible? You could map that on to your life. You could map that onto your money. You could map that on to this place. If we were to rise above that which we know, what else could become possible?
Lola: See, something in you knows. Something in you knows what is yours to do in your own life, at this place, on the planet, something in you knows. But, most of us have gotten so far away from listening to that one that we are working from the outside in versus the inside out. It is unconventional to stand up here and say, it turns out in eight weeks we have no idea what we’re doing next. But, that’s life. Sometimes you don’t know what’s next. Here is what I do know, this place matters because it disrupts fixed loops of scarcity, lack, and limitation. That I do know.
Lola: When I was at Bank of America they had I think three groupings of people, the early adopters, and then the other two. I don’t remember who those two were, but they were not the early adopters. Some were like all right, and then some were like… Anytime transformation occurs, you get to decided, you get to choose, who will you be? All of a sudden a divorce is upon you that you did not expect. Who will you be? All of a sudden a job loss is upon you that you did not expect. Who will you be? All of a sudden a parent dies. You did not expect it. Who will you be? Who will you be?
Lola: There is this practice that human beings have of focusing on that which we do not want. Perhaps, you’re familiar with that. Sometimes it looks like this, I don’t want to be broke. I don’t want to be old. I don’t want to live here. I don’t want to have this relationship. I don’t want to be like my mother, or my father. Now, hear yourself. I don’t know how you say this. You say these things in a particular way. I don’t want to be stuck in this job. I don’t want to have this hair, this nose, this body. I don’t want to be lonely. I don’t want to be unhappy. I don’t want to be sick.
Lola: Now remember, the creative process is always creating, so you are speaking your word into the action of universal law, which always responds to the nature of your song, so whatever it’s impersonal. It is not attached to a particular to an outcome. It’s attached to giving you that which you say you desire. I don’t want this job, and so it is. I don’t want this husband, and so it is. Not and so it is to you don’t have that. And so it is to the vibration that you are generating.
Lola: Do you remember a few weeks ago I said that one of my early teachers said, “Get yourself set up on an automatic debt repayment plan, and then focus on prosperity.” Why? Stop focusing on your debt. That which you put your attention on expands. This is like threading a needle here because if you misunderstand this teaching you will do what is called spiritual bypass, and you will jump over your unfelt feelings, and then you’ll wonder why this stuff doesn’t work. You don’t want this job. Okay, what do you want? Let’s get clear on what you do want. And then, let’s create that. Let’s amplify that. Transcend the form, rise above the worldly form.
Lola: You’ve heard it a million times before. Einstein says, “You cannot solve the problem with the level of consciousness that created the problem,” so if we sit here and go I’m attached to this Bodhi spot looking and being and do the way that it always has been. I want that. That’s not how life works. There is an evolutionary impulse forward, so this is the idea. We’ve been talking about this for a couple of years now. Do I walk on the planet in a state of openness, and curiosity? Remember I always say loose knees or closed and defensive? This isn’t right. I’m in a transactional relationship with life. I want what I want. I want it on my terms. Good luck. Welcome to a life of suffering. Transform, rise above, shift, change the form.
Lola: There is a beautiful book called, Discover a Richer Life. This guy Ernest Holmes who, by the way I just want to say this, this community was founded on teachings largely inspired by this guy Ernest Holmes. This guy Ernest Holmes had been trained by people out of the Unity Movement, had been trained by people out the Christian Science Movement, have been trained by the Bhagavad Gita. When he decided to put his body of work together he said, “I don’t want to create a church. I just want to create an education of life, so that people can untangle themselves from religious dogma and doctrine that keeps them stuck. I want to interrupt the status quo.”
Lola: Galen said to me recently, he said, “The biggest mistake the New Thought Movement made was building itself in Judeo-Christian framework.” If you watch the TED Talk there are no statistics to support the flourishing of traditional frameworks of religious community. There is no statistical evidence to support that, so what do we want to create? What else could be possible that requires us to tap into the creative mind because if we look at the level that we know, it’s not there. It’s not there. We will create what we already have.
Lola: I said this morning, “Sunday mornings have been something that I have enjoyed for 15 years here.” It may not look like Sunday mornings. I don’t know what it’s going to look like, but if you want to have a say in that, we invited you to send an email at the very least to officeofbodhispiritualcenter.org. And as of three days ago, we had got none, so please don’t email me after July saying you have lots of great ideas because the decisions will be made by then, beloved. If you want something now is the time. Or, I’m assuming you’re just trusting us, which is great. But, something is being transformed, and that is not unique to this place.
Lola: Look at every system and structure in society, everything is breaking down. Everything is being transformed. That’s good. That which has been working for some, not for all, is no longer working for everybody. It never did, so we’re creating something new. Sometimes people have said, “Why isn’t this place packed?” Because there are not so many early adopters. Most of humanity is not an early adopter. If we were selling salvation it could be packed for another 10 years, but not forever because the consciousness of humanity is waking up, and that is good.
Lola: Perhaps this is a mirror for what’s occurring in your life. What is occurring at Bodhi feels like a mirror for what’s occurring in my life. I don’t know. Well now, come on. Someone else fall asleep? [inaudible 00:30:32]. This is a reflection of what is occurring on the planet. Nothing happens in isolation. Nothing happens as a silo. Everything is interconnected. This community has always been a futurist movement, so who knows what’s to come? But, I hope that you will contribute your creative energy through your meditation practice, through your intentionality to what is emerging, what is forthcoming. Some of us will, some of us won’t, and it all will be perfect.
