Excerpts from Sabbatical

The following excerpts were taken from the book "Sabbatical: Resting in the miraculous Power of Isness" by Liz Mitten Ryan

Visit www.lizmittenryan.com for more information.

Introduction:

I have read many spiritual, metaphysical and new age booksnand understood and believed in the principles. What I haven’tnunderstood is why they are limited to human concepts andnbeliefs. Having spent a considerable time (ten years now) in thencompany of my animals and nature, I have absorbed a differentnperspective that is all encompassing in it’s parameters. If onenwere to imagine a world very much like the original Gardennof Eden state where all the creatures, animals, man and all ofncreation walked and talked with each other and God, it wouldnbe similar to the animals understanding when they connect tonhigher consciousness. From there, the force of love permeatesnall of life. There are no opposites, no death, only life everlasting.
All experience is enjoyed through the power of the imaginationnand there is no possibility of harming another to obtain you
desires. Removed from physical constraints, there would be nonneed for work or war to obtain assets that were always available.
We would not need to kill. Life would be a sabbatical.
This vision comes from a higher plane of existence, both beforenand beyond our immersion in matter, a place where we can visitnin our consciousness whenever we can leave the boundaries of ournphysical self. When we are not confined to a single identity we arenfree to travel wherever our consciousness would like to go.
That is true wisdom, truth, joy, freedom, abundance and love.
That is who we truly are: UNLIMITED MIRACULOUSnBEINGS—resting in the power of Isness. All of us one, in thencreative genius of the Universe, the imagination of the All.

In the beginning:

“Isness” is the glorious state of God manifested in hisnentire creative splendor here and on all planes. It is thenactive form of being, more of a becoming—an awakenednjou
ey carrying one toward the adventure of vibrant aliveness,
L.I.F.E (Love In Finite Expression) forever.

Isness is an extension to being . . . being in the ALL, the animalsnterm for God as opposed to being in the now.
Isness just is—it exists for all time, in all dimensions. It is not anbrief interlude, a now experience, but a knowing and becoming—na fluent state of wisdom and grace that embodies all creation.
Many spiritual teachers tell us that living in the present momentnis the secret path to enlightenment. If we can let go of the past, thenfuture, and time itself, and still our busy minds, then the ego willnbe forgotten, and in that brief instant we will connect with God.
The biggest secret in this method is when thought ceases, quietnremains, and in that quiet, we let go of our physical identificationnand allow our spiritual truth to resonate within us. This truth isnour heritage. It is from whence we came and to where we willnreturn. In between we glimpse a memory of it in rare momentsnof selflessness—rare moments of reconnection with our highe
selves, and, in turn, God.
The horses said it beautifully in my earlier book, The Truth
According to Horses. When asked the question “Can you give usna simple definition of what you call religion? I’m sure it differsngreatly from what we believe,” the herd replied:

"Religion is to us a certitude, not a belief; not annindoctrination; not a confine, but an absolute; a knowingnand a truth that is given the moment we connect to thenALL (God). It needs no doctrine, no rules; it is absolutelynremembered as the fabric of all life, an understandingnthat is our first and last breath and everything relevantnin between."

I have begun to know a whole new reality through connectionnto animals. They live in a place devoid of ego, past, future, andntime. This does not imply a state of inaction where one must lienabout in a meditative state, blissing in that connection. Goingnback to the word “Isness” again: My cat Ben—Min Buddha Be

Puss Ha, a true contemplative—gave me that word. He sent menthe thought “Isness is my business,” and it was certainly true. Anbig white Buddha, Ben purred his way through life, never makingna sound; he would just open his mouth to transmit a message andnnothing would come out. True silence. In the end, when we hadnto have him put down, the vet said in disbelief, “I have never seenna cat purr his way through euthanasia.” A true spiritual master,nhe was not dependent on circumstance for his bliss.

I have learned from my animals another secret path to enlightenment.
It involves simply living in a quiet, natural state, as doesnall of creation except humans. Very much like rocking a baby tonsleep, the peaceful lull of the natural world is hypnotic. In ournoriginal state, before our fall from grace, we lived as the animalsndo. We absorbed and communed with our surroundings. In thisnstate of communion, there was no separateness, no barriers; wenwere one with all life and God, or the ALL, which is all life.
Living here in the quiet, surrounded by the natural world,
I am somehow allowed to slip back to that state. Barriers dissolve and nmy sense of self diminishes until I am at once lost and yet found in the ncongregation of spirit.

Once one has experienced a moment when self fades, itsnboundaries melding with the larger Self, which is God (ALL),nthere is no going back. We have experienced the knowing thatnpasseth all understanding. “He who hath seen me has seen thenFather.” In that moment, all knowledge, all understanding isngiven, and we are forever changed. We remember; the Christnwithin us is born, and that star will forever after shine in ournhearts. “Amazing Grace,” it has been called, but words cannotndescribe a state where words are meaningless, diminished in theninfinite knowing that makes words unnecessary.
Here in this state, all is given. There is no definition, andnlanguage, species, color, and creed are all forgotten—drops ofnwater in the same ocean.
As my horses said in Life Unbridled: What Animals Have to Teach
Us about Spiritual Freedom:

"Imagine living with the perspective of being inside andnoutside of yourself at the same time, as we do. We cannexperience all aspects of life on this plane and beyond—nthe greater ALL existence. The moment you make thatnconnection, everything is given. It is like a drop of wate
becoming the ocean, a beam of light blending with allnlight. Within and without there is nothing else—wenbecome all form itself, Oneness—ALL.
The moment we touch the ALL, we become the ALL.
It is a joy and a homecoming that is immeasurable. This isnwhat we have to teach you about spiritual freedom. Do notnimagine yourself as a drop of water or a beam of light whennyou are the ocean and the sky. Do not imagine yourself tonbe the world when you are the universe. You have nothingnto fear but fear itself. Fear is a finite piece of freedom, andnfreedom is all there is. As a drop of rain falls into the oceannand evaporates again to become a cloud, such is your life.
Let us help you gain a new perspective."

In six days God created the heavens and the earth, and on thenseventh day he rested. This is the model God created for us tonfollow as fully actualized spiritual beings co-creating with himnon the earth or physical plane. Actually he co-creates throughnus when we invite Christ, or God manifest, into our lives. It isnno longer the little “i” but the big “I” manifesting the individualnand unique personal skills of each individual to create on thenphysical plane. God, being Spirit, can only exist on the physicalnplane through us. The Sabbath day—or Sabbatical—is the timenwe must spend “resting in the now,” as Ekhardt says, meditatingnand connecting to God. Then we must go out into the world andnco-create with God, armed with that peace, understanding, andnconnection that we have obtained. If we were all to sit aroundnin the Now all week, then what would God accomplish—hownwould we evolve?

This is Isness as opposed to “Being”—Being in the ALL asnopposed to being in the Now. As unlimited God-beings, ornmore accurately, God-becomings, we have the creative freedomnto travel anywhere we desire in the ALL, withi
God’s creation—npast, present, or future—anytime, on any plane! We must not dwellnin the moment of the Now, but get on with God’s work and then rest nand reconnect in his presence. As we become truly adept at this ncommunion, then we can carry God’s presence with us, around us as nthe cloak of Christ, everywhere we go.