Q: John, I’m curious about the connection to devotion, in your understanding.

John: Devotion is like a river and there’s so many different movements of that same river, Where the river moves through a very small and shallow opening then the river is wild, powerful and turbulent. So the expression is immense. But where that river pours into a reservoir, like a lake, the river still moves through that lake to its outlet, but its movement is so deep and subtle. So if you are relating to devotion, relate to its entire spectrum without being confined to the kind of devotion that’s emotionally appealing.

Q: As I’ve gotten older sometimes just a sound takes me into what I believe is devotion. It’s like slipping into my heart. Yet I wondered if that was my form of relationship or if it was a more comfortable way for me to know my self.

John: What matters is for your devotion to be unconditioned, so then your devotion is the most still presence within of what you really are that just quietly sees. It’s able to move and doesn’t need to. And then for you to relate that way while your personality is under pressure; for you to quietly relate that way within, while in social situations, while you’re with people who are more difficult to be with, while you’re with people or situations that has a lot of demand on you. That’s where the depth and the quietude of devotion really matters.

So then you’re able to consciously be what you see in a newborn baby while you’re in a loud social situation, and laughing; that you’re not separate from your beginnings, that you know your roots and how deeply they go, so then when you are way out into your leaves interacting with your environment, that that’s all connected to the finest, deepest roots within. And that you live spanning all of those levels of awareness, that being way out into your leaves doesn’t remove you from your roots. The way that you are in your leaves is an expression of what you are in your deepest, finest roots. Then you’re connected all the way through.

Q: I’m seeing what you’re saying, and my recognition is that I always had that with my self and then now it’s time to take it out and I’ve been growing from one stage to another. It’s almost as if you don’t share it. But I understand what you’re saying, thank you.

John: Then it’s for you to let that come up into your face and into your eyes, regardless of who you’re with and regardless of what that person is like. So in that way, your heart freely comes up into your face and into your eyes without that being conditioned on how someone treats you. That makes what you really are real, all the way through to your face. Then what you really are within the various circumstances of your life really has your face. What you really are has a face.