Spiritual Journey

What is the Spritiual Path but the Life You Live?

2009-05-13T06:43:00.000-07:00

I think those who seem to have an urge to live a spiritual life find that before they were "enlightened" they washed dishes, drove to meetings or appointments, petted a dog, hug another human, laughed, cried and in general did a whole range of activities complete with responses and feelings. After "enlightenment", guess what? Those things still happened.

If there was any difference it was in how they dealt with and reacted to the fact that these were happening. Hugging someone for example had more meaning, depth, and love than before. You can become more of an observer of what you are living than to be forever caught up in identifying yourself as that which you are experiencing. It is a difficult phenomenon to explain but once you get a glimpse of it, you don't have to have an explanation - you know what I am talking about.

I dip in and out of being identified with my woes and remember that I am more than all my joys or sorrows. I know that in the long run I am just a spiritual being having a human experience.

I am the Divine living in, as, and through this thing I call "me". When I can remember that, it helps to make my path smoother when there are bumps in the road and it makes me full of gratitude for all there is.

The Dance of Love

2009-03-18T05:47:00.000-07:00

Please dance with me I heard her say
He took her hand and they danced away
But she went to and went fro
And how they could dance I do not know

She tried and cried and he did too
Dancing that dance the best that they could
Her breath was shallow and her body worn
His stamina was waning and his locks were shorn

Practically beaten yet still carrying the flag
The two of them kept dancing a sad little rag
The heaven were saddened and rain began to fall
This soon could be the end of the “Two-lovers’ ball”

The song is still playing for the dance to go forth
But they hear music from the South and the North
Which way will it go? Will the dance be over soon?
Or will the music keep them dancing to a different tune?

God only knows how the heart beats and goes
While stumbling feet try to keep off the toes
Where will it go this heart-driven quest?
However it goes Love will somehow know best

Brenda Osgood Andradzki Elliott
March 17, 2009

Russian Nesting Dolls and that which we call God

2007-11-10T07:51:00.000-08:00

If you have ever seen or owned the nesting dolls then you know that there is one large one and nestled inside of that is another and then another and then another, etc.

What if God was the furthermost "doll" and inside of God was all there is? But this is a difficult analogy because our minds then would see God sitting somewhere with everything inside and God would have an "outside" surrounding "Him/Her/It". And if there is nothing outside of God and that God is present everywhere (and nowhere too I might add) then that image would be incorrect.

But for the sake of trying to get one's arms around something that will take him/her to the real thing, then we may proceed.

Now, would the nesting dolls (that is all of creation) inside of the God doll be what they appear to be (that is, separate and different from God) or would they be made of the same substance?

And if your mind can stand it contemplate this possibility. There is only separation within our story, within out little self that has been created by us, the who and what we think we are. Contemplate who and what it is that contemplates and who and what notices variations. Drop the story. What’s left?

EVERY THOUGHT, WORD, AND DEED IS PRAYER

2007-10-28T04:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I have fussed at myself for not "praying" and yet part of me felt that it wasn't necessary to assume a prayer posture of some sort or become very still, use rosary beads, say written prayers, make up some prayers, or any other such thing in order to be praying. I guess deep down I have always known that prayer was much more than that.

IF every thought, word, and deed IS prayer how would that not perhaps make people more conscious of what they are thinking, saying, or doing? Maybe this would have a huge impact upon a person's life. It is making one in mine.

Prayer isn't necessarily a petition, an expression of thanksgiving, a time of confession, or a time to pay respects or homage to Buddha, Allah, God, Great Spirit, etc. because all your thoughts, words and deeds are all prayer no matter how your mind sees it, no matter what your beliefs are, how you do anything or why you do it.

Again, IF every thought, word, and deed is prayer, then you might want to examine what you are thinking, what you are saying, and what you are doing. Do your thoughts, words, and deeds reflect what you really want them to?

Reflect! Reflect is an interesting word. It can mean likeness, mirror image, signal, request, and even manifestation. So are your words, thoughts, and deeds sending out signals, requests, likeness, or manifestations of what you truly want?

If prayer is all of this then what are you asking of God/Universe/Great Spirit/or whatever you call God?

Your thoughts, words, and deeds are like the rudder of a ship that directs your journey. If you care where the rudder is taking you, remember that you are setting the course. Take the helm and "Infinite, Divine Power" will do the rest.

THE DAWN'S EARLY LIGHT

2007-10-05T04:30:00.000-07:00

We have all heard the expression, "It dawned on me..." Dawn is the time of day where gradually the dark turns into light. We all are on a spiritual journey. Some people are just more aware of that than others and are with awareness they are actively taking steps towards the Light.

In the early dawn's light we are beginning to see outlines and shapes of things yet to be revealed. The heart quickens and more life begins to stir within and the excitement mounts. We anticipate the coming of light when we can see more clearly. What might have been frightening in the dark before the dawn is shown to be what it is. Rather than that snake we thought we saw on the driveway, we now see it was a tree branch. I had that experience about a month ago followed by a good laugh the next morning.

In the dark, many things may seem to be ugly, unacceptable, or wrong and we want to get out our flashlight and reveal just what needs to be changed, fixed, or done away with in the world, in others, and sometimes even ourselves. A flashlight is light shed by our selves, our wounded egos, and is artificial. It never reveals things as they really are. But the Light that is within us waiting to be recognized and nurtured reveals things as they truly are.

So put the flashlight away and open up to the Light within. Allow the Universal Creative Energy some call God to bring the dawn to you. It's the only way. The other ways through human effort with wounded ego or idea of self and the world is like a photograph. A photograph is only an image and while gives a likeness of what is real it is not the real thing. It falls short of revealing the true nature of the person or object.

While waiting for the dawn's light, focus upon what a glorious world it will be when you can see what was hidden from you in the dark.

Oh, say can you see?

YOU ARE A MASTERPIECE

2007-10-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

Michelangelo's David started out as a block of stone until he saw David inside that block and began to free him. Chipping away he removed all that was not David ever keeping his attention and vision upon the David within the stone. The end result was a masterpiece that has left many in awe for centuries.

Within us is a masterpiece of perfection. If we accept our mission, our soul’s purpose, we will begin to allow the chipping away at the stuff that hides that masterpiece. The stuff that no longer serves us or others; the stuff that we have taken on since our entry into human form into the society in which we live; and the stuff that keeps us from loving and being loved are just pieces of the stone that hides our natural, beautiful, magnificent Selves.

Sometimes the process of chipping away unwanted and unneeded stone is painful but it is worth it in order to obtain the joy, peace, and love that is just a surrender away. It is our choice.

Within every one of us abides the Perfect One. Until you know that, really know that, you can hold the vision of that possibility for yourself and for others. Eventually this will become your reality.

When we surrender to Divine Love, we fulfill our soul/sole purpose in being here. We then become the masterpiece we always were.

NOT MISSING A BEAT

2007-08-17T06:20:00.000-07:00

I am still pondering and being amazed at the way that I am grieving this time. My life seems to be going on filled with love and a zest for life.

This is so contrary to how things normally go for us humans when we lose someone we love. I keep asking, "How can this be?" What comes back is many different possibilities or combinations thereof.

How can I explain the love I carry around inside of me that keeps me from hitting the ground?

It seems I haven't missed a beat and I keep dancing to my life's tune. Perhaps it is because I dance to a different tune and my music comes from the Source of all. It is not of my doing. I have only to hear the music and abandon myself to the dance.

Dance with me.

THERAPY

2007-08-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

Note: This post is also appropriate for the grieving process and dealing with losing someone you love.

My daughter Lyn and I have a thing about "therapy" and what is so funny about it is that she works in an office occupied by at least nine psychologists' and at least one psychiatrist. My minor was in psychology.

The "therapy" we like best is shopping therapy. That's where you get your buns out of the house and go to the mall or your favorite store(s) and look even if you don't buy.

Today I seem to be doing "cleaning/straightening therapy". I am moving stuff around and trying to capture dust bunnies and dust particles and polish the wood furniture. It feels good to be doing something physical since my emotions have been on a ride that would scare the crap out of most people. LOL

Ron's son donated his father's car (as is I might add) to charity and they came and got it this morning. Things in our lives and people in our lives are transient. The sooner we get that, the better off we are. Bless them all for being in your life and let them go. I think the important thing that you get from them stays with you but you are not attached and looking for it or their return. It’s all here. It’s all now. It’s all Good/God.

The identified man takes part: the unidentified looks on! Open Secret by Wei Wu Wei

Make love now, by night and by day, in winter and in summer ...You are in the world for that, and the rest of life is nothing but vanity, illusion, waste.
-- Anatole France

INVITATION

2007-08-14T09:16:00.001-07:00

For any persons going through the grief of losing your spouse or significant other, I invite you to read my other blog "Letting Go and Moving On". http://movingonthroughloss.blogspot.com/

I invite also those who may just be curious or facing the possibility of losing someone they love either through choice or death.

Thanks,

Brenda

The Right Soil Makes the Difference

2007-08-14T09:10:00.000-07:00

If you want to grow a vegetable or flower you put the seed in good soil and make sure you water it and that it gets the appropriate amount of sun and/or shade according to its particular needs.

If you want to grow love and you want to help grow human potential (both your own and other's) you also will need to provide the right "soil".

In my experience and in my opinion, the best soil to use is love with a capital “L”. Certainly one can coerce, force, or bribe ones’ self or others to behave in a loving kind of way to avoid problems, punishment, alienation, or to obtain some goal or another. And certainly some people can just make a choice or intent to be more loving than not; but, this is human love and has its limitations. We can not do it with human love alone for that will fluctuate as moods and situations fluctuate. The kind of Love I am pointing to is the kind of love that so many before have tried to point to. This love can be experienced and transmitted but it can not be defined, articulated, nor taught by ordinary means.
That is why so many people misunderstand discussions about this kind of love.

This “Love” I attempt to speak of is constant. It is all-wise and knows how to apply itself in every situation. It is grace. It is a gift. The requirement, if there is any, is to be receptive. With an armload of unhealthy ego one cannot have the arms of freedom to embrace this love. Once embraced, the ego can better maintain the perfect, healthy, orientation it was meant to have before it became stained with doubt, fear, and a sense of not being good, acceptable, or lovable.

It is a gift to be given away and in the process of doing so, it can be experienced and received by both the giver and the receiver. It will enrich both lives even if nothing seems evident to validate that claim.

When someone truly loves you it gives you a sense of peace and you feel safe. You do not feel judged or rejected even if the person does not agree with you about any or many things. In this place of unconditional love a person can find the right kind of soil in which to grow. When some creatures in nature need to shed their skin they do so and when they do, they reveal the form that was always there waiting to come forth. So it is with humans. As we shed our false ego, our false sense of self, we become that which we were all along but was hidden from us. All it takes is unconditional love, the best soil fortified with the best nutriments. In the arms of this Love we are free to discover what our damaged egos are unable to reveal to us. We become more able to fulfill our potential and to shed the shackles of the limitation that our wounded condition conferred on us. We are at last free to love and to be loved in the truest sense. The sky is the limit when love is the soil.

When we have finished this life, the only thing we can take with us is this love for this is what we truly are.

NULLIFYING THE PAST

2007-06-06T04:20:00.001-07:00

"Change your mind about your past, and you nullify its effects instantly." – Alan Cohen

The question is how does one change one's mind? With effort? With prayer? With determination? Turning it over to God? Going through therapy? Coming to an understanding that the experience was actually an opportunity to become awake, aware, compassionate? All or any combination of the above?

Past experiences do not have to be baggage that weighs you down. They can become stepping stones to better things if you want them too. But a stepping stone means you step upon it and advance to the next one. You don't put them in your pocket and then try to swim a deep river. ;)

GRATITUDE, BLESSINGS, AND HOPE

2007-06-05T07:20:00.000-07:00

I have a gentleman friend who has been staying with me and whom I have been taking care of during his illness and during the procedure to place a pacemaker-defibrillator placed in his chest to help with his heart condition. He has been suffering a lot this week. It has not been from the procedure itself but from side effects of medication. He wonders when it will end and so do I. We see the doctor today but he is very weak so the task of getting him there is going to take some real effort on his part.

Other than that, it is a beautiful but very dry day in West Georgia. And in spite of everything, hope burns brightly for better days for my friend/patient.

It is a joy to be there for someone who needs you and when you have love for them, the task is not so much of a burden. It is a joy to me also to watch my little turtles swim to the edge of the pond looking up at me waiting for me to throw them some bread to eat. The fish are so eager and hungry the turtles have to work hard to get the bread before they gobble it up. Meanwhile a hawk flies about hoping to catch his meal and the birds and squirrels forage through the grass to find the seed I have tossed out for them.

The little things in life like that and enjoying a refreshing shower or a good meal or a conversation with a friend, are the gifts that God sends every day and gratitude fills my heart.

This is living the life and the Life Force gives us direction and awareness with which to fill in all the blanks. It's all up to us.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED ABOUT GOD/LOVE THUS FAR

2007-05-26T06:30:00.000-07:00

What I have learned thus far about love/God is that it is generated from within.

When we give love whether or not it is well-received or returned, it returns to us and blesses us.

When we give love and it is accepted, embraced, and given back, then it is magnified.

For me it means that regardless of the gender of two people, when love flows back and forth without conditions or expectations it is a time in which God's presence can be experienced.

When two people who consider themselves a couple love each other completely without conditions or expectations they are joined together with God (In My Humble Opinion). This may be a rare occurrence but not impossible if you are indeed grounded in Love/God.

This I have learned first hand through experience. I thank God that I have had the opportunity to experience it.

WHO MOVED?

2007-05-07T07:26:00.000-07:00

Recently our minister asked me to do a reading at church service. It was about the fact that if we felt we were not in touch w/God, then who moved? Did God or did we?

During emotional down times it is harder for me to get into what I call the "God vibration" where I am feeling connected with God – feeling God’s presence and love in my life. But what we all have to remember is that God never moves away. And actually I think we don't either. We are never disconnected from the Source of our Being but we can have our sense of that blocked when our frame of mind is visiting the "lower" places it can go rather than the "higher" places.

How quickly we can loosen ourselves from that tar baby depends upon what thoughts we are allowing to take precedence in our minds. Yet knowing this does not automatically mean we can kick out the ones that are not serving us and cultivate the ones that will.

So today I am asking my higher Self, that Spirit of God within me to help me kick out the unproductive, down-spiraling thoughts and invite the productive and wholesome ones to take seed in my mind.

What goes down must come up and what goes up must come down from time to time. The “good” and the “bad” both pass but having a God-centered, loving frame of mind can enhance the stuff that feels right and good and eases the stuff that seems undesirable.

“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.”

EGO AND LOVE

2007-05-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

“You can never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.”

-- Buckminster Fuller

How many times though, do we hang onto outdated concepts, worn out methodology, tried-and-failed solutions, and over-rated habits that once served our survival or were habitual in response to our experiences but now block at least to some extent our clear view of and openness to the flow of God's grace?

Why do we do that?

Because we don't yet know any better.

Because we are afraid to try something new.

Because the "old way" is a comfort zone even if it's dysfunctional.

We don't like to dismiss our past or disengage from it because it helps represent who we think ourselves to be. Ego is made up of these past experiences and our interpretation of them and an idea of ourselves that we have because of them. That usually means we sense ourselves as lacking in many areas. This idea of lack or low self esteem or ignorance of the love that we are and that we have available to us, causes us to allow ego to inflate to give us a false sense of being okay. So we try to get a feeling of being loved or okay from the outside in rather from the inside out.

To dismiss or let go of our past or our sense of self is to pronounce a death sentence for the ego. The ego likes to replay or even repeat our past dramas so it can play victim to solicit attention and pity which pumps it up. This is ego’s way of duping us. It likes to fool us so that we don’t move towards a fuller revelation of God within. In the awareness of God, ego begins to die. We don’t have to make effort. We just have to desire and surrender to the process. As ego fades into the background what is left of “us” is under the dominion of our Source. We have to function in this world, so some sense of our self or individuality is left but it is more influenced or directed by God’s will than ego. And God’s will is love. And love requires the surrender to what is. It requires our willingness to let go of our sense of what ought to be. This doesn’t mean we don’t have preferences or desires but we must be willing to give these up to God’s better judgment and to desire the higher good for all which, in my opinion, is love. Love and then do what you will for Love will direct your choices.

Job surrendered to the will of God and everything was given back to him. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his beloved son if God required that and God gave him back his son. When we give up ego, when we surrender to God, God gives us His Son more fully. That is, the Christ or Spirit within that transforms us. This is our “salvation”.

SPRING CLEANING

2007-04-25T07:58:00.001-07:00

The best "spring cleaning" we can do is to toss out worn out beliefs that no longer serve us along with a few other things.

We can toss out prejudices but keep preferences.

We can let go of the past and stop living in the future that hasn't yet come and show up in the "now".

We can learn to recognize when it is ego whispering in our ears and learn to say "NO!".

We can try to understand that people's behaviors are motivated by various things of which we are not privy so we can give them the benefit of a doubt. And if they don't have a clue and are in the dark send them some "light".

We can drop our need to be right and understand that there are so many possibilities there cannot be only one.

We can choose to be silent, open, and loving and allow others to be as they are at the moment and let our responses always come from a heart, a soul that has had at least a mini cleaning by remaining in the now.

We can choose peace rather than war.

We can choose to love when it would feel so “right” to blast someone.

We can choose to desire only the highest good for ourselves and others. We can learn that the highest good will our trump our prayers and wishes for less.

We can stop beating on ourselves, ever looking at the flaws and instead focus upon our potential.

We can be thankful every day and have an attitude of gratitude for all that we have rather than focusing on what we perceive to be lack.

Imagine what that kind of spring cleaning can do for your soul. :)

LIFE IS A SMORGASBORD

2007-04-17T04:39:00.001-07:00

We get to pick and chose what things we want to put on our plate.

We hear some really bad news our hearts become heavy. But do we have to put that on our plate? We can note that choice, bow our heads, feel deeply and sincerely empathy for whomever this news is hitting the hardest, desire healing for all, and then put it in God's hands but not on our plate.

Politics, bureaucracy, frustrating incidences, and the like are all on the smorgasbord but how much if any we actually put on our plates is up to us. If you take too much, you can always trash it once you have had your fill. If you passed by it and took none on your plate you can still be aware of these things and most likely you will give less emotional attention to it while doing whatever you can to deal with their presence in the smorgasbord of life.

Bon Appetite.

I FORGOT TO LOVE ME

2007-04-07T13:51:00.000-07:00

So often we hear of how people are full of it or egotistical. From most religious people and from various religions we are told to put God first and to put others first. The third leg of this should be to love one’s self AS GOD LOVES YOU - not by worldly standards such as physical appearance, intelligence, wealth, and talents. We can be thankful for what we may have but that is not who or what we really are.

I discovered yesterday that while most often I have been successful at allowing God’s love to flow through me to others, I forgot to “water” myself. I forgot to see myself as God sees me. That is the key ‘AS GOD SEES ME” - not as the world sees and not as the ego may or may not see. The ego is cunning. It can make you have a false sense of worth that is based on worldly perceptions or it can make you see that you are not good and not worthy of anything or anyone. It plays to that part of you that works.

We cannot successfully give what we are not nurturing within ourselves. And what is within us is what some of the Christian persuasion call the Christ within or Christ consciousness. It doesn’t matter what you call It but do call upon It to show you yourself as you truly are – as God sees you.

At Easter time what better time, what more appropriate time to renew within yourself what I call the risen Christ within. But call it what you will, just call.

EASTER NOW

2007-04-06T06:50:00.001-07:00

The weekend is going to be much of the same with temperatures dipping to record lows below freezing and not much above that for highs. Crazy weather. It doesn't "feel" like Easter somehow weather wise since we may see some flurries this morning.

Colored eggs, chocolate candy, Easter frocks, church services, family dinners, and many variations on these will be enjoyed or not this Easter regardless of the weather.

The main point of Easter for me is the discovery of God in human form. Once discovered life goes on with the practice of remembering the Presence every time I remember that I forgot once again. Years of seeing otherwise, conditions us to fall into default in our everyday life and it takes dedication and determination to practice remembering the Presence - God in human form. The more ego is present, the harder it is to remember to stay awake and aware. This is the journey and this is the destination. This is our life’s purpose. Easter is now and always. We just need to wake up and become aware.

Divine Love

2007-03-20T05:09:00.000-07:00

I read this somewhere recently:

As one becomes a source of Divine love rather than an eternally hungry searcher for love, the picture of one's life changes.

When I considered this statement, I realized that when a person is hungry for and searches for love, the ego can misguide or misdirect them. This can manifest itself in many ways. People may brag for example or try to become powerful enough to demand attention and notoriety as a means of getting "love". Sometimes people will become doormats or stalkers in an attempt to get love. They may do outlandish things or break all the laws to get love and attention or as a way to express their anger over not getting love. When we try to get love it almost always ends up being a negative experience even if you just become a really nice person or people pleaser. That won't hurt others so much as a rule (thought it can) but it will certainly hurt you in the long run.

When, on the other hand, we are able to allow Divine Love to flow through us, we love more honestly and openly because all the grasping that we do when we are trying to get love is less necessary. Why? Because we are already filled and the hunger is only to keep that Divine Flow going. What we then get back from others is just frosting on the cake and I like to think it is all Divine Love being reflected back at us even when it is being delivered by another person. I believe that we can love with our human capacity but it becomes enhanced when we allow it to become one with Divine Love.

The more you can drop or lay aside your personal issues, prejudices, demands, judgments and such, the more Divine Love has a chance to flow unimpeded. This is called giving your will to God/Infinite Being.

When we ask for God’s will to be done, what we are really asking for is to allow Divine Love to act through us as completely as possible as often as possible. We can begin to notice when we are blocking and then we can release it. It isn’t for the faint of heart to desire to carry out this mission.

Everything is a call for love. It is easier to accept ourselves and others and our behaviors when we know that all anyone wants is love and they are trying to get it one way or another. In some cases that is through acting out or doing things that upset other people. Either way it is someone expressing their idea that they lack love.

When we love, when we set aside our own human will, our lives change and we find that love is no longer something we search for but rather it is something we become.

FACING OUR FEARS AND DISCOMFORTS

2007-03-16T05:06:00.000-07:00

I don't like to think about my fears or discomfort. I would rather think about my joys and think positive, etc. The latter is not a bad thing to do but done to the exclusion of facing what it is I am thinking or feeling at some given moment that may be judged by me to be negative or fearful is to not be honest with myself.

We like to think that we can find some spiritual path that will forever eliminate those things that we do not wish to think about or experience but I wonder if we can ever reach that point.

Discomfort and fear can be a good thing. When we feel uncomfortable or fearful it could be a message to use caution or to back away from some danger. It could be a wake-up call to face, to accept, and then work through something that we have suppressed.

We like to find a spiritual path that would eliminate fears altogether. We want to have a means to avoid fear and pain but we can't avoid feeling these at times. At this stage of my journey I think we can have spiritual tools to help us deal with pain or fear but to think that we will never experience things we would rather skip over is probably not realistic.

Just when I think I may have "slain” the last dragon", I start hearing another snorting off in the distance coming my way. It sure keeps me humble. ;)

The Bible says that perfect love casts out fear. To learn what that really means may be a task worth pursuing.

Meanwhile, on a lighter note, the Bradford Pear trees that the gas line people were going to chop down in October 2006 are still here and blooming like crazy. What a beautiful sight outside my window! Eventually they will chop those trees down but I have "now" and I can enjoy them right now this moment. That's all we have anyway - this moment, this now.

Suggested Steps of the Spiritual Life (adapted from AA)

2007-03-15T06:24:00.000-07:00

1. I admitted my life was unmanageable or/and I was out of control or/and I was not happy or/and I was going nowhere or/and I was missing something important or/and _________and I was powerless over it.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than myself could restore me to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God as I understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of myself.

5. Admitted to God, to myself and to another human being the exact nature of my wrongs.

6. Was entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove my shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons I had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when I was wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve my conscious contact with God, as I understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for me and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, I carried this message to others by practicing these principle in all my affairs. I walk the talk.

WHAT IS IMPORTANT NOW?

2007-03-10T06:11:00.000-08:00

I acknowledge that whatever I have at any given moment is a gift in some form or another and I can thank God for all those moments. I had to remember that anything I have is on loan to me. I don't own anybody or any thing. I had to remember that what is is and whatever is, will and can change.

I am so grateful for all that I have and all that is.

What is important now? Whatever is in front of me and whatever I want to be important is important. I can choose what I want to focus on. I can be present. I can show up no matter what kind of day is unfolding. It's always our choice even when it feels differently.

WHAT DRAWS US TO THE SPIRITUAL PATH?

2007-03-09T04:44:00.000-08:00

Last Wednesday evening several of my friends and I gathered together to begin what we hope will be a time to come together every week to discuss spiritual topics and to share the spiritual path with one another. I opened the discussion with the purpose of our being together and that this included being open and tolerant of other people’s opinions, ideas, experiences, and beliefs. I then opened the floor for anyone to begin to share something that was a question or something they wanted to discuss.

The first person to speak wanted to explore what it means to live a spiritual life. It was an excellent way for this group to begin. The meeting of souls went very well as it does in this Internet medium with the added nicety that we were face to face, could hug one another if we felt moved to, and had lovely refreshments afterwards with more fellowship with one another. We gathered around the kitchen island laden with delectable finger foods prepared with loving and thoughtful hands and there began a continuum of spiritual discussion. I think sooner or later we recognize wherever we go, with whomever we speak, and no matter the topic that we carry our spiritual vista with us. Everything, every discussion can be done from a spiritual standpoint no matter what. It only takes some awareness on our part to begin to be able to do that.

This morning these questions became ones I wanted to explore: What makes people become drawn to a spiritual path? What causes people to seek a deeper path from perhaps the one they are currently on?

I think many if not most will admit that they had some crisis in their lives or some event that brought them to a place of surrender. Perhaps it was a curiosity that had not yet begun to be satisfied with their present orientation. Perhaps it was an indescribable yearning deep inside that called to them. It could have been almost anything or combination of things but what is most important is that there was a shift within and they heard and answered the call no matter how the wake-up call came.

There seems to be an innate longing and need that abides in all of us and that is to love and to be loved. Personally I believe that this is part of what calls us to a spiritual path.

In his book After the Ecstasy, Laundry Jack Kornfield says this:

The things that matter most in our lives are not fantastic or grand. They are the moments when we touch one another, when we are there in the most attentive or caring way. This simple and profound intimacy is the love that we all long for. These moments of touching and being touched can become a foundation for a path with heart, and they take place in the most immediate and direct way. Mother Teresa put it like this: “In this life we cannot do great things. We can only do small things with great love.”

How we get on the path is not important but that we get there is. The path is not really a way. I think the path is an awareness we have that we are trying to find something we think we have lost but was there all along. We think we travel a long way but we never left where we were. The only thing that changes is our degree of awareness or awakening to the Love within. We find what was there all along. Until we have that very personal experience of connection with our Source we are incapable of becoming the limitless, loving, clairvoyant (that is clear seeing) being that we are. The more we are aware of our connection with Source and therefore with all that is; the more we are in tune with the will of God; the more we become the love that we are and the more peace and joy we will experience. We will also most likely see, if we are willing, that every thing that has ever happened to us was a call to Love, to Source, to awakening. It was and is all good. Whatever helps to get us awakened and alive for the first time in our lives doesn’t matter; that we did, does.

WHAT IS GOD’S WILL?

2007-03-05T03:13:00.000-08:00

What is God’s will? Does God have a will for us each individually? Does God already have a plan mapped out all the way to the most minute detail for each of us and we have little or no choice about what happens or when?

So as our lives unfold and we experience all that we do is what we are experiencing God’s plan or will for us; or, is what we are experiencing the result of what we believe, what we desire, what we fear, what we think about the most? Do our thoughts and beliefs create our reality, our experiences, or does God decide what those experiences are going to be?

Is God the Creative Energy or Force that brings into fruition what it is that is upper most in our minds so that you could say that we decide consciously or unconsciously what manifests in our lives? If so, then maybe one of our tasks is to make sure we know what is upper most in our minds and to become even more aware of how our beliefs (both those we are aware of and those we are not aware of) are manifesting in our lives. If not, then I guess it does not matter what we think or what we believe.

I have personally experienced that the things I had in my mind and things I believed came to pass or seemed to materialize. It seems so clear at times to me that the thoughts and beliefs I have entertained manifested as my experience. Some of these were the result of long ingrained beliefs I had and many of those were not something I was fully conscious of. These often materialized as things I did not personally want to come into my experience but because of what I was holding onto in my belief system that is exactly what I got. I call this “default manifesting”. On the other hand, some of the things that came to pass in my experience were the result of my deliberately choosing to imagine that what I desired was possible. I focused on it deliberately, saw it done in my mind’s eye, felt how good it felt for that to happen, and gave thanks, expressed my gratitude for that thing. Was this God’s preplanned will for me or did God simply supply the power and the means to bring my thoughts or beliefs to fruition?

The question is, do we or do we not have any say so over what happens in our experiences? Is it that what is, is and what is perhaps going to be is going to be and there is nothing we can do about it or can we begin to have some influence on the way things go? If we are experiencing some things we don’t really want or don’t prefer can we change things after the fact? That would be another really good question. Some would say we can or that we can at least make things better or more bearable with conscious awareness.

Perhaps God’s will is for us to make choices and then live out the ripple effect that will follow each choice. I have noted that our choices are so influenced by our past experiences, our beliefs or what we think is truth. So is the purpose of these choices and consequences to “teach” us things? If so, what are we here to learn?

Are we here to learn that we influence what happens in our lives and therefore choose better so that we can experience heaven on earth? Perhaps God’s will is that we do this so that we can actually experience, the love, peace, joy, health and abundance that are ours for the asking and God’s for the giving.

Some would say that we are here to learn that we are all one rather than separate as we have come to believe. Some would say that we are here to learn what love really is and how to do it. It also may follow that IF we truly love (unconditionally) separateness will give way to unity and thereby we experience that God is One through this pledge and desire of ours to love unconditionally. Perhaps as a result of this understanding we will be able to experience more love and unity and therefore attract into our lives more of the peace, joy, and abundance that we really want.

Some say that God’s will for us to love God and to serve God in this life and the life to come – period. But how we do this exactly is rather a mystery. We are told that we must attend a church, learn what God wants of us according to various interpretations of the Bible and what God wants according to the doctrine and beliefs of the church we chose to belong to. Many do this to the exclusion of others who do not believe as they do or others who seem to behave as they think others should. Yet others who seek to love and serve God do learn that others’ behaviors and choices are influenced by their belief systems, their past experiences, their cultures and subcultures and because of the way they interpret their experiences. This enables them to better have a chance to love them unconditionally.

Are we here to learn, to experience, to serve, to learn who and what we really are? Will we ever, truly know why we are here? Do we really need a reason?

I don’t know the answers to all these questions. I do know that for me learning to love is truly a huge part of why I am here. I know that the more I am able to love myself and others unconditionally that life seems to make more sense, seems to be more productive in a positive way in spite of some things that are negative that come my way, and makes my waking up and getting up every morning a blessing for which I am most grateful.

What is God’s will? Is God’s will what I will or do I will what God wills? Does God have anything to do with it? Do I? Does will (God’s, mine, or someone or some thing else’s’) even have anything to do with anything? Only you can answer that for yourself.

TAKING A SHOWER WITH YOUR CLOTHES ON

2007-02-25T05:07:00.000-08:00

When we interact with one another and the world, we are clothed with our biases, our agendas, our beliefs, our thoughts about our past, our thoughts about the future, our beliefs and thoughts about God or Higher Power or Great Mystery or It, our psychological baggage and scars, our addictions, our needs, our "truth", and our ignorance to name a few articles of clothing and then we wonder why we don't get the full benefit of our interactions. We wonder why we feel so alienated or so separate from others at times. We wonder why we don't get it that we are ONE. We wonder why things fall apart. We wonder why there is so much discord in the world. We wonder why so many of us end up ship wrecked or languishing on some barren island wondering what life is all about.

Come naked before God and surrender all the stuff we think is so indisputably important. Surrender doesn’t mean you won’t have any preferences it just means that things will be put in their proper perspective so that like the Emperor's Clothes in the age-old tale, we seem to be clothed but we are not. The clothing will indeed be invisible.

All we have to offer ourselves, God, and each other is our very self. If sacrifice should be made to a god, it would be all the stuff we think we are and all the stuff we think is important. The only thing that is important is Love and you can't do Love when your stuff is more important than that.

When you meet another soul who sees this way and you do too, you experience One. There are no longer two people, only One Thing when you interact. Though speaking and acting are part of the interaction, at times there is only profound silence into which each falls savoring the oneness that is so full, nothing else is needed - no conversation, no words, no needs, no explanations, no jockeying for first place, nothing! There is nothing, absolutely nothing that can compare with this or makes you feel so complete. Far too many of us will live and die without ever having experienced it. If we are able to come before another person in our nakedness and the other person is not able to do this, we can at least stay within our truth and offer to this person the silence, the space, the love, and the opportunity to do the same just by virtue of our being with them in this amazing space. It is always their choice and none of our business what they do with the opportunity.

This ignorance is what sets the tone on this planet and is the father of all deceit, all discord and chaos, all suffering, all acts of violence and hatred, all misuse of power. If one by one we could come to know rather than to be ignorant, we would bring the whole planet to uprightness. However, it is the very discord, suffering, chaos, and such that help to rouse us from our sleep. That is quite a paradox.

We shall shower with our clothes on until we admit they get in the way and we realize how much we are missing.

SEVEN STEPS OF THE SPIRITUAL JOURNEY

2007-02-20T09:52:00.000-08:00

Some have suggested that the spiritual journey is not easy and it takes a lot of work. I can't argue that one. I can say the prerequisite to that is the desire to do it. Without that, you can't get to first base.

Some have suggested that choosing the spiritual path means that you have to be willing to make changes. Perhaps I would add that you must be willing to be changed.

Looking at the 12 Steps of AA I can see that it IS a spiritual path if done thoroughly and willingly and if you truly work the program, you will be changed. If one is Catholic and follows a "rule" or as a lay person uses similar disciplines and is dedicated and sincere and willing, they will be changed. Some other religious or spiritual persons arrive there by other disciplines or other means. There are a number of books out there, ideas, disciplines, and much more or you can put together one of your own. There are many modes of transportation to get you there. The key is desire, willingness, and follow through.

So it seems that:

1. You must decide that your life could be better or that there is something more to be experienced or had. Or you must decide that you need to go deeper with understanding Life or God or Purpose and to experience more in terms of spiritual awakening or something similar.

2. You must be willing to be changed or even desire to be changed in the process. Perhaps as a seeker you have reached a point where what has been has not worked or been satisfactory and you realize that if you keep on doing the same old things you will be getting the same results. Perhaps some major challenge or tragedy or event has occurred that signaled a "wake up" call. Or perhaps there is just a call deep within that seems to beckon you forward.

3. You must desire with intent and determination to pursue some course of action that will lead you step by step in a spiral fashion closer to their goal. Words without action is talking the talk and walking the talk. You don't move forward or evolve spiritually by going in a straight line. You do it in a circular fashion re-visiting, re-doing, and expanding upon each thing you do or have done in the steps. You are always expanding and changing or you stay right where you are. It is always your choice.

4. You must understand that no matter what you attempt your results will be limited or you will miss the spiritual component or you will be self defeating in some cases unless you relinquish your little ego self to that Higher Power whatever you may call It or however you may understand It. I think this is what Jesus meant about building your "house" on sand or building it on solid rock. You can build that house on sand that is try to do this without your Higher Power without Love and you will eventually fail. It will be all about YOU and the spiritual path, while certainly is about you, is more about your soul, your true being rather than the ego you that you have come to know as your self. That ego self you have constructed vies for the jockeying position against your soul which is your spiritual self.

We are a part of God as a drop of water is a part of the ocean. Soul knows that. Ego self sees the other drops as competition thinking that it can become the full ocean. The truth is it takes all drops to make the ocean and we are one in Higher Power/Great Mystery as the drops in the ocean are one in the Great Ocean. We have the same properties as the Ocean. Upon realizing that ego need not vie against anything and gladly relinquishes the jockeying position to soul, the true self.

5. You do not have to be ruled by your past deeds, efforts, and beliefs nor do you need to allow them to rule you nor allow them to fashion your newly chosen life path. Jesus also said you cannot put new wine in old wine skins. You can carry the skills and the lessons forward and desire that they be used to help reach your goal.

6. You must never think that you are finished for even if you should reach a point where your character has been tried in the fire and has made super human strides, there is always more to shed, more to discover, more to gain before your life is over.

7. What we focus on and what we believe is possible is what we draw into our lives. That idea is another whole essay, book, or chapter in itself. Suffice it to say, that if you see yourself becoming a more spiritual person and you keep your eyes focused on that rather than what appears to be you can relax, trust, believe, desire, and keep on keeping on. It is worth the effort and the wait I am sure. I have had glimpses of that and it spurs me on.

LIVING IN THE NOW: IS IT POSSIBLE? WHAT’S THE POINT?

2007-02-19T05:28:00.000-08:00

My mind is like a slippery eel. When I try to stay focused right now, where I am experiencing what I am experiencing, my mind likes to slip off and cause me to chase down alleyways, byways, and other ways ending in a dead end street that takes me nowhere but to vicious cycles and I completely miss out on what is going on right this minute.

The dinner I was eating disappears without my tasting a thing because I was off in thoughts. The treasured moment with a loved one is lost to me forever because I missed being present. Or the beauty of a moment is crushed under the feet of galloping concerns and worries and the "what ifs" of tomorrow or the dust of yesterdays.

Have I built a life so far based on yesterdays? Probably I have for I brought with me my meanings of all of that. But are they not gone? As I build new meanings cannot I not be more aware of and choose to let go of past meanings? This is now and not yesterday. That is a fact hard to argue with but argue I do most times.

My tomorrows, are any promised to me for sure? How many will I have? Who really knows how many they will have? Yesterday I learned that a man 59 died suddenly and unexpectedly with a heart attack and two weeks ago a child of 15 died in a car wreck along with the grandparents in their 50s. Everything passes even the "bad" stuff.

One thing I can do is to show up for life. I can be present as much as possible. I can practice more meditating training my mind to focus and to be brought swiftly back to the moment when I stray. I can learn to give wings to plans knowing full well they are dependent upon so many things and that even I could change enough to desire something different than I first set my sights upon. I can watch my thoughts and beliefs and learn to shift them when I know they are leading me to places I don't want to go. And all the while I can embrace the moment with full awareness so that I can go with the flow of goodness, mercy, love, peace, joy and understanding freeing myself and others to be exactly what we are and who we are at that moment in the "now".

You would think that just showing up for life would be relatively simple and easy. Simple it is; easy it is not because we are not used to being so aware and so disciplined. Monkey mind, the committee, call it what you will, will vie for our attention and then try to absorb us so that we cannot be present. It very cleverly disguises itself as practicality and reality. For example it cause you to judge the moment based upon some experience you had years ago which does not now apply or it will tell you if you don't worry about what could happen, it will.

The truth is the past should no longer tell you how to choose now or how to act now or think now or believe now IF you don't think it serves you. The truth is that the more you worry about something happening, the more likely it will probably do just that for the more energy you give it, the more you attract the possibility of that experience to you. I didn't say you shouldn't think about what you would like to see in the future. You can do that and increase the possibility that you will draw that experience to yourself but you have to know that as you change, your circumstances change, and opposing thoughts horn in on your dream, that negation of that original idea may happen even without your being aware.

Trust that there is a Power greater than you are that is forever with you that creates everything. Your responsibility is to show up, be present, watch what you are thinking, focus on what you want rather than what you don't want, then release it to that Power knowing and believing the highest good is being carried out at all times so that you can be present in the "now" and enjoy and really live the life you have been given.

FORGIVENESS

2007-02-17T04:44:00.000-08:00

I read a great article on forgiveness this morning. Nothing is a coincidence.

I often do not realize how I am still clinging to memories that cause me to react to events in my life the way I do when I know darn good and well that the present situation is only a trigger for something I am still clinging to or have a residue of and has nothing to do with the truth of the moment.

The "committee" convenes in my head and tells me stuff I know is not true. It is something I have told myself years ago about things that happened and this thing takes center front stage and screams so loudly that it drowns out all reasoning. Eventually I come to my senses but meanwhile I cause myself and sometimes other people a lot of unnecessary misery. I am thankful that this last incident created suffering mostly within me and did not affect anyone else so much.

So, even though I thought I had “forgiven” some of the people and incidences of my past, I found that there is still some residue left and if I want to be free of it enough to let me catch it before the committee can meet and throw me to the ground, I better wake up and smell the coffee and get on with forgiveness. It may be that what is left is to forgive myself for creating an image of those incidences that told me I was not loved, that I was only a nuisance and bother, that I was stupid, that I was unwanted, and that I caused the abuse. I told myself that if I could just behave, stay out of the way, be a “good girl”, give enough love, that all would be well.

The article focuses a little differently on forgiveness than my example but it did talk about how not forgiving can limit your blessings and can continue to create scenarios of like manner until you can forgive (not forget but forgive). I suspect that habit will try to drag you back even if you manage to forgive others or yourself but once it reaches the habit stage, you should be able to recognize it for what it is a bit sooner each time until perhaps you no longer give it power to disrupt your life not even for a short time and you will no longer feed it. It should eventually die of starvation but I haven’t quite been there yet so I can’t tell you from experience.

What often keeps us from forgiving is the fact that ego can tell you that you are completely justified in not doing so. So who are you hurting by holding onto that? Certainly not the others involved. They may be completely out of your life or have died. In the case of forgiveness of yourself, you have to be gentle with yourself and understand that you didn’t know any better. If you had, you would have done differently or processed things differently.

Being unforgiving is like trying to travel the road with baggage that slows you down and makes the trip a lot harder than it needs to be. It can cause illness as well.

Forgiving is not forgetting but it is being able to do what it takes to see that if you or others could have done differently at the time you or they would have. Forgiving is knowing that often what happens is triggered by ignorance passed down. Behaviors are often the outcome of self hatred that has been passed down from parent to child because no one woke up enough to break the chain. Chain breakers have an awesome responsibility but it is a privilege to be nominated for that purpose.

It may seem too little too late sometimes but we make amends and we do forgiveness and, trust me, it not only frees us but others whose lives we touch even if we messed up some along the way.

Click on the link below or copy and past in your URL window to read the article on forgiveness.

http://www.innerself.com/Behavior_Modification/Power_of_Forgiveness.htm

THE FIRST FLOWERS OF SPRING

2007-02-13T04:27:00.000-08:00

The Daffodils in my yard are beginning to open their little yellow faces. Even as the temperatures tease with warm and then dip to freezing they seem unaffected with that fickleness and continue to bloom.

It is amazing how first the green shoots defy gravity, break through the harsh and hard ground that would keep them forever in the dark, and then reach toward heaven. Next the buds begin to develop. At first they don’t look like much, rather immature and ugly but as they begin to unfold and share their yellow glory one can only stand in awe of such perfection.

They are the first signs that break through the cold and dark winter bringing with them the promise of sun and warmth once again. The heart rejoices in that promise knowing full well that the cycle will start again and winter will again assert its rightful place in the pattern of things once the spring and summer are spent.

Those living in climates of little variation will not have the opportunity to note the signs that so well relate at times to our life’s journey. Nature invites us to stop and to observe and to take heart in the cycles that we will experience knowing that nothing lasts forever and yet everything regenerates anew.

Here’s to the flowers, to the promise, to the acceptance of all that is in God’s good time and in God’s good plan. Here’s to us who ride the waves of change and transition as we break free time and time again in the springtime of our journey.

Life is a constant celebration of love that propels us through all we encounter, causes the buds to blossom, and makes the journey sweet.

Dark Night of the Soul

2007-02-10T06:04:00.000-08:00

I suppose there are periods in a person's life when as they develop or desire to develop further spiritually, that they find themselves in what St. John of the Cross called the "dark night of the soul".

I personally have reached at point where my soul is taking hold of me and causing me to revisit the call I heard so many years ago. I have some things to do: studying, praying, maybe some thinking, and surrendering to God and for the direction of good for my soul. I have reached an impasse, a rude awakening, a shaking up to the core that has caused me to sit up and take notice. I'm not sure what's up but I can recognize that there is another lesson or hurdle or stage or something that is coming up that right now that feels like the dark night but somehow will have at the finish what my soul has been directing me towards.

Every stage we go through, every major life change, offers an opportunity for reaching higher consciousness and drawing closer to our soul's purpose. Right now, it doesn't feel very good but after beseeching and knocking and asking at the door Jesus spoke of, I think the light will dawn. If it doesn’t then my goose is cooked. I don’t think God is about leaving us in ignorance and misery, even though earlier today I was ranting and raving at God for what I perceived as pulling the rug out from under me. God knows what an absolute pain in the butt I can be. Like a two-year old yelling “No!” at her parents. Who the heck do I think I am anyway? Good thing I have forgiveness for my emotional outbursts. :)

THE BEAUTY OF THE MOMENT

2007-02-05T04:51:00.000-08:00

In every man's heart there is a secret nerve that answers to the vibrations of beauty. -- Christopher Morley

I was reading a book and the sentence that struck me profoundly was one in which it talked about how we appreciate the pleasure of things that we have or experience but we don't necessarily appreciate the beauty of the moment. One way we can do that, I suspect, is to give thanks for it and mean it with all our hearts.

If I am witnessing a beautiful sunrise or sunset and it gives me pleasure that is wonderful but if I am completely and totally present with the experience in the moment and I sense the beauty of that moment by appreciating it through my gratitude I find that the degree of enjoyment and the fullness of that experience is expanded exponentially. I can express my thanks without directing it to my concept of God but most often I do. It is easier to do it that way but God to me is much, much more than any concept I can have of what God is or anyone else can have for that matter. God goes beyond name or concept. But we humans tend to need a point of reference and/or a point of direction for our thoughts and beliefs.

Treating each moment or experience with complete attention can only enhance it for my energy is single minded and keenly focused rather than scattered about giving attention to "monkey mind" or the "committee". I am thoroughly there. Words are not necessary when I am immersed in the "now" but often words of expression make there way from my mind to my mouth because it seems that these things cry for voice. Voice fails to describe the experience much like voice fails and words fail to adequately convey the experience of what we call God.

The beauty of the moment to me is the very essence of God. It is total and complete love. It is giving myself to that moment. Wallowing in the warm beauty of loving experience takes me way beyond the physical aspects of what it is I am seeing or experiencing and gives me glimpses of heaven.

The beauty of the moment takes me to heaven's door and invites me in. It fills my soul like nothing else can.

LITERAL AND LIBERAL INTERPRETATIONS

2007-01-30T06:13:00.000-08:00

By changing the “t” in “literal” to a “b”, you go from literal to liberal. What would be the difference between interpreting something literally as opposed to liberally?

I read the following "Daily Buddha Wisdom and like many things we read including the Bible, it would seem the interpretation is strictly up to the reader or listener. How literally or how liberally do we interpret what we read or hear?

DAILY BUDDHA WISDOM

Whoever, abandoning sensual passions here,
would go forth from home--
his sensual passions, becomings,
totally gone:
he's what I call
a brahmin.

Whoever, abandoning craving here,
would go forth from home--
his cravings, becomings,
totally gone:
he's what I call
a brahmin.

-Dhammapada, 26, translated by Thanissaro Bhikkhu

Taken literally, it would seem we are being asked to not have feelings or desires. Taken liberally we might see beyond the surface to find something entirely different.

Just try to not feel any passions whatsoever. Just try not to desire anything and see what happens. The more you try to get rid of something the more it increases. Stuffing is no better. Stuffing feelings - both the ones we consider to be good and the ones we consider to be bad - can cause chemical changes in the body that might lead to disease. Stuffing feelings can make a person an emotional wreck requiring therapy or medications. Stuffing feelings can also encourage the sufferer to use food, alcohol, or drugs in order to not feel or to try to feel differently. None of these responses or attempts of remedy yield the more productive outcome for anyone.

As for desires we could go through the whole paragraph of responses just listed and find the same outcome. On the positive side, desires are a set of energies that cause us to move forward, to find solutions, to evolve, to change, to invent, and to overcome.

So if not taken literally what could this excerpt tell us about our desires and feelings – our passions?

First of all we are going to have feelings and these are predicated upon our interpretation of all the events that we experience and this is predicated upon our thoughts and belief systems. So how we feel and respond to anything and how we interpret it is based upon what is stored in and embraced as "gospel" floating between our ears. If we truly know this, then we can see that we can a)perhaps change how we think about something or what we believe about something and therefore change our response or feelings or tone the feeling down; b)we can know that other people are also coming from their own personal mind set and therefore stop reacting so intensely to what is going on as though they must see it our way; c)or we can recognize by observing what we are passionate about or what we are feeling or desiring we can respond more clearly and objectively rather than subjectively creating a more productive and positive reaction or behavior response. By becoming the “Observer” we can defuse and redistribute passions to react more responsibly which in turn would cause more peace than war, more togetherness rather than separateness on a personal level, a community level, a national level and a planet level.

Denying what you are thinking or feeling or desiring is not the way to go in the long run.
Through becoming aware of your feelings or desires and becoming aware of what you are thinking that causes your response to these, you can better choose how and what you want to think, what you want to feel, what you want to desire, and how you want to react.
A more loving response comes easier when you detach and become aware of yourself and what you thinking and doing and why. A loving response does not mean you have to change what you think, how you think, how you feel, or what you desire but instead will allow more possibilities to flower and it will give you and others the freedom to be who they are at any given moment. It doesn’t mean yielding to others or their passions but rather to respond from a more objective rather than subjective platform that allows you in turn to choose love rather than hate or fear.

Keep and be aware of your passions, your desires, your thoughts, and your feelings but bring them to God (or a place of neutrality, a place void of hatred or fear) to be made subject to Love, to be brought into a place of diverse harmony and you will find that your passions, your desires, your thoughts, your deeds, your feelings will be made whole (holy). Your responses will be more divinely inspired. You will be more integrated within. What you see and what you experience in your world is based upon what you have inside. The world – your world - is a reflection of you.

You can interpret things literally or liberally. The choice is always yours but I tend to think that liberals have more fun and are healthier. They have more freedom. They live and let live. Easy does it for them. The let go and let God. In my opinion it doesn’t get better than that.

SHOWING UP FOR LIFE'S SIMPLE PLEASURES

2007-01-28T04:57:00.000-08:00

The best way to enjoy anything or any moment is to show up. Just show up. Be there.

If your body is doing one thing and your mind is somewhere else, you are not showing up for the moment.

When you bite into a grape really taste it. Be there in the experience. See the color as you pick it up to bring it to your mouth. Notice how it pops as you bite into it. Notice the taste. Feel the texture. BE THERE.

At that moment there is no past or future - only now.

When you brush your teeth are you aware of the taste of the toothpaste? Do you feel the brush in your mouth? What else do you notice? Or do you brush you teeth thinking about the next thing on your grooming list or something else?

When you fold your clothes when they come out of the wash do you notice the smells, the textures, the colors, the shapes of your laundry or are you somewhere else in you mind thinking about something else?

When you hug someone are you there or is your mind on what you are going to do next or what time it is or some other concern or are you totally aware of his/her presence to you and yours to him/her?

When you are talking with someone are you really listening or thinking about something else or what you are going to say next?

When you are with the one you love can you share an embrace without words and just be there with each other feeling the love, feeling your souls merge into one?

Be there. Show up.

Life is too short not to show up.

THE GEORGIA HOME FRONT TODAY

2007-01-27T06:42:00.000-08:00

Through the cold the sun shines
Laughter echoes in the heart
Smiles play across the lips
Love dances her dance

Joy abounds and peace reigns
The Now appears and obliterates fears
There's no past and no tomorrow
When the mind homes in on the present

Crows caw and heater cycle blending with computer hums
Drafty fingers of air circle the body
Sending cool signals of outside air
A page of chores nudge gentle to remind

And thanksgiving for breath and all that is
Fill the moment with glorious praise
Enrapturing the soul in Divine Bliss
The promise of the day unfolds, beckons

Delight stirs among things yet to come
Yet planted in the womb of contentment
With breath in and breath out life rolls forward
Bringing purpose and meaning to the Georgia Home Front Today

WHERE IS YOUR FOCUS?

2007-01-27T04:36:00.000-08:00

What we focus on increases. The more attention and fear we give to a thing, the more it grows.

From the media works to the typed word, to the backyard gossip, to the official word coming out of Washington, to the casual discussions held everyday everywhere, to silent thoughts in an individual, comes the fear and the intense focus upon every conceivable horror contained in the worse nightmare. This is the very fuel for bringing forth that which all hope to avoid, eradicate, or control.

Those claiming that God will prevail and will take care of the mess, break out in a sweat fearing that His will will be that the horrors will continue. We speak with a forked tongue. We push and pull at the same time wondering why we don't get anywhere.

You can't serve "God" and not God at the same time.

You can't want solutions by focusing on the "problem".

You can't be part of the solution if you are part of the problem.

You can't expect to get better results with the same remedy that hasn't ever worked.

Nations are not going to change until people do and people won't change because they don't see the point.

Everything is a call TO Love/God/Truth. Everything!

LOVE AS THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE

2007-01-26T05:35:00.000-08:00

Love is the way. The only medium through which we connect in awareness with God and each other is love. An appliance may be connected to the source of electricity by a cord but unless the connection is opened by a throwing of the switch, no current flows and the purpose for which the appliance was created is not fulfilled. Love is the current and all we have to do is open up to it to fulfill our purpose.

Love is the truth. We can choose to live as though it is not. We can believe the lies we hear and have heard since our human birth that the truth is that no one cares, no one can truly love, and that some people are not worthy of love. Love is the only thing that is real but anytime a person chooses to believe otherwise, then his or her experience will be that it is not. If we choose to believe that love is the truth and live this truth, everything else, everything else falls into place, falls into order, and makes sense. Otherwise we go around without hope scratching our heads and lamenting about the chaos and disorder that is rampant in the world. I believe that love is the only thing keeping this world from totally blowing up in our face. It is the antidote to the warring, the hatred, the abuses, and the horror that is displayed every day in the media.

Love is the life. Love is what brought us here. Love is what sustains us. Love is what powers us and empowers us. Love is each breath we take. Love is all there is. Love is what we are living or not living according to our faith or belief. Love is our purpose and to the degree to which we allow that purpose to flow into and through our lives, have we lived, truly lived.

Foreigner recorded a song in 1984 called I Wanna Know Where Love Is. If love is the way, the truth, and the life, then the only question we might want to ask is “Where is love?” We can start with that.

The way. The truth. The life. Find it. Live it.

LOVE AS THE DRUG OF CHOICE

2007-01-21T05:23:00.000-08:00

The more we give (unconditional) love, the more there is to give. It replenishes itself. An addiction to a drug carries with it the fear of it running out or needing more and more in order to feel or obtain the sought-after results. Conditioned love carries the same futil and limited pay off.

Uncondtional love, not only replenishes itself and has no bottom to it, it is the only thing that makes sense to do.

Nothing is more satisfying than to totally and completely surrender to love. When you can give love when it is not well received or it falls upon folded arms; when the one you extend it to cannot reciprocate; when the objection of your affection is mean spirited or hurls conditions upon you before they can unfurl their fists; when it is toughest to even care to love them, but you do it unconditionally, then you have reached a state of being that can bring heaven to earth and you will find a satisfaction that equals no other. I might add that in practicing that, being determined to love unconditionally, and desiring nothing less than that will eventually open the flood gates of love to you that you never knew existed. You will draw to you those who will in turn love you with a pure love unequal to any humanistic efforts to do so that came before and you will love them with the same degree.

When you love purely without stain of conditions or fears and someone loves you in like kind, your souls dance in the fire of God. Where there were two, there is only one. It makes no difference what combination of relationship we are talking about - two people in love, a parent and child, a brother and sister, two friends - the result is the same. And whom God has joined together, no man, no thing can put asunder. Talk about a match made in heaven! When people are not joined in the fire of God, there is not a real union to be torn apart. It never existed in the first place but the opportunity to make it so is always a possibility. Thank you God!

Opening up to this way of being shows me that there never has been a separation between myself and others because I have experienced the One when I dropped all of the conditions I placed upon myself and others. We create our own walls. They aren't real but because they seem real, we keep people out and imprison ourselves within.

Nothing tastes or feels as good as the freedom of real (unconditional) love. It's my drug of choice.

THE DANCE OF LOVE

2007-01-20T06:38:00.000-08:00

Love dances me though I have choices.
It speaks to me through all the voices
That meet in my head to put out the fire
Of Infinite Love, of passion, of desire

My self so taut relaxes, surrenders
Put to ashes banishing what hinders
Opening the heart and embracing all
Uniting in One what was split in the fall

For the eyes of Truth have looked into mine
And captured my soul in Love Divine
Bringing me to the place so eternal
Drawing inside all that was external

In ecstasy my soul is enraptured, complete
When souls and God in the now doth meet
For this were we made, our orders Divine
Carried out fully when your soul met mine.

Holy ground is this place where we meet
Unhindered by voices that would carry defeat
And in that moment there’s neither time nor space
Just the radiant reflection of God’s holy face.

LOVE AND THE ETERNAL NOW

2007-01-19T09:19:00.000-08:00

The "now" is eternal.

Residing there is only the soul/spirit that I am, a spark of Intelligent Mind, God, or whatever you choose to call our reference point.

In the now there is no past, present or future. There is no time. It is total presence in, through and with Divine Presence.

I have in the now no need for prejudice, pre-conceived notions or ideas. I have no need for my baggage. I have no need to worry. I have no pressure and I am wrapped in the arms of God.

The comfort, the pleasure, the utter knowing that all is well permeates my being and I float like a leaf on the river of Divine Mind, Divine action, Divine Love.

There is a feeling of being totally committed, totally surrendered.

Freedom never tasted so good.

LOVE AND PURPOSE

2007-01-18T04:40:00.000-08:00

As I awoke this morning the thought came to me that love is the reason for everything. The real purpose behind every relationship, every task we undertake, every choice we make, every activity, and every experience is to find out that love is the reason we are here.

God is nothing but Love, Love/God is all there really is, and we are the love we seek but to the degree we fail to understand any of this we have failed to fulfill our purpose. That failure will manifest itself as inflated and misguided egos, chaos, death, self abuse and the abuse of others, destruction, war, anxiety, failed relationships, unnecessary illnesses, unhappiness, and a sense of futility. We will continue to build empires; put others down; mistreat and abuse others or/and our selves; lie; cheat; steal; abuse prescription and non prescription drugs, food, alcohol, and other substances; make life miserable for our selves and others; and in general fail to live out our purpose.

No matter how many wonderful things I do if love does not fuel my desires, steady my hands, or power my motivations I have failed to fulfill my life’s purpose.

There is a quote from the movie Moulin Rouge, where Toulouse-Lautrec says: “The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return.” I think that about sums it up. It is as simple as that.

LOVE AND DESIRE

2007-01-17T05:05:00.000-08:00

Does God/Infinite Intelligence, place desires in our hearts or do we?

When we feel the pull to do or have this or that is God placing that desire or idea in us or do our thoughts, ideas, desires, pulls, tendencies come strictly from us?

When we cultivate these desires or thoughts what is influencing us? Is it God?

If we desire to have or be or do something that appears to be harmful or hurtful to ourselves or others would God have put that idea into our heads? I believe not. So how do I explain, how does anyone explain where all this comes from this good behavior or not-so-good behavior?

I think what may be possible is that each individual’s relationship to and idea of God/Infinite Mind is what will shape how they think, what they think, what desires within will manifest, what choices they will ultimately make and what action they will ultimately choose. The power to make choices and to attract certain situations, people or things into our lives is always there. I just think the only thing that makes a difference or influences us is our level of awareness of Love and Truth.

If we have made room for Unconditional Love to guide our lives then our desires and actions, in fact every event or circumstance we encounter, will always strive to manifest love, gentleness, peace, joy, contentment, and well being. All events, people, circumstance, outcomes, and encounters offer us an opportunity to come back to God, to the Truth that is, to our real and natural selves – a state of being Unconditional Love.

The more we seem to have a grasp of or awareness of the Love that God is and who and what we are in view of that, the more our choices and desires will bring comfort and contentment, and joy into our lives which can then affect others. We have a huge responsibility to wake up to the Christ, the Love, the very Presence of God that we are in the world – this Presence in Whom we live and move and have our being. We have a responsibility to do this in order to fulfill the purpose of our being and in order to create a milieu that allows others the opportunity to do the same. This milieu is Love with no conditions. It is who you are. All we have to do is to be that which we truly are rather than what we have thought ourselves to be. It is so simple and yet so almost out of reach of our doing or understanding.

We have but one thing to do. Once that it is in place all else will come in its right way and right time and then we will know heaven on earth.

THE CIRCLE OF LOVE

2007-01-08T06:41:00.000-08:00

Picture if you will your self, your body which incases all that you are or think yourself to be. Now picture a circle surrounding your body, your self - all that you are. You go through life pulling people into your circle or pushing them out. Sometimes pushing people out is called establishing healthy boundaries. But the circle I am speaking of is a spiritual one.

So let’s say that you have latched onto and uphold the idea that God is Love and that you are to indeed love one another as suggested/commanded in the Bible. Or if the Bible is not your source then maybe you just have a sense that loving others is the “right” thing to do or you follow some other excellent spiritual source.

Let’s call this circle not a boundary but rather a spiritual circle of love and you start by bringing more and more people into your circle. You start with those whom you seem to like or love and who validate you. Later you can start adding those whom you are fairly neutral about working your way finally to those who seem to step on your last nerve, stand for everything you hate and who may have in some way hurt, harmed or offended you.

If you do that you will notice your circle had to expand in order to bring all those people in. And lo and behold your “Self” has expanded.

Next you may look around and note that as you bring people into your circle, you see they have circles too and some of them are adding you to their circle.
As this increases you note that not only are you in their circle and they in yours, but you note that there is a bigger circle that encompasses all people and all their circles, but you also note that you cannot see the edges of the circle you just know it is there. You also note that the edges of that circle is forever expanding and there is no end to it.

I now see God as Infinite Being with no idea or concept or name but the “Medium” (if you will) into which we are all connected.

ORDINARY PRAYER AND AFFIRMATIVE PRAYER

2007-01-06T04:56:00.000-08:00

Normal or ordinary prayer as most of us know it is one of supplication. Usually this is done by someone who is focused on what is not and wants to ask God who is perceived as a power outside of him/herself to bring forth what is missing or needed or desired. This is not wrong and the desired results can be forth coming but faith and the person’s belief system is what brings about a particular outcome not whether God flipped a coin or weighed the “evidence” and made a decision to give or withhold.

Affirmative prayer takes the position that there is a Universal Law that operates through us. Whatever we focus on the most and what we believe will shape the results of our thoughts and our thoughts draw results to us. It is God’s creative energy that does the work but we put in our order. In a restaurant we tell the server what we would like to see on our plate. We have thought about it and can almost taste it. We look forward with great anticipation enjoying that food and we are excited and thankful to be there enjoying it all. We see and feel it all happening. The server takes the request to the kitchen and the cooks put it together and the results will arrive. So we cooperate with the Creative Energy.

Sometimes in a restaurant the server comes back and says, “I’m sorry but we ran out of _____.” You may have had some doubts about that order but it could be that there was something else at work for the greater good. At that point rather than getting disappointed, you just think of something else to order and you may end up enjoying that even more than what the original order was – that is if you know that all is well and everything is exactly as it should be. If you sit in a restaurant and the server asks what you want and you hesitate between two or three items wavering constantly, it would be difficult to take your order and give you what you want. If you want fried chicken but you think that probably you shouldn’t have it, you probably won’t get it. Let’s say you ordered fried chicken but worried that there wouldn’t be any left or that you really should have chosen the salmon, either (a) the chicken won’t make it to your plate or something will be wrong with it; or (b) you will get it and you won’t get the best value out of it.

Jesus hesitated (but only for a moment) about putting in the request for wine rather than water at the wedding but his mother said it was okay so he did it with just the shifting of his thoughts. Later he told us that we could do even greater works through the same principle and the same God/Creative Force – the “Father” of all things.

The thought with the strongest intention and belief – the one that is most constant usually gets the order filled.

A person who is using sculpting material gets the idea of what they want to see as the end result and God that is in the mind then furnishes the wherewithal with which to make it take shape .

IN PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

2007-01-01T06:50:00.000-08:00

Discontent, war, unrest, unhappiness, pain, separation - these are not pleasant moods, circumstances, or places of the heart to be in and yet it is well to remember (if one can) that out of the ashes of these come peace, contentment, joy, and unity.

Intellectually I know this but at those times when it is the darkest and most painful, it is not easy to find this truth able to give instant relief to the emotions and the feelings that arise.

At times when we are being ignored, shunned, forgotten; times when we have gone through a separation from someone we love through circumstances of death or just a parting of the ways; times when every thing we have attempted seems to fail; times when there seems no up and plenty of down; times when it seems you have no real purpose to perform; times when you can't figure out what the next step is or you have lost your way; and times when everywhere you look there is pain, ignorance, and wars of all types, it is not easy to rejoice, to have a sense of well-being. It is not always easy to try for the brass ring. It is not always easy to keep putting one foot in front of the other. It is not easy to even want to go on but it can be done. At least I keep telling myself those things at those times. :)

I recently saw the movie, "The Pursuit of Happyness" (yes, it is spelled with a "y" in the title). It was all about keeping on keeping on and having hope in the middle of seemingly impossible odds. It is also all about how important it is for others who are significant in our lives to cheer us on, to support us, and to believe in us even when we are not sure how anybody could.

I suppose if we do not believe in the potential within us, other's support of us would not get very far. And maybe the horrific things we sometimes go through can serve to force us to find that potential within and to know that the Spirit within us is always ready and available if we but will surrender to It.

MOVING INTO THE NEW YEAR

2006-12-31T04:57:00.000-08:00

We always celebrate the New Year as a time of renewal and making goals. That is a good thing; however, we can do this anytime if we just take the time. Anytime you want you can set goals and start anew.

Sometimes circumstances that come along will force you to make a new beginning. Sometimes we don't like those circumstances but we can vow to make something good come from them with a little effort and a lot of hope. That is easy to say but not always easy to do. I know there have been times when if someone said to me, you can start afresh or take this time to make a new life, or there is hope for you, etc., I would have wanted to slap them silly. So it is not always easy to see the light at the end of the tunnel. It is there though. Don't take my word for it. Find it for yourself.

So at the beginning of a new year I see more deeply into the implications of beginning anew at any time but particularly if you have had a run of what you might call bad luck or some sort of tragedy. Once you are able to get to that point and start making it happen, life will pick up for you and get your juices flowing again. Once you are well on your way, even if the struggle was very painful, you will feel an inner strength that you didn't know you had and your self esteem will get a much needed shot in the arm.

This post would have been good for my other blog "Moving On Through Loss" but having it in one spot is good enough.

HAPPY NEW YEAR! May this new year bring you closures to old business and new beginings and may the joy you experience out rank any unpleasantness or unhappiness that you may have been through this past year.

Namaste'

LOVE AND HOPE AND TYING ONE'S CAMEL

2006-12-16T04:48:00.000-08:00

There is a saying “Where there is love, there is hope.” There is also an Arabic saying, “Trust in God but tie your camel”.

Tie your dreams to love and hope but trust that the Divine Plan will be unfolded as it must and know that this trumps any hopes or plans of your own.

Such an approach is the way you balance between what is desired and what is to be.

Such an approach is a way to look at doing your part but knowing that Infinite Wisdom knows how to connect all the dots for everyone concerned so you can let go of the results.

Such an approach is another and very different way to think of trusting in God but tying your camel as well

INFINITE LOVE REFLECTED

2006-12-11T06:16:00.000-08:00

This morning as I opened the drapes in my bedroom I noticed something I rarely get to see. There was not one ripple upon the pond, nothing to disturb its perfect peace. There was nothing to cause the surface or deeper water to move.

When the pond is like this (a rare treat indeed) the trees are reflected so purely so perfectly that the images produced upon the water seemed real. It was almost as though you could not tell the real thing from the reflection of the real thing. As I gazed upon this sight the flat surface of the water seem to take on dimension and that depth seemed to go on forever.

I was aware that we are like the images of the trees. When we are calm, peaceful, loving, and we are allowing nothing to disturb the waters of our minds and hearts, we provide most perfectly at that those times, the background upon which our Creator can be reflected. It is through our cooperation that God can experience and be experienced.

We are not the tree/God nor are we the reflected image of the tree/God but rather we are the water/mind upon which the image is displayed.

Though I took a picture of it, this image is also not the real thing but the closest I can come to sharing it with you.

LOVE AS THE REAL THING

2006-12-09T07:54:00.000-08:00

I firmly believe that without love being cultivated within first, then any act of kindness or respect is an imitation albeit a good imitation. An artificial diamond can be lovely but it pales when compared to the real thing.

If LOVE is not the cause of an action, that action will lack the most important ingredient. It won't hold up during challenges. It won't be able to extend as far into the world and it won't be able to accomplish all that is possible with the real thing.

When real Love becomes the motivator for all actions, then it leads to real actions that lead to more real love. We can’t wait around to hope for actions that may or may not be real that give us an experience of love. We must learn to find that love within, to nourish and cultivate it so that we have it regardless of the kinds of interactions we have with others. They are not the source of our happiness. Love is the source. Real love leads to real actions and real actions lead to more real love.

That's one to ponder and meditate upon.

If we come to understand and recognize that love within and how to cultivate it, to nourish it and to grow it, then what needed to be done has been done. Our purpose has been fulfilled.

We are "pregnant" with Love. Talk about something to celebrate!

FEELINGS, IMAGINATION, AND CREATION

2006-12-03T05:10:00.000-08:00

I received several articles today in my email that have to do with feelings and imagination and...manifestation as well. Put them together and what have you got? "Bippity, Boppity Boo!" Remember that from the Cinderella "movie" when we were growing up? Cinderella's Fairy Godmother said that "incantation" (I guess you call it) while changing the pumpkin into a coach, Cinderella's rags into a ball gown, the mice into footmen, etc.

But all we need is feeling, imagination, and focus and we can bring into our lives what it is that we seem to what to create or bring forth or experience. Cinderella had to have the idea that she wanted to go to the ball before it could happen.

Now, at first glance, one who loves God might say that this is unwise, un-Christian, egotistical, or just plain wrong or sinful. How dare we presume to think that we mere mortals can have any say-so or power or ability that belongs strictly to God! They would say we can only have things if we "pray" and ask God and then we will get it only if He decides it is okay.

I happen to believe that God creates and experiences through, with, and in us. Within us is that push to do, say, think, and feel what our particular expression of God is suggesting to us. Yes, even the "bad" stuff that may not turn out to be something we were glad we did. Because there is some purpose for it even if we can't spot what it is. The big picture could show us but we are too small to see it - at least not the whole of it.

I have noted that more and more when I have a desire it will manifest in exactly the form that is for my highest good in exactly the appropriate time, and in the best way. It is like setting goals. Everyone knows that we can set goals and then eventually bring those goals to fruition. But when we bring God or spirituality into the equation, people get upset and think that we are trying to be better than or equal to all that God is in God's entirety.

Here's the deal, it is God's/Spirit's/The All-That-Is' (or whatever name you call the Creative Force) pleasure and intent to live out all the possibilities and potential possible in every human being. We don't have to cooperate but if we do, it is amazing what can happen.

We get ideas and if we note these ideas are usually accompanied by feelings. Now these may be wonderful or exciting or they may be feelings of fear or worry or something not so pleasant. These feelings add power through the law of attraction and sooner or later will manifest in your life physically in some experiential form. So your thoughts and imagination given a boost by your feelings can and will bring things into your life's experience. I have believed this for quite a while now but more and more am actually seeing it and experiencing it.

There are some things you cannot change. Other people have their thoughts and agendas and then there is the collective thought mass that exists as well. All we can do is to become aware of our own thoughts, desires, and feelings. Then those who are on the same “wave length” will co-create with you to bring these things about whether they are aware or not that they are doing so and you will do the same for them. Those who are not on the same wave length will not. The more you are conscious of your thoughts and feelings the more you will be aware of the workings of God/Spirit in, with, and through you. It becomes a joy to watch and to get to experience this, to be aware of it. You will learn better when you are cooperating, surrendering to Spirit and when you are resisting. But even when we resist, all things will still work together for our good and the good of others – even the stuff we don’t think was very good or the things we are ashamed of.

Thoughts create things. Feelings guide us and give power to our thoughts. Choose carefully what you think or wish/pray/ask for.

THE BIG PICTURE

2006-12-02T04:39:00.000-08:00

I guess if I could always step back and see the whole of things, the whole of my life I would understand how beautifully everything was orchestrated and is still being orchestrated. All is and was as it should be. Even the stuff I didn't really want.

I was contemplating last night that as I look back on my life one thing has lead to the next and each one was vitally connected to the other to make up this thing called my life. I thought of how Ron was with me only seven years but that was long enough for us both to get what we needed and what we both were to do in that period of time. When he had accomplished all that he was supposed to with me and I with him, it was time for the next chapter for him and for me. I realized how true this is for all of us.

Right now, there are all kinds of wonderful things opening up to me so my work and experience here is not yet complete. I would still love to put things back as they were before Ron got sick and still have him here in the flesh with me; but, that cannot be and so I move forward each day with a little more joy and hopeful anticipation of each new day to see where the road now leads me. My writing is beginning to take off little by little and there are other opportunities now opening up for me if I but let go of what was and embrace now what is and what is to come.

Life is good. Ron used to say that a lot even when he was faced with fewer and fewer days in this life time. I join with him now in saying that life is indeed good and I give thanks for it.

And so it is

THE TUESDAY OF NOW

2006-11-30T06:03:00.000-08:00

It is yet another cloudy day in Georgia punctuated by fits of rain. The Bradford Pear trees (most of which are on "death row") are a brilliant orange that almost lights the backyard like Thanksgiving ornaments. The trees are on “death row” because they encroach upon the gas pipeline space which is verboten. The gas line crew has been ordered to uproot and destroy them without compassion. The weather and "death row" trees are another reason to enjoy the "now" and to learn to stop resisting the impermanence of all things - both those we wish to cling to and those we wish to hurry along out of our lives.

I keep a lot of activity going right now placing carrots of expectations before me prodding me along this path that I sometimes trod with leaden feet. Now and then my mind wanders to thoughts such as "What will I do when I can make only so many social engagements before my friends find something else to do or when I don't have a home project or acting or writing project going. What then? Or will it come to that? What lies ahead? What will become of me?" I don't know. All I have is now. Anxiety awaits me if I look too far ahead. Grief awaits me if I look behind.

I am not the only one who asks these kinds of questions or have these kinds of thoughts. All of us go through similar ones at times.

So being thankful for what is and what I have and what I am and what I dream of begins to open my heart and my joy to the moment at hand.

I am thankful I have a wonderful home and neighborhood to live in. I am thankful I have visitors coming to brighten this next week. I have my health. I have friends. I have this web site for now to express myself and to connect with kindred spirits. I am enjoying my church. So much to be thankful for. So very much. And it is all now.

THE PRESENCE IS THE GIFT OF CHRISTMAS

2006-11-29T03:49:00.000-08:00

Love's/God's presence can be experienced in many ways. What you focus on, you have an experience of. So when you pray or meditate with God in mind you can often experience that Presence within. To me it feels like love feels - warm, welcoming, accepting, flawless, restful, and joyful. There is a sense of knowing that all is well, all is right regardless of what is happening to rock your world. During this state all disharmonic thoughts cannot enter nor influence. This is your personal time with your true Self within, the Christ within. At that moment you are that and not separate from that. You are aware that there is not you and that. You are One as God is One. With practice and belief that this is so, you can do it outside of your prayer or meditation time.

Another way we experience God/Love in the world is through, with, and in each other. God's presence is made manifest through us when we surrender all the stuff that gets in the way of that flow and when we connect consciously with one another.

God has no way of holding you unless it is done through the arms of another. God has no way of giving gifts unless we allow our minds, bodies and souls to be instruments. God rocks the cradles, cooks the meals, sweeps the sidewalk, holds the hand of the sick, creates new bodies/lives, invents new things, enjoys the sunrises and sunsets, and in fact does and experiences all things through, with, and in us. What an awesome responsibility we have.

Each time we block the Presence with our stubbornness, our false sense of self, our very ignorance, we have not fully demonstrated our true nature and so there is just that much less joy, love, peace, and rightness in the world.

You don’t have to be aware of or buy into this idea I am presenting for it to work but awareness and belief and cooperation with the Christ within expedites the process and will expand within you the Self that you truly are. More and more you can get your arms around all that is rather than a selective few things. When you are selective you limit yourself and God in this world. You choose to only embrace what your limited human beliefs will allow or accept. God/Love is so much bigger than that.

So, if you have an inclination to do so, if you are up to the challenge, allow that which you are to expand. Allow that which you are to experience the full potential within you. Allow God’s/Love’s Presence to be demonstrated through, with, and in you. Bring forth as Mary did, the Christ into the world. It can be Christmas every day, every moment if you will but allow it.

LOVE AND CHANCE

2006-11-26T04:57:00.000-08:00

When we truly love, somewhere in the deepest part of us we are aware of being connected with another human being. When we feel that love, we are connected because there is nothing in that moment that separates us in our minds, our very consciousness, from another. In that moment there are no judgments and no conditions though often times during our interactions with our loved ones, we will judge or place conditions – at least temporarily. When we begin to understand what love really is, as love becomes who we are rather than what we do, there is less fear, less worry about loss of love, less judgment, fewer conditions.

Until then, we as humans become fearful that through death or choice we will be separated from one we love. So love carries with it a certain amount of risks. We live in fear that love will be lost to us. The more we fear, the more the illusion of being separated grows.

This fear may manifest in a person wanting to possess or hold on too tightly to another person. They may smother others who dare to love them. They may be given to fits of jealousy. Their fear of being separated may cause them to beg a terminally ill loved one to hang on to living and to endure longer than necessary their illness and pain . In extreme cases this so-called love that is really fear masquerading as love, may lead to abuse or murder particularly if rejection seems to be a real or imagined.

Fear of losing love may cause a person to not be willing to take a chance on love and thereby lose on many opportunities to experience the love they so desperately hope for. Anything worth having brings with it some challenges and some risks. Love is always worth it. I was a widow when I met and fell in love with my second husband. He told me pretty early in the relationship that he had CLL (Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia). What this meant was that while the disease was not causing any problems at the moment and required no treatment, at some point it could cause complications that would inevitably lead to death. We had no idea how long or short a time we would have together. The chances that he would die before I would were pretty great and so I knew that if I took a chance on love with him, at some point I would lose him. I knew how painful that could be and though I wasn’t looking forward to that prospect, of living that loss once again, I could not say no to love. I only had seven years with him before he died. Was it worth it? You bet.

We may begin to feel that love is something that we get from another and that others can either give to you or withhold from you. Love is something we have inside and it is always with us. Love is the gift of ourselves that we give to one another. It is in the giving of ourselves, this love we are, that we receive love for what we give flows back to us. Like an echo we extend love out and it comes back to us over and over again.

Perfect love casts out fear we have heard. It is true. We either love or fear. We either love or resist love out of fear.

When we take a chance on love, we open ourselves to risk of separation but as Alfred, Lord Tennyson said, “ ‘Tis better to have love and lost than never to have loved at all.”

THREE WISHES

2006-11-17T05:15:00.000-08:00

You Have Three Wishes

Did you ever notice that in stories about genies that grant wishes, there are three? Did you ever wonder why three?

The first wish is made because you think that this is what you want most and will make you the most happy. Usually with first wishes, we get to see what it pays to be careful what you wish for because usually it doesn’t turn out quite like you planned. You see that things are not quite what you thought they would be.

The second wish usually makes an improvement on the first. You learn a little bit more, make corrections with the first wish and ultimately you do seem to get a better result. But still you could sing along with the Eagles the words to one of their songs that says, “What do you do when your dreams come true and they don’t turn out quite like you planned.”

By the third wish the dreamer hopes that he or she has learned something from the first two wishes and can make the ultimate best choice this time. There is this one last shot to correct the misses that occurred the first two times. Alan Watts wrote about three wishes saying that the last wish was to bring the person back to where they began. Though three wishes may be a good basis for stories that show the person back to where they began, I would like to think that the third wish would bring a person to another, better beginning that was enhanced by what they learned from the first two wishes.

Maybe that is what dreams and wishes are created for. We learn and improve on each level.

The three wishes stories usually have the moral that things are not quite the way we thought they were. What we thought was important or would make us happy or was the ultimate wish or dream, was not it. While these things can be blessings, if you don’t know what is really important these will not bring the joy that they could bring.

In the end, it is Love that is what gives us life and sustains it. To love and be loved is the stuff of which keeps this universe going. We think things or other people will make us happy but it is the love we seek and ultimately the love we find that is behind all desires that makes our dreams and wishes have meaning and life. It is what makes people and things have value. They have no value in themselves. Once we know the Source of Love and happiness then people, places, and things will be seen as they really are – gifts of the Spirit. They are not what bring us happiness, peace or joy but the Source of it all, Love, God, Jesus, Great Spirit, Allah, or whatever name you give Love, is what brings these to us. We think that things bring love but it is love that brings things.

If you have but one wish, wish for this – to know the Source of all that you desire and all the rest will be added unto you.

LOVE AND PURPOSE

2006-11-13T05:44:00.000-08:00

It has been said that you teach best what you need to learn. And maybe the reverse is also true. You learn best what you need to teach.

I know one of the things I was put here to learn about was love. I don't doubt it for one minute. This is the theme that runs through all of my posts, my blog, and my interactions with others. Sometimes I think maybe my friends and my family tire of it or just yawn and say, "Well, there's good old Brenda beating her "love drum" again”.

My intent is not to bore anyone with my repetitious hammering away and chipping away with words to clear the way for Love; but rather to assist in any way I can for love to become a more vibrant and real happening for all of us.

I used to think that my calling was to be a “healer”. The healing was to be through using psychology I thought. I got a degree that incorporated within it, psychology. Then I thought it was through becoming a Reiki master and using that to help people heal so I did that. One time I though I would go to massage therapy school and do that to help people heal. Though I have used psychology a lot and in the past have used Reiki, that wasn’t it. The idea of going to massage therapy school never did materialize. I couldn’t give it the energy necessary to create that for myself and I think it was because that wasn’t where my calling was. It wasn’t my “real” purpose.

I can look back on my entire life and all its different stages and chapters and see that the lesson I came to learn about was love. And if this indeed is my lesson, then this is what I am to teach through the living of my life, with, in, and through love. Here is a warning. Be careful what you wish or ask for. The lessons for me have been hard at times but the alternative was to not do the most important thing I came to do and therefore to realize on my death bed that I did not do what I came to do. Love, agape, God-love, goes against our basic human tendencies. It cannot abide by strings or conditions. It cannot justify “righteousness” nor thrive in grudges or hardness of heart. It requires all of you, not just the parts you want to give. It asks that you see beyond what you think is the obvious and see love beyond appearances.

When the love I speak of is who you become and what you are all about then all that you say, all that you do, all that you acquire, all that you accomplish, all that you experience will be done in, with, and through, that love. All of your actions and reactions will carry with them a power and a joy and a peace that passes all human understanding. All of these will turn out to be a blessing to you and to those around you.

It is heaven. It is now. It requires surrender when you can’t yet understand what it is all about. But it is always your choice. Always. No exceptions. Love gently calls your name. All we have to do is show up. Love is the lesson in this school of life. And you will experience over and over again the very things that will help you to learn it until you do learn it. It is all good. It is all God. It is all love. It doesn’t get better than this.

LOVE IS ALL THERE IS

2006-11-10T05:12:00.000-08:00

Love is all there is and it is Divine.

The only time love is shut off from us is when we resist it.

Sometimes we just don't open to it because we don't recognize the form it in which it is appearing. We have our ideas of what looks like, feels like, acts like and so we sweep away love that doesn't fit that mold.

Sometimes we just are afraid of being hurt to reach out and completely give ourselves to it. I am not talking about just romantic love. I am talking about love in any relationship. We can feel pain in so many ways and none of us likes that. What if I get rejected at some point? What if I really give myself over to love and this person dies? What then? What if I surrender and then they use me or turn on me or demand things of me I can't or won't want to do?

What if I am made a fool of? What if they leave me?

These are some of the modes of resistance that we use to keep love at a safe distance. And then we wonder why we are starving to death for love.

So, we may try to love but we hold back some. We don't give all. We try to control them and try to control us so that things don't get uncomfortable. If we can just make our neighbor, our friend, our family member, our lover or spouse or boss or co-worker do this or that or stop doing this or that, then I can give them love and receive love from them. Right! Ha!

To be love, to give love, to get love, surrender is required. Let go of the need to be "right". Let go of your fears. Be willing to feel the pain of separation. Be willing to love a person and allow that person to be what appears to be unloving at times because you know that they are resisting love. They are protecting themselves from hurt. They are afraid. They are holding back. They do not yet know that what they want is to love and to be loved or they know that but don’t know how. Even the need for them to be “right” is born of their fear and/or their ignorance yet of love.

We all want and need to love and be connected. What causes people to be caustic or hateful or controlling or manipulative or any of those things we try to shield ourselves against is their not yet being able to surrender completely to love.

That's all it takes. Once you surrender to love, love is yours forever and it will change you. It will change the world you see. There will be so much love at your doorstep you wonder how in the heck you missed it before.

What you have inside will draw to you like things. And those situations and people that are not quite as open and loving as you are may find their way to you because they are looking for love. When you are steadfast in divine love, you can be instrumental in being providing just the perfect and safe place for them to surrender to it as well.

Contrary to exaggerated rumors that the state of things is otherwise; love IS all there is. Scoop it up. Invite it in. Surrender one hundred percent to it. Stop resisting. Be willing to feel. Be willing to give. Be willing to receive. There is more than enough to go around.

MOVING FORWARD

2006-11-09T05:25:00.000-08:00

Sometimes it feels pretty tough to move forward when the past, even yesterday's past, calls to you. Memory is a great and necessary thing because it gives us points of reference; but it can fool you at times because we tend to overplay the good or the bad when we need to recognize both exist. Memory can trap you and keep you from moving forward. A desire to want things back the way they were will keep you from finding out what is ahead with any great speed.

Lot's wife in the Bible turned to a pillar of salt when she looked back at Sodom and Gomorrah. I don't know what a pillar of salt meant but the feeling is, that this was not a good thing.

Perhaps memory of all that has been is a "necessary evil" but we can't let it influence us to keep grudges or let it act as our guideposts for the future because the future may not be based on any of our past experiences. If we let our memory keep us desiring to live a past chapter in our lives when it no longer exists, then we get stuck there and make no progress. Like beating a dead horse, we aren't going to get that horse to move.

Some of my memories give me great cheer and encouragement and are loving, happy ones. These often bring a smile to my face, make me feel good about myself, and catapult me into a good, positive and fruitful frame of mind. Some memories bring tears. Some bring sadness, sorrow, regret, anger, hurt or fear. These may need to be acknowledged and felt but they can send me into a negative and unproductive frame of mind if I entertain them for very long. Memories of any kind can serve us or hinder us.

As I reflect this morning, I am reminded that focusing on what was will not move me forward. I must begin to focus on what I want to come so that I am less resistant and more poised to receive the gifts at hand.

It isn't easy but it is doable.

GRIEVING LOVE

2006-11-08T05:07:00.000-08:00

I see all of life as spritual and I see it all as a journey in which the destination is not the goal but the journey itself is what is important. As I go through the process of grieving the death of my spouse it is processed within me in a psychological and spiritual way. This I share openly with any who wish to explore the process with me.

I have found that my grieving takes different forms. Today I found my self remembering the Edgar Allan Poe poem The Raven. The raven that perches on his chamber door says, “Nevermore”.

I was realizing that never more would I be able to look into my husband’s blue eyes or watch that wonderful smile start to take shape at the corner of his mouth. I would never more feel his arms around me or be able to sit next to him on the sofa or the swing and talk about all the things we used to talk about. Never more would I be able to share a kiss with him or share the intimacies that belonged only to him and to me.

It is the “never more” part that trips us up. When that hits it goes right to the core. I start remembering the things that were so precious to me, so delightful. I remember things that I looked forward to and enjoyed with him. I remember being able to ask for a hug or to be held when I didn’t feel well physically or emotionally or I just needed love or comforting. I remember the talks we had; the walks we had before his illness; the trips we went on and hoped to do yet; the Scrabble games; the shopping trips; watching him fish in our pond; and those quiet moments when we cuddled and felt the love that we had for each other well up inside bringing peace and comfort and contentment to us in a way that only that kind of unity with another can bring. As I remember these, the icy fingers of grief grip my very being and shake me to my core coldly saying, “Nevermore. Never again in this lifetime”. The last time you shared a kiss was the last time. The last time you played Scrabble was the last time. The last time you went for a drive was the last time. The last time you said “I love you” was the last time.

The last time is so final. The dance is done. The party is over. It is complete and yet my heart yearns for this to be a nightmare that will end and I will awaken and find my love beside me. But in the middle of that desire the raven swoops through screaming, “Nevermore” and I face the pain of that and the fact that life is not only fleeting but everything is impermanent and I may as well get used to it.

I begin to try to see my time with my love as a blessed time and something to be thankful for regardless of the short duration. I reach to feel his presence with me even thought we are separated by and abide in different dimensions. I open myself to become aware of the things that tell me he is with me in Spirit. I remember how much he taught me and what his presence in my life has meant to me. I count those blessings and strain to see my cup as running over even though it seems otherwise.

This is the second spouse that has passed before me. It is the second time that I have grieved over love lost. It never gets easy no matter how many times or how long the relationship lasted.
But I have had the love of two wonderful men who brought so many wonderful gifts to me for which I will be forever grateful. I had a chance to give love and gifts of my own to them. How blessed I am.

If I listen closely, I think I hear the raven say “Evermore” and rejoice in the knowledge that love never dies though it takes different forms.

REINCARNATION?

2006-11-02T04:44:00.000-08:00

I play with that idea but to tell you the truth I just don't know if it is a reality nor do I know exactly how it is or how it works if it is a reality.

But this I can tell you. I have looked back at my life unfold for over the past decades and I can see within this lifetime that I have lived many different lives so to speak and played many different roles.

As I learned and grew and matured and made decisions I found myself living from a different point of reference and sometimes from a different home or even from a different state.

Every time someone in my family died, the idea I had of my family and my place in it changed.

Every time I had a child the structure of my family of procreation changed.

Every time someone died or remarried it affected every corner of my world.

Change is a constant but every change in it brings another life, another chapter, another way of being. The main character (you) stay the same in terms of your awareness of a sense of your self but how you see things and relate to the world changes as things around you change.

There are always some things in your life that you call "constants" but the overall thing that you call your life cycles and recycles so that you are never quite the same person living the same life all throughout what you call your lifetime.

My children are all still alive at this point in my life and the fact that I gave birth to them and that they are my children is a constant; however, they continue to change and so do I and so do our circumstances and our point of reference to one another.

Life changes, particularly earth-shaking ones can throw you into a whole different life very quickly rather than slowly or progressively. You are a constant in consciousness of your self but how you think, feel, look, react, live, and choose continues to change. Your world changes and you find yourself living in another body so to speak as a different person than you were before the dramatic change took place. Some changes come more slowly and you adjust to them and don't notice them quite so much. But haven't you one day just looked in the mirror and wondered who that image was that stared back at you? You wondered about the physical changes that seemed to just suddenly appear when you know that they did not do that just suddenly. So too other things change in our world.

So, this day I reflect upon the many changes in my life that have given birth to many lives that I have thus lived in this one body, this one life time. Perhaps this is reincarnation of some type - living different lives (so to speak) with one consciousness.

THROUGH THE EYES OF LOVE

2006-10-31T05:48:00.000-08:00

Psalm 127 WEB

1 A Song of Ascents. By Solomon. Unless Yahweh builds the house, they labor in vain who build it. Unless Yahweh watches over the city, the watchman guards it in vain.

I am taking some liberties with that:

If Love does not build a house, then in vain does the builder labor and in vain does the watchman stand his watch if Love is not his help.

This passage and
1 Corinthians 13:1-13 say the same thing. This is the principle upon which I build my spiritual path. It is this subject to which I devote myself. It is this gift I give myself and those who would accept it.

For Love is all there is.

Love cannot sit still but must create Itself over and over again in many forms to show Its presence and in order to see and admire Itself.

When we look in the mirror of Love everything we behold is transformed into the Father/Mother or Creator. There is no other. The Creator is One. The heartbeat is One. The mind is One. It is all Good. It is all Divine. Undivided and pure is this Love.

Behold through the eyes of Love all things are made new. All things appear as they are.

Upon the face of every human being we behold is the face of and presence of that which we call God (or do not call God) if your belief system embraces that.

The word "transfigure" means to change the appearance or form of something. To "transform" means to change in appearance or character.

When we behold Love/God as we look upon our own or other's faces, they are not changed. We are. We see with our spiritual eyes what the human eye cannot see so we see that which heretofore we could not.

If Love does not rule our hearts and minds, then whatever we do is in vain and we will behold the earth and all that is in it void of the one thing we all long for and need. We will not see what is right in front of our eyes.

May our eyes be opened to behold a new earth and a new heaven.

Amen

And so it is.

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

2006-10-30T20:21:00.001-08:00

There's no place like Home

What is home exactly?

For me "home" is a non-local place of reference that affords me a base of operations with some level of continuity, security, and comfort.

When a major life change happens no matter what it is or when it is or how old or experienced you are and no matter whether you desired it or not, your "home" gets shaken up to say the least. For a while you walk around in semi-familiar surroundings feeling and behaving more like a displaced person with semi-amnesia than the person you were before this major earth-shifting event took place.

You've been blown off course and you aren't sure where home is anymore. You aren't even sure in which direction you should set out in order to find it. Somewhere deep inside you, you realize but won't admit at first, that the home you had before no longer exists so you must set sail for distant and unfamiliar place where your new home awaits you.

At first you anguish and mourn and grieve for your home until little by little you accept that you are now writing a new chapter in your life from a different desk in a different room in a home you cannot even find. If your home was lost to you because you made deliberate choices and looked forward to the change you are ahead of the game. You have an edge on those who were thrust into the change out of a tragedy. In any case, it takes time to adjust to major changes in one’s life.

What can help in the interim? Where the loss is a physical home, a job, a marriage, a relationship, health, limb, income, youth, or other object or subject which gives one a sense of identity, security, and purpose including losing a spouse or other significant relative or friend, one needs to find purpose. We identified ourselves in many ways through our purposes. In realtionships we are given purpose. One looks for meaning and purpose now that things have changed. One looks for enough familiar things to hold onto for security until the adjustment is much further along. One thinks as much as possible of opportunities rather than what is no longer available. We also look for love - both to give and to receive. Love is connection. Love is knowing that in our aloneness we are not really alone. In our feeling of separation, we are not separate. Love is the power that creates and holds together the Universe.

Most of all an adult on his/her own must realize that the only real “home” is within. For some of us it is finding that Power within that can do all things and from which all things come. Some call that goodness names such as God/Jesus/Buddha/Allah/the Force/the Universe and others.

Some might attribute this strength and power to their own human abilities and determination. That is certainly part of it because without our intention, desire, or willingness the Power has no conduit for Its flow. I cannot say one way or another with 100% assurance; but, in any case this determination and acquired ability is probably part of the process whether or not one believes that it comes from one’s self or unseen Power or Presence.

In order to heal, the process must unfold and our cooperation is essential. A child would be blessed to have an adult around who understands this. An adult would be blessed to understand and/or to have others around who do. It is in the helping of one another that we all are healed.

THE POWER OF LOVE

2006-10-28T07:25:00.000-07:00

One thing I have discovered is that “real” love (that is agape love, that desire for the well being of all there is without strings and without conditions ) will not for long allow you to bear grudges, fan the flame of anger, and will not be content with cutting yourself off from another person (dead or alive). It will prod and probe and make you feel totally out of sorts and uncomfortable until you let go of your nonsense and embrace love totally with abandon.

With Love at the helm you just can not get too far off course. It won’t let you. If you get too far off course and can not find your way back then you probably have not yet fully embraced Love. But if you are aware that you are off course, then there is hope.

Once you decide to let go and let Love, you will be amazed at the peace, the joy, the feeling that all is well. You know you are in the Flow. You will know that you have not resisted the Good but have opened your heart to it. You will know that this is the peace that passes all understanding that Jesus talked about. You will know that above all the rules and laws and restrictions that religions, governments, and socialization has placed upon you, that Love reigns and that this is you one and only calling and purpose. All these laws, rules, and restrictions are subject to Love. Obedience to these laws, rules, and restrictions without love is love not given freely but is an act of fear and done begrudgingly. Its results will not yield you joy, peace, contentment and the knowledge that all is well.

Ronald Thelbert Elliott beloved husband of Brenda Andradzki Elliott passed away October 6, 2006.

2006-10-11T05:09:00.000-07:00

PURPOSE AND MEANING

2006-10-11T05:05:00.000-07:00

A friend called last night and she mentioned purpose.

We humans seem to have to have something to look forward to in order to move forward. We seem to have a need to find a reason or reasons why we are here having a life. We seem to want to make sense out of the things that happen. I don't know why that is but I would like to explore that a bit.

We seem to have to have something to look forward to. We seem to have a need to fulfill some purpose both long-term and short-terms purpose. We seem to need to accomplish things, to create things, to give meaning to our lives.

A plot to run airplanes into a building is creative but not many people would call that good; however, a person involved in that plot would believe that they are fulfilling a higher purpose and are willing to give their lives to see that it is carried out.

A new vaccine or treatment that prevents or cures diseases and suffering in the human race is creative and it is called good although there are some strong suspicions that when some children are vaccinated with some serums, they may become autistic. Some children benefit from the vaccine while some don't.

So the “good” or “bad” of something creative depends upon your viewpoint and it depends upon your experience of it.

What might be pushing humans to find purpose or meaning in anything?

Most Christians believe that their purpose or main one at least, is to know God and to love and serve God in this life and the next. All other purposes or meanings would be secondary to that and these should be shaped according to that primary purpose.

Other religions or philosophies might suggest there is no purpose or meaning. Some might suggest that reaching our highest potential is our purpose though they might not know what the meaning of that is.

I would like to think that meeting Ron, marrying him, being with him and in these latter days taking care of him, was my fulfilling a purpose and gave meaning to my life and his. I like to think there was a reason for it. Why I don’t know. I guess if there was no reason or purpose then I can’t make sense of what happened. And if I can’t make sense of it all then I might think that having life is senseless.

So I am back to why are there humans at all? Why is there life at all?

Creative energy flows and so here we are. That Force is with us, in us, and expresses through us as us. It can’t not. So I suppose that the Creative Force is It’s own purpose and meaning and it carries this out through us and all that exists from rocks to humans.

SUNDAY CONTEMPLATION

2006-10-01T06:06:00.000-07:00

It is very quiet here this morning. It is Sunday.

And so the neighborhoods sleep in a little longer or they take a more leisurely time of rolling out of bed, eating breakfast, and getting dressed.

The highway is always busy but a little less crowded this early on Sunday.

In the Elliott household, I rest a bit then do some housekeeping things and husband tending things then rest again. But this is Sunday so too I will attempt church if Ron seems reasonably safe to leave for an hour or so.

In the Elliott household, Ron does little. He finally awoke, ate a bit, took something for pain and then feel asleep again in his easy chair. It is difficult for him to do anything that takes energy - everything is a great effort.

Daily changes are coped with and sadness is noted as these are played out.

But the song is not over until the last note fades so we listen to the song as intently as possible giving it our loving attention.

Snuggling beneath my covers earlier this morning unable to fall back to sleep, I just felt the softness of my bed, the warmth of the sheets, the support of the pillows, noticing my breath being taken in and released and just being present floating in that spot between thought and nothingness. Yet I was aware of being alive and having a reason to be here and that sparked gratitude within even when I have no idea of the complete fullness or implication of my overall role in the scheme of things.

Sunday. A time for contemplation in the quiet and aloneness.

A LOVING LOOK AT THE REAL

2006-09-20T03:55:00.000-07:00

It has been said that to contemplate is to look lovingly at the real. Life gives us many opportunities to do that from many different levels of understanding.

What is "real" may be what we call everything that we hear, see, or experience in our everyday lives. Looking lovingly at these might mean different things to different people. For me it would mean allowing whatever is unfolding to be what it is without a whole lot of comment or resistance unless my very life were in danger.

Everything we say or do is our own creation because it is our interpretation of how things are and how we chose to respond to it. So sometimes I just observe myself or others popping off or behaving in insane or unloving ways and just kind of say something like, "Isn't that an interesting creation?" That puts me on neutral ground and keeps me from having the urge to correct or to judge and it keeps my head cooler and my heart more open. We tend to not do that when the happening is a loving, peaceful, happy, or exciting one. But it probably wouldn't hurt to get on neutral ground with that one as well and note that this too is a creation even though we might think it is pretty "cool".

Another way of looking at "real" lovingly is not really different from the one I just described. There is only One thing that is real, the one creative and Divine Power that some call God. All the rest is just what the Buddhist call "illusion". It is what we make up, what we create, and that would also include our ideas about ourselves, others and God. Any time we call these things "real" we are in danger of creating "false idols". We give power and meaning to these idols and often would lay down our lives or kill someone or hurt someone who does not share our "religion" or our belief of the importance of these idols but they are not "real". There is only one Reality, one Power. To look lovingly upon this reality is to put everything else into a more realistic perspective.

When you watch a movie you sometimes get so engrossed in it you forget your surroundings. You become unaware of yourself or who or what is around you and you are so focused on the movie and what is happening that you may feel sad and cry or you may laugh or your heart might start racing in fear or concern about what is happening in the movie. The story is made up, created. The people in it are actors. It isn’t real but it feels like it when you get lost in it. But now and then you “wake” up to realize that you are in the movie theater or your home watching something not real. You can do the same when you are reading a book. You get lost in the story and for that time it is real to you.

So to me, to look lovingly at reality is to know this truth and to try to remember it as often as I can until perhaps I won’t get so caught up in the story.

How Do I Love Thee?

2006-07-22T05:24:00.000-07:00

When I attended the traditional churches they led me to God. Thank you churches! One, the Baptist religion, gave me some marvelous hymns, taught me about Scripture, about Jesus, and God's love.

Then later I was awe stricken by the Catholic faith. The reverence for God tugged at my heart. The quiet and individual opportunity to connect with God through the sacraments and daily Mass beckoned to me. The kneeling, genuflecting, and physical movements combined with the other rituals involved more of my entire self in the church service. I liked that. There was something so powerful that called to me. It also led me to eventually read St. Teresa of Avila, St. Theresa the Little Flower, St. John of the Cross, the Dessert Fathers, The Cloud of Unknowing, and many more up to eventually to more modern thinkers in the Catholic Faith, Thomas Merton and Fr. Anthony DeMello whom I had the privilege of actually hearing in person. Mother Church was where I eventually was introduced to “centering prayer”. Thank you Mother Church for all you gave me.

I visited other churches and beliefs since then and each had a gift for me. But what counts the most I think is that eventually if you keep at it and this is your goal, you will eventually be helped to understand HOW to love God and how to love yourself and others as God loves. The how to do it was the next thing to learn.

Much of the other stuff I have exposed myself to since then has bit by bit given me all kinds of help and clues as to the how. Some information hasn't always come from church. Some has been from other religions and philosophies, sociology, psychology, and, yes, hold onto your hat, metaphysical teachings. I am grateful for all of these. Had I not been willing to explore and sometimes go out on a somewhat shaky limb I might have missed some great opportunities with regard to that.

Do I love myself and others with unconditional love all the time? No, I don't. I go to default a lot but I do know that I seem to be able to do it much more often than not now. I catch myself quicker when I realize I have strayed and am about to "miss the mark".

So, this morning I am full of gratitude for all the things that have brought me to where I am now and that would include all of life's experiences that I labeled bad as well as the ones I labeled good no matter where they came from.

I like to think of things this way: We practice being spiritual persons while being fully human. It's an on-going process and it takes determination and dedication. It doesn't seem to be a goal or a mission that a lot of people make but that does not mean they should. I just know it is for me. It feels right and my life seems to have purpose and meaning, is more joyful and runs smoother when I practice it and have it as my goal and my desire. My goal hasn’t been to be a good Baptist or Catholic or anything else but rather to allow Love to awaken in me and love through me. My belief is that all of Jesus’ teachings and the commandments can be summed up and carried out through that one most important and first step. It is in this way that we become the Love that we are.

How do I love thee? The very best I can in any given moment.

And so it is.

Tapping Into the "Right Stuff"

2006-07-16T07:17:00.000-07:00

How do we tap into the Divine within and not find ourselves tapping into ego, baggage material, buried rage, or something else we don't want to "tap into"?

One of my thoughts is, that I think within each of us is a fountain of Love and if we are intent on finding it and tapping into it, we will. If our greatest fear is that we will tap into something other than this Good within, then we may be setting ourselves up for that kind of experience.

Certainly there are physical and mental circumstances that might make tapping into the Divine somewhat difficult if not seemingly impossible.

Perhaps years and years of feeding the wrong "wolf" inside we have allowed the gentle loving wolf to atrophy so that accessing the Divine might become harder.
At any rate, if we continue to believe there is more "bad" than "good" in us we can explain away and use it as an excuse for our inability to allow the Divine to move through us.

It always boils down to making certain choices and if we choose, I believe we can move closer to that ability to allow the Divine in us to be active and move through us even if we have to take baby steps to get there. Where there is a will, there is a way. :) But most of all one has to want to, to will to, accomplish that goal otherwise any kind of steps are useless. One can never assume that all people are born with or develop a desire to be at one with God and to allow that Divinity to flow through them. But if they do, tapping into the "right stuff" could make a huge difference.

ARE YOU ADOPTED?

2006-06-30T18:03:00.000-07:00

While some people will go along with and believe that they are sons and daughters of God they see themselves as "adopted". They are loved and accepted by God but are not really "blood" kin to God. So they are not his "real" children and not therefore, made of the same "stuff" as God. Jesus on the other hand was the only "real" son of God and therefore was made of the same "stuff" as God and therefore can be said to be God.

Believing that we are "adopted" separates us from God to a certain degree. We are separated by a curtain of sorts. I say curtain because a curtain is fluid and can be torn or pulled down or drawn open to get to what is on the other side unlike a steel door or brick wall.

I remember in the Old Testament when it foretold of the rending of the curtain between the people and God in the Holy of Holies. This was in the ark of the covenant I believe if memory serves. It has been said that this rending was a prediction of Jesus’ coming. His message to us was that we are not adopted. When you get that, the curtain is torn and God is revealed to you.

Until that "curtain" is torn and no longer separates God from us, we will remain outside the Holy of Holies yearning to be inside but feeling unworthy "adopted" children.

I believe that God is One and that includes all.

LOVE IS MORE THAN A NEED

2006-06-28T05:45:00.000-07:00

I think our emotions and our physical condition (which can affect our emotions as well) often do influence our choices and our behavior, therefore affecting our ability to show love and to keep the love we have more pure and untainted by our needs.

There is so much yet we do not know about this though.

Our ability to rationalize and think clearly can be affected by medications, emotions, mental health, and even pain or discomfort levels in the physical arena. We can become self-focused and pain focused. This is natural. Knowing and accepting that can help us cope with it.

At times we allow our needs (both those needs which are known to us and those which unknown to us) to distort our vision and we think we are loving others when we are in fact trying to fix something within. That rarely works for long.

At those times when we have failed to love because we have tried to fulfill a need that is known or unknown to us, we need to cut some slack for ourselves or others when we recognize this. That inborn desire to survive is very powerful and often we perceive our needs as a survival issue so it is easy to see why we have done what we have done. At those times we will become unbalanced in our efforts to get that need met. It becomes a selfish thing then. We will, under those conditions do “unloving” things. We may shun people or even hate or harass them because they have not fulfilled our need or we may go to the extreme in the other direction and obsess about them which may end in eventual harm for the one harassing or/and his or her object of obsession. We may cause ripples of harm to others in our circle or the circle of the one we are using to fulfill our needs such as family members or fiends of ours or theirs. There are lesser extremes of course of unloving behavior that one may call love when actually it is just trying to get a need fulfilled.

Sometimes we work from the idea that “I will treat you lovingly IF you meet my conditions, fulfill my needs and desires.” As an aside here to those who believe in God, think about this: Sometimes we do that with our idea of God. We think that God will love us if we fulfill conditions that we believe God expects. That is when I think we are giving God a personality based on our own personality, beliefs and our experiences. This only serves to perpetuate the way we perceive ourselves and others and this in turn affects our choices and our behaviors.

I think when a person makes a clear intent to learn what love really is and to practice it, they are given the ability to do that better and better under all conditions. It takes consciousness or awareness on one’s part along with dedication and focus. Nothing is ever forced upon us. We have choices.

The Awakening

2006-06-22T05:03:00.000-07:00

One of the hardest and seemingly complicated lessons some of us have to learn is to learn how wonderful, beautiful, and lovable we truly are without misunderstanding what that means as opposed to inflated, ego.

The major difference I have found so far is that inflated ego says I am marvelous above others. I can only see my worth when I compare myself to those whom I do not see as being as talented, beautiful, special, more pious, or as good as I. So when I use comparison, then I can find those I am better than and feel good about me. The down side is that ego will also find those who are more beautiful, young, talented, gracious, educated, smart, pious or whatever than I and then I feel not so good until I can find a comparison that gets me back up. Woe unto those of us who appear to be so far on the bottom. That is because it is harder to find someone "beneath" us.

In religion, ego can kick your rear and keep you down every five minutes because it is telling you that you are so unworthy, so sinful and so ego driven there is very little hope for you.

When you begin to know how precious each and every person is including yourself and you can see differences as just differences, then although some folks seem more this than that and some have abilities others don't and some appear to have egos not yet functioning in balance and in Spirit, you are no longer at the mercy of ego. You know that variety is just that. You can play on the playground with all the illusions and yet know the truth and you can do it without seeing yourself or others as better or worse.

In Spirit we are One. Period.

Understanding this is pure freedom. And when we have to act upon anything we do it from love not from need or fear.

Some folks feel like they have great self images and maybe they do and wonder what the fuss is all about for those who grew up thinking they were the pits. But some of these are still viewing others as piteous underlings and so their egos are not purified in Spirit either.

When I say purified in Spirit, that sounds like religious or spiritual lingo and it is. But you can say that the objective is to have ego functioning in balance and it means basically the same thing. Ego is not bad it just needs a shot of reality. And what is reality?

I will illustrate with flowers. There are a variety of flowers and while you might like roses better than daffodils or some other flower each is a flower and each has its contribution to make and each can be enjoyed for what it is. Its Source is the same. That which gives it life is its Source. And the Source does not love the rose above the daffodil.

Can you get it? Can you accept that you are no better or worse than another and yet are so precious, so wonderful, so much a miracle, such a treasure, so adored, so deserving? If you can, you will experience a marvelous healing within. It will change your life forever.

The only real difference if there is any is that some of us have not awakened fully yet as to who and what we truly are and so our behavior will indicate that. Our choices will indicate that. Our treatment of others will indicate that. Our treatment of ourselves and how we see ourselves will indicate that. But it does not indicate that those who are in various stages of sleep are bad or evil or need correcting. They just need to be loved into being awakened or love until they are awakened. This is not always easy but the more awakened you are the easier it gets.

Fairy tales are wonderful. Think of the kiss/love of Prince Charming who woke Snow White. Think of Beauty and the Beast and how Beauty could love the Beast when others abhorred his appearance and he, through her love, became a handsome prince.

Awaken sweet prince and princess. It is time.

I Remember Daddy

2006-06-18T05:37:00.000-07:00

Today I put aside my ususal type of writing to honor my father on this Father's Day.

My daddy could scare the life out of me because I knew he had a temper that came loose now and then and I didn't want to be on the receiving end but as I recall he didn't lay a hand on me that I can remember.

I do remember his cool hand on my fevered brow when I was sick and I remember his concern that I be made well again.

I remember his kissing the top of my head before he set off to work the long hours at the bakery when I was a young child.

I remember when I was 13 how when mama was about to order some clothes from Sears for me to wear the new school season, Daddy told her to pick more grown-up looking clothes because I was growing up.

I remember carrying the croaker sack for Daddy when he went net fishing on the beach and down off the bridge at Crescent Beach sometimes. One cannot go fishing at will when one wants to anymore. I am glad that Daddy was able to do that before laws of prohibition came about.

I remember my wedding and how proud Daddy was and how happy he was to be able to throw a pretty good reception even though he hadn't much money. I remember my gown was a bit too long and I had to whisper as we walked the long Cathedral aisle to please slow down a tad more so I wouldn't fall flat on my face tripping on my gown.

Daddy was full of stories about my babyhood too. How during the war when gas was expensive for him and scarce, he and Mama had to take me for a ride to get me to sleep. I was a jumpy and fretful baby it appears. He told me about older women who wanted to hold me or get too close when they had a cold or something and Daddy would try to protect me from getting their germs. He was the one who got up at night and fed the bottle and rocked me back to sleep so Mama could get some rest and then he would head off for a long hard day at work.

When I was three, he was lost somewhere in Germany for a while. My mother was so upset. We received a record that Daddy recorded and Mama played it and wept and I keep asking where my daddy was and when was he coming home. He did come home to us.

These are some of the good memories I carry of my father. Today I weep as I remember him and the horrible years he endured after Mama died. Mama was the light of his life and that light seemed to go out when she died. He had years to go before he passed and had three other wives but he was never the same.

I remember today the love he gave me and it completely erases from my memory any times when things between us were painful or challenging.

WILLINGNESS

2006-06-06T07:25:00.000-07:00

Willingness has been a word for my contemplation this week. I think it is very important that we be willing whatever the nature of our desires before anything can happen, change. materialize (come into being or be created), or transform. For example, in order for the Spirit to become the guiding principle in our lives, we must be willing and open not to the "law" of religion per se but rather to the Love within.

In order to create something, make something, fix something, we have to be willing.

In order to experience the Presence within, we must be willing.

In order to love we must be willing to love, to be open to receiving and giving of it.

In order to be peaceful we must be willing to think and behave in a peaceful manner.

In order to be brave or hopeful or courageous or anything, we must be willing.

In order to put Love/God first we must be willing to put aside our differences, our opinions, and our desire to make everything and everyone conform to our idea of the ideal.

We must be willing to live the principles we wish to see evident in ourselves and in the world.

We must be willing or nothing happens.

Some of us may stumble over this thing because we are so hung up on "God's will". If you insist on there being God's will as opposed to your will you will get hung up. I think that "God's will" (if there is any such thing) is to be the Love that we are and if we are being that then we are being all that we were created to be and I don't think we can go wrong. When we are not being the Love that we are then, sure, we can do unloving things and create pain for ourselves and/or for others. But again, we have to be willing.

We are never forced to care, to love, to seek, to be happy, to be peaceful, or to be prosperous in all our spheres. Neither are we forced to live in poverty, fear, pain, loneliness, anguish, drug addiction, alcohol addiction, worry, illness or terror. We are never forced to give up our right to be "right” either. Love never forces us one way or the other.

Here's a shortcut for you. We don’t need to fight poverty, illness, pain, fear, loneliness, anguish, drug addiction, or any painful or negative things in ourselves or others; but, what we do need to do instead is to be willing that joy, peace, love, prosperity, companionship, health, freedom, hope, and safety flow into our lives and in the lives of others.

Some folks may think that we need to suffer to be “holy” or “okay” or “acceptable”. These things can turn us around and get us to “right thinking” when they happen in our lives but it doesn’t have to come that way. We don’t have to seek out and chose these in order to “wake up” but we can use them to wake us up from our spiritual sleep once they are in our lives.

If you should find that somehow pain, suffering, worry, fear, etc. has come to visit you don’t have to waste time wondering why it is there but you can use it as an opportunity to examine how willing or unwilling you are to be loved and blessed. Use it for a wake up call. The call is alway to Love. Are you willing to answer that call?

We are invited but never forced to do anything. When you feel someone pushing or forcing you to do or to be what they think is the “right" way for you to do or be, then please know that this is not born of love but of fear. Love gives example. Love is what it is. Love is effective and affective. It transforms without a word. It performs its duties in silence and gentleness. It allows us to be willing. It allows us to love ourselves and all that is. It allows us to reach our full potential as human beings.

The question is, “Are you willing”? Are you willing to answer the "call"?

Kind Solomon's Mine/Mind

2006-05-23T05:44:00.000-07:00

Do you know where the treasure is?

It is between your ears though it doesn't originate in the brain. The brain just takes the information that comes from a place that seems to exist, yet is not a “place” per se (the mind) and it assimilates, translates, and communicates to self and others what is presented there be it positive or negative. What occurs there colors your world and determines your choices and the results of those choices.

Until we know what we are feeding our mind and body by way of our thoughts and beliefs, we are powerless to do much about it. We won't know we have a choice.

The worse bit of information we feed ourselves is that we really have to claw, bite, and even step upon others in order to be worthy of any of life's gifts. In our subconscious we think we are less worthy than others to have the blessings that we think others have and so we over compensate at times and try to climb to the top by climbing on top of others or we go to the other extreme and "punish" ourselves with thoughts about how unworthy we are or unloved or unwanted and as proof of that belief, we note that we don’t have the blessings that we would prefer or the blessings that others have.

When we find the key, the Holy Grail, the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, the lost treasure, Christ within...call it what you will...then we can see a whole new world opening to us.

We can see that we are basically good and deserving of a wonderful, wonder-filled life. And if we do it right, we know that everyone is basically good and deserving of a wonderful, wonder-filled life. Yes, we have done some things we are not proud of and yes we know some people who have done horrible acts. In the absence of knowing your own goodness and worthiness it is more likely that you not emit loving, happy, joyful behaviors or make good-for-you or good-for-others choices. It is more likely you will make choices that will cause you and/or others harm.

Get your mind where it really is, and your body will follow in better health and strength. You will make better choices; have more joy and courage; be more able to weather whatever storms come your way; and you will emit more acts of loving kindness that will be for your own benefit and for the benefit of others.

Not opening ourselves up to the inner healing which is just to begin to understand your own goodness (or for the more spiritually-minded - your own Divinity or Oneness with God) and how you got “tricked” into believing otherwise, is like having a blank check in our hands but do not yet take it to the bank and cash it. It takes a desire to discover this treasure before it can happen, before the right information, books, people, or circumstances can awaken you to its presence. Wake up, cash that check, and live the life you were meant to have as a divine creature of the Universe.

For this were you born to become Love Itself. For the more spiritually-minded, we can say you were born to be the extention of God into the physical, material world. If you are with someone and they do not feel completely loved and accepted right where they are right this minute and they sense that you think that they need to do something, or think something or to have some particular belief in order to be acceptable to you and/or to God then you are not Perfect Love personified - not yet. :)

FEELING CONNECTED

2006-05-22T04:06:00.000-07:00

To me, feeling connected always feels "right". I can really feel it when I don't feel connected and it motivates me to find out why and to attempt to reconnect.

If I try to connect with someone and they cannot at that time connect, I can still connect (hold them in love, in silence, in that "field" that *Rumi talks about). But the circuit completes better and feels better when the other person(s) can be open to connection.

Another thing I can do is to examine myself and see if I am the one causing the disconnection or feeling of disconnection. For example, I might ask myself if I have some sort of judgment concerning this person that gets in the way.

Sometimes there is a feeling of a "break" in connection because we or the other person is centered in some problem or challenge or mind set or belief that captivates them and keeps them from getting outside of themselves.

Sometimes connection has to do with our relationship with not just persons but the situations and events in which we find ourselves. For example in my case, right now I have a spouse who is seriously (and the doctor's say) terminally ill. At moments when I get angry that this disease is cheating both of us out of the love and enjoyment of each other and life that we could have had in these retirement years, I feel disconnected. It's okay to feel that way but the disconnection feels not right and motivates me to reconnect within myself once I have expressed my feelings. It is like being for healing rather than being against or raging at illness. Do you see? Another example is being for peace rather than fighting against war. To be for peace feels "right", you feel connected; but if you are for fighting war or anything, it feels differently, you feel disconnected.

Maybe using the terminology “connection” and “disconnection” isn't quite the best one to use. Use whatever word fits best for you but if you pay attention next time you "fight" something and then pay attention when you reframe it to be FOR something (i.e. first fighting illness then turn around drop that and put your thoughts and energy on health/healing instead). Which feels “best”? Which feels “right”? In any case, it is more healthy in the long run for your mental and physical health. You can’t always do it though. Men and women in our armed forces cannot afford to be for peace when waging war. That will more likely get them killed. But they can be for being safe than against being killed, yes? And maybe what we can say is we can still reframe even in a limited circumstance.

I think when we feel connected we are then feeling one with all that is and we are strengthened by that.

We can always resume connection anytime we feel the connection is weak. We always have a choice.

*Rumi: "Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing
and rightdoing there is a field.
I'll meet you there.
When the soul lies down in that grass
the world is too full to talk about."

"Sinning": Missing the Point

2006-05-19T04:47:00.000-07:00

I don't like the word "sin" because it conjures up all kinds of preconceived ideas most of us may have about needing to be "saved" or "getting right with God". It might even leaving some folks feeling like an absolute hopeless mess not worthy of love.

I would rather call sin missing the point or if you prefer you can call it missing the mark. I find that calling it missing the point a lot more flexible and less derogatory. Also what I am trying to illustrate is that we get caught up in our ideas of right and wrong, how things ought to be and what one should believe in terms of religion, God, why we are here or anything else and in doing so we miss the point or miss the mark. We fail to execute perfect Love. That is all we ever fail at. Either we are loving without judgment, opinion, or our need to be "right" or we are not. If we are, we are not going to harm or hurt others or ourselves or if we have to defend ourselves or remove ourselves from other people who are not loving we do it without hatred for them. We do what we have to with complete understanding and love.

Did you ever throw a wad of paper at a waste paper basket and miss? It is the same principle. So if you want to get it in the basket you pick it up and toss it in and go on without beating yourself up.

We silly humans try to complicate things even if we have to go out of our way to do so. I say K.I.S.S. Keep it simple silly.

Simplicity is the key.

Put for a moment your views about God on a shelf. Put also your views about Allah, Buddha, Jesus, whomever or whatever. Now close that darn door please. You can go fetch them out anytime you want but for a moment keep that door closed. Remain neutral if you can.

Now, imagine a world where "Perfect Love" becomes your basis for living. Imagine that you are able to see perfection in all that is and that would include people with whom you do not agree. This would include seeing and sensing Perfect Love regardless of what other people believe about politics, religion, spirituality, dress codes, grammar, looks, behavior, choice of life style or even how one should peal a banana.

I think one of the purposes of diversity is to give us the chance to find, recognize, and to practice perfect (unconditional) Love. In fact if we do it “perfectly” enough, we will be perfect. Another way to put it is that we would be unconditional Love personified. If we can practice this every chance we get I believe we will find ourselves in a place that is “heavenly”. We will find more peace, joy, contentment, prosperity, and much more even in the face of very trying or challenging times. If not, we continue to miss the mark.

You see, regardless of the religion you might practice, or the views you have about anything, or regardless of whether or not you believe “God” per se exists, you can love and you can learn to practice perfect, flawless, giving, and very powerful Love.

If you have to have a God let it be this Love; if you don’t have to have a God, let it be this Love. This is the holy ground upon which we all are one. This is the holy ground upon which we can all meet. As Jelaluddin Rumi said, Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.

If you do, that is all that is required of you. It is so simple; so very simple but we sin, we miss the mark. Pick up your wad and place it in the basket please for my sake, your sake and for the sake of the world. Just do it! Be what you already are: perfect, wonderful, Love.

Awake, Arise, Follow

2006-05-10T08:48:00.000-07:00

Awaken: To come to conscious awareness. It includes realizing there is more to life, more to our spiritual development, more to open our minds and hearts to than we have ever thought existed. Without an open heart and mind and being willing to put aside all that we have been programmed to believe and accept at least temporarily, we cannot do the next part which is arising.

Arise: To get up and get out of our human thinking that sees the world as only from a limited human standpoint. It is to begin to start understanding more and more how our thinking, our beliefs, our programming create the kind of world and experiences that we have. We do not have to be victims. We can choose not to go along with majority thinking. We can shut off listening over and over again to the news casts and dire predictions that would bend our thinking where we don’t want it to go. To arise then can be seen as getting up out of our negative thinking and situations, rising above the level at which we now find ourselves ever reaching for “higher” aspirations, becoming more loving, giving, positive beings. Arising can mean to start pulling ourselves out of the ruts we might be in, getting ourselves unstuck as it were from keeping ourselves in the same spiritual spot not making progress along the way or staying in a relationship or job or way of life that is not in our best interest. To arise is to come alive with Spirit.

Follow: To awake and to arise is one thing but if you want to get anything done you have to leave that place and venture out. If I awake in my bed but I don’t arise I stay where I am. If I arise but I don’t move out of the room in which I am sleeping, I haven’t stayed where I was but I haven’t gone very far. Some people awake spiritually, some awake and arise but stay within certain perimeters bound still by guilt, by not forgiving, by still holding onto old beliefs and values that put limitations upon them, and mostly because somehow they don’t think they are worthy. Follow the voice within. Follow the call to explore your depths. Follow Spirit’s lead. Follow your heart. Follow Love.

Once a person desires more and has the courage to proceed, he or she will begin to venture out of their “room”. Sometimes it is a bit darker until light begins to dawn and some may turn back to, in fact run back to their island of safety in their room. Some may even go back to their bed.

Think where we would be today if some men had not thought that the Earth was flat. They never would have discovered new lands and new opportunities. It was tough to find and settle new land especially when in the beginning many thought them to be crazy for believing beyond what was popular at that time and taught of the most learned men.

And what about the belief that the Earth was the center of the universe and that all planets and the sun revolved around it? Galileo promoted the Copernican theory that Earth was a planet and that it and the other planets orbited the sun. This made him an enemy among powerful people, who claimed the Earth was the center of the universe and that all celestial objects revolved around it. He was in real hot water with the Catholic Church. He was forced to abandon his ideas and was confined to a rural estate. So, venturing out takes courage. You often have to go up against very convincing arguments that may weaken your resolve or you may have to go against powerful people who may want to see you dead (Jesus was a good example of that) or will exile you or shun you leaving you alone and feeling abandoned.

All are called but not all answer the call. It seems perilous yet we dare to venture forward. Why? Because when we abandon ourselves to Pure Love we become that which we seek and there is no joy like that. There is nothing that can compare. In the end we get back far more than we have given.

Luke 6:38 "Give and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over, will be given to you. For with the same measure you measure it will be measured back to you." The more you give, the more you get. But you have to make room for it and you can’t make room for it by holding onto things that no longer serve you or contribute to your good.

Awake, arise, and follow. This is simple but not necessarily easy.

Crisis: Danger & Opportunity

2006-05-07T04:12:00.000-07:00

The top part of the Chinese symbol for crisis is danger and the bottom part is opportunity.

Not everything that happens in life is what we would call pleasant or easy but that whatever happens to us keeps offering opportunities for us to recognize the good in all things.

It offers a chance to get through some tough things and to come out much stronger. We have an opportunity to be much more in tune with and in touch with the Universe, ourselves and others. We have an opportunity to understand others when they have similar occurrances because we have a bit more of a clue what they might be going through and why they are feeling or acting the way they are. We can, in other words, have more compassion for others as well as ourselves.

We have an opportunity to see things in a much different light. For example even the smallest step forward will be exciting news for which one becomes most greatful. Everyday things one may have taken for granted previously can become awesome blessings. One's awareness becomes sharpened and one can ride the currents of extremes of up and down with more balance and poise. You also may find that who is right or who is wrong has less or no place of importance in your life.

A sunrise or sunset can become extreme joy to behold and lift your soul to a heavenly cathedral where your soul emerges with All That Is until you disappear.

Magnolias to Share

2006-05-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

These are the first magnolias to blossom this season.

Let Your Light Shine

2006-05-06T06:45:00.000-07:00

Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven" - Matthew 4:16

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.' We ask ourselves, “Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?” Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we subconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. -- Marianne Willamson from her book A Return to Love

But Whoa! I can hear readers thinking. Oh, but this would give the ego free reign and I would become egotistical and get too big for my britches. God doesn't love selfish, egotistical humans who think they are better than others and bigger than God...etc. etc.

Healthy ego is guided by Divine Love. Egos guided by Divine Love know who and what they really are are comfortable with that, and they know that every soul is that. They are not puffed up. They do not need to destroy or control others in order to feel okay. They can then fully shine as they were intended to. Some people shine in talent, looks, creativity, intelligence, attraction or power but their egos still have not been brought into the Light of Divine Love and therefore often fail at some point and may certainly misuse these gifts. Most of us will recognize the lack of inner luster in these people.

But when ego is lighted by Divine Love, the light that shines is unmistakable regardless of one's outward appearance or abilities or the lack thereof of any of these.

Try your ego in the fire of God's Divine Love and it will serve you and mankind as it was originally meant to serve. The dross is burnt off and pure gold is left.

Fear not your own light and let it shine.

As we go about our day may the Light within us shine brightly and clearly so that the presence of Divine Love may be felt and enjoyed as it was meant to be.

THE GOD OF MY/YOUR UNDERSTANDING

2006-05-03T08:55:00.000-07:00

It is my belief that we tend to "shape" God in our own image of what God is, how God feels, what God wants, and how God sees and judges things.

We are influenced in our shaping by our present spiritual focus, the spiritual focus of our parents or caretakers or significant family members or friends as we have been exposed to growing up and all along the way.

We are influenced by other writers, teachers, thinkers, through lectures, sermons, books and all sorts of media.

Some of us keep on exploring while others are content where they are and do not look beyond to any other possibilities. I belong to the former group but I truly believe that the explorer is no better or more developed spiritually than the one who does not. It is just something, maybe an inclination, one has or is born with while others are not. Same as when someone wants to be a doctor and another person a social worker. We might think one is a higher ambition than the other but each has its function and place.

I have noticed two major types of "God of people's understanding". One is a more rigid, black and white kind where you must do certain rituals or you must believe certain things in order to be right with God - otherwise you are going to hell, lost forever, booted out of God's kingdom and you are absolutely ahering to the wrong philosopy or religion. The other is more flexible and says that the more you are or become the Love that Spirit/God is, none of that matters for you are guided by Divine Love and Love is the first "law" if there are any laws at all. The former is more masculine based and the latter more feminine based. One is more law oriented; the other more love oriented but that is not to say that the former doesn't have loving components or that the latter one does not have laws or rules that are natural and expected. But it appears to me that some people’s personalities are more suited to either the more rigid form or the more flexible form; the more masculine or the more feminine. Now when I say masculine I don’t mean that you just refer to God as “He” or to God as “She” in the case of the feminine. I don’t really see God as having one sex or the other but people find it useful when attempting to communicate the ineffable. Rather as I speak of masculine or feminine here, it is an orientation, a way of viewing all things.

A masculine idea of God is the idea that calls one to adhere to God’s laws and includes the idea that God punishes and commands his subjects. Some of these laws are man-made or man interpreted. Even if the reason for instilling these laws were to help people get in touch with God, the church itself imposes the consequences or punishments or required acts of atonement for breaking the spiritual or moral law.

The God of my understanding is more feminine than masculine and welcomes me home like the prodigal son, prepares the fatted calf, gives me my clothing, embraces me, and doesn't even mention that I have "wronged" him in any way. But my understanding makes me aware of the Love that God is and the spark of God that I am so that I begin to have honor and reverence for the God of my understanding and for myself and all that is rather than being ”God-fearing”. I do believe however, that one most likely needs both the masculine aspects and feminine aspects in order to be more balanced in their spirituality. Perhaps that is why we have both types of understanding.

For every thought and action there is a reaction, a consequence, an outcome regardless of the law or love. These are not punishment or reward from God/Spirit they are just happenings that follow natural law.

Whatever the God of your understanding is, I respect that for I know that my understanding has changed and continues to do so; therefore these understandings are just simply understandings and nothing more. God is beyond that and all attempts we make to pigeon hole him/her.

In any case, Love continues to be the answer.

It Makes Me Wonder

2006-04-22T05:22:00.000-07:00

"Love is natural. Cynicism is learned. Come home."
-- Alan Cohen

Are we really so completely natural, when we are born? Are we the "clean slate"? Or do we carry within our genes or elsewhere some of the traits of our predecessors?

Some would say they believe we reincarnate after our transition from this life. If that is true and we have many lifetimes, would it follow that we carry from one life to another our "learnings"?

Well, we can’t prove reincarnation and we haven't been able to prove many other suppositions we might entertain. But we do know and have proven that genes carry traits from generation to generation such as eye color, hair color and so forth. And certain diseases seem to run in families.

So how "clean" is our "slate"? We do know that ideas are passed from one to another and that children seem to learn certain behaviors, ideas, ways of thinking and reacting from parents, friends, teachers and so forth. So we can be conditioned.

Where does that leave us?

Reading the quote this morning I found myself liking the idea that love is natural and that we are taught to hate or to be cynical. I can't prove that one either but I do know that love feels "right". I do know when I choose love, I seem to be "at home". And, I do know I seemed to choose that in my early years but learned that others don't always choose love and that I had to protect myself from the lack of it around me. I also found myself reacting in unloving ways as time went on. Always, though, the theme for me was to return somehow to love and therefore in my mind at least to Love/God/The Way.

Whatever the situation, love is a choice it would seem and we can choose it or not. It is our birthright.

The IDEA of Easter isn't just for Christians.

2006-04-15T06:09:00.000-07:00

When souls have been seeking answers or as understanding of their own existence or in the case of many religions, they have been seeking "God", there have been two schools of thought most prevalent. To know or find the answers through: 1. knowledge or intellect which is more "external" to mankind; 2. experience, or an inner knowing of the essential Spirit within whether it be called God or Higher Self or what have you.

So, we have "outies" and "innies" so to speak.

Some people are more "wired" for the inner experience it seems; while others are more prone to see from their intellect or outer knowing and accepting which would include the more scientific, "prove-it-to-me" point of view. Yet this latter group will often admit to one's needing faith to some extent.

Many of us are more one way at times than others but we often borrow from both points of reference. I know I do. In my own personal journey I have found that the knowledge without the experience isn't quite complete and the experience or more feeling, internal reference point is not quite complete without the intellectual, more practical one. I would conclude from my point of view that both are necessary for progress and balance.

What's this got to do with Easter? Easter is a time of renewal, a time for NEW life to sprout, a time for calling forth that part of us from the TOMB that has lain dormant. One does not have to be a Christian to grab a hold of this concept and bring alive within them all the goodness and teachings of Jesus the Christ which is already within them. For I believe what he came to do and came to tell us, has nothing to do with any particular religion. The same holds true, I believe, for the Buddha and other great teachers and souls who have come and gone in the centuries before us. If we can listen deeply enough and let go of preconceptions and we are honest in our seeking and searching, I believe we will find Truth everywhere. It is to be found in the kernel or core of the original ideas and thinking and teachings of those great souls.

So as I have one foot in the immediate circumstances in which I find myself and all the responsibilities I have right now, I am also keenly aware of the Easter season and my continuing along my spiritual path. This is what is essential to me. And I can do both for I am as you are, spirit and matter.

May this Easter season bring a renewal in Spirit for you. May your path be just rocky enough to cause you to stay awake yet smooth enough to not discourage you. May your Spirit within leap for joy and announce the coming of the wondrous, fantastic, shinning, beautiful soul that you truly are.

HAPPY EASTER

GRATITUDE OR LOOKING FOR THE SILVER LINING

2006-03-31T04:53:00.000-08:00

On some of the most trying days or dark days, days when it is hardest to rejoice or be at peace, it is difficult but not impossible to look for the thread that can lead you a few steps up closer to well being. It is called "gratitude" or finding the silver lining.

Even if the "thread" starts with a thought like "That apple I just ate was delicious and I am thankful that I could buy it and eat and enjoy it."

This thread can take you to other things you can be grateful for, things you CAN appreciate. When you start recognizing those gifts that are there just for you it leads you from the darkness and sadness or pain to a better place.

When I start with thoughts about the situation with which I am presently faced, I start hurting as sadness washes over me. And it is not a "bad" thing but I note that it is not where I want to stay for very long. So I experience it and then try to move on to appreciation and gratitude step by step.

I allow the pond to speak to me of peace and I pour out thankfulness that I have this vision and the eyes with which to see it. I watch the ducks paddle upon the pond and find joy in their being. I think of the wonderful times Ron and I have shared and the intimate moments where our two hearts intertwined and love overflowed between us. I think of all the challenges marriage has brought to me and to him and how much we learned and grew from that.

In gratitude I think of our neighbor who came over yesterday to help Ron with things he is not physically capable of doing and who spent hours with him while I went to my doctor in Cartersville.

I am acutely aware of the kindness and sweetness of others who have reached out to me and/or to Ron to offer whatever comfort or whatever help they can. These have been people of all religions and spiritual beliefs. What I see is their love offering to me and/or to Ron no matter what package it comes in. I see “God” in their eyes.

What a privilege to be able to see the silver linings, to be able to find love everywhere, to know that among the ashes phoenix is always rising.

To find the gratitude is to find the joy of life and to have one's finger on the pulse of life. It is to dive into the greatest mystery of life. It is a gift. It is a privilege. It is an honor.

To find gratitude is to find your way back to your God or That which you may call by some other name or presence. You may call it your Source. The name doesn't matter. What matters most is that you are aware of that Presence. And if you are very blessed, you will be absorbed by that Presence and you will not know your whereabouts at all. You are in the holy of holies and it is in you. No separation. You are the Being that you are.

The light of God surrounds us.

The love of God enfolds us.

The power of God protects us.

The presence of God watches over us.

Wherever we are, God IS.

And all is well.

And so it is.

Amen

Bringing Love and Compassion Into The World

2006-03-21T05:07:00.000-08:00

How do we do this?

I think it can be done on several different levels.

When someone is suffering or has been treated badly we can easily be compassionate, loving, and accepting towards that person. Where the challenge comes in is having even the tiniest bit of any of these for someone who as inflicted pain, injury, and abuse upon another human being.

I don't believe God calls us to just be compassionate towards those who are loveable and deserving of our love, acceptance and compassion. That's too easy.

Where I find it very difficult is to find a spark within me to offer in behalf of another human being when he or she has not one loveable, likeable or acceptable bone in their body that anyone can find.

But...it has been brought more and more increasingly to my attention that this is when it is required the most. This is how we bring more love and compassion into the world. It is not by hating these people but by our loving compassion that replaces somehow the "wrong" that has been done. This does not mean that a person should be exempt from the consequences of his or her choices. I firmly believe there are consequences to be paid but how we react to this person is what I am talking about. Though we may not be able to “love” them we can learn to understand that in their “ignorance” and lack they are not capable of doing differently. I remember Jesus’ words when he was being arrested and eventually hung on the cross. He basically said that these people would have no power to do that unless it had been given to them by the Father. I’m not sure any of us can understand exactly what Jesus meant but it does say to me that there are things I may never understand but have to accept on faith.

So is it possible to behold a person who would normally provoke disgust in us and be able to not feel continuous anger and hatred towards him or her? I think it is but one never knows until the test comes up. And how does one prepare one's self to be able to let go of the anger or hatred? How many would even want to go through the trouble to do that?

I think the answer lies within each of us.

I think some of us may be called to do that task upon this earth during our life time and others are not.

Or perhaps we are ALL called to it but not everyone will hear or answer that call.

Some of us have to be willing to let go and not be angry or have hatred or revenge in our hearts for those who commit heinous crimes against others.

There has to be some "cleansing" outlets or this earth would explode or implode from all of that negative energy.

Now, this is just my own thoughts this morning. No one has to agree or understand. But it is something to think about.

Some of you may at some point wonder about this or feel a call to stretch yourself spiritually in this direction. Or you may have a different call.

We all have some things to do while we have breath in our bodies. What we are called to do is immaterial. That we do them is important.

What's your calling? I know mine and it is not easy but it is nevertheless one I cannot refuse.

EPIPHANY

2006-03-11T04:19:00.000-08:00

Make a joyful noise unto the Lord

There's a hymn that goes, "Open my eyes that I may see, glimpses of truth Thou hast for me. Open my eyes illumine me, Spirit divine." During "hard" times Spirit can get our attention even better than when things seem to be flowing smoothly. The full attention is reaching out for strength, understanding, and connection with Spirit.

Yesterday morning I awoke from my slumber and reached for Spirit. I was not disappointed. Spirit answered my questions, opened my eyes, and gave me glimpses of Truth I had not been able to experience quite so clearly as before. Epiphany! I love that word and I love it when it happens to me. :)

I snatched this from the Internet: "The term epiphany means "to show" or "to make known" or even "to reveal." In Western churches, it remembers the coming of the wise men bringing gifts to visit the Christ child, who by so doing "reveal" Jesus to the world as Lord and King."

Jesus, not the man Jesus, but the Anointed, the Christ the Presence of Spirit was revealed to me. I could "see" as it were the divine spark that is present in every human being. It was like I had reverence for That which is present everywhere but particularly was aware of Its presence in all humans, my brothers and sisters. For those of you not into using the concept Jesus or the Christ, go beyond that concept to your own understanding of Spirit or Life. Any term doesn’t get it but we have to use something for a point of reverence.

I was shown how "God"/the Divine disguises as every person I encounter. EVERY person. I could "see" that no matter how sweet or kind or how nasty or mean someone might appear to me; no matter how polished or rough; no matter what color or language; no matter what religious belief or philosophy; no matter how intelligent or ignorant; no matter what the "cover" or "costume" or disguise, I am called to Love. That is, I am called to see beyond the disguise and look only to see Spirit and to acknowledge the gift of sight to see that Divine Spark within, that very Presence. I think this must be what it means to worship – to recognize and to revere Spirit in the many forms.

Recently I was reading something about separating the chaff from the grain. I would describe my "epiphany" using those terms in a different way but similar.

With each encounter of another human being, I am to look beyond the cover (the chaff as it were), the outward appearance to the seed or grain (the Presence) Spirit within.

This is not an easy thing to describe in words. The knowing goes beyond my capacity to describe. But it is something that we can all experience in our own way.

I was not intellectually aware. It was my soul that got the message. Ask and ye shall receive. I wept with joy. So like the good kings who “revealed” the Christ child to the world, each of us must make that journey, discover the Christ ourselves, and then by doing so, reveal the Christ or the Presence or Spirit (whatever term works for you) to the world.

Make a joyful noise...

CHANGE FROM A SPIRITUAL VIEWPOINT

2006-02-21T04:52:00.000-08:00

There's a principle that exists and seems to be true that life is a mirror of what you project. If this is true then every time you change the way you view life, that new view of reality is reflected back to you. How quickly this change will manifest can vary.

Just like a magnet through our beliefs or whatever our "truth" is at the moment we seem to attract into our lives our most cherished dreams as well as our most horrible nightmares. The more conscious we become of what it is we are thinking and believing we can then see if what is happening in our lives is reflecting that belief. If we note that there does seem to be some correlation, then perhaps if we can change or shift our beliefs, we can draw into our lives a little more of the dream and a little less of the nightmare.

Gandhi said, "Be the change you want to see." I think he had something there. :)
If you can change your point of view or even your point of reference, the reflection you get back will change.

The world IS a reflection of me.

We have to stop viewing the problems as problems and start seeing the solutions. We have to visualize them as we want them to manifest (leaving the details of how this is to come about to the Universe, to God, to the All That Is) and not focus on how things appear right now. We have to believe it is possible and feel how wonderful that will be when it happens. This doesn't mean we manipulate others and change others. It is only our perceptions and beliefs that we work on. As more and more people change polarization from the negative to the positive, from the nightmare to the dream, there is a huge shift in the consciousness of the planet.

Sometimes what changes is our unhappiness with what is even when things continue to be as they are. If we release no one but ourselves from the misery, that has got to be a step in the right direction. What we have done when we change our perception is that we have released another piece of what is holding things as they are and give those things more wiggle room to also change. This is especially true in personal relationships. When we change our negative perception of another person we free them up for change instead of continually seeing them in a way that keeps them locked into their present condition. But again, even if they don’t improve or seem happier or better off, our more loving, positive viewpoint of them will set us free from the suffering we have caused ourselves over their condition.

"Be the change you want to see."
"When you believe it, you will see it." Wayne Dyer

Counting your blessings is a form of changing your perspective. When you count your blessings you are focusing on what it is you DO have as opposed to focusing on your lack. The more you see yourself blessed the more blessed you will experience blessings. The more unfortunate you see yourself to be, the more unfortunate you will be. The more you love, the more love you will experience. The more you hate or are violent or negative or unloving, the more of this you will experience.

If you march AGAINST war you are focused on war and magnetize more of the same. If you march FOR peace, that subtle shift in your consciousness will do more to manifest peace in your life and in the world than it will to rid either you or the world of the misery or effects of war.

So, if at some point in your life you find yourself wanting to experience more love in your life, for example, you can focus on having that rather than lacking it. You will find yourself learning to tap the love within you and then giving it away and the more you find it and give it, the more you will have. For this gesture will be a step on faith that you have all the love you ever wanted, so much so that you have a never-ending supply to give, to share with others and still have more for yourself. Perhaps you will even find yourself being love personified rather than being engaged in the activity of giving and receiving it.

"...but the greatest of these is love."

2006-02-08T04:49:00.000-08:00

I keep thinking about that. The GREATEST it says. The rest goes on to say that it doesn't matter what you can do or accomplish - how rich, educated, powerful, attractive, strong - whatever gifts you may have or the attributes you may assign yourself or others assign you - the greatest is love.

It isn't a feeling and it isn't a doing. It is a being. Along with the being may come a doing or a feeling or both but they are just evidence of the presence of love just like leaves rustling in the wind. You can't see the wind but the leaves show the wind's presence.

In between words, in between the tension of yin and yang, and all appearing opposites, one can find the Absolute, the Pure, the Essence. But without the appearing opposites, without the tension, without the contrast there would be neither life nor an ability to know the Absolute, the Pure, the Essence.

This Absolute, Pure, Essence contains the all but the all cannot contain It. All that is, is It but it is It only as a droplet is part of the ocean. The ocean is all of the droplets and contains all of the droplets. While the droplets reflect and are in essence what the ocean is, the droplets cannot contain the ocean the way the ocean can contain all the droplets. If you can grasp that, really grasp it, then you can begin to see that we are not separate entities.

We have different personalities and abilities. This is our "idea" of self but it is not the self at all. We wear these ideas of self and compare these with our ideas about others and with their ideas about us and themselves. Our interactions are nothing more than different ideas of selves bumping against one another. No wonder we compete, use and abuse, fail to love, and fail to interact from love. No wonder we can feign love or make outward gestures that at times appear to be loving while all the time be completely unable to be love itself. We can be nice, we can do nice things but are we truly coming from love? That is the ultimate question. We all have that gift but do we really, really realize it so that nothing gets in the way of being it?

When you can get into the mode of "oneness" and understanding that our human interactions are based upon a type of fiction, what is left to separate us? What is there not to love?

Our ideas seem to be who we are and we have known little else all our lives. Our society, our religions, our businesses, our politics, all that we know is based upon the system of our separateness and individuality. To give that up would seem too scary. To give that up would mean the ego has no life support system. Unless...unless we know that life will still go on and we shall still "see" and experience our individuality but we will know what it really is so that we can truly utilize the gift of love that we are.

Though some people think that ego actually dies or needs to, I don’t think it does or needs to. I think that ego would come under the mastery of love and it will perform as it was meant to perform. Ego will take its rightful role. Ego doesn’t change – we do or at least our consciousness does. We humans get things so backwards. The great teachers like Jesus came as messengers and sometimes humans mistake the messenger as the message itself. Like that finger pointing to the moon. We get fixated on the finger and miss the moon entirely. Oh, we see the moon out of the corner of our eye but we don’t SEE it. We lay flowers at the foot of the messenger or we kill the messenger. Either way, we miss the message. We worship the finger or kill the finger and miss the moon.

But OH! When we start turning our faces towards that moon, what a difference it makes! We don’t just talk the talk, we start walking the talk.

The greatest of these is love. There is nothing greater – not education, not beauty, not worldly power, not money, not position, not relationships, not even the talents we possess, though these in themselves are not bad and are gifts for which we may truly be grateful. When we are love, there is nothing else to be or do except let it flow into the many forms it takes. It will anyway. The difference is that we get to be aware of this process as we dance in our bliss.

If you make only one thing your goal let it be this. Be aware of the love you are. When you are aware of that then nothing is impossible, everything is sacred, everything is beautiful, and you know that there is no thing that in essence is not you.

Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all else shall be added unto you.

Parables become the transmission for that which is not so easily conveyed with language, with words. Jesus, for example spoke in parables because how can you use words but as fingers pointing. The words are not it. The concepts of the words are not it. Only the moon is the moon. Only It is It. Each of us has to see that moon through our own eyes. No one can do that for us though many religions will point to themselves for you to see through them. They ask you to let them do it for you. So what you see is a moon that they have created. It is an image that they have drawn rather than the real thing. Only you can see the real thing.

Seek to be love. That is all that is necessary. But please do not take my word for it. See for yourself. Each has his/her own way to do this. That does not matter. Just do it! I can point you to the recipe but you have to gather your own ingredients and make it your own way.
Why would I not insist you do it my way, join my “church”, except my doctrine, take my vows? I would not insist because I know that those things do not matter. The finger never matters. It is the moon itself that matters. HOW you finally see it does not matter. That you do see it is. And once you do see that moon, you see that it is all there is. Once you see the moon, you realize that your beliefs are not it. Your ideas are not it. Your doctrine is not it. Your church is not it. Your attributes are not it. What you think you are is not it either.

Nathan Hale said, "Give me liberty or give me death". I say, "Give me love or I have not life nor am I free."

Love and be well.

I love a good massage and a good messsage!

2006-02-07T05:29:00.000-08:00

It is a gift to me, to my body. I have been a very tense and intense person all my life. When one grows up walking on egg shells, one develops a keep-alive skill which includes hyper-vigilance. Not that I was ever in any danger of not being kept alive. It just felt that way. That hyper vigilance in turn keeps one keyed up more than the average person and for me it became a habit. So what I am trying to say is that I am not always able to completely relax or so it seems. My muscles tense up and pretty soon I am one walking tight ball of tenseness. I am trying to kick the habit of hyper vigilance but meanwhile I do what I can to "un-tense". Massage helps get the kinks out.

So, I was laying there enjoying my wonderful (this time) 90-minute massage when I started thinking about my matronly figure with all it's flaws - wrinkles, cellulite, moles, freckles, sagging skin and other sagging parts, etc. I am terribly upset that my body has taken on so many pounds because of that threat to my health and well-being (according to the most popular medical beliefs our society carries).

I mentioned to my therapist Linda that I was concerned about my weight and that didn't like it that I had no waist anymore. She noted that I still have curves. I smiled remembering when that was a more obvious truth but I thought, “Yeah, my body IS still curvy. Heavy but curvy.”

Then as I continued to relax, I realized the love inside me and I let it rise up within and in my head I started saying "I love you" with great passion. I was speaking to my body and just loving it. Then I was saying “I love you” to the whole of me and to what it is that is truly who I am. Then that love just flooded through me and I was beginning to become an intense point of love that just spread through me and out into the room to consume everyone and everything that is. I suppose you could say “I” expanded.

I thought, "Wow! Is this wonderful or what?" I felt so good and just settled down to enjoy the rest of my massage loving every minute, every breath that gave life to my body.

I felt fantastic the rest of the evening and this morning I feel so alive and so good in spite of waking up many times during the night.

I am! God is! Love is! And it is fantastic to be alive in body and in Spirit.

I'm pumped up and ready to flow.

I invite you to take my hand and let us flow together.