FOR MY TROUBLED MIND

LET IT BE

When I find myself in times of trouble 

Mother Mary comes to me 

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. 

And in my hour of darkness 

She is standing right in front of me 

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. 

Let it be, let it be. 

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be. 

And when the broken hearted people 

Living in the world agree, 

There will be an answer, let it be. 

For though they may be parted there is 

Still a chance that they will see 

There will be an answer, let it be. 

Let it be, let it be. Yeah 

There will be an answer, let it be. 

And when the night is cloudy, 

There is still a light that shines on me, 

Shine on until tomorrow, let it be. 

I wake up to the sound of music 

Mother Mary comes to me 

Speaking words of wisdom, let it be. 

Let it be, let it be. 

There will be an answer, let it be. 

Let it be, let it be, 

Whisper words of wisdom, let it be.

 -- The Beatles

THE LAST WILL BE FIRST

Loser.

That very word makes us shudder...reflexive resistance.

It is a hard lesson learning that to lose does not make one a loser. On the paradoxical contrary, it is the first necessary step to becoming a winner. It is only through losing, and bowing to that fact, that we begin our inner journey to our rightful place, God's House.

All the bells and whistles that define us in our own mind, all the add-ons, the accouterments, we have accumulated to prove our worth, must be kissed good-bye. Lovingly laid to rest as it were.

Our ego must stand bare-butt naked before its world, the world of me, my, mine, know defeat, and welcome the realization that it is second at best and then only on a great day. And that's a day of giving over to another...any other. That realization is grace.

We, relying only on our reasoning mind as our guide, can never gladly accept such complete defeat. We may know it from our eyebrows up, but we cannot move it down to our Soul. And until it is moved, it is not heart-realization, it is head-knowledge. Which is never a bad thing, it just won't get us where we need to be...free.

It is the grace of realization that brings acceptance of the fact that losing our battle for our self-determined objective to be first in line means that our acceptable place is second, third, fourth...last. It will never be first...except to God...where we are all one and always first in line.

Thank you.

INTO THE LORD'S WORLD OF GIVE

Eknath Easwaran writes that in the spiritual lore of India it is said that the Lord whispered only one word in our ears when he sent us into the world: "Give." I'm betting our ego is born seconds later whispering just two words: "Thus get."

Therein lies the path Home...following our ego's whispers to get until we crash and burn which rockets us into the fourth dimension, the Lord's world of give...resist not, surrender, cease fighting. This is our U-turn...our very crash and burn is grace turning us from me, getting, to thee, giving.

And we will stumble and fall...if we're doing it right. We will get distracted by the siren call of our ego...which must come in the guise of prayer: "Father, better my finances, health, family. Change this/that, him/her...bless me." 

We stumble, we fall, we get up and remember, oh, yeah...it's "Bless them, change me." We laugh, and to quote Gov. Perry of Texas, say "Oops" and turn again, away from ego toward God.

The spiritual journey could be seen as a constant purification of motive until we can finally say, 'I have no other reason to do anything except love of God and love of neighbor.'  - Fr. Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditations," March 29, 2014

Thank you.

BEWARE OF SELF, INFUSED WITH FEAR

Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto the leader and gladly so.

How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar.  -- Julius Caesar

Thank you.

GOD IS NOT AVAILABLE ON DEMAND

Trying to explain spirituality to an intellectually self sufficient person is self defeating for there is no self in spirituality. There is goodness, mercy and joy, none of which is self induced, self controlled or self maintained.

We make ourselves available to that which already is...within us, without us. We don't build it, we don't manufacture it. We can't. We go within to our higher power who shows forth love and love alone...and here comes goodness, mercy and joy for us to share with others.

This does not mean the intellectually self sufficient ones never know goodness or mercy, never know happy, joyous and free. They know all that spiritual seekers know; they just do not realize it is not in their realm to maintain it, to hold on to it through the power of their mind.

God is not available on demand and neither is happy. This the spiritual seeker is always learning, relearning, and learning yet again…as if we’d never before heard of such a thing.

The intellectually self sufficient believes this is proof of the non-existence of a higher power...and think harder.

Thank you.

PEACE, LOVE AND JOY ALWAYS AND ALL WAYS

The intellect is weak; it has no power except over what is as weak as itself. -- Al-Nuri

I love that quote. Mainly because it does not matter if we're believing in our "smart" intellect or our "weak" intellect when we give it power for that is no power except over what is as weak as itself.

We sit in judgment of those who are brain-proud. "She wears her smarts like they're mink; he parades his intellect like it's gold. They believe their brain is going to get them peace, love and joy. How dumb."

Yet, when our anxiety starts strutting its stuff in our gut, we believe it utterly. "I think I'm going insane. I'm afraid I'm going to break into pieces right here before God and everybody...I'd better not leave my home, my bedroom, my bed."

Neither our strengths nor our weaknesses make a dime's worth of difference to God. Love cannot differentiate or know favorites. Strong/weak, happy/sad, sickness/health...they're all the same to God, i.e., non-existent.

If we would imitate God in that one area...acceptance, utter acceptance...we could and would know peace, love and joy. We would know it, and we would show it, because, for sure, if we're not showing it, we're not knowing it.

Thank you.

THERE IS NO GOD AND...ANYTHING

"Agree with your adversary quickly" is tickling my brain right now...love your enemy, do right by those who misuse you...all those lifelines that our ego thinks of as high-flown sentiments.

I never really thought it through, but I suspect that in the back of my mind was the idea that if we do those things, we'll get love back...or gold. Some reward for heaven's sake. Like, we'll know that God and Hector loves us, we'll know that God and Gertrude accepts us. We'll live long and prosper.

What a surprise to realize there is no God and anything. God is. Everything.

Until we seek God, and God alone in whatever form God chooses, we'll get bubkes...and even lose that which we have.

There must be no object whatsoever except attaining the realization of the activity of [God], no praying even for our friends or neighbors or for the world. - "The Heart of Mysticism," by Joel Goldsmith, at p. 873

Thank you.

CHANGE MY MIND AND SET ME FREE

I have a young friend who is suffering...she is ill, and she will not accept that, underneath it all, this is a good thing. She has built an altar in her mind to a really mean (according to me) God. Her only prayer to her God is that she not have this disease. Every time she gets bad news about her disease, she knows she has done something wrong to offend this God, so she prays harder that she not have this disease.

To my thinking, if the God of my understanding zapped me every time I offended him, I'd be getting me a new understanding. As a matter of fact, that is exactly what I did all those years ago.

Maybe that's how most of us start out in life...with a God of rewards and punishments or punishments and rewards more likely...heavy on the punishments, light on the rewards. Deservedly, to our shame-on-me thinking. "Me" always being the operative word in our world.

It really is not an easy thing to accept unto gut-bucket belief that we have a loving God alive and well within us. That this God has our back, it is only loving...and all that comes from that God is love, no matter what our lying eyes tell us. It is love, it is for our benefit, and all we need do is get happy about it...without eyeball evidence that this is a good thing.

In other words, we get to change our mind...an impossibility when we're relying on that same mind. Lift up mine eyes that I may see. Change my mind and set me free. 

God can and will if sought.

Thank you.

ON CHANGING ONE'S MIND...JUST IMAGINE

IMAGINE

Imagine there's no heaven

It's easy if you try

No hell below us

Above us only sky

Imagine all the people living for today

Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people living life in peace

You, you may say

I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one

I hope some day you'll join us

And the world will be as one

Imagine no possessions

I wonder if you can

No need for greed or hunger

A brotherhood of man

Imagine all the people sharing all the world

You, you may say

I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one

I hope some day you'll join us

And the world will live as one

-- John Lennon

LONG TIME LEARNING

I'm reading this morning of Joel Goldsmith's commitment to God and how he was led to spend four, five, six and more hours a day in meditation, and he recommends that for anyone who seeks still more spiritual growth.

I cannot over-emphasize how resistant I am to that idea. I wish I could say I'd never heard of such a thing, but I've read this book more than once before, the first time some ten years ago. I was just as resistant then as I am now...resistant to this single idea. All the rest of what he shares about his journey is terrific...love it...recommend it highly.

Here's my unfortunate dilemma. The promise of what we get if we spend four, five, six and more hours a day in meditation is: The harmony of heaven on earth. I'm like, what? Is that all?? Four, five, six hours a day, and I get harmony???

Mind you, my only prayer for as long as I can remember has been for peace of mind. Apparently I want peace of mind until I'm told the secret of how to get it. It's the same old, same old...how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice, practice, practice.

Finding my gold, I make myself available to God daily to do with me, to build of me, as he wishes. And he does, and he does.

Thank you.

JOY IN FEAR

Joy and fear are on my mind this morning.

I have learned to welcome my fears…and to welcome them with joy. I remember when I used to try to rid myself of fear by shaming me..."If I have faith, I can't have fear; if I have fear, I don't have faith" was my mantra.

My mentor reminded me of the story of the main man in the New Testament. He went into the Garden where he prayed so hard that he sweat blood. As my mentor said, that wasn't joyous, fear-free praying, and he had a lot more faith than we're going to have in this lifetime…and very likely the next.

When I heard and understood that, I opened to the possibility of welcoming my fears of which I have my share and then some. 

The fear that has become dear to me is my fear of insanity…it’s become dear because it has driven me to my knees and to God more completely than most anything in my life. I’ve never consciously feared death. But, in fact, fear of losing my mind…dementia, Alzheimer’s…are just fear of death, of losing me, losing control of me. As are thoughts of how I may die, of going broke trying to stay alive, of looking like a weasel in the whole process…comes to that, my rues, regrets and remorses are just fear. Fear of my past and my inability to change it in the memory of others.

I welcome the realization that all these are mine and are special to God for they need him the most...and it is my joy to deliver them to him.

Thank you.

COMMON GROUND...GOD'S HOUSE

I've encountered a wo/man whose ego is towering...so, of course, you guessed it, my ego is already in a fistfight with her.

My goal is not to win him over to my side...my goal is for God to guide me over to his side.

My job is to remember that.

Thank you.

THE ESSENCE OF SELF-ACCEPTANCE

This gift is from God and not of man's deserving. But certainly no one ever receives such a great grace without tremendous labor and burning desire. -- Richard of Saint-Victor

As I walked Ruckus this morning, I thought of how hard we try to not do this, to not do that, just to not...and I thought that if we succeeded, we'd be living a very sterile life. If we 100 percent succeeded in not bad-mouthing anybody (no matter how deserving she was) or never wanted to smack anyone upside his head (again, only when he deserved it) or any of the other wild and hairy (a.k.a., judgmental) thoughts that occur to us hourly, we'd not only be bored, we'd be a bore.

Now there is the nut that excuses us from exchanging our less-than-wonderful thoughts for kinder, gentler ones. There is the ego wanting self-acceptance but going about it all bass-ackward...excusing acknowledged bad behavior on the grounds that the only alternative is to be a bore.

No. The essence of self-acceptance is being free to say to our friends that we'd like to slap Gertrude upside her head, then letting that go. No need to dwell on the right or wrong of our want to, no need to justify it by bad-mouthing Gertrude further. The spiritual goal is, in that instant and without spoken words, to shoot a prayer for our thoughts about Gertrude.

We've got to believe Gertrude is exactly where she needs to be...if we can believe that for ourselves, and we must, we must needs believe it for everybody. So, we pray not for Gertrude but for our thoughts about her. When our thoughts turn to understanding Gertrude, we know our prayer has succeeded, that we have aligned our thoughts with God's thoughts.

Word of warning: This is not an overnight exercise.

"He goes before me to make the crooked places straight."

"But certainly no one ever receives such a great grace without tremendous labor and burning desire."

Thank you.

OUR FOREVER PEACE

Trials and tribulations compel us to surrender human peace and material good for spiritual awareness. It is only through the severest problems that the highest rising in Spirit takes place. -- Joel Goldsmith, "The Heart of Mysticism," at p. 852.

I'm guessing it's the human condition that makes the truth of that quote good news only after we've made it to the other side of our severest problems. Going through hell is going through hell...don't tell me painted ponies and sugar cones await on the other side.

But they do. And they do in a form beyond our reasoning.

Anyone over 50 has gone through their own personal hell...and more than once if they've been doing it right. So has anyone under 50, they only get full understanding after 50. According to me.

Back to my point: "The highest rising in Spirit" is beyond our reasoning mind because our reasoning mind cannot conjure up peace...love...acceptance...joy. These are all gifts hidden deep within our Soul that only emerge with the aid of a higher power.

The paradox is that we've all experienced many times each and every one of those in our lives...right before we've fallen into despair over, say, a flat tire.

Our "severest problems," however, unfixable by the human mind, are the source for our pearl of great price, i.e., the peace that passes understanding. It is those very problems that "compel us to surrender human peace and material good" so we may receive our forever peace and love and acceptance and joy...God in a word.

Thank you.

EGO: ALWAYS A LOSER, NEVER A WINNER

I've recently experienced the healing of a cracked friendship. Through it all, I resisted not at all. I let it take its natural course, and, believe me, the other party got meaner, nastier, and uglier every step of the way.

Apparently, not responding in kind (a.k.a., giving up fighting anyone and anything) can be threatening to those who believe they are right and are willing to fight about it.

At any rate, the other day he asked me a simple question, the answer to which was a blinding flash of the obvious to him. I could see the light go on in his eyes. He realized in that moment that he'd made a wrong assumption back there.

He has been his former friendly self ever since all the while trying to pave over the road he tore up with his unfounded suspicions. My ego does enjoy that...but I will not have learned my lesson until I can in no way point out to him the error of his assumptions. Any "gotcha" on my part, and I'm back at square one.

And this is the exact point where my ego starts trying to arm wrestle with God. My attack mind will think of a gazillion little things I could say just to let him know...as in, this is to let you know that I know and I knew all along and I rose above your crap, ha-ha, I won after all, you fool you.

See why we're back to square one? Ego never wins anything, always loses everything, and never allows that to be true.

We realize our truth by the inner glow of love we experience...for ourselves and for the other. That's the very feeling we've always sought to get, never dreaming it was always there waiting to be released.

Knowing that, experiencing that, does not guarantee we will not go with ego for one more ride..."just this one last once."

God is a forgiving God...now we know why.

Thank you.

MY GRACE IS THY SUFFICIENCY

[The following is a reprint from my blog of December 13, 2009.]

“My grace is sufficient for thee....”  - 2 Corinthians 12:9

God’s grace is always available. It is not waiting for me to do, think, say some special thing…to earn it. Grace is mine now. God’s grace is the sufficiency I seek…all ways and always.

Just as air is not waiting for me to earn it…it’s there for the breathing.

Thank you.

OUR EGO IS OUR DICTATOR

We hear of a person's life being changed...and it is!..but what must change first is our reason for desiring change.

We get Soul change when we are no longer trying to change in order to get anything including peace of mind.

Peace of mind generally is the cover story we tell ourselves when we're really seeking ego satisfaction...financial security, to love and be loved, personal glory (if only in the form of agreement that we're right). These are self-determined objectives. We can and will change in order to get them but that seldom brings the peace of mind we think we're really seeking.

These ego-based wants masquerade as needs, and become the God of our understanding, fooling only us. Their sustaining root is our desire to believe that i am and you are not.

As long as we believe there is a you to resist, our ego is our dictator.

We go to God for God...that is all.

Thank you.

THE WORLD WILL BE AS ONE

I sometimes think all the discord in our lives would disappear if we would learn not to take anything personally.

Put another way, if we would respect any and all others' opinions, facts and acts including their disrespect, we could suffer war no more.

I'm reminded again of John Lennon's song, "Imagine." All he asked is that we imagine..."imagine there's nothing to kill or die for...imagine all the people living life in peace."

The only thing that keeps that imagined world from happening is fear...fear that I'll imagine and you won't. As long as we refuse to accept that we already are one with God, we will always live in fear that I will and you won't.

But just imagine. Imagine living in peace because we have offered you respect in the face of your disrespect. That we have realized that your disrespect is not about us, it's about you, and we don't have to personalize it by disrespecting you. Imagine. Just imagine.

We have to be careful, though. If we imagine it unto reality, "the world will be as one."

Thank you.

EXPECT A MIRACLE IN DISGUISE

If we remain autonomous, independent, self-sufficient, we cannot know God nor can we love God. St. John of the Cross says: ‘God refuses to be known; God can only be loved.’ --  From a recent “Daily Meditation” of Fr. Richard Rohr.

I heard a lady speaking recently of having reclaimed her power. She sounded beyond happy because, according to her, she can now use her willpower all she wants, all the time. 

“I pity the fool,” as Mr. T used to say (and I’m not at all sure that was his name, but the quote is for sure apt).

Willpower is the ego’s stronghold, its weapon of choice. Without realizing our need for a power greater than ourselves to whom we give our willpower (to do with for us as It will), we are doomed to living in an I-am-right-you-are-wrong world. There is no peace there for there is no God there. We’re ever looking over our shoulder, fearing that we’ve made a misstep and are about to get found out. Or, worse, looking over your shoulder to catch your misstep so we can set you straight.

I am also told that St. John of the Cross said, “In prayer, come empty, do nothing.” To which I add, “…and expect a miracle in disguise.”

Thank you.

WHY PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION

It has been said that there is nothing that is not spiritual for those who have learned how to see.

I believe that. I believe that from my toenails up.

Why is it, then, so hard to practice that which I profess to believe so completely?

It may just be me seeking perfection when progress is as good as we’re supposed to get in this lifetime. No…progress is what we get to be satisfied with here and now. Which opens our mind to continue seeking the perfection that is only found in God.

That comforts me right now…I’ll stop before I try to perfect that, too.

Thank you.

ON REALIZING SOMETHING BETTER

Every difficulty can be either solved or ignored and something better substituted for it. -- Anonymous

The above quote (from a little spiritual self-guide I used to read) is true...the only problem is it doesn't warn us that the "something better" is not of our thinking, not of our will, not necessarily of our desire.

The "something better" is whatever life serves us...and we get to go to God to realize the "better." To realize, just exactly how is this better? And then wait for the answer...God is not available on demand.

Our self will, or ego-victory thinking, will ever go for the solution that is prettiest, easiest, most beneficial to our self (or our self-image).

This is why self-discipline in spiritual matters is mandatory. God's will is akin to a hospital gown...one size fits all. If we're ever going to get comfortable in that...as in, be at peace...we need to discipline ourselves to seek his will rather than wait for him to adjust to ours.

Thank you.

THOUGHTS...JUST THOUGHTS

1. I read once that there are only two emotions...love and fear. Whatever you are feeling, its base is one of those two...if it brings peace, it is love; doesn't bring peace, fear. That has proven true whenever I have had reason to examine it...and when first I read it, I tried to prove it constantly, trying to find an exception. I never did, but I like simplistic so I'm no authority.
2. It just seems to me that I'm seeing, more and more, folks wearing heavy duty symbols of their faith which is just shouts fear to me. I hear them blatting reconstituted religion all the while their actions are less than loving...I started to say, those of a pack of rabid wolfhounds, but that's just putting my own fanatical self on parade. Geez, just the other day I was rambling on about love begetting love, and here's me proving that fanaticism begets fanaticism. Fear on the hoof, like a thundering herd, overwhelming.
3. Why don't spiritual victories give us that special charge that ego victories give us? That "I won, you sucker, now die like the dog you are!" Or maybe not that harsh...maybe just a little "Ha-ha...in your face, sucker." Or maybe a smirk would do...just so she'd know I WON. Or is it more important that he knows HE LOST. TO ME. See? There's the essence of ego victory...there is no enough. It grows in its inability to even claim victory satisfactorily. With spiritual victory, I suspect you feel the same old good you feel all the time. And there it is...only ego can make spiritual victory sound boring.

Thank you.

THE DOOR

[The following is a reprint of my blog of July 8, 2008, revised.]

This morning's blinding flash of the obvious: Shame and blame are the glue that holds shut the door at which the Lord knocks.

Shame and blame are not of God and can be dropped from our thoughts by the realization of the illusion that holds us in thrall.

Thank you.

EXPERIENCE THE UNWANTED TO FIND PEACE

There is now only one necessity -- to receive God's grace. -- Joel Goldsmith, "The Heart of Mysticism," at p. 838.

Again I realize that there is only one prayer I need...the "Thank you" prayer. For God's grace is within us/without us, and "thank you" is the key that releases God's grace. It removes our belief that we need pray to get, freeing us to realize we already have.

Today's Eknath Easwaran reading: "When we are absorbed in the pursuit of profit, we live in the narrow world of the bottom line." When I am absorbed in the pursuit of anything other than God, I'm living in my self-determined objectives...no matter how pretty I dress it up. I used to pray to be more loving until I kept getting the opportunity...only it was always with people who ticked me off. Now that was an oh, s**t awakening.

And aren't those awakenings always the true proof of God's presence? The This-isn't-what-I-meant! to an answered prayer...because almost invariably what we get that we didn't mean when we prayed is exactly what we need. And we only fully realize that in God's own time for our reasoning mind will never get us there.

We get to experience the unwanted to find our peace. To realize that God in the bramble bush is still God...ever on our side.

Thank you.

GRATITUDE...THE ULTIMATE HEALER

Today I live in gratitude.  I live in gratitude that I know my world is exactly as it should be...as it needs to be right this very minute. I know this for me, for my friends, for those I love and those I'm trying to love. I know this even...especially...when appearances do not testify to this. 

I'm reminded of my blinding flash of the obvious that our world is a mirror vision...it is as if we look at the world through a mirror. We get exactly in reverse of what God envisions.

It was immediately after I had that BFO that I read Fr. Richard Rohr on St. Paul: "...everything shows itself for him to also be a disguise: weakness is really strength, wisdom is really foolishness, death is really life, matter is really spirit, religion is often slavery, and sin itself is actually the trapdoor into salvation." 

Here's me, barely knowing who St. Paul is...and I'm being generous to myself there...yet loving that I had my realization of God's world as a mirror vision right before I read about St. Paul's because him I can truly trust. I mean, if you can't trust a saint....

God and grace are always available...our trouble is we believe our ears, our eyes, those least reliable of witnesses, over that still small voice within. 

Thank you.

GOD'S HAND MUST BE IN IT

WOW...just yesterday I was wondering if there is such a thing as spiritual victory or if that wasn't an oxymoron, and here comes this morning's blinding flash of the obvious: That which I was arm-wrestling with God about yesterday was my spiritual victory.

I realized that responding not at all to Kermit's slings, arrows and barbs was my self-determined objective which was transmuted into my achieving my spiritual goal to resist not evil...to cease fighting everything and everybody.

Kermit giving over to me when he finally "saw the light" was not me winning...it was Kermit's mind being changed which brought him comfort, allowing his behavior toward me to change. That let me off his mistaken hook and brought comfort to me. If I had resisted him, by responding in kind to his barbs, etc., a whole 'nother fight or two or three or four would be going right now. 

We both came out the winner...and that can only happen when God's hand is in it.

Thank you.

FEAR IN THE FORM OF ANGER

The spiritual way of life is a reversal of the human way of life. -- Joel Goldsmith, "The Heart of Mysticism" at p. 836.

The spiritual way of life is all about giving, the human way of life is all about getting. We experience this in particular when we win...when we get over on another, no matter the size or significance of the victory, we rejoice. We got...s/he gave (in). That's ego victory...spiritually, our road just got a tish steeper. I wonder, is there such a thing as spiritual victory or is that an oxymoron?

For sure ego victory is my real sinkhole today. I have "won" over Kermit, and I am having the devil's own time not lording it over old Kermit. I fantasize letting him know that I was well aware each and every time he slighted me. All those times that I gave thanks to God for keeping my mouth shut, that I gave myself spiritual points for not responding in kind, for agreeing with my adversary quickly...all those times I was earning my wings...I am eager now to pitch just so I can let Kermit know he did not get over on me...that I, indeed, have gotten over on him and spiritually too by God (so to speak).

Here's what I can project, and this from my own life experiences: In my ego's urge to teach him a lesson, I withhold, being just a tish cooler, less available. Interestingly, when I was being slighted and snubbed, I was using spiritual principles in order to not respond in kind...being agreeable in a word. Now that I've won, my ego wants to make him pay...to be disagreeable in a word.

If I continue on that road, withholding love, fear (in the form of anger) will take charge of Kermit because withholding love seeds fear in the other. That fear will redound to me...and the same old same old will spring forth, looking new. All in the course of an ego victory.

My ego is my Satan...get thee behind me ego. Now all I need do is loose it and let it go...and that'll happen only with the grace of God. 

Thank you.

FEAR MASQUERADING AS FAITH

In general, I'm leery of folks who display on their body or in their homes huge, ornate symbols of their faith. That just shouts fear to me.

A friend of my grandmother, a very devout lady...both were, in fact...had on her living room wall a gigantic cross. With the Body and roses and I don't know what all carved all over it. Painted gold. Gaudiest thing I ever did see. It would have been right at home in the big old Mardi Gras parade. Piety on parade is indeed an oxymoron.

I think what gets my hackles up is how such symbols can be fear masquerading as faith...as God, in fact. And how that kind of masquerade suckers the innocent, the angels unaware, in. Then when one of life's catastrophes hit, they are left not only with the catastrophe but also with fear right in their face. Left crying, where's my God now, now when I need Him so much?

Of course, there is nothing inherently wrong with symbols of faith, it's just that our symbols sometimes become our God. Maybe God is invisible so we can't worship his image and mistake it for his love.

God is snug as a bug within just waiting to be realized...according to me.

Thank you.

THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL GROWTH

My morning blinding flash of the obvious: If we live by a rigid, righteous and right yardstick to measure and thus judge other people's honesty, that is the yardstick that will be used to measure and judge us. This is not news. "Judge not lest ye be judged" is right there in the Bible, probably in the Koran, too, not to mention in all the other great spiritual literature. 

It comes home to laugh in our face when we experience its truth. It's a particularly hard lesson when we get a glimpse of what goes around comes around. The hard lesson is: We realize that if we are ever to break free, we cannot legitimately wallow in our hurt and our anger for we will retaliate somewhere, sometime, and that will keep it alive, moving around to bite us again somewhere, sometime. In short, it can only end well for all concerned by not resisting it…call it good and remain friends. 

Here's the difference between lying to ourselves (i.e., using self-will to quick call it good) and seeking still more spiritual growth (using self-discipline to speak not, mentally thanking God for making this good). The difference and the extraordinarily difficult part lies in our willingness to simply change our mind...from I am right to there is no right or wrong, there is only God.

The I-am-right mentality breeds "I need to take my own part, stand up for myself, not be a doormat, let him know he can't treat me like this...etc, etc., etc." Too often, the cop-out is that this is the human condition. No. This is ego, and it will not set us free...in fact, those are the ties that bind. 

We know that sitting and waiting on the Lord will bring us peace beyond reasoning.  We know going for the I win/you lose is the sure seed for resentment, yet, like Jack Benny with the choice of your money or your life, we ponder...and ponder...and ponder. And too often make the quick, fast and in a hurry decision...which nobody has ever confused with God's will.

That is the nature of spiritual growth. It takes a long time not because God is a drag-foot, but because we will not divorce ourselves from our ego-victory wants. We choose to believe in the great i am rather than in the great I Am.

Thank you.

PUTTING ON AIRS

Hatred does not cease through hatred at anytime. Hatred ceases through love. This is an unalterable law. -- The Buddha

The bad news is that nothing stops, it only grows, when we respond in kind...e.g., hatred, violence, lies. As the Buddha said, this is an unalterable law. 

Let it be noted that the same is true of love. Love begets love. 

We gotta wonder why the ego-based reasoning mind finds that such a hard choice to make. And, being convinced, then to actually do it.

Our head can agree until our face falls off, but until we return love for hate, we're just putting on airs when we talk it.

Thank you.

SELF-DISCIPLINE...YOU GOTTA LOVE IT

Follow Him in this direction, and you might become wise and even holy. But be prepared to displease those on either entrenched side.

I came across that quote in my notes this morning, and I regret I didn't note the author. I suspect it is a truth we've all heard...experienced, too, no doubt. I know I have. The hard lesson learning is those who are displeased with us, who resist our new thinking, feeling, doing, being, are our angels. 

Our new thinking tells us is to let them...let them be displeased. The how-to is the rest of our life learning. It all starts with self-discipline...but then doesn't everything? A good starting place for self-discipline is learning the art and the necessity of becoming transparent (open) as opposed to remaining opaque (closed).

To be transparent is to let any and all slings and jabs, attacks and enmity come...for those are the necessary tools (our emery board) that we need in order to turn our ego-victory thinking around, to smooth our mean mental responses and stay our sharp tongue. We let them come so that we can learn how to let them pass on through...without hooks.

In remaining opaque we are our own Velcro...attaching to those "mean-ingless" words as if they were words of love. We replay them constantly because we are stuck with them, Velcro’d so to speak.  And feeling oh so sorry for our poor, pitiful misunderstood selves. Then highly peeved at the injustice of it all. Pretty soon we're encased in rigid, righteous and right, self-determined that somebody is going to pay (having not a clue that it is us, our own selves, who are going to pay and dearly).

Here comes self-discipline riding in to save the day! (Self-discipline is God's white horse.) It reminds us that we have ceased fighting everything and everybody...because we have come to believe that every time we are upset, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us. 

We remember we need to quit looking out there...the something wrong is not out there. It is within. It is right then, at that moment of remembering that we are graced with acceptance of the fact that it is not them, it is us, and we know peace. 

That is God intervening in our lives in our behalf.

Thank you.