[This is a slightly altered reprint of my blog of March 30, 2011.]
Faced with a dilemma, I will come up with a solution. It may come fast, it may take me worrying about it for days, but my reasoning mind, linked with my ego, will arrive at something. That something invariably legislates for me. No matter how pretty it sounds (i.e., pleasing to God in my mind's eye), in the end and always, I will be the beneficiary of my worrying mind’s solution.
The lesson I am ever aiming to nail: Go to God for God, that is all…then let It take whatever form It will. I will always benefit…as will others.
If the end result is not a win/win, there is no God in it.
Thank you.
Saturday, February 28, 2015
Friday, February 27, 2015
TO BE HAPPY, LIVE GRATEFULLY
Thank you, dear God, almighty force for good, that you work through me as you worked through Mohammad, through the Buddha, through Christ Jesus. Amen
Thank you that I do thy will always whether or not I know it...that my reasoning-mind mistakes are your right-road-to-Heaven for me. For it is in my mistakes that my rues, regrets and remorses are born, those very rues, regrets and remorses that you have shown me are, transmuted, my good, my gold.
Those very mistakes are my Teacher's tools, designed for me personally that I may grow from them by learning your will and your way. And thereby find my happiness.
Thank you.
Thank you that I do thy will always whether or not I know it...that my reasoning-mind mistakes are your right-road-to-Heaven for me. For it is in my mistakes that my rues, regrets and remorses are born, those very rues, regrets and remorses that you have shown me are, transmuted, my good, my gold.
Those very mistakes are my Teacher's tools, designed for me personally that I may grow from them by learning your will and your way. And thereby find my happiness.
Thank you.
Thursday, February 26, 2015
THE TRULY SELFLESS
I was reminded earlier this morning of a thought that came to me awhile back; i.e., we, the yous and mes of this world, may achieve sainthood on this earth, and others may see that in us, but it won't count if we see it.
I've been pondering that, as to whether I really believe it. Is it true or is it just another glib thought that passes for higher consciousness when it's only self consciousness?
Right this minute, I'm thinking it's true only to the extent that the truly selfless, the so-called saint, does not see self as separate...s/he lives in the higher consciousness of unitive thinking, One. To see our own self as in some way separate (the saint) and not see all in our world the same is to fall back into dualistic thinking. In plain words, if we see our own self, and only our own self, as "saint," count on it, it's our ego doing the seeing.
I'm guessing it's that very, very fine line between self-acceptance through God's eyes. in which self-acceptance encompasses warts and all, mine and yours, and self-acceptance through our ego-victory eyes which can only see I, me, mine as acceptable.
I'm getting above my own self here. That's where I go every time I ponder that thought. But then I tend to believe that resistance is the only block to still more spiritual growth...so I'll keep pondering.
Thank you.
I've been pondering that, as to whether I really believe it. Is it true or is it just another glib thought that passes for higher consciousness when it's only self consciousness?
Right this minute, I'm thinking it's true only to the extent that the truly selfless, the so-called saint, does not see self as separate...s/he lives in the higher consciousness of unitive thinking, One. To see our own self as in some way separate (the saint) and not see all in our world the same is to fall back into dualistic thinking. In plain words, if we see our own self, and only our own self, as "saint," count on it, it's our ego doing the seeing.
I'm guessing it's that very, very fine line between self-acceptance through God's eyes. in which self-acceptance encompasses warts and all, mine and yours, and self-acceptance through our ego-victory eyes which can only see I, me, mine as acceptable.
Thank you.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
JOY, THE SPIRIT CURE
So I'm reading a note to myself from sometime back, and I had written that I know God will help me in all aspects of my life if I only ask.
And I'm struck again with the secret...it is not in asking but in doing whatever it is I am asking for.
It is not in asking God for our perceived need to be fixed, it is in remembering that God within is everything we can ever need so we lack for nothing...to get love, give love; to get patience, be patient; to get understanding, be understanding.
It is a well-known quote that when we're feeling fear of financial insecurity, we need to give some money away. That may be quoted a lot, just not necessarily done all that much, hence it's been "improved" to "give something away."
What we give determines the freedom from fear we will get. If we give something away, and it's a worn-out T-shirt we haven't worn in years, we'll not get a lot of freedom from fear...we'll get a boatload of guilt more like for "God will not be mocked," and neither will our very own conscience.
And there's our dilemma...we're still digging. without and within, for the answer to how to be right and know it. What to do? How to do it? Where? When? We just cannot believe that Joy is the sovereign balm for all of the ills of the world, the spirit cure for every ailment. There is nothing that Joy and Love cannot do.
Believe it.
Thank you.
And I'm struck again with the secret...it is not in asking but in doing whatever it is I am asking for.
It is not in asking God for our perceived need to be fixed, it is in remembering that God within is everything we can ever need so we lack for nothing...to get love, give love; to get patience, be patient; to get understanding, be understanding.
It is a well-known quote that when we're feeling fear of financial insecurity, we need to give some money away. That may be quoted a lot, just not necessarily done all that much, hence it's been "improved" to "give something away."
What we give determines the freedom from fear we will get. If we give something away, and it's a worn-out T-shirt we haven't worn in years, we'll not get a lot of freedom from fear...we'll get a boatload of guilt more like for "God will not be mocked," and neither will our very own conscience.
And there's our dilemma...we're still digging. without and within, for the answer to how to be right and know it. What to do? How to do it? Where? When? We just cannot believe that Joy is the sovereign balm for all of the ills of the world, the spirit cure for every ailment. There is nothing that Joy and Love cannot do.
Believe it.
Thank you.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
GRACE...LOVE ITSELF, GOD
"The last will be first, and the first will be last" (Matthew 20:16) What if that is, in fact and in our walking-around world, truth?
Why would anyone, then, strive to be first?...in line, in school, in sports, in family, first in life itself? If it's just going to get us last place, why strive for first? On the other hand, who ever would strive to be last?...in anything worth striving for?
According to me, the answer is hidden in paradox, in the difference between going for the will of God in our life and going for a self-determined objective. The objectives may very well be the same thing, but if we are self-willing it, then our objective is our god, and we will get what we get...which is not God.
If we are truly open to seeking the will of God, we have no objective other than to do the will of God which is whatever presents itself in the moment.
We often hear, “Do the next right thing.” However, that word “right” moves us over into the self-determined column.
In seeking still more spiritual growth, we are seeking God period. We do the next thing before us with spiritual growth as our guide...and often come up wrong! There’s the paradox. We may come up wrong, but we’re on the right track. The secret is it may be wrong, or it may just feel wrong, but it advances us to where we are meant to be in our search for God.
Self-will keeps us right where we are. heading in the wrong direction, because we are still following our wants...and mentally making our wants prettier, more desirable. Harder from which to detach in fact.
I was given the following example which helped me in my realization of this: It is akin to trying to make a specific someone love you...the harder you try, the farther away that one moves from you. The minute you accept that you're not going to get your objective, you drop all attempts...and love moves into your life.
And there it is...grace, not a self-determined objective, but love itself, God.
Thank you.
Monday, February 23, 2015
ALL WE NEED DO IS CHANGE OUR MIND
There. That is exactly why we cannot afford resentments. Resentments are hate in three syllables, and most of us have learned that hate eats us up from the inside out. So we don't hate...we resent, justifiably, of course. For who ever had a resentment that wasn't fully (personally) justified? And yet that very justified resentment, nurtured and held close, is what becomes the very definition of us.
We resent someone who "to our way of thinking" disrespected us in some manner...family member, friend, employer, total stranger, makes no never mind. It is near impossible for the reasoning mind to grasp that it is "our way of thinking" that is the source of our pain.
Those of us seeking spiritual growth, though, soon realize the resentment has moved into self-hate. By our refusal to let go of our ego-victory way of thinking about the incident (our refusal to seek help in changing our mind, in fact), we keep stabbing ourselves with our memory of the incident. We even know better but do it anyway, and there is the source of our self-hate.
Because, even if we are as right as we think we are and s/he is equally wrong, it is our incessant reliving it that keeps us tied to ego, to self. There is no spiritual growth there, no God there. There is only self there, and it is filled with hate.
And to think, if we want to be free, all we need do is change our mind.
Thank you.
We resent someone who "to our way of thinking" disrespected us in some manner...family member, friend, employer, total stranger, makes no never mind. It is near impossible for the reasoning mind to grasp that it is "our way of thinking" that is the source of our pain.
Those of us seeking spiritual growth, though, soon realize the resentment has moved into self-hate. By our refusal to let go of our ego-victory way of thinking about the incident (our refusal to seek help in changing our mind, in fact), we keep stabbing ourselves with our memory of the incident. We even know better but do it anyway, and there is the source of our self-hate.
Because, even if we are as right as we think we are and s/he is equally wrong, it is our incessant reliving it that keeps us tied to ego, to self. There is no spiritual growth there, no God there. There is only self there, and it is filled with hate.
And to think, if we want to be free, all we need do is change our mind.
Thank you.
Sunday, February 22, 2015
A NEED...NOT A WANT
[The following is a reprint of my blog of February 23, 2012.]
“I stand at the door and knock.” It is the Father within who stands at the door and knocks to be let out…to be released.
My needs are always met…by God. “The Father within knows my needs.” My wants are sometimes met, sometimes not.
It is my obsession with getting my wants filled that turns my wants into my god of the moment, and thus blocks the grace of God. It is known as free will, but there is nothing free about it.
Likewise, there is nothing, per se, wrong with having wants…that’s how life moves forward. It is when I get all bogged down with whether I’ll get my needs met (do I have enough money to last the rest of my life?) that my wants grow spurs and ride me. That’s when I confuse my want (enough money to last forever) with my need (to open the door of my soul to the Father who knows my needs and whose good pleasure it is to fill my needs).
It was during my 10+ years of taking care of the IRS that I learned that…which is exactly why I know my experience with the IRS to be of God, a need I had, but assuredly not a want, and for which today I am deeply grateful.
Thank you.
“I stand at the door and knock.” It is the Father within who stands at the door and knocks to be let out…to be released.
My needs are always met…by God. “The Father within knows my needs.” My wants are sometimes met, sometimes not.
It is my obsession with getting my wants filled that turns my wants into my god of the moment, and thus blocks the grace of God. It is known as free will, but there is nothing free about it.
Likewise, there is nothing, per se, wrong with having wants…that’s how life moves forward. It is when I get all bogged down with whether I’ll get my needs met (do I have enough money to last the rest of my life?) that my wants grow spurs and ride me. That’s when I confuse my want (enough money to last forever) with my need (to open the door of my soul to the Father who knows my needs and whose good pleasure it is to fill my needs).
It was during my 10+ years of taking care of the IRS that I learned that…which is exactly why I know my experience with the IRS to be of God, a need I had, but assuredly not a want, and for which today I am deeply grateful.
Thank you.
Saturday, February 21, 2015
"WE MUST TURN ABOUT"
Since [still more spiritual growth] is a transformational journey, conflict with others is inevitable, and often unavoidable. *** Today, I can view my differences with others, both personal and philosophical, as opportunities to identify and overcome my knee-jerk reactions to the world in which I live. -- Anonymous
To act on such a faith, the politics of eternity demand of us, first, repentance. As individuals and as a nation we must literally turn about. We must turn from our self-righteousness and arrogance and confess that we do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord. We must turn from the substitution of material for spiritual values; we must turn not only from our use of mass violence but from what is worse, our readiness to use this violence whenever it suits our purpose, regardless of the pain it inflicts on others. We must turn about. -- Fr. Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," February 21, 2015.
Both of the above quotes are from two different readings of this date. The first reading describes perfectly "the problem," i.e., conflict with others is inevitable, and "the solution," view all conflicts as opportunities to overcome self, specifically, our reactions.
The second reading describes precisely what we need to do in order to live in the solution; i.e., "We must turn about."
In other words, change our mind...for that, we need God.
Thank you.
Friday, February 20, 2015
TO GIVE UNSELFISHLY
We often hear that if we want peace of mind, we'll not judge.
Personally, I think in that regard our woes start with our trying to be the Buddha or to be Christ Jesus or to be Mohammad before we ever learn how to be who we are. And that takes some learning, which isn't all that hard once we get the hang of it.
The hard part comes when we find we need to accept what we find, i.e., who we are...just exactly as we are. Too often the initial recognition sends us back to digging in our navel, looking (hoping) to find there another person who is easier to accept. Which just takes us away from learning how not to judge.
We learn how to "judge not" by accepting that what we see is always ourselves.
How do we learn that? It helped me when I heard, "Write 'you are looking at the problem' on a piece of paper and tape it to your bathroom mirror."
From that, understanding ourselves as our only problem, we start to see that judging is looking in our bathroom mirror and not seeing our own self. Seeing, instead, Gertrude, Billy Bob, our long-dead grandmother, or whoever is currently "to blame" for our feelings of less-than...judged, in a word.
All of which takes me back to our trying to be one of the spiritual giants before we know what really any one of them was teaching. All the greats in spiritual literature or lore got and taught that love is the answer. Love for. We let it flow forth...for we have love within us given us before ever we breathed that first breath. It is the non-use of the love we have that convinces us we are in need of love.
We'll never not have love if we just give it, never judging that which comes back to us. To give unselfishly, judging neither the response nor the responder, is to have love unending...with twelve bushels-full left over.
Thank you.
Personally, I think in that regard our woes start with our trying to be the Buddha or to be Christ Jesus or to be Mohammad before we ever learn how to be who we are. And that takes some learning, which isn't all that hard once we get the hang of it.
The hard part comes when we find we need to accept what we find, i.e., who we are...just exactly as we are. Too often the initial recognition sends us back to digging in our navel, looking (hoping) to find there another person who is easier to accept. Which just takes us away from learning how not to judge.
We learn how to "judge not" by accepting that what we see is always ourselves.
How do we learn that? It helped me when I heard, "Write 'you are looking at the problem' on a piece of paper and tape it to your bathroom mirror."
From that, understanding ourselves as our only problem, we start to see that judging is looking in our bathroom mirror and not seeing our own self. Seeing, instead, Gertrude, Billy Bob, our long-dead grandmother, or whoever is currently "to blame" for our feelings of less-than...judged, in a word.
All of which takes me back to our trying to be one of the spiritual giants before we know what really any one of them was teaching. All the greats in spiritual literature or lore got and taught that love is the answer. Love for. We let it flow forth...for we have love within us given us before ever we breathed that first breath. It is the non-use of the love we have that convinces us we are in need of love.
We'll never not have love if we just give it, never judging that which comes back to us. To give unselfishly, judging neither the response nor the responder, is to have love unending...with twelve bushels-full left over.
Thank you.
Thursday, February 19, 2015
IT IS BY LOVE AND LOVE ALONE
A line from the 23rd Psalm, "He prepares a table before me in the presence of my enemies," came to mind this morning.
I thought again of my realization that my enemies are not people, those with whom I feel in contention. I saw clearly that my enemies are my rues, regrets and remorses, defects of character that I continue to depend on (e.g., my attack mind) even while, from my eyebrows up, I know better. I'm guessing I thought that was the extent of my realization since I had never really followed that thought through.
Today I realized more fully the essence of that realization which is that the Lord prepares a banquet of love and laughter, peace and joy right before my face for me AND for my rues, regrets and remorses and defects of character. The banquet is not just to show I have no fear of "my enemies" because the Lord is with me. No. The banquet is for that and for me and my enemies together to experience love, peace, joy and laughter.
There. That's how my enemies are transmuted...not through hating or hiding them...but through love. For it is by love and love alone that they, and I, are healed.
Thank you.
I thought again of my realization that my enemies are not people, those with whom I feel in contention. I saw clearly that my enemies are my rues, regrets and remorses, defects of character that I continue to depend on (e.g., my attack mind) even while, from my eyebrows up, I know better. I'm guessing I thought that was the extent of my realization since I had never really followed that thought through.
Today I realized more fully the essence of that realization which is that the Lord prepares a banquet of love and laughter, peace and joy right before my face for me AND for my rues, regrets and remorses and defects of character. The banquet is not just to show I have no fear of "my enemies" because the Lord is with me. No. The banquet is for that and for me and my enemies together to experience love, peace, joy and laughter.
There. That's how my enemies are transmuted...not through hating or hiding them...but through love. For it is by love and love alone that they, and I, are healed.
Thank you.
Wednesday, February 18, 2015
LOVE SPEAKS ONLY OF LOVE
So I'm listening to a commentary on the world situation, specifically, ISIS. The commentator is ranting that we must do more killing of ISIS, as in, this Administration is weak wusses, it wants to educate...that will never work, we need to shoot, bomb, kill, kill, kill. Eradicate in a word.
Naturally, I have an opinion or ten. My first is that ISIS seems hell-bent on getting exactly that reaction...they seem to be unafraid to die, indeed, it seems they welcome death. Worst-case, I'm guessing they're looking for us to get so desperate that we finally use the Big Bomb...eradicating the whole world, thus fulfilling their own death wish.
Second, eradication as our goal is just using ISIS's brain to do our thinking with. The more horrific their acts, the more horrific we respond? How is an unending cycle of horror a logical plan for our "winning...honorably?"
Third, eradication has been the goal of every war ever fought which is exactly how we got where we are today. How is that a logical plan for lasting peace?
Fourth, why not try love? Love the God of your own understanding, love It with all your heart, soul, body and brains, and love your neighbor, friend or non-friend, exactly the same...with all your heart, soul, body and brains.
I think of John Lennon's "Imagine," and William F. Buckley's response in a column he wrote about it...tore that song to pieces. Which told me that Buckley's angry response wasn't toward the song. It wasn't even anger...it was fear. Fear that if he let the meaning of the words into his mind...listened in order to welcome rather than to resist...he might need to change his mind that's all.
That's also all that is needed before any eradicating operation, i.e., war, gets started...change our mind. Fortunately, if we've been paying attention to life itself, we have learned that we cannot change our mind through want-to, wishes, or self-will, nor can we go outside of our own self to get the help we need.
We must go within for love is within. Then, we listen. Listen for the silent word of love for love can only speak of love. If we hear even a hint about doing harm to another, even a word of disrespect, we can be sure we are talking to our self again...not to mention taking our self too seriously.
Whether we believe any of this or not, doing it will keep us occupied until three days after we're dead of natural causes, and we won't have to kill anyone in the process which is never a bad thing, according to me.
Thank you.
Naturally, I have an opinion or ten. My first is that ISIS seems hell-bent on getting exactly that reaction...they seem to be unafraid to die, indeed, it seems they welcome death. Worst-case, I'm guessing they're looking for us to get so desperate that we finally use the Big Bomb...eradicating the whole world, thus fulfilling their own death wish.
Second, eradication as our goal is just using ISIS's brain to do our thinking with. The more horrific their acts, the more horrific we respond? How is an unending cycle of horror a logical plan for our "winning...honorably?"
Third, eradication has been the goal of every war ever fought which is exactly how we got where we are today. How is that a logical plan for lasting peace?
Fourth, why not try love? Love the God of your own understanding, love It with all your heart, soul, body and brains, and love your neighbor, friend or non-friend, exactly the same...with all your heart, soul, body and brains.
I think of John Lennon's "Imagine," and William F. Buckley's response in a column he wrote about it...tore that song to pieces. Which told me that Buckley's angry response wasn't toward the song. It wasn't even anger...it was fear. Fear that if he let the meaning of the words into his mind...listened in order to welcome rather than to resist...he might need to change his mind that's all.
That's also all that is needed before any eradicating operation, i.e., war, gets started...change our mind. Fortunately, if we've been paying attention to life itself, we have learned that we cannot change our mind through want-to, wishes, or self-will, nor can we go outside of our own self to get the help we need.
We must go within for love is within. Then, we listen. Listen for the silent word of love for love can only speak of love. If we hear even a hint about doing harm to another, even a word of disrespect, we can be sure we are talking to our self again...not to mention taking our self too seriously.
Whether we believe any of this or not, doing it will keep us occupied until three days after we're dead of natural causes, and we won't have to kill anyone in the process which is never a bad thing, according to me.
Thank you.
Tuesday, February 17, 2015
WE ARE SURROUNDED BY LOVE...SO LOVE
How did I get so blessed? Here I am with a foot of snow on the ground (could be an inch, but an inch of snow is a foot in my world), and I am grateful.
I am grateful for my little guy, grateful that my love for him is not always convenient, and I love him all the more; grateful for my friends (grateful that I can put an "s" on "friend" without lying), grateful that I care as much for more than one other as I do for myself, grateful that I am loved, grateful that I love.
The big whoopee is the realization that all my gifts are blossoms stemming from the same root...gratitude. And the process is exactly the same as that of a flower blooming...its blossoms do not come from out there, given to the flower if it is "good." They are within, and they will bloom at the exactly right time.
Same goes for mine...they are not gifts given to me from out there. These are gifts that have always been inside me waiting to be released by my own self. The right time for their release may have come the first time I reached out to another...and it didn't matter whether I reached out for help or to help. Just reaching out, away from self, is an act of grace.
Grateful...the gift of grace. Gratitude...grace's fingerprints.
Thank you.
I am grateful for my little guy, grateful that my love for him is not always convenient, and I love him all the more; grateful for my friends (grateful that I can put an "s" on "friend" without lying), grateful that I care as much for more than one other as I do for myself, grateful that I am loved, grateful that I love.
The big whoopee is the realization that all my gifts are blossoms stemming from the same root...gratitude. And the process is exactly the same as that of a flower blooming...its blossoms do not come from out there, given to the flower if it is "good." They are within, and they will bloom at the exactly right time.
Same goes for mine...they are not gifts given to me from out there. These are gifts that have always been inside me waiting to be released by my own self. The right time for their release may have come the first time I reached out to another...and it didn't matter whether I reached out for help or to help. Just reaching out, away from self, is an act of grace.
Grateful...the gift of grace. Gratitude...grace's fingerprints.
Thank you.
Monday, February 16, 2015
OUR INCOMPREHENSIBLE BLESSING
Geez, my blinding flash of the obvious this morning tells me maybe God isn't such a bad judge of character...he's just not nasty about it. I was nattering (as I got dressed in my many, many layers of wool) about this weather and the snow that is coming and I and I and I...and I.
At which point I was gifted with, "This weather is just a minor inconvenience to you."
Tell me that wasn't God giving the old "tsk-tsk, Beloved." (I added the Beloved.)
But it sure brought to my mind...p.d.q. and clearly...all the homeless, the impoverished, the sick, the alone and lonely poor. Who, even without this frigid winter, live...shall, we say, "uncomfortably."
And my reasoning mind immediately started shaming...I should do this for them, I should have already done that for them, the trouble with me is...and, wow!, here comes God to save my day. With another bfo. "Pray your 'thank you,' trusting...knowing...that I am here for all...all ways and always."
This is how we build our trust in God's saving grace...if we're doing it right...by feeling utterly helpless, knowing something needs to be done, not knowing what or how, and turning immediately to God with "Thank you...I know my problem is in your hands and has already been solved."
We're also building our trust in God's incomprehensible power...by knowing that prayer is all we have, all we need...and we trust that that is enough without ever knowing how. We then do something for another...just something for someone. It will carry forward.
God is so good to me...and you. We are blessed.
Thank you.
At which point I was gifted with, "This weather is just a minor inconvenience to you."
Tell me that wasn't God giving the old "tsk-tsk, Beloved." (I added the Beloved.)
But it sure brought to my mind...p.d.q. and clearly...all the homeless, the impoverished, the sick, the alone and lonely poor. Who, even without this frigid winter, live...shall, we say, "uncomfortably."
And my reasoning mind immediately started shaming...I should do this for them, I should have already done that for them, the trouble with me is...and, wow!, here comes God to save my day. With another bfo. "Pray your 'thank you,' trusting...knowing...that I am here for all...all ways and always."
We're also building our trust in God's incomprehensible power...by knowing that prayer is all we have, all we need...and we trust that that is enough without ever knowing how. We then do something for another...just something for someone. It will carry forward.
Thank you.
Sunday, February 15, 2015
THE WALKING-AROUND ME
I go to my favorite prayer: "Thank you, God, for my everything just as it is right this very minute."
Then I think of all that is less than wonderful in my eyes right this very minute:
Then I think of all that is less than wonderful in my eyes right this very minute:
- At 5:30 AM when I walked Ruckus, winds were 20-30 mph, temp 10 degrees, -10 degrees wind chill...him just as happy as if he had good sense, me paying mind-service to "thank you," repeating as fast as I could.
- We have two more outings before this day is over...he's looking forward already with me pretending to.
- This is projected to continue way too long...all week likely.
- Oh, Boston.
Now I get to decide...if God gave me the power to change any one of those according to my likes, would I put Boston first?
From my eyebrows up, I'm a saint, or at least a good and decent person, so of course I think I would...but the walking-around me? We can only hope the answer is yes.
Thank you.
Saturday, February 14, 2015
A VALENTINE'S DAY EXERCISE
Here's my exercise for Valentine's Day: Choose one of the people currently in my "Bless him, change me" thoughts. Mentally bless her, bless me, bless my thoughts about him, bless the act of hers that I'm resisting. Mentally hug them, kiss them, and let them go...detach from my attachment. Repeat off and on as I remember...no doubt not often enough, but that's heading in the right direction.
Then my fun exercise begins. Find the key to my resistance...look deep within for the key is within, always within. Search and love the search...giggle a lot...sing "Marezedoats" or "Zip-a-dee-do-da." Under no circumstances sing "Nobody Knows the Troubles I Have Seen." Unless I can giggle as I sing it...and mean it.
Keep going back to the person I'm resisting...and why is it never a flower? a frog even? A frog I can just walk on by...but my self-described frog-person? That one'll make a home in my head every time.
Go back to my mental me, see me thinking less than wonderful, and say, out loud, "I forgive." Repeat, not incessantly, but often. See my chosen person, say, out loud, "I forgive," and repeat.
The promise is that God loves us simply for our trying...his love is not in our successfully trying (which I can't think he hates). The fact is, to try for better than I am right now, pleases me!
Why would I think that the only prize is in God's approval? God is not a good judge of character...he loves unconditionally...everything, everywhere, all ways and always...cats even.
Thank you.
Then my fun exercise begins. Find the key to my resistance...look deep within for the key is within, always within. Search and love the search...giggle a lot...sing "Marezedoats" or "Zip-a-dee-do-da." Under no circumstances sing "Nobody Knows the Troubles I Have Seen." Unless I can giggle as I sing it...and mean it.
Keep going back to the person I'm resisting...and why is it never a flower? a frog even? A frog I can just walk on by...but my self-described frog-person? That one'll make a home in my head every time.
Go back to my mental me, see me thinking less than wonderful, and say, out loud, "I forgive." Repeat, not incessantly, but often. See my chosen person, say, out loud, "I forgive," and repeat.
The promise is that God loves us simply for our trying...his love is not in our successfully trying (which I can't think he hates). The fact is, to try for better than I am right now, pleases me!
Why would I think that the only prize is in God's approval? God is not a good judge of character...he loves unconditionally...everything, everywhere, all ways and always...cats even.
Thank you.
Friday, February 13, 2015
ON THE ROAD TO A HEALTHY SENSE OF SELF
Again, after all these years, I find myself nattering me about seeking the feeling of God within me/without me...not feeling it enough, not knowing it enough. I have to laugh at myself for I'm reminded of the Sunday spiritually based meeting that I attended back in the early '70s. Every single Sunday I would share the exact same thing: "I just want the feeling of God in my life."
Finally one Sunday, David, a half-crazy friend, who apparently had heard all he could stand of my want, spoke, "I have had the feeling of God in my life. I have spoken with God. God has talked with me. And every time it's happened, I've been in a straitjacket on the way to the nut ward."
I've never forgotten that. It cracked me up...not to mention the group for they, no doubt, were as tired of hearing the same-old-same-old as David was.
But most important to me, his message brought me an extra gift. That may have been the first step in my learning to laugh at myself. For as I laughed, I felt no embarrassment...I felt a sense of belonging.
I now know that learning to laugh at oneself is the starting place on the road to a healthy sense of self. It is the epitome of laugh and love... and laugh...and love.
Thank you.
Finally one Sunday, David, a half-crazy friend, who apparently had heard all he could stand of my want, spoke, "I have had the feeling of God in my life. I have spoken with God. God has talked with me. And every time it's happened, I've been in a straitjacket on the way to the nut ward."
I've never forgotten that. It cracked me up...not to mention the group for they, no doubt, were as tired of hearing the same-old-same-old as David was.
But most important to me, his message brought me an extra gift. That may have been the first step in my learning to laugh at myself. For as I laughed, I felt no embarrassment...I felt a sense of belonging.
I now know that learning to laugh at oneself is the starting place on the road to a healthy sense of self. It is the epitome of laugh and love... and laugh...and love.
Thank you.
Thursday, February 12, 2015
WOULD YOU RATHER BE HAPPY, OR....
Never let it be said that I can't simplify (or exaggerate!) anything. Take the Brian Williams fiasco...to my mind, Brian Williams is a raconteur, and he is excellent at it. (Someone who can tell a story with wit and pizzazz is my definition of a raconteur.)
Back in the day, even before my time, to be known as a raconteur was admirable, enviable even. However, I don't think anyone's been known as a raconteur since the likes of Noel Coward and Dorothy Parker lived and laughed. But I think that perfectly describes Brian Williams, only in this age of "social media" (what a misnomer!), by catching everything on tape, every spoken word can be compared (repeatedly and then some), found lacking, and the speaker dissed, banished and forgotten.
We've become a society of rigid, righteous and right.
I'd rather tell my story with wit and pizzazz...and laugh.
Thank you.
Back in the day, even before my time, to be known as a raconteur was admirable, enviable even. However, I don't think anyone's been known as a raconteur since the likes of Noel Coward and Dorothy Parker lived and laughed. But I think that perfectly describes Brian Williams, only in this age of "social media" (what a misnomer!), by catching everything on tape, every spoken word can be compared (repeatedly and then some), found lacking, and the speaker dissed, banished and forgotten.
We've become a society of rigid, righteous and right.
I'd rather tell my story with wit and pizzazz...and laugh.
Thank you.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE...NOW TO WALK IT
Recently, I found a blinding flash of the obvious that I had and had written down : "Living the Sermon cannot be discerned by those who live in their heads...it is taken for weakness, deceit even. In not perceiving purity, phony is ascribed."
At the time, I was in the midst of dealing with a person who was being less than wonderful to me, all but calling me phony to my eyes, and I knew this for my answer. I was released from my itch to respond in kind, and I hugged her. I have never bashed myself about her again, and I choose to believe that she mentally walks free of me.
And then my hard climb began. I realized if that is truth for me it is truth, too, for those whom I am judging...judging as weak and deceitful, in effect.
How do I know he isn't trying to live the Sermon? That her desire isn't to "resist not evil" or "agree with your adversary quickly?"
Or, even more important, how do I know that they don't have a different, better for them, spiritual goal by which they are living? And I am judging as lacking.
Judge not lest ye be judged.
Thank you.
At the time, I was in the midst of dealing with a person who was being less than wonderful to me, all but calling me phony to my eyes, and I knew this for my answer. I was released from my itch to respond in kind, and I hugged her. I have never bashed myself about her again, and I choose to believe that she mentally walks free of me.
And then my hard climb began. I realized if that is truth for me it is truth, too, for those whom I am judging...judging as weak and deceitful, in effect.
How do I know he isn't trying to live the Sermon? That her desire isn't to "resist not evil" or "agree with your adversary quickly?"
Or, even more important, how do I know that they don't have a different, better for them, spiritual goal by which they are living? And I am judging as lacking.
Judge not lest ye be judged.
Thank you.
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
MY ONLY JOB...DETACH
Thank you for the mini blinding flashes of the obvious that I randomly receive. They are so short and come so quickly that I can't commit them to memory. I rest in your assurance that they are with me, within me, awaiting the time for my need of them. When I am in need, my perfect BFO can and will flow forth for my benefit.
My only job is to remain detached from my reasoning mind, trying to figure it out which only holds the BFO at bay.
Thank you.
Monday, February 9, 2015
SPIRITUAL GROWTH AND HOW TO BEGIN
Why do we worry about reducing our ego? If we're present to this life at all, our ego will get reduced! I suspect our worry is not about reducing our ego but about avoiding the pain induced in the involuntary reduction of our ego. And, who's kidding whom, it's that "involuntary" that's the painful part.
Recently I was thinking about all my friends, foes and relatives being my angels. I knew it to be true and in the knowing, I felt warm and wonderful.
I recalled that this morning, and the thought popped, but what about ISIS? I promptly got all up in my head, trying to figure it out. I decided that what I needed to do was ponder the core of ISIS, each individual that makes up ISIS, see each one as my angel, that what they do collectively is an abomination...and, there's where my head ran out of gas. The answer is to not resist what they do, the abomination, either?? I'm about to get my head chopped off, and I say, "Thank you???"
Then I remembered why I had to call it quits in trying to find my still more spiritual growth in the Holocaust...it's there, I'm not.
But I am moving up the line with letting my friend Gertrude be Gertrude...I haven't had to mentally set her straight for awhile now. We're talking major God-is-on-the-field here because she is still actively being Gertrude.
Ah, that must be what is meant by our spiritual growth begins right where we are. If I'm not where ISIS, Putin or my Aunt Hattie is, don't go there in my head.
I do have almost daily interaction with Gertrude. And that's how I'm moving forward...by not avoiding her, or cutting her out of my life, or being as nasty as I want to be...which takes going to God, going to God, going to God. It is never a bad idea to go to God instead of our reasoning mind.
And there it is...if we're not going to God, for sure we are going to our reasoning mind, a.k.a., going down that wrong road again.
Thank you.
Recently I was thinking about all my friends, foes and relatives being my angels. I knew it to be true and in the knowing, I felt warm and wonderful.
I recalled that this morning, and the thought popped, but what about ISIS? I promptly got all up in my head, trying to figure it out. I decided that what I needed to do was ponder the core of ISIS, each individual that makes up ISIS, see each one as my angel, that what they do collectively is an abomination...and, there's where my head ran out of gas. The answer is to not resist what they do, the abomination, either?? I'm about to get my head chopped off, and I say, "Thank you???"
Then I remembered why I had to call it quits in trying to find my still more spiritual growth in the Holocaust...it's there, I'm not.
But I am moving up the line with letting my friend Gertrude be Gertrude...I haven't had to mentally set her straight for awhile now. We're talking major God-is-on-the-field here because she is still actively being Gertrude.
Ah, that must be what is meant by our spiritual growth begins right where we are. If I'm not where ISIS, Putin or my Aunt Hattie is, don't go there in my head.
I do have almost daily interaction with Gertrude. And that's how I'm moving forward...by not avoiding her, or cutting her out of my life, or being as nasty as I want to be...which takes going to God, going to God, going to God. It is never a bad idea to go to God instead of our reasoning mind.
And there it is...if we're not going to God, for sure we are going to our reasoning mind, a.k.a., going down that wrong road again.
Thank you.
Sunday, February 8, 2015
TWO INTO ONE
[The following is a reprint of my blog of February 12, 2009]
It came to me recently that I need pay attention to the words in the Lord’s Prayer, “on earth as it is in heaven.” I tend to think “God’s in His heaven [and I'm here on earth] and all’s right with the world.”
It reminds me of the time I was in the midst of a “spiritual growth spurt,” secure in the knowledge that I was being totally taken care of by the love of God, and I’m speeding down the highway…and got pulled over, and ticketed for speeding, by the state patrol.
I was incensed and called a dear friend to complain that I wasn't going any faster than anybody else, it wasn't fair, etc., etc., etc.; and he said, “You must remember, we need to obey the laws of God AND man.”
To obey the laws of God and man is not two different things…to me, God’s law is, basically, if I will respectfully put another first, before myself, God will see that I’m taken care of.
Likewise, to me, the basis of man’s law was the need for certain standards to be set down for humans to follow in order to learn to live in harmony with others, to get along with others.
If we truly learn that, we are squarely back in God’s law; i.e., if I will respectfully put another first, before myself, God will see that I am taken care of.
And that brings me back to my flash of the importance of the words “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” God is not in two different places, it is my thinking that makes the separation.
Just as God’s law is not separate from man’s law, it is when I’m thinking God is taking care of me while I speed down the highway, that I am keeping myself separate…from God’s law AND man’s law, and I will pay the consequences.
Thank you.
Saturday, February 7, 2015
REALIZE OUR UGLY FOR OUR GOLD
So I said to God, "He is all but calling me a liar...he's the liar. I heard her say blah, blah, blah, and I know for a fact she more blah." I have said that to God repeatedly and then some.
This morning God said to me:
What you say about her, you say about yourself.
What you think about him, you think about yourself.
What you see in her, you see in yourself.
What you want for him, you want for yourself.
Are you thinking each of these refers to ugly? You need to. For you need to learn unto surrender that the ugly you think of others is just what you say, think, feel about yourself. It is in surrender that you realize your ugly for your gold...and your fight is finished.
I pondered this and was led to understand that it is by seeing ugly and failing to find peace there that helps us divorce ourselves from our own opinions...i.e., change our mind. It is only through a changed mind that we can find the good in each of these. And there it is: When we realize our ugly for our gold, our fight is finished.
See our enemy for our friend and know them as one and the same, I.
What you see is always yourself. -- Thaddeus Golas
Thank you.
This morning God said to me:
What you say about her, you say about yourself.
What you think about him, you think about yourself.
What you see in her, you see in yourself.
What you want for him, you want for yourself.
Are you thinking each of these refers to ugly? You need to. For you need to learn unto surrender that the ugly you think of others is just what you say, think, feel about yourself. It is in surrender that you realize your ugly for your gold...and your fight is finished.
I pondered this and was led to understand that it is by seeing ugly and failing to find peace there that helps us divorce ourselves from our own opinions...i.e., change our mind. It is only through a changed mind that we can find the good in each of these. And there it is: When we realize our ugly for our gold, our fight is finished.
See our enemy for our friend and know them as one and the same, I.
What you see is always yourself. -- Thaddeus Golas
Thank you.
Friday, February 6, 2015
70 X 7...ALWAYS AND ALL WAYS
It was 25 degrees when I awoke yesterday morning. Too cold to walk according to me. So I told Ruckus that we'd go out, but we weren't doing our 20-minutes. (Ruckus could stay out in minus degrees and be happy.) I know very well that both Ruckus and I benefit from our 20 minutes, and it occurred to me that instead of predetermining that we would just go out and back in, I would stay open to what happens.
Then I started to get dressed in my usual dog-walking get-up...flannel pants, turtleneck, long socks, wool neck scarf, down coat with fur-lined hood, gloves. My blinding flash of the obvious was when I realized and admitted to myself that we'd never stay out 10 minutes in just that...and I'd be telling Ruckus and me that I woulda if I coulda but 20 minutes must not be God's will. It occurred to me that if I did my part...dress warmer...God would do his, and if we couldn't do 20 minutes, so be it.
So I wore my stirrup pants under my flannels, anklets over long socks, the turtleneck under a boiled-wool jacket, wool neck scarf, earmuffs, headscarf, down coat with hood, and two pair of gloves. Ruckus has a little sherpa-lined coat that he hates but, through serious bribery, he wears.
We did our 20 minutes...could've down 10 more but I don't want to raise the boy's expectations.
Now, here's my reasoning mind kicker: I awoke this morning, and it was 15 degrees! I felt betrayed. I was so incensed that I told God, "We took this test yesterday, and we aced it! We proved that we're willing to do our part. I hoed the dimdam row of potatoes...let 'em grow already!"
And that's when the still more spiritual growth needle jabbed me in the butt: Seventy times seven. For everything. Forever. For all ways and always.
Rats.
OBTW, thank you.
Oh...I did my two pair of pants, etc., and once again, we could've done 30. Once again, thinking only of Ruckus, we did our 20. And right this minute, I am sooo grateful. But tomorrow....
Then I started to get dressed in my usual dog-walking get-up...flannel pants, turtleneck, long socks, wool neck scarf, down coat with fur-lined hood, gloves. My blinding flash of the obvious was when I realized and admitted to myself that we'd never stay out 10 minutes in just that...and I'd be telling Ruckus and me that I woulda if I coulda but 20 minutes must not be God's will. It occurred to me that if I did my part...dress warmer...God would do his, and if we couldn't do 20 minutes, so be it.
So I wore my stirrup pants under my flannels, anklets over long socks, the turtleneck under a boiled-wool jacket, wool neck scarf, earmuffs, headscarf, down coat with hood, and two pair of gloves. Ruckus has a little sherpa-lined coat that he hates but, through serious bribery, he wears.
We did our 20 minutes...could've down 10 more but I don't want to raise the boy's expectations.
And that's when the still more spiritual growth needle jabbed me in the butt: Seventy times seven. For everything. Forever. For all ways and always.
Rats.
OBTW, thank you.
Oh...I did my two pair of pants, etc., and once again, we could've done 30. Once again, thinking only of Ruckus, we did our 20. And right this minute, I am sooo grateful. But tomorrow....
Thursday, February 5, 2015
GOD IS SO GOOD TO ME
I love when I'm given an answer before I fully realize my question. Recently, an "Unsub," by not mentioning my name, passively aggressively set me straight by mocking what I had said.
That incident crossed my mind this morning, and I knew if I stayed there, I'd own it, that I needed to let it go and now. Almost immediately I accepted that he is my angel. (This is not really an out-of-the-blue, whoever heard of such a thing? I have been practicing, imperfectly but steadily, letting everybody, be they friends, foes or relatives, be my angel ever since I first understood the concept.) So I was really grateful, not to mention relieved, to get it right then.
Then I read Fr. Richard Rohr's "Daily Meditation" for today in which he wrote: It seems that either we acknowledge that God is in all things or we have lost the basis for seeing God in anything, including ourselves. That's the gift I was given this morning...seeing the Unsub as my angel is acknowledging God in all things. Because to my reasoning mind, ye old Unsub was...oh, let's not go there.
And then, I read my "Words to Live By" in which Eknath Easwaran writes that the way to get free of self is to "...meditate and put others first and learn to be detached from the results of action, all together." [Based on Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice. Better than knowledge is meditation. But better still is surrender of attachments to results, because there follows immediate peace. -- Sri Krishna (Bhagavad Gita)]
And THEN, to put an exclamation to the whole process, here's my "God Calling" today: Believe literally that the problems and difficulties of your lives can be explained by Me more clearly and effectively than by any other.
I feel like I did when I got my first gold star in grade school...elated! Because here's (more) proof positive I'm heading in the right direction not through dependence on my reasoning mind but by my dependence on believing literally that God can and will intervene in my life in my behalf. [From "Things My Sponsor Taught Me" -- Anonymous]
That incident crossed my mind this morning, and I knew if I stayed there, I'd own it, that I needed to let it go and now. Almost immediately I accepted that he is my angel. (This is not really an out-of-the-blue, whoever heard of such a thing? I have been practicing, imperfectly but steadily, letting everybody, be they friends, foes or relatives, be my angel ever since I first understood the concept.) So I was really grateful, not to mention relieved, to get it right then.
Then I read Fr. Richard Rohr's "Daily Meditation" for today in which he wrote: It seems that either we acknowledge that God is in all things or we have lost the basis for seeing God in anything, including ourselves. That's the gift I was given this morning...seeing the Unsub as my angel is acknowledging God in all things. Because to my reasoning mind, ye old Unsub was...oh, let's not go there.
And then, I read my "Words to Live By" in which Eknath Easwaran writes that the way to get free of self is to "...meditate and put others first and learn to be detached from the results of action, all together." [Based on Better indeed is knowledge than mechanical practice. Better than knowledge is meditation. But better still is surrender of attachments to results, because there follows immediate peace. -- Sri Krishna (Bhagavad Gita)]
And THEN, to put an exclamation to the whole process, here's my "God Calling" today: Believe literally that the problems and difficulties of your lives can be explained by Me more clearly and effectively than by any other.
I feel like I did when I got my first gold star in grade school...elated! Because here's (more) proof positive I'm heading in the right direction not through dependence on my reasoning mind but by my dependence on believing literally that God can and will intervene in my life in my behalf. [From "Things My Sponsor Taught Me" -- Anonymous]
Thank you. Thank You.
Wednesday, February 4, 2015
FLOW WITH THE GO...GOD
Living the Sermon in my head is such a comfort...I never have an enemy, or even an irritator, for I agree with my adversary quickly, I turn the other cheek, I walk on water by damn.
And then....and then...my friend Gertrude, whom I sincerely love, walks right onto my playground of spiritual purity and shows her butt just as if the world wants to see it. I want, oh how badly I want, to respond in kind, as in, slap her upside her head, set her straight, blow her away with one really cutting, and unanswerable!, snub.
I remind me again that this is how we learn to live in the Sermon...not in our head, but in our heart, our Soul. Which is of God...God using our thoughts and tongue, our hands and feet.
We invite the enemy in. We welcome the adversary. We make ourselves available to our own ego's slings and arrows for there is where our lesson is:
I am the instigator, the inviter, of Gertrude’s behavior. It is my interpretation of her behavior that must be invited into my heart for how else is it to be washed clean...purified within me? It has naught to do with Gertrude...it has to do with my need to incorporate the Sermon into my life beyond head knowledge. My friend Gertrude is just the vehicle I have chosen to bring me the message...someone I cared not a pin for I would not hear.
For me to hold to my interpretation of Gertrude's behavior toward me is for me to stagnate right where I am in the Sermon which is not that far. It it will come up again and again and again until I am fully non-resistant toward my interpretation of Gertrude as baiting, backbiting, resentful, jealous...until I fully realize it is I that I am seeing. Realize and accept with love. Not with the self determined love in my head for that is just putting on spiritual airs, fooling no one but me.
I finally realize my adversary as me in whatever form I am resisting. I can then accept my adversary, with the love that is of God...for there is no other love. I can't do it, I flow it...in awe.
Thank you.
And then....and then...my friend Gertrude, whom I sincerely love, walks right onto my playground of spiritual purity and shows her butt just as if the world wants to see it. I want, oh how badly I want, to respond in kind, as in, slap her upside her head, set her straight, blow her away with one really cutting, and unanswerable!, snub.
I remind me again that this is how we learn to live in the Sermon...not in our head, but in our heart, our Soul. Which is of God...God using our thoughts and tongue, our hands and feet.
We invite the enemy in. We welcome the adversary. We make ourselves available to our own ego's slings and arrows for there is where our lesson is:
I am the instigator, the inviter, of Gertrude’s behavior. It is my interpretation of her behavior that must be invited into my heart for how else is it to be washed clean...purified within me? It has naught to do with Gertrude...it has to do with my need to incorporate the Sermon into my life beyond head knowledge. My friend Gertrude is just the vehicle I have chosen to bring me the message...someone I cared not a pin for I would not hear.
For me to hold to my interpretation of Gertrude's behavior toward me is for me to stagnate right where I am in the Sermon which is not that far. It it will come up again and again and again until I am fully non-resistant toward my interpretation of Gertrude as baiting, backbiting, resentful, jealous...until I fully realize it is I that I am seeing. Realize and accept with love. Not with the self determined love in my head for that is just putting on spiritual airs, fooling no one but me.
I finally realize my adversary as me in whatever form I am resisting. I can then accept my adversary, with the love that is of God...for there is no other love. I can't do it, I flow it...in awe.
Thank you.
Tuesday, February 3, 2015
CLOSE ENOUGH TO PERFECT
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative and creation, there is one elementary truth the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favor all manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings and material assistance which no man could have dreamed would have come his way. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. - Goethe
My blinding flash of the obvious this morning is that Goethe's statement does not refer just to our wants, or even our perceived needs, i.e., those things that come to us like love in human form, a companion, or security, winning the billion dollar lottery.
For that statement to be true, it must needs refer also to our inner being, where we are told our Father lives...in Heaven. As in, "Our Father which art in Heaven." That's within. That's our core. That's where all the love, peace, forgiveness, patience, joy...all the goodies...are stored. Within us. I just go with that being the before-conception gene pool from whence we all come.
For that statement to be true, it must needs refer also to our inner being, where we are told our Father lives...in Heaven. As in, "Our Father which art in Heaven." That's within. That's our core. That's where all the love, peace, forgiveness, patience, joy...all the goodies...are stored. Within us. I just go with that being the before-conception gene pool from whence we all come.
In my quiet time as I committed myself again to seek to live in God consciousness and that is all, I heard what holds me back. It is my self-determined idea of how living in God consciousness should feel...bliss, in a word. I had to grin at that because, for whatever reasons, "bliss" has always sounded lonely to me...alone, cut off. No worries, but no razzmatazz either.
It's been awhile now since I've sought the outers, mainly because all my outers were met when I changed my expectations...when I realized I have enough.
I feel relieved...all I need do to live in God consciousness is just keep doing what I do. That's close enough to perfect for me...for this moment.
Thank you.
I feel relieved...all I need do to live in God consciousness is just keep doing what I do. That's close enough to perfect for me...for this moment.
Thank you.
Monday, February 2, 2015
GOD AND EGO...WITH US 24/7
I read my note to me in God Calling this morning: "'86 - getting free of Joe means I simply need to free Joe."
And I thought again how true that is of getting free of anything...or, actually, anybody. For it is our thoughts of him, of her, of them that are doing the Stomp in our own heads. We are personalizing and resisting our own interpretation of their words, their actions, and that binds us to our own misery...our desire to blame rather than for freedom from blaming.
Personally, I could not get free of me before I learned I needed to live in a consciousness of enough. Which meant I had to build me a consciousness of enough. It turned out to be relatively simple...it seems nothing simple is easy, but easy is just another one-shot deal. We're going for lasting.
We begin the building by deciding to throw in with God, or at least a power greater than ourselves. The essential block in building our consciousness of enough is the realization that we are going to God for God, and that is all. That's it for the beginning...and as it turns out also the middle and the end.
Once we get that block set in the concrete of our own minds, we begin living in the freedom of enough. Finally, we have enough. Enough love, enough supply, enough health, enough wisdom. Enough. For we have God.
It is the ego's cry of "More...I need more" that is the never-ceasing siren that we must learn to pass on by. Not by resisting that siren for resistance is just Sure-Gro to our ego. No. When we hear it, we know it for nothing more than a sense of separation from God. We quick turn to God for God. That is all. And that is enough.
Maybe the hardest lesson of life is remembering that God is with us 24/7. And. So. Is. Ego.
Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve.
Thank you.
And I thought again how true that is of getting free of anything...or, actually, anybody. For it is our thoughts of him, of her, of them that are doing the Stomp in our own heads. We are personalizing and resisting our own interpretation of their words, their actions, and that binds us to our own misery...our desire to blame rather than for freedom from blaming.
Personally, I could not get free of me before I learned I needed to live in a consciousness of enough. Which meant I had to build me a consciousness of enough. It turned out to be relatively simple...it seems nothing simple is easy, but easy is just another one-shot deal. We're going for lasting.
We begin the building by deciding to throw in with God, or at least a power greater than ourselves. The essential block in building our consciousness of enough is the realization that we are going to God for God, and that is all. That's it for the beginning...and as it turns out also the middle and the end.
Once we get that block set in the concrete of our own minds, we begin living in the freedom of enough. Finally, we have enough. Enough love, enough supply, enough health, enough wisdom. Enough. For we have God.
It is the ego's cry of "More...I need more" that is the never-ceasing siren that we must learn to pass on by. Not by resisting that siren for resistance is just Sure-Gro to our ego. No. When we hear it, we know it for nothing more than a sense of separation from God. We quick turn to God for God. That is all. And that is enough.
Maybe the hardest lesson of life is remembering that God is with us 24/7. And. So. Is. Ego.
Choose ye this day whom ye shall serve.
Thank you.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
ME AND THAT XKE
[The following is a reworked reprint of my blog of January 20, 2012.]
On my walk this morning, I had a blinding flash of the obvious about the original Jaguar XKE, the first and only car I ever loved at first sight. I thought of it and how totally beautiful it was…sleek, slick and racin’ ready. I was maybe 20 years old when it was introduced to America, and, count on it, I saw me.
As I walked, I pondered me back then as an XKE…feeling good about me only when my outsides were pretty…constantly working on keeping the outsides polished and shined, sleek and enviable, especially enviable.
But the insides of the XKE were known to be faulty at best…working on faulty insides with faulty Jag tools will maintain a faulty vehicle. It is the complete overhaul of the insides and its tools that make for a trouble-free vehicle.
And here’s the kicker: that overhauled vehicle still requires daily maintenance. Daily maintenance of an overhauled vehicle (i.e., me) means the insides are kept in good working order so that the outsides can get the minimal attention they need to show forth the good inside and out.
Thank you.
On my walk this morning, I had a blinding flash of the obvious about the original Jaguar XKE, the first and only car I ever loved at first sight. I thought of it and how totally beautiful it was…sleek, slick and racin’ ready. I was maybe 20 years old when it was introduced to America, and, count on it, I saw me.
As I walked, I pondered me back then as an XKE…feeling good about me only when my outsides were pretty…constantly working on keeping the outsides polished and shined, sleek and enviable, especially enviable.
But the insides of the XKE were known to be faulty at best…working on faulty insides with faulty Jag tools will maintain a faulty vehicle. It is the complete overhaul of the insides and its tools that make for a trouble-free vehicle.
And here’s the kicker: that overhauled vehicle still requires daily maintenance. Daily maintenance of an overhauled vehicle (i.e., me) means the insides are kept in good working order so that the outsides can get the minimal attention they need to show forth the good inside and out.
Thank you.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)