I SHALL NOT WANT

A worldview of enoughness will predictably emerge in us as we realize our naked being in God instead of thinking that more of anything or more frenetic doing can fill up our infinite longing and restlessness. -- Fr Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," June 30, 2020

Meditating on the 23rd Psalm is an ever-changing lifting up within me. I suspect I knew from my eyebrows up when I started my journey taking care of the IRS that the phrase I shall not want would be my base for a peaceful mind. Ah, but it is by looking back that I realize its truth. 

Now that I am able to see the whole pattern, I realize how I got through that so basically unruffled...it being a given that anxiety has ever been my go-to tool. (I call it my BFF for it is anxiety that sends me to God quick, fast and in a hurry, so how can I hate it?)

The fact that after the opening words, The Lord is my Shepherd, comes I shall not want tells me now how important those words were then, are now. I shall not want means I have enough...I shall never not have enough as long as I know and show by my living, the Lord is my Shepherd. 

Follow the Lord, kill self now...all those words and phrases that we often read just to get beyond  them...then learn by rote just to quote...are truth and must be lived. The more we quote them the less they mean to us personally. 

We must live them and be quiet about it for it is in our living...not talking, not thinking...that we realize our naked being in God.

Thank you.

THE BEATITUDES, SKIMMED DOWN

Matthew 5:1-12 Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain...and taught them saying [The Beatitudes]:

These are all the blessings that are ensured if we seek the kingdom of heaven, which to me is God consciousness. The first ten boil down to, the poor in spirit get the kingdom of heaven, the meek inherit the earth, the merciful shall get mercy, etc.

Those that speak most to me are 10 and 11-12...10, in short, Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteous sake (my emphasis) get the kingdom of heaven; then the biggies in full:

11-12 Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account (my emphasis). Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Stripped down for the likes of me and my ego Lucy, I am blessed whenever I feel persecuted by a snark, a perceived snub, a self-interpreted slight...face it, that's as persecuted as I'm likely to be, and they are heavy duty when I See Me along with my ego and my reasoning mind.

My job is to exchange my thinking from reasoning to spiritual and through willing meditation and study learn to know the blessing as it happens.

This, too is of God for it is on His account they happen for my benefit! For my entry into the kingdom of heaven...my consciousness raised higher at a deeper level.

I can know by my self-perceived snarks that God loves me a lot...which I doubt is the message but it gives me a giggle even as God grins and rolls his eyes.

Thank you.

LOOSE IT AND LET IT GO...LOVE

Knowing nothing, I speak freely:

In my spiritual world, I see this pandemic as God scrubbing the world to rid it (specifically, the U.S./us...my world, my sight) of our self-centered, utterly selfish, ways. I believe in our world that Money Honey...getting it, not giving it...is All, and there is no God in that. 

As long as a consciousness of anything other than love rules, runs and reproduces, ego holds sway. Each power seeker's ego, separate and unequal, is driven to be the single force to gather all power thus get all the money. 

Until our one shared desire is to love and returns us to the consciousness of the likes of the Christ, the Buddha, the Dalai Lama,  et al., we will be as lost souls either whistling past the cemetery or riding scared through a wasteland leveled by a pandemic. 

Ponder this: Those whose egos are of the money hungry will either be the specter in the cemetery or the driver of the bus...in control of us. 

And our job, our peace, depends entirely on our loving them. God is All, and God is love.

In order to live in this world, you have to be truly and completely in love. -- the poet Rumi

Thank you.

AND IT IS GOOD

Most important was the realization that all our problems could be solved by spiritual principles:

In the material world, our eye sees what is here and now...what we experience is our own interpretation of that momentary sight. How we interpret what we see, determines how we live. Without some guiding principles, we are an open invitation to an aimless life...kinda like living the luck of the draw. Since life goes in circles and cycles, we sooner or later come to realize our life is ever the same-old-same-old. 

Comes the Light: Either through great love or great suffering, we realize we can change course...it is never too late to seek. We know not what to seek which is the gift. In not knowing, we are shown. 

We can continue living in the material world, self-willing our way...meaning getting a little good, a lot bad but mostly indifferent, i.e., boring. In the spiritual world, we pretty much get the same mix, only we are given the gift of understanding that is, upgrade our attitude, we upgrade our problem. So the bad is upturned and we find our giftee, the grace of Truth, which removes the boring altogether. Truth is unchanging...we can rely on it even, as and when it feels risky. Resist not evil is a primary.

To live in the truth that the Father and I are one is to know I AM  (i am) the source of all my woes. Though my woes to my reasoning mind are my rues, regrets and remorses, to the God of my understanding, they are my pearl beyond price, my blessing in disguise. Which makes clear that we must needs seek ye first the kingdom of heaven...ah, again, upgrade our attitude, upgrade our problem. Now we see not through our reasoning mind's eyes, but through God's eyes...and it is good.

Our spiritual principles' bottomline: We go to God for God, invisible, unknowable, incomprehensible God. And it is Love.

Thank you.

CEASE FIGHTING, SUBDUE THE ENEMY WITHIN

We have ceased fighting anything and anybody. -- Anonymous

When first we read or hear that statement, if we're doing it right, we think it is a misprint. It is not. It is truth, and one how-to is in the following statement of Saint John of the Cross: It is great wisdom to know how to be silent and to look at neither the remarks, nor the deeds, nor the lives of others. 

Face it, all disagreements, arguments, fights, wars begin with a simple difference of opinion. One judging the other as wrong, the other judging the one as wrong. Fight!

It is fear, of course, that holds judging close. We find we must seek the cause of the fear within us, then seek to understand the thing about the person we are judging...for that, not the person, is the cause of the fear. The thing we fear is within us...what we see is always ourself.

Our help comes in seeking (whether we find it or not) to understand that which we are judging. The seeking is the changeup. Seeking to understand changes our mind...from self, deeper to a higher level within. 

When we are perceiving a problem, count on it, it is our interpretation of what we are seeing that is the source of our upset. Upgrade our attitude, upgrade our problem.

To win one hundred victories in one hundred battles is not the acme of skill. To subdue the enemy without fighting is the acme of skill. -- Sun Tzu

Thank you.

CHOP WOOD, CARRY WATER...AND SMILE

Someone said the words "chop wood, carry water" at a recent gathering which brought back to me wonderful memories of the book "Chop Wood, Carry Water" which was published in 1984. It's dedication reads: For all of those, past, present, and future, who make everyday life an adventure of the spirit." 

Reading that dedication, I knew I had to gift it to my friends since they, too, were making everyday life an adventure of the spirit.

This is one of the few spiritual books I have that I never even attempted to mark all that spoke to me as it was clear the book would end up unreadable for my many markings. Which is not to say I didn't hi-lite and underline in plenty of places. 

Here's one of my many favorites:

...the supreme and ultimate miracle: art becomes 'artless,' shooting becomes not-shooting, a shooting without bow and arrow; the teacher becomes a pupil again, the Master a beginner, the end a beginning, and the beginning perfection.

My written note next to that: This, I think, is the description of me now with anxieties...it is not to overcome them, it is to become them.

As I read that this morning, I realized that was the key that opened the door to thank you being my go-to when (not if) I felt anxiety nearing. By welcoming with a thank you, anxiety and I become one.

I remember the first time I consciously thanked my way through an oncoming anxiety attack. I was on the Metro, heading under the Potomac River, and anxiety's claws were about to sink into my being. I thought "Welcome...come on in...sit down here inside me...make yourself at home." Repeatedly I thought that until we were at my getting-off stop. 

I am remembering that this morning with a refeeling of getting off that train, big-time smile on my face, just knowing I could walk on water. 

Don't tell me God doesn't know my needs...anxiety was with me recently; I thanked my way through it, but it left me with a down feeling. And here's me this morning, big-time smile on my face and thank you singing in my heart.

God knows not only what but when we need.

Thank you.

PONDER, PRAISE AND GO FORWARD

The thought flits by whenever it wants to that I need...something. "Fixing" seems to be the filler there with which I chat God up with little hints like: You've got the power, Lord...use it! Fix me already. 

God always answers, You are fixed. This is you at your best. Pray your thank you. 

Many years ago I had a blinding flash of the obvious that I was not a leader, would never be a leader, and, except from my egoic mind, had never wanted to be a leader. The relief I felt was unbound freedom.

I saw again this morning that mine is to realize my right size...teeny, wee, smaller than small. I can rest in that knowing that my inner Self is doing for me. Another thought flies by: Study the Saints Francis and Clare. 

I am freed to ponder, praise, and walk toward the inner edge.

Thank you.

GO BEYOND REASON...A HARD CLIMB

It is an understatement, but it is important to me right now to divorce myself from my own thinking. Like many of us, I am feeling the free-floating effects of isolation demanded by the pandemic. When I See Me coupled with isolation, I know this is not a healthy place for me. 

"Healthy" to me is spiritually fit, uncoupled from self-protection, happy for others...ergo, content within my own self. That's a hard climb in isolation, and isolation means no face-to-face contact. Period. 

I am an active user of Zoom, thanks to whomever for inventing it, I want it in my life...but it cannot replace actual personal contact. Too long with only hi-tech contact and for certain sure, comes the time when someone's feelings are hurt because of the insensitive, unkind, un, un and un of another. And the other is appearing on screen with hurt written all over their face for the un to them...both sure the other "started" it. And a chat room just doesn't work for putting a mind at peace.

Thereby the paradox: We need human face-to-face contact yet with contact for certain sure the time will come when feelings are hurt because of the insensitive, unkind, un, un and un of another. And the other has hurt written all over their face for the un done to them...both sure the other "started" it. But because we are face-to-face, we have not only the opportunity but the spiritual need to act on our guidance, i.e., when wrong promptly admit it. The wrong being, not the self-determined reason for the offense, but our choosing to feel offended in the first place.   

Now, what we have learned turns from so many words to actually experiencing their truth by our reliance on them. Be the first to give over is the blessing and, may I say, the well-hidden blessing. It is excruciatingly painful to our ego who whispers, They get to think I am admitting they were right and  I was wrong, only I was not wrong, and that's not fair. 

We quite literally know and go beyond reason to love there and then...that's the key that opens the door for our Father to do the work...the inside job we talk about. It's walking time.

Some random thoughts that are helping me detach from my ego and maintain a strong attachment to my Fellowship and my God right now:

Only I can pardon my persecutors, only I can set them free...for my persecutors are of my own thinking (my note in "God Calling").

Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me....for they are my angels in disguise. The rod and staff  are my personalized attack thoughts that stand for those my ego tells me have attacked me, do not  like me, resist me. Relying on reason, I know that I must attack them for attacking me; going beyond reason to love, I resist not and know them for my angels...it is nonresistance that opens me to freedom from me.

When you have no clear guidance, then go forward quietly along the path of duty I have set before you.--"God Calling," June 24   

There. The clear direction to go beyond reason, to turn away from our first thought, a self-determined objective, inward toward love.

Thank you.

OUR EGO IS OUR DICTATOR, 2

[This is a reprint on my post of March 15, 2014]

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.

ON FINDING THE FATHER WITHIN

This and that:

I shall not want does not apply only to the outer, i.e., material, but also to the inner, i.e., decisions and the like.

I shall not want to figure out what to do about others who are in need but I cannot help, what to do about life's dailies, passing snarks and snubs, the ego-doodlers, etc. No...I need to get still, be quiet, let the Father within speak in his silent voice, which I can take to be my BFOs, and then act or not as I am directed or not directed. There is nothing inherently wrong with doing nothing when we know not what to do. Sit and wait on the Lord.

God dwelled on his throne (and God was considered male) - from Fr Richard Rohr's "Daily Meditation," June 21, 2020.  

There's a lot to be said for convenience...referring to God as male, for instance...that is a matter of convenience to me. That's what I learned, I'm good with it, so my God is male for identification purposes. In my undeliberating heart and soul, the God of my understanding is an unformed force for good for all, which is close enough to perfect for me. Higher Power works just as well, but I generally use He because it's convenient, and I have no problem with He.

According to me, all this dithering in neutralizing the word takes the focus off God and puts it on the insignificant neuter. I believe that it is each person's inner dialogue with the God of their understanding that will determine their God's identity, and they can stand on that. 

I do understand there are other reasons for neutralizing the word, but, according to me, that's another trip down a side road that keeps us from finding our own, within. I believe it is the finding of our own that frees us from getting bogged down in the "other reasons." 

For whatever reasons, I am reminded of President Kennedy's remark about (if I remember correctly) Eric Sevareid: Eric Sevareid thinks he has the weight of the world on his shoulders when he only has the weight of Eric Sevareid on his shoulders. Feels like me today...it is to laugh.

Thank you.

PRAY THANK YOU AND MOVE ON

When life hands us dandelions and we know we deserve roses, pray thank you. We will find out later that those dandelions were an answered prayer...for our benefit. And later may be a year from now...may not be in this lifetime...whenever, we will know we are blessed. And likely wonder why we've been blessed with this now-appearing miracle. 

Everything's a gift. 

We can say that till our face falls off, but until we build an inner base believing that, those  are just so many words. But they are true. 

If we haven't yet built our base, then start. Now. Because to the egoic mind, we get a whole bunch more dandelions than we get roses. But if we upgrade our attitude, we can recognize those dandelions if not as roses in disguise then as the very thing...dandelions...just as we need them to be. 

Ah, the grace of gratitude effortlessly. 

Thank you.

PEACE OF MIND...YEARS OF MEDITATION

[The answer is in] peace rather than aggression. This path recognized the clarity and resilience brought about by cultivating one’s inner life....May I swiftly reach complete, effortless freedom so that my fearless, unhindered action be of benefit to all. May I lead the life of a warrior [for peace]. —Rev. angel Kyodo williams, Zen Sensei (teacher) -- Fr. Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," June 19, 2020

I recognized early that agree with your adversary quickly has a way deeper meaning than just shut up and be nice about it. I've gone through several try-on stages...all of which ended with get over your own self. I believe that is still the goal...it is how I get there that paves the way.

The focus must needs be spiritual...both sides must come out the winner and never by human manipulation. That's just a self-determined objective in disguise.

[The answer is in] peace rather than aggression. This path recognized the clarity and resilience brought about by cultivating one’s inner life. We turn our eyes away from the perceived problem, inward toward our inner life...God's hidey hole. We cannot do that in the moment of disturbance without prior proper planning, i.e., meditation. Days, weeks, months, years of meditation.

We must have our daily quiet time...purely for the discipline of our egoic mind. We need to open ourself to the peaceful power that dwells within which requires, again, days, weeks, months, years of meditation.

It is that discipline that allows us, upon meeting a resistant someone or something, to be nonresistant...to open ourself in the moment to peace rather than aggression. Most often that invites the other's peaceful response. But there are those married to the aggressive response...when we meet those, we can shake the dust off our feet and move on. 

It is in moving on, however, that I've found me most vulnerable. I must take care not to listen to my ego Lucy With The Football who will shout "Loser" in my inner ear. It is not easy to loose her and let her go, but...hard lesson a-learning...it is not mine to do. When my focus is stayed on my Father, it is done, and I am freed.

This whole process is my treasure. Commit to still more spiritual growth, and guaranteed, we are never bored. Evolving. That's the word I apply to myself. Rather than screw-up. Then I can laugh about it.

And whoever will not receive you nor will hear your words, shake off the dust of your feet going forth out of that house or that city! -- Matthew 10:14

Thank you.

INFINITY ON THE POINT OF A PIN

The charge seems to ever be: Seek ye first the kingdom of Heaven. I suspect that's our first error...we seek first God. 

We have God. 

We cannot not have God...whether we believe that or not. 

Our meditation must needs be on the kingdom of Heaven...not imaging what that means, but opening  to the understanding of the meaning. As we gain understanding, we are given acceptance, little by little, that our understanding will change...if we're doing it right.

This may well be the last battleground for our egoic mind: When our understanding grows deeper, our ego fears deeper...whispering that we're doing it wrong, to turn around, go back. Ah, now we reap the benefit of our still more spiritual growth for we know that we must go beyond reason to love.  

It becomes clear that the deeper our understanding, the narrower the road...leading to infinity on the point of a pin. Or, the kingdom of Heaven.

Thank you.

THE CHOICE: LAUGH OR LAUGH

I am leery of those who are so averse to gossiping that they will cut someone down  publicly if they feel that one is gossiping, i.e.,  judging.  

Not all judging is gossip, not all gossip is ill-willed...in my humble opinion. Being rigid, righteous and right, though...needs an in-depth in-self makeover before it can be dressed up and walked about. Probably because, face it, rigid, righteous and right is a self-determined objective straight up.   

Apparently, I am incapable of not judging, so I judge freely today...mentally. If my judgments need  airing or upgrading, I have my mentor and one or two others I feel free to talk with. And when, not if, I slip and run my mouth out loud indiscriminately, almost without fail I get snookered by that very thing I'm judging. Ah, quick as a bunny rabbit, I'm brought back to my lesson learned: I have a choice...I  can either laugh at me or laugh with me.

That being a humbling choice, I am reminded of a long-ago blinding flash of the obvious: Humiliation is humility aborning...probably why nobody searches for humility on purpose.

I wonder if that isn't the forever truth...nobody consciously searches for the God-gift because of the self-invited mud we must walk through to get it. Yet it always and all ways turns out to be the pearl beyond price.

Thank you.

CLOSE ENOUGH...OF GOD

True Love is not emotional. It is a different nature, waiting in us like a secret seed. The illusion is thinking that, by changing a system, an ideology, or our external circumstances, things will change. - Fr Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," June 16, 2020

True Love is not emotional. 

 It is a different nature, waiting in us like a secret seed. 

The illusion is thinking that, by changing a system, an ideology, or our external circumstances, things will change.

To fully realize True Love as God is to know serene nonresistance in the peace that passes understanding. According to me.

The illusion is believing because we agree with those words, we realize their truth, that we now live there. No. We don't even fully realize it. That, for all I know, is our rest-of-this-lifetime...and beyond...goal, to live and breathe that truth. 

I believe God is True Love...among we will never know how many iterations of Love. 

It comforts me to think of God and I as one, Love. My problem being wrapping my understanding mind around I as God. I get the concept of I Am, but the reality keeps whispering in the wind tunnel I call my mind...which is close enough to perfect for me. 

There it is, the spiritual gift of self-acceptance...close enough so quit worrying it. Self-acceptance is another one of those got it...oops, it's gone things. Ah, but when I got it, I love it, and when  after it's gone, I laugh...mostly.

I'm guessing that's how I know God loves me...I'm close enough to perfect for Him. And so are you.

Thank you.

OUR LIFE'S JOURNEY OUT AND BACK TO GOD

Our freedom from the prison of our own illusions comes in realizing that in the end everything is a gift. Above all, we ourselves are gifts that we must first accept before we can become who we are by returning who we are to the Father. - Fr Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," June 15, 2020

According to me, that describes the life of a spiritual seeker. 

The short form: We journey out at birth with all the assets and defects that we, using our gift of free will, invite to come along. On our life's journey, we gather our boons and banes and make our peace, with spiritual principles as our guide. We continue to gather boons mainly by giving same and ever the occasional bane. Ah, without even knowing it, we have begun to make our U-bie returning to God. 

Spiritually, the sooner we make our U-bie depends on our willingness to detach from self in order to find our Father within. Or, loose our free will and let it go in exchange for God's will.

There, our journey out from and our return to God. According to me.

Thank you.

LOVE AS NONRESISTANCE

Healthy spirituality leads us to true liberation by naming what’s real, what’s true, and what works—now and in the long run. This Ultimate Reality, the way things really work, is quite simply described as love. The wise ones recognize that without a certain degree of inner freedom, we cannot and will not truly love. Spirituality is about finding that freedom. - Fr Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," June 14, 2020 

As I read the Ultimate Reality being love, I was happily reminded of my inner realization that love to me is simply nonresistance. 

By-the-by, that realization was the result of long and serious study about what love is, what love means, what love can be expected to do and/or not do, etc., ad nauseum. That study was with my friend when we were a lot younger and taking ourselves way too seriously...and I treasure every moment of that time.

The importance of my having come to realize that love is nonresistance is that gifted me with the truth of resist not evil. I had allowed myself to accept as truth what the Sermon taught (after a long arm wrestle with God). I consciously decided I'd either come to understand the why of it or not, but that it was truth, and I needed to heed it.

It is the inner freedom mentioned that I take to heart today. I suspect my inner freedom took root when I got my first knowing of self-acceptance...in the face of a higher-up at my office, I laughingly owned the fact that I'd never seen an opera, and given the chance, I'd opt for The Grand Ole Opry. That he did not even smile did not cause me to sputteringly back off. My wee miracle was that I resisted not, indeed I was grateful...amazed, but grateful. My larger miracle today is I hold no ill thoughts of him.  There. That entire episode to me is grace in her high-heeled sneakers, giving my self-acceptance her stamp of approval.

According to me, without a certain degree of inner freedom, we cannot and will not truly love, begins with that glimmer of love for our own self...our own blinding flash of the obvious that this I am, and the God of my understanding is good with me just so.

Love and laugh...resist not and walk free smiling.

Thank you.

ON GOING THROUGH WITHOUT CRYING

When all hope for release in the world seems unrealistic and groundless, the heart turns to a way of escape beyond the present order. —Howard Thurman

I realize at my age today, I must seek to do those whatevers that subconsciously hold me in dread...and likely masquerade as self-acceptance. More importantly, I must do them to my own spiritual satisfaction for my benefit in my next life. 

Because what if there is a next life? If there isn't, how can it hurt to be freer today? Spiritually freer in particular for that encompasses mentally and physically...get free spiritually, mind and body are happy followers. 

The changes I'm experiencing in my life may well be me taking responsibility for me...something I have ever forced myself to do, but never without dragging my feet. When I can welcome taking full responsibility for myself, I will have made the change to fully trusting God. 

There are experiences through which we must go, crying all the way, perhaps, if we are ever to go through them without crying, and to go through them without crying must be done. (Thurman)

Thank you.

OUR CONSCIENCE...OUR FATHER

Morning blinding flash of the obvious: My conscience is my Father's voice. 

It is our conscience that wakes us at 3:00 A.M. and natters in our mind; we hear his voice, and we are incapable of shutting it off. There...our "proof" that our Father lives within.

It is our conscience that forgives us naught when we go again for a self-determined objective as if we never heard of spiritual principles. From which comes karma...maybe not today or tomorrow or even this year, but our own will return to us. We'd best take care when it comes that we're not wailing, Why me, oh Lord? Obey spiritual principles naught, pay the piper. Period.

We have experienced the truth that as we forgive, we are forgiven...forgiven to me means we walk free in our own head. Our conscience hears in secret and rewards in secret, that reward being a mind at peace. It is that peace that gives us the ability to resist not...thereby doing the good that returns to us tenfold. 

It is important to note that the good we do can be as simple as our being of good cheer, giving happy away with both hands, laughing and loving. There it is, faith in our Father alive and well.

Your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then your thank You.

Thank you.

ON CLIMBING OUR SPIRITUAL STEPS

I wonder if forgiveness isn't so hard for us because we've never realized or accepted that forgiveness is not ours to do, it is God's. Ours is to follow each spiritual step that leads to ego-deflation in depth, and there at the heart of our heart lies forgiveness...and love...and patience...and our Father

I am reminded of when I first heard that each life change is basically as simple as moving to a different pew. The harder we think of it, the harder it is for us...all reasoning mind exercises. Which is the value of the reasoning mind...we must needs exercise it to find it is not the answer. That's essentially how we give over to God such as forgiveness, that which is God's to begin with. 

There. The crystallized truth that the Father lives within. It is from the Father within that my eyes are opened, and I see I own the gift I pray for...forgiveness...and love...and patience...etc. I can claim ownership only by using them.

The simple thank you prayer takes away the ego's need to explain to the Father what is needed and why. Again, we own our gifts by extending them to another. 

It all starts by going to God for God...and that is all.

Thank you.

THE GOLD IS ACCEPTANCE

Our now life-lesson...learning to attain the peace of responding, not reacting. 

This starts out kinda like a one-shot deal...we respond once rather than react and believe we've got it. Then we learn honest response requires that we take some time, time to consciously seek God's will if we are to selflessly respond, i.e., with grace. The gold is our acceptance that the time we take need be but a single thought for that thought calls God's wonders  up from within. 

To react, however? That requires no rational thought, but almost invariably brings regret later. Regret begets...ah, here we can fill in the many ways humility arrives un-consciously-bidden.

It's worth noting how spiritual growth...the necessity that brought us to spiritual growth...makes the words we read so comforting, yet the doing of those words so "forgettable." As in, He goes before me to make the crooked places straight. What a comfort when first we read those words; yet, remembering them when we are a quarter way down that crooked place? 

Hard, ain't it hard, to quote Woody Guthrie who was singing of something else entirely, but it's all one when self-will is driving the bus.

I take comfort in the message in "God Calling" of June 4: Shortcomings...for which you had had no sense of sorrow, now cause you trouble and dismay. Courage. That is in itself a sign of progress.

Again, we know the gift of thank You. Even (or especially) when the gift appears to be not a boon but a bane. We open-eyed see God's will is not of the reasoning mind. Nor is thank you. And resist not evil? Whose reasoning mind would select that as their first go-to thought?  

There. That is why the first requirement in learning to respond, not to react, requires we take time to consciously seek God's will here and now. It's not what we think we need, count on it. 

No one can pre-know the wonders of the Lord.

Thank you.

RESIST NOT...WELCOME

A hard, hard lesson to learn: We must needs take the personal out of our thinking. Or, more to the point, out of our reactive thinking. 

Nothing is personal or everything is personal...either way, same difference. If nothing is, walk free; if everything is, walk free. 

Nothing or everything takes the resistance away. Again...leaving us with thank you.

There is never a conflict with person or condition.... -- "The Wisdoms of The Infinite Way" by Joel Goldsmith

Thank you.

BE GRATEFUL FOR A GREAT NEED

I came across a note I wrote to me some years back: When our need is greatest, our Father is nearest, and I thought, actually that's when our reception of our Father is clearest.

From reading Eknath Easwaran, I have learned about one-pointed attention...how to meditate into it. More honestly, I need say I am learning, there is no past tense about it...which means I'm heading in the right direction, thank you.

My need feels great this morning...what with the pandemic and taking care not only for my safety but for the safety of others around me...masks, please...the civil unrest, the righteous and essential civil unrest, the continuing dishonesty of our elected officials at the highest levels, etc. There. There is so much at 6s & 7s in our world that we must resort to an "etc." 

Ah, all that going on, yet I know none of it is my main concern this morning. My main concern is my thoughts about all of it, all that is going on. 

This BFO focused me: Our consciousness is raised but we must never forget from whence we came. And I saw the Pilgrims fleeing persecution in England, the framers of our laws seeking a new freedom for "all," women marching for their equal rights, the civil rights movement still going on today. All came about through a raised consciousness...we must never forget where it started. 

What we are experiencing now is why we must never forget, why we must stand on it. Stand on our raised consciousness. And continue to stand on that which first changed our mind, upgraded our attitude, gave us hope that change is ours to effect.

All of that birthed by and through our reliance on a Power greater than ourself as our Guide. Our Guide. Not just the doer, but the Guide in our doing.

We have been given spiritual principles to use in following our Guide's will and way. We lose when we use our self-determined objective, no matter how good that may look and/or sound. For we now know...most important was the discovery that spiritual principles could solve all our problems. 

If we all work together not to get what we determine is best for us, but to come to agreement on the spiritual principles we need to live by, then our thoughts become focused...one-pointed. And there it is: God's invitation to take the reins. And reign.

Thank you. 

ONED...DARE TO BELIEVE

An atheist can be a deeply spiritual being if need be....blinding flash of the obvious

Per Google: atheist - Atheism is one thing: A lack of belief in gods. It is not an  affirmative belief that there is no god nor does it answer any other question about a person.

spiritual - the focus of spirituality is on the process of becoming attuned to one's inner self.

I had that BFO yesterday and recognized it as a recurring gift, which first I had in the late '70s. I was at the time attending a spiritually based  meeting where I met a man who simply was of God yet identified himself as an atheist. Of course, I sought to know him better.

His quiet comfort in being oned as an atheist and a spiritual being touched my heart and my soul...and my curiosity. He was entirely open to questions although he did not proselytize. From him, I learned about inner strength and the un-necessity of many words...a hard lesson I am still learning.

I have forgotten these many years later my take on his definitions for atheist and spiritual so I Googled both (see above). I especially relate to the definition of spiritual: the focus of spirituality is on the process of becoming attuned to one's inner self.

To become attuned to one's inner self is the essence of Self acceptance...there is no, or little, self in the Self. It is there we find acceptance, actual love in a word, of others, of others' foibles and fantasies, for it is love that recognizes those as our own, maybe in a different guise, but our own.

It is no secret, maybe not often remembered, that we are One. One with the Father, One with each other, One with our Self...whether we dare to believe it or not.

Thank you.

ON WELCOMING UNDESERVED SUFFERING 2

[The following is a reprint of my post of November 30, 2015.]

Voluntary acceptance of undeserved suffering.

I am coming to believe that we will never know peace until we can voluntarily accept undeserved suffering. Our reasoning mind rises in righteous indignation before those words have finished coming to mind, before our eyes have finished reading the words on the page.

They do not make sense to the reasoning mind, the ego-driven reasoning mind, and, on that basis alone, must be rejected. And yet, those who are serious about still more spiritual growth, and the getting of same, must needs come into agreement with those very words and the meaning behind those words.

There are in the world the likes of Etty Hillesum (who died at Auschwitz in 1943) who are the embodiment of undeserved suffering. Then there's the likes of you and me. Our undeserved suffering is pretty much getting our feelings hurt by a loved one when we did not do a single thing to deserve it (according to our own ego-centered mind).

The extraordinarily hard lesson to learn unto doing is the necessity of keeping the focus on our own self. A book of spiritual principles that I follow teaches that when someone does something that makes us sore we are in the wrong, too...and there's the answer: Stay focused on our own self, not on him or her and how s/he hurt us oh so deeply. Because the more we ponder our hurt, the hurter we feel. So we react in kind.

It is only when we ponder the whys and wherefores of our own actions, our own reactions, that we begin to find the necessary spiritual light to see from another angle not our own.

God can and will lovingly clarify our vision if we seek his aid without our ego dictating terms. If we hold onto one iota of self-preservation, we're on our own, and s/he really is wrong. Oops. Another friendship done gone wrong.

Thank you.

THE ALWAYS ANSWER...RESIST NOT

Another spiritual conundrum: To my unfiltered ear, a person I am helping is running a scam on me...using my own words, ascribing them to another, all the while  praising the other for the words.

I remember my stated  desire to "wordlessly" bring change. I start by reminding me that since this is my interpretation, it is my interpretation that must change...or be elevated for now it reeks of judgment.

The thought floats that this is not mine to fix for this, too, is of God...followed by,  it is not wholly ego to resist being played, that is the human condition. Then another floater...but does it matter what the resistance stems from? It is resistance plain and simple.

This is mine to make peace with inside my own self. Begin, as ever, with my thank you prayer. and I repeat to myself, This I give to God...this, too, I can feel gratitude for...this too is for my benefit. 

Resist not evil...no matter how it decks itself out, no matter who delivers it, friend, foe or my own self...resist not with love and laughter is the always answer.

I am reminded of one of the nicest compliments I ever received. On my 45th anniversary, a recent newcomer said, out loud for all my world to hear,  Nobody would ever guess you're an oldtimer. Brought a boatload of love and laughter to all of us, and I still hold that dear.

Thank you.

GOD IS...ALWAYS AND ALL WAYS

Recently, as I settled into my quiet time, the question came to me: How can I wordlessly make a difference for good in this time of political division, pandemic, and intense racial tensions?

Some friends are campaigning, some are demonstrating peacefully, some are writing letters, all of which I have participated in at one time or another, none of which have a voice in me today. So, I wonder: How can what I know from my eyebrows up show forth...how can I loose Him and let Him go? 

Later that very morning I read in Rohr's "Daily Meditation," True prophecy is based upon a prophetic lifestyle, which of itself—wordlessly—confronts an ungodly society. It is this new lifestyle—this new way of relating with persons, goods, institutions, and God—that is itself an arresting alternative to the ways of the world.

Reading that, I remembered two then three incidents fairly recently in which I had quietly, no farfare, no "explaining," used new-to-me behavior, offering solutions as opposed to judgments...and offering rather than imposing. None of which was preplanned or mentally scripted, all of which were well met. 

Those are the results that often, not always but often, show God's will is being done...with or without our knowledge and consent. That God is on the field whether we know it or not...whether we believe it or not. 

I suspect that it is that last, whether I know it, whether I believe it, or not God is, that is my building block in trusting God has my back...always and all ways.

Thank you.

TO GET LOVE, WE MUST GIVE LOVE

What had I learned about love? One of the central things was that the experience of being understood by another was of primary importance. Somewhere deep within was a 'place' beyond all faults and virtues that had to be confirmed before I could run the risk of opening my life up to another. To find ultimate security in an ultimate vulnerability, this is to be loved.--Rev. Howard Thurman (Fr Richard Rohr's "Daily Meditation," June 3, 2020)

Some forty years ago, a friend of mine and I, in a conversation waaay over our heads, decided to study love. This has come to be one of the most prolific "studies" I have undertaken in my life. (One of the only "studies" to be real upfront about it.) 

Among many other things, my friend wanted to find what love personally meant to him and if there are different levels of love. I wanted to learn not only what it means  to me personally, but how it comes, why it goes...if it goes or just transmutes.

One of the ideas we came to agree on is that one cannot get unconditional love, one can only give unconditional love...that was a biggie about which we came to agree when we caught the similarity in the analogy that one cannot get a hug, one can only give a hug.

I don't doubt that our study...in truth our ongoing conversation...is the basis for my today's acceptance that we go to God for God and that is all. I remember the blinding flash of the obvious when I saw "that is all" as just that: God is All. There is nowhere else our spiritual search can lead us...nothing else we need go for. 

To me, the last line of Rev. Thurman's quote, To find ultimate security in an ultimate vulnerability, this is to be loved, says it all. I wish my friend were still physically here with me...we would both be shouting, "Can I get an Amen?!"

Thank you.

UNSELFED LOVE = DEFLATED EGO

Ego-deflation-in-depth. Ah, there it is: Our tallest mountain to climb, our deepest well to dig. Clearly, we're going to need other means than our ever ready self-determined objectives to even get started on our climbing dig.

We know that resistance as an aid is an illusion since it often takes form in hate, and it's well known (albeit rarely heeded) that hate begets hate. Hate is an imaginary protector; just knowing we'd best not use it, however, does not dispel it from our mind's arsenal.

Since hate is not available, we realize that anger probably isn't either. Our senses get a whiff, a bare glimpse, of love. A love that we know naught of. Ego, our very own ego, requires love. An unselfed love that we suspect is already within us...but how can that be when we've never heard of such a thing? Love our enemy is one impossible, but our ego???

Picture ego as a little child. A child whose only hope is to please us. Doesn't it follow that he naturally will run amok? Often.

Isn't that a clue that she is not our best go-to aid?

In that blinding flash of the obvious is born our new Forever Protector, spiritual principles. We recall  that spiritual principles can solve all of our problems. And there it is, our reason to make a U-bie heading back to our Father within...the source of our spiritual principles.

It is from our Father within that unselfed love flows...I Am unselfed love. And there's our ego-deflation-in-depth.

Thank you.

BLINDED BY FAITH

When we finally accept that we have to become willing to walk utterly un-self-protected in this world if we are ever to know the full security of love, we will realize our need to trust a power greater than ourself...namely, God.

When we realize our need to trust God, in that instant we have the faith we've ever prayed for, and we become willing to trust God to do with us as he will.

 We are freed from our own perception of the kingdom on our own terms...and we know love. Ah, the love we have and have always had within us, waiting to be used.

And all of that...from accepting our un-self-protected state to being blinded by faith to using the love within us takes a long, long time. Or a heartbeat. God's will merged with our willingness determine.

Thank you.