LIVING THE GOLDEN RULE

[The following is a reprint of my blog of October 29, 2011.]

God comes to us disguised as our life. - Paula D’Arcy 

I wonder if my essential mistake isn’t in trying to be me. It seems I’ve spent the greater part of my life trying to be me by bettering myself…as in, making me appear better than I appear to be. It is all appearances if, as I believe, the Father is, I am, my core.

My job then is to quit trying to improve me for my own peace of mind…my job is to show forth who I am inside for the benefit of others. As “God Calling” sets it out in today’s entry, “Your success is the measure of My Will and Mind that you have revealed to those around you.” 

The key, of course, is to quit trying to improve me for my own peace of mind. I believe that the human condition is such that we need to live by a higher standard than we’d naturally choose. A standard as simple as the Golden Rule is antithetical naturally…else we wouldn’t need a Rule.

It seems peace of mind always comes back to detaching from my own idea of peace of mind…it’s all about giving peace without thought of whether or how or when I’m going to get mine.

Thank You.

THE GOAL OF ALL SPIRITUALITY

"The object and goal of all spirituality is finally the same for all genders: union, divine love, inner aliveness, soul abundance . . ."     — Richard Rohr, OFM

That sounds simple enough. I guess it's the measure of my spirituality as opposed to my materialism (or is it vice versa?) that I usually seek still more spiritual growth as a last resort.

I know it is a measure of my growth in self-acceptance that that fact is now a hoot to me...it doesn't seem all that long ago that that would have been just another unholy cross I have to bear.

Thank You.

GOD REMOVES THE VEIL

Remember that the commands I have given you have been already worked out by Me in the Spirit World to produce in your case, in your circumstance, the required result. God Calling, July 20.

I keep that page marked for just such times as these. Yesterday I had reason to recall something that comes to me often (after it came to me the first time): Happenings that are just awful, so unexpectedly perverse through no obvious fault of one's own, inevitably have the hand of God in them.

I'm reminded of a lady I once knew whose beloved brother unbeknownst to her used her name, her pin, etc., to swindle her out of a righteous amount of money. Much back and forth and time lapse...they are best friends today, both acknowledging "it needed to happen just exactly as it happened."

That is how I can see my IRS experience...a blessing, well-disguised in the moment, but truly a life blessing today.

This came to me yesterday in the aftermath of the presidential debate the night before.

President Obama  and all his supporters can take heart...God's hand was in that. However, the most important thing that I've experienced, is that God's hand is never in these "awful, unexpectedly perverse" happenings only for one side...if both sides do not come out a winner, God's hand is not in it. So...Governor Romney and all his supporters can take heart...God's hand was in that.

The realization of God's hand in it comes when we consciously let go of our own idea of how being a winner here should look. When we consciously detach ourselves from our reasoning mind and let our consciousness be lifted...it's called "unlearning."

We sit and wait on the Lord...we'll not realize God's hand in it until God removes the veil. I'm convinced that can only happen as we live by spiritual principles.

Thank You.

DENIAL OF SELF...THE ULTIMATE FREEDOM

The first thing I read this morning, "Love consists...in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved. (Saint John of the Cross)," gave me a slight twinge because I immediately added "in suffering for the Beloved by denial of self."

That is my ultimate idea of suffering...denial of my self, my self-centered expectations, my wants dressed up as my needs.

No person with a lick of common sense loves physical suffering, I'm guessing the overwhelming majority of people avoid that and rightly so. It is emotional suffering that is the dreaded pox.

So there's the mountain to climb...the willingness to emotionally suffer for the God of my own understanding whose only job is guiding me to peace. It's all about letting go of my own self-determined objectives while striving for the perfect objectives which are of my own God.

The last word: "To live without self-centered expectations is the secret of freedom in personal relationships." Eknath Easwaran

Thank You.

FOCUSED AND READY TO BE USED

"...you must open out a way for the imprisoned splendor to escape." -- Robert Browning

If, as I believe, God does live within, how do I open the way for the splendor of God to escape?

• The reasoning mind cannot (and being ego-driven, will not) do it. 
• Neither my hands nor my feet can do it, God being invisible.

All three...indeed, the all of me...must be turned over to the care and the use of God as/if/when S/He so chooses them for Its use. How is Its secret...mine is to show forth the results.

My job is to simply be available to God on command...focused and ready to be used "for the imprisoned splendor to escape."

Thank You.

IDLE THOUGHTS

"We teach best that which we need to learn." -- Don't know who first said it, but I saved it for myself...helps me remember when I'm in my lecture mode that I really do need to learn what I'm talking about.

My prayer needs to be "Guide my thoughts," not "Guard my thoughts." -- My note to myself.

"I learned that a long time ago. Then I relearned it a couple of times." -- Chet the Jet, a.k.a., Chet, pure and simple.

You do not need to believe in God for Him to take good care of you. -- Blinding Flash of the Obvious
You do not need to believe in God for Him to take better care of you than you can of yourself. -- Me thinking the previous BFO through.

Thank You.

GETTING OVER OURSELVES

I am amazed when I read my spiritual dailies (the same three I've been reading for a whole bunch of years), and there's something that I've underlined two to ten different times...and it feels brand new and WOW to me.

Just this morning, there were mind ticklers in each of my books...a couple I had underlined from previous readings, and one that I'd never consciously noted before: "...make follow-up calls tonight to those who haven't returned mine."

I do that today, call again when a call of mine hasn't been returned. Chances are I came to it because of that very phrase. I do know it took me a long time to get over my own self in order to do it. My self-centered preference was to sit in silence, sulking about being unloved, unneeded, unwanted and unappreciated...all because I didn't get one returned call. I, of course, refused to make another because clearly s/he did not want to hear from me ever again in this lifetime.

I used to think the saying, "It hurts so good!" originated with sex but now I think it originated in victim thinking. Hopping on the treadmill of unlovedunneededunwantedunappreciated (that's one word when we're into it) is not easily hopped off...and purely because "It hurts so good!"

As my friend Sam used to say, "Self-pity is seductive because it's so sincere."

Another goodie this morning, "Failure comes from depending too much on your own strength," which   is what we do when we get on the victim treadmill. Rather than ask for help from God or wo/man, we choose to depend on ourselves alone...for how else are we going to get that warm and wonderful poor, pitiful, put-upon-me feeling?

And God laughs.

Thank You.