BE STILL AND KNOW

You don’t have to figure it all out or get it all right ahead of time. You just have to stay on the journey. All you can do is stay connected to the Source, which connects you to everything else. --   Fr. Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," October 1, 2014.

It came to me this morning that the biggest danger in thinking a problem through is we often wind up just honing our reasoning mind. (Which, may I say, is the last thing that needs honing because our reasoning mind, sometimes known as our attack mind, always legislates for itself.)

I pondered that, and it came to me that probably more arguments are won by not saying a word than all the fancy dancing on the head of a pin trying to think of the killing topper. Nor is "winning" silently turning our attitude loose to do our dirty work for us, nor is it responding in kind to disrespect, gibes or jeers. "Winning" is our own peace of mind, gifted to us simply by our staying on the journey, the spiritual course.

It is our reasoning mind that will not accept that and wakes us at 2:00 AM to tell us what we should have said, how we could have won. And there's our gold...that is the gift, the gift of another opportunity to learn the practical value of "thank you," the greatest gift of all for it buys us peace of mind.

A very practical hint: Nothing shuts our attack mind up quicker than agreement...and at 2:00 AM, all we really need is to shut our attack mind up. A silent "thank you for sharing" will do it. We agree, we turn over and go back to sleep; we disagree, and we're awake the rest of the night, thinking, "I shoulda said this...no, I shoulda said that, etc., etc., etc."

Be still and know that I am God. Be still and know that I am, God.

Thank you.

GRACE...GOD'S PERFECT OUTWORKING

Know all is well. You must not doubt. You must be sure. There is no miracle I cannot perform, nothing I cannot do. No eleventh hour rescue I cannot accomplish. -- "God Calling," October 6

That is the foundation we stand on to begin the process of changing our mind. We get a flash that changing our mind is not about changing it from "I disagree" to "I agree." In fact, the only part our reasoning mind plays in changing it is in our hugging it and kissing it and letting it go.

Changing our mind has to do with turning our own thoughts from analyzing a perceived problem toward welcoming God's perfection...however that manifests. That is aligning our will with God's will.

The natural (reasoning mind) reaction to losing a beloved pet, friend, relative to death is righteous indignation because we just thanked God for taking care of that beloved one, and s/he is now dead! Where's the eleventh hour rescue in that? Living in our reasoning mind, "There is no miracle I cannot perform," means we get that which we want, that which we believe is for the best...our beloved is up, all well, taking nourishment, laughing and scratching.

Thus begins our education in fourth dimension thinking. It is in the giving up of our own idea of the perfect outworking of anything that our will aligns with God's will...we can almost hear the click-click as it moves into place.

Peace washes over us...we know naught but that this outworking is the perfect outworking of God for the benefit of our beloved and for us, and we know grace.

Thank you.

MOVING INTO SPIRITUAL CONSCIOUSNESS

We have lost two extraordinary people this past week, and my heart weeps at the very same time that my heart sings...for I am knowing a new meaning of love. This is the process, this is the right road forward, moving from attachment to detachment...from the reasoning mind's resistance to spiritual consciousness, welcoming.

As Fr. Richard Rohr has written, "The mind can only reprocess the past, judge the present, and worry about the future." It is in practicing our principles always and in all ways that we learn to move "from an egocentric, fear-based life to a love-based life."

Our fear-based thoughts cry, "We will never see them again," all the while love flows forth, surrounds us, singing, "Their light is shining within us/without us right this very minute."

Just because our eyes cannot see a visible form, doesn't mean we cannot realize...and bask in...their continuing bright light.

For our beloved Sandy, for our beloved Carlton...thank you.

FINDING NEW MEANING...IN THE SILENCE

Love consists not in feeling great things but in having great detachment and in suffering for the Beloved. -- Saint John of the Cross

In 2000, I read the above and noted out to the side: "Must find a new meaning for 'love.'"
In 2001: "Love equals One."
In 2002: "That needs refinement."
In 2003: "Respect"
In 2004: "Denial of self"

In 2007, I double underlined "in having great detachment."

In 2010, I underlined "in suffering."

In 2012, I underlined, in red, "for the Beloved."

In 2014, I got a blinding flash of the obvious: Love cannot be defined once and for all. From that BFO, I got a glimmer, then I got lost in my thoughts: Love, like God...no, love is God. Which words mean absolutely nothing. No wonder love can't be defined once and for all.

And there's where my reasoning mind throws in the towel, and my need for spiritual growth continues to seek...we've come to the fork in the road. We kiss our logical mind good-bye, and continue our quest to find a new meaning for love...in the Silence.

Thank you.

RESIST NOT...LET IT BE

We need to learn to distinguish between purely personal goals and those that include the happiness of other people. -- Eknath Easwaran, "Words to Live By," October 3

This may be the hardest inside lesson to learn: Putting the happiness of others first in my mind, my words and my actions ensures my happiness.

That's hard enough to learn just from the eyebrows up, putting it into walking-around action is a whole 'nother story.

Our ego-victory mind by its very definition is geared to self...self-protection, self-glorification in fact. This we accept if we are ever to move beyond our ego-victory wants. This is the place, the stage upon which our turn-around begins...by our setting the personal goal of aligning our will with God's will whatever that may be.

It is then that we discover that God's will is always about giving over to others whether that be people, facts or acts...resist not.

Our reasoning mind will never willingly accept that, so that it is in giving over to that other (i.e., surrender) that acceptance is gifted to us. And we learn the secret: The Power within me cannot but protect me, glorify me, intervene in my life in my behalf, love me. God within us/without us is our protector, defender, lover.

It is in giving over to the other that we open ourselves to that protection, God's love.

Thank you.

FIND THE FUNNY AND BE AT PEACE

[The following is a reprint of my blog of February 20, 2012.]

Every man has his own courage, but is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

I remember many years ago when I was learning who I am that I would pretend to be someone I considered to be brave when I felt I needed to stand up for myself. It sometimes worked, as in, I got what I felt I needed, but it never worked in my feeling particularly good about myself. In fact, it worked exactly opposite of the way I wanted…I wanted to become as brave as the person I was imitating, but I always had a niggling feeling underneath that I had lost what little bravery I had…that I should have been able to speak from my own guts. Which painful feeling gave me the gift of coming to believe that God has my back.

I speak for myself today. I rarely find it necessary to “stand up for myself.” I know this is the result of no longer living in my attack mind…my thoughts may go on the attack, but I can pull them back by a simple “thank you.”

If that fails, I just find the funny in the whole situation. There is always funny…and it is usually me, thinking I’m right.

Thank you.

ON INVITING EGO REDUCTION AT DEPTH

Blinding flash of the obvious: My gift is in letting any perceived non-friend see me just as s/he sees me and not resist by bad-mouthing her/him either to others or in my own mind.

This gift was given me before conception, always there within me. How, when, where I choose to unwrap this gift and use it in my daily life is entirely up to me.

An extension of the gift is the realization that I cannot use it with my reasoning mind since my reasoning mind always legislates for itself (me). The gift legislates for others. Thus the tug-of-war called life.

It is my job to give over to others, all others, because God has my back. I give over to others by my understanding unto acceptance of the other...which requires my following certain spiritual principles, all of which are about ego reduction at depth. My living those principles opens my heart and soul, my body and brain for understanding, i.e., love, to be returned to me.

The prayer of St. Francis says this much more succinctly and clearly, but we have to make these principles our own before we can walk them...according to me.

Thank you.