Sometime back I read that spiritual power is always hidden inside of powerlessness. That made a home in my head and my heart probably because till then my feeling powerless would just spin my head. My panicky mind would go running scared wailing whattodowhattodo. I felt like a runaway train on an unfinished track with certain disaster a'coming.
Pondering that thought, that spiritual power is always hidden inside powerlessness, I realized it for truth in my own life experience. It was only through complete and utter powerlessness that my reasoning mind gave up the fight and turned outside of itself. Of course, to my spiritual self that was the turn inside that led me to safety.
Again the mirror image: In my mind, I saw the turn as outward...in God's world, the turn outward leads within...to the answer unknown to the reasoning mind. The God answer within us all is only available on a higher plane deeper within us.
This is the grand paradox which to me is complete in the Prayer of Saint Francis, ending with: ....for it is in self-forgetting that we find, in forgiving that we are forgiven, in dying to self that we awaken into everlasting life.
Thank you.
Friday, October 14, 2016
Thursday, October 13, 2016
REMAIN OPEN AND VULNERABLE
In the end one has to discard shields and remain open and vulnerable. Otherwise, scar tissue will seal off the wound and no growth will follow. To grow, to be reborn, one must remain vulnerable -- open to love but also hideously open to the possibility of more suffering. -- Anne Morrow Lindbergh, "Hour of God, Hour of Lead"
The spiritual experience is about trusting that when we stop protecting our self, Inherent Goodness will still be there, protecting us. Many of us call that God, but no one must. It is the trusting that is important.
My take on it goes back to my belief that we have two ways of experiencing life...materially or spiritually. I have chosen to live from the spiritual plane knowing full well that my reasoning mind will always be there whispering "Yes, but...."
Once we get a deeper understanding of the nature of love and suffering, we can more readily accept that personal pain is a necessity for our still more spiritual growth. Being neither stupid nor naïve, we can expect pain, like sin, will ever be with us, but expecting and accepting are two entirely different matters...expecting is on the material plane, accepting is spiritually based.
Which poses the challenge: Do we have whatever it takes to get out of self and into God when pain, an unknown quantity of pain, threatens? That very challenge is what intuitively led me to Lindbergh's "Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead" some forty years ago. At that time I was trying my hardest to avoid the pain of my life (read, praying God would take it away, lift me over it, exempt me).
It was while I was reading the Lindbergh book, specifically the introduction to the "Hour of Lead," that I had the blinding flash of the obvious that pain is universal, necessary, and my very rough road to my new life with a God of my own understanding.
Again: In the end one has to discard shields and remain open and vulnerable. Otherwise, scar tissue will seal off the wound and no growth will follow. To grow, to be reborn, one must remain vulnerable -- open to love but also hideously open to the possibility of more suffering.
Thank you.
The spiritual experience is about trusting that when we stop protecting our self, Inherent Goodness will still be there, protecting us. Many of us call that God, but no one must. It is the trusting that is important.
My take on it goes back to my belief that we have two ways of experiencing life...materially or spiritually. I have chosen to live from the spiritual plane knowing full well that my reasoning mind will always be there whispering "Yes, but...."
Once we get a deeper understanding of the nature of love and suffering, we can more readily accept that personal pain is a necessity for our still more spiritual growth. Being neither stupid nor naïve, we can expect pain, like sin, will ever be with us, but expecting and accepting are two entirely different matters...expecting is on the material plane, accepting is spiritually based.
Which poses the challenge: Do we have whatever it takes to get out of self and into God when pain, an unknown quantity of pain, threatens? That very challenge is what intuitively led me to Lindbergh's "Hour of Gold, Hour of Lead" some forty years ago. At that time I was trying my hardest to avoid the pain of my life (read, praying God would take it away, lift me over it, exempt me).
It was while I was reading the Lindbergh book, specifically the introduction to the "Hour of Lead," that I had the blinding flash of the obvious that pain is universal, necessary, and my very rough road to my new life with a God of my own understanding.
Again: In the end one has to discard shields and remain open and vulnerable. Otherwise, scar tissue will seal off the wound and no growth will follow. To grow, to be reborn, one must remain vulnerable -- open to love but also hideously open to the possibility of more suffering.
Thank you.
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
SURRENDER TO WIN
The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together . . . –Isaiah 11:6 (King James Version)
I have inherited my grandmother's crèche which I set out every Christmas, and I always put my beautiful carved wooden lion in the stable with the Family. It wasn't until yesterday when I was reading my friend Mac's wonderful meditation with the above quote that I realized that was no doubt from whence the idea came to me.
I've always loved that Bible quote, which I'm fairly certain I first heard in Bible School as a little girl. It occurs to me that is probably what made we have ceased fighting everything and everybody relatively easy for me to accept. At least I found out it was relatively easy for me when I started quoting it to others...talk about freak-out. I was stunned...still am...at the all-but-rabid rejection of the very thought of not fighting.
I've come to accept that to the resisters "not fighting" represents having no control...of being subjected to others' dictates without a by-your-leave. That is a wholly one-sided view, of course, with the viewer never going a step further to realize not fighting applies to him, too...to her, to them.
That's why the image of the wolf dwelling with the lamb, the leopard with the kid is so positive and so calming. Who imagines the wolf with fangs drawn, the lamb shaking in its wool, or the leopard with the kid hanging out of its mouth? No. We picture them each surrendered to the other, all others...in peace. One.
We, the World, can never know peace, never be at One, unless and until we cease fighting everything and everybody...starting with our very own self.
Give over, give up, give in...with love and laughter.
Thank you.
I have inherited my grandmother's crèche which I set out every Christmas, and I always put my beautiful carved wooden lion in the stable with the Family. It wasn't until yesterday when I was reading my friend Mac's wonderful meditation with the above quote that I realized that was no doubt from whence the idea came to me.
I've always loved that Bible quote, which I'm fairly certain I first heard in Bible School as a little girl. It occurs to me that is probably what made we have ceased fighting everything and everybody relatively easy for me to accept. At least I found out it was relatively easy for me when I started quoting it to others...talk about freak-out. I was stunned...still am...at the all-but-rabid rejection of the very thought of not fighting.
I've come to accept that to the resisters "not fighting" represents having no control...of being subjected to others' dictates without a by-your-leave. That is a wholly one-sided view, of course, with the viewer never going a step further to realize not fighting applies to him, too...to her, to them.
That's why the image of the wolf dwelling with the lamb, the leopard with the kid is so positive and so calming. Who imagines the wolf with fangs drawn, the lamb shaking in its wool, or the leopard with the kid hanging out of its mouth? No. We picture them each surrendered to the other, all others...in peace. One.
We, the World, can never know peace, never be at One, unless and until we cease fighting everything and everybody...starting with our very own self.
Give over, give up, give in...with love and laughter.
Thank you.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
OPENED MIND, RAISED CONSCIOUSNESS
We pray to God for help. Help does not come. We pray more, harder, longer for the exact same self-determined objective. It does not come. We pray more, harder, etc., with the same result...nada.
The problem is we are continuing to view the problem through the eye of our reasoning mind. We resist God by deciding in our own minds how, what, when and to what extent we want our answer.
When we perceive a need in our life (which is usually a want masquerading as a need), a most helpful lesson to learn takes courage to do the first few times, but it is invaluable: Imagine the worst possible result in re our perceived need, then thank God for that worst possible case without qualifying in any way.
This for sure does not guarantee we'll then get our wish granted. What it does is it relieves the burning feeling of need...which is really just anxiety that we won't get what we want when we want it. Our mind is being opened, our consciousness raised, to receive God's will, whatever it may be. We are learning to seek first the kingdom of Heaven.
We enter the kingdom of Heaven by changing our consciousness from a material sense of life to the spiritual awareness of life, from a material sense of religion to a spiritual sense of religion, and from a material sense of supply to a spiritual sense of supply. (Italicized portion from Joel Goldsmith, "The Heart of Mysticism" at p. 1207.)
The kingdom of Heaven, the pearl beyond price.
Thank you.
The problem is we are continuing to view the problem through the eye of our reasoning mind. We resist God by deciding in our own minds how, what, when and to what extent we want our answer.
When we perceive a need in our life (which is usually a want masquerading as a need), a most helpful lesson to learn takes courage to do the first few times, but it is invaluable: Imagine the worst possible result in re our perceived need, then thank God for that worst possible case without qualifying in any way.
This for sure does not guarantee we'll then get our wish granted. What it does is it relieves the burning feeling of need...which is really just anxiety that we won't get what we want when we want it. Our mind is being opened, our consciousness raised, to receive God's will, whatever it may be. We are learning to seek first the kingdom of Heaven.
We enter the kingdom of Heaven by changing our consciousness from a material sense of life to the spiritual awareness of life, from a material sense of religion to a spiritual sense of religion, and from a material sense of supply to a spiritual sense of supply. (Italicized portion from Joel Goldsmith, "The Heart of Mysticism" at p. 1207.)
The kingdom of Heaven, the pearl beyond price.
Thank you.
Monday, October 10, 2016
IN LOVE AND SERVICE
We seek still more spiritual growth not for the knowledge but for the experience...to experience the Father within/without.
Our great failing is that we seek still more spiritual growth by reading more, better, more highly developed spiritual material...then believe that we are growing spiritually by the reading. Actually, we are just becoming better educated in the ways and the words of spirituality.
We read Meister Eckhart and when he starts to make sense to us (finally), we believe we're right up there with the Meister. No. We're just heading in the right direction with U-bies and detours beyond number ahead of us...if we're doing it right.
It is the U-bies and the detours that are our own personal teachers. We must needs bless them, praise them, learn from them in order to do better the next time...without a hope of perfection. There. That realistic and humble state of mind is still more spiritual growth.
We know we're growing in God's light when, without thought, we give over to an annoying other and don't take mental credit for it. (Full disclosure...I've had experience here, but limited, oh so very limited.)
Our goal is not just to get still more spiritual growth, our goal is to live still more spiritual growth. Without thought. Without script. Without rehearsal. In gratitude.
Thank you.
Sunday, October 9, 2016
ON HELPING GOD TO SUCCEED
Bullying begins when one follows his lowest desire, i.e., to get over on another...or, probably more to the point because a bully is actually afraid, to not let another get other on her.
I think of people I know who hone their attack mind and tongue on snark. They seem to always have a few poisoned words to sneak into a casual conversation. That is bullying. Yet, knowing that, it still takes serious work on my part not to use their behavior to justify running my attack mind on them. That is mental bullying which can only be fixed by an attitude adjustment...upgrade it, p.d.q.
Taken to its extreme, to resist verbal bullying leads to physicality with one walking away feeling "The Winner" and "The Loser" walking away plotting revenge. The winner will continue to bully, the loser will continue to plot, and that's how wars begin.
It is my great happiness that I have learned, through sheer necessity, to cease fighting everything and everybody (which I quickly admit I do very, very imperfectly). But, because I was forced to learn that, I was graced with the understanding that my spiritual growth is entirely...that is 100%...contingent upon me finding agreement with jerks, heels and fools, a.k.a., friends, bosses and my sister.
Today I know and, though it may take me awhile, I do search until I find a way to get over my own self, which is simply my own resistance to what my ego Lucy hears as snark. I have to remind me often that if I come out the winner, Gertrude is going to be unhappy; if Gertrude comes out the winner, I'm going to be peeved. We know God's hand is in it when we both walk away happy...with each other.
I was reminded of all this by Fr. Richard Rohr's "Daily Meditation" today: If you overcome your enemies, you’ve failed. If you make your enemies your partners, God has succeeded.
Don't you love that?
Thank you.
I think of people I know who hone their attack mind and tongue on snark. They seem to always have a few poisoned words to sneak into a casual conversation. That is bullying. Yet, knowing that, it still takes serious work on my part not to use their behavior to justify running my attack mind on them. That is mental bullying which can only be fixed by an attitude adjustment...upgrade it, p.d.q.
Taken to its extreme, to resist verbal bullying leads to physicality with one walking away feeling "The Winner" and "The Loser" walking away plotting revenge. The winner will continue to bully, the loser will continue to plot, and that's how wars begin.
It is my great happiness that I have learned, through sheer necessity, to cease fighting everything and everybody (which I quickly admit I do very, very imperfectly). But, because I was forced to learn that, I was graced with the understanding that my spiritual growth is entirely...that is 100%...contingent upon me finding agreement with jerks, heels and fools, a.k.a., friends, bosses and my sister.
Today I know and, though it may take me awhile, I do search until I find a way to get over my own self, which is simply my own resistance to what my ego Lucy hears as snark. I have to remind me often that if I come out the winner, Gertrude is going to be unhappy; if Gertrude comes out the winner, I'm going to be peeved. We know God's hand is in it when we both walk away happy...with each other.
I was reminded of all this by Fr. Richard Rohr's "Daily Meditation" today: If you overcome your enemies, you’ve failed. If you make your enemies your partners, God has succeeded.
Don't you love that?
Thank you.
Saturday, October 8, 2016
THE PLACE WHEREON YOU STAND
....the will of God is not a 'fate' to which we submit but a creative act in our life producing something absolutely new . . . something hitherto unforeseen by the laws and established patterns. Our cooperation (seeking first the Kingdom of God) consists not solely in conforming to laws but in opening our wills out to this creative act which must be retrieved in and by us. -- Thomas Merton
I don't know why but Thomas Merton's writings usually sail right over my head. I say that to give some understanding to the only thing that grabbed me in this quote, the bit about our cooperation, seeking first the Kingdom of God.
My understanding may be well off the mark from what he meant, but my heart sang on reading it because I have come to believe that seeking first the Kingdom of God is quite literally our only quest. My place in the world, the future of our country, how to help the sick, the poor and the downtrodden are important but seeking first the Kingdom of God is essential.
The mindbender to me is the realization that our rightful place, our country, the sick, the poor, etc., et al....why, they are the search for the Kingdom of God. When we finally learn unto acceptance that our self-determined objectives lead us down blind alleys, we are given to look higher. Our error has been not in the object of our desire but in the beneficiary...we seek for self, we seek alone; we seek for God, we find others...and God.
We seek first for the Kingdom of God and find it right where we stand...the place whereon you stand is holy ground. Where else could we expect to find it?
Thank you.
We seek first for the Kingdom of God and find it right where we stand...the place whereon you stand is holy ground. Where else could we expect to find it?
Thank you.
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