ON FINDING THE DIVINE SPARK WITHIN

I'm thinking about one of my favorite "words to live by:" ...our toes get stepped on, seemingly without provocation, invariably we find we have made a decision based on self that later placed us in a position to be hurt.

I know of nobody on first hearing that who accepts it just as it stands...we usually reject it out of hand, in fact. Staying with my own first, gut-bucket reaction, I heard that no matter the cause for my hurt, I was to blame. Fortunately, spiritual growth stops gut-bucket reacting...at least long enough for second thoughts.

I have come to the belief that the Sermon on the Mount, that living by the precepts of the Sermon, is our no-fault insurance. Face it, the Sermon is all about giving over, giving up, giving in...to others. What else is Agree with your adversary quickly and If someone slaps you upside your head, turn the other cheek, or Resist not evil?

There is the key to our decision based on self. Our decision to do or not do, go or not go, be present or not be present...all self-based. The reasoning mind responds with a loud, Well, duh! 

Our  spiritual need takes us deeper, and we realize it's all about surrendering. Life itself is all about surrendering our egoic self. We recognize the principle of One, and glimpse that spark of the divine where we each give over, give up, give in...not to others, as such, but to the Father within who does the works. 

Mystics, saints and walking-around students of the spiritual...you and me, we...believe that  our sincerest desire is to find the spark of divine within us. According to Meister Eckhart, We have to make contact with this divine spark by emptying ourselves or letting go. And then we will know the unity that already exists. 

There. We begin thinking of our unprovoked, stepped-on toes as leading us up that stairway to heaven.

Thank you.

ALL NEEDS ARE SPIRITUAL

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever.  -- The 23rd Psalm

In my ongoing thirst for the spiritual, I currently hold the belief that until our consciousness is raised unto God consciousness, we live in the reasoning mind world...and that is good for that is why we learn it is best to love and laugh. Ah, but in a raised consciousness world, we come to realize I Am as lived by the Buddha, Christ Jesus, Allah and others, including those who even today seek the same.

Those are the seekers to whom we are drawn. Interestingly, we heed them sometimes mentally kicking and screaming in resistance, sometimes through a warm welcoming...our heart melting so to speak...for our spiritual aim is to someday be so enlightened...not likely in this lifetime, but we aim, we aim. 

It takes as long as it takes to distinguish spiritual truth from personal wishes...the clue being personal wishes usually have a dollar value, spiritual truth is peace.

Those who have found spiritual truth live it and never doubt their supply. That supply is not of the material world...neither dollars nor donuts. That supply is the peace that passes understanding. 

Whether or not we know safety, security, society, we have the peace that lets us be content knowing our Father knows our needs. There...our inner proof that neither supply nor God is available on demand. Just as the air we breathe, each is our own from before birth.  

When our need is spiritual, it will be supplied...and all needs are spiritual

Thank you.

LEARNING THE ROCKY ROAD TO LOVE

[The following is a  slightly reworked reprint of my post of February 23, 2020.]

I wonder if the road to love isn't rocky because it so often originates with surrender, a hot-button word that translates to our ego as loser. In fact, surrender of our wants is the path to love. We begin to feel we are on the right track when our resistance evolves within our very being to acceptance. From there it's an easy...make that easier...transition to love.

Resisting others only cements their resistance to us. 

The key here is remembering that what we see is always ourself only works for us when we apply it to our own self...as opposed to applying it to the other as a gotcha, so s/he will see their error and change.

We must loose our resistance and let it go. Releasing our resistance, or changing our mind, is the act of turning our very thoughts upside down. For that we must go to God for God who can and will intervene in our life in our benefit...our mind set to I am right is then reset to we are right. 

We are learning a whole new level of love.

Thank you.

P.S. To quote Cicero: I have always been of the opinion that unpopularity earned by doing what is right is not unpopularity at all...but glory. (Which quote I got from the comic strip Candorville, 2/23/19.)

I AM...THAT IS ENOUGH

Today's Easwaran's "Words to Live By" tells of St Francis teaching how to find perfect joy. Every August 4 when I read it, I feel gobsmacked. I've come to realize it as one of those examples we can admire, think we wish to emulate, but seldom attempt to do.  

 In short, the story for finding perfect joy according to Saint Francis: Having the love and respect of our world won't do it, winning the billion dollar lottery won't do it, but if we can get shown up, put down, mocked and beat like a drum and then say with love in our heart for the beater, 'Bless you, in the name of God,' then we will have found perfect joy. 

I used to think, who's kidding whom? There's less than a snowball's chance in the fiery furnace of hell that we will ever be not only able but willing to go that far for perfect joy. Ah, but my own experience has taught me that's one of the many reasons we continue to take personal inventory...to learn who we are and what we are able and willing to do for God...and for the one who is beating on us right now. For what if the day comes...?

So, my story: I have been shown up, put down and mocked during a sacred meeting in a sanctified meeting hall. I answered not at all, have gossiped not at all, have prayed my thank you prayer for the mocker and the circumstance...ah, but I do not have love in my heart for that one.  

I cannot manufacture it, although I do know the mocker for my Angel since for sure there's been little in my life to cause me to dig so deep to find love for another. I do go to God for help...not to find love in my heart so I can know perfect joy, but to release the other from my unlove. 

This I know, and it counts...she is my Sister, he is my Brother, we are One. That is enough for love to grow, and that is enough.

Thank you.

GROWTH...A LEAP INTO THE UNKNOWN

The founder of the Greenbelt Movement in Africa, Wangari Maathai, in her 2004 Nobel acceptance speech, said, In the course of history, there comes a time when humanity is called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. That time is now.

I recall reading somewhere that all growth is a leap of faith into the unknown. The realization comes  that being afraid to take that leap, to grow, stunts our inner growth.  

Our mind opens, if only a tish, to inside help, and we hear, I stand at the door and knock...to be let out. 

Our spiritual greening grows, and we recognize anew that life itself is a spiritual matter, that Fr Richard Rohr speaks true when he says,  We don't get to God by doing it right, we get to God by doing it wrong. 

There, our fear of failure is...lessened. We wonder if the time is now...if our life is being called to shift to a new level of consciousness, to reach a higher moral ground. A time when we have to shed our fear and give hope to each other. 

We know: That time is now...we must try with a will or fall by the wayside.

Thank you.

ON BUILDING FAITH OR GETTING OVER OURSELF

Faith. Having faith is hard work. The hard work is in not trying to have faith..."trying" is usually the ego's mind trip. The reasoning mind differs from the egoic mind in that the reasoning mind is a useful tool in a material world...our egoic mind serves the purpose of our own self. 

Back to faith...to have an inner, walking around faith, requires trust. Trust in the God of our own understanding. For me, that is trust that God can and will intervene in my life in my behalf...whether I know it or  not. 

Here's a beginner's manual for building trust in the Lord...say that we inadvertently make an ego-dump in our own lap, then go scurrying in our head for a fix. But we don't go for any of our fixes, instead we assure ourself that God has already fixed it for our benefit. That's a good self-determined objective (and thank you, John Lewis).

Now comes the greening growth: We need be okay with the fact that we may never know the how, what, when, where of God's perfect fix. It is only our ego that will natter for The Outcome.

We get to act as if...no...we get to be.  Not to act...we have become consciously aware that the other is to be loved by us, by self, just as we are being loved by Self. 

Talk about a rough row to hoe...a.k.a., getting over ourself. Or, spiritual growth in depth. That's when we realize the truth in the promise: He goes before us to make the crooked places straight. 

That is faith.

Thank you.

THE PERFECTED I AM THAT I AM...ONE

I will never leave you nor forsake you. -- "God Calling," August 1

First thought as I read that quote this morning: I Am that I am. I will never leave you nor forsake you...for I Am that I am. 

With that thought, came the idea that may well be the basis of Oneness...we each and all are the I AM that I am...One. 

Within where I live is the invisible connection known as love. We all have it, cannot not have it, are born with it just as we are all born with breath. Life-sustaining breath...maybe that's what love is, life-sustaining breath. When we aren't living our life-sustaining love, we are into life-stunting self. 

All of this leads me to believe these are first steps in learning how to not just do nonviolent resistance, but to live it...to be peaceful resistance. Ah, my Impossible Dream.

I'm thinking the God of my understanding has decided, OK, you've skimmed the scum off the top, now it's time to start going deeper. All I need remember is: God has already perfected me...this is the road I am to walk to realize that perfected work, and that whenever God so wills it.   

Thank you.