ON WELCOMING UNDESERVED SUFFERING

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 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.

LETTING GO...THINK OF IT!

Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it. -- Psalm 127

There. That is exactly why, with spiritual growth, the difference between the right way and the wrong way is "the difference between a self-determined objective and the perfect objective which is of God."

Even if the objective is good, beautiful, wholly acceptable in our own eyes, and in the eyes of others, we must know as we breathe, that it is as dust if the Lord's hand is not in it.

Think of all the things that we saw heading our way that we prayed would pass us by. Then on arrival, or at some point thereafter, they became to us obvious gifts from God. Then ponder the things we prayed for...and got!..and bemoaned ever after.

We can never out-think God. His up may very well be our down and/or vice versa. All we are asked to do is accept that. Why is that so easy to preach and so hard to do? The very question causes us to stop and think about it... and there we go, down that wrong road again.

And God loves us anyway. Think of it!

Thank you.

KISS IT ON THE LIPS

[The following is a reprint of my blog of November 25, 2008.]

I like the duality of “everything happens by invitation only” and “you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.”

It has been helpful to me to remember, when I’m in conflict with another, that I’ve made a decision based on self that has placed me in this conflict…that I have invited exactly what is taking place. Which is not to say that I knew exactly what I was inviting…my intentions were no doubt wonderful in my mind’s eye.

I’m reminded of a country western song that was popular in the Austin, TX, area way back in my teens. It was a very funny song, all about body parts we asked for and what we got. I regret I only remember one line, but that one line tells it all: ”When they were passing out noses, I thought they said roses, and I said, ‘I’ll have a big red one!’”

Well, that’s how I view the end result of my decisions based on self…what was I thinking? And I usually find some lovely-sounding (usually care-taking) goal I had in mind…that was not wanted, was not needed and was not appreciated by the other person.

On the other hand, “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you,” the promise made in John 15:16, gives me much comfort. The responsibility of choosing God is not on me…if I can complicate a free lunch, you know what I’d do with the responsibility of choosing God. I’d never feel good enough, prepared enough…just plain enough.

I rest in the fact that He has chosen me. It is now mine to work with Him to make of myself, through spiritual principles, a happy representative of Him. Keeping in mind that what I see is always myself, so it is up to me to find the beauty in whatever comes my way.

I want to be prepared to kiss it on the lips whatever “it” appears to be…for if it is appearing, it is for my eventual good, a great incentive to find the beauty.

Thank you.

THE GIFT OF SOUL DARKNESS

I'm beginning to believe that the fear of anxiety is the corroder of the world today. Actual anxiety itself, once you're in it, can only last a minor amount of time. I once knew exactly how long the experts say an anxiety attack lasts...a short while to the experts, way too long to the one in it.

It is in trying to hold off anxiety, however, that the fear of anxiety rules, and eventually brings on what has been called "the dark night of the soul."

According to me, the gift of soul darkness is the very darkness itself. We cannot see; there is only black...terrified, utterly alone, no answers, hopeless, helpless, even our ego is vulnerable. Now that is fear, when the ego deserts us.

The paradox, of course, is it is the ego's desertion that brings both our darkest point and the divine U-bie. It is in reaching that darkest depth that our decision is made...to turn toward the light.

The darkness is proof that we cannot save our self. We've tried evasiveness, half-truths, obfuscation...bald-faced lies. We've even tried telling the truth! The problem being, the truth we've told is the truth as we saw it, knew it, allowed it to be. For sure, we've gone to any length...for self. To save our self as we believed we needed to be saved.

And there is the dreadful gift...choosing to be left to our self, we do not know, and we do not know that we do not know, and we crash and burn. It is the flames from that burn, however, that light the way for the God of our own understanding to lift us, love us, guide us toward freedom from self.

The gift of darkness draws you to know God’s presence beyond what thought, imagination, or sensory feeling can comprehend.  -- Fr. Richard Rohr, "Daily Meditation," October 14, 2014

Thank you.

WE ARE ALL ONE

Thank you, God, for this day, for our everything just as it is right this very minute.

Thank you God in Buddha, in Mohammad, in Jehovah, in Allah, in Emmanuel, in Christ Jesus, in Joseph Smith and the angel Maroni, in the Great Father and the True Mother, and in all other known and unknown representatives of the Lord to any and all peoples of the world, thank you for teaching us that there are only two sins: first, to not know that we are all One and, second, to know but not show that we are all One.

Thank you.

THE SHINY ACORN VS. THE MIGHTY OAK

We each have a choice about our life...we can be like a highly polished acorn or we can be like a mighty oak.

The shiny acorn learns some spiritual principles. Relearns them. Quotes them. Teaches them to others. Its mouth moves faster than a speeding bullet with the exactly right spiritual principle to apply to anybody's problem any time.

We acorns who are highly polished with a shiny gloss look good and sound better!

Then comes the day we have a need to apply a spiritual principle to our own bleeding heart. We think pretty thoughts, we say high-flown platitudes...all the things we've been preaching for years. We come up empty, and we know fear.

That acorn, opened, has insides that are fallow from non-use. There is no God there.

The mighty oak learns spiritual principles. Uses those spiritual principles in every day life. We oaks never stop learning spiritual principles because the more we use them, the deeper their roots go into our soul. Meanings change, guiding us deeper to a higher level. Others benefit from our spiritual growth without our ever being aware of that.

We mighty oaks grow ever stronger...maybe misshapen to the naked eye, a tish thick around the middle, a little top heavy, but we're growing within and without. With never a conscious thought (for that's God's part), we're releasing acorns regularly to take root and grow.

There is the source of peace, love and joy...living for others, seeing others take root and grow. Life is all about others, and God is there.

Thank you.

TO THE CLOUD!

I find it interesting that we send things to "the cloud" today...and having said that I've said all I know about sending things to "the cloud."

What interests me is that is the same sense I've used for years in letting go of my attack thoughts. I've sent them to the cloud (what I called "to my angels") rather than, say, to the dungeon because it sounds kinder. I figure the last thing nasty needs is more nasty. I have learned to treat those thoughts gently only because cursing them and me, beating me and them, does nothing but grow them meaner and me weaker.

I've named those thoughts "Franny the Brat." I know all Franny wants is attention...good, loving or bad and nasty, makes no never mind to Franny the Brat. Just ATTENTION. Me, first. Hey, here I am, look at me. Take my advice...quote me. With rues, regrets and remorses following, starting the whole cycle again.

I know all too well that I can get those attack thoughts back any time I want them, so I thank God that I'll never need them...want them is on me.

I hug them, I kiss them, I let them go...to the cloud! Or, to the moon, Alice! Whichever...as long as we love and laugh.

Thank you.