My faith was in a penny. Literally.
Then, I lost the penny. My world almost fell apart.
This is the truth!
Now, this was NOT an ordinary penny. It was about the size of 4 combined silver dollars.
It was copper, and it was aging so beautifully over the years.
I loved that penny!
It was my friend.
When I had no other hope to cling to, I had my penny...my faithful friend.
This penny had been with me since 1995: 13 years!
(Now let’s leave the significance of the "13" years for another blog!)
In those 13 years, I had been through battles and storms I never, ever, dreamed could happen in my lifetime. Happen they did.
But I had my penny.
Oh, yes. It was my hope and glory.
Initially, I was as distressed about losing the penny as I was about the keys, both my house and car keys that were attached to the penny. But then, I promptly was able to replace both of those, but not my penny.
So, I had a huge dilemma.
How would things be NOW without my penny? Could I really, really make it through any more “storms” without my penny?
I really wasn’t sure.
It’s laughable now. Yes, I want to laugh without ceasing...It now seems so ridiculous!
But until I had an awakening in consciousness, I tell you I was not laughing about losing my penny!
Consciousness started to come forward during the gratitude routine I do at the gym, with each rotation. But I still did NOT get it...until I saw another person put her keys down on the mat, as she worked out.
“Be careful you don’t lose those,” I said to my gym colleague, pointing to her keys.
I warned her that I’d done exactly that at the post office, where I’d planned to make a brief stop, and I became so intent on taking care of my business that I’d walked away from the counter, leaving my keys. (Talk about the ABSENCE of Present Moment awareness!!!)
When I returned to where I’d filled out the form just a short while later to recover the keys, they were gone.
“Why would someone want my keys?” I asked her. She agreed, and we talked about how “weird” people were in this world.
Then she said, “What was even weirder for me is that someone went into our mail box at home and stole our checks. Within a few days, they’d gone to Vegas and written a slew of checks all over the place. It took us a while to get things straightened out, but we did.”
In essence, she and her husband were able to show they’d never gotten the checks, the signatures were not theirs, and thus they were not liable.
Wow! And here I was complaining about losing my penny.
As I moved on to other machines, I began thinking about my gym colleague and what she’d had to go through. I felt so-o grateful in comparison.
My gratitude began to swell...machine by machine...as I said “thank you,” after each rotation.
Then, it became so clear to me!
How many, many times in the 13 years, I’d been “rescued” from seemingly hopeless situations?
How many times, I was “carried” by an unseen hand to safety?
How many times....?
How had I gotten from those times to this time in my life i.e. this MOMENT...this PRESENT moment?
How?
The penny did not carry me. That I KNOW for sure. It had NO WORTH, being a souvenir. Even if it did...it still was worth...ONLY A PENNY!
So, how did I get here from there?
I became so conscious of God’s movement in and as my life throughout those 13 years that I felt such ABSOLUTE AND TOTAL ....SHAME!
I spent the rest of my workout, feeling shame...but mostly after that, expressing total and absolute GRATITUDE!!!
Over those 13 years, my full focus always was on the ONE goal... ONE method... ONE way... I expected my prayers to be answered. When they were not, then...to me...God had been silent. I could not appreciate the fact that he had my best interests at heart and truly knew my needs better than I. As I look back, I’m so grateful that so many of those prayers seemingly went unanswered.
“My way or NO way,” was my view, it seemed.
In that day of consciousness at the gym what I began to see were.... all my answered prayers, all the “unspeakable” acts God had undertaken on my behalf, all the “impossible” dreams he’d fulfilled, all the “things” he’d restored, all the love he had given me. All the “legitimate” prayers and requests that were answered ...then flooded into my memory.
Why was I so blinded that I could not see?***
Why was I so dumb that I could not hear?***
Over the years... I was so blinded by his goodness, so moved and struck by his love that I could not see or hear!
“God in your mercy, you HAVE HEARD OUR PRAYER!”
Can you see this in your own life?
Can you see the mercy, the goodness, the love that you also have received in your life?
Moment by moment, day by day, step by step...all our prayers get answered.
But where is our consciousness when they are?
By then, we’ve moved on to the next problem to be solved...the next "thing" to worry about ... the next hurdle to jump over. We were so busy moving on that we did not even pause long enough to become aware that God truly saw us through THAT MOMENT...THE NOW...when our prayers are answered.
As I logged on today to start this blog, there was an e-mail message waiting for me from Gratefulness.org:
"Happiness is not what makes us grateful.
It is gratefulness that makes us happy."
David Steindl-Rast, A Listening Heart
Namaste’
Che’
*Hear now this, O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears, and hear not: Jeremiah 5:21
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Sunday, April 27, 2008
A Driverless Car: Life Without A full Commitment to God!
{Take a ride with me today and follow me for a few minutes. Suspend your judgment until you get to the end.}
Picture your car taking off one day without you!
You’d gotten up an hour late, and your car, knowing the time it usually moves, decided to just take off.
It knew the route to travel and street by street, highway by highway, it knew how to get to its destination. It just didn’t have time to wait around for you. But the car was smart enough to put a dummy inside, Phantom YU, so no one would know that it was driving alone!
The car parked itself and waited outside as Phantom YU, the dummy, walked into the building of your workplace.
Meanwhile, back at home, you’re at a loss to figure out what happened!
How could the car ...just TAKE OFF...without you?
How could it decide that it can function, just like you weren’t even there?
How could it have the nerve to believe that it could work without you?
You can’t work up anger, because you’re so concerned.
What will happen to the car, out there all alone?
How will it survive?
Sooner or later, it will need gas, and Phantom YU has never been a careful planner, so you know it might be low on funds.
Just then, Phantom YU, too, is waking up from the long drive it took down all those streets, across so many highways. It’s gotten into your place of work, and it's like HELL in there!
All the stuff that can happen in a place when you don’t get to show up: backbiting, scheming, screaming, back talking and all sorts of crazy stuff is happening. Phantom YU becomes confused.
How did I get here? He wondered...How in the world DID I GET HERE...today?
Phantom YU becomes distressed, tearful.
He steps out of the building and gets back into the insolent car.
It wouldn’t start.
The car got scared too and decided it was not going to move forward or backward with Phantom YU. It was just going to stand still.
That’s when Phantom YU, the dummy, had the clearest insight he’s had all day.
Call home!
Yes, call home!
Call home for help!
You’re so glad to hear the phone ring, you pick it up at the first ring.
“Hold on, Phantom YU,” you say. “I’m coming...I’m on my way. Everything’s going to be all right!”
Whew!
You get to Phantom YU and the car just in time.
They are both falling apart in despair...barely clinging to their hope that things would get better.
When they see you walk up with a smile of forgiveness, they know they are safe again.
They know that your forgiving, loving arms are all they needed. They know they are home.
Imagine that day of desolation!
Imagine that day is the replay every day we step outside of ourselves...into our lives...not thinking about God: our own consciousness, our own awareness, our own guide and intuition.
Imagine you’re the car and the dummy driving. Going along oblivious to your guide, until you finally, finally break down and ask for help.
God is always there. Get conscious to the Spirit within you and aware that without this guide, you cannot BE! Recognize this and know that this Spirit within you will never, ever leave you to walk...or drive...into the world alone.
All you need do is say, "Thank YOU!" and Follow where it leads!
"Not my will but thine be done!"
Namaste’,
Che’
Picture your car taking off one day without you!
You’d gotten up an hour late, and your car, knowing the time it usually moves, decided to just take off.
It knew the route to travel and street by street, highway by highway, it knew how to get to its destination. It just didn’t have time to wait around for you. But the car was smart enough to put a dummy inside, Phantom YU, so no one would know that it was driving alone!
The car parked itself and waited outside as Phantom YU, the dummy, walked into the building of your workplace.
Meanwhile, back at home, you’re at a loss to figure out what happened!
How could the car ...just TAKE OFF...without you?
How could it decide that it can function, just like you weren’t even there?
How could it have the nerve to believe that it could work without you?
You can’t work up anger, because you’re so concerned.
What will happen to the car, out there all alone?
How will it survive?
Sooner or later, it will need gas, and Phantom YU has never been a careful planner, so you know it might be low on funds.
Just then, Phantom YU, too, is waking up from the long drive it took down all those streets, across so many highways. It’s gotten into your place of work, and it's like HELL in there!
All the stuff that can happen in a place when you don’t get to show up: backbiting, scheming, screaming, back talking and all sorts of crazy stuff is happening. Phantom YU becomes confused.
How did I get here? He wondered...How in the world DID I GET HERE...today?
Phantom YU becomes distressed, tearful.
He steps out of the building and gets back into the insolent car.
It wouldn’t start.
The car got scared too and decided it was not going to move forward or backward with Phantom YU. It was just going to stand still.
That’s when Phantom YU, the dummy, had the clearest insight he’s had all day.
Call home!
Yes, call home!
Call home for help!
You’re so glad to hear the phone ring, you pick it up at the first ring.
“Hold on, Phantom YU,” you say. “I’m coming...I’m on my way. Everything’s going to be all right!”
Whew!
You get to Phantom YU and the car just in time.
They are both falling apart in despair...barely clinging to their hope that things would get better.
When they see you walk up with a smile of forgiveness, they know they are safe again.
They know that your forgiving, loving arms are all they needed. They know they are home.
Imagine that day of desolation!
Imagine that day is the replay every day we step outside of ourselves...into our lives...not thinking about God: our own consciousness, our own awareness, our own guide and intuition.
Imagine you’re the car and the dummy driving. Going along oblivious to your guide, until you finally, finally break down and ask for help.
God is always there. Get conscious to the Spirit within you and aware that without this guide, you cannot BE! Recognize this and know that this Spirit within you will never, ever leave you to walk...or drive...into the world alone.
All you need do is say, "Thank YOU!" and Follow where it leads!
"Not my will but thine be done!"
Namaste’,
Che’
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Blessings for a New Life... As it Begins!
These are photos of my new niece, Senaya Leigh Miles. The photos were taken one day after her birth on April 10. Today, she is two weeks old. Posted by Che'
"Soon after her brother was born, little Sachi began to ask her parents to leave her alone with the new baby. They worried that like most four-year-olds, she might
feel jealous and want to hit or shake him, so they said no.
But Satchi showed no signs of jealousy. She treated the baby with kindness
and her pleas to be left alone with him became more urgent. They decided to allow it.
Elated, Satchi went into the baby’s room and shut the door, but it opened a crack—enough for her curious parents to peek in and listen. They saw Little Sachi walk quietly up to her baby brother, put her face close to his and say quietly,'Baby, tell me what God feels like. I’m starting to forget.' ”
Dan Millman reported this story in “Chicken Soup for the Soul.”
Exactly two weeks ago, on April 10, my niece and her husband had their second child, a girl, Senaya Leigh.
After several hours of labor, she entered into the world in less than three minutes. Shondelle, my niece, said she made two hard pushes, and the baby came out even before her obstetrician could get there.
Senaya Leigh wanted to be born. But I think her easy birth could be attributed to Shondelle’s being a personal trainer, helping others stay fit through exercise and dance at her studio in Florida.
On the night of April 10, I went to bed thinking of Senaya’s first day in the world...how strange it must all seem to her...looking into our world. All the faces...all the images...all the newness of Life.
What a journey she has ahead of her!
From those three minutes when she slipped into the world to a lifetime of uncovering and discovering this mystery we call life.
I know Senaya will have all the love and care she desires. She has that type of parents and grandparents, and she has an older brother by three years, Jasai, who couldn’t wait for her to be born. Jasai will cherish Senaya.
So we can expect a life fully without challenges for Senaya Leigh as she goes through this world?
Yes. If she chooses to remain in her little center, with her immediate family and a small circle of friends .
But what happens if she chooses to expand her world?
What happens if she chooses to bring “strangers” into her world?
What happens if she chooses to go beyond her Florida neighborhood, her community and meets people who think and act differently from her?
What happens then?
How can Shondelle and Ron prepare this precious child to enter into the larger world?
They will need to do it...step by step.
First... nurturing and loving and appreciating her essence.
Next... teaching of the right and wrong…according to the world’s standard of judgment.
Next... support for her discovering and uncovering of new things about the world on her own.
Then...realizing that she has grown...into herself.
The self she always was intended to be...when she first entered into this world on April 10.
Senaya is awakening to the world around her, day by day. She’s uncovering new things to delight in, new faces and people to enjoy.
Every day, Senaya is uncovering more and more “things” of the world.
Every day, Senaya is uncovering the gifts of Life!
Every day, Senaya is uncovering the precious gifts of God in Life!
Every day, Senaya is uncovering the glory of God in her Life!
May her life be blessed with at least a century’s worth of discoveries.
May it be blessed with many joys, new awakenings, new horizons.
May Senaya be blessed with a fullness of life that only can be given by God!*
Namaste’,
Aunty Che’
*“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him and he shall direct thy paths.” Proverbs 3: 5-6
“Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding.” Proverbs 4:7
“Teach me, O Lord, the way of your statutes, and I will observe it to the end.” Psalm 119:33
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Oneness: Living a Life Without Borders!
********************************************
At sundown tonight, April 19, people of the Jewish faith will begin observance of Passover! It will last for seven days.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE OBSERVANCE: Passover commemorates the Exodus from Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites from slavery. "Passover" commemorates God's sparing of the Hebrew firstborn as he saw the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts of their houses on the night of the Tenth Plague. The Festival of the Unleavened Bread refers to the week-long period when leaven has been removed, and unleavened bread or matzah ("flatbread"), the holiday's primary symbol, is eaten to recall the rapid departure of the Israelites from Egypt.
**********************************************
The next time you see a homeless person, look into his or her eyes.
If you do, you will get the most piercing reflection back. It will fill your soul.
If he/she is not dazed by drugs, you will feel the person’s pain and emotions and their shame in having to live this way. Looking into the eyes of that person, you can never turn away without feeling touched in some way.
How many of us truly care about the problems of the people who reach out to us outside subways and train stations, grocery and drug stores? We hand them a dollar, and we move on, not wanting to even look them in the eye. The reason is that if we do, we see our reflections back, i.e. they are just like you and I, except their circumstances have been altered.
Most of us think that getting too close by “seeing” is getting too close, indeed: I don’t want to KNOW you...whatever you did to bring you here is what you deserve!
Were it a member of our family, what would we do? Would we embrace the person just the same, without judgment or criticism? Or would we ignore them, offering no help? Some people would. But by and large, we probably would extend a welcoming arm to that person and embrace him/her in compassion and love, allowing a respite from life’s overwhelming challenges.
Recently, the Episcopalian minister at the local church I attend did a sermon on making our table big enough to include others. Often, she said, we don’t want to “invite” others to our table. "We have created a secure, safe world for ourselves with our immediate family, and there’s no extra 'room' for anyone else," she said. She then asked, “How big is your table?”
Indeed how big is YOUR table? Is your life inclusive of others, or only your immediate family?
I always felt my world was safe when I was little and surrounded by a large family. Indeed, it was only because of my nature to reach beyond my comfort zone that I encountered all types of challenges and situations to overcome. I survived these obstacle courses, because I’ve always lived with an openness to people. I care about my close friends, friends...and people... the way most do only about their family. I’m glad, because when my disappointments and challenges came, they were shared equally by my faithful friends.
The best weapons we can have against life’s storms and challenges are the love and support of an army of friends, who will erect a protective barrier to shield you! I’ve found that when you have an expansive enough attitude to life, even strangers are willing to pick up weapons of comfort, support and love and join your army to help you win!
Spirit works in your friends and strangers alike to intervene on your behalf!
When Jesus had his cross to carry, he fell down under its weight on his way to Damascus, and it was Simon who came along and helped him carry it. Likewise, when you have your "crosses" in life to bear, God will send you an "earth angel" to help you get back up and carry on with life! God ...Spirit...never gives us more crosses to carry ALONE than our weight can bear.
Beyond caring about others, how many people truly celebrate the victory of others? How many of us truly feel JOY when we hear someone from some state won the Mega Jackpot? Most of us think, “It has NOTHING to do with ME?”
Nothing to do with YOU? Indeed!
Someone else winning the lottery and feeling JOY has EVERYTHING TO DO WITH US! But most of us go through life with an “us” vs. “them” attitude, so we can’t see this.
“The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matt. 25:40***
This is a piece of scripture that we need to pay very close attention to in our embrace or lack of embrace of others. We should apply the same wisdom to our treatment of people in society, i.e. the poor vs. rich; our family vs. strangers.
The way you treat another...a stranger...the joy you feel for another...a stranger...will come back reflected to you in some way through some channel.
There is a ONENESS that runs through all of life’s experiences in the world, whether someone is homeless, or just won the lottery.
In someone else’s pain, we experience our own. In someone else’ joy, we experience our own.
The people we tend to despise the most are the people who are our reflections back to something within ourselves that we need to heal, or a reminder of a past behavior. So, instead of despising a person, examine the reason his or her behavior is such a turnoff to us: Is it a reminder of a past we thought we’d successfully put behind? Is it a fear we have about ourselves? Is it our own reflection that we see?
Whenever we meet people, we sometimes immediately feel drawn to some and repulsed by others. Each person, whether disliked or loved by us, is our own reflection of self...of the current condition of our soul. The reason we are drawn or repulsed can be found within.
Kindred souls do congregate. There is a comfort in feeling the sameness of our own moods, our own style, our own thinking reflected in someone else’s. There is a true companionship there.
But it is from the person who bears the least resemblance to us that we learn the most lessons. Those are the people who bear messages about the unexamined parts of our soul. The irritation...the dislike...the antipathy...should be a signal to us to go within. It is a signal for us to grow!
The omnipresent Spirit within us is able to recognize ourselves in others.
Envy, jealousy, hatred, animosity are all attributes when manifested in the Outer come reflected back to us in some form.
Love, forgiveness, support, helpfulness, and Joy, are reflected back to us, too, in the same measure “we mete out.”
Jew or Gentile, Catholic or Protestant, Hindu or Muslim, Buddhist or Bahai, Unity or Unitarian: We are all ONE in Spirit and in the eyes of Pure Being!
Namaste’,
Che’
***"He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much,” Luke 16:10.
See also: Matt: 25: 34-35
At sundown tonight, April 19, people of the Jewish faith will begin observance of Passover! It will last for seven days.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE OBSERVANCE: Passover commemorates the Exodus from Egypt and the liberation of the Israelites from slavery. "Passover" commemorates God's sparing of the Hebrew firstborn as he saw the blood of the Passover lamb on the doorposts of their houses on the night of the Tenth Plague. The Festival of the Unleavened Bread refers to the week-long period when leaven has been removed, and unleavened bread or matzah ("flatbread"), the holiday's primary symbol, is eaten to recall the rapid departure of the Israelites from Egypt.
**********************************************
The next time you see a homeless person, look into his or her eyes.
If you do, you will get the most piercing reflection back. It will fill your soul.
If he/she is not dazed by drugs, you will feel the person’s pain and emotions and their shame in having to live this way. Looking into the eyes of that person, you can never turn away without feeling touched in some way.
How many of us truly care about the problems of the people who reach out to us outside subways and train stations, grocery and drug stores? We hand them a dollar, and we move on, not wanting to even look them in the eye. The reason is that if we do, we see our reflections back, i.e. they are just like you and I, except their circumstances have been altered.
Most of us think that getting too close by “seeing” is getting too close, indeed: I don’t want to KNOW you...whatever you did to bring you here is what you deserve!
Were it a member of our family, what would we do? Would we embrace the person just the same, without judgment or criticism? Or would we ignore them, offering no help? Some people would. But by and large, we probably would extend a welcoming arm to that person and embrace him/her in compassion and love, allowing a respite from life’s overwhelming challenges.
Recently, the Episcopalian minister at the local church I attend did a sermon on making our table big enough to include others. Often, she said, we don’t want to “invite” others to our table. "We have created a secure, safe world for ourselves with our immediate family, and there’s no extra 'room' for anyone else," she said. She then asked, “How big is your table?”
Indeed how big is YOUR table? Is your life inclusive of others, or only your immediate family?
I always felt my world was safe when I was little and surrounded by a large family. Indeed, it was only because of my nature to reach beyond my comfort zone that I encountered all types of challenges and situations to overcome. I survived these obstacle courses, because I’ve always lived with an openness to people. I care about my close friends, friends...and people... the way most do only about their family. I’m glad, because when my disappointments and challenges came, they were shared equally by my faithful friends.
The best weapons we can have against life’s storms and challenges are the love and support of an army of friends, who will erect a protective barrier to shield you! I’ve found that when you have an expansive enough attitude to life, even strangers are willing to pick up weapons of comfort, support and love and join your army to help you win!
Spirit works in your friends and strangers alike to intervene on your behalf!
When Jesus had his cross to carry, he fell down under its weight on his way to Damascus, and it was Simon who came along and helped him carry it. Likewise, when you have your "crosses" in life to bear, God will send you an "earth angel" to help you get back up and carry on with life! God ...Spirit...never gives us more crosses to carry ALONE than our weight can bear.
Beyond caring about others, how many people truly celebrate the victory of others? How many of us truly feel JOY when we hear someone from some state won the Mega Jackpot? Most of us think, “It has NOTHING to do with ME?”
Nothing to do with YOU? Indeed!
Someone else winning the lottery and feeling JOY has EVERYTHING TO DO WITH US! But most of us go through life with an “us” vs. “them” attitude, so we can’t see this.
“The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'" Matt. 25:40***
This is a piece of scripture that we need to pay very close attention to in our embrace or lack of embrace of others. We should apply the same wisdom to our treatment of people in society, i.e. the poor vs. rich; our family vs. strangers.
The way you treat another...a stranger...the joy you feel for another...a stranger...will come back reflected to you in some way through some channel.
There is a ONENESS that runs through all of life’s experiences in the world, whether someone is homeless, or just won the lottery.
In someone else’s pain, we experience our own. In someone else’ joy, we experience our own.
The people we tend to despise the most are the people who are our reflections back to something within ourselves that we need to heal, or a reminder of a past behavior. So, instead of despising a person, examine the reason his or her behavior is such a turnoff to us: Is it a reminder of a past we thought we’d successfully put behind? Is it a fear we have about ourselves? Is it our own reflection that we see?
Whenever we meet people, we sometimes immediately feel drawn to some and repulsed by others. Each person, whether disliked or loved by us, is our own reflection of self...of the current condition of our soul. The reason we are drawn or repulsed can be found within.
Kindred souls do congregate. There is a comfort in feeling the sameness of our own moods, our own style, our own thinking reflected in someone else’s. There is a true companionship there.
But it is from the person who bears the least resemblance to us that we learn the most lessons. Those are the people who bear messages about the unexamined parts of our soul. The irritation...the dislike...the antipathy...should be a signal to us to go within. It is a signal for us to grow!
The omnipresent Spirit within us is able to recognize ourselves in others.
Envy, jealousy, hatred, animosity are all attributes when manifested in the Outer come reflected back to us in some form.
Love, forgiveness, support, helpfulness, and Joy, are reflected back to us, too, in the same measure “we mete out.”
Jew or Gentile, Catholic or Protestant, Hindu or Muslim, Buddhist or Bahai, Unity or Unitarian: We are all ONE in Spirit and in the eyes of Pure Being!
Namaste’,
Che’
***"He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much,” Luke 16:10.
See also: Matt: 25: 34-35
Friday, April 18, 2008
Namaste' Publishing: A Lesson from the Texas Compound Crisis
This Blog (4/18/08) was reposted by permission from the publishing company.
*****************************************************
There is a widespread belief that when we have children, they are ours and we have a right to bring them up as we wish.
This belief has come under the microscope with the situation in Texas in which over 400 children have been taken from their mothers by the state.
Are our children really ours to raise as we see fit? Or does the wider society have an interest in our children?
It’s clear in the current crisis that the authorities in Texas and the individuals connected with the compound have radically different views when it comes to a parent’s relationship with their child.
From the point of view of the mothers, the children belong to them. From the point of view of the state, they are America’s children.
The real issue is the right of individuals to be their own person. Not what we want to make them into as clones of ourselves, and not what anybody else wants to make them into. Simply the right to be the unique individual each is, different and unrepeatable in the history of the universe.
Paradoxically, this is the central issue not only for the children in this sad situation, but also for their mothers.
Watching a group of the mothers on Larry King Live, it’s clear that they are not their own person. Everything they say, the way they dress, and the way they act is passed through a filter given them by someone else.
Their way of being in the world is “measured,” carefully tailored to fit the expectations of the compound’s leaders.
This is because they have internalized a worldview, a belief system, that tells them this is how they should be. They now see themselves through this lens and can’t imagine any other way of seeing themselves or the world around them.
We call such a mindset, belief system, and worldview a “paradigm.”
The paradigm of being your own person is poles apart from the paradigm that says you should submit to the group’s leaders. A person who is their own person questions, weighs, considers.
If a mother isn’t her own person, she certainly can’t bring up a child to be true to itself.
But then, this isn’t just true of the people of this religious community at the compound in Texas. It’s also true of many in the wider society, and in nation after nation the world over.
Not too many on our planet are really, authentically able to be true to themselves.
To be so requires us to become conscious, awakened, aware. This is what “enlightenment” is—getting our eyes opened to what’s really happening in our lives, both inside us and all around us. We see things as they actually are.
Before awakening occurs, we each live in a certain kind of paradigm. In other words, we have a particular mindset, a belief system, and a certain worldview that governs everything we think, do, and say.
When you watch the mothers from Texas talk about missing their children, it’s clear that they all participate in the same paradigm—that their view of the world is one they have internalized, but that isn’t who they truly are. Everything about them screams that they aren’t who they truly are—that they don’t know their real self.
Again, this is no different from most of the rest of the world. Take, for instance, the counselors and therapists who will be involved in this case of the children. Among them are those who see everything through the mentality of victimology. Others see life more in terms of personal choices, personal responsibility. These are drastically different paradigms.
To illustrate what this means, suppose we have seen the world and our personal lives through a green lens filter, and now we switch filters to rose-colored. Instead of the world looking green, everything now looks the way it would through rose-colored glasses. It’s a really different take on reality.
Becoming conscious, aware, awakened requires going through a paradigm shift. It’s like exchanging green lenses for rose-colored lenses. We see everything differently after such a switch.
Science is a field in which paradigm shifts are often dramatic. For instance, for countless generations we thought the world was flat and that Earth was the center of the universe. This way of seeing the world is a particular paradigm.
Then along came Copernicus and Galileo, and we realized that the world is a globe that revolves around the sun—and in due course, we saw that the universe is vast. This switch of worldview is a paradigm shift.
The point is that, just as the women at the Texas compound exist within a particular paradigm that says polygamy is preferable, wearing long dresses and uncut hair is required, and submitting to males is essential, so are many of us who think of ourselves as free people living in paradigms that, unbeknown to us, control our lives.
The thing about a paradigm is that you don’t realize you are in it. You just think that the way you look at the world is the way it is. But it isn’t. It’s just a filter—a learned filter.
A paradigm shift gets underway when a person starts to see anomalies in their mindset and worldview. The way the world has fit together until now somehow doesn’t quite work so well any longer.
The Pope is in the United States seeking to solidify the faithful in traditional Catholic beliefs. But even as he inspires many to become more devoted to their church, at the same time many exodus the church every day. They begin to see things that don’t quite fit, and before long they don’t fit in any longer.
Many of us resist a paradigm shift in our lives because we sense it’s going to shake up our world. But divine desire pushes within us for manifestation; and as it does so, it changes how we see our lives.
Before we know it, we are leaving a church or joining a different one, leaving a job, leaving a marriage—well, changing just about everything in our lives.
Once an anomaly arises within us—once we begin to feel differently or think differently about something—there is no way to stop the paradigm shift from happening. We may resist for a time, but the divine desire will ultimately stretch us until a complete mindset and worldview shift occurs.
And when this happens, we can never see the world the same way again—and never live our lives the same way either.
*****************************************************
There is a widespread belief that when we have children, they are ours and we have a right to bring them up as we wish.
This belief has come under the microscope with the situation in Texas in which over 400 children have been taken from their mothers by the state.
Are our children really ours to raise as we see fit? Or does the wider society have an interest in our children?
It’s clear in the current crisis that the authorities in Texas and the individuals connected with the compound have radically different views when it comes to a parent’s relationship with their child.
From the point of view of the mothers, the children belong to them. From the point of view of the state, they are America’s children.
The real issue is the right of individuals to be their own person. Not what we want to make them into as clones of ourselves, and not what anybody else wants to make them into. Simply the right to be the unique individual each is, different and unrepeatable in the history of the universe.
Paradoxically, this is the central issue not only for the children in this sad situation, but also for their mothers.
Watching a group of the mothers on Larry King Live, it’s clear that they are not their own person. Everything they say, the way they dress, and the way they act is passed through a filter given them by someone else.
Their way of being in the world is “measured,” carefully tailored to fit the expectations of the compound’s leaders.
This is because they have internalized a worldview, a belief system, that tells them this is how they should be. They now see themselves through this lens and can’t imagine any other way of seeing themselves or the world around them.
We call such a mindset, belief system, and worldview a “paradigm.”
The paradigm of being your own person is poles apart from the paradigm that says you should submit to the group’s leaders. A person who is their own person questions, weighs, considers.
If a mother isn’t her own person, she certainly can’t bring up a child to be true to itself.
But then, this isn’t just true of the people of this religious community at the compound in Texas. It’s also true of many in the wider society, and in nation after nation the world over.
Not too many on our planet are really, authentically able to be true to themselves.
To be so requires us to become conscious, awakened, aware. This is what “enlightenment” is—getting our eyes opened to what’s really happening in our lives, both inside us and all around us. We see things as they actually are.
Before awakening occurs, we each live in a certain kind of paradigm. In other words, we have a particular mindset, a belief system, and a certain worldview that governs everything we think, do, and say.
When you watch the mothers from Texas talk about missing their children, it’s clear that they all participate in the same paradigm—that their view of the world is one they have internalized, but that isn’t who they truly are. Everything about them screams that they aren’t who they truly are—that they don’t know their real self.
Again, this is no different from most of the rest of the world. Take, for instance, the counselors and therapists who will be involved in this case of the children. Among them are those who see everything through the mentality of victimology. Others see life more in terms of personal choices, personal responsibility. These are drastically different paradigms.
To illustrate what this means, suppose we have seen the world and our personal lives through a green lens filter, and now we switch filters to rose-colored. Instead of the world looking green, everything now looks the way it would through rose-colored glasses. It’s a really different take on reality.
Becoming conscious, aware, awakened requires going through a paradigm shift. It’s like exchanging green lenses for rose-colored lenses. We see everything differently after such a switch.
Science is a field in which paradigm shifts are often dramatic. For instance, for countless generations we thought the world was flat and that Earth was the center of the universe. This way of seeing the world is a particular paradigm.
Then along came Copernicus and Galileo, and we realized that the world is a globe that revolves around the sun—and in due course, we saw that the universe is vast. This switch of worldview is a paradigm shift.
The point is that, just as the women at the Texas compound exist within a particular paradigm that says polygamy is preferable, wearing long dresses and uncut hair is required, and submitting to males is essential, so are many of us who think of ourselves as free people living in paradigms that, unbeknown to us, control our lives.
The thing about a paradigm is that you don’t realize you are in it. You just think that the way you look at the world is the way it is. But it isn’t. It’s just a filter—a learned filter.
A paradigm shift gets underway when a person starts to see anomalies in their mindset and worldview. The way the world has fit together until now somehow doesn’t quite work so well any longer.
The Pope is in the United States seeking to solidify the faithful in traditional Catholic beliefs. But even as he inspires many to become more devoted to their church, at the same time many exodus the church every day. They begin to see things that don’t quite fit, and before long they don’t fit in any longer.
Many of us resist a paradigm shift in our lives because we sense it’s going to shake up our world. But divine desire pushes within us for manifestation; and as it does so, it changes how we see our lives.
Before we know it, we are leaving a church or joining a different one, leaving a job, leaving a marriage—well, changing just about everything in our lives.
Once an anomaly arises within us—once we begin to feel differently or think differently about something—there is no way to stop the paradigm shift from happening. We may resist for a time, but the divine desire will ultimately stretch us until a complete mindset and worldview shift occurs.
And when this happens, we can never see the world the same way again—and never live our lives the same way either.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Into the Darkness and Void: Transformation!
I’d be the first to tell you, I have not lived what I’m talking about.
But I’ve read and heard a lot of people describe this stage of spiritual development: going into the Darkness and seeming Void.
In all cases, these are the times when they have hit rock bottom. There is nothing...NO-thing...between them and death.
Then, out of the darkness awakens life.
In that space or place, between death and darkness, there is light.***
I’ve heard it and read about it time and again.
In one of my spiritual director’s classes, I’d resisted when I heard the instructor talk about us getting into the Center of our being and finding darkness. It didn’t make sense.
After speaking with her in more depth and thinking through the seeming paradox, I understood.
That “darkness” is the Void that we hear about. It is the mystery of God.
“At a certain point [of connecting] we merge with God,” Eckhart Tolle said in Week Seven of his book review with Oprah this Monday night.
The Void possibly also is this “certain point.”
The truth is that until we reach a certain level of consciousness, Spirit cannot reveal itself to us.
It is the part of life and living that not many enter until Death.
Some transition on to their next phase when they hit it;
others return and tell us about their experience.
Call it “near death” experience, but it really is “death to the old self” because those who live to tell about the experience are never, ever the same. They all are transformed.
(Others, after years of seeking and searching on the Spiritual Path with earnestness and sincerity, do get this revelation, sometimes in a flash of insight.)
I’ve had recent conversations with someone who has experienced “near death,” where he entered into “Pure Being,” as he described it. Out of that experience, he returned to a life of Love, Joy, Peace and Grace...on a daily basis. I asked him if he stays in that state all the time. He said, basically, “yes.”
So, what happened to this person and so many others?
They were touched by God.
In the darkness...in that place between life and death, i.e. The Void, God is there.
Pure Being...Light...Love...Peace...Joy...Ecstasy...Grace.
They were sent back into life.
Some empower others with their renewed Spirit.
Some encourage us that Death is not the End.
Others continue to seek TRUTH. They are transformed by Pure God Essence: Pure Being...Pure Light...Pure Love...Pure Peace...Pure Joy...Pure Ecstasy...Pure Grace. They now know the truth of who they are! Thus they become more productive, more brilliant, more energized, more of who they already are.
Thomas A. Dorsey, who wrote the song “Precious Lord,”said it was when he was at his lowest and darkest moment in his life that “something happened” to him.
“ I felt at peace. I felt as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody, once into my head they just seemed to fall into place:
' Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand! I am tired, I am weak, I am worn, through the storm, through the night lead me on to the light, take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.'
The Lord gave me these words and melody, He also healed my spirit. I learned that when we are in our deepest grief, when we feel farthest from God, this is when He is closest, and when we are most open to His restoring power.”
Seeking to convey the message of the VOID, some leap into thinking that we are in an un-evolved stage of God-ness, waiting to be evolved fully as we move through this life.
Jesus taught that there is the Spirit of God within us, but, he also said, “there is none good but one, that is, God.”(Matt. 19:17)
Those who have been “touched” and transformed by the Void need to be especially careful after such a transformative experience. They need to make sure not to equate their Pure Being awareness and consciousness with the omnipresence and omnipotence of God, the Creator.
Some basic common-sense questions would serve to get everyone back on track:
*Where is our POWER to create a whole world?
*Where is our POWER to dictate the flow of our lives, indeed, even our time of death?
*What happens at the time of death, if we evolve fully into “God-ness” while on earth?
*Where is the power within the “chosen” to HEAL life in an instant?
“There is ONLY ONE PRESENCE...and ONE POWER...in the Universe: God, the Good, the OMNIPOTENT.”+
Namaste’,
Che’
+This is a basic Unity principle.
***St. Teresa of Avila in her work, The Interior Castle, explains, in recounting insight received from God, there are seven dwelling places or castles of the soul, “made out of a diamond or of very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms.” The outer wall of the castle is the body. The gate of entry into the Interior Castle is prayer. “Prayer is a door that opens up into the mystery of God and at the same time a means of communinig with him....Self-knowledge and humility grow as the soul moves onward through the castle toward the center.” The Fifth dwelling place is where Teresa says, “the faculties become completely silent and are suspended, and which leaves a certitude that the soul was ‘in God and God was in it.’” In the Seventh, which is the center, “the King of Glory dwelt in the greatest splendor. From there he beautified and illumined all those dwelling places of the outer wall. The inhabitants received more light the nearer they were to the center. Outside of the castle all was darkness, with toads, vipers and other poisonous vermin.”
But I’ve read and heard a lot of people describe this stage of spiritual development: going into the Darkness and seeming Void.
In all cases, these are the times when they have hit rock bottom. There is nothing...NO-thing...between them and death.
Then, out of the darkness awakens life.
In that space or place, between death and darkness, there is light.***
I’ve heard it and read about it time and again.
In one of my spiritual director’s classes, I’d resisted when I heard the instructor talk about us getting into the Center of our being and finding darkness. It didn’t make sense.
After speaking with her in more depth and thinking through the seeming paradox, I understood.
That “darkness” is the Void that we hear about. It is the mystery of God.
“At a certain point [of connecting] we merge with God,” Eckhart Tolle said in Week Seven of his book review with Oprah this Monday night.
The Void possibly also is this “certain point.”
The truth is that until we reach a certain level of consciousness, Spirit cannot reveal itself to us.
It is the part of life and living that not many enter until Death.
Some transition on to their next phase when they hit it;
others return and tell us about their experience.
Call it “near death” experience, but it really is “death to the old self” because those who live to tell about the experience are never, ever the same. They all are transformed.
(Others, after years of seeking and searching on the Spiritual Path with earnestness and sincerity, do get this revelation, sometimes in a flash of insight.)
I’ve had recent conversations with someone who has experienced “near death,” where he entered into “Pure Being,” as he described it. Out of that experience, he returned to a life of Love, Joy, Peace and Grace...on a daily basis. I asked him if he stays in that state all the time. He said, basically, “yes.”
So, what happened to this person and so many others?
They were touched by God.
In the darkness...in that place between life and death, i.e. The Void, God is there.
Pure Being...Light...Love...Peace...Joy...Ecstasy...Grace.
They were sent back into life.
Some empower others with their renewed Spirit.
Some encourage us that Death is not the End.
Others continue to seek TRUTH. They are transformed by Pure God Essence: Pure Being...Pure Light...Pure Love...Pure Peace...Pure Joy...Pure Ecstasy...Pure Grace. They now know the truth of who they are! Thus they become more productive, more brilliant, more energized, more of who they already are.
Thomas A. Dorsey, who wrote the song “Precious Lord,”said it was when he was at his lowest and darkest moment in his life that “something happened” to him.
“ I felt at peace. I felt as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a melody, once into my head they just seemed to fall into place:
' Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand! I am tired, I am weak, I am worn, through the storm, through the night lead me on to the light, take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.'
The Lord gave me these words and melody, He also healed my spirit. I learned that when we are in our deepest grief, when we feel farthest from God, this is when He is closest, and when we are most open to His restoring power.”
Seeking to convey the message of the VOID, some leap into thinking that we are in an un-evolved stage of God-ness, waiting to be evolved fully as we move through this life.
Jesus taught that there is the Spirit of God within us, but, he also said, “there is none good but one, that is, God.”(Matt. 19:17)
Those who have been “touched” and transformed by the Void need to be especially careful after such a transformative experience. They need to make sure not to equate their Pure Being awareness and consciousness with the omnipresence and omnipotence of God, the Creator.
Some basic common-sense questions would serve to get everyone back on track:
*Where is our POWER to create a whole world?
*Where is our POWER to dictate the flow of our lives, indeed, even our time of death?
*What happens at the time of death, if we evolve fully into “God-ness” while on earth?
*Where is the power within the “chosen” to HEAL life in an instant?
“There is ONLY ONE PRESENCE...and ONE POWER...in the Universe: God, the Good, the OMNIPOTENT.”+
Namaste’,
Che’
+This is a basic Unity principle.
***St. Teresa of Avila in her work, The Interior Castle, explains, in recounting insight received from God, there are seven dwelling places or castles of the soul, “made out of a diamond or of very clear crystal, in which there are many rooms.” The outer wall of the castle is the body. The gate of entry into the Interior Castle is prayer. “Prayer is a door that opens up into the mystery of God and at the same time a means of communinig with him....Self-knowledge and humility grow as the soul moves onward through the castle toward the center.” The Fifth dwelling place is where Teresa says, “the faculties become completely silent and are suspended, and which leaves a certitude that the soul was ‘in God and God was in it.’” In the Seventh, which is the center, “the King of Glory dwelt in the greatest splendor. From there he beautified and illumined all those dwelling places of the outer wall. The inhabitants received more light the nearer they were to the center. Outside of the castle all was darkness, with toads, vipers and other poisonous vermin.”
Wednesday, April 9, 2008
Mind, Body and Spirit: All of God?
“The images that we either consciously or unconsciously appropriated in the course of our lives and which have become part of our stream of thoughts can advance or prevent the development of our fundamental humaneness.” from the Spiritual Path: an introduction to the Psychology of Spiritual Traditions by Han F. de Wit
*********
Anyone who has spent time looking at Cold Case files on A& E or Law and Order, Special Victims Unit, or Criminal Investigation, would know that there is evil in the world. These shows feature people with minds that have gone awry.
You don’t even have to look only to the reality based Cold Case files, or the simulation of real cases of Law & Order, to be made aware of evil. Just look at the evening news on an ongoing basis. Sooner or later, you’ll hear of a husband (sorry guys!) murdering his wife and their unborn child, (Scott, Lacy and Connor Peterson, Modesto, Calif.), (Charles Stuart murdering his wife Carol, Boston, Mass., and their baby, Christopher, dying 17 days after his premature birth) and others.
Beyond these familiar cases, there are those of the horrendous mass murders committed by John Wayne Gacy (killed 33 men), Jeffrey Dahmer (killed 17 people), Ted Bundy (possibly 100 people) and others like Richard Speck, David Berkowitz, “Jack the Ripper” and so many others.
People committing murder, sometimes only for the sheer joy of it!
Where does this evil come from? God?
Some people would want us to believe that all of man...the good, bad, the innocent, the spiritual...all come from God.
To even write such a statement weakens all parts of me and all that I believe in.
God creating evil in the world...because all of the world is God’s creation?
What a fallacy!
It makes me understand how good men can be made to turn evil, do evil and be evil.
It all begins with corruption of the mind.
That’s where the true problem lies. Not in the reasoning itself...but by the mind becoming corrupt by its own power...its own power to create...and...to destroy. This is the true evil, the true danger to us all... when man becomes so filled with his own concepts and images...that they corrupt his soul.
For some, it may first begin with a true love of and for God.
Then...the permutations begin.
We are made in God’s image. Yes. God is Spirit, and so are we...when we get past the exterior and all the parts of us that make our Spirit hidden. Underneath all that...yes, there is a Spirit. And yes, that Spirit is made in the image and likeness of God.
Spirit is formless, as is God.
If you are Christian, then you may believe that Jesus was God incarnate.
For me, Jesus manifested the highest form of Spirit within man on Earth.
Where does this leave us then?
That since man is Spirit like God, then our mind also is God mind, then our body is God body?
Spirit is formless. It does not have a body.
Our body, i.e. our Physical being, is the dominant and visible part of us, and this is how we celebrate our humanity and this is affected by our experiences in the world.
Our mind, which contains our soul, i.e. our Mental being, also celebrates our humanity and also is affected by our experiences in the world.
So if, as I see it, we are Body, Mind and Spirit, then of the three, our Spirit is the only part of us that is not shaped by the world and our "humanness". Our Spirit remains... from our birth to our death...fully in *God’s formless image.
God is the Creator of all.
Yes, God is the Creator of our humanity i.e. our humanness with unique and disparate personality traits, EGO, tendencies, genes, body shapes, sizes, wit, drabness and everything we constitute as human. As part of this "humanness," God also gives us FREE WILL, which we exercise through our Mind.
Our minds and our body become shaped by the “foods” we feed them from the outer world. But our Spirit is not affected. This part of us remains uncontaminated, unaffected and incorruptible, because it is the only part of us that grows from within, not without.
The “foods” that we feed our Spirit are prayer and meditation. These allow us to connect back to the source of our being i.e. God. The more we are able to connect to Spirit, the greater its effect on our minds and bodies. Our Spirit is transformative. As we feed ourselves more and more spiritual foods, i.e. meditation and prayer, building such intangibles as faith, trust, hope and love, then the less desire we have for the seemingly evil things of the world.
So, how do minds become corrupt enough to commit the atrocities we read and hear about on the news? Total separation of mind/soul...from Spirit.
We’ve all heard people described as “lost souls.” These are the people who in no way seem to have a viable connection to Spirit. They don’t recognize Spirit’s nudges and guidance, because the mind has become so clouded and crowded by the ways of the world. Their souls indeed are lost to Spirit.
For truly well meaning people to then try, in their earnestness, to suggest that all of us, including the evil in the world, is of God is very troubling. It speaks to minds that are becoming corrupted by their own thoughts...suggesting EGO. That’s when the thinking should STOP.
When we become so enamored with our own thinking that we would go against the wisdom of all the ages....then, we need to take stock of ourselves. STOP THINKING. Go back to the base with prayer and meditation, earnestly asking Spirit for guidance. To do less is to be inviting the evils of the world into the Soul.
Jim Jones and his inflated image of his “Godself” took more than 900
lost souls with him to their suicidal deaths in Guyana, South America, my country of birth. The lesson we learned from Jim Jones and that mass suicide should be one we never forget.
We should especially try to remember the Jim Jones’ lesson when we see our thinking getting off track, or when we begin to see our corruptible image as God’s.
One of the joys of this spiritual journey is to be blessed, not destroyed, by the level of our thinking. Another perquisite of this spiritual path is to be enriched, not cursed, by our minds!
Accepting anything less truly is to invite...evil.
******
"I was completely swept along with my own compulsion.
I don't know how else to put it.
It didn't satisfy me completely so maybe I was thinking
another one will. Maybe this one will,
and the numbers started growing and growing
and just got out of control, as you can see..."
Jeffrey Dahmer
*******
Namaste',
Che'
*In the next blog, we’ll explore how hitting the “VOID” and seeming darkness brings us into the “Presence” or Pure Being.
*********
Anyone who has spent time looking at Cold Case files on A& E or Law and Order, Special Victims Unit, or Criminal Investigation, would know that there is evil in the world. These shows feature people with minds that have gone awry.
You don’t even have to look only to the reality based Cold Case files, or the simulation of real cases of Law & Order, to be made aware of evil. Just look at the evening news on an ongoing basis. Sooner or later, you’ll hear of a husband (sorry guys!) murdering his wife and their unborn child, (Scott, Lacy and Connor Peterson, Modesto, Calif.), (Charles Stuart murdering his wife Carol, Boston, Mass., and their baby, Christopher, dying 17 days after his premature birth) and others.
Beyond these familiar cases, there are those of the horrendous mass murders committed by John Wayne Gacy (killed 33 men), Jeffrey Dahmer (killed 17 people), Ted Bundy (possibly 100 people) and others like Richard Speck, David Berkowitz, “Jack the Ripper” and so many others.
People committing murder, sometimes only for the sheer joy of it!
Where does this evil come from? God?
Some people would want us to believe that all of man...the good, bad, the innocent, the spiritual...all come from God.
To even write such a statement weakens all parts of me and all that I believe in.
God creating evil in the world...because all of the world is God’s creation?
What a fallacy!
It makes me understand how good men can be made to turn evil, do evil and be evil.
It all begins with corruption of the mind.
That’s where the true problem lies. Not in the reasoning itself...but by the mind becoming corrupt by its own power...its own power to create...and...to destroy. This is the true evil, the true danger to us all... when man becomes so filled with his own concepts and images...that they corrupt his soul.
For some, it may first begin with a true love of and for God.
Then...the permutations begin.
We are made in God’s image. Yes. God is Spirit, and so are we...when we get past the exterior and all the parts of us that make our Spirit hidden. Underneath all that...yes, there is a Spirit. And yes, that Spirit is made in the image and likeness of God.
Spirit is formless, as is God.
If you are Christian, then you may believe that Jesus was God incarnate.
For me, Jesus manifested the highest form of Spirit within man on Earth.
Where does this leave us then?
That since man is Spirit like God, then our mind also is God mind, then our body is God body?
Spirit is formless. It does not have a body.
Our body, i.e. our Physical being, is the dominant and visible part of us, and this is how we celebrate our humanity and this is affected by our experiences in the world.
Our mind, which contains our soul, i.e. our Mental being, also celebrates our humanity and also is affected by our experiences in the world.
So if, as I see it, we are Body, Mind and Spirit, then of the three, our Spirit is the only part of us that is not shaped by the world and our "humanness". Our Spirit remains... from our birth to our death...fully in *God’s formless image.
God is the Creator of all.
Yes, God is the Creator of our humanity i.e. our humanness with unique and disparate personality traits, EGO, tendencies, genes, body shapes, sizes, wit, drabness and everything we constitute as human. As part of this "humanness," God also gives us FREE WILL, which we exercise through our Mind.
Our minds and our body become shaped by the “foods” we feed them from the outer world. But our Spirit is not affected. This part of us remains uncontaminated, unaffected and incorruptible, because it is the only part of us that grows from within, not without.
The “foods” that we feed our Spirit are prayer and meditation. These allow us to connect back to the source of our being i.e. God. The more we are able to connect to Spirit, the greater its effect on our minds and bodies. Our Spirit is transformative. As we feed ourselves more and more spiritual foods, i.e. meditation and prayer, building such intangibles as faith, trust, hope and love, then the less desire we have for the seemingly evil things of the world.
So, how do minds become corrupt enough to commit the atrocities we read and hear about on the news? Total separation of mind/soul...from Spirit.
We’ve all heard people described as “lost souls.” These are the people who in no way seem to have a viable connection to Spirit. They don’t recognize Spirit’s nudges and guidance, because the mind has become so clouded and crowded by the ways of the world. Their souls indeed are lost to Spirit.
For truly well meaning people to then try, in their earnestness, to suggest that all of us, including the evil in the world, is of God is very troubling. It speaks to minds that are becoming corrupted by their own thoughts...suggesting EGO. That’s when the thinking should STOP.
When we become so enamored with our own thinking that we would go against the wisdom of all the ages....then, we need to take stock of ourselves. STOP THINKING. Go back to the base with prayer and meditation, earnestly asking Spirit for guidance. To do less is to be inviting the evils of the world into the Soul.
Jim Jones and his inflated image of his “Godself” took more than 900
lost souls with him to their suicidal deaths in Guyana, South America, my country of birth. The lesson we learned from Jim Jones and that mass suicide should be one we never forget.
We should especially try to remember the Jim Jones’ lesson when we see our thinking getting off track, or when we begin to see our corruptible image as God’s.
One of the joys of this spiritual journey is to be blessed, not destroyed, by the level of our thinking. Another perquisite of this spiritual path is to be enriched, not cursed, by our minds!
Accepting anything less truly is to invite...evil.
******
"I was completely swept along with my own compulsion.
I don't know how else to put it.
It didn't satisfy me completely so maybe I was thinking
another one will. Maybe this one will,
and the numbers started growing and growing
and just got out of control, as you can see..."
Jeffrey Dahmer
*******
Namaste',
Che'
*In the next blog, we’ll explore how hitting the “VOID” and seeming darkness brings us into the “Presence” or Pure Being.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
In Our Quest for Spirit: Are we taking Ourselves TOO Seriously?
On a Hallmark card, I saw a simple phrase about Life: “Life is having hope in God.” The simplicity of that statement was so beautiful, yet so powerful. I felt it was God’s way of nudging me to TRUTH.
Lately, I’ve been getting into several spiritual “exercises” with an e-mail friend about our purpose in life...about God...and about all the things we think we should be talking about when we aspire to walk the spiritual path. It’s good having those exercises...but to what END?
At the end of the day, even if we explore all the possibilities of God and who and what God is and what our intended purpose and roles are in life, the truth is simple: God is unchanging; God is Good... and... ALL Good; God is Life itself...and yes, “Life is having hope in God.”
That is the simple truth, as I see it.
Seeing that Hallmark card was a reminder for me to not go so “deeply” into stuff. All is in Divine Order... All is well... and God is the ONLY one truly in charge.
I don’t want my God and what I know to be true about God becoming a debate or an exercise of any kind!
The simple truth is that I know God is in action when I’ve prayed about a matter, could not solve it on my own, then the answer came...sometimes from unexpected channels. That’s when I know that God is GOD...GOD IS GOOD...and no matter how much I try to “figure” him out, I won’t.
God is and always has been mystery.
. . .
To make it our purpose to define God or to try to put God into “perspective” for others, I believe, is to take ourselves way too seriously.
About 20 years ago, I did not want to acknowledge the existence of God in my life. Yet, he was my all and in my all. (See the poem “I am There” by James Dillet Freeman at the end of the Blog). But a lot happens in 20 years.
Now, I have a consciousness about GOD in my life...all the time...operating in and throughout my life whenever I make a conscious decision to invite him in...and even when I don’t. He is there 24/7/365. Invitation, or no invitation: God is THERE.
This is TRUTH. This is unchanging.
So does it matter if, as some want to believe, “We’re God”? Yes, we do...sometimes... function in that way for other people. But do we really, really have to take it further than THAT? (If you decide to do so, then ... PLEASE... promise you won’t share the information with the people who work out at the gyms across America! It’s hard enough dealing with these body “gods,” primping and flexing in the mirrors, as they seek to further enhance their bodies).
Do we have to really KNOW whether *ALL of us...goodness, badness, EGO, personality, light, darkness...is still part of God? Does knowing the answer to THIS solve anything? Then, even if we believe we have solved it, WHY does it matter?
Life is Life, and Life is of God.
Let’s leave it there.
The only God I want to know is the one who steps in when I stop struggling. I want to know that someone other than myself ...is there...is seeing...is knowing...is doing. The only God I want to know is GOD in my life.
At the recent Good Friday Service, I heard a Catholic priest state simply what we need to do every day. He said daily, we just need to state, “Father, into your hands I commit my life. Father into your hands I commend my spirit!”
Folks, that’s as simple and as truthful as it gets.
Let’s keep our perspective... no matter how long we’ve been walking the spiritual path...no matter how far we think we’ve traveled.
God in his perfection made it all simple: Trust me. Follow me. Believe in me. I love you. I’ll never leave you. You are my child, in whom I am well pleased....
I know a lot of people, because I’ve lived in several states in the United States. But the people who I know and appreciate MOST are those people who are good in their ESSENCE.
Those are the people who are tremendously successful in their individual lives...in their individual careers. They go about minding their business at EVERY LEVEL. They get on top of their game.
They don’t talk about GOD. They live GOD.
These are the people who turn on the light for others, when the world would turn it off. These are the people who step in, when every other door slams shut in your face.
I have a male friend like that in Chicago. I have a female friend, like that, too. They have been waiting. They always are waiting...not in anticipation... but in preparation.
The world turns off its light for many people when they are in trouble...of any kind...and when they are sick. Inherent in my friends’ career choices is that intent towards goodness: one is a medical doctor; the other is an attorney. Saving lives that’s what these people do.
They don’t debate it. They just DO IT!
They just let God be GOD through them.
As I was paying the cashier at the Hallmark store, an almost blind teenager, came up to her and asked her to lead him to the birthday section. She said, “yes.” Then, he asked, “After that, can you take me to the anniversary section?” She said yes...again.
God being GOD ...for that teenager...through the cashier.
So, let’s keep it simple folks...whether we think we’re “gods,” or we’re just letting God BE GOD through us: God STILL IS GOD!
A friend who does a monthly Reflections column defines God as “The Source and *Creator for all that is.”
Don’t forget that. Don’t complicate THAT.
Namaste’,
Che’
*Later this week, I’ll elaborate on the Mental (mind/soul), Physical (body) and Spiritual aspects of our being and where God, the Creator, is in all of this.
Lately, I’ve been getting into several spiritual “exercises” with an e-mail friend about our purpose in life...about God...and about all the things we think we should be talking about when we aspire to walk the spiritual path. It’s good having those exercises...but to what END?
At the end of the day, even if we explore all the possibilities of God and who and what God is and what our intended purpose and roles are in life, the truth is simple: God is unchanging; God is Good... and... ALL Good; God is Life itself...and yes, “Life is having hope in God.”
That is the simple truth, as I see it.
Seeing that Hallmark card was a reminder for me to not go so “deeply” into stuff. All is in Divine Order... All is well... and God is the ONLY one truly in charge.
I don’t want my God and what I know to be true about God becoming a debate or an exercise of any kind!
The simple truth is that I know God is in action when I’ve prayed about a matter, could not solve it on my own, then the answer came...sometimes from unexpected channels. That’s when I know that God is GOD...GOD IS GOOD...and no matter how much I try to “figure” him out, I won’t.
God is and always has been mystery.
. . .
To make it our purpose to define God or to try to put God into “perspective” for others, I believe, is to take ourselves way too seriously.
About 20 years ago, I did not want to acknowledge the existence of God in my life. Yet, he was my all and in my all. (See the poem “I am There” by James Dillet Freeman at the end of the Blog). But a lot happens in 20 years.
Now, I have a consciousness about GOD in my life...all the time...operating in and throughout my life whenever I make a conscious decision to invite him in...and even when I don’t. He is there 24/7/365. Invitation, or no invitation: God is THERE.
This is TRUTH. This is unchanging.
So does it matter if, as some want to believe, “We’re God”? Yes, we do...sometimes... function in that way for other people. But do we really, really have to take it further than THAT? (If you decide to do so, then ... PLEASE... promise you won’t share the information with the people who work out at the gyms across America! It’s hard enough dealing with these body “gods,” primping and flexing in the mirrors, as they seek to further enhance their bodies).
Do we have to really KNOW whether *ALL of us...goodness, badness, EGO, personality, light, darkness...is still part of God? Does knowing the answer to THIS solve anything? Then, even if we believe we have solved it, WHY does it matter?
Life is Life, and Life is of God.
Let’s leave it there.
The only God I want to know is the one who steps in when I stop struggling. I want to know that someone other than myself ...is there...is seeing...is knowing...is doing. The only God I want to know is GOD in my life.
At the recent Good Friday Service, I heard a Catholic priest state simply what we need to do every day. He said daily, we just need to state, “Father, into your hands I commit my life. Father into your hands I commend my spirit!”
Folks, that’s as simple and as truthful as it gets.
Let’s keep our perspective... no matter how long we’ve been walking the spiritual path...no matter how far we think we’ve traveled.
God in his perfection made it all simple: Trust me. Follow me. Believe in me. I love you. I’ll never leave you. You are my child, in whom I am well pleased....
I know a lot of people, because I’ve lived in several states in the United States. But the people who I know and appreciate MOST are those people who are good in their ESSENCE.
Those are the people who are tremendously successful in their individual lives...in their individual careers. They go about minding their business at EVERY LEVEL. They get on top of their game.
They don’t talk about GOD. They live GOD.
These are the people who turn on the light for others, when the world would turn it off. These are the people who step in, when every other door slams shut in your face.
I have a male friend like that in Chicago. I have a female friend, like that, too. They have been waiting. They always are waiting...not in anticipation... but in preparation.
The world turns off its light for many people when they are in trouble...of any kind...and when they are sick. Inherent in my friends’ career choices is that intent towards goodness: one is a medical doctor; the other is an attorney. Saving lives that’s what these people do.
They don’t debate it. They just DO IT!
They just let God be GOD through them.
As I was paying the cashier at the Hallmark store, an almost blind teenager, came up to her and asked her to lead him to the birthday section. She said, “yes.” Then, he asked, “After that, can you take me to the anniversary section?” She said yes...again.
God being GOD ...for that teenager...through the cashier.
So, let’s keep it simple folks...whether we think we’re “gods,” or we’re just letting God BE GOD through us: God STILL IS GOD!
A friend who does a monthly Reflections column defines God as “The Source and *Creator for all that is.”
Don’t forget that. Don’t complicate THAT.
Namaste’,
Che’
*Later this week, I’ll elaborate on the Mental (mind/soul), Physical (body) and Spiritual aspects of our being and where God, the Creator, is in all of this.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Co-Creating Your Life...With Spirit!
When you were a child...you acted like a child, you cried like a child and operated as a child. Now that you’ve reached a certain level in your development, your Spirit is calling you to rise higher.
We may not recognize Spirit’s call, because it is inaudible. But if we pay attention, we should be able to “hear” that call.
This call is an uneasiness with life. It’s a hunger for something our soul knows not what of. We feel something is missing in our lives, yet we’ve lost nothing that we can pinpoint on a conscious level.
The thing that we have lost is that connection to Spirit.
Yes, as a child, we had that connection. We knew and felt a guiding force in our lives. Then...just around Age 7, we ...just...lost it.
Now, we’ve reached a place in life’s experience that has brought us to this point: we may have gotten married, then possibly unmarried, once, twice or several times, or we maybe never have gotten married; we may have had one kid, two or several kids, or we may have had no kids of our own; we may have changed jobs once, twice or several times, or perhaps we’ve worked at the same job in the same place since we started out in the workforce, and perhaps we’ve achieved or not achieved a certain lifestyle.
We also know there’s still life ahead of us, because we’ve still got dreams to fulfill.
Yet, we know it is not only dreams we seek to fulfill. We know we’re not searching for “things.”
We’re searching for what seems to be ...the promise.
We remember hearing that little voice inside that promised to make everything all right...one day.
That’s what we’re searching for. Yes... that promise to make everything ALL RIGHT! So with that call, our attention is focused...searching, hoping that the answer will come quickly and easily to us.
I documented my call, my search, my bewilderments and my next steps in “On the Road to Becoming.” In this book, I stated that we always are in a state of becoming and the journey never ends. But we can begin walking in the right direction.
For most of you who already have gotten that call and answered years ago, then you’ve probably traveled quite a journey already and you have your own stories to tell me. But I’m writing this Blog for those of you who are still waiting to answer that call.
The truth is that once you feel that unease, the urgency to answer will never go away...until you take action.
The first action I recommend is to start spending time by yourself and with yourself. Get to know who you are, separate from what and who the world thinks of you.
Then, start going into the Silence of your being. Learn how to meditate. It’s simple and intuitive because it is a natural process: breath in, breath out and focus your attention on the breathing. Don’t get distracted by your thoughts, your problems of the day or issues. Just get back into focus by keeping your attention on your breathing.
Each day...morning and night...meditate.
When you don’t have an answer for a seeming problem...meditate.
When you don’t know your next step...meditate.
Eventually, meditation will become an automatic process for you. Instead of getting on the phone and chatting with your friends or family, you’ll get to a place where you prefer to. ..meditate.
Through meditation, you’ll discover that your life is taking on a profile of Peace, maybe even, Joy, though nothing has changed on the outside...yet.
Through meditation, you’ll find yourself getting creative solutions to problems that you thought you’d never, ever be able to solve.
Through meditation, you’ll get answers.
Because through meditation, you’ll connect back to Spirit. (It never went anywhere; it’s just that LIFE...your life… got in the way, and you disconnected).
Now I know I’ve made it seem like 1, 2, 3. I know it isn’t so.
There are moments of torment and turmoil. I’ve been there...and my times of torture are all documented in “On the Road to Becoming.”
When I was unable to move forward through my own will and through focused meditation, that’s when I connected to others in Prayer.
Unity has a 24-hour prayer line,* Silent Unity, where there is ALWAYS someone on the phone to pray with you...around the clock. Silent Unity was my life line. It still is, especially in those moments when I don’t know...ABSOLUTELY...DON’T KNOW...what to do. Or when I feel blocked in any way, despite meditation.
By connecting to others in prayer, I am able to raise my consciousness to a higher level. By doing so, I am able to get back into connecting with Spirit.
By connecting to Spirit, I’m guided to my next right step.
Your next right step is all you should ever be concerned about... AT ANY TIME.
Yesterday...truly is over. Tomorrow... is not promised.
Today...this moment...this present time...is truly all we have.
By connecting with Spirit...moment by moment...you’re able to create...co-create your life...and all the tomorrows and yesterdays, you’d like to see.
You’ll truly be able to co-create the life you desire!
Trust Spirit to guide you. Connect to Spirit to empower your life!
Namaste’,
Che’
*The number for Silent Unity: 1-800-669-7729. Another prayer line I enjoy and use is Kenneth Hagin Ministries in Oklahoma: 1-918-258-1588 x1. This is not 24 hours and operates 8 a.m.-4 p.m . Central Time
We may not recognize Spirit’s call, because it is inaudible. But if we pay attention, we should be able to “hear” that call.
This call is an uneasiness with life. It’s a hunger for something our soul knows not what of. We feel something is missing in our lives, yet we’ve lost nothing that we can pinpoint on a conscious level.
The thing that we have lost is that connection to Spirit.
Yes, as a child, we had that connection. We knew and felt a guiding force in our lives. Then...just around Age 7, we ...just...lost it.
Now, we’ve reached a place in life’s experience that has brought us to this point: we may have gotten married, then possibly unmarried, once, twice or several times, or we maybe never have gotten married; we may have had one kid, two or several kids, or we may have had no kids of our own; we may have changed jobs once, twice or several times, or perhaps we’ve worked at the same job in the same place since we started out in the workforce, and perhaps we’ve achieved or not achieved a certain lifestyle.
We also know there’s still life ahead of us, because we’ve still got dreams to fulfill.
Yet, we know it is not only dreams we seek to fulfill. We know we’re not searching for “things.”
We’re searching for what seems to be ...the promise.
We remember hearing that little voice inside that promised to make everything all right...one day.
That’s what we’re searching for. Yes... that promise to make everything ALL RIGHT! So with that call, our attention is focused...searching, hoping that the answer will come quickly and easily to us.
I documented my call, my search, my bewilderments and my next steps in “On the Road to Becoming.” In this book, I stated that we always are in a state of becoming and the journey never ends. But we can begin walking in the right direction.
For most of you who already have gotten that call and answered years ago, then you’ve probably traveled quite a journey already and you have your own stories to tell me. But I’m writing this Blog for those of you who are still waiting to answer that call.
The truth is that once you feel that unease, the urgency to answer will never go away...until you take action.
The first action I recommend is to start spending time by yourself and with yourself. Get to know who you are, separate from what and who the world thinks of you.
Then, start going into the Silence of your being. Learn how to meditate. It’s simple and intuitive because it is a natural process: breath in, breath out and focus your attention on the breathing. Don’t get distracted by your thoughts, your problems of the day or issues. Just get back into focus by keeping your attention on your breathing.
Each day...morning and night...meditate.
When you don’t have an answer for a seeming problem...meditate.
When you don’t know your next step...meditate.
Eventually, meditation will become an automatic process for you. Instead of getting on the phone and chatting with your friends or family, you’ll get to a place where you prefer to. ..meditate.
Through meditation, you’ll discover that your life is taking on a profile of Peace, maybe even, Joy, though nothing has changed on the outside...yet.
Through meditation, you’ll find yourself getting creative solutions to problems that you thought you’d never, ever be able to solve.
Through meditation, you’ll get answers.
Because through meditation, you’ll connect back to Spirit. (It never went anywhere; it’s just that LIFE...your life… got in the way, and you disconnected).
Now I know I’ve made it seem like 1, 2, 3. I know it isn’t so.
There are moments of torment and turmoil. I’ve been there...and my times of torture are all documented in “On the Road to Becoming.”
When I was unable to move forward through my own will and through focused meditation, that’s when I connected to others in Prayer.
Unity has a 24-hour prayer line,* Silent Unity, where there is ALWAYS someone on the phone to pray with you...around the clock. Silent Unity was my life line. It still is, especially in those moments when I don’t know...ABSOLUTELY...DON’T KNOW...what to do. Or when I feel blocked in any way, despite meditation.
By connecting to others in prayer, I am able to raise my consciousness to a higher level. By doing so, I am able to get back into connecting with Spirit.
By connecting to Spirit, I’m guided to my next right step.
Your next right step is all you should ever be concerned about... AT ANY TIME.
Yesterday...truly is over. Tomorrow... is not promised.
Today...this moment...this present time...is truly all we have.
By connecting with Spirit...moment by moment...you’re able to create...co-create your life...and all the tomorrows and yesterdays, you’d like to see.
You’ll truly be able to co-create the life you desire!
Trust Spirit to guide you. Connect to Spirit to empower your life!
Namaste’,
Che’
*The number for Silent Unity: 1-800-669-7729. Another prayer line I enjoy and use is Kenneth Hagin Ministries in Oklahoma: 1-918-258-1588 x1. This is not 24 hours and operates 8 a.m.-4 p.m . Central Time
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