When Darkness Comes: Hunker In...It's a Wild Ride! (Wake Up: Part II)

"Darkness deserves gratitude. It is the alleluia point at which we learn to understand that growth does not take place in the sunlight." Joan Chittister, Uncommon Gratitude

The above image and quote, notwithstanding, sometimes, even to ourselves, life simply does not make sense... sometimes.

We're not talking here of little day-to-day trials, or even short periods of darkness. We're talking of when the curtain comes down on an entire period of your life for months, even years, where you have to keep on walking but you have no clue where you're headed and why.What "you know for sure," though,  is that you have to keep on moving, whether it's seemingly on the treadmill of life, or you're actually making strides in some direction "of which you know not of." You sense there might be a protective presence right there with you, but again, you are no longer sure.

This is the journey  of the "Dark Night of the Soul," covered by St. John of the Cross in his book of the same name. The translation we will use to understand the depth of this journey and its stillness is by E. Allison Peers.  

Spiritual literature abounds with the promises of enrichment that follows the person on a spiritual path.

Promises of simply "thinking and growing rich"  are everywhere in self empowerment books, while others may say you simply have to look within and the road will open up to greet you.

Perhaps these positive things happen right at the beginning of the spiritual journey, when people first discover there's an entire part to themselves that they've been missing. They then begin to go within by starting meditation classes, reflecting in quiet moments and doing things they previously had not done before. By staying positive, even when things go awry, they do see good changes happening in their lives.

These are the good times.

Stop there. 

Truly stop there and go no further, especially if there's no compulsion in your Soul to know more. You'll continue to fully enjoy your life, if you just stop there! Any dark nights you encounter should just be a natural part of life.   

Image of diver, doing free diving, where divers test their limits 
with death-defying free dives. See 60 minutes episode:"Free Diving"

(THE PREVIOUS WARNING [from October] IS WORTH REPEATING
Please always keep in mind
this caveat as you walk the spiritual path: We should
not give up our lives to go "looking"
for God. Rather, live our lives with the consciousness
of Spirit within! There's real danger in going "looking." Live your life by doing what's right moment by moment; connecting within should be the only "looking" you do. If you find yourself wanting to give up careers, jobs, husbands, wives and/or children, you've traveled into dangerous territory.)

For those who truly feel called to go much deeper to connect to the within and those wanting to understand more about the mystery of life, there's a strong likelihood that you'll encounter "dark nights." But few spiritual leaders dwell upon the darkness that often results from following a deeply authentic spiritual path.   [A"dark night" experience is more than a bad day/night. Nevertheless, this Deepak Chopra story makes interesting reading:  ("My First Job: My Dark Night As a Real Doctor")] 

Check out whole libraries, and the literature is scarce on the dark side of spiritual enlightenment. It's as if the teachers are reluctant to share that part of the journey, or, they simply have not reached that point in their own evolution. Indeed, they may have stopped journeying inward, as they encountered light, and more light, on their path. Positive thinking does work! Many DO Think and Grow Rich!

There may be a reason that even those willing to talk about the darkness stay silent for long periods after having gone through the dark night. Most need to process the experience for a long time afterwards; many are reluctant to share such a period they know is "grace." 

The "dark night of the soul" has unspeakable horrors, as well as unspeakable joys.This is the time in our lives when all the spiritual muscle we've developed before atrophies and becomes useless. Nothing works!

Church doesn't work, prayer doesn't seem to work, the bible offers some comfort but not enough, affirmations and all that we may have once believed as "Truth" no longer work. Indeed, even the very selves we knew begin to disappear. The road becomes so dark we doubt we'll make it through to the other side.

To imagine this dark road, try to see your hand when all the electricity in your home has been turned out and you have no candles to light your way. Imagine trying to go outside and it's darker still, as the street lights are not working and there's no moonlight.
Imagine the darkness of such horror.
Imagine, too, that somewhere in the stillness of the darkness, you hear a faint, very faint voice, calling you to move in its direction. As you keep traveling towards it, it seems to grow clearer and clearer...But you know, you've still got a far way to go.

St. John of the Cross, a great Spanish and Carmelite monk in the 16th century, spoke of the dark night in as clear a fashion as anyone can share.

For St. John, this is a period of God's abiding love for us, yet, it is the most painful, as it a purifying period. Pride, avarice, envy and other human imperfections are held up to the light, so we can expel these negative traits from our Soul.

For those who are faint of heart, this is not a journey to be undertaken without much forethought.
Even for those who undertake it, unknowingly, and wish to turn back at many times, there is no way back.

The beauty of the "dark night of the soul" is that as it expunges the impurities, there comes more light, more wisdom, more joy, more beauty of the Soul and a deepening love for God.

This is the same light that Jacques Lusseyran in his book, "And There was Light,"* explains as a different vision that comes to the blind child or person.

"All of us, whether we are blind or not, are terribly greedy. We want things only for ourselves. Even without realizing it, we want the universe to be like us and give us all the room in it.
But a blind child learns very quickly that this cannot be. He has to learn it, for every time he forgets that he is not alone in the world, he strikes against an object, hurts himself and is called to order. But each time he remembers, he is rewarded for everything comes his way."

There are unspeakable horrors, as one's missteps are held up into the light. Who really wants to see the ugliness of their behavior played out on a movie screen that is their mind and heart?

Yet, there's the unspeakable, unparalleled joy of wisdom and insight and the glory of being held, however briefly, by God.

No one can speak of this journey of darkness to illumination.
Few do.

If you're privileged to get that far in your journey, you'll understand why, too.

And you'll know that all you can do is to hunker in...through the darkness...as the glory will come...the light will come...eventually. 

While you're at it, I strongly recommend as your companion, "Dark Night of the Soul," by St. John of the Cross. You will learn from him to give thanks through it all, and you will be grateful for the journey.

 "A sacred illness is one that educates us and alters us from the inside out, provides experience and therefore knowledge, that we could not possibly achieve in any other way." -Deena Metzger, Healer

Happy Thanksgiving!

Namaste',
Che'
NOTES:
*We will cover this book in more depth in December.
**Via Gratefulness.org, Friday, Nov. 1, 2013. Deena Metzger is a writer, poet, essayist, playwright, novelist, counselor and healer. According to Wikipedia, she has been teaching for more than 45 years and has developed therapies called, "Healing Stories."

Looking for God in All the Wrong Places: Wake UP! Part I

We must begin to see: God is in all as all! Photo Credit: Relaxxx Music

"We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move. We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want. We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable. We work with being, but non-being is what we use." tao de ching

Wake Up! Wake Up! Wake UP!

The world is waiting for you.
The world is waiting for you to begin to really create yourself in its space and leave an imprint.

We're all bakers, makers, candlestick makers.
We're all writers, poets, doctors and lawyers.
We're all preachers, teachers, leaders.

Whoever created this bench was highly creative! Photo Credit: Pictures World 

Just wake up and find your way.

The potential to be and do and achieve and become anything is there. We just have to unleash the creative powers within.

We can be all that we want to be and more, if only we can wake up to all the creative resources waiting patiently within us to be used. The problem is that the world puts limits on us and this brakes us into molds and folds where we believe that we can only do and achieve at certain levels. Truthfully, those limits can be removed, and we can work with the "open sky" to create a new way of being, seeing and doing in the world.

Before we can do any of that, though, we must wake up to the truth of WHO we are.

Look at the young woman pictured at the top. Do you think she can help but do what she does? Do you think that she came to this talent by accident, or was she wired this way? Of course, the young woman honed her skills and talent over the years to go to higher and higher levels from where she began. But from inception, she was "born that way."

Look at these images of dancers in New York City, defying gravity. (Dancers in Times Square Defy Gravity). They've honed their natural talents and abilities to the level of mastery.

That's the physical part of ourselves. Less obvious is the spirit within all these "acrobatic" moves that allowed them to do what they do.

*Steve Jobs was able to tap into the power within himself and reached out to the power within others to create products that now serve us daily in magnificent ways throughout the world. 

Whether we're famous or not, we're always contributing to the greater whole by producing goods and services that evolve from our natural talents and abilities.

We may be a stay-at-home mom, baking, cooking and sewing; an office manager, a lawyer, a scientist, mathematician, teacher, doctor, but what we all are naturally doing is tapping into the source within. From there, everything flows.

When we're not "in the flow" with our talents, skills and abilities, our lives become very uncomfortable and can even become our nightmare.

"In the Flow of Life," Master Teacher Eric Butterworth shows us how our lives get off track and how we can get back into the flow. I highly recommend this great book on the flow, but it's to his other book I now want to steer your attention. 

In "Discover the Power Within You," Butterworth emphasizes that Jesus' teachings were to educate us on the power within us all, not just in him, Jesus.  Butterworth went to great lengths explaining how Jesus' works and words were really invitations for us to look within ourselves.

"In his search for the 'holy grail,' man has looked everywhere and in vain, but he has failed to look within himself." -Eric Butterworth

He explained that when other prophets, too, have tried to teach us the way, we have turned to worship them, ignoring their teachings, and essentially making"a god of the prophet...worshiped him and built monuments to him.." 

With the advent of religions, we trapped ourselves in "the religion practices that had no 'within.'"

How do we extricate ourselves and seek the truth within us?

We must first wake up to the role of religion in our lives:

"The institution of church is always dictatorial, no matter what outer form it takes. It does not convince you but gives you directions on how to behave." - Immanuel Kant 

The late Eric Butterworth

Once we're able to understand that our religion may get us to navigate our way successfully in the world but may not get us to truly explore the power within us, then we will begin to wake up to Truth. This is what Jesus tried to teach and what Butterworth covers in his book.  

We must Wake UP! You can't keep looking to the preacher, the teacher, the spiritual leader to guide you. Begin to look for yourself...by digging into yourself! 

(WARNING--Please always keep in mind
this caveat as you walk the spiritual path: We should
not give up our lives to go "looking"
for God. Rather, live our lives with a consciousness
of Spirit within! There's real danger in going "looking."

Live your life by doing what's right moment by moment;
connecting within should be the only "looking" you do. If you find yourself

wanting to give up careers, jobs, husbands, wives and/or children, you've

traveled into dangerous territory. We'll explore that next month.)

What we must learn

1. We must change our Consciousness in order to Change our lives.

The world will continuously try to seduce us into believing that it, and all its trappings, is what life really is all about. We must resist the temptation to conform only to the ways of the world and reach for a higher level of being, as Paul noted, "Be not conformed to this world, but ye transformed by the renewing of your mind." Romans 12: 2 

"...the greatest mistake is in believing that we are 'only human.'" Butterworth says. We must try to go deeper within and touch the core of our being by not giving in only to worldly standards.

Photo Credit: "Stunning photos"

In other words, set higher standards of behavior for ourselves. In doing so, and in constantly searching to the core of our being, we will reach that higher level. We will begin to operate from the level of our Soul, which always seeks to guide our steps. 

When we begin to go inward, seeking to connect in every moment, in every way, we set into motion this "Soul operation."

2. We Must Accept Our Unity with God, as Jesus did!

"We must begin to see Jesus as the great discoverer of the innate Divinity of Man, the supreme revealer of the truth about man, the pioneer and the way shower in the quest for self realization and self unfoldment."- Eric Butterworth 

This is the part of us that makes many of us want to go "Aww Shucks! No way!" 
But it is the truth...the only truth...that will set us all free!

Emilie Cady, another master spiritual teacher who authored many great books, recommends that the way to truly do this, i.e.discover the divinity within, is "to make a conscious decision to let God really take over in every area of our lives." Cady has written powerful books like "Lessons In Truth."

Why is this so difficult? Why don't we simply allow this?

Our egos. Our very humanity gets in the way.
Our first instinct when challenges arise is not to go within but to go seeking without, i.e. friends, advisers and anyone who would listen to our plight. Then, we begin to plan and plot how we're going to "fix" the problem. It's only when we've exhausted ourselves in trying that we finally "Let Go, and Let God."

Often, it is within that short hour that the answer comes through us.

3. We Must Realize that God is The Spirit, The Energy that Surrounds Us and Dwells Within Us!  He is the energy that is in all living things ...creates all things and even permeates all things...

There's a story Butterworth tells in his book of a child being reminded that she should not be afraid for God is always with her. "But I want someone with skin on," the child cries.

Isn't that like us?

"Where ever we are, GOD IS!" But do we believe this? 

No!

According to Butterworth,  Meister Eckhart, the great philosopher, said that God expects only one thing of you, "and that is that you stop thinking of yourself as a created being and let God be God in you."

"The true self of you, the Christ, spiritual man," Butterworth urges, "is the individuation of God. You are the Presence of God at the point where you are."

Each of us are members of the ONE body of God, the ONE Spirit, the ONE Energy holding up the universe through all and in all.

"God is dead to you, if you are asleep to the activity of the Presence in you." Butterworth says.  

So, how is it that if God is dead to our conscious minds that we are still able to reap the benefits of the God connection?

By Grace.

With that, I conclude the first part of Wake UP!

As you contemplate what has been written so far, I invite you to think about the tremendous feats accomplished by the "Steve Jobs" of the world, the contortionist above, and the many other famous people you may know. Doing so, I hope you begin to see a common theme:

Whether the persons "deserve" the gifts given to them or not, based on the public profiles we see of them, they still were able to exercise and claim those gifts.

All by Grace. All by the Spirit Within.

"...Only in Me does the world have meaning; only out of Me does the world take form; only because of Me does the world go forward.I am the law on which the movement of the stars and the growth of living cells are founded...."James Dillet Freeman

 (Click here for the entire poem :"I am There" by James Dillet Freeman)

Wake UP to Truth! Wake Up to the Spirit Within!

Namaste',

Che'




*NOTE: As October 5 comes around and I celebrate a birthday, I also think of Steve Jobs who died on that day in 2011.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The three-part "Wake UP" series is being based on three books in consecutive order:"Discover The Power Within You," by Eric Butterworth; "Dark Night of the Soul," by St. John of the Cross, and "Exquisite Risk" by Mark Nepo  

Pray Your Own Prayer and Make it An Inside Job! (Final of Soul Searching Series)

"A person can live without prayer only when his sins are guiding him, or when he is a saint. One necessary condition for a good life is when those who resist their passions, prejudices, and lies in this world seek a higher understanding of the meaning of love." Leo Tolstoy

1,000,000 monks praying: Shawn Williams

Leo Tolstoy is absolutely right. We truly cannot live happily without prayer.

Many of us miss the mark and the rewards of prayer, because we are not fully aware that deep, sincere, meaningful prayer is done in the silence. It's when you are able to reach to the core of your being and make a click, a connection to the center of you. It's when, according to Tolstoy, you begin to fly.

 "We can and should live in our physical life, but as soon as an obstacle appears, we should spread our wings and start to fly." 

Inside prayer lifts us to a greater understanding of what is before us, so we that even if the answer takes a long time, we build courage. wisdom and strength in the meantime, and eventually, are able to mount with wings of eagles: 

" But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." Isaiah 40: 31

Public prayers in some religions serve the common good and may help soothe the masses.

Forcing people to pray, or praying without touching the inside of you, becomes "prayering."

This is described in Matthew 6:5.

(North Carolina County commissioners sued for trying to make prayers official.))

"But when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily, I say unto you, They have their reward." 

Many people are taught at a young age to pray out loud, upon awakening and before bed. Eventually, though, we should outgrow this form of prayer. These audible morning and nighttime prayers were developed for the convenience of parents to make sure their kids were being obedient. At some point, these audible prayers exhaust their purpose, as our souls naturally guide us to go within. 

"We cannot get to know God by listening to stories about Him. You get to know Him only by following his law, which is written in the heart of every person."

             -Leo Tolstoy

"A little boy once went to bed and asked his nurse to pray for him and continue to play with his dolls while he slept. People have the same childish attitude toward God. They believe they can live bad lives, go to bed, and be prayed for by someone who will continue to play the game for them."

-Leo Tolstoy, Wise Thoughts of Everyday.

People may pray for you ...and it works for a time.
People may guide you on how to pray for yourself...and it may work for a time.
But the greatest prayer you can develop is your own silent, heart to heart, prayer, reaching silently for God without words.

When you recognize God as your source and supply, then you are in essence, praying, without saying a word.
When you're focused on God as your help in every need, you're praying, without saying a word. 
As you recognize and focus on God, you begin to know that all things you do, achieve and desire come from the Source within. 

You don't need to get down on your knees to pray, unless it has become so habitual that this is the only way you can touch the core of your being. Then, by all means get down on your knees to pray.

The main thing you should realize is that prayer is a personal and an inside job.
There is no right way to pray.

I repeat: there is no right way to pray!

Just as you are an individualized Soul on its journey on Earth, that is the same individualized inner work you need to do to connect with your Soul.

People may share how they pray with you, but trying to follow them may only lead you to frustration. Prayer simply is your conversation with God: It is private. It is personal. It is in your own voice.

I ask of you the following:

Do you copy someone else's voice when you speak out loud? Do you try to imitate someone else when you talk about things that matter to you? Then, why in the world would you try to imitate someone else's way when you pray!

(In August, I shared three different preachers, Bishop T.D. Jakes, Joel Osteen, and Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith, who have completely different styles yet manage to connect Soulfully with each of us. If you didn't read that piece, please check it out.)

 Esteemed Spiritual Teacher Marianne Williamson spoke on our greatest fear. 

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

President Barack Obama was a black-haired young man when he took office in 2009.
Today, he is gray haired and the weight of the world is on his shoulders. God please bless and continue to be the leading force and guiding light in our president's life!

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.
—Marianne Williamson

 I say now: "My greatest fear" is not so much that we differ, but that we all strive to be alike...not creating from our own Souls... but simply imitating and copying...that IS my biggest fear!

These Buddhist monks, notwithstanding: I do not want to wake up to a world of sameness!
Photo Credit: BBC News

So many of us seem to suggest in our behavior that we would lose our way, without copying what someone else is doing. We are so afraid to take our own risks, chances, on where we are being led by our Souls, that we look over to see what and how someone else is doing things, and we pattern their behavior and practices.

This is wrong!

Buddhism chooses unanimity so that monks can achieve focus on their inner prayer work and enlightenment. Sameness works in such an environment and for such a purpose.

Children pray naturally from the heart. Until they unlearn this. 

God truly doesn't want us to be copying each other, patterning ourselves after another.
The diversity of our world is what makes it more interesting. YOU are what makes the world interesting! Would God want each of us to turn out to be monks in training?

No. We all enter into the world with our special gifts. God wants us to use them. Even in monasteries and ministries, people who are called to a cloistered life find diversity among their ranks.   

These young Buddhist monks are being prepared to keep the lights burning for so many of us who would walk the world in darkness. They are trained to seek Peace. We need their preparation and prayers. 

Our diversity, our uniqueness is what makes our world interesting, our life worth living. We fight hard to express our individuality, our uniqueness in public debates and forums, then  give it up by secretly and silently copying how someone else does his/her walk through life.

God doesn't have ears to hear your prayers, neither does God have eyes to see your prayers. God does, however, feel your prayers, as you do when you make the "connection" and get that "knowing" feeling within. So, like a person who is blind, mute or is disabled in some way, you can choose to stand silently, sit silently and pray silently.

Admittedly, though, in some churches, the sweetest thing you will hear on a Sunday morning, is the prayer of the pastor: There is nothing sweeter than a heartfelt prayer from a good, solid preacher.
But  after listening to the preacher,  we go home. That's when we should: Pray Alone.
Or stay in the church. Pray alone. Or if in a group, reach inside you so the prayer touches your core. 

"But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

"But when ye pray, use not van repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking."

Be not ye therefore like unto them..."- Matthew 6: 6-8

The "Our Father" is my sweetest prayer. I will never stop saying that prayer and enjoying and feeling it each time I say it, whether out loud, on my knees, or in silence.

I thank God for the people before me who created this prayer, as well as the 23rd, 27th, 30th,
 46th,  51st and 91st Psalms. I thank God for them!

As a Unity student (Unity School of Christianity, Lee's Summmit, MO), I learned another prayer that serves me always and in all ways:

 The Prayer of Faith, 

by Hannah More Kohaus:

God is my help in every need;

God does my every hunger feed;

God walks beside me, guides my way

Through every moment of this day.

 I now am wise, I now am true,

Patient and kind, and loving, too;

All things I am, can do, and be,

Through Christ the Truth, that is in me.

 God is my health, I can't be sick;

God is my strength, unfailing, quick; 

God is my all, I know no fear,

Since God and Love and Truth are here.

 (Please also enjoy this same prayer, with some additions, as shared by Rev. Sallye Taylor: Prayer of Faith, As Shared by Rev. Sallye Taylor on youtube.com)

Whether we're praying or "prayering," we're seeking the same results: solutions and answers.

In attempting to reach a higher power for assistance, what you should be most concerned about is making a real connection to the Soul. Therein lie answers and solutions and the only true, and often fastest method, to lay your burdens down.  

Namaste',

Che'

NOTE: Sometimes, we may find ourselves unable to pray for ourselves. That's when I recommend you reach out to others to pray with, or for, you. I have high respect and strongly recommend the following prayer lines: Unity 24-Hour Prayer Line: 800-669-7729 (from United States) or 01-816-969-2000 (International); Unity is open 365 days a year, 24 hours, and Kenneth Hagin Miinistries, Tulsa, Oklahoma: 918-258-1588 ext.3 for prayer. This is open 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. CST, Monday through Friday.