Love Vs. Fear

I was talking with someone about love and fear today.  He made the comment that it all comes down to love and fear and I agreed.  I then said that love was the only real thing I knew of.  Love is eternal and comes from God, fear is transient and frequently relates to earthly, material things.  Both are feelings and the actions that result.  However, if a person acts in the presence of fear (courage), the fear dissolves and goes away, like elusive vapor.  If one acts in the presence of love, it gets stronger and spreads.  It also feels a lot better and more real!

Comparisons

Maria, my wife, and I took a ride to a forest service area near Sunset Crater and Wupatki National Monument, for a short hike and period of outdoor meditation.  On the way there we passed a dog that was dead and on the side of the road, having been hit by a car.  It was being eaten by another dog, a chilling scene.  We drove past the lava fields to a place where the pine trees were bent and gnarled, in large part because of the frequent strong wind.  The trees also showed evidence of lightning strikes and the resulting fires.
When I began meditating, I was communicating to the trees an acknowledgment of how hard their life was.  What I got back, loud and clear, was that “it is what it is” and that “comparisons are useless”.  As it says in the poem “Desiderata” by Max Ehermann, it is best not to use comparison and just peacefully accept what is.

Living the Truth

The theme of a dream I had several years ago was “You’ve got to remember, it won’t work if you don’t tell the truth”.  In the dream I ended up speaking those words forcefully and repeatedly to a group of aliens who wished to show earthlings that the aliens were friendly and not a threat to earth.  I wanted to convey to the aliens the importance of people knowing who they really were, if they wanted to accomplish their mission, that if the people on earth did not know the truth about who they were, their mission would fail.
In my case, I would like to show people the healing power of God/love and how it can change their lives, as it has changed mine.  Part of me would like to talk about this from within a monastery or on a stage sitting next to a Bird of Paradise flower, but that would not be real, the day to day truth which I live.  What I mean is that part of me would like to live a simple ideal life that would not make it difficult to live my truth, rather than the complex, challenging life I lead.  Living a normal life and writing a daily journal feels more real, so I have joined the ranks of the quiet ones who behave similarly.

Location of Consciousness, Part 2

During the recovery meeting this morning, I was reminded of Occam’s razor with regard to the location of consciousness.  Occam’s razor states that the simplest explanation is usually the right one.  I learned that guiding principle during college and I also learned “treasure your exceptions” since that is where the learning is.  I tend to use both of these principles frequently, especially to cut through personal biases that keep me from the truth.
I have used both of these principles with regard to the location of consciousness.  Over the centuries people have reported numerous instances of disassociation, when the location of their consciousness has shifted to a location out of their physical body.  There have also been reports of near-death or after-death experiences that also involve a change in the location of consciousness.  Personally, I have experienced both.  It is certainly possible to come up with various explanations for any of these experiences, which people have done.  However, in my opinion, the simplest explanation is that consciousness is not exclusively located in the brain.
I spent the rest of the day relaxing, sorting and meditating.

Sensing the Aura

I encountered several people telling conflicting stories about each other today, a situation that I have encountered many times before.  I was also being asked to sort through all of this, in order that appropriate action might be taken.  It was frustrating and I just took my best guess and went with it.
Each of us project an energy field around us that does not lie or manipulate, which some people see as an “aura” and I can feel but not see.  It is a bit different for each individual, much like differences in facial expressions or body type.  As a result of the differences, I have to get to know a person in order to discern what is being communicated through their aura.  That is the only way I know of to sort through the conflicting stories I speak of in the preceding paragraph.

I was talking to an individual today and sensing his energy field, as a part of the deep listening I do when really connecting with the person I am talking to.  In order to do this level of listening, it has to be totally selfless, without ego involvement and based on love and compassion for the person I am speaking with.  Fundamentally, I need to first resolve my own issues and/or get them out of the way.  I was able to do that successfully in this case.  In the process of switching topics I could feel his energy field switch also, which was quite remarkable for me.  I also checked it with him and though the switch was totally subconscious and involuntary, he could feel it too.