Connection

I work with many people who are struggling to find or strengthen their spiritual connection and, as a result of that connection, be able to know and accomplish things like communication with plants and animals or deep meditative awareness of the Absolute.  These things are certainly possible, but they require discipline, focus and practice.  In my case, I learned of being connected to all things, then read of the abilities of St. Francis or Rolling Thunder and noticed the way that plants and animals responded to me when I approached them with love, humility and respect.  I took all of these factors, put them together, worked on my communication and listening skills and have had a fair degree of success at connecting with plants and animals.  I have used a similar collective and integrative approach with various types of connection, and had high degree of success.

Experiencing the Absolute

I gather that most people know of and have experienced brief glimpses of the Absolute or God place, that feeling of peace and tranquility, a feeling that everything is and will continue to be just fine, a feeling that some would experience as the love and grandeur of God.  Some have the experience through music, some dance, others through excursions into nature.  My initial experience was on the side of Grandfather Mountain in North Carolina and now I have the experience regularly, during meditation, I also tend to carry that feeling with me during the day, though I get distracted at times.  I agree with the mystic, St. John of the Cross, when he commented that “He should learn to remain in God’s presence with a loving attention and a tranquil intellect, even though this seems like idleness to him.  Soon he will find little by little that a divine calm and peace with a wondrous, sublime knowledge of God, enveloped in divine love, will be infused into his soul”.  It’s a wonderful feeling in this up and down, transient world we live in.  I have learned that, with practice, it is possible to achieve that sense/feeling through meditation.

Gratitude

Today, I felt a lot of gratitude for where I am emotionally, spiritually and physically.  Physically is the most challenging since I am still disabled, have a speech impediment and am getting older.  My gratitude as far as the physical comes from the fact that my physical challenges have led to a lot of spiritual and emotional growth, and also the fact that it could be (and was predicted to be!) A whole lot worse.  I am still relatively active, my balance and coordination seem to have leveled off, for the most part, and my jaw control is improving, slowly.  Also, I continue to surprise myself as far as my emotional and spiritual advancement over the last several years.  I owe a lot to the various holistic disciplines and practices I have developed, coupled with the prayer and meditation I do daily.  I also owe a lot to the tremendous amount of help and support I have received and continue to receive.

Using Intuition

At this point, I rely very heavily on my own intuition to guide my actions.  Basically, when approaching any action I get a “quiet” feeling inside that says “go ahead”.  I, now, trust the feeling as long as it is other-directed since, as Mac, a previous mentor used to say “intuition sees the whole picture”.  I have had to be careful in developing this trust, checking often with other, trusted individuals in considering the various options/actions.
In cases where the actions or thoughts are self-directed, I do not trust my intuition since it is usually clouded by my own ego and I rely more on the three questions (would I do this in front of God, is my name really on it, will this increase the integrity of the universe).  Out of those three questions, the most frequently prominent is “will this increase the integrity of the universe”, in other words, “is this the loving thing to do”.
On the occasions that I get a twisted feeling inside, I do not take the action.

Simple Truths

The truths that I now know and live by, which have also been known by many others for centuries, are both very simple and profoundly difficult at the same time.  The truths like knowing that we are all one with each other and the force called God or that love is the eternal fact that we are all learning about or truely sensing the overwhelming peace and serenity of “I am”, all require negating and looking past what we have been taught in this culture.
In my case, I knew that there was something I was missing and I listened to the words of many teachers.  They could only point the direction for what I wanted to know and, using a lot of discipline and meditation, I came to know the same things.  I now point the way for others and continue to “discover” what has always been there.  I now am relatively comfortable with “being lost in a trackless desert” and being open to discarding old ideas.  Time to meditate!

Allowing

For my first time, I live in a neighborhood with a Home Owners Association (HOA) and tonight I was reading through their bylaws in order to learn what I needed to do in order to comply.  Two things of note come to mind for me.  The first is that I do not like the sense of being told what to do, being controlled.  However, I understand the utility of their rules and willingly submit, especially since the factors they talk about mean little to me.  The second thing of note to me is that they place value on things that mean nothing, things like superficial appearance rather than attempting to promote connectedness and creativity.  Personally. I am not certain that it is possible to produce rules that promote things like connectedness, love and creativity but it is possible to support and allow them.

Connection

For the last several days I have been struck by the level of hunger or longing of the various people I have encountered for some sort of strong, bias-free connection with a “higher power” or God.  The kind of connection that various mystics and spiritual leaders have been talking about and experiencing for centuries.  Knowing that we are all connected and that each of us has a direct connection with that force called God.  Knowing that we are all perfect within our individual imperfections, and that love is the eternal truth which we are all growing towards.
The various religions provide some guidance toward making that connection, but there is generally a bias, which people tire of and then tend to drift away from the spiritual.  Unfortunately, this culture still places emphasis on the importance of the material rather than the spiritual.  There are also many people, like myself, who know of and talk about the importance of that connection.  I also love helping others connect.