Love Versus Fear

Given my comments and the quote from Mother Teresa yesterday, I have to say that I even love our president elect. I delight in his antics and comments, realizing at the same time that he is in a position to cause a great deal of hurt and even destroy the planet. He has done and continues to truly stir things up causing a tremendous backlash of love and connection. He is certainly "unreasonable, illogical and self-centered", at times, as I have been. My hope is that the backlash of love and connection will prevail in the end. Love is, after all is said and done, much more powerful than fear.

Forgiveness

A couple of days ago I spoke of myself as being an "old man", which I am (68). I also commented that I’m "not nearly as old as I hope to become" and, by today’s standard, I’m not that old anyway. At any rate I have been "up, down and around" a few times. I have done many silly, hurtful, very human things while trying to do my best. Given that, I am not likely to judge anyone. I have long appreciated the comment by Mother Theresa, that "People are often unreasonable, illogical and self-centered; Forgive them anyway. If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true; Succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway. If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway. Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you’ve got anyway. You see, in the final analysis, It never was between you and them anyway.

Peace 2

I am now an old man, though not nearly as old as I hope to become. I have accomplished many things, hoping that they would fulfil me. Nothing did until I found out about prayer, meditation, unconditional love and the eternal Absolute. I now identify with the comment made by Thomas Dubay, S. M. When he wrote "The unending yearnings of the human spirit are satisfied by nothing that can be measured, seen, heard or touched. To focus selfishly on anything in the created order is to be restricted and thus to fall that far short of full freedom." I have found peace and fulfillment.

Peace

The other day I spoke of viewing "the world’s events through the Absolute lense of unconditional love", which I do. I have spent the last couple of days involved in the final preparations for moving in to my new home, with Maria. As usual, I have been meditating and contemplating a lot and I feel a strong sense of rightness and peace around the move. My feeling is described very nicely by Dubay, S.M’s. comment 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", a good feeling.

Mystical Touch

Maria and I attended the Friend’s annual Christmas pageant, a nativity celebration put on by children of various ages, very moving. During much of the ceremony I felt the powerful presence of the loving force I call God. As Dubay, S.M. puts it "A mystical touch is a deep, intimate contact-union-experience of God in one of His attributes such as power, light, goodness, beauty, or joy." I was reminded of a similar feeling and experience I had many years ago while attending a Native American Sundance ceremony, also very moving. I doubt that I will forget either experience and I feel deeply grateful for each.