Daily Practice

I do several hours of combined prayer, meditation, contemplation, reading and writing every day. I often do my contemplation during less demanding activities like exercising, weeding or cooking. I enjoy experiencing the God place or what Jesus called the Kingdom of God, which makes my disability or chronic pain tolerable. When in the God place my disability and pain either do not exist or have no significance. I recall the wise words of Thomas Kelly when he said "Life is meant to be lived from a Center, a divine Center ---- a life of unhurried peace and power. It is simple. It is serene. It takes no time, but it occupies all our time."

Peace

I did not find out about last night’s bombing of Syria until this morning. When I found out about it I was immediately disturbed since violence generally leads to more violence, not peace. A short time later I meditated, got into that loving God place and quickly realized that in an eternal/Godly sense, everything was just fine. During the day I have been reflecting on the word of Dubay, S.M. when he wrote "When one is anchored deeply in the divine solution to all problems, outer turmoil cannot disturb the inner tranquility. It is a peace that surpasses all understanding."

Spiritual Path

Just before my recovery meeting today a friend and fellow recovering person wanted another copy of my book, having loaned his copy to a friend, who now wanted his own copy. The whole interchange pleased me, since my book was helping them on their own spiritual paths. He then spoke passionately during the meeting about his relationships and what his path meant to him, commenting on the freedom that he found there. I could certainly identify, having gone through something similar. It was good to connect with a fellow traveler.

Compassion

Today I have been reading some of the early writings of some of the Friends (Quakers), particularly surrounding alcohol use but other issues as well. They obviously judged other people harshly and attempted to coerce them away from their use of intoxicants, distractions and frivolities. I also find fulfillment in a monastic lifestyle, largely without those intoxicants, distractions and frivolities but I also view others with compassion, realizing that we are all connected. I model myself according to the beautiful comments from Knowing Woman by Irene Claremont deCastillejo, many years ago; "In those rare moments when all the opposites meet within a man, good and also evil, light and also darkness, spirit and also body, brain and also heart, masculine focused consciousness and at the same time feminine diffuse awareness, wisdom of maturity and childlike wonder; when all are allowed and none displaces any other in the mind of a man, then that man, though he may utter no word is in an attitude of prayer. Whether he knows it or not his own receptive allowing will affect all those around him; rain will fall on the parched fields, and tears will turn bitter grief to flowering sorrow, while stricken children dry their eyes and laugh." Coercion and judgment do not fall within love.

Being Present

This was another regular day of just quietly doing the "next right thing", the simple task right in front of me. I exercised, went grocery shopping, meditated and worked on our gardens, a very contemplative activity. I was conscious of an internal voice that said I should be doing more. In the words of Kornfield, "When we let go of our battles and open our heart to things as they are, then we come to rest in the present moment This is the beginning and end of spiritual practice." He goes on to say, "As we stop the war, each of us will find something from which we have been running -- our loneliness, our unworthiness, our boredom, our shame, our unfulfilled desires." In my case it was impatience and a desire to be accomplishing more.

I'm a Dreamer

I am passionate about the power or force of love/God and the ability of that force to change the world. That force has changed my life and can certainly change others and as I say in my website "if enough people discover and live by what I attempt to describe here, things could change dramatically and on much more than a personal level." Unfortunately, I don’t know how to do that - yet. I am working on it. In the words of Sawhill "To attain excellence, you must care more than others think wise, risk more than others think safe and dream more than others think practical". Time to meditate!