Spirits

We went to visit the spirits around another local graveyard today. This particular location used to be bucolic and relatively idyllic but today is located near heavy traffic. When we got there I settled on a bench and it took a few minutes to focus and center myself and prepare for spirit communication. My focus consisted of connecting with my God/love part and the Absolute or God, in order to identify myself spiritually. After I did I could sense a youngish "male" sitting next to me on the bench and him wanting me to go with him back in time, which I did partially but did not know it until I "came back". I believe we went back to a warmer spring day around 1937 when the surrounding area was farmland and quite beautiful. We then joined with other spirits for a period of powerful silent worship. I knew we were done and that I was back when it got colder all of a sudden. I told Maria I was done and we came home.

Listening

It feels right for me to just sit quietly and listen intently and openly for any sort of guidance about my next right move. I say listening "openly" since I can easily distort any guidance I receive if I have pre-conceived notions or any emotional involvement. I also need patience since my timing does not always match God’s! When I write this it sounds simple and easy but for me, it is not. I often lack patience and/or have pre-conceived notions. Time to meditate.

Harmony

Until recently I have not thought of my well-being this way, but I have a strong sense of harmony (being with and a part of) with everything and everybody and I suspect this contributes to physical healing. When I pray and meditate I harmonize mainly with God or that part of God within me. When I exercise I focus on harmonizing with the strength and power of loving earth energies. Before I eat I bless my food and "everything and everyone that contributed to putting the food on the table in front of me". When I connect with others I have a sense of empathy, love and harmony with them. My sense (which I cannot prove!) is that the energy or sense of harmony that I carry with me during the day impacts on my physical health.

Quiet Time

My car is in the shop for repairs so I am grounded in terms of outside activities and I find that pleases me because I am "forced" to stay at home and do things like meditate. I am never involved in worldly activities but for now even less. "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." (Thomas Dubay, S. M.)

Being Of Service

In terms of my own spiritual growth, I am doing very well, and I am aware as part of that growth that I am feeling "lost in a trackless desert" in my quest to assist others in their evolution to higher levels. When I meditate I have a very good connection with God, I also feel a good sense of harmony with all things and am doing well physically. I feel positive about my interactions in mentoring several people. I also have several situations (website design, committee membership, work with spirits, etc.) where I feel lost in my effort to maximize my impact. I am "in between" and searching — feeling mostly patient but also a bit restless. "It [evolution to higher levels] is not now the result of an escalator coming up from below. It depends on us, and persons like us, whether we go on to further goals or not. The possibilities are in us, there is no compulsion. We can sag down to the level of animal life, or we can climb an inward Jacob’s Ladder and become rightly fashioned by spirits, kindled by a flame from above..... We have the possibility of becoming superbiological. (Rufus Jones)

There, But For The Grace Of God.....

I spent this afternoon at a visit with my in-laws during which they spent most of the time smiling, being pleasant and talking about superficial things like sports, home design and cars. There was a six month old present so there was also some cooing and other happy expressions around the baby. There were a few "cracks" in the facade showing some of the dysfunction, hurt and anger underneath the pleasantries. Having "been there", I could not judge them and I also realize that the way to help is love and support — not judgment or criticism. I was reminded how much work my wife and I have done to become more fulfilled and functional. I am very grateful for the help we have received along the way. As Patricia Loring points out "To undertake to live a discerned life, to endeavor daily to be attuned to authentic movements of the Spirit leading us into greater fullness of life, is a strenuous undertaking." She also wrote "We can cultivate an environment among us which will foster one another’s spiritual growth by directing and redirecting intention and attention to God; by discouraging what draws us away; by loving support for each other in the vicissitudes of our utterly human lives; by respecting and cherishing the uniqueness of each life."