A Beautiful Thing

It is fun to watch the various ideas and feelings in myself and others, come and go.  Even things like the feelings of loss due to a friend’s passing, the death of a relative or outrage at the way people are treating our mother, the earth, incite passion for a while, to be replaced with a feeling of peace and well being, if we allow it. Ultimately, I generally come to the realization that everything is just fine in the universe as it is.   As I commented in the lodge tonight, “being human is a beautiful thing.”

Watering the Seed of Love

I have spoken of that seed of peace and love inside each of us, with numerous people.  When I mention it I generally also mention the compelling nature of the, often negative, events of the world we live in.  The people I mention it to always understand each, even when they are totally wrapped up in the events of this world, like the drama, strong negative emotions and even emotional pain, the “dark side”.  It is a beautiful thing to watch a person wake up to the presence of that seed and begin to “water it”, meaning act on it and begin to live it.  For me, helping that transformation take place, one person at a time, is my way of changing the world.

The Seed of Love

I find the events of this world, like the drama, strong negative emotions and even emotional pain, are very compelling, though hollow and transient.  Those events draw me/us in and seem very real, even for me, having felt and lived with the reality of the other side.  Within each of us there is a seed of the peace and love of the other side.  When we find that seed and act on it, we know its truth and know its power, it feels right.  The trick for me is to continually turn my back on the compelling, but very transient, things of this world, and turn towards the peace and love in the eternity of the absolute.  It is my understanding that we are all learning to do that.

Pre-dawn Ceremony

It seems that all around me, people are turning back to using drugs or alcohol and I am acutely aware that the normal state for an addict such as myself, is using, meaning that I need to maintain my various disciplines, if I wish to live the clean and sober life I live.  One of those disciplines is to get out of bed “before the chickens crow” to pray, meditate and feel that loving connection with the absolute, or God.  That particular discipline is fundamental to my life and way of thinking.  It is also, in many ways, the highlight of my day.

Identification With The True Self

I find it easy to identify with and attach to the material/physical aspects of this world, the money, power and prestige.  When I was young those aspects seemed real and worthy of pursuing.  As I get older and having achieved many of those things, I recognize them as hollow and transient, but I am still part of a culture that honors money, power and prestige.  I now identify with and pursue my sense of Self that transcends the material in favor of connecting with the unchangeable, formless absolute, love and/or God.  That sense is neither hollow, nor transient and is very real.  The only way that I have succeeded in “pursuing” that sense is to cease identifying with the material and be with the absolute, simply allow it.

Appreciation of the Present

When I walked out into my drive this afternoon, I could feel the tree’s anticipation of the coming rain, a wonderful experience.  It has been dry here for several months and I can also feel an increase in the moisture level, which precedes the rain. I do not have a bunch of attachments and desires which would distract me from sensing and appreciating the wonder of the present moment.  It is also apparent that the trees have some sort of consciousness and appreciation for the transient nature of things.

Balance

As I told Maria, my wife, tonight, I am finding it, physically, much easier to talk, recently.  I wanted to know if the difference was apparent in my speech.  I gather that the change is evident at times, and at other times not.  I do a healing meditation with myself twice daily and I also try to keep a positive attitude in order to allow for healing, the rest of the day.  I can sense the power and it seems to be making a difference.
I find it challenging to walk the line between total acceptance of my disability, realizing that my physical condition has little real significance and doing everything I can to improve my physical condition, all at the same time.  The balance keeps shifting, slightly.

Being Lost & Found

Having made the transition to a foundation in the eternal and away from belief in material things, money, power and prestige, my life feels both wonderful and a bit strange.  The nearest I can come to describing my position is that it is like being very solidly and purposefully, “lost in a trackless desert” (Thomas H. Green, S.J.).  Other than speaking my truth and using my gifts, I have little idea of what to do next, perhaps that is enough.

Spiritual Path

Be it Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Taoist or whatever, it is apparent that no particular spiritual or religious path is required in order to reach the goal of peace, love and knowing eternity that I spoke of in my previous entry.  It does seem to be necessary for a person to select some path and to then stick to it, even if the path has no name, as in my case.  I really like the analogy that Kornfield uses, that digging several shallow wells is not equal to digging one deep one, meaning dabbling in several spiritual practices is not equal to pursuing one path deeply.
It also seems required that a person turn away or detach from any desires, concepts or attachments to things within the physical realm, and turn toward things like love, relationships and being of service to others, things with some eternal significance.  In my case, things like  love, relationships and being of service to others, gradually took on meaning, while material objects lost meaning.
The shifts I speak of in the previous paragraphs took me several years to complete.  They seemed easy and straightforward when I first encountered them, but they are not.  Some of my attachments and desires had to be wrenched from my grasp.  The shifts have been a bit easier as I get older.

The One True Path

I am struck by the fact that no matter whether a person calls it Bliss, Self, Supreme, God, All that is, Love, The Causal, The Tao, Christ or any of other numerous names, the feeling of being with that timeless power is still the same.  The names are of the mind and reflect transient, worldly, cultural influences, while that feeling and knowing is eternal and real.  Because of my history, I call it God, Love and Christ, but, more importantly, I know the feeling, which is beyond words. Similarly, the images or visions that various people report from near death experiences or hypnosis differ considerably and, once again, reflect the worldly influences, but the feelings experienced and reported within that place tend to be the same.
There is a knowing which goes along with the feeling and also transcends the words used.  That knowing includes: that everything is connected, we are all part of that power, that power is eternal, the power is inclusive and it feels like truth.  Given the feeling, it is easy to see why, having followed a particular path, a person would think that they had followed the “one true path”.