Love Not Fear

As I said yesterday, thoughts and actions based on love influence everyone in such a way that it causes more love.  Thoughts and actions based on fear tend to do the same, so it is totally understandable that there is as much fear and violence as there is.  Both fear and violence are prominent all around us, in this culture and elsewhere in the world, which is why I limit my exposure by choices like not having a TV.   For the sake of everyone and everything I would like to see the emphasis change.  However, I can only change the way I act and react, which is a large part of the reason I do what I do.

Effect Of Loving Action

It is quite clear in movies, the internet, books and real life that actions based on love, compassion and understanding change everyone involved in the interaction. It is also quite clear in me and my personal experience.  It seems that loving actions awaken the love part in each of us.  On the other hand, actions based on fear and violence, no matter how subtle, support the attitude of fear in each of us.  I can and do go either direction, often changing my thoughts and feelings very quickly, though I usually do not act on the fear.  In part, for that reason, it is important that I begin each day with a period of prayer and meditation, firmly rooting myself in love, compassion and understanding.

Allowing

Today, I was doing some hands-on healing with Maria, my wife, and I began to, spontaneously, slip into the unconsciousness of zoning or deep meditation at the same time.  After beginning to do that for, perhaps, fifteen seconds, I backed off abruptly and took my hands away.  The reason I stopped is that I had instantly become scared of two things; the loss of conscious control and the amount of power that I sensed there.  I hope to do more of the same thing, without stopping, in the future.  However, the action is one of those things that I can allow to happen but not will it.  Meaning that I can set up the conditions and form the intent, but the outcome is not up to me.

Violence Vs. Love

As far as I can tell, violence is generally caused by fear and, ultimately, leads to more fear and violence, while love is generally associated with peace and, similarly, leads to more love.  Personally, I have the potential for both inside me and I notice the same potentials in everyone I meet.  I Have experienced each side of myself in ample quantities, and I now make the choice of love since it seems to have a very positive effect on me and the world in general.  However, learning to make that choice, simple as it seems, has been a lengthy and convoluted  process.  When I look around me, I note others in that process, a pleasure to observe.  My hope is that, as a species, we learn to make that choice prior to causing our own extinction.  I am passionate about doing all I can to help that happen.

Silly Choices

Today I attended a workshop, primarily to get some on-going training for my license, and I made the comment that we humans are pretty silly, that we do some pretty silly things.  These things can be relatively trivial such as being drawn into the drama of a news story or the things I am referring to can be more serious such as the hate crimes or even wars and killing each other.  I call them silly for two reasons.  The first reason is that, historically, they do not lead to positive results or the desired results, and we keep doing them anyway.  The second reason that I consider the actions to be silly is that many people think they are important, while they have little or no long term significance.

Worry Does Not Help

Typically, by doing things like listening to the news, going to the doctor, listening to the fears expressed by others or even listening to my own brain, I can convince myself that there are really things I should worry about, that my worries are justified and that worry will somehow help the situation.  Part of me wants to take this approach rather than realizing that my worries are basically vapor and a total waste of time and energy.  The best that I have found that I can do is to feel the feelings, recognize them as vapor, let them pass and return to my spiritual practices.  I am then more equipped to deal with whatever happens.

Remembering Love & Health

I went to the doctor again today, in order to complete some more testing.  This particular testing was for lung function, and, as usually happens, the result was that I was a bit better than average, for my age.  Another result that usually happens is that I allowed the fear approach of allopathic medicine to creep into my life.  I begin to question my health and what I am doing with my life.  Like I said a couple of days ago “I am fickle and easily influenced”.  As M. Williamson says “Love is what we were born with. Fear is what we have learned here. The spiritual journey is the relinquishment—or unlearning—of fear and the acceptance of love back into our hearts.

Unconditional Acceptance

Today, I made some people very uncomfortable by questioning what they were doing or not doing to advance themselves emotionally and spiritually, the “afflicting the comfortable” part of my role.  They were choosing to not do the simple things that would help themselves, but also activities that required some discipline.  One of the points I made is that their lack of action in no way affected my warm feelings or lack of judgment toward them, something I was taught through God’s unconditional acceptance of me.  Another point that I made was that it was normal and seemed easiest to not take the actions which took discipline and work to do.

Adding To The Love

The amount of power that I have, in terms of influencing others, scares me.  My role is simple, but not easy.  As I said yesterday my role is to remain open and write things down with as little bias as possible.  Meaning, to be aware and screen out ego and subjective bias as much as possible.  I also attempt to live according to the same concepts of love, acceptance and connectedness.  It impresses me that if I carry and broadcast these concepts, my presence influences those who I contact, and then they pass it on.  It feels vital and important to have a positive role and to add to the love in the world.

Not Responsible For Outcomes

A day of rest & relaxation, very nice.  I went to a movie, went to a recovery meeting, took a nap, did some cooking, watched the birds at the feeders and did some weeding of the yard.
I am in the process of writing a book, based on my journal entries converted into suggestions of attitudes & behaviors that a person could adopt for a more peaceful and aware life, while also adding to the amount of love in the universe.  It is a very intense process, involving a lot of connection and guidance from the power or force I call God.  My job seems to be simply remaining open and writing things down with as little bias as possible.  I have no idea where this will lead or if anyone will ever read what I write and that seems to matter not at all.  What matters is that I do my part, the rest is not my responsibility.