Perspective 2

Today I acted like a normal, middle-class, retired person. I paid bills, watched birds, worked on our budget, did some laundry and cooking. All through the day I was also acutely aware of the wonder of being human, including the painful and unpleasant parts and how everything fits into eternity. I recall a comment from many years ago by Millman in Way of the Peaceful Warrior a Book that Changes Lives; "You will live an ordinary life, learning how to remain ordinary in a troubled world to which, in a sense, you no longer belong. Remain ordinary, and you can be useful to others."

Fear

Today I am aware of and experiencing some generalized fears about the future, something I call galloping fear since it can switch from one potential event to another very quickly and without reason. The fears are not real but my conscious mind believes them. I like the comment by Williamson, that "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. Love is the essential existential fact. It is our ultimate reality and our purpose on earth. To be consciously aware of it, to experience love in ourselves and others, is the meaning of life." I have learned the fears well!

Spring

Today was a day of connecting with the natural world around our home - feeling the vibrancy of spring. During my blessing ceremony this morning I was very aware of the blossoming flowers, the budding trees and the very active animals. We have finished setting up those feeding stations I mentioned yesterday, blocking the squirrels and allowing the birds. After the quiet of the winter months it’s time to wake up. I tend to enjoy each season for its part of the cycle.

Perspective

We are setting up various "feeding stations" in our yard primarily for birds and keeping the squirrels out. I need to keep in mind the words of Lance Morrow, that "The wild animals fetch back at least 2 million years. They represent, we imagine, the first order of creation, and they are vividly marked with God's eccentric genius of design: life poured into pure forms, life unmitigated by complexities of consciousness, language, ethics, treachery, revulsion, reason, religion, premeditation or free will. A wild animal does not contradict its own nature, does not thwart itself, as man endlessly does. A wild animal never plays for the other side. The wild animals are a holiday from deliberation. They are sheer life. To behold a bright being that lives without thought is, to the complex, cross-grained human mind, profoundly liberating. And even if they had no effect upon the human mind, still the wild animals are life - other life." The sheer number of squirrels in this area has clearly been altered by the presence of humans and reduction in predators. On the one hand, they are a nuisance. However, the squirrels are also little bundles of instincts and very good at it.

Blessing

My wife, Maria, and I are setting up a God/love "zone" around our house and property. Every morning around sunrise each of us perform a dawn ceremony and blessing in our backyard. Before the blessing I go through some exercises specifically to rid myself of negative feelings. I then bless the yard, house and surroundings. We have many wonderful plants and animals around the property which we attend to daily. Our house is a place of love, prayer, peace and harmony.

Health & Healing

Yesterday I mentioned the fact that I "conduct my day-to-day activities within a bubble of love" and that it has an impact on my health. Today I experienced a cold virus - for several hours. I suspect it was the same virus that has been making the rounds and affects most people for several days. I also had hernia surgery (not the endoscopic kind) a bit less than two weeks ago and largely recovered in a week. I realize that these events are anecdotal and "prove" nothing but both have happened before and my recovery time did not used to be this way. Love is very practical and has real world consequences.

Love 2

I walk around conducting my day-to-day activities within a bubble of love, which impacts everything I do, my health and feelings of peace and well being. That love ultimately comes from the Source of all thing which I call God. During these difficult times I return to the comment by Williamson that "We read the papers. We grieve the suffering. But many of us think, God has a plan, and we believe----still----that its name is love. Not a silly love. Not a childish love. But a powerful love, an awesome love so aligned with God that it will change all things."

Love

As I say in my book, "love is the attitude and willingness to take action to promote someone else’s spiritual and emotional growth". That sounds simple enough - but I often spend a fair amount of time deciding what that will be, today was a good example. In order for me to get clarity on the most loving action I need to release all self-interest and also realize that love, the loving response is very complex and includes all feelings. "So, too, is love not the absence of an emotion (hatred, anger, lust, jealousy, covetousness), but the summation of all feeling. It is the sum total. The aggregate amount. The everything." (Walsch).

Growth

I have been very aware of my own growth for the last several months, an illuminating and often challenging experience. I am attempting to become "all I can be" on all levels, spiritual, emotional, cognitive and physical, a daunting task at the age of 68 almost 69 and disabled. I am also becoming more aware of my impact on the people I meet and how I might cause the changes I would like to see. I frequently end up thinking of a comment by Pat Rodegast and Judith Stanton that I read many years ago, "Indeed, it is the most difficult thing in the entire human experience -- to claim your Self, your Life, your Light, your Truth and your God.

Love

During my recovery meeting today there was a lot of talk about having difficulty with the concept of God. I commented that many people believe that there is "something there" besides what a person can see, touch or feel. I suggested that they give that a name and believe in it. Personally I am comfortable with calling it Love, which then leads me to believing in relationships, connectedness, inclusion, respect, forgiveness and compassion. I like the comment by C. Jung, that "Where love rules, there is no will to power; and where power predominates, there love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other."