Sunday, October 27, 2013

Being


Coromandel, New Zealand

Sometimes it is great not to do anything.  Not to meditate, listen to music, watch tv, surf the internet, blog, talk to someone, think, exercise, or do anything at all.  We think we always have to do something.  We feel guilty being idle, remembering everything that "needs" doing.

We can just sit peacefully, looking around (or not), our mind falling silent as the thoughts glide by our consciousness unimpeded.

There is great power in being.  Being is often more powerful than doing.  We think that we always have to do something in order to accomplish something.  Doing can be a gigantic waste of time.  Being can give us the clarity to do just the thing that we need to do.

Let's not do anything until we are compelled to do so.


Sunday, October 20, 2013

Stillness

Santa Fe, New Mexico

God whispers, rarely shouts.  God will never enter our life uninvited.  Of course, God is us and we are God.  However, we cut ourselves off from our higher self with the noise of our thoughts.

When we are in stillness, we can hear the subtle messages from the Infinite Energy Source.  It is the space between thoughts where the information we all crave resides.  Stillness arises when we allow our thoughts and feelings to pass through our awareness like clouds drifting across the sky.  It is when we grab onto our thoughts or believe that they represent the truth, that stress begins to enter into our lives.  The stress leads to frustration, anger, disappointment and depression.

When we hold onto our negative thoughts, they automatically attach themselves to painful memories and we begin to unconsciously spin out of control.  The sadness which would have passed in a few minutes, becomes a depression which lasts for hours or days.

We can break this memory association by bringing awareness to our thoughts and feelings.  Awareness is attention without judgment.  When we surrender our judgments and opinions and watch our thoughts pass through our awareness, we become still.  In this stillness, peace, love and joy reside.

When we give up control in stillness, we begin to fulfill our true purpose.  Our decisions bring us and everyone involved the highest outcome.  Miracles cascade into our lives.  We experience a peace and joy that we have never known.  All that we have to do is give up who we think we are and be who we truly are.

Let's be still.

Saturday, October 12, 2013

Love


Summer, Big Bear, California

Bringing love to a situation will always surprise us.  We will never receive the response that we expect. When we are indifferent to the result, love will often heal the pain that we find in others, as well as ourselves.

The object of our disdain is often merely misunderstood.  The person that we are angry with for ignoring us, may merely be lost in thought about their own health or the loss of a loved one.  We are almost always wrong when we think we know what others are thinking.  Also, meanness, greed and selfishness always come from a deep self-loathing and despair.  When we realize this, are we really doing our best by resenting them? 


The hardest spiritual discipline for me was being able to love those that hate us or are trying to do us harm.  I finally realized that my anger and hatred was not getting me anywhere regardless of whether it was "justified" or not.  Of course, we can always defend ourselves and others against those which intend to do physical or emotional harm.  And we can always express our feelings about other people's behavior. But our irritation, anger, and self-righteousness only harms ourselves. 

Love can often bring a healing to the situation.  But even if it doesn't, our peace and well being do not need to be upended.

Only love can heal us.  Only love can heal an impossible situation.  Love will heal our loneliness, our frustration, and our despair.


Let's bring love to every situation that we encounter.

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Death


Pohutukawa Tree, New Zealand

The fear of death follows us like our very own shadow.  It is certain that every living thing will someday be dead (some scientists believe that babies being born today may never die due to the accelerated pace of advances in artificial organs and robotics, but thinking about that makes my head want to explode, so we will leave that alone for now).

The unexamined fear of death affects everything that we do.  It brings irrational fears, neuroses, rage, dread, and so on.  We do not have enough information to determine whether death is indeed a bad thing.  Why do we assume that death is something horrible?  We do know that energy cannot be created or destroyed.  Why would we not think that death is just another adventure?  Regardless, the sooner that we become comfortable with the idea that we will be dead sooner or later, the more we will enjoy life and the better off that we will be.

It is not about thinking that life is short, so we better enjoy it while we can.  It is remembering that the present moment is eternal.  Once we live in the eternal space of the Now, we become at peace with everything that happens to us, including our impending deaths.

Let's be at peace with the concept and reality of death.