I have written in other spaces about my concern that the incoming Trump administration represents the rise of fascism in the US. This raises interesting spiritual questions about how we respond to destructive things happening around us, where is God in dark times and what does this mean about evil?
Has God abandoned us, or is punishing us by allowing this to happen?
If one holds to the view that God created us with free will then that means that those who are not listening to God are always free to stray from what God might intend for us and to do great destruction or evil. That evil affects other people. The price of freedom is a God who is omni-present, but not all powerful.
Where is God in this situation?
God is always present as a source of guidance, comfort, and strength. It is even more important in crisis to turn to God. God cannot however stop the suffering caused by others' application of their free will. Buddhism does have much to say about how we manage suffering.
What does God require of us?
The Bible answers this question of what God requires of us saying:
"To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." Micah 6:8
I think those spiritual theologies that say we are co-creators of the world we live in and the lives we walk in, also suggest that we are to embrace the highest truth we know and live it. I think in a time where hatred rises up and causes the scapegoating and targeting of some people that means saying no to that. I think in a time where violence rises up it means acting with non-violence. I think in a time where the earth is pillaged, polluted and destroyed it means aligning our life style with an honoring and protecting of the earth (as currently modeled by Native people at Standing Rock). In a time where there is an increasing assault on free speech, on free press, and on civil liberties it means standing up for those and protecting supporting those others who also speak out. In a time where vote suppression and gerrymandering threaten our very democracy it means standing up to fight for democracy. And all of these things mean turning to God for the courage to act for justice. In short, in a universe where people can do destructive or evil things, we are called upon to speak truth, take action and to hold up the Light of Love. To remain silent or passive is to passively allow the evil.
Is there no Light in this Darkness?
Neale Donald Walsh has written quite a bit about how it is only the dark that allows us to know the Light. That the Light longs to be known by us. Perhaps another way of saying this is that we sometime must struggle in order to learn; contrast is one of the ways by which we learn. If one believe in reincarnation then we have come to earth in incarnations intended to maximize our learning, and the encounter with darkness or evil is not a detour or a mistake, it is an opportunity for learning, and opportunity to bring forth light. We are not called to do this alone, it is what community, especially spiritual community is for.
Why is this happening when I don't want it to?
While we may co-create our own personal reality, it is also the case that as a collective humanity, or a society we also create certain shared realities through our shared consciousness. There are lessons we are trying to learn as a collective. It is worth asking: How could it serve the learning of the American people to grapple with the person of Donald Trump and the type of leadership he is bringing? It is easy to point fingers of blame at figures in history like Hitler or Trump who are the apparent center of so much darkness, but that really gets all the rest of us off the hook. We must look at the fear that is always the fertile ground for fascism. We must examine where we have stood in relationship to fear? We must do the spiritual work of looking at the anger, the pull for easy answers, for power, the arrogance, etc that live within us and are mirrored by Trump, rather than simply demonize him.
How do we respond to this spirituality?
Responding to an already negative situation with more anger, violence or fear only magnifies the negative energy. Going numb or in denial also does not serve the Light. Joanna Macy tells the story of the Tibetan Shambala prophecy. The Tibetan's believe that there comes a time of great darkness and chaos when the world as we know it is completely threatened. At that time many souls come to earth for one purpose: to fight for our world as Shambala warriors. They are not intended to fight with normal weapons of violence, but rather with spiritual weapons of wisdom and compassion. Wisdom brings great clarity and vision, but clarity alone does not bring the passion for action. Compassion brings great love which can move people to action, but action alone is not productive without clarity or focus. So they must use wisdom and compassion together to fight for our world. I believe that this is a time when we all must become Shambala warriors.
Is their an opportunity is this experience?
When lived spiritually all experience contain an opportunity. Chaos, danger, conflict, destruction.... all of these things carry in them the seeds of change and the possibilities for transformation. If Hillary Clinton had been elected, most good liberals would have continued to focus little on the situation, even as our planet is threatened by the crisis of climate change, even as racism was literally killing Black people in the streets daily. When evil becomes as blatant and undeniable as it now is, there is a moral imperative put before us all. The addition of the Trump administration to the Climate crisis demands we quite literally transform the current power structure or we will die. So it is time for each of us to reach down to the foundations of our spiritual traditions and see what God calls us to do.
Showing posts with label Neale Donald Walsch. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Neale Donald Walsch. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Sunday, December 27, 2015
Spiritual Resources
Note of apology to readers:
To those of you who subscribe to Seeking the Spiritual Life, you may have wondered what has happened to the author and the postings? My goal has always been to post once a month but even in the good years I have posted 10 a year...but this year I'm on track to post 5 - yikes! And nothing posted since June. I have actually been in a spiritual tangle (watch for future posting on that issue) and it has interfered with my ability to write for my blog. But I believe I have untangled myself and will be back in 2016 with more to say.
Spiritual Resources
Today I sat with a group of people as we shared with each other what our spiritual resources are - what the books are that we turn to every time for spiritual nurturance, inspiration or uplift. All great religions of the world have their own sacred scriptures. But why be limited to only one source of spiritual enrichment? Many of the people in the circle shared the same thing - that they had texts they had read all the way through and found inspiring, and now kept in a place of prayer. They shared that they would open them randomly - trusting that they would be lead to just the right page, and that in fact it did feel that they were lead to just the right bit of wisdom. So I share with you here the pile of books that lives on my bed stand and a little bit about why (in no particular order). If you have not read these, then here is some 2016 inspiration for sure:
Illusions by Jonathan Bach...yes this is actually a novel. But it is a novel about a man on a spiritual journey who is given the "Messiah's handbook"...the quotes in the "handbook" are as meaningful to me now as they were in 1989 when it first came out. Pages that are not the handbook still point me to the ideas the book contains.
Emmanuel's Book I (or book II) compiled by Pat Rodegast & Judith Stanton. My best-friend sent this to me as a gift, also in the 80's, with a sort of guilty note about how she did not really believe in channeling (the whole book is channeled - the authors are simply a medium and recorder of a spirit named Emmanuel.) but that she found great spiritual truth's in the book and thus found it useful to read. I would heartily agree with this. In other words I don't really understand how channeling would work, but when I hold the words in the book before my truth meter - the words ring true and consistent. Very complicated spiritual issues are addressed since the audience got to ask questions and the answers are what are recorded. I found answers in here early in life that helped ground my spiritual journey. There were things I have not worried about because these answers worked for me.
A Testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly. Thomas Kelly, a Quaker, wrote this book in 1945 as WWII was ending. One would think this would make it dated, but his mysticism and ecstatic expression of God is so profound as to be timeless. (The only way it is dated is somewhat gender heavy language.) A brief book with just 5 chapters...has to be read slowly, or over and over, to take in its richness. The chapter On Holy Obedience speaks profoundly to a life of leading and faithfulness. The chapter on Simplification of Life speaks to the need to slow down and to be faithful - to strip away distracts and false idols. The chapter on The Eternal Now and Social Concern probably saved my life since I read this in my 20's. Kelly states: "I dare not urge you to your cross. But He, more powerfully, speaks within you and me, to our truest selves, in our truest moments, and disquiets us with the world's needs. By inner persuasions He draws us to a few very definite tasks, our tasks, God's burdened heart particularizing His burden in us." In this passage and throughout the book Kelly helped me to know that I did not have to fight every injustice, I had to listen for what the part God wanted me to do was and simply be faithful to that. Without his words I indeed would have died on way to many crosses that were not mine.
The Power of Intention by Wayne Dyer. Over the years various Wayne Dyer books have been on my bed stand, but for me the gold standard is this one. Dyer describes Co-creation or manifesting, but in away that avoids the materialism and self-centeredness of the Secret. He also describes a helpful spiritual posture and some of the obstacles that get in our way as we try to do this.
The Prophet by Kahil Gibran This book has also been on my bed stand since my 20's. For those who came of age in the 70's or 80's this book was so commonly referenced by people as to be rather clique and therefore then disregarded. However, I have found that those currently in their 20's and 30's are not aware of this book and that is frankly a great tragedy. Again this book holds such wisdom about 27 different subjects (the key and central areas of life from love, to food, to freedom) in just 1 to 2 page chapters about each - as to inform one for a life time. My ideas about marriage and child rearing and work have all been permanently and much to the good impacted by Gibran's timeless wisdom coming to us from 1923 Syria.
Happier than God by Neale Donald Walsch. Walsch is better known for his series of books: Conversations with God (I, II and III). I have read those and several other Walsch books, but this one is my favorite. I hate its' title, and yet the book chose me. I stood in front of a shelf of books by him, closed my eyes and pointed, landing on this one. I winced and opened it to several different pages and knew that indeed I would need to purchase it. This book is also about manifesting - but mostly about manifesting a God filled life. Also Walsch, unlike all other books on manifesting that I have read, does not turn away from the fact that we live in an unjust world, or fail to mention that. The book is also supremely positive.
Previous inhabitants of the Bed stand:
I have of course over the years had to remove some to make room for others, but I thought the previous ones are worth a mention here. As noted above other titles by Dyer and Walsh.
The Bible...for obvious reasons.
The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. Hoff quotes from Winnie the Pooh throughout this book while relating it to Toaist teachings. Both amusing and thought provoking.
Hind's Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard - this is an allegorical novel about a journey which takes place on many levels. Heavily Christian imagery. It has many allegories that speak profoundly to the spiritual journey. I eventually removed it because some of the "obedience to God" part seemed to describe a kind of God and a kind of discipline which is not how I now conceptualize God.
Happy Reading. I would love for readers to post a comment sharing their favorite spiritual source and why.
To those of you who subscribe to Seeking the Spiritual Life, you may have wondered what has happened to the author and the postings? My goal has always been to post once a month but even in the good years I have posted 10 a year...but this year I'm on track to post 5 - yikes! And nothing posted since June. I have actually been in a spiritual tangle (watch for future posting on that issue) and it has interfered with my ability to write for my blog. But I believe I have untangled myself and will be back in 2016 with more to say.
Spiritual Resources
Today I sat with a group of people as we shared with each other what our spiritual resources are - what the books are that we turn to every time for spiritual nurturance, inspiration or uplift. All great religions of the world have their own sacred scriptures. But why be limited to only one source of spiritual enrichment? Many of the people in the circle shared the same thing - that they had texts they had read all the way through and found inspiring, and now kept in a place of prayer. They shared that they would open them randomly - trusting that they would be lead to just the right page, and that in fact it did feel that they were lead to just the right bit of wisdom. So I share with you here the pile of books that lives on my bed stand and a little bit about why (in no particular order). If you have not read these, then here is some 2016 inspiration for sure:
Illusions by Jonathan Bach...yes this is actually a novel. But it is a novel about a man on a spiritual journey who is given the "Messiah's handbook"...the quotes in the "handbook" are as meaningful to me now as they were in 1989 when it first came out. Pages that are not the handbook still point me to the ideas the book contains.
Emmanuel's Book I (or book II) compiled by Pat Rodegast & Judith Stanton. My best-friend sent this to me as a gift, also in the 80's, with a sort of guilty note about how she did not really believe in channeling (the whole book is channeled - the authors are simply a medium and recorder of a spirit named Emmanuel.) but that she found great spiritual truth's in the book and thus found it useful to read. I would heartily agree with this. In other words I don't really understand how channeling would work, but when I hold the words in the book before my truth meter - the words ring true and consistent. Very complicated spiritual issues are addressed since the audience got to ask questions and the answers are what are recorded. I found answers in here early in life that helped ground my spiritual journey. There were things I have not worried about because these answers worked for me.
A Testament of Devotion by Thomas Kelly. Thomas Kelly, a Quaker, wrote this book in 1945 as WWII was ending. One would think this would make it dated, but his mysticism and ecstatic expression of God is so profound as to be timeless. (The only way it is dated is somewhat gender heavy language.) A brief book with just 5 chapters...has to be read slowly, or over and over, to take in its richness. The chapter On Holy Obedience speaks profoundly to a life of leading and faithfulness. The chapter on Simplification of Life speaks to the need to slow down and to be faithful - to strip away distracts and false idols. The chapter on The Eternal Now and Social Concern probably saved my life since I read this in my 20's. Kelly states: "I dare not urge you to your cross. But He, more powerfully, speaks within you and me, to our truest selves, in our truest moments, and disquiets us with the world's needs. By inner persuasions He draws us to a few very definite tasks, our tasks, God's burdened heart particularizing His burden in us." In this passage and throughout the book Kelly helped me to know that I did not have to fight every injustice, I had to listen for what the part God wanted me to do was and simply be faithful to that. Without his words I indeed would have died on way to many crosses that were not mine.
The Power of Intention by Wayne Dyer. Over the years various Wayne Dyer books have been on my bed stand, but for me the gold standard is this one. Dyer describes Co-creation or manifesting, but in away that avoids the materialism and self-centeredness of the Secret. He also describes a helpful spiritual posture and some of the obstacles that get in our way as we try to do this.
The Prophet by Kahil Gibran This book has also been on my bed stand since my 20's. For those who came of age in the 70's or 80's this book was so commonly referenced by people as to be rather clique and therefore then disregarded. However, I have found that those currently in their 20's and 30's are not aware of this book and that is frankly a great tragedy. Again this book holds such wisdom about 27 different subjects (the key and central areas of life from love, to food, to freedom) in just 1 to 2 page chapters about each - as to inform one for a life time. My ideas about marriage and child rearing and work have all been permanently and much to the good impacted by Gibran's timeless wisdom coming to us from 1923 Syria.
Happier than God by Neale Donald Walsch. Walsch is better known for his series of books: Conversations with God (I, II and III). I have read those and several other Walsch books, but this one is my favorite. I hate its' title, and yet the book chose me. I stood in front of a shelf of books by him, closed my eyes and pointed, landing on this one. I winced and opened it to several different pages and knew that indeed I would need to purchase it. This book is also about manifesting - but mostly about manifesting a God filled life. Also Walsch, unlike all other books on manifesting that I have read, does not turn away from the fact that we live in an unjust world, or fail to mention that. The book is also supremely positive.
Previous inhabitants of the Bed stand:
I have of course over the years had to remove some to make room for others, but I thought the previous ones are worth a mention here. As noted above other titles by Dyer and Walsh.
The Bible...for obvious reasons.
The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff. Hoff quotes from Winnie the Pooh throughout this book while relating it to Toaist teachings. Both amusing and thought provoking.
Hind's Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard - this is an allegorical novel about a journey which takes place on many levels. Heavily Christian imagery. It has many allegories that speak profoundly to the spiritual journey. I eventually removed it because some of the "obedience to God" part seemed to describe a kind of God and a kind of discipline which is not how I now conceptualize God.
Happy Reading. I would love for readers to post a comment sharing their favorite spiritual source and why.
Saturday, May 31, 2014
The Best Version's of Ourselves
"We are here to become the best version of ourselves that we can become".
I found this quote while reading Tomorrow's God By Neale Donald Walsch. For me this is a very provocative quote. It is a fascinating process to try to touch into the sense of that. Try. Close your eyes and try to feel, to sense, to image, to remember your best self. Hopefully, it is not too distantly far from who we are this moment or yesterday. Of course we all have our moments where we are unwarrantedly cross with others, where judgement or bias enters in - but hopefully it is not hard for us to remember moments where we acted with kindness, generosity of spirit, compassion, courage, humility, love, resolve, ___________ or whatever those traits are that we feel would edge us towards our better selves.
It seems both interesting and challenging to try to pull together all those snippets of memory, of lived experience, those traits and gifts into one simultaneous and ongoing expression of self. That I think would be to be "the best version of ourselves" that Walsch calls us to, or more correctly that the Creator calls us to.
This also reminds me of the quote (erroneously attributed to Nelson Mandala for many years):
"We ask ourselves: who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us; it's in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
I have appreciated the way it talks about how we keep ourselves small and challenges so boldly "what can it possibly serve?" As Richard Bach also conveyed this idea in Illusions: "Argue for your limitations and they are yours". Yes, why do we keep ourselves small? Why do we argue for our limitations - justifying them and claiming them like a familiar worn out sweater, claiming them as insurmountable.
It strikes me that there are two problems: one being a psychological one and one being a spiritual problem. Psychologically we have had messages laid on us early and reinforced often so we both have negative self image, but also messages limiting what we believe is possible about change. (These things are addressable through therapy.) But the spiritual problem is that we see the job of change or growth as all our own work and we do not see or acknowledge the role of the creator in that growth. We may not have a personal relationship with God, or may not see God as a source of strength available to us, or maybe even as a sympathetic source (See earlier posts about images of God). Or we may have beliefs about original sin or our own "fallen nature" that get in the way.
As Walsch says: Here is a central tenet of the New Spirituality: the purpose- and the greatest opportunity and gift- of life is to re-create yourself a new in the next grandest version you ever held about Who You Are. And you can do it every single moment of Now....It is not a question of whether you "have what it takes ," but of whether you take what you have- and then use it.
I found this quote while reading Tomorrow's God By Neale Donald Walsch. For me this is a very provocative quote. It is a fascinating process to try to touch into the sense of that. Try. Close your eyes and try to feel, to sense, to image, to remember your best self. Hopefully, it is not too distantly far from who we are this moment or yesterday. Of course we all have our moments where we are unwarrantedly cross with others, where judgement or bias enters in - but hopefully it is not hard for us to remember moments where we acted with kindness, generosity of spirit, compassion, courage, humility, love, resolve, ___________ or whatever those traits are that we feel would edge us towards our better selves.
It seems both interesting and challenging to try to pull together all those snippets of memory, of lived experience, those traits and gifts into one simultaneous and ongoing expression of self. That I think would be to be "the best version of ourselves" that Walsch calls us to, or more correctly that the Creator calls us to.
This also reminds me of the quote (erroneously attributed to Nelson Mandala for many years):
"We ask ourselves: who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us; it's in everyone. And as we let our light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
I have appreciated the way it talks about how we keep ourselves small and challenges so boldly "what can it possibly serve?" As Richard Bach also conveyed this idea in Illusions: "Argue for your limitations and they are yours". Yes, why do we keep ourselves small? Why do we argue for our limitations - justifying them and claiming them like a familiar worn out sweater, claiming them as insurmountable.
It strikes me that there are two problems: one being a psychological one and one being a spiritual problem. Psychologically we have had messages laid on us early and reinforced often so we both have negative self image, but also messages limiting what we believe is possible about change. (These things are addressable through therapy.) But the spiritual problem is that we see the job of change or growth as all our own work and we do not see or acknowledge the role of the creator in that growth. We may not have a personal relationship with God, or may not see God as a source of strength available to us, or maybe even as a sympathetic source (See earlier posts about images of God). Or we may have beliefs about original sin or our own "fallen nature" that get in the way.
As Walsch says: Here is a central tenet of the New Spirituality: the purpose- and the greatest opportunity and gift- of life is to re-create yourself a new in the next grandest version you ever held about Who You Are. And you can do it every single moment of Now....It is not a question of whether you "have what it takes ," but of whether you take what you have- and then use it.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Living as part of LIfe Itself
Recently I have been reading the book "Tomorrow's God" by Neale Donald Walsh. In this book he both says we will (need to) move into a new spiritual renaissance if we are to save the planet and that it will include a new understanding of God which he calls Tomorrow's God. He says we will (or suggests we should) stop using the word God (or Allah, or any similar words) because of the huge amount of misunderstandings and baggage we have attached to that word. Instead he suggests we use the word LIFE.
Notice how this does shift some misunderstandings. I for one think the ideas that God as vengeful, punishing, jealous or only blessing the US are distorted understanding of the Divine Being. So in his schema of substituting the word Life you get:
A punishing God = A punishing Life. Well that sort of clears up that Life does not punish us. Sometimes other people do, but that is based upon their will, beliefs, or values. They were not directed by the Life force to punish anyone.
A vengeful God = a vengeful Life. Again there is no evidence of Life creating vengeance. Some animals eat others but it is not vengeance. Some people are vengeful to other people but again out of their emotions, or beliefs. But the Life force does not make them vengeful. In fact it is easier to notice that when a group acts vengefully towards another that the life force does not direct them to do so....they may call on beliefs to explain their actions, especially religious beliefs or as Walsh would say "the Old God".
A jealous God = a jealous Life. Now it starts to seem rather absurd doesn't it? How can life be jealous?
God Bless America = Life Bless America. Well Life does bless America, and every other country too. While certainly some have far less material goods or sometimes less useful natural resources, none are without laughter, kindness, creativity, etc....in other words the blessings of life.
And then there is the other side of this:
A Loving God = A Loving Life. Yes indeed as we look around we see all kinds of evidence of Life providing love, and love coming through all aspects of life and in fact creating life.
God the Creator = Life the Creator. Well that one is fairly obvious huh?
God as my refuge = Life as my refuge. Here I notice that if I use the word Life it helps me to notice how I should be approaching life. Rather than trying to run to God as a refuge against life!
God the Provider = Life the Provider. Certainly life provides many things, but what we want? In the old way of turning to God and praying for things to be provided we were always like helpless children and what we wanted may or may not be provided. (Some religions claiming that only if you were virtuous or hard working did God provide.) But life seems to provide in no predictable pattern....or does it provide what our intentions are? What we co-create in alignment with life's energy?
This also syncs up very well with what both Walsh and Wayne Dyer (and countless others) say about manifesting. Dyer refers to The Universe (instead of God) and both talk about the Universe or Life as being neutral about what is created or provided. Ask for sorrow or anger and that can be provided. Ask for Love and joy and that can be provided. We need therefore to be conscious about what we ask for and where we put our attention because what we dwell upon Dyer says is what we manifest. Think endlessly "Oh I have so many bills to pay" and sure enough more bills will show up. Think endlessly "Oh my life is blessed" and sure enough more blessings will show up. So I would like to put my attention on the goodness of life and the love that is abundant in life. I think if I put my attention on love and goodness I'm liking to live Life more deeply, more consciously.
When we pray to God this often evokes a sense of receiving or being denied, of a "power over" or a parent or "the Santa Claus God" who I have written about in a previous blog. It is also to get mad at God for what we decide God has done. If we call this energy Life, it is I think still possible to pray to it, but it does sort of change the interaction. There is wonder, awe, gratitude and joy, and there is the attempt to perceive the Life Energy and to align with it. But any appealing to it...well you just have to go more into that co-creation or aligning the life energy with the bigger life energy. From my point of view that keeps me more true to how I want to pray anyway.
Joanna Macy talks about how in systems theory you have living parts that make up bigger living parts. So for example we have cells that make up organs (also parts of our life) which make up our live bodies and then our bodies join with other bodies to make up living communities, etc. She points out that these parts at each level cooperate to make the larger level function. But something much more profound is able to happen when any level has self-reflection upon itself as a separate living being and ALSO part of a living being. So if I engage in being consciously aware (mindfulness) of being a part of Life/God this is different than living as part of Life with no awareness of anything beyond my own self. It centers us into life itself.
Notice how this does shift some misunderstandings. I for one think the ideas that God as vengeful, punishing, jealous or only blessing the US are distorted understanding of the Divine Being. So in his schema of substituting the word Life you get:
A punishing God = A punishing Life. Well that sort of clears up that Life does not punish us. Sometimes other people do, but that is based upon their will, beliefs, or values. They were not directed by the Life force to punish anyone.
A vengeful God = a vengeful Life. Again there is no evidence of Life creating vengeance. Some animals eat others but it is not vengeance. Some people are vengeful to other people but again out of their emotions, or beliefs. But the Life force does not make them vengeful. In fact it is easier to notice that when a group acts vengefully towards another that the life force does not direct them to do so....they may call on beliefs to explain their actions, especially religious beliefs or as Walsh would say "the Old God".
A jealous God = a jealous Life. Now it starts to seem rather absurd doesn't it? How can life be jealous?
God Bless America = Life Bless America. Well Life does bless America, and every other country too. While certainly some have far less material goods or sometimes less useful natural resources, none are without laughter, kindness, creativity, etc....in other words the blessings of life.
And then there is the other side of this:
A Loving God = A Loving Life. Yes indeed as we look around we see all kinds of evidence of Life providing love, and love coming through all aspects of life and in fact creating life.
God the Creator = Life the Creator. Well that one is fairly obvious huh?
God as my refuge = Life as my refuge. Here I notice that if I use the word Life it helps me to notice how I should be approaching life. Rather than trying to run to God as a refuge against life!
God the Provider = Life the Provider. Certainly life provides many things, but what we want? In the old way of turning to God and praying for things to be provided we were always like helpless children and what we wanted may or may not be provided. (Some religions claiming that only if you were virtuous or hard working did God provide.) But life seems to provide in no predictable pattern....or does it provide what our intentions are? What we co-create in alignment with life's energy?
This also syncs up very well with what both Walsh and Wayne Dyer (and countless others) say about manifesting. Dyer refers to The Universe (instead of God) and both talk about the Universe or Life as being neutral about what is created or provided. Ask for sorrow or anger and that can be provided. Ask for Love and joy and that can be provided. We need therefore to be conscious about what we ask for and where we put our attention because what we dwell upon Dyer says is what we manifest. Think endlessly "Oh I have so many bills to pay" and sure enough more bills will show up. Think endlessly "Oh my life is blessed" and sure enough more blessings will show up. So I would like to put my attention on the goodness of life and the love that is abundant in life. I think if I put my attention on love and goodness I'm liking to live Life more deeply, more consciously.
When we pray to God this often evokes a sense of receiving or being denied, of a "power over" or a parent or "the Santa Claus God" who I have written about in a previous blog. It is also to get mad at God for what we decide God has done. If we call this energy Life, it is I think still possible to pray to it, but it does sort of change the interaction. There is wonder, awe, gratitude and joy, and there is the attempt to perceive the Life Energy and to align with it. But any appealing to it...well you just have to go more into that co-creation or aligning the life energy with the bigger life energy. From my point of view that keeps me more true to how I want to pray anyway.
Joanna Macy talks about how in systems theory you have living parts that make up bigger living parts. So for example we have cells that make up organs (also parts of our life) which make up our live bodies and then our bodies join with other bodies to make up living communities, etc. She points out that these parts at each level cooperate to make the larger level function. But something much more profound is able to happen when any level has self-reflection upon itself as a separate living being and ALSO part of a living being. So if I engage in being consciously aware (mindfulness) of being a part of Life/God this is different than living as part of Life with no awareness of anything beyond my own self. It centers us into life itself.
Saturday, November 30, 2013
Looking Backwards to the Present
I have been reading James Redfield's new novel: the Twelfth Insight. Without reading any reviews, I can predict that the reviewers say the novel was too much a regurgitation of his previous three novels. Perhaps a fair complaint. I do think that for those who have been troubled by wars fought for religious reasons and with concern for the Middle East they may find interesting his ideas about the shared roots of religions as a ground for connection. (Although this too is not the most original idea.)
While I certainly enjoyed revisiting what Redfield has to say about synchronistic events - always significant in my own faith life - what I did find interesting was Redfeld's idea that we can use intuition predicatively. In this novel as the main characters learn/remember to tune into syncrhonicities and the common bond between all of us, they learn when contemplating a possible step to see if they can picture the two most likely possibilities and to use the feedback loop of what they can picture and what they cannot as Light from the
Universe shed upon their path.
This has been helpful to me as I have been recently contemplating one of those places where the spiritual tradition I grew up in goes bump with the beliefs I have come to learn and trust in my adult life. So my tradition teaches me that when we consider a possible action, to listen in the silence for The Holy Author's divine guidance as to whether this is a right course of action for us. Certainly within the Christian tradition it frames God as having power over us, although I long ago released that belief for one that is more mutual and collaborative. There are models out there that talk about a co-creation process with God. That does not seem quite right either because it implies we know as much as the Creator which is far from my experience. But in my experience there is our own will and there is the Creator's intent for all life, and yes I like to believe or experience an intention for each of us as well. Perhaps that is simply our own soul's work and what we have come to do which can place us either in alignment with Spirit or out of alignment with Spirit.
I have written much in other entries about the delicate process of "listening" to God and how the Divine often speaks in symbolic language, metaphor, or in synchronicity. But this sort of begs the question of how we "plan" our lives. Christianity would suggest we should not plan our lives but listen for and be "obedient" to God's intention for our lives. (Or in some strands make our own choices while being obedient to Biblical directives). Some strands of new age thinking such as The Secret would seem to suggest that we put out our intention, vision or desire out to the Universe and just manifest that which we wish. I have deeply appreciated Neale Donald Walsch's attempt to readdress the messages from the Secret in his book: Happier than God. In this book Walsch clarifies that we can only align with the nature of the universe as it is which he says is all interconnected and for the Good of all. Thus he says when we attempt to manifest with either harmful intent or selfish intent we actually step out of alignment, and the messages we receive will simply bring us back into alignment for the common good.
So Walsch would say we could plan whatever we want as long as it aligned with the Universe. Wayne Dyer who of course writes extensively about this in his book The Power of Intention, as well as in his other books, also talks a great deal about how to be in alignment, how to avoid blocks and other pitfalls. But Dyer, while saying we can not be poor enough or sick enough to prevent other people from being poor or sick, is silent on the question of how we plan or whether our plans can be selfish or create negative effects for others.
Recently, I have been trying to discern whether to commit civil disobedience on behalf of climate change. In my old model I would listen and not act until I received a clear message to go forward. So far I have not received such a green light...although in both previous occasions in my life I contemplated a possible action with my mind analyzing the justice and injustice of the situation, and in both occasions just days before The Just One spoke powerfully and clearly with unmistakable direction right before the action with a power I could not have ignored.
In my new model I have been trying to hold a vision of the world re-emerging out of fossil fuel dominated world into one that uses sustainable alternative fuels. This is very challenging to hold a vision of since both the actions and mindsets that leads to carbon consumption are deeply embedded in our society. I know a visualizing process taught by Elise Boulding, the founder of modern Peace studies, which if engaged in with great detail can reveal strategic action, but this is different than a spiritual process. The process both Dyer and Walsch talk about would seem to suggest hold the big future vision, (not the yearning or you manifest the yearning) and then let it go in the confidence that the Universe will manifest it. Dyer does talk about working from the end which he describes as imagining a book already written and then writing it. This however still doesn't answer for me the question: how do we make yes/no decisions about possible actions? Oh, the moral from the immoral is fairly easy to discern, but should I take this or action or not is a different question?
This is where Redfield's concept of trying to picture a certain action and the other course (even if that is inaction) and see if we can picture it, provides, I think, an interesting intersection between these two paradigms. It suggests to me for the first time how to listen for the Divine Author's message regarding that which dwells in the future. When I tried to picture myself getting arrested I did not see it, but oddly it was because I did not really see the whole group getting arrested either! Perhaps this means Obama will not approve the XL pipeline. Or perhaps as happened in the past two occasions, that as events unfold a new Truth will plant itself in my heart with a correspondingly strong picture of that very arrest. My hope is in either, both? paradigms will be to listen in faithfulness and obedience to the Greatest Truth as it reveals itself.
While I certainly enjoyed revisiting what Redfield has to say about synchronistic events - always significant in my own faith life - what I did find interesting was Redfeld's idea that we can use intuition predicatively. In this novel as the main characters learn/remember to tune into syncrhonicities and the common bond between all of us, they learn when contemplating a possible step to see if they can picture the two most likely possibilities and to use the feedback loop of what they can picture and what they cannot as Light from the
Universe shed upon their path.
This has been helpful to me as I have been recently contemplating one of those places where the spiritual tradition I grew up in goes bump with the beliefs I have come to learn and trust in my adult life. So my tradition teaches me that when we consider a possible action, to listen in the silence for The Holy Author's divine guidance as to whether this is a right course of action for us. Certainly within the Christian tradition it frames God as having power over us, although I long ago released that belief for one that is more mutual and collaborative. There are models out there that talk about a co-creation process with God. That does not seem quite right either because it implies we know as much as the Creator which is far from my experience. But in my experience there is our own will and there is the Creator's intent for all life, and yes I like to believe or experience an intention for each of us as well. Perhaps that is simply our own soul's work and what we have come to do which can place us either in alignment with Spirit or out of alignment with Spirit.
I have written much in other entries about the delicate process of "listening" to God and how the Divine often speaks in symbolic language, metaphor, or in synchronicity. But this sort of begs the question of how we "plan" our lives. Christianity would suggest we should not plan our lives but listen for and be "obedient" to God's intention for our lives. (Or in some strands make our own choices while being obedient to Biblical directives). Some strands of new age thinking such as The Secret would seem to suggest that we put out our intention, vision or desire out to the Universe and just manifest that which we wish. I have deeply appreciated Neale Donald Walsch's attempt to readdress the messages from the Secret in his book: Happier than God. In this book Walsch clarifies that we can only align with the nature of the universe as it is which he says is all interconnected and for the Good of all. Thus he says when we attempt to manifest with either harmful intent or selfish intent we actually step out of alignment, and the messages we receive will simply bring us back into alignment for the common good.
So Walsch would say we could plan whatever we want as long as it aligned with the Universe. Wayne Dyer who of course writes extensively about this in his book The Power of Intention, as well as in his other books, also talks a great deal about how to be in alignment, how to avoid blocks and other pitfalls. But Dyer, while saying we can not be poor enough or sick enough to prevent other people from being poor or sick, is silent on the question of how we plan or whether our plans can be selfish or create negative effects for others.
Recently, I have been trying to discern whether to commit civil disobedience on behalf of climate change. In my old model I would listen and not act until I received a clear message to go forward. So far I have not received such a green light...although in both previous occasions in my life I contemplated a possible action with my mind analyzing the justice and injustice of the situation, and in both occasions just days before The Just One spoke powerfully and clearly with unmistakable direction right before the action with a power I could not have ignored.
In my new model I have been trying to hold a vision of the world re-emerging out of fossil fuel dominated world into one that uses sustainable alternative fuels. This is very challenging to hold a vision of since both the actions and mindsets that leads to carbon consumption are deeply embedded in our society. I know a visualizing process taught by Elise Boulding, the founder of modern Peace studies, which if engaged in with great detail can reveal strategic action, but this is different than a spiritual process. The process both Dyer and Walsch talk about would seem to suggest hold the big future vision, (not the yearning or you manifest the yearning) and then let it go in the confidence that the Universe will manifest it. Dyer does talk about working from the end which he describes as imagining a book already written and then writing it. This however still doesn't answer for me the question: how do we make yes/no decisions about possible actions? Oh, the moral from the immoral is fairly easy to discern, but should I take this or action or not is a different question?
This is where Redfield's concept of trying to picture a certain action and the other course (even if that is inaction) and see if we can picture it, provides, I think, an interesting intersection between these two paradigms. It suggests to me for the first time how to listen for the Divine Author's message regarding that which dwells in the future. When I tried to picture myself getting arrested I did not see it, but oddly it was because I did not really see the whole group getting arrested either! Perhaps this means Obama will not approve the XL pipeline. Or perhaps as happened in the past two occasions, that as events unfold a new Truth will plant itself in my heart with a correspondingly strong picture of that very arrest. My hope is in either, both? paradigms will be to listen in faithfulness and obedience to the Greatest Truth as it reveals itself.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Choosing Our Parents
In my twenties I first read Illusions by Richard Bach. In it he says: "Every problem has its gift" and other pieces of wisdom that suggest we are in charge of our own life experience, not passive victims to it. I recall taking the worst event of my life and saying: "Ok what is the gift of that?" And strangely I could see it, and I could feel it shifting something that had lived in me as a sort of “victim oh poor me” story. Something in this same exploration suggested to me that we in fact choose our parents. About 7 years ago I finally read the Celestine Prophesy. In this spiritual novel he also suggests that we choose our parents; and in fact he suggests we come to earth with a spiritual purpose and that the parents we choose provide certain lessons, for good or for bad, which help shape us for that spiritual purpose. He calls this our “evolutionary question” and says we each have one. He somewhat lays out a method for figuring it out (which I have further developed and have done with numerous friends.) In the last few years in reading various books by Neale Donald Walsch and then most recently Inspiration by Wayne Dyer this idea has again been repeated that we choose our parents. (This belief does fit best if you believe in reincarnation and karma.)
In a previous post: God the Father/God the Mother, I talk about the idea that our concepts of God are often powerfully shaped by how we experience our "all powerful" parents during our childhoods. These two ideas seem to go hand in glove: that we choose parents that provide a certain spiritual (or not) experience that then shapes our spirituality and the tools and concepts with which we pursue our spiritual task on earth. This has powerful implications for both how we relate to our parents and our experiences with them, but also for those of us who are parents, how we parent. Do you see your child as a soul that you have a sacred trust with? Do you nurture not just their body, mind and emotions, but also their spiritual nature or their soul?
What are the healing potentials with your parents (alive or dead) if you consider that you actually chose them? For someone who was treated abusively or hatefully by a parent this may seem a fairly repugnant and nonsensical statement...at first glance. But keep looking. I think for example of a friend of mine who was beaten by his father during his childhood. He says it taught him to question authority and to be strong and to be centered in his own internal sense of truth. He has been an activist throughout his life and this has served him well. I think of another person whose parents were not religious at all, but has a deep love of beauty, and how that prepared her to create art which has been a path to mysticism.
For myself, despite believing that we choose our parents, I have been mystified for decades trying to understand why I would choose a mother, a good mother, who would die during my childhood? It has finally come to me in doing Joanna Macy's Work that Reconnects, that I have learned how to be present to grief and loss unflinchingly and unwaveringly....and that in this time of so much loss on this planet, that those of us who fight for peace and for justice must be able to be present to the pain of the world. As Joanna says: "Be willing to have your heart be broken open to the pain of the world; it is what your heart was created for...to connect you to life." So I commend to you the question: Why did I choose my parents? How have they, for better or for worse, prepared me for my spiritual purpose in life?
In a previous post: God the Father/God the Mother, I talk about the idea that our concepts of God are often powerfully shaped by how we experience our "all powerful" parents during our childhoods. These two ideas seem to go hand in glove: that we choose parents that provide a certain spiritual (or not) experience that then shapes our spirituality and the tools and concepts with which we pursue our spiritual task on earth. This has powerful implications for both how we relate to our parents and our experiences with them, but also for those of us who are parents, how we parent. Do you see your child as a soul that you have a sacred trust with? Do you nurture not just their body, mind and emotions, but also their spiritual nature or their soul?
What are the healing potentials with your parents (alive or dead) if you consider that you actually chose them? For someone who was treated abusively or hatefully by a parent this may seem a fairly repugnant and nonsensical statement...at first glance. But keep looking. I think for example of a friend of mine who was beaten by his father during his childhood. He says it taught him to question authority and to be strong and to be centered in his own internal sense of truth. He has been an activist throughout his life and this has served him well. I think of another person whose parents were not religious at all, but has a deep love of beauty, and how that prepared her to create art which has been a path to mysticism.
For myself, despite believing that we choose our parents, I have been mystified for decades trying to understand why I would choose a mother, a good mother, who would die during my childhood? It has finally come to me in doing Joanna Macy's Work that Reconnects, that I have learned how to be present to grief and loss unflinchingly and unwaveringly....and that in this time of so much loss on this planet, that those of us who fight for peace and for justice must be able to be present to the pain of the world. As Joanna says: "Be willing to have your heart be broken open to the pain of the world; it is what your heart was created for...to connect you to life." So I commend to you the question: Why did I choose my parents? How have they, for better or for worse, prepared me for my spiritual purpose in life?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)