Living In Spirit: December 2016

Saturday, December 31, 2016

A New Year, A New Way Of Thinking

We live with a continuous barrage of negativity. Read any newspaper, watch any news channel or surf the internet and the hammers of negativity begin doing their work on our psyche. Living on the Spiritual Basis is a choice, it is the road less traveled. History is an invaluable tool that few truly employ. There is nothing in today’s headlines that has not happened before, nothing.

        “The world is not going to the dogs. The human race is not doomed. Civilization is not going to crash. The captain is on the bridge. Humanity is going through a difficult time, but humanity has gone through difficulties many times before in its long history, and has always come through, strengthened and purified.
           Do not worry yourself about the universe collapsing. It is not going to collapse, and anyway that question is none of your business. The captain is on the bridge. If the survival of humanity depended upon you or me, it would be a poor lookout for the Great Enterprise, would it not?
            The captain is on the bridge. God is still in business. All that you have to do is to realize the Presence of God where trouble seems to be, to do your nearest duty to the very best of your ability; and to keep an even mind until the storm is over.”

When Emmet Fox wrote this in the 1930’s the depression was in full swing, prohibition the law of the land, the heart of America gripped in a man made “black blizzard” of dust that bankrupted and displaced millions, the storm clouds of war gathering in Europe as Hitler rose to power. Economic hardship, unemployment, war on drugs, environmental disasters, Iran, Iraq, North Korea, bickering politicians, same stories only the names and dates have changed. Politicians and leaders, both religious and secular, have been applying the same answers and solutions to mankind’s struggles for thousands of years, with the same results transcending generations. Unfortunately each succeeding generation fails to profit from the lessons learned by their predecessors and proceeds to travel down the same failed paths, leading inevitably to more war, suffering and the search for scapegoats to explain what amounts to basically taking the same actions again and again expecting different results.

Nothing changes if nothing changes, but when we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. Living on the Spiritual Basis we trust infinite God rather than our finite self or the world for salvation, for if we are ever to truly walk a different path as a people, the change must begin within each of us. Let there be peace, and let it begin with me.

The Secret, Wayne Dyer, Serenity, Enlightenment, Zen, Emmet Fox, How To Be Happy, Golden Key, Pope Francis, Chopra, Jesus, Einstein, AA, McRaven, Healing Path

Friday, December 30, 2016

The Fourth Horse

The fourth horse is the White Horse, the conquering horse. “Driven by a hundred forms of fear, self-delusion, self-seeking, and self-pity….” Words have power. Too heal, to harm, to start a war or stop one, to spread love or condemn. Our words mark us and lay the foundation for the future, a future of either freedom or bondage. Are we willing to let others suffer, under any justification? Do we look down upon anyone for any reason? Do we believe in freedom for all? Do we trust God, Really? Are we willing to stand for truth, possibly at great personal risk or do we soft pedal it to save hurt feelings or ourselves?

Living on the Spiritual Basis we no longer hide behind generalities. When we marginalize anyone, for any reason, we marginalize everyone. To ride the White Horse to freedom requires more courage than we are capable of on our own, but with God all things are possible. So we abandon ourselves to God, asking Him to remove any lingering prejudices or sacred cows still holding us back, grabbing the mane of the conquering horse as it speeds by, holding on with all our might. We do not try to rein him in or guide him for he will toss us off if we do for His vision is clear, His sights set, His destination the heart of God, for it is none other than God himself who sent him to us and He will provide the abiding strength necessary to hold on and ride to freedom, if we are but willing.

The Secret, Wayne Dyer, Serenity, Enlightenment, Zen, Emmet Fox, How To Be Happy, Golden Key, Pope Francis, Chopra, Jesus, Einstein, AA, McRaven, Healing Path

Thursday, December 29, 2016

The Hideous Horsemen: The Black Horse

The Black Horse represents complete reliance on our human intelligence. Consider how many worship at the alter of intellect. Of course, they don't see it as worship, but is there really a whit of difference in commitment or passion between the minister preaching from the pulpit or the righteous professor/scientist/politician speaking from the dais? Consider the textbooks of just 30 years ago, regardless of discipline, that have had to be rewritten because of new discoveries or the proving of old theories wrong. History is very illustrative on this point, for every generation believes they have it right.

A few hundred years ago if you argued the Earth was not the center of the universe you could be put to death. A little over a hundred years ago the scientific community believed man could never fly and they had the data to back their contention. As late as the 1950's many of the most prominent scientific minds believed man would never survive a trip into space since crossing the Van Allen radiation belt would certainly be fatal. Since the 1970's everything we thought we knew about dinosaurs has been turned on its head, while revelations in Quantum mechanics in the last twenty has shaken physics, the basic laws of everything, at its foundation. Is it not the height of hubris to think that “now” we have all the answers in any area of study or science? We ride the Black Horse when we close our minds, stop questioning, and begin collecting and herding sacred cows, shutting ourselves off from the fresh winds that drive our higher selves, dismissing any contrary thought or belief out of hand because just like Galileo‘s jailers, the issue, the science was settled and they had nothing left to learn.