Repentance And Morbid Reflection

The word repentance has a definite religious feel to it. Perhaps I have watched too many old movies but I can’t help but see in my minds eye a preacher screaming at someone or their congregation to REPENT or else. Living on the Spiritual Basis what does it mean to repent? First a definition:

Repent:
1. be sorry: to recognize the wrong in something you have done and be sorry about it
2. religion change ways: to feel regret about a sin or past actions and change your ways or habits (Encarta)

OK, to feel sorry about something done or said and to change our ways, how simple (to feel sorry), but not easy to do (truly change). Living on the new basis, the basis of trusting and relying on God requires action. A simple acceptance of past mistakes with a mumbled “sorry” won’t fit the bill at all. Living on the Spiritual Basis requires work on our part. One of the traps those new to the spiritual basis of living fall into is to rehash old hurts and mistakes which only serves to reinvigorate them, fill them with new life. To be clear: We do not shut the door on the past or wish to deny it, but we do not under any pretense engage in morbid reflection. To do so takes us out of the moment (in service) and we drift into remorse and negative self-reflection (bondage of self). Our past is a great tool, often the best, for helping those new to the process to progress, but we can be of little use if we are wallowing in self-pity or pointless remorse. On our own we are powerless to affect any real lasting change at our core, by relying on a Power Greater Than Ourselves real change is affected, the past put in proper perspective and its power over us removed and we are Free.


  ACIM, AA, al-anon, Baba Ram Dass, Buddha, Chuck Chamberlain, Emmet Fox, Golden Key, Law Of Attraction, NOTW, The Secret, Zen, Wayne Dyer,

Enjoying The Ride With Kwai Chang Caine

Herbert Spencer stated that substance is “that which is not subject to discord or decay." Spirit is substance,  Spirit cannot die and was never born, and we are Spirit. Consider Buddhism, it teaches that what we see is illusion, impermanent, that Everything is Zen. When I first heard this years ago I had the mental picture of a young Kwai Chang Caine of Kung Fu fame listening to his Master, a puzzled look on his face, not understanding. Unlike TV's Caine  we don't  have the luxury of jump cutting to where all is revealed. Years and a lot of living (i.e. pain) were required before I found the Spiritual Basis for Living which has  provided the answers. To borrow from Chuck Chamberlain, today I have A New Pair of Glasses to view life with. I know in my heart of hearts that I AM Spirit, as are you, as are all, all eternal, that only the distorted vision resulting from my human limitations drives my fears and difficulties. That I AM here to learn as long as this flesh lasts and when it ultimately fails, to take the lessons learned to the next destination wherever that may be, always moving forward in love and light. So struggle is pointless, everything really is Zen (God) and since no one gets out alive, we might as well enjoy the ride.