Destructive Mourning

Miracles Of Recovery

Mourning to excess is destructive. Many have stopped living themselves when a loved one has passed, literally hoping for their own end so they can “join” with them on the “other side.” When we have committed ourselves to living on the Spiritual Basis, death and all suffering come into true focus. Nothing truly dies. The flesh will fail for this is the nature of flesh, but the spark of the Divine; the ineffable power at the heart of everything that stands outside of time and our synthetic understanding of the universe, was never born and can never die. So we mourn those who have passed beyond our limited sight by celebrating their life, this lesson learned, comforted in the knowledge of their translation from flesh back to true self, unbound and unencumbered by physical limitations and let them go in Love.

Death provides a clear ending point, but what of the sneaky things we mourn? Lamenting lost or missed opportunities, those “if I only would have” moments when we fantasize what our lives would have been like if we had acted or chosen differently. "If I were only (fill in the blank) years younger", “If I didn’t have kids” (this doesn’t mean we don’t love our children or in any way wish they were gone, only projecting what life would have been like without that responsibility). “What if” moments, we all have them, so when they come, let them pass with little notice, like a small wave lapping our feet at the waters edge. Do not under any circumstance comment out loud or engage in conversation regarding them. For if we do, what began as a seemingly benign chat will devolve into morbid reflection, pulling us out of the moment and into a destructive contemplation of the past and "what if". Profit from your experiences, use them as teaching instruments for you and more importantly others, but do not dwell on them, for any reason. “We do not regret the past nor wish to shut the door on it” for one of life’s great truths is that "Pain is the only instrument sharp enough to cut away the excess of self". 

 So we remember and honor those no longer in our sight and when we drift into the discomfort of "what if" thinking we pause and thank God for all we have learned, products of our long schooling, our scars well earned and convicted in the knowledge that our life is exactly as it should be in this moment, by the choices and decisions we have made which prepare us for the lessons to come.

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

The Secret, Wayne Dyer, Recovery, Addiction, Zen, Emmet Fox, Opioids, NA, Four Agreements, Chopra, Heroin, Einstein, AA, McRaven, Healing Path

Camels, Tents And The Law Of Thought

What we think upon grows. The thoughts we dwell on will be out pictured in our lives. Period. When we dwell on lack, perceived injustice (real and imagined), resentment or any of the other hundred forms of fear clamoring for our attention, they attach to our consciousness as surely as a barnacle to a pier piling. Though no one would say they wish to suffer, to believe we can think one way and then receive the opposite is the root of the trouble.

It would be a poor law indeed if it did not work in the reverse as well. When we dwell on the positive, on the Presence of God, on the truth of our relationship with the Divine, that all fear and negativity is false, God the giver of every good gift, then these aspects will be out pictured in our lives.

Remember the lesson of the camels nose and the tent? Camels will not back up so if a camel gets its head under a tent flap they are coming all the way in. However if their nose is smacked as soon as it appears they will withdraw, and no one wants a camel in their tent, they are bad mannered and rather smelly.

Our troubles are just like the camels nose. As soon as we become aware of trouble or difficulty we smack it on the nose with prayer and meditation and its ability to drive us to despair, fear and morbid reflection will be short circuited. What we think upon grows. What will you think upon today? Beware camels.

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

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The Wonderful Enfoldment

Death awaits all men but waits on no man. Everything, from the mayfly to the stars themselves pass away, but Death is the change that brings renewal. Sadness at the passing of a loved one is natural; they have left our sight and are absent from our lives. Difficulty arises though if we refuse to let go of the departed, to allow them to rest in peace. When we build shrines and visit them regularly, whether they are of stone or in our heart, we open ourselves to morbid reflection. Consider the pyramids. The Pharaohs spent most of their time and energy focused on death and their “final” resting place.  Millions of man hours spent building, countless lives lost, treasuries emptied and for what? None of them succeeded as inviolate temples to the afterlife, what could the ancients have accomplished had they channeled that energy and resources into the living?

There is no death in the sense of personal finality, for death is just an altering of consciousness, a change in condition. Living on the Spiritual Basis, in conscious contact with a Power Greater Than Ourselves, death is part of the wonderful enfoldment of divine love that marks our spiritual progression. How could it be anything else?

We do not seek death, for it will come in due course, nor fear it. We release those who have gone before with love, sad because they have temporarily left our sight, but excited for their translation into the miraculous for we now know that this flesh is but a temporary conveyance, never conceived or designed to last for eternity. Our consciousness, the I AM that makes each of us unique in all existence is eternal, untouched by time, space or physical concerns, has always been and will always be. So we carry the departed in our heart, since no other structure can truly hold them. When they drift up into the forefront of our thinking, as they are wont to do from time to time, we  smile and say a silent blessing, sending love, and then get on with the business of living, for the dead will take care of themselves.

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

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Overcast Days

Ever start a trip by plane on a cloudy day? On the ground it is dark, perhaps even dank, deep shadows lurking at every turn. Sitting in our seat we feel and hear the engines spool up, power vibrating through the plane. Then the brakes are released and we are pushed back in our seat, the plane lifts off the runway and climbs steeply through the clouds, for a time visibility is reduced to zero, then suddenly the craft bursts through the cloud layer into bright sunshine, the truth now evident, the light was always there, it simply obscured by temporary conditions.

When trouble comes into our lives the adversary, fear, works to cloud our consciousness, to instill in us a false belief that temporary conditions are permanent. Living on the Spiritual Basis we rise above the shadows by raising our consciousness through prayer and meditation, banishing false belief by demonstrating faith. Everyone occasionally has clouds obscure the light for a time, but Living on the Spiritual Basis there is no concern, for demonstration has taught us the light is always there, clouds a temporary condition and by staying the course we will break through the clouds of fear and burst into the light of peace and freedom, the truth revealed, that a cloudy day, is just a cloudy day.

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

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Abiding In God

Abiding In God

Today the definition of abide is to tolerate, to put up with something. 150 years ago it meant to dwell, to live or reside in a place (Encarta). Living on the Spiritual Basis is a conscious decision. We choose to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God, not in the Polly Anna sense but in a dynamic sense. We choose to live our lives, with all our defects of character and shortcomings, as demonstrations of His love, guidance and power. Knowing we will make mistakes but stepping out in faith regardless; forgiven as soon as we ask, the transgression forgotten if we are sincere in our desire to grow. Therefore, to abide in God is to live through and of Him, trembling and fearful though we may be, one day at a time. 

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

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The Daily Barrage And Finding Peace

The Daily Barrage And Finding Peace

We live with a continuous barrage of information wrapped in fear. Fear this candidate or that, fear the end of the world in all manner of ways from plagues, climate, meteors even volcanoes. Even losing ones hair or developing a few well earned lines on the face should be feared. The list is legion. Read any newspaper, website, watch any news channel and the hammers of negativity begin doing their work on the 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.To wit:
       
         “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 Great Depression was in full swing, alcohol prohibition the law of the land, the heart of America was gripped in a “black blizzard” of dust that bankrupted thousands and displaced millions, the storm clouds of war gathering in Europe as Hitler rose to power. Economic hardship, unemployment, war on drugs, immigration, global warming, Iran, Iraq, North Korea. Sound familiar? Politicians and leaders have been applying the same answers and solutions to mankind’s struggles for thousands of years, with the same predictable 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 so our mantra should become Let there be peace, and let it begin with me.

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

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

Radical Forgiveness A Day At A Time

Radical Forgiveness A Day At A Time

Radical Forgiveness requires we avoid participating in negative conversations on any topic, for this invites trouble and opens the door for negativity and resentment to slither into our consciousness. This does not mean we shy away from difficult conversations when necessary, but walking the spiritual path we find those times actually are very rare, unlike when we lived on the secular basis when it seemed we were more or less always at odds with something (thoughts) or someone (personalities). So the key today is to view everything and everyone through the lens of spiritual light, as we understand it today for we are growing in spirit, to the best of our ability and remember, no one does this perfectly, we are not saints.

When negative thinking surfaces turn to God in silent prayer, where the thought came from of little importance, our reaction to it of paramount importance. When we live in this manner we break the links of resentment and negativity while strengthening the links of love, love being the most powerful tool in our spiritual tool chest. Initially this will feel cumbersome, even odd but in time it will become second nature, the level of our serenity increasing dramatically and though negative thinking will raise its head from time to time as it does with everyone, we now have a way out of trouble that works, as long as we remain diligent and employ the indicated spiritual action.

 

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

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Radical Forgiveness

Radical Forgiveness

There are many things that link us, one to another, the two most powerful being love and resentment, one we embrace, the other we must be free of. When we think on those we love we feel peace, calmness, brings a smile to our face. Conversely when thinking on resentment the blood pressure rises, the jaw tightens, our thoughts taking on a decidedly darker tone. To be free of resentment requires work, for nothing will retard, even stop spiritual progress more than resentment and it is deadly.

To be free of resentment we must embrace radical forgiveness. Many confuse forgiveness with having to like the object of the resentment. Fortunately it is not required, not a bad thing, just not required. We do have to “love” them in the sense that we free them from our heart, where all resentment truly resides, and give them over “root and branch” to God’s care. We do this by saying a definite and specific prayer giving over the resentment and all attached to it to God. We do this once and only once. If we repeat the action, we short circuit the process so when the resentment pops up again in our consciousness, and it most surely will, thank God for knowing Him better. We may have to repeat this action and affirmation many times, but it is worth the effort to be free. Avoid retelling the “story” of the resentment to others until you are sure it no longer has any power in your life and then only as a demonstration of a successful application of the process. Additionally do not volunteer any action or direction another should take in regard to a resentment unless asked specifically what you have done, for when we answer unasked questions we run the risk of creating a resentment.

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

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

Eternal Tides

Eternal Tides

Death, a topic routinely avoided yet we all have/will deal with it. First the death of those we have come to know and often love and finally, and I think you would agree the most important, at least to us, our own. It is curious how differently cultures mark/celebrate a passing. Westerners typically make the event a clean straightforward affair handled almost exclusively by professionals, family and friends provided with a regimented schedule of events leading to a final “farewell” usually all taking place in a week's time. Other cultures leave the departed in their beds for a year or longer, the family handling everything, finally throwing a huge party where the departed are honored, cremating the remains at its conclusion, again all handled by loved ones.

Regardless of ritual or rites, death is inevitable. What happens to our physical remains after we have translated from the mortal coil matters little. What matters is everything that takes place right up to the moment we somersault into eternity, for in truth: We are eternal. The spark of the divine, the connection to all that is, our consciousness, our soul has always existed. It was never born and will never die. It has always been and will always be. We are not human beings in search of the miraculous, we are spiritual beings experiencing the human condition, this flesh a mere conveyance. So we mourn the passing of those we cared for, for they have passed from our sight for a time and we miss them, but celebrate their transition as well for it comes for all and is as natural and necessary as the gentle cycle of the tides.

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

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

In But Not Of, Reborn

In But Not Of, Reborn

Reborn is a term that accurately states the truth of Living on the Spiritual Basis. Day by day, step by step as we develop spiritually the old “man” dies and the new emerges. In childbirth there is pain and discomfort during the act but is quickly forgotten since there is probably no more peaceful, joyful, powerful moment in our lives than when we first beheld our newborn child. This same peace is visited upon us as our awareness and conscious contact with Source builds and grows, as we move from being of the world to being in the world, moving from the finite to the infinite, becoming a light of awareness and serenity, a beacon of hope. And unlike that moment of arrival of our child, this peace and serenity can be ours daily, if we but remain teachable, willing to grow and change regardless of circumstance. Is there any greater miracle?

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

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

Consciousness Building part 3

Consciousness Building part 3

“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” Wayne Dyer.

Let’s look at this a different way. Many of my peers, including myself, are a little rounder than we would like. Now the weight didn’t appear over night. I didn’t go to bed with a twenty year olds twenty-eight inch waist and wake up with a sixty something’s 34. Yet when it comes to losing weight, typically if it can’t be lost in a week or two we lose interest and fall back into old habits, those deeply carved patterns of thinking. Diets are hard; requiring real long-term change and different thinking patterns, while cheeseburgers are easy, requiring only fries and maybe a shake.

We choose the path, the instruction sheet we follow. The choice is always ours. 

 

Our spiritual development is a mental diet, we choose the directions to follow, the nourishment we ingest, and though eating healthy is important, a healthy mental diet is of infinitely more consequence than waist size. Years of fuzzy thinking, false belief and fear driven action do not disappear overnight, the process continues for our lifetime and though our consciousness is eternal, assembly is required, so what instruction sheet will you follow?

 

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

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

Consciousness Building part 2

Consciousness Building part 2

“Habit is habit, and not to be flung out the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.” Wayne Dyer.
 

Consider those who suffer from addiction. Many who initially recover, seemingly having cast their “habit” out the window, a new basis for living embraced, then relapse and are often baffled as to why. They are fooled by the delusion those years of thinking and living in addiction now magically disappeared because the intoxicants are out of their system. In reality the “instruction” sheet they have been following for years is carved deep in their consciousness and will take years of positive contrary action and consistent vigilance of motive to overwrite, to learn how to live on this new basis of living, the Spiritual Basis, embracing a completely new set of directions, a day at a time. The price may seem high, but the rewards are nothing less than miraculous.

© Vincent Lee Jones Living In Spirit All Rights Reserved

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