Day 2 of the 7 Day Diet

If you are still considering whether to attempt this diet, take a moment in quiet contemplation and ask yourself why? What is there to be afraid of? This contemplation alone is worth the price of admission, remember to always be gentle with yourself, avoiding morbid reflection at all costs.

If you began the diet yesterday, today choose the subjects you will entertain in your consciousness. Measure the emotional tone, being aware at all times of what you are thinking and how it is effecting you. Now for some good news, no one does this perfectly. When you become aware that your thoughts have wandered, and they will, ask yourself quietly why you drifted into that thought and how it effected you emotionally. Often these will just be random thoughts triggered by a scent, a word or phrase or any of the multitudes of sensory inputs we experience daily, so do not give into paralysis by analysis. Remember, often a cloudy day is just a cloudy day, nothing more. If you find that perhaps there is more to it and you cannot take a moment now, briefly note the thought and when you have the time, reflect on it in gentle contemplation. There is a rule here that must be obeyed. The rule is we are never to struggle or engage in negative appraisal of these random thoughts. We simply observe what floats through our mind as dispassionately as we can; this is not an exercise in judging, only in observing and noting effects.

Cat Of Nine Tails And Dragons

To show mercy to those in pain, whether physical or emotional, is of course a quality to be cultivated. But how merciful are our thoughts? It is the secret place the The Carpenter is really speaking too with the lesson: Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy (Matthew 7:1-5). To help someone but hold contempt in our heart for them for any reason, demonstrates having missed the point entirely. Having embraced Living on the Spiritual Basis does not mean we ignore the contemptible acts of others, but we must not confuse the act with the actor. In truth we recognize them, praying for the individuals consciousness to be raised and in meditation seek to improve conditions. Their acts will be addressed in the proper manner, both spiritually and secularly, for we are all ultimately responsible for our own demonstration, reaping what we have sown. A more seductive form of contempt is when we decide that someone is beyond the pale, incapable of growth or spiritual understanding for any reason. The most spiritually handicapped individual’s life will improve when we shine the sunlight of the spirit, to the best of our ability at the time, on them. Sometimes the change in condition will be instantaneous and obvious, often however it will not be and that is none of our business anyway. What matters is our demonstration, for by our action we have raised not only our consciousness and the consciousness of those around us, but the entire world, for everything and everyone is connected.

 Being merciful toward others is of course laudable, but what of the mercy we fail to show to ourselves? Do you mentally (or worse, out loud) chastise yourself when a mistake is made or when some negative or objectionable thought floats through your mind? We all make mistakes and curious thoughts float up in everyones consciousness, so we must put away the mental cat of nine tails and demonstrate mercy in our own house, our consciousness. God, Our Father, wants all His children to be: happy, joyous and free. So we stop berating ourselves and thank God for knowing Him better. We can then learn from mistakes and address those curious negative thoughts that seem to appear from nowhere by turning to Him in prayer, asking if there is anything to be learned (sometimes there is, but not always, often a cloudy day is just a cloudy day) and move on. Under no pretense do we engage in a mental hunt for the cause of the discordant thought, attempting to root out the whys of it in our psyche. To do so only opens us to the deadly trap of morbid reflection and in the lexicon of the ancient cartographers: there be dragons. If there is something to be known or learned, God will make it abundantly clear, so ask Him; but don’t go looking for dragons, they bite.

The Scales Of Thought

        What we think on out pictures in our lives; write that on your heart in bold capital letters. To think we can entertain certain thoughts and not have them influence us in other areas is not only foolish but spiritually deadly. The concept of “compartmentalizing” portions of our lives or thinking is patently false and leads only to destruction. What we think on becomes part of the mix, always. Thoughts of vengeance, assenting to any suffering, reveling in schadenfreude all mark us, shutting out the sunlight of the Spirit. The baker would never add something to the mixing bowl he did not want in the finished cake, but unlike the baker who has complete control over his ingredients, we have no control over the curious thoughts that float up or into our consciousness, but we do choose the path when they reach our awareness.

     The price of spiritual freedom is vigilance and our consistent positive response to negative and destructive thoughts and thinking. Living on the Spiritual Basis when these thoughts reach awareness we turn immediately in prayer and meditation back to Source, for we can no longer fool ourselves as too the cost these thoughts carry with them if we choose to contemplate, to think on them. Those who appear to get away with negative thinking and actions don’t. The mills of the gods grind slowly but exceedingly fine, next to every mill is a mountain of sand. We all reap as we sow, so we must stand vigilant, weighing the thoughts seeking purchase in our consciousness on the scales of Divine guidance and love.

Should We Pray For Ourselves?

        If not you should, regularly. Some are of the opinion this is somehow selfish, possibly, but never when we speak from the heart. Every conversation with God is a prayer and Living on the Spiritual Basis we do not filter our conversations with Our Father. If we do, than we are relying on our limited consciousness to manage our relationship with the infinite, with God, rather vain of us. In truth, God already knows the issues of our heart, the conversation/prayer demonstrating our willingness to be taken to better things, a higher consciousness. When our “eye is single” we understand that what we give our attention to manifests in our lives, our perceptions changed, our consciousness raised if our focus is spiritual. God will not, can not bring anything into our lives that will harm us or others, for good and God are synonymous, so never hesitate to speak to God on any subject, for in so doing our attention is focused on the only thing that truly matters, our relationship with “Our Father."

Our Perfection Realized

      What is perfection? A child’s laugh, a spring day, the family gathered together for the holidays, a content cat, chocolate, all of these things and infinitely more may be perfect but only in the most subjective way; i.e. in the “eye of the beholder.” Forms of non-subjective perfection; a “perfect” game in baseball, a spade royal flush, prime numbers or scoring a “100” on a test come to mind. Descartes held “existence itself is perfection”, which extrapolated could lead one down the path of “everything” being perfect. So clearly perfection can be often perfectly obscure.

        So what then is “spiritual” perfection? And what flawed individual could ever hope to attain it? No one among us has lived or is living life perfectly. Spiritual perfection is not living perfectly but holding to the perfection of God. I can’t, but He can. Living on the Spiritual Basis we have learned that all are connected in spirit, the eternal spark of the divine existing in each of us regardless of station or circumstance, all equal in His eyes, Our Father’s love, perfect; beyond time and flesh. So by a wholehearted commitment, day by day, to grow in understanding and service to Our Father, we approach “perfection.” Though this flesh, this life, will never be perfect our pursuit and demonstration of faith, though trembling, can be.

The Zen of Bacon Avocado Cheeseburgers

We have decided to make a change in our lives. Perhaps it is quitting smoking. We throw away our smokes (or smoke them up) and announce we are now a non-smoker. What changed? If I just polished off a bacon avocado cheeseburger and then announce myself a vegetarian, am I? If I have a room full of exercise equipment or paid up gym membership does it mean I am physically fit? The question is demonstration versus intention. Our intentions may be noble, but nothing happens until we take action and follow through. The question is: what course of action should we follow to be successful.

Change is a process; the new man is not born in a day. Wayne Dyer writes in The Power Of Intention: When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change. Embrace this spiritual truth and think from the end. While still smoking, see yourself free of cigarettes, not as someone “trying” to quit. You have either quit or you haven’t, trying is destined to fail for who wants to “try” hard things like quitting smoking when there are easy things like smoking. If you are persistent, soon the smoke free “new man” (or woman) you have built in your consciousness will emerge and you will be free of cigarettes. You did not quit smoking; you simply outgrew it. Think of it this way: when children we did not know that the last time we played hide and seek or made mud pies or built a fort was the last time, it just was. We could have made more pies or forts or organized a round of hide and seek, but we didn’t and we didn’t think about it, it just happened naturally, part of growing up, without thought on our part.

If getting fit is the desire, do not start by making “deals” with yourself or picking a time or date to start. Instead, before the first sit-up or minute on the elliptical, start by seeing yourself exercising in your minds eye, visualize yourself exercising everyday; picture your body as it will look after exercise, do this every day, throughout the day. Soon the urge to exercise will become overwhelming, as long as you refrain from negative out picturing (if 50 you will never look 20 again) and defeatist thinking (how hard it will be, pain, etc).

Train yourself to think from the end. Like any new activity, at first it will feel clumsy and unfamiliar. If you persist, it will become second nature, like riding a bike. Intention is the vision; you must provide the conditions within your consciousness for the ultimate success of your demonstration.

Oh, bacon avocado cheeseburgers? Don’t be silly; they are the food of the Gods.