Are You Crazy?

Are you praying and meditating daily? If not, what could possibly be of more importance? Living on the Spiritual Basis requires consistent effort, so pick up pen and paper right now and list the reasons why you are resistant to meditation and prayer, I’ll wait…....

Looking at them in black and white; they are pretty weak, aren’t they? Especially when you consider you have been choosing excuses over a closer relationship with God! If a rich benefactor approached you and the only requirement for consistent access to their fortune and help was exercising a few minutes every day, would you find excuses not to work out? Considering you get to decide when to exercise and how, intensity not the goal, just consistency and all your financial needs vanish, permanently, would you hesitate? If you met someone with this kind of arraignment who then started lamenting all the reasons (remember your list) why working out consistently was “hard”, how would you respond (see title)?

The choice is always ours. We can live on the spiritual basis or visit it. To be clear: If we wait for trouble to come to pray, God will still hear our prayers and act to our benefit, the difference between living in the light and running to it in fear is the wear and tear we place on ourselves. Trouble comes for all, the rain falls on the just and unjust equally, and consistent prayer and meditation prepares us for those times, providing us with serenity to meet calamity. So what are you waiting for? Daily prayer and meditation demonstrates willingness, willingness the foot soldier of faith, faith the buffer that smooths the road, the road of Happy Destiny.

 Zen, Wayne Dyer, The Secret, Source, Scientific Prayer, NOTW, ODAAT, Emmet Fox, ACIM,

Deadly Comparisons

Many modern offices are comprised of large rooms divided into cubicles employing partition walls. Typically these walls of partition are head high and unlike permanent walls are easily moved. When we are frightened and feeling lost it is if a wall of impenetrable stone has risen between us and God. In truth the “wall” is nothing more than the flimsiest of partitions constructed of fear and false belief. It appears solid and robust at first blush, but just as the partition walls found in an office, with the right tools and a little effort is easily removed. The tools: Prayer and meditation. The effort: Being of service to others.

Prayer is pretty straight forward; meditation however seems shrouded in mystery and skewed expectation. If you aren’t meditating regularly, start. Keep it simple, begin by finding someplace where you can be undisturbed for fifteen minutes, if your living situation makes this difficult, take a walk. Yes, you can meditate while walking. Whether sitting (no need to fold yourself into a pretzel unless your into that sort of thing) or walking, be comfortable. Sit in a comfortable position or walk at a pace that does not affect your breathing. Now, think about nothing but spiritual principles and truth, as you understand them at this point in your development, or if you prefer read a paragraph or two from a spiritual book or teaching and then contemplate on it. When your mind wanders, and it will, gently bring it back to the task at hand. Do not under any pretext speak to yourself negatively or condescendingly. Meditate daily, No excuses. If you are persistent, soon meditation will become such an integral part of living that when you find yourself caught in a situation where meditation is not practical (happens occasionally) you will miss it. Congratulations, you are now officially a meditator and yes, it really is that simple. There are many forms and styles of meditation, do not at this point go out and buy books on meditation or search the internet. Keep it simple, when it is time to investigate other forms, you will know. Most importantly do not concern yourself with becoming “better” at meditation, just do it.

Service work can take any number of forms. It can be as simple as dropping a coin in the random parking meter about to expire (I know, in some places this is illegal but a little civil disobedience is good for the soul) or even just picking up a piece of trash off the street or sidewalk and disposing of it, to volunteering time and resources. The key here is just as with meditation is consistency. A kindly act once in awhile won’t fit the bill.

You may have sensed a theme here. To remove the illusionary partition wall that fear and false belief raises between us and serenity, we stop thinking about the trouble and think about God and spirituality instead, backing it up with unselfish, constructive action. Do not allow yourself to fall into the trap of thinking you need to do any of this perfectly or that anyone does, the deadly trap of comparing our insides to others outsides. 

 

AA, ACIM, Alanon, Bible, Einstein, NOTW, Power of Intention, Zen,  

ILL Health Personified

Emotion is your friend. Get overly emotional about everything. Be outraged not only at perceived slights directed at you but at everyone else, even strangers.

Drink lots of caffeine and energy drinks. So what if it makes it hard to sleep. Sleep and rest are overrated anyway. Besides you’ll get plenty of sleep when dead.

Eat anything that is quick and easy. Food is food and time is precious. What is more important, eating or working, texting, blogging, chatting, reality TV, online poker, partying etc? The body may be a temple, but it is your temple so decorate it anyway you want.

Vitamins are expensive, and some say they really don’t work anyway, so they are a waste of money.

Stay busy. Even when “relaxing” do something constructive. God forbid you take any down time.

Avoid prayer and meditation, religiously.

Never walk if you can ride.

You will always have time to exercise later, when you have more time.

When you do get sick, make sure you research the condition at length. Speak of your malady with everyone (make sure you rehearse your speech, don’t want to leave anything out) and listen intently when they in turn share their experiences, especially the negative ones to see how they may apply to you.

Never follow a Doctor’s advice completely, it’s your body and who knows better what’s good for it than you.

And never, ever, turn to God in anything.

Day 6 Of The 7 Day Diet

Hang in there, only 1 more day to go. Then again, you may be experiencing such profound changes in your outlook you may desire more. Today’s teaching is on love and its power, its ability to change us at our core and the unique availability of love. Love is always available, if we are willing to take action. Faith without works is dead and just as with faith, love requires action. We must build up “by faithful daily exercise the true Love Consciousness.” This is a key ingredient in our daily diet since “Love and tolerance of others is our code.”

The path of enlightenment requires work, effort on our part. We start our day by “asking each morning in meditation that our creator show us the way of patience, tolerance, kindliness and love.” Do you start your day with meditation? No? Why not? Would you try to make a cake without flour? Drive your car missing a tire? Of course not. Meditation is an integral part of living on the Spiritual Basis. If you are not meditating daily, start at a simple level. Find a quiet place where you will be undisturbed for a few minutes. Take 2 or 3 deep breaths slowly exhaling through the nose. With eyes closed, consider what patience, tolerance, kindliness and love mean to you. Your mind will begin to visualize, do not fight it or try to control it. In your minds dialogue stay focused on the task at hand. When your mind wanders gently bring it back. When it wanders again end your session and thank God for knowing Him better. What could be easier? Limit your sessions to 10 to 15 minutes. This is sufficient to start the day and we can all find this amount of time if we are willing. Of course if you have the time and are moved to longer sessions, then do.

Our True Duty

“If you have no time for prayer and meditation, you will have lots of time for sickness and trouble.” Pretty much sums it up. Our duty, now that we have placed our feet on the path of Living on the Spiritual Basis, is to fit ourselves to be of maximum service to God and the people about us. We do this by whole heartedly out picturing our belief in God’s perfect love and guidance in every area of our existence, holding to the bedrock truth that God will not, cannot, ask us to do anything beyond our present reach, to sacrifice our integrity, our spiritual growth or cause us pain and suffering of any kind. “We are sure God wants us to be happy, joyous and free. We cannot subscribe to the belief that this life is a vale of tears, though it once was just that for many of us. But it is clear that we made our own misery. God didn’t do it.”  We hold to God‘s love, and though trembling, stand; demonstrating the truth of being, fulfilling our duty.

Theoretical Skiing

         Intellectual discussions of spirituality can be interesting, even invigorating, but have no real value without demonstration. Consider: someone decides to become a snow skier. They read books and magazines on skiing, attend lectures and seminars, learn about snow and meteorology, purchase the latest skiing attire and have custom skis made. Are they a skier? To the casual observer they seem to meet the criterion, they “know” all about skiing and have all the latest and best gear. Except they have never actually skied. Now, a seasoned skier would not be fooled for a moment, they would listen and know in short order that their “knowledge” was all theoretical, none of it based on actual experience. Clearly, being a lodge or “bench” skier has its advantages: they never get hurt (as long as they don’t insult an actual skier) and they stay warm and dry with minimal wear and tear on their gear and wardrobe. The only problem being the point of skiing is to ski, to experience all the wonderful things on the slopes they have only read or heard about.

         Now most folks who decide to ski, do in fact hit the slopes. Spiritually however many choose to remain in the lodge, convinced that self knowledge is sufficient, taking the slopes unnecessary. Both cases of bench warmers demonstrate the same truths: Self knowledge avails us nothing that faith without works is dead and they wish to enjoy a certain reputation they know in their heart they don‘t deserve. Knowledge has little or no value until it is put into action/demonstration, for when we lack the faith to put what we “know” to work, we allow fear to dominate us. For faith to be vital we must leave the lodge and hit the slopes, and just like the beginning skier, regardless of how much we “know” we are going fall, make mistakes and end up a little sore. 

        So we step out in faith and demonstrate over the challenges and difficulties of life, relying on a Power Greater Than Ourselves to provide what we need, employing prayer, meditation and constructive action to solve all our problems, proving the theoretical. Oh, and never ski on old wax.

Getting Back To Basics

   Ever hear someone say they were “getting back to basics or fundamentals”? In sports or cooking this may be applicable but spiritually it is nonsense. You are either on the path or not, no middle ground. Additionally, to believe that since we have been on the path for a time that conditions or requirements of continued spiritual growth change leads inexorably to spiritual pride, a sense of entitlement and destructive self-righteousness in demonstration, guaranteeing suffering for anyone who falls into this trap. The “fundamentals” are eternal, only the form of expression changes.

      In God’s eyes all are equal, regardless of their earthly crimes, circumstances or demonstration. God does not play favorites or met out punishment, we set the table, the demonstration is ours; We always reap as we sow. Those who choose to live a life bereft of spiritual principles are loved by God in equal measure as those who have dedicated their lives to the path. The difference is the individual’s connection to source, not the sources connection to the individual. Living on the new basis, the Spiritual Basis, we do the footwork, put in our time “working out”, exercising our spiritual muscles through prayer, meditation and service, so when (not if) trouble or a difficulty arises we are prepared.

     When faced with any of the life changing moments that are part of living those who have eschewed the path are faced with the question they can no longer postpone or evade: God is either everything or else He is nothing. When an individual reaches this turning point, a jumping off place, they will either start up the mountain of enlightenment or bury their head in the sand (drugs, alcohol, blame, rationalization, denial, etc) attempting to blot out the truth.

      When we place our feet on the base of a mountain for the first time it doesn’t mean we have the needed experience or are prepared to attempt greater heights. It requires time and consistent dedication to become an experienced mountain climber and just as in mountain climbing, spiritually if we lose sight of the fundamentals, thinking we are beyond them, great is the fall.

        This existence is a moment in parentheses. ETERNITY (birth-life-death) ETERNITY. Having embraced Living on the Spiritual Basis we know the truth: we are not this body, we are divine, eternal beings experiencing the human condition, we existed before this body was born and will exist long after it has returned to the dust from which it rose. We grow, progress in this life, by our willingness to share, to teach the spiritual principles, the fundamentals we practice daily with those just starting in earnest on their journey, remembering always that all are equal in Our Father‘s eyes.

SERENITY

“We will comprehend the word serenity and we will know peace.” 

Serenity: calm and untroubled: without worry, stress, or disturbance.

Consider a world where this is operative. A thing worth fighting for, no? Fighting for serenity, now there is a fight worth picking, the only fight that truly matters and we fight this fight by ceasing to fight everything and everyone. It begins with each of us, the path and process clear, requiring the ultimate sacrifice, the surrendering of self, our sacred cows and the belief that altering outside conditions, while leaving the inner untouched, is anything less than madness. We choose, just for today, to Live on the Spiritual Basis, embracing spirituality to the best of our current ability and understanding, for when we begin to comprehend serenity we become the true peacemakers, achieving not only peace of soul for ourselves, but ultimately for all for serenity in contagious.

Peacemakers And Pigs Wearing Red Suspenders

        “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Matthew 5:9). In contemplation some years ago I began thinking on the “enlightened” teachers of the East and elsewhere. Initially the thought was of how I would love to grow in consciousness, to attain the level of awareness they seemingly have attained. Then, out of the stillness a question formed, “why”? It’s amazing how a three letter word can raise the proverbial metaphysical devil. Why is a curious little word. In metaphysics, why is typically the booby prize. When a new student asks why this or that happened or why they need to follow directions they are usually looking for the “easier softer way”, a loophole to slip through avoiding the heavy lifting consciousness raising requires. My usual response is “because pigs don’t wear red suspenders, now you now why, now quit stalling and get to work.” Talking about building a house has never raised a single roof, deciding to go on a diet has never resulted in the loss of a single pound, it is only when we take action that change happens.

       So in contemplation I began to consider the enlightened ones and the condition of the world in general. What has really changed in the last 2,000 years? Technology, general health and hygiene, transportation, better and more efficient ways of killing one another have all improved, but what of the state of our consciousness? Consider: Buddha, Jesus and other enlightened teacher’s message has been with us; in some cases thousands of years, yet we still act and think in much the same way we did during the time they lived, except now with smart phones, smart bombs and big screen TV‘s. How many have come to sit at the feet of a master in the last 2000 years? How has it changed the world? The argument can be made that without their and their student’s meditations and prayers the world would be much worse off than it is today, but I find that sentiment at best suspect.

       So, who are the real peacemakers? Look in the mirror. The enlightened teachers have much to offer, but it is the raising of our consciousness by daily Living on the Spiritual Basis that transforms and improves the world. Through our raised consciousness the world approaches, one day at a time, one person at a time, the tipping point when it will metaphysically slaps it’s self on the forehead and say: “what were we thinking!” finally assuming our true place as children of God. So today, Let there be peace, and let it begin with me.