“Guilty with an Explanation Your Honor”

It is suggested that we “pray with a feather” for prayer should never be hard work; it is our time to speak with God. When praying we should not concern ourselves with choosing the perfect word, phrasing or long explanations. The longer the explanation or “set up” the more obvious that we are trying to "sell" God. Now in truth, who are we trying to sell, God or ourselves? “Guilty with an explanation your Honor.” God already knows our heart and mind, for He is closer than breath. Remember, His love is unconditional, grace freely given regardless of our transgressions, impossible to earn. Though there may be secular consequences for our past deeds, we are forgiven in spirit as soon as we earnestly ask. So pray simply, honestly, quietly from the heart, and you will receive openly and in great measure, for that is the promise.

Our Foundation

Everyone’s life is built on a foundation; many however will never take the time to inspect their foundation to see what it is really made of or the ground on which it is built until it is too late. Living on the Spiritual Basis our work begins with inspecting our foundation, for without a strong foundation well placed no structure, however finely constructed otherwise, will stand against the inevitable storms to come.

Speaking in high terms and glowing assumptions is easy when the sun rides high, the river low and the breeze gentle. Why do hard things like building on high rock, which requires commitment and forethought, when there are easy things like building on loose soil close to water. As the clouds gather, the water rising as the wind begins to whip it becomes clear that a spiritual foundation built on sweet sounding rhetoric and little real action is unsound. As the storm intensifies and the structure begins to fail, the foundation crumbling in the ever-growing maelstrom, what do we do? We either seek solid high ground and shelter from the storm or are swept away.

Had we built there first, a great deal of suffering would have been avoided, but building on rock requires effort and real work. When was the last time you inspected your spiritual foundation for materials and location? If work and relocation is required, it is much easier to accomplish on calm days than stormy. Set to work while the sun shines so when the next storm comes, for there is always another, you will not only be prepared but you well be able to provide shelter to those who desperately need it.

Mourning Becomes Destructive

Mourning to excess is destructive, some even stop 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 their 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 which stands outside of time and our synthetic understanding of the universe, was never born and can never die. So 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 their true self, unbound and unencumbered by physical limitations.

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 was only (fill in the blank) years younger“, “If I didn’t have kids”or "If I were single" this wistful thinking doesn’t necessarily mean we don’t love our children or spouse or truly wish they were gone, but it is morbid reflection. “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. Profit from your experiences, use them as teaching instruments for you and more importantly others, but do not dwell negatively 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.”

Surrendering To Win

Generals draw up battle plans, their theory on how a battle should be fought and won. Politicians have theories on everything, usually with little or no actual experience to balance their opinion. Economists are quick to theorize, usually poorly. Meteorologists and climatologists put forth theories daily, calling them forecasts, and we have all experienced their accuracy. Although we don’t usually think of it in this way, we all have theories about all sorts of things. When we chat about the reasons why something happened, or didn’t, what we think is going to happen or some action to take, we are floating theories. Theories based on experience typically have value, while theories based on no more than wishful thinking are hot air until implemented, the consequences realized, truth demonstrated. Truth is never subjective and often stark in its reality. If the local weather prognosticators get it wrong, the truth is typically no more painful than a ruined picnic or packing an umbrella on a sunny day. Battle plans which go badly can result not only in death but in unintended reshaping of borders. Economists theories should be placed in the newspaper next to horoscopes, unfortunately decisions affecting everyone are based on their theories, were if a horoscope is wrong it won’t possibly put thousands of people out of work or suggest raising taxes. Politicians and the price of demonstration for their theories? Examples can be found daily on the front page of any paper or leading the nightly news.

In truth, the world will take care of it’s self, it always has. Man has been trying to bend it to his will forever with little success. So to be free we focus on the only thing that can truly change the world for the better, our spiritual life, our connection to the miraculous.We accomplish this through regular prayer and meditation, we don’t struggle, we pray "with a feather" and approach meditation with joy and excitement. If we find this a problem, we pray on it! A good beginning meditation is contemplating patience, tolerance, kindliness and love in our life and towards the whole planet. If we are concerned about praying in the right way we ask to be shown, in prayer, how to pray correctly, we Keep It Simple. We read every day for a few minutes any book that raises our consciousness and we stop theorizing about truth and practice it, remembering to be as gentle with ourselves as we are with a newborn, surrendering those battle plans, for we have ceased fighting everyone and everything, we have to.

What Is In Our Cup?

When trouble or difficulty arrives at our door, the way out is to immediately turn to God in prayer. We pray for the knowledge, guidance and strength to address the problem and most importantly pray for any other individuals involved, regardless of how they may have or are attempting to harm. In so doing we raise our consciousness, building a bull work of peace and serenity, remaining free and unharmed in spirit. We never, under any pretense ask God to do harm or cause ill to befall anyone, for if we do we drag our consciousness down and needlessly subject ourselves to suffering. Seek always the higher ground of raised consciousness, for each reaps as they sow and if we sow seeds of hate, anger, resentment and contempt we should not then be surprised when our harvest is comprised of these crops. It is the unwise man indeed who pours a cup of poison, drinks from it and then expects those he hates to suffer.

Stubbed Toes

         No one lives life perfectly. No one is at peace or serene constantly. No one is energized or at their best every minute. Just as the tides rise and fall so does our energy levels, our peace and serenity. Everyone has their moments; the question is what we do when we have them. Everyone stubs their toe, even the Pope. Granted he probably doesn’t utter an expletive (if he did it probably would be in Latin and everything sounds better in Latin) when it happens, the point being that everyone stubs their toe, having nothing to do with our spiritual condition. Now if we blame someone else for putting or moving the table there or start in on the unfairness of the universe for bringing this calamity or better yet think that for some reason we deserved to stub our toe and the pain is the universes way of reminding us of our place, it then becomes a spiritual matter. If we are constantly looking for tea leaves to read, we will always find them and amazingly the news is routinely bad, the forecast dark with more dark and a chance of scattered woe later in the week. In truth, usually a cloudy day is just a cloudy day, nothing more.

        Everyone takes a turn in the barrel, you, me, the Pope, Dalai Lama, everyone.  Living on the Spiritual Basis though we keep our eye on the ball, God, and by doing the work He would have us do, we meet calamity with serenity, with the occasional expletive, for God knows stubbed toes hurt.

Responding To Trouble

          How do you respond to trouble? The typical response is to either square up and meet force with force or escape as rapidly as possible. Living on the Spiritual Basis provides a different path. As soon as we become aware; someone appears looking to pick a fight (physically or verbally), an argument begins (whether it concerns us or not), we witness a fender bender, someone does something inconsiderate or dangerous while driving, we are subjected to or are in the presence of rude behavior, etc immediately we turn to prayer, seeing the situation and all involved in Divine Presence, bathing them and the situation in God’s love and direction, relying on prayer and spiritual enlightenment for resolution. In this way we tap into unlimited power and potential, rejecting human limitation, for “When we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change.”

THE SKY IS FALLING! (Again)

I began paying attention to American politics in 1968 and came of age politically during the election of 1972. In the ensuing years one truth has become abundantly clear: regardless of who wins the other side is always incredulous their candidate/issue lost, claiming all manner of reasons why, adding for effect the dire consequences to come from the electorates poor decision. Living on the Spiritual Basis secular issues and concerns are now in their proper perspective, politicians come and go, those in power today will not be forever, regardless how we may feel about them for there really is nothing new under the sun. To wit:

The Captain Is On The Bridge

“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.” 

Emmet Fox wrote the above during the great depression as war clouds were gathering over Europe and America was gripped in the greatest ecological disaster in this country’s history as dust storms displaced millions from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, all happening in the 1930’s! God has always been and will always be; our job to keep an even mind and Spiritual perspective, understanding there will always be someone reminding us the sky is falling, again.