From perfection can only come perfection. To see ourselves as separate from - as disconnected from - our creator, is simply to use our free will to attract a far inferior life than was intended. However, free will always pleads for our return to the superior things life offers without any hint of our being undeserving or incapable or unacceptable. As we simply accept our unity with the perfection from which we were formed we begin to attract the superior things our creator always intended.

6/8/11

Speaking truth is nothing. For truth misunderstood is merely a lie. Speaking truth in a thousand ways to a thousand people so that each can understand is actually to speak the truth. For each one understands truth not from where they've been and not from where they're going on this journey . . . but from where they are.

Truth may come as a gentle word of encouragement or a word of warning. It may come as a simple reminder to hear the birds and the brook and the breeze. But most often I think, it comes in a silent smile. Or it could be a quiet act of generosity, a hug or sharing in the beauty of a sunset. It is always attended by the honest joy in which we live. Truth can have a thousand faces, but each gives us growth and unity with our source.

8/24/11

You've heard it said, "The All in All is in all." That is true.

But, as we contemplate the Divine with which we are surrounded, do we see ourselves included in it? To miss our place within all is to miss our unity with the Divine.

To see ourselves as one with the Divine is to discover all the ways we bless those who surround us and to imagine countless other ways to be that blessing. In turn, we open ourselves to accept the abundance flowing from the All in All.

6/3/11

We continue to be taught until we learn.

For several years I had the privilege of working with Developmentally Disabled folks. I remember one person I worked with for a lot of that time. He was about my age and had some physical disabilities. It was my job to get him out in the community, take him to the doctor and take him shopping once or twice a week.

How many times at the supermarket did I have the opportunity to learn? Countless. How often did this person, who actually became my friend, silently try to teach me by his actions in the store? He was rather vertically challenged himself, but was always on the lookout for someone in need. Often he would tap me with his cane and point to someone looking at something on the top shelf and insist I assist this person in retrieving whatever it was they were after. I did so simply because he asked me to and, of course, that was my job.

My own inclination when shopping is to get into the store, get what I'm after and get out as quickly and with as little interaction as possible. Finally this morning I understood what life had been trying to teach me for so long. Serving. From now on I think I'll wander through a few aisles in the store that I don't really need to wander through.

Perhaps, rather than watching where I'm going, I will begin seeing who I'm going with. Perhaps, rather than concentrating only on what I'm doing, I'll begin to see the incredible things others are doing all around me.

I've learned. And now to learn to practice the lesson.

8/20/11

A common man will will learn from those who want to teach.
A good man will teach those who want to learn.
A spiritual man will do both.
A wise man will learn from those he teaches and teach those from whom he learns.

A common man is remembered for what he has.
A good man is remembered for what he does.
A spiritual man is remembered for what he believes.
A wise man is remembered for who he is.

A common man will remember to be who he is told to be.
A good man will remember to be who he tries to be.
A spiritual man will remember to be who he wants to be.
A wise man will remember to be who he was created to be.

3/22/11

A long time ago in a land far away, lived an old, wrinkled woman. She had no real home, only a poorly woven lean-to she had constructed years earlier.

One morning she made her way down to the stream running nearby and drew a bucket of water. Just as she turned to go, a glint of something in the stream caught her eye. She bent down for a closer look and saw a gemstone laying among the rocks at the bottom of the stream.

Retrieving it, her heart jumped in praise. At once she recognized what it was and the value it had. She knew she would never have to want for anything in her life again. She shuffled back to her lean-to and began to prepare her meal. Her heart was buoyant and free as she baked a small loaf of bread in her makeshift oven.

Well into the afternoon a younger man happened upon her and asked if he might have a bite to eat. Gladly she shared the last of her bread. Just as the man was leaving he noticed a gemstone in her satchel. He stopped. He too recognized its value. He asked, "May have that gemstone?"

Without hesitation the old woman pulled the stone from her bag and handed it to him. He, too, knew he would never want for anything in his life. The man left and started for town where he intended to sell the gemstone.

The next day the man returned and handed the gemstone back to the old woman. She asked why.

"Because I want you to give me something far more valuable."

"I have nothing else of value." she replied.

"Yes, you do. Can you give me whatever you have within you that allowed you to give me that gemstone in the first place?"

Since coming to this belief, I've seen life as an exploding fireworks display. We're all being blown in a slightly different direction than the ember next to us and yet, it takes each and every ember to create the whole display. Everyone is welcome and necessary to the display.

8/31/11

Parents are a good thing (or guardians or even, perhaps, God[s]) while we are children. When things are right they protect us and teach us. The problem is that when we grow up we should no longer need parenting. We have no need for a 'Mother' earth or a 'Father' sky. We can take our place equally within the nature we revere. And we will know we have grown up as we find our reverence for nature includes a reverence for ourselves.

9/17/11

I don't think the universe 'came from' anywhere. Nor do I think it has always existed (in its present form). What seems to be reasonably assured is that there is one thing that can neither be created or destroyed and that thing is energy. I have no problem with the idea of energy being both infinite and eternal. I also see it as being creative (just as the energy we see at work in our physical world - constantly changing from one form to another.) Regardless of what particular process was used, this universe was created by energy changing form where it coalesced into physical form - a natural process. It did not come into being outside of it's source, but within it. It was not created using new, previously non-existent material, but rather was created from the very substance of its source. The result of all that is the fact of everything being connected. The universe (including us), is then uniquely identical to the energy which sustains it. Our physicality provides the deception of separation, but nothing can ever be truly separate.

9/28/11

When we are taken advantage of, do we stand to loose more of ourselves by stopping it?

9/8/11

I am part of the 100%. I will no longer waste my time or my energy or my being by dividing myself up into this group or that percentage. I choose, rather, to acknowledge who I am. And who I am is someone connected to the whole of creation. I will no longer allow my thoughts to be centered on the 'us' or 'them'. For 'they' are a part of the whole. No longer do I choose to believe in the 1% and the 99%, or Republicans and Democrats or Vegans and Carnivores . There are no Pantheists or Christian or Jewish or Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus. There is no black or brown or red or white or yellow. Such things as old or young, gay or straight, male or female are foolish divisions. They are games we play in hopes of being on the winning side. In truth, we are all part of the 100%. And we ARE on the winning side! When we understand the truth of the side we are on we look across the field and see it empty. For all our invisible opponents are part of the 100%. To demean them is to demean ourselves. To hate them is to hate ourselves. To rise up in anger toward them is to be angry at ourselves. We are the 100%. Regardless of whether or not others understand it yet, be part of the whole. Stop chopping it up. Be part of the 100% and live that truth.

11/26/11

     We alone are responsible for how we feel, the attitudes we take on, the words we use and the behaviors we have. And, coupled with that responsibility, comes the right to decide how we feel . . . about ourselves, about those who enter into our corner of the world as well as the circumstances in which we may find ourselves, and about the universe around us. In turn, then, how we feel will effect our thoughts, our attitudes, our words and our actions - toward ourselves and everything else we touch.
     While we cannot escape our responsibilities in these things, we too often try to give away the rights that come with them. "He makes me mad!" "That makes me sad." "They make me depressed." And even, "It makes me happy." The person or circumstance that can 'make' you (fill in the blank), owns you in that regard. You become the slave of what you allow to make your rightful decisions for you. Unfortunately, your new master shares none of the responsibility for the outcomes. That responsibility remains entirely with you. I am not saying the thing(s) that shape how you feel from moment to moment have no culpability in the matter, only that they do not have the right to make those decisions except for having been allowed by you to exercise that control.The simple truth is, we can all make decisions about how we feel. There may be times when feeling fearful or angry or depressed is the correct way to feel. There is nothing wrong with the feeling itself.
     I find, for myself, that as I use the language of relinquishment (he made me, it makes me), I am trying to get out from under my responsibility (which I cannot do) but, instead, simply give away my right to self-determination. I challenge you to take back your rights! Instead of 'He makes me' or 'that makes me' or 'they make me' or even 'it makes me' simply adjust your thought to "I am (fill in the blank). Linguistically, that takes back your right to choose. It can give you the ability to think whether or not how you feel is appropriate to a) the situation and b) to how you want to feel. If it isn't appropriate or isn't how you want to feel, simply decide to feel differently (after all, in reality, it is you who simply decided to feel whatever way you feel.) In reality, no one can 'make you' feel this way or that way.
     "Simplistic," you say? Yes, it is. It only get complicated when you allow someone or something else to make the decisions that only you have the right to make. Over time, with a little practice, you can begin to anticipate both the situation and your response and so avoid having to take back your right because you haven't given it away to begin with.

12/25/11