Beholding the Greater Good

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose.

Romans 8:28

What was your initial reaction when you read the above line? Read it again, and take note. Do you agree with that extraordinarily bold and positive assessment of life? If so, you are among the rare and fortunate among us who take a sanguine view of life.

For the rest of us, who may tend to see the glass as half empty, and default to noticing what's missing in our experience, we can take comfort in the knowledge that we come by it naturally. That is, our psyches are wired for a negative bias, meaning we are more likely to pay attention and retain memories of those situations that are harmful or disturbing than the positive and uplifting circumstances.  Brain science explains this phenomenon is a basic instinctual survival response. Stemming back to our earliest history on this planet, when our environment was more hostile, and the threat of attack was a realistic daily concern, it was essential that we be on the lookout for what could harm us.  Compared to noticing and storing the memories of the good and pleasant situations, our penchant for survival dictated that we be vigilant in awareness of the "bad" stuff that could hurt us. Psychologist and author, Rick Hanson, PhD says it this way, "We are Velcro for the negative, and Teflon for the positive."

Does that mean that we are doomed to negativity? Not at all. It's just an explanation of our human tendency. Thankfully, we are more than a body/mind! We are children of the Divine, and if children, then heirs to all that is Spirit.  Our spiritual nature is more essentially who we are than the mortal limitations, and dualistic perspectives of our human self. It is in this milieu of knowing ourselves and beholding life that we can find an essential goodness, a wholeness and peace that surpasses ordinary human perception and understanding.

While our essential and spiritual nature readily offers us a view of the good, the true and the beautiful, it remains latent and under the radar of our awareness unless we consciously intend to see it.  This is the consequence and criterion of free will. Much like the electricity that runs through the walls of your home, the light does not flood the room until you flip the switch. In parallel fashion, we must incline our minds toward the sacred view of life, which floods our world with the qualities of love, compassion, kindness and gratitude.  As much as we think we must get what we want to feel good, it is our intention that brings the enlightened perspective.  As poet Hafiz noted,

Ask the Friend for love, Ask Him again. For I have heard that whatever one's heart prays for the most, that's what one gets.

So frequently, our desire for life to be a certain way is only the revealed tip of a much greater need. If we are willing to probe, we may discover the deeper need that can become the focus of our prayer, our intention. For example, you may want somebody in your life to behave differently. You could pray for that outcome, hold out for that to happen. (Good luck and I hope you are eternally patient.)

Alternatively, you could ask yourself, what do I really want?  Such deep inquiry might lead you through several layers to a core need, which might be that you want a loving connection with that person. Now you are in God's domain of influence. Now you are answering the call "according to God's purpose." Intending for a loving connection will bring you back to your deepest nature, where love can be actualized in your experience.  Here you are shown how to restore the love that is your true yearning. This is the practice of the masters, which can reveal the presence of Good in every situation, for the deepest inquiry will always lead us back to our deepest self, where, in the company of Divine Presence we readily behold the good, the true and the beautiful. May it be so for you.

Another Drama or A Reality Show?

If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place.

-Lao Tzu

 We live in tumultuous times, and with all the drama unfolding on the world stage it is all we can do to drag our attention away from the play of circumstances for even a moment.   It is our penchant for action that impels us to keep the camera rolling, rather than taking time out to review the footage and apply judicial edits to the stories we are telling about our lives. It is especially difficult for us to realize that we are filmmakers, and not the film that we see.  And, it is so easy for our surface minds to get hooked by the appearances of life, and confuse what is happening with who we are. When we confuse having and doing with being, we are mercilessly driven to do more or get more in order to fill an illusory hole in us.

Our errant way begins with thoughts. Of course, some of our thoughts are accurate maps or representations and point to things that are instructive and useful. However, many of our thoughts are on another channel that should come with the rating, "for (spiritually) mature audiences only."  Such streams of thought arise from our conditioned mind, and create a sense of separation from others, or tell us that we shouldn't be feeling the way we are, or that there is something wrong with us.  If we could observe these thoughts with detachment like one might watch a motion picture, then there would be no problem. However, we believe the thoughts, and become ensconced in a cocoon of thoughts we think is reality.  Thoughts stir up similar images and sound bites from our conditioned past and we believe the concluding story.  It's shabby tabloid reporting at best, but we frequently buy into it! As long as we are running these little stories of ourselves, we keep reinforcing a limited sense of who we are and we cannot open to the beauty and the sacredness of this being that we are.

So then, what is the answer? Where lies the way out of this maelstrom of thinking that deludes us? It is not, as some might believe, another thought, not even a positive one.  There is no thought that can lead you into experiencing your wholeness, your vastness, your sacred essence. The answer is awareness. Awareness is the larger context of our mind that allows us to observe our thoughts and feelings without getting lost in them.  It is pure consciousness that can witness all that arises in our world, or in our mind, and remain undisturbed.  It is the part of you that is eternal, infinite, unchanging, imperturbable consciousness. It's the essential you, beyond self image or any other limited thought forms.

When our goal is to become keenly aware, we are less interested in what is happening outside of us, and able to turn our attention inward as the observer of our internal process.  This is the process of being in the world, but not of it. We have the enlightened perspective, when we have, as Jesus said, eyes to see and ears to hear. We can be present and responsible to life events, yet keep enough distance to maintain objectivity in our perception; to not lose ourselves in the scenarios. For example, you have a body, but you are not your body.  Your body could be in pain, or diseased or wearing out, but the I am of you (your true self) has none of these limitations. When you maintain awareness of your I am self, you can be at peace no matter what crisis is appearing in your world.  

Looking for Space

And I'm looking for space

And to find out who I am

And I'm looking to know and understand

It's a sweet, sweet dream

Sometimes I'm almost there

Sometimes I fly like an eagle

And sometimes I'm deep in despair

 Looking For Space, by John Denver

Many of us are acquainted with the grace that comes from perspective.  Most of our human challenges do not maintain their grip on us against the diminishing effect of time and space. As we put space between our problem and us, or allow the passage of time to separate us from the immediacy of our challenge, we'll likely find our problem reduced in significance and effect.

Of course, there are exceptions. Diseases that progress with time, money that runs down like sand through an hourglass and other progressive conditions may not be outdistanced in a space-time continuum.  Such are the most vexing of life's problems that often bring us to edge of our human capacity to understand and cope with what seems hopeless. It is frequently in these kinds of desperate situations that many of us realize the limitations of the physical world's remedies. Such anxious moments can be a defining moment in our lives, when we stand at the edge of the cliff of appearances, having exhausted reason and human resource.  With nothing viable to fall back on, and an intense yearning to move into a hopeful future, we reach a level of receptivity to a deeper understanding and realization of perspective.

This often is the vital first step of an inner journey into the uncharted terrain that the slings and arrows of life have seemingly led us to discover.  What seemed to be a dead end, the end of the road of hope, becomes a vast and spacious field where definitive answers give way to limitless capacities for unconditional well-being.  Many of us stumbled into this realm after falling down, and despite our wits or wily ways, could not get ourselves on our feet, let alone find our way. You could say it is through a fault of our own that we discover this inner kingdom; where a crack in awareness allows the light to enter.

When Jesus advised against "judging by appearances" and encouraged us to use "righteous judgment," it came from understanding how frustrating and hopeless is life when lived from the surface perspective, from outside-in.. He knew how slim are our chances of finding the real answers to life's most vexing conundrums within the limited purview of the mortal mind.  He spoke of an inner realm where we coexist with the Divine in unity and love. He described this realm as an expansive dimension like yeast in dough; like the robust growth of a tiny mustard seed into an enormous plant. It is in this dimension of Life that we are to place our big problems, for it is in the context of this vast and ever expanding realm of Love and Peace that we are graced with Divine perspective.

As we expand our awareness of this greater dimension in which we "live, and move and have our very being," our challenges and our suffering become proportionately smaller. With practice and faith, we come to realize that we are so much more than our problems, and we cease to identify with them. We may have cancer in our experience, but a condition of the body does not define or limit a spiritual being. It is in consistently opening our awareness to the greater spiritual reality in which "stuff happens" that we can manage to find the "peace that passeth human understanding." This is the realm where we can find respite from life's great challenges, where as the Psalmist wrote, we no longer "fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day," for we have been lifted up on the wings of Truth, where we are lovingly held and eternally safe.

If Not Now, When?

"In between stimulus and response there is a space, in that space lies our power to choose our response, in our response lies our growth and freedom." - Victor Frankl, Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor

A man lies dying in a hospital bed. He has spent his entire life building for the future, doing what needed to be done to amass wealth and raise his status to a level he thought worthy. Now he has reached the end of his days and finds himself filled with remorse rather than satisfaction. In his final moments, he turns to his doctor and says, 'I spent my whole life stepping on people in order to get to where I want to be, and now there's no one left for me. It's only now that I realize it's so simple. It's who you love and how you love and the rest of it, the rest of it never mattered.' That is a powerful lesson, yet he has little time left to make use of it. -from The Now Effect by Elisha Goldstein

To know what really matters to us; to tease out the deepest and most precious meaning; to exploit our capacity for awe, wonder and delight are the pearls of great price in a lifetime. These pearls will be the treasures we will seek to uncover and embody during this fall's Journey of Awakening at Unity Center of Davis. The book that will guide our treasure hunt is The Now Effect, How This Moment Can Change the Rest of Your Life by Elisha Goldstein, PhD.

What is the Now Effect? Dr. Goldstein maintains, " ...when we can train our minds to see the spaces of choice in our lives and meet them with mindfulness, we can literally rewire a healthier brain and change the way we think before we think." This is what he calls The Now Effect.

Personally I recognize how much of a time traveler I am, visiting the past, projecting my attention into future possibilities and possible outcomes. I know this human tendency very well, and yet I am becoming more aware of how costly are these trips away from the present moment.  Unless I am "here and now" with my awareness, I have no choice but to react from my conditioned mind. Since most of my unconscious reactions are protective, or defensive, or fear based, I rarely, if ever, achieve a desirable state of mind or heart. However, in those moments when I can keep my attention in the present moment, my perception is finer, and I have room to pivot. In that state of clarity, I am much more likely to see the facts, without the story, and generate responses that will lead me to the pearls of life.

Dr. Goldstein will get us started on our journey this Sunday by giving a message entitled, "Paying Attention to Your Intention." He will also offer an afternoon workshop on Conscious Healing, The Power of Mindfulness from 1- 2:30 pm.

This will be a very practical series with a simple premise. Yet, with widespread application to every area of our lives, it can profoundly enhance the precious moments that make up our days. Across the many traditions, awareness is the entry point for all spiritual growth and development. Through mindfulness, we see more clearly and thus glimpse our depths and our capacities to experience and express our Divine nature. At the very least, it will give us pause where we might otherwise have sped past a critical junction, where mindfulness might yield a higher path for us to follow. We'll create opportunities to find the "spaces" in our life, those defining moments, where we can consciously choose those responses that will lead us to greater "growth and freedom."

I personally want to invite, and perhaps challenge you, to make a conscious choice to attend as many of these Sunday services over the next seven weeks as possible.  Of course, you are always free to come and go at Unity, without guilt or judgment of any kind. However, the benefits of regular attendance and involvement are so much better than the freedom to stay home. Spiritual growth is a progressive process, and relationships require regular quality connections. Those who attend UCOD on a regular basis consistently report the cumulative positive effect of their diligent practice.  Try it and see for yourself.

I look forward to sharing this journey with you, for all the good it will bring us.