Unity Center of Davis Discussion Board

Revolve, or Resolve to Evolve

2012-01-06T09:58:00.000-08:00

Enlightenment is evolving. It is no longer found only in the bliss of timeless Being; it is found also in the ecstatic urgency of evolutionary Becoming. -Andrew Cohen, spiritual teacher and author, Evolutionary Enlightenment.

At the beginning of every year many people take the calendar mark as a point to reflect and ponder their intentions for the unmanifest days ahead. It can be a time to reflect on those aspects of life that are in need of renovation or clearance. For many people it's a time to refresh past goals previously abandoned for want of resolve on an earlier path of good intentions. Or it's a time to create some new intentions to improve the quality of life. The practice is an effective way to focus one's vision and energy in the direction of worthwhile goals; to be energized by the release of past disappointments and emboldened by the promise of new possibilities.

While these goals are worthy of our time and attention it is important in the spiritual sense, to evaluate any decision for change within a context of meaning and purpose - our raison d'être. Why is as important, if not more so, than what. Those of us, who have been down this path long enough, have discovered, as Socrates observed, that the unexamined life is not worth living. That is, we have observed the brief shelf life of satisfaction wrought through mere external modifications to behaviour or accomplishments devoid of meaning. Unless our resolutions connect with our soul's agenda, to grow our understanding of our true self, we will find any outer success to be a temporary distraction from a deeper discontent.

What most deeply summons us is an often faint, but persistent call to reunite with our Source. As long as we seek to accomplish, achieve, and possess our way to contentment, our soul remains in exile. We seek but do not find when we strengthen the false self, which is identified by possessions, the approval of others, and our status in the world. So it is important, if we are going to adopt new ways of showing up in life, that we catch the vision of our essential nature, which inexorably leads us to authentic expression, freedom and true contentment. As the Psalmist noted, Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it.

While this call to deeper reflection and authentic goal setting may seem like a high bar to clear, it offers a sure and safe landing. When we feel the impulse of soul growth, nudging us beyond comfort and ordinary success, we can trust and follow its lead to take us to the next level of self-knowledge. Every great mystic, sage and spiritual realizer has sought and found the deepest truth within the sanctuary of consciousness itself. This is holy and fertile ground, where Life can grow and flourish through us.

What we are truly seeking is seeking us. The happiness that eludes us is not being kept from us by circumstances, other people or a reluctant Creator. In this truth, Jesus was emphatic, saying, It is the Father's good pleasure to have given you the Kingdom. In Unity, we hold to the unwavering principle that there is only one, ever present, beneficent Power in our life. To our little ego self this is a radical notion that it would dissuade you from believing. But I believe that you and I are ready to take the evolutionary leap of understanding that accepts and yields to the life affirming impulse that would have its way through us. Simply put this is allowing God to be God in us. In so doing, we make the choice to evolve rather than revolve. If we do what we've always done, then we'll find ourselves back right where began next year at this time. If we hazard the leap, and let Life lead us higher, we'll enjoy the rarefied air and clearer vision of somebody remade in the image and likeness of our true self. Resolve to evolve!

Behold I Make All Things New

2011-12-31T09:57:00.000-08:00

These words have always sparked hope and optimism in me. The promise of a beneficent power that restores the "years the locusts have eaten" and lets us begin again, with a fresh slate, devoid of baggage, is a gospel I can wrap my heart around.

Of course, every one of us has some regrets about the past. It is human to wish that things had been different for us. We may regret decisions we've made, words we've spoken or not spoken, actions we took or failed to take, opportunities not seized or situations we could have left alone. Each of us could make a list. But why dwell there? While regret is a normal human emotion, it's a learning device, not a mantra. Disappointment, regret, and remorse are all useful in revealing what matters to us now; emotions to help us see what didn't work, so we can realign our intentions. However, regret is a state to visit, not a place to live.

Regardless of what has or hasn't happened in the past, the question before everyone of us is: What now? Where do we go from here? Whether we are celebrating 20 years of life or our 20th year of retirement, Spirit is calling us to shake the dust from our feet and begin again.

It's time to retrieve shelved dreams, prime our creative pumps, finish the play, take the dulcimer down from the shelf, plant some new seeds of possibility and approach this precious life before us with renewed zeal. Our past led us to this moment. From this precious awareness, we can wipe away lingering regrets and replace misgivings with new commitments that align with our deepest values. We can listen expectantly for our deepest truth, our most passionate aspiration, calling us to express the best that is within us.

New life in the body is a breath away. With each in-breath we take in life giving oxygen that renews every cell in our body. With each out-breath we release the CO2 that would debilitate our well being. And so it is with our psycho-spiritual well being. We breathe out the past - the missteps and regrets, the habits that would debilitate our well being. And then, having made room in our consciousness for new life, we take in a fresh breath of possibility, the promise that with God all things are again possible. (Matt.19:26)

The very word spirit comes from the root word, Spiritus which means breath. It's vital to remember that our spiritual life is nothing less than the Life of Spirit, and the degree to which we allow it motivate and guide us. This Life, which is greater than any power on earth, is breathing us, seeking to be made known through us, and as us. This is a life changing truth! Should we fully embrace this promise we can and will behold a new Life, made new by allowing Spirit to be Spirit in us. As it says in the ancient scriptures, "know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."(Jer.29:11)

The Joy of the Present

2011-12-23T09:56:00.000-08:00

During this Christmas season, many people will engage in the tradition of exchanging gifts with loved ones. Though our family no longer get caught up in the rapacious shopping frenzy of consumerism gone wild, we still find joy in this ritual of giving and receiving. In moderation, with conscious attention to assure gifting remains an activity of heart and generosity, it can enhance well being, and add sweetness to the holidays. Throw in holiday parties, delectable goodies, and special sacred services, and we can find much comfort and joy during this Christmas season.

However just as the birth story of Jesus was not all magic and a chorus of angels, our Christmas season celebrations can involve human foibles that can threaten our comfort and joy. During the holidays, many people feel the strain of expectations; from falling short of some imagined quota of giving enough, or receiving enough, to the emotional demands of family members that can ascend to unattainable heights this time of year. It's as if the miraculous becomes the expectation. Despite expectations, not everyone seems to have room in the inn of their hearts to behave the way we would like. The people gathered round family celebrations may not bear any resemblance to the wise and generous magi from the East capable of showering us with adoration and fine gifts. And we may be disappointments to them, failing to appear as angels on high singing their praises from heaven above. When we hold rigid expectations for others behavior we set them up for failure, as we set up ourselves for disappointment.

However, even though such expectations are unrealistic, the ideals behind them are worthy of our faith and our aim. We can go on expecting the best in others and ourselves as an ideal that may someday be realized. Yet, there is a deeper perspective available that can spare us from the disappointment when expectations are not met. Here it is: the best gift you have ever received, bar none; the gift that will never become obsolete, or wear out, or fail to satisfy your deepest desires and expectations for happiness. Jesus compared it to a pearl of great price. He told his disciples that it would not come with expectation; that it was at hand and in the midst of them. It would be the fulfillment of all their wanting, the satisfaction of their yearning for peace, love, joy and well being. He called it the Kingdom of Heaven. To obtain this gift, you don't have to stand in line at Costco, or fight the crowds at the mall, and delivery time is nil. It is here, within you and I, right now. No matter what you receive, or what you give, nor what they do or say this gift will not shrink from its infinite promise and ability to meet your deepest need. It's the gift of the Presence in this precious present moment.

I know of no better antidote to the dismay of unmet expectations, be they the holiday variety, or otherwise, than to pause and remember. Take a conscious breath and come back to the present moment, and re-member who you are, and whose you are. Dropping the angst of expectations, will allow you to drop into the heart of Being, into the virtual lap of God's love. In this heavenly awareness, the miraculous becomes the obvious, Spirit attends to your re-birth, and all your wants disappear. Herein lies the possibility, the actuality, of a "Merry Christmas."

Radical Love

2011-12-16T09:55:00.000-08:00

"...enlightenment is the moment we realize that we are made of love. At that moment, all fear of living disappears. For grace comes to the heart when it realizes what it is made of and what it has risen from. In that moment, grace comforts us, that no matter the joy or pain along the way, we are already part of where we are going."

-Mark Nepo - The Book of Awakening

Radical love was the cornerstone of the uncommon life and teachings of Jesus. While every major religion espouses love's virtue, the depth and unflinching nature of the love that Jesus personified and revealed is in a rarified league of its own. Most of us cannot conceive, let alone achieve, a love so pure and uncompromising. So exemplary was Jesus demonstration of a love-centered being that many can believe only that Jesus was God who became a man, rather than the reverse transformation. Yet Jesus clearly invited all to follow him in this way, declaring that his attainment was within reach of all of us (John 14:12). He pointed to the kingdom of heaven within, an inner dimension of being, as the ground of our true nature. Herein lies the source of such humanly unimaginable qualities and potentialities; such unfathomable love that stands up to all opposition and doesn't flinch.

Our difficulty in loving the way Jesus loved is not a deficiency in our hardware, but much like my computer experiences, stems from operator error. When it comes to our relationships, we mostly deal with each other externally. We react, judge, assume, compare, criticize, resent, expect, infer, using the surface mind, the ego, which sees itself as separate from everyone, and everything, and most of all, separate from the One that unites us in Love. The sense of separation we feel from God and one another is the common bane of our human experience; the root cause of our struggle to love unconditionally.

The uncommon love that Jesus demonstrated was rooted in an unbroken awareness of his unity with God, with equal awareness of the divine within every person. For Jesus, the scales of judgment were completed removed from his eyes, so that he perceived the pure loving wholeness and innocence in everyone around him, friend or foe. He knew at depth, what we aspire to know, that we all are cut from the same spiritual cloth, that beyond all appearances to the contrary we are the holy progeny of the one life, love, and power we call God. It is only in such consciousness that we can follow the radical teachings that implore us to "love thy neighbor as thyself," "pray for those who persecute us" and "love thy enemy."

This is the highest calling of spiritual life taking us to a precipice that offers an unobstructed view of the Light that enlightens everyone, while putting our "little self" at risk of a great fall.

It begins with the premise and then takes practice. When I hold to the truth that I cannot be separate from the love of God, I am more likely to risk loving more radically, more wastefully. Expressions of love, like ocean waves that rise, cannot be separate from the sea that formed them. Knowing this requires us to go deeper to access that dimension of ourselves that is guided by the indwelling spirit of love, and from that awareness, we can rise above appearances and see our brother or sister as they really are. Then, like the wave, we can settle peacefully back into the sea of love, the illusion of separation vanquished by our willingness to trust loves promise.

In this season, that celebrates peace on earth and good will among all people, let it be more than a song on our lips, let it be a reality that lives in our heart.

Making Peace Your One Goal

2011-12-09T09:54:00.000-08:00

"The peace of God is everything I want. The peace of God is my one goal; the aim of all my living here, the end I seek, my purpose and my function and my life..."

- A Course in Miracles W-205.1

Every war, every conflict with another person, every asserted opinion, every need to be right, is, at its core, nothing more or less than the defense of an illusion. Whether it is our religion, our nationality, our role, our culture, our family history, or our story, we can become so identified with these aspects of our human experience that we lose our true identity in them. We refer to these aspects by saying my religion, my race, my opinion, my story and distinguish them from everybody else with their religion, opinion and so on.

We become so easily lost in automatic identification that we really do need to stop and realize that all these aspects are nothing more than collections of thoughts and emotions. Admittedly, we may be deeply rooted in these ideas and identifications, but the truth is, they are not even close to representing the reality of our Being. Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I Am." He was not talking about his body, but his essence. Before you had a body, or a family, or a religion, you were the offspring of Infinite Life... In Zen Buddhism it is called Original face: the face you had before your parents were born. In gospel terms it is the light that enlightens everyone who comes into the world.

Conflicts that lead to resentments, at the least, or war, at the most extreme, stem from our perceived need to protect, and keep alive, a sense of self that is unmistakably false. This false self is the ego; that is on a relentless struggle to survive. Survival arises from maintaining an "I" thought about oneself separate and distinct from an "other." The ego thrives on the notion of separation - separation from God, separation from other people, separation from all of life. The more we see ourselves as special and different, in competing relationship with everyone and everything else, the more we will keep alive a sense of self that is false. Survival of this false self is fed by being right and making others wrong. Is it any wonder conflicts, small and grand, are widespread on this earth?

Yet, we know a greater truth, deep down anyway. There is another reality, and another way of being together on this earth. The truth, revealed by mystical insight and quantum understanding, is of a unified field of life, a hidden wholeness, in which we all live, move, and have our being. At our most elemental, essential nature, we are spiritual, inextricably connected to every sentient creature, woven into the fabric of Life itself. In this field of unity, there is no need to struggle to survive, no separate interests competing for well being. Jesus called it the Kingdom of God. This Kingdom, this consciousness of ever expanding good, is in the midst of us, here and now, calling us to make our home there.

To remain at war requires a sustained awareness of separation. To remain at peace requires a sustained awareness of our oneness. The only hope for lasting peace on earth (individually or collectively) is the fact that we have a choice in every moment. One choice leads to the battleground, and one leads to the peace table. Either we judge by appearances, which bear witness to a world of separation and leads to judgments and attacks, or we rise above ordinary thought to see through the eyes of the Christ and recognize our essential unity with everybody and everything. It is a true or false question.

Singing Before the Dawn

2011-12-02T09:52:00.000-08:00

Faith is the songbird that feels the light and sings before the dawn. - Rumi

What comforts you in the face of life's challenges?

What calls up a deeper kind of courage or conviction when the way seems treacherous or unclear?

What allows you to entrust yourself to others or God?

The answer for most of us is Faith.

Our focus this week is on faith, particularly, the uncommon faith of Jesus, who modeled an inner knowing of his Oneness with God. Since we look to Jesus as the great example we can find great hope in his teachings because they reveal a way to reach this well of faith within ourselves. The Christmas story, the birth of Jesus, is a wonderful and beautiful story of a Divine idea being birthed through humanity. It is our story, through every character and experience. Beyond the literal facts of that story of old, there is a timeless message that speaks of difficult circumstances; of a dark, cold night, and dismal odds, that are finally overcome and a new life filled with promise is born.

The story reminds us that just because we agree to birth a greater reality, does not mean that the labor will be easy. We need faith to get us through; a deep abiding faith that knows that the Universe is working as a beneficent presence on our behalf at all times - regardless of the worldly appearances. Even when our precious bundle is born in a lowly stable. Even when the job offer doesn't come. Even when the relationship of many years breaks down. Even when the retirement account shrinks in a declining economy. Jesus taught that God's all providing supply is always available to us, "According to your faith be it done unto you." Matthew 9:29---"Thy faith has made thee whole." Matthew 9:22---"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you receive it, and you will." Mark 11:24

So what do we do when our dreams get shattered? What do we do when we pray for a situation and it turns out differently? Are we unworthy? Is our faith not sufficient? As children of God we are all worthy of good-- heirs to the Kingdom, Jesus said. When life shows up in a way that is unlike our desires or our prayers, we are best served if we can suspend judgment and live by faith in the invisible Presence that enfolds us. Time to sing like the songbird. Time to hold to the truth that the universe is working as a beneficent presence on our behalf at all times, regardless of what is showing up. If we react to our life knowing this truth, that the God of our being wants only for our good, then we can realize that a redirection means something greater is on its way, the time is not right, or that we are just not ready to receive it yet.

When we live with understanding faith, we trust that everything that is happening in our life can serve us; deepening our spiritual identity through jettisoning the wispy faith built merely on appearances. Faith is not a mind trip, not an intellectual concept rather an activity of our intuitive, feeling nature. You simply know that you know. The evidence is internal: you feel it with every fiber of your being.

Advent is a time for inner reflection and to prepare for spiritual rebirth-the rebirth of awareness of our inner Christ nature. It is a time to sense the light before the dawn. When we intuit this faithful feeling, we sense an inherent goodness and rightness to life, even before the birth, or manifestation of desired circumstances.

Wanting What We Have

2011-11-25T09:49:00.000-08:00

Do you not say, "Four months more, then comes the harvest'? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. - Jesus - John 4:35

Today is the day after Thanksgiving and hopefully none of you are experiencing a "food coma" from yesterday's feast-ivities. If so, put this aside to read later when clarity returns.

This day has been dubbed "Black Friday" by the nation's retail industry. It marks the commencement of the holiday shopping season, when stores offer slashed pricing deals hoping to entice consumers to shop until they drop, thus moving their bottom line from red (loss) to black (profit). For the diehard deal shopper it's a great day but we know it can get out of hand and become a full contact sport with tragic outcomes. In years past shoppers have been hurt even killed by the mad rush. And this morning we read of a woman in a Los Angeles Wal-Mart who pepper sprayed a group of shoppers to prevent them from acquiring the product she so desperately had to have.

We can argue that such extreme behaviors are aberrations of human desire and dismissed as unlikely exceptions but I believe there is a common thread among all of us that bears examining. While we may never push our way through a crowd to get our hands on some coveted bargain on a store shelf, we've probably felt that inner urge to "get ours." Who of us has not coveted the good fortune of material wealth, be it a car, a luxurious home, a dream vacation, nor craved the affections of some idealized person, or yearned for fame or status or recognition? We've all been there in our humanity, seeking to find fulfillment in this world that offers such a cornucopia of sense delights that promise to satisfy our deepest longings. It's really a seductive power; it can trap even the awake and spiritually vigilant among us at times.

Denese and I recently moved into a new home and found ourselves consumed with the "need" to furnish and decorate our new space. Our purchases were modest by most standards but what was problematic was the inner drive that made us uncomfortably aware of how bottomless was the yearning for one more thing, just one more thing... that had no end. On one of our many shopping excursions, we caught ourselves mid-purchase and said, "Enough!" We have what we need, we can enjoy our home, and the absence of some "thing" is not the missing piece that's driving us to acquire more. The missing piece is in us - our sense of incompleteness, insufficiency, unworthiness, projected out upon the world to fill for us.

It's the age old syndrome, of trying to buy happiness, acquire our way to satisfaction, finance fulfillment. As every prodigal son or daughter soon realizes any journey to fulfillment that takes us outside of ourselves is doomed to failure; destined to impoverish our resources and our spirit.

So what is the antidote to this materialistism that plagues us? As usual, it's a mere reversal of the problem. Satisfaction, and the deep sense of well-being that we all seek comes not from wanting what we don't have, but from wanting what we have. In other words it's an appreciation for life as it is, beholding the good that is spread before us, and being grateful for the precious life that is ours. When we take this approach, the monster of materialism is tamed, and the Lord of sufficiency rules over our thoughts and deeds.

By simply choosing to be grateful we can find ourselves in a land of good and plenty. The power of gratitude is enormous, capable of coloring our world in such pleasing hues that no amount of material paint could attain. So here's a prospering idea for this holiday season. While many people will be creating a list of their wants and wishes, let's make a list of all that we have that we want. This will fill our stocking like no other practice because we will be starting with a Great-Fullness with no room for lack or insufficiency. Rev. Denese has coined this day Sacred Friday. It can be sacred, and more than just the retailers, we can all profit from this realization of good, right here and right now.

Not A Problem

2011-11-11T09:48:00.000-08:00

I had a profound realization the other day as I flashed on the insight that all my "problems" are self created. Whoa! How upsetting! How liberating! How can it be, you may ask, that I am the sole author of all my problems? Simply this. There are situations in life that can be extreme human challenges, even life threatening, but they are not problems in and of themselves, unless I make them problematic. In other words, situations become problems only after I create a story about the meaning of the situation, or I resist or deny its place in my life.

For example, I can be physically ill, laid up in bed and out of commission for a time. That's a situation. Not a problem so far. However as soon as I create the narrative commentary, such as, "I don't want to be sick," "Why am I sick," or "I can't be sick right now," I have created a "should" - effectively imposing a moral judgment upon my current reality. Such a "supposed to" annotation cobbled to a life event can become like sacred scripture in my personal philosophy. So each time I get sick, I go to that "gospel truth" of what should or shouldn't be with a fundamentalist's resolve to interpret life according to the inerrant word of Truth (mine). Ergo, an experience of physical illness becomes "I shouldn't be sick." Ergo, a situation becomes a problem. I wrote the scripture and became a believer, and now I suffer under the weight of its onerous interpretation.

Author Byron Katie says, the only time we suffer is when we argue with what is. This is cogent wisdom. So simple. So profound. I may not have caused the situation, but I have full control over my response. If I resist, my situation instantly becomes a "problem." If I can simply "be with" the situation and suspend judgment I remain connected to my Source, linked to my innate capacity for equanimity, wisdom, even gratitude and joy. Conversely, when I resist life on its terms, I am contracted, fearful, and separate from the divine resources that could truly aid me in my time of challenge.

Having challenges is not a mistake or a sign of failure. Jesus suggested the "isness" of challenges saying "There will be trials and tribulations in your life" Be of good cheer. The Buddha was equal in acknowledging difficulty, referring to the "10,000 joys, 10,000 sorrows." Both wise teachers knew the way out of suffering and taught the miraculous power and effect of being present to life. Jesus taught that the Kingdom of Heaven is "at hand" and "in the midst of you." Buddha taught "right mindfulness," which accepts everything without judgment or reaction, and brings one back to the present moment.

So this is the really good news of spiritual understanding. Where we are (the present moment) is the portal to what we most want, whether we call it the Kingdom of Heaven, or peace of mind or the City of Joy. It's here, and it's now and it doesn't require a leap of faith in some external doctrine or dogma. It is your divine abode, your heart of hearts, your most essential self, calling you home to be present with the Presence.

For the past 6 weeks we have been exploring ways to increase our experience of joy in life. We've discovered conditions that can foster the experience of joy and well being. As we conclude this Sunday, we arrive at the beautiful awareness that we can experience joy by simply being. What a relief to let go of the struggling and striving, the problem solving and enter into the joy of being, here and now.

"The Way of An Open Heart"

2011-11-05T09:46:00.000-07:00

"It makes no difference how deeply seated may be the trouble, how hopeless the outlook, how muddled the tangle, how great the mistake. A sufficient realization of love will dissolve it all." --Emmett Fox

No matter how many times I am reminded through verse or consequences I still manage to forget the eternal truths that could free me in a moment. I guess that's why I still teach with such passion - I need to learn and remember!

One of the most freeing truth teachings is this: Acceptance always precedes love. While the experience of unbounded love may be the Holy Grail of spiritual attainment, acceptance is the narrow way to get there. Acceptance is the only condition for pure love, for without acceptance love cannot arise or take hold - it remains conditional and therefore, unattainable.

Because we don't understand this dynamic between acceptance and love, we go to great lengths chasing after love in all its iterations and interpretations and forms. We seek love as if it's a foreign object to import. We look to others who seem to hold the key to the love we're after. Of course we have good reason to think that way, since we were raised with some version of conditional love, where we learned that our behavior seemed to evoke the positive regard of parents or significant others. Out of this convoluted logic, we developed conditioned understanding of love so that how we felt about ourselves stemmed from how others treated us. We came to believe that other people hold the key to our love experience. From a psychological point of view this is valid yet from a spiritual perspective it is completely false.

Love is innate to us; it's part of us. From the Judao Christian perspective we are made in the image of Divine Love; an aspect of our true nature in the Buddhist tradition. Love is an inherent quality of our very Being. While it may be obscured by conditioning, and lie dormant within us, it is within us nonetheless, and can be awakened through awareness and intention.

Activating love is always a function of opening the heart. "Duh," you may say! But am I the only one who steels himself against life and other people when it's love I'm after? When life presents difficulties whether in the form of circumstances or people how readily do you embrace and accept (the indication of an open heart)? I would have to mark "rarely" on this survey question. The knee jerk reaction to difficulties coming at us is to see them as evidence that something or somebody is against us - the perfect set up to become victim, react, contract and close down. A perfect set up for greater suffering.

But there is a way out of this pattern and it only asks that we become conscious of the moments when we are closing our heart and simply suggest the alternative. "Stay open, heart" means stay present, be with what is here, even though it may be uncomfortable. When we are fully present, and open hearted we have so much more capacity to handle life, and not coincidentally, become the outlet for the love that is within us, to wash over us, and heal us of the illusion that love could ever be apart from us.

"Go For It, or Let it Go?"

2011-10-28T09:44:00.000-07:00

Are you ever confused by seeming contradictory truth teachings? For example, there is the go-for-it school which exhorts effort and determination imploring you to believe it, so that you might see it, that you might achieve it --- perish the thought of letting up on faith or effort. Then there is the seeming opposite approach with an equally persuasive mantra extolling passivity and acceptance; telling you to release the outcome, let it all go, and accept life with equanimity, however it shows up. So which is the better way or does one have to be schizophrenic to be spiritually adept?

I've struggled with this seeming dichotomy at times myself (just the other day, actually) and I realized after some thought that each philosophy has its merits and most importantly its right time and place in a life. The notion of personal will seems central to the question of how I approach a given situation. I am capable of free will in large part, even though I'm often subject to past programming that seems to commandeer my responses at times. Still, mostly I am at choice. I can be willful or willing. I can assert myself, or be witness to another. I can rail against and blame, or have compassion and forgive. I can take the stage, or wait in the wings. I can speak up or listen. I can go for it, or allow it.

Any sense of dichotomy is self inflicted. It's not a question of one way over another as a way of life; not a philosophy for all seasons. It's being sensitive to each moment, going within to discern the wise way that this moment calls for. In this way we can be fluid with what arises, open to give or take, action or patience, assertion or passivity. A joyful life, in which well-being is possible in the face of changing circumstances calls for a supple will that shapes itself to situational demand. We can seize opportunity, go after it, achieve what seems worthy and right in this world, and we can also find peace and retain well-being if an outcome falls short of expectation. We have the capacity to adapt our will to what is most appropriate in every moment. I would submit however, that the passive, letting go attitude is perhaps the most difficult.

"Joy without Condition"

2011-10-21T09:42:00.000-07:00

The adage that asserts the best journeys are the ones that bring us home is a good way to evaluate a spiritual practice. Like the prodigal son, and Jesus in the wilderness, everyone is tempted to find fulfillment through a promise of greener grass somewhere out there beyond the current moment and circumstance. We have all taken those journeys away from home, literally and figuratively, because we are highly motivated to find happiness. It is the soul's mandate for life: experience all the peace, love and joy that is possible.

We learn as we take enough of these journeys, whether in mind, body or spirit, that the way home to fulfillment is always a reverse of what ordinary sense tells us. The search for love bears this out when we find through experience that love comes to us most profoundly, not when we are loved, but when we love. This apparent reversal of logic is the hallmark of all profound spiritual insights. What we seek is not out there, but within us as inherent qualities, that seek a way out.

The experience of deep joy is no exception. We've all been tripped up by playing the conditional joy card that would seem the sure bet to happiness. That's the belief that joy is an effect of getting what we want. But the hand of truth inevitably trumps that illusion and reveals the weakness of that play. It is of course so tempting to continue to play with trick or treat dualism because the fallacy is so well masked by a conditional world. But by grace, joy resides within us, however deeply embedded beneath our expectations for a better life.

Of course, all of us find ourselves at times (lately for me) saying "if this or that would happen, then I would feel happier!" There is no end to the list of circumstances, preferences, needs, or wants that our ego minds will decide are the prerequisites for our joy. It's an easy trap to fall into for us humans and clearly it a journey that will not bring us home. The truth is in the reversal. All of those stories about what keeps us from our joy are lies. Nothing can keep us from our essential wholeness; the love, peace and joy that are deep within us. No matter how we are tempted to play it, the end game demands trust in the goodness of Life, whether the appearances support our faith or not. Hang in there long enough, and deep enough with your faith in the goodness of God, and your journey will bring you home, sweet home.

"Great-Fullness in Lean Times"

2011-10-14T09:40:00.000-07:00

"We must realize that it is not happiness that makes us grateful, but gratitude that makes us happy."

-- Brother David Steindl-Rast

from Gratefulness, The Heart of Prayer

The gentle nature of gratitude conceals its power. An attitude of gratitude can restore our faith, reconcile our relationships, and preserve our precious earth. I want to live in the gentle power of gratefulness. I want to awaken each morning with its sweet fragrance wafting through my mind and heart.

What I know is that my happiest moments are usually the simple moments, when my eyes behold the hidden in plain sight; when I delight in seeing the great within the small, the perfection of the ordinary, and the sufficiency of what is before me.

Simple living allows gratitude to arise more easily. The more I let go of the things I don't need, the more space there is for what is essential to expand...for Spirit to fill me. It seems more important than ever in these times of squaring our spiritual values with sparse economic means, to choose that which truly fulfills us over that which impoverishes us. We have all had the experience of lusting after more out of a sense of not enough. The harvest of these desires does not feed us. Only disappointment follows, because getting the "stuff" only temporarily numbs a deeper need.

The antidote to "not enough" is gratefulness. It turns the economics of greed upside down, by showing us that less can be more. As Brother David so keenly observed, "The smaller we make the container of our need; the sooner comes the overflow that becomes our delight."

Paradoxically, these can be the best of times for humanity's evolution, even as we face the worst of economic realities. When the drive for more is thwarted by economic headwinds, the old ways of acquiring fulfillment can reveal their long hidden futility. While for some people these are desperate times, for many others it's a time of shrinking the containers of our legitimate needs. Can this be a "bad" thing if it dials down unconscious consumption and reveals what is truly needed? Could this not be the best of times, if we are turned inward to measure our internal storehouse and count our blessings?

"You Must Be Present to Win"

2011-10-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

"You can't make joy or well-being happen, but you can create the conditions in which those states more naturally arise." - James Baraz from Awakening Joy

We are into our second week of a 7 week Journey of Awakening in which we are focusing on ways to bring greater joy and well-being into our lives.

Last week we said that intention is an effective catalyst to activate more joy in our lives - noting that expectation and being on the lookout for what we want can be generative of the hoped-for experience. How simple, yet how effective!

This week's practice is equally simple - though not as easy perhaps. This week we are seeking to become more present, more mindful as we go through our days. It's about awareness - the practice of keeping the lens of conscious awareness open as we go through our daily experiences so that we might enlarge our capacity to "be" with life, as witness, rather than as judge.

Our normal, and oh so mortal, way of dealing with life is to grasp and cling to the pleasant experiences and shun, resist or deny the unpleasant stuff. How human of us! The problem with this modus operandi is that it by its insistence that life be a certain way we severely narrow our capacity for enjoying life. We confine the possibility of well-being to some moment in the future when our ducks of desire finally fall in line with our preferences. Have you noticed what a moving target this ideal moment is? And even if we get the pot of gold and the rainbow on the same day, our frustration will soon return when we try to hold onto it, which of course we can't. The pleasant situation passes.

When facing difficult situations we reverse the reaction and deny, resist and try to push it away. We make stories about what the challenge means about us and the awful ramifications for our future. Of course as we are running these dire commentaries in our heads, we have closed off our capacity to simply be with the situation and allow space for life to breathe and reveal its transformational potential.

The practice of mindfulness can relieve this suffering and open us to well being. As author James Baraz puts it:

We learn to enjoy pleasant experiences without holding onto them when they pass (which they will) and we are able to remain present with unpleasant experiences without fearing they will always be this way (which they won't).

The natural joy, that you and are capable of experiencing, is not conditional except to the extent that we make our sense of well-being dependent on externals. Life situations do not define us or change our essence. Being mindful can help us differentiate our experience from our identity. Through mindfulness, you can notice your feelings, rather than being your feelings. You can notice sadness rather than being sad. You are not your experiences; you are the one who has experiences. In this space of awareness, that restores your capacity to observe life, there is space for being, even well-being.

Awakening Joy

2011-10-04T15:36:00.000-07:00

"For happiness one needs security, but joy can spring like a flower even from the cliffs of despair."

- Ann Morrow Lindberg

A wise woman who was traveling in the mountains found a precious stone in a stream.

The next day she met another traveler who was hungry, and the wise woman opened her bag to share her food.

The hungry traveler saw the precious stone and asked the woman to give it to him.

She did so without hesitation.

The traveler left, rejoicing in his good fortune. He knew the stone was worth enough to give him security for a lifetime.

But, a few days later, he came back to return the stone to the wise woman.

"I've been thinking," he said. "I know how valuable this stone is, but I give it back in the hope that you can give me something even more precious.

"Give me what you have within you that enabled you to give me this stone."

Deep happiness and well-being can seem a most elusive grail of the human journey. We know about the fleeting happiness that comes and goes according to external circumstances that rise to meet and eventually betray expectations. This is happiness on the world's terms and it is good as long as it lasts but it always demands something to shift or change that is often outside our control. Such happiness is frustrating, and to the uninitiated seeker acts like a carrot suspended in front of the horse that keeps one pursuing it but never reaching satisfaction.

Real joy is deeper than happiness from external circumstances. Like the peace "that passes human understanding," the well of joy within us is not circumstance dependent but part and parcel to our essential spiritual nature. We come to know this deep well being by our own experience of joy "for no reason" or we're persuaded by the many accounts of those who have realized authentic joy and well being in the midst of great difficulty.

Joy is our birthright. Yet, just as we use only a fraction of our mental capacity, we have greater capacity for joy than we express. This is good news because the well-being we seek is already at hand. Of course it also places responsibility with us for realizing more of it in our lives. How do we cultivate greater joy in our lives through all of life's changes and challenges? This is the subject of our fall series, Awakening Joy, based upon the book of the same name by James Baraz.

Over the next 7 weeks we will explore behaviors and attitudes we can cultivate that can bring us greater well-being into our lives. I've been through the book, and worked with the insights and practices and can tell you this is an eminently practical Journey of Awakening that can produce real and lasting positive effects for anyone.

Join us this Sunday as we begin with the first topic, Inclining The Mind Toward Joy. It is fitting to begin our journey with the destination and a heading that matches. We'll begin by leaning into joy as an intention, and see how it makes a difference. You may be amazed, as I was with how even this slight attitudinal shift can make your day brighter.

Faith and Reason, Partners for Life

2011-09-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

I would like to believe that we are moving closer to reconciling the divergent views underlying the conflict between science and faith. It seems to me this is as important a goal as the age old "battle of the sexes"; to find a meeting place where the rational mind can lie peaceably with its intuitive counterpart. Both approaches: reason, with its penchant for intellectual rigor and processes, and faith, with its capacity to satisfy our deepest needs for meaning and purpose, are equally sincere seekers of ultimate truth. With this shared intention, each wanting what each other wants; the dissent is reduced to their approach to get there. My wife and I frequently disagree on how to get someplace, yet we remain married after 31 years.

Many people are surprised to learn that science and religion have not always been at war. For most of history, science and faith have been intertwined in their pursuits to understand life. Roger Bacon, an early champion of empirical science, was a Franciscan monk. Nicholas of Cusa, a cardinal in the Roman Catholic Church, expressed both scientific and mystical observations in his writings, and was an early champion of an infinite universe. Nicholas Copernicus, who brought forth our understanding of a sun-centered cosmos, was also a cleric in the Church. These great thinkers did not need to abandon their religious faith in order to hold onto their new discoveries, rather saw the insights as harmonious expansions of their theology. Galileo, even Darwin, worked hard to reconcile their discoveries and theories with their faith. It wasn't until the 18th century with the advent of the Enlightenment period perspectives that strong sentiments arose to keep science and religion distinctly apart. It seems this divorce did not arise over irreconcilable differences but from fear of losing their grip on known reality, which blinded them from seeing what they might learn from each other.

Of course this division still exists today and seems most irreconcilable in the deeply entrenched camps of strongly theistic religions and rigid empirical science. The harmony between the two methods of understanding reality comes more readily within a spiritual philosophy that doesn't see the Divine as some distant Being but more of an ever-present energy/intelligence, and with a scientific paradigm that allows subjective human experience into its evidence locker. This is history worth repeating, now more than ever, as we need the full breadth and depth of our capacities to meet humanity's physical and spiritual needs.

In 1889, Unity co-founder Charles Fillmore wrote that scientific research had created a need to reinterpret scripture and that bridging science and religion would be a central purpose of the movement that was to become Unity. This bridging of the rational and intuitive is what brought me to Unity 20 years ago. It is a spiritual paradigm that feels authentic and relevant to all of life, in which my head and my heart feel right at home.

This Sunday Unity Center of Davis is honored to host The Primacy of Consciousness with Peter Russell. With his Cambridge education in mathematics and theoretical physics and years of deep spiritual study he speaks eloquently on the topic of this article. In his highly acclaimed book, From Science To God, he says, "I believe that when we delve as fully into the nature of mind as we have into the nature of space, time and matter, we will find consciousness to be the long-awaited bridge between science and spirit."

Life Dramas and Happy Endings

2011-09-17T16:26:00.000-07:00

"Those who are certain of the outcome can afford to wait, and wait without anxiety... All one sees is certain outcome, at a time perhaps unknown to him as yet, but not in doubt."

- A Course in Miracles

One of my earliest memories of an "aha" moment took place while I was in the middle of watching some TV drama as a young child. I don't' recall the actual show now, but the lesson has stayed with me. Eyes glued to the picture tube, immersed in the drama that was unfolding, deeply fearful for the main character that was up against some dire, seemingly hopeless situation. He looked to be a goner. No way out! The fear must have been written all over my face, when my father said," Well we know he will get out of this somehow. He's the main character; the show can't go on without him." Whew! I relaxed. My fear subsided with the assurance of some pre-determined outcome; that the beloved character make it through the ordeal.

It is easy for us to get caught up in the dramas of our own lives, anxious to the point of trepidation or even depression, when we fear for the way things will turn out for ourselves or our loved ones. Despite the admonishment offered by Jesus and a host of other enlightened teachers, we do worry, we do judge by appearances. Or if we do gain peace of mind it isn't long before a new drama unfolds and we are back to hoping and praying that this happens or that does not happen. Why? Because our contentment is all about how the story ends - we are both in the world and of the world. This is the bane of human existence, the cause of most of our suffering. We can start a new job, get a new mate, pay off our debts, or any other ways to begin again, however, like the season premier of a TV series, the old stories surface again in a new form.

Our illusory (false) self, the self that looks outside itself for its happiness, with its immense security needs, will get absorbed in the next drama unless we wake up from such mindless viewing habits.

Awakening our true self can bring us fresh and enlightened perspective to this upcoming season of life. Not to say that spiritual growth will spare us from the human challenges anymore than expecting a fall television season without new dramas on the schedule. Nor, should we expect that reruns are finally behind us. Spiritual growth is a gradual expansion of context, and context, as philosopher, Ken Wilbur insists, is everything. Framing life dramas in a larger context; in a cosmic perspective, allows us to observe the rising and falling action on the screen of our awareness without losing our identity in the appearances.

Your true self, the self that predates your birth into a body, enjoys conscious union with God, no matter what is happening. The real you never forgets it's just a show, and sees life as the hero's journey, in which every drama, no matter how dangerous, resolves in a happy spiritual outcome. In this certainty of outcome, you, the beloved one, returns home, safe and sound.

This Sunday we will take up this topic with the message,"Even When You're Down, the Tao is Still Up." As we look squarely at our world appearances, with economic forecasts of doom and gloom, we can keep our hearts wide open to feel into the happy ending, the ultimate good, that Spirit has scripted for everyone of us. Our UCOD choir ensemble will bless us with some special music as well. Be there for your weekly "faith lift."

Centering our Intention, Staying the Course

2011-09-10T16:25:00.000-07:00

"...we have not even to risk the adventure alone, for the heroes of all time have gone before us. The labyrinth is thoroughly known. We have only to follow the thread of the hero path, and where we had thought to find an abomination, we shall find a god. And where we had thought to slay another, we shall slay ourselves. Where we had thought to travel outward, we will come to the center of our own existence."

- Joseph Campbell

Last Thursday UCOD set up a labyrinth at the Vets Center as our sacred offering to Unity's World Day of Prayer. It had been some time since I walked a labyrinth and I was struck by its power as metaphor to illuminate my inward spiritual journey.

As I stood at the opening, I contemplated my intention for the walk, asking for the revelation I was seeking in making this journey of many steps. Quite simply, I got the message to seek "my center" - that place of inner balance and equanimity that had recently eluded me. We have been going through a household move in which our outer world has been boxed up and shifted to a new and unfamiliar spaces, leaving me feeling unsettled and off center. So my objective was to find within me that feeling of home in which all was settled and undisturbed.

As I began to walk slowly and mindfully, I could feel my body and mind settle into a calmer rhythm. Each mindful step brought focused and purposeful attention to the present moment. I silently uttered the words, I am moving toward my center and I am on my way to peace. I felt so blessed and grateful to return to this state of well-being from which I had felt estranged in recent weeks. Equally impressive was the simplicity of the practice that brought me such a blessed shift in consciousness. Two simple practices combined to manifest this profound change in my mind and heart: Intention and Attention. As long as I kept my intention clearly in my mind and held my attention in the present moment I continually moved ever deeper into a peaceful centering experience.

Of course, I did not maintain this focused discipline throughout the walk to the labyrinth center. My human tendency to allow my mind to wander into a variety of other thoughts, visiting past and future happenings, got the better of me several times along the way. In those moments, I could feel myself contracting a bit, moving into body awareness, feeling more vulnerable and off center. Yet, despite my mind wanderings, I managed to keep my feet moving accurately within the marked path ahead of me. I realized that this is the grace of our attempts to carry out our spiritual intentions on earth. It wasn't necessary for me to perfect my attention in order to keep moving in the direction of goal - the centering experience, as long as I held my intention - even in the "back of my mind."

This is revelatory to our walk through life. Our focus is not going to be perfect, our attention will be here, and then there, and back to here again. It will waver but we can always bring it back to this present moment, and become mindful of our intention again. Yet even if our attention strays we can make progress as we hold our intention for the larger context of our life journey. For me, my deepest intention in life is to awaken to the truth of who I really am - my truest spiritual identity. Every day I think about that intention at least once. It's the backdrop, the context, the grand milieu of my days and nights. So in the course of a given day, my attention ranges between keen present moment focus, to veritable somnambulism, yet intention is always there like the labyrinth path beneath my feet, guiding my steps, bringing me back to the course that leads me home.

Lets know this together, because, we can get so down on ourselves when we feel our spiritual efforts are lacking in discipline and we're inclined to count our missteps. Let's keep it simple and cease condemning our progress and realize how the path is self correcting. Get clear on your intention each day, pay attention to your steps as mindfully as you can. And if you fall asleep to the moment, forgive yourself, and realize that the center of your intention is constantly beckoning and drawing you to itself. Unerringly, God is calling us home. Let that be our intention to remember. The path home is the life before us. Our next step awaits our attention.

Always in the Middle

2011-09-03T16:23:00.000-07:00

No one is where he is by accident and chance plays no part in God's plan. - A Course In Miracles

Several Sundays ago I shared a message on developing a sense of trust in life and offered the viewpoint that we are always in the "middle - never at the end." A number of you mentioned that this perspective had been profoundly helpful to your sense of hope and faith in life. Of course, there are apparent endings in life such as when employment or a relationship or any other time bound circumstance comes to an end. When we see these endings as "terminal conditions" we can fall into grief and hopelessness and that's very human and understandable.

However, wisdom can reveal a different perspective that can lift us from despair when we are facing change and loss. In life, unlike a stage play, one scene leads to another, indefinitely, until we are no longer on this world stage. One situation ends, gives rise to a new situation, which will end soon enough, followed by yet another scene. Each scene yields the potential for life to become something new, rife with possibility, challenge, losses and gains, sorrows and joys...and on it goes. When we behold our life in the context of life's ongoing nature, we are always in the middle - never at the end. Knowing the story is yet unfinished, how can we judge it good or bad, right or wrong, favorable or unfavorable. The following story, that has been told and retold in many traditions, illustrates how judging life is always premature:

Once upon a time there lived a poor farmer who lived alone with his one son. They were poor and lived a hard life. One day their only horse ran away. Their fellow villagers lamented saying, "What will you do now? That was your only horse. How will you farm your land? You are so unlucky."

To this the poor farmer said, "We'll see."

A few days later the farmer's horse came back bringing with it a wild horse. And the villagers said, "Now you have two horses to work your land. You're so lucky!"

And the farmer said, "We'll see."

The next day the farmer's son was taming the wild horse when he was thrown from her back and broke his leg. And the villagers said, "Now who will help you work your land? That is your only son. How unlucky."

And the farmer said, "We'll see."

A few days later the army came through town. They were there to draft all the able-bodied young men to fight in a distant war for their emperor. All the young men of the village, except for the poor farmer's injured boy, were taken away. The villagers watched as their children were taken away. They looked at the poor farmer and his boy and said, "You're so lucky."

And the farmer said, "We'll see."

Our way shower, Jesus, who was a master of life, cautioned against "judging by appearances." Knowing as he did that there is only one beneficent power and presence undergirding all of life, it is always too soon to abandon hope and never too early to expect a grace filled blessing to emerge from any situation.

There is always more Life to come, more good to be revealed, more of the sacred eternal to displace our sense of loss. This is how we pray in Unity, acknowledging the apparent limitation, but then lifting our awareness to the ever present infinite presence of life and love that is endless. This is the good news story of your life, and mine that never ends. Get in the middle of that idea and hope springs mightily.

In Change We Trust

2011-08-19T16:19:00.000-07:00

The presence of fear is a sure sign that you are trusting in your own strength.

A Course in Miracles (WB 77)

I once saw a cartoon entitled, "Mastery" that showed a man standing in the middle of a one-way street, cars whizzing past him, while he pointed in the direction that the traffic was moving. A bystander provided the caption that read, "He even controls the flow of the traffic!"

The rest of us make a stand against the flow of life, argue for what should be happening, and are run over or run through by the isness of life that we oppose.

We may know better but we resist this wisdom. We find it hard to go with the flow and trust in this world. No matter how many admonitions and parables exhorting the path of least resistance, never mind the track marks evidencing the consequences of standing against the flow, somehow we remain unconvinced that pushing back against life is unhealthy and unwise.

Jesus had a lot to worry about in his time, and yet he preached, "Do not worry." I doubt Jesus had a healthy pension, or even a stocked pantry, and we know he had some serious enemies. He had some very good reasons to worry, but he did not worry. How was he able to respond to 'worrisome' conditions with confidence, ease and grace? Answer: He had a big Trust fund. He truly knew the source of his well-being, and found true security in the invisible and very real Spirit of life within him. He was identified with an indwelling Father, who knew his needs before he asked and whose pleasure it was to fulfill them.

Jesus was not in denial about the difficulties of life and we know he had his preferences (remember the 'take this cup' moment in the garden) but he could see beyond the appearances, and trusted more in the Greater Good than his personal will. He could see beyond a fallow field, to a harvest; beyond evil ways to essential innocence; beyond death to life without end.

You and I have the same indwelling Father to rely upon. Jesus did not have a bigger God than we do. He had a bigger faith, a bigger trust fund. The potential for us to live in trust is equal to Jesus. We can begin in small ways to release the opposition in us, to relax and let go in small things. As we let go of the wheel and discover how Divine navigational intelligence operates in the minor redirections through life, we will begin to build trust for the major road closures and detours. This is how trust is built, incrementally over time, girded by faith.

As every farmer knows, the real magic in the field is beyond his control. He can plant the seed, but the earth bestows. The very same Life force conspires for our good; and knows what makes us grow, thrive and prosper. The more we can trust it to work through our lives the more we will witness the ease and grace of life flowing through us. This is the path of mastery.

Shift Happens

2011-08-12T16:16:00.000-07:00

If you're in a bad situation, don't worry it'll change

If you're in a good situation, don't worry it'll change.

- John A. Simone, Sr., author

Dealing with change in our lives can be the most daunting of challenges. Most of us find it difficult to embrace change, no matter how many times we've heard the axiom about change being life's only constant. When change knocks on the door, we loathe its intrusion. We are more likely to do battle with change; either fighting to hold on or fighting to let go.

Why do we resist change so tenaciously? Change alters the reality picture and requires a new coping strategy. As one author wrote, "Life is like an ever-shifting kaleidoscope - a slight change, and all patterns alter." When life changes, we must make adjustments to navigate the new course. Most of us fear losing our way in unfamiliar terrain. With our fondness for predictability and control, we find comfort in the familiarity of the status quo, and cling to it.

Yet despite our predilection to battle change, it is the nature of reality, as likely to arise as the morning sun. Indeed, shift happens, and will continue to happen and rock our world as long as we inhabit this physical plane. We can resist change, resist reality, but in the end, reality wins, every time! Putting it bluntly, resistance is futile and only increases suffering.

Yet if we would find some measure of equanimity in the midst of change, we must ultimately accept the changes that surely will come, again and again in this life. As Alan Watts observed, "The only way to make sense out of change is to plunge into it, move with it, and join the dance." When we fully embrace, and enter the currents of change, then the headwinds of resistance subside. In the calm that comes from acceptance we make way for wisdom and understanding to arise. With a degree of acquiescence to our new reality, we may begin to understand the course correction. If we maintain this willingness to flow with change it can lead us to deeper understanding, and allow us to find inner peace despite an outer life that remains rife with uncertainty.

No matter the rise and fall of the economy or any volatile worldly structure, there is a still point within you that remains constant and always accessible. This is the essence of you that is not subject to the ravages of upheavals, and remains a sacred haven even when everything around you is changing. My sense is that change is only going to accelerate going forward on the present trajectory of human/technological evolution. Realizing there are no fixed end points in this life, malleability will trump rigidity, and the truly happy of us will learn to surf the rising and falling tides of change.

Stories That Can Heal Us

2011-07-26T20:19:00.001-07:00

I recently listened to an interview with physician and author, Dr. Naomi Rachel, who recounted how her life was shaped and inspired growing up surrounded by doctors and one mystic. It was her grandfather, an orthodox rabbi and student of The Kabbalah who she described as a "flaming mystic." When she was only four years old her grandfather told her this creation story, which he called the Birthday of the World. Here are her words in the retelling:

In the beginning there was only the holy darkness, the Ein Sof, the source of life. And then, in the course of history, at a moment in time, this world, the world of a thousand thousand things, emerged from the heart of the holy darkness as a great ray of light. And then, perhaps because this is a Jewish story, there was an accident, and the vessels containing the light of the world, the wholeness of the world, broke. And the wholeness of the world, the light of the world was scattered into a thousand thousand fragments of light, and they fell into all events and all people, where they remain deeply hidden until this very day.

Now, according to my grandfather, the whole human race is a response to this accident. We are here because we are born with the capacity to find the hidden light in all events and all people, to lift it up and make it visible once again and thereby to restore the innate wholeness of the world. It's a very important story for our times. And this task is called tikkun olam in Hebrew. It's the restoration of the world.

I was deeply touched by this story. Listening, I felt a lump rising in my throat, a tingle in my arms, telltale symptoms when a great truth penetrates my heart. I sense this is a story that can heal us all, no matter, our affliction or restriction. It speaks of our spiritual essence that Thomas Merton described as a hidden wholeness.

As minister, and student of life, I have witnessed the miraculous healing power of stories. Stories reveal the whole context, the implications and revelations of lives touched by circumstances, the telling of which reveal how we can be transformed by our challenges and difficulties, not merely laid low. Out of context, sans story, there are only the bleak facts of cancer, divorce, pink slips, and abandonments. But I've heard and been touched by stories in which such diseases of body, heart and spirit gave way to revelations of Being, sacred insights, and enlightened perspectives. I've seen people stricken by difficulty find their hidden wholeness and emerge with a deeper and truer sense of themselves and a renewed compelling purpose for their lives. I've lived such stories myself.

How do you define healing? What would it look like to you? Is it the eradication of disease in the body, or a relationship that becomes your expectations? If you widened your lens of understanding of healing in a spiritual context what story might emerge? If you intended to find the "hidden light in all events and circumstances" how would the story change, or your measure of healing progress?

There are stories that can empower our lives, in which we make a profound difference right where we are, just as we are. The only barrier to our healing is our willingness to find our place in these stories, and adopt them as the context of our lives. We do not have to judge by appearances, and live in constant dis-ease. We can allow the grace of spiritual insight to reveal the grander story in which we discover and heal into our wholeness.

Believing Is Seeing

2011-07-14T07:27:00.000-07:00

I can see, and that is why I can be happy, in what you call the dark, but which to me is golden. I can see a God-made world, not a manmade world. - Helen Keller

I recently re-read a number of quotes by Helen Keller and what struck me was the number of references she made to the importance of sight, vision, light, seeing and beholding. Remarkable advice from a woman who had no physical sight. Though deprived of the view of life that we sighted people enjoy, she developed clear perception of the invisible world that sustained her. "What I am looking for is not "out there", it is in me."

I observed this phenomenon in my own mother who lost most of her sight to macular degeneration in her later years. As her view of her outer world dimmed she became more aware of the reality of God's presence within her. I found this remarkable and inspiring. Most of us would assume that it is the great miracles of preference, like sight being restored to the blind that would quicken a person's faith. My mother's faith was not diminished but substantially increased through a great loss. Perhaps it is the vision of one world that costs us the vision of another. Without eyesight, there is still insight, perhaps even more keenly.

It is human nature to want to see life working out according to our preferences. We think we know what would be best for us, make us happy, or serve our life purpose. Yet many of us got what we wanted, and happiness remained elusive. Or we avoided some awful fate, and never dealt with our deepest fear. When we ask the question, what is best for us, we must be willing to abandon personal will to make room for soul wisdom. Then we find a path to our growing edge and enlarge our capacity to believe in the invisible self that surpasses human understanding. This is the place where we can build our faith in the hidden reality of our Being. For many of us a process of subtraction becomes a great boon to our spiritual understanding. As visible forms of life change before our eyes, we are spun around and dropped into the lap of a Presence within. While eyes search in vain for the happy outcomes in the night, insight reveals the unseen comforter; the eternal blessing.
To some people, the fruits of their faith are measured in getting what they pray for. This is visualization; using creative power to manifest according to our will. This is a useful tool, but builds a fragile faith, entirely dependent upon circumstances for its strength. A deeper faith comes by uncovering a persistent state of well being, that remains unperturbed through whatever arises.

If my faith in God is predicated on how my life unfolds in a purely outer sense, I am assured of a wobbly faith, built on sand. Yet if I resist the temptation to "judge by appearances" and seek the grace within my own consciousness, I will be sustained by knowing that I am one with the eternal presence power and love of Spirit--- whatever may come. This is why we pray and meditate, so that we can improve our inner vision and come to know that the presence of Spirit is inseparable from us. Then when outrageous winds of change come and change the landscape of our visible world, we will look within to find the good, true and the beautiful which steadfastly remain in us, for us, and as us.

Relying on the Cloud of Knowing

2011-06-24T17:22:00.000-07:00

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven..". - Mathew 6:19
In today's world of data and technology many of us store our treasures on computer hard drives where viruses and mechanical breakdowns can cost us dearly. In the last several weeks, not one, but all three of us in the house, have been touched by the untimely shock and agonizing consequences of computer breakdowns and viruses. When these techno disasters occur we are immediately confronted with the pain of separation from our precious files, contacts, calendars, and emails. With one momentous glitch we are cut off from our now customary means of communicating, scheduling, creating, learning and more. In an instant the technology that we took for granted becomes glaringly precious, and we see how reliant we have become on that which wears out, breaks down and predictably fails.

After the last episode involving the UCOD office PC when several of us who access the data were "locked out" by hardware failure, I decided to explore a better way. I discovered "cloud computing." Simply put, cloud computing is an evolved technology that permits storage of data and programs on the web that is accessible to anybody with internet access and permission. The data is more secure, the hardware less likely to fail, and ultimately should offer a much more reliable way to work with and safe keep our precious data. Is it perfect? No. But it's a move away from isolation, vulnerability and limitation to a more robust and reliable environment.

Whether or not we have computer breakdowns, each of us faces from time to time, the loss of something precious to us. In this world of materiality and sense consciousness it is so very natural to invest value in things that can be lost or broken. If we have invested our well-being or peace of mind in ephemeral things, we will surely be ripped off by failures that are bound to happen in this time-bound dimension.

There is a better way. It's an evolved spiritual idea, that calls us to recognize a greater dimension of life and Being that is not subject to the aforementioned inclination toward failure and disappointment. Jesus called it the Kingdom of Heaven. He likened it to a precious pearl of great value; an imminent reality, closer even than our breath. It is a cloud of knowing - a milieu of loving awareness capable of satisfying our deepest yearnings for a fulfilled life. It is accessible to each of us, according to our willingness to know its Presence in us....as us.

This is why we pray, or contemplate, or meditate. So that when stuff breaks or wears out, as it surely will, these events might serve to awaken us to a deeper peace and wholeness than earthly imposters offer us. Being driven to our knees by life is not such a bad idea. Often times when I'm at my most exasperated self, I finally let go, and surrender my willful resistance to life. In those precipitous moments I am a candidate for greater insight, and within reach of the compassionate cloud of knowing.

You and I can take refuge in this sacred place of awareness. Even when life is breaking down all around us, we can nonetheless be safe and comforted here. And by resting in this place of knowing, we can refresh our perceptions, and find innovative and creative ways to deal with life that can ease and bless our days on earth.