Archive for August, 2009

This is a tough one to weigh in on.  I’m certain its easier for those of us who did not lose a loved one on Pan Am Flight 103 to show compassion than those who did.  Or is it?

Is compassion measured by its proximity to grief or by one’s proximity to God? 

As difficult as this may be to accept, I think it’s the latter.  If “vengeance is mine, sayeth the Lord” then either you believe that or you don’t.  If you do, then ultimately the fate of Abdelbeset Ali Mohmed al Megrahi awaits him and, absence true repentance, better him than you or me. 

And, if you want to believe that every error you’ve ever committed is forgiven upon a sincere understanding that such errors are only committed in the absence of spiritual Light, then how can you seek such forgiveness without being willing to extend it?

So, while I partially understand the expressions of outrage that would see this terrorist die in prison, or those who preferred he be executed upon conviction had that been an option, I whole-heartedly know that releasing him to die at home is a decision that emanates Light.  If such a decision was made for economic and political reasons, as some have speculated, this is not what matters.  What matters is what is in our hearts as we feel what it is we feel about compassion and forgiveness for those moving in darkness.

Let everything else about this man be handled elsewhere… by a power infinitely greater than the UK penal system.

There is a lesson here for the highest good of all concerned.

Light illuminates where vengeance obscures.

Five months ago I wrote an entry titled “Christ Consciousness” that daily continues to receive more hits that any other blog I’ve written since.  So I asked myself why?

I think I know the answer.

It all rests on the difference between reality and illusion….between religion and spirituality.

Most of what we are concerned with, what our minds are preoccupied with on a daily basis, is…quite literally…a distraction from the only thing in life that truly matters: being in a constant state of co-creating with love.   While this may sound unrealistic given the practicalities of life, and somewhat philosophical as well, to the contrary, nothing could be more realistic or practical.

The opposite of reality is illusion.  How many of us know, by way of first-hand experience, that what we’ve been taught, told and sold will satisfy us and make us happy is simply an empty promise.  How many of us “acquire” and “achieve” accomplishments, degrees and “stuff” only to realize that none of it makes a meaningful difference in how joyful or satisfying our lives are?   That’s because the world of achieving, acquiring and materialism is a world created not by the One Mind capable of creating a Universe and more….but rather by only one aspect of that Mind….and a misapplied aspect at that….called the human ego.   Everything ego makes is temporary.  You know it and I know it.  If it’s temporary, then it will come and it will go. And if it can go, then where does that leave us other than in a perpetual state of anticipating and fearing abandonment and lack?

T o the contrary, what is real, and neither illusory nor temporary, is that which Creator is…which is All There Is.  Creator is eternal creativity, ever-expanding outward by way of Its Unified Thought, in a field of loving awareness of Self.  What we have forgotten, or denied, is that we are part of that Unified Thought thus making us co-creators in loving awareness of self.  If Who You Are is eternal, ever-expanding, unified and lovingly aware then you must be something much more than either your body or your ego since both are limited and finite.   Which is why identifying with our bodies or trying to “gain” self love through achievement or acquisition is so unsatisfying and must, ultimately, fail.

What has been forgotten can be remembered.  What has been denied has occurred because when we deny something in another it’s because we are not aware of it in ourselves. The way to heal our own sense of unworthiness, our own alienation from the state of wholeness that is our birthright, is to see others as whole, healed, and worthy in themselves.  By so doing, you return them to the Only Mind There Is and to the Reality where peace and joy reside. 

What you see in others is what is in you.  Therefore, the blessing you have given them becomes yours.

Which is why I think the previous entry “Christ Consciousness” is getting so much attention… for it strikes a deep knowing within each of us.

                                       The way home is lovingly with and through one another. 

This year marks our arrival at a crossroad.  We are exactly 40 years out from Woodstock and Woodstock was exactly 40 years out from The Great Depresssion.  “So what’s the crossroad?” you ask.  If you give me a moment or two I’ll explain; but first, let’s take a look at what’s happening right now that’s causing public outcries, Republican and Democrat stone-throwing, and so much general discontent.

Most of us are aware that there’s something like a war being waged between what I’ll call, for lack of more accurate terms, Conservatives and Liberals.  While these have come to be completely meaningless terms, using them will make identifying the combatants easier.

The instant battle in this war seems to be over health care reform…although this is just the latest in a series of public objections to what appears to some as increasingly and, increasingly unacceptable, government ineptitude and intervention into the private sector.  The important words in the previous sentence are the words “to some”…because how many and who they are seems to be over what the battle is currently being waged.

Conservatives say the battle is inextricably tied to the intention of the Founding Fathers, the Constitution, and even survival of the Republic. They are united in their opposition and claim their numbers are increasing daily.  Liberals say the battle is tied to compassion for those who have been marginalized by both prior Administrations and private sector greed, and, ultimately, is inextricably tied to our financial solvency and overall economic survival going forward. They, too, are united in their opposition and believe their adherents are the majority, and have been for some time, albeit a less vocal one.

So which of them is right?  Oh, sorry.  Wrong question.

So, what is the Truth?

First, to the combatants: both are right and both are wrong.  You see, its the old saying “there are three sides to every story. Yours, mine and the Truth.”

What we do now, about health care reform and everything else that’s on the table or will be, is very much about what the Founding Fathers intended.  It is about the future of the Republic.  It is about compassion and action for those marginalized by institutional biases and greed.  It is about what kind of participant we, the United States…and we, as Co-Creators in the future of humankind…will be in the evolving consciousness of life during this millennium, on this planet, and beyond.

That’s where, combined, both groups have it right. 

The Truth, however, isn’t found within either argument and is bigger than both combined.  The Truth has nothing to do with right or wrong. The Truth isn’t about perception, judgment or separation.  The Truth is about harmony and Oneness.  The truth is found at the crossroad.

So, let’s return to The Great Depression, Woodstock and that crossroad.

Woodstock was emblematic of a vocal, and seemingly brief, generational rejection of the materialism and direction this nation had pursued following The Great Depression.  I say “brief” because many of we Boomers who later got caught up in that very materialism, also lost sigh of the fact that in so doing we became seduced and distracted by it.  Our distraction led to our abdicating responsibility for heading in the very direction we had earlier opposed.  From 1990-2008 life got faster, more materially comfortable, and more technologically dependent. It also got more stressful, more alienated, less meaningful and less joyful.

If The Great Depression was the beginning, and Woodstock the milestone, then we have arrived at the crossroad.

The Truth?

The Constitution was divinely inspired. But so are you.  So are we all.  We’ve just forgotten our purpose. 

Our purpose isn’t to accomplish anything more than remembering that we are not what we make, what we consume, or what we bank.  We are One Being.  All we have is all we need.  We are what we share and give away in joyful knowing that we are of One Mind and One Heart.  Sustenance and Abundance are our birthrights.  We are Co-Creators in the ongoing miracle that is the only Creation that ever occurred or ever will.

No government, no political party, no employer, no spouse is your Source of supply.  One Mind is.  Connect with that Mind; know that it is within You as it is within everyone else.  Be joyful about that knowing and share your gifts and your part in it freely… knowing that the adage “All you have is what you give away” is about trusting in the only Truth there is.

It isn’t True because I say it is, either. 

It just Is.

Or, better said, “I Am That I Am.”

There is a great deal of fear and anger around these days as is evidenced by the public outcry and conflict occurring at congressional Town Hall meetings over proposed health care legislation. This is just the latest and most visible display of something that’s been brewing for quite awhile now.

I have written about this growing fear and anger for over the past year and a half in this blog.

As more and more people voice their opposition to not only the proposed health care plan but also with government in general, its starting to look and sound like a battle between the Left and the Right.  Actually, between the extreme Left and extreme Right of both political parties.  But it only looks that way because that’s how conventional media is portraying it.

If you look with your own eyes and listen with your own ears you will see and hear something very different.

What you will see is Change. Not the bumper sticker change that catapulted Barack Obama to the White House.

Real change.

Systemic change.

History altering change.

The transition we are living through now, transformation actually, is best likened to the metamorphosis that occurs when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.  When this takes place, its the end of the caterpillar as we know it, admittedly. But its also the beginning of a life form that is less dense, able to cover much more territory from a higher perspective and… happens to be quite beautiful, as a perk.
 
The difference between the caterpillar dying (or transforming) and the demise of the corrupted legislative, judicial and executive branches of government as they now function can best be summed up in a single word.

Ego.

The caterpillar has none and the politicians have an excess.

So when Nature says its time for the caterpillar to “let go and let God,” so to speak, it simply does. To the contrary, when the will of the People says it time for the politicians to do the same, they react by making their best efforts to hold on and, in fact, will do whatever it takes to stay exactly where they comfortably are.

So what’s to be done now that the People have called an audible?  May I suggest the following:

If you are one of the People…do not lose you voice. Do not despair that change is not happening as fast as you would like it to.  Do not lose hope.  Do not second-guess your instincts.

If you are one of the politicians…find the Truth you misplaced long ago. Understand that change is happening faster than you can imagine. Re-establish the hope and faith in the Republic that drew the very first politicians to service. Do not second-guess your instincts.

Because both the People and the politicians instinctively know that the End is near.

But so, too, is the Beginning.

The only question is, “Are you the caterpillar or the butterfly?