Seasons of the Soul

Working With the Body

 

We always need to include our bodies in our daily prayers and appreciation. When something we have done was not the best thing for the body, the way to overcome it is NOT through self-recrimination or condemning ourselves. It is instead to remember what our original intention was when we chose the path we did. If we now realize that what we did was not helpful, we can talk to our body just as we would a small child.

"Thank you, dear body for everything you do for me. I appreciate you so much and want you to know how much I love you. I am so sorry that the course of action I chose turned out to be something that wasn't good for you. My reason for choosing it was that I believed it was to help you, but now have found out that it was not helpful, and I am SO SORRY for any hurt that caused you.

"I love you very much and know how much you do for me. Let us work together now to clear the residue of any drugs and wrong food choices that have been toxic to you. I see you as so powerful in your ability to heal yourself, and I want you to help me help you. Let me know what foods you want me to avoid. Let me know what you would like and how much water I should drink each day. Let's work together to make this wonderful body restored to harmony and wellbeing in every way. You and I are partners through life, and I want to be able to share laughter and joy with you rather than upsets. Help me in this, and with God's input...WE CAN DO IT!!!

"Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!"

Tolerance and Supreme Court Ruling on Same Sex Marriage

When I was a little girl, my family had some friends who were very creative…artists, musicians, and writers.  They were wonderful people, highly intelligent, and I enjoyed hearing their stories. There was something different about them that set them apart, and I could tell that they were marching to a different drum beat than most people we knew. They were called Bohemians.

Fast forward many years. I found friends of so many diverse interests and backgrounds, and among them were people who became very dear to me. One such was a friend who told me that when he was 8 years old he knew he was wired differently. His proclivity was not to girls at all, and coming from a fundamentalist family, this became a great burden. It wasn’t until years later when he went away to college that he met others who felt as he did, and was able to move out of the shame based framework that his nature was somehow flawed and sinful because he was different.

In my studies of religion, metaphysics, and spirituality, I found it very odd that we would continuously harken back to texts that we held as the only word of God that were written thousands of years ago when the world was completely different and the needs of human beings were different. Stoning is no longer acceptable to enlightened societies. We have moved to transportation and communication methods that would have been viewed with suspicion back in the days of old. Yet, in looking at how life unfolds, we see that nature adapts to the needs of the earth, and that if we humans would recognize that the living word of God is right in front of us through the lessons of nature, we would be more in harmony and recognize that as needs change, so do our forms of expression.

When the bible and other religious texts were written that encourage people to go forth and multiply, it was a time when human beings were a small group and life was expanding. Therefore, having many children was important, and also sensible because of the death from disease that wiped out quite a few young offspring. However, as life has unfolded, we humans have more than populated enough of the world. Instead of being helpful, we are a hindrance to nature at this point. We have far too many of us, and in nature, when there is an over-population of one species that tilts the balance of land usage, an upsurge of the natural predators of that species arise and the problem is solved. However, with humans, we have found our way around infertility, disease, and many other issues related to birth and infant mortality, so looking at nature, there must be another solution provided by a loving Creator.

When I harken back to the story of my friend related to his own recognition of the way he was created, I recognize that nature is working its unfailing check and balance system in a way that will retard the expansion of population in an over-populated world while still allowing for love to unfold and blossom amongst people who will not biologically procreate. This means that there is nothing abhorrent or perverted about loving someone of the same sex if that is how the internal wiring is constructed. It means that there is indeed a creative force in life that wants for the wellbeing of its creation while curbing the expansion of a species that has already strained the limits of supply/demand.

Years ago, I received an inner message that made sense to me. I actually wrote a whole work around it, but the gist of it was “Do not limit me to a 5,000  or 2,000 year old message. I am a Living God and my Living Word is all around you if you but have the eyes to see and the ears to hear. I did not speak just once in stone. My message is alive and current today. It is not necessarily the message that was relevant to the past because ways and means have changed to reflect what is needed in the now”

Given this insight, how can I judge someone else’s needs as a human being? How do I have the right to say that the way I am crafted is the way everyone else should be? That the color of my skin is the only preferable color, or that being a man rather than a woman is the only right authority figure? We see so many variations of life expression in nature, and we humans are the same. It is only the constriction of our viewpoints that keep us from allowing and accepting differences. Some of these constrictions come from old prejudice handed down through generations. Some come from what we are taught through religion or school.

The key for advancing civilization is to recognize the importance of cultivating civility in civilization. If we in the west look at the extremists in the Middle East who are expressing repression and attitudes based on a framework of teaching that is based on what we see as barbaric, then we need to look at where we, too, are stuck in ways of thinking that limit other people and repress their nature. This means, that as we live and let live, the world is drawn closer together, not further apart. As we do not allow the dictates of hate to separate us, we are indeed One people living on One Earth, and instead of continuing to be adversaries, we can adopt an attitude of Love that is the true underpinning of creation.   

Whose God Is It Anyway?

Jihad is a call for Holy War – but the holy war is never directed externally – the Holy War for Islam is the internal call for Peace, and it is internally that we must root out the enemy of peace. Jihad is not meant to be directed externally.

The roots of war and peace reside inside, and Jihad is the Holy Call – fo find our imbalance, to cleanse our spirit, to renew our dedication to upholding truth – to create a world of peace within so we can reflect a world of peace without.

All books of sacred knowledge speak to us in terms that are appropriate for the time in which they are written. The fiery language is meant to turn us against the enemy – and the true enemy of each is inside…a perceptual glitch that needs to be routed out.

As long as any one of us is vested in separation and acts of self-terror or sabotage, the world is not safe. Until each one of us overcomes a need to be the victim or the victor, the world will suffer. The external world is a reflection of our inner state of affairs, and until we make the turn to clear out the unholy alliances internally, we cannot bring peace and surrender to a greater peace in the world.

People who use the great doctrines of peace as justification for war are far removed from the peace they espouse. Personal victory is the only victory that has meaning. When individual victory over the elements of destruction within are gathered together, collective flourishing occurs. Disrupted elements must be dealt with, and in truth, the part of ourselves that is most unlovable is most in need of love.

Doctrines of war are indications of inner disharmony. An attacker misplaces the attack, for his victimizer resides inside his head. When he/she projects his unrest externally, other individuals are drawn into the drama. Dysfunctional families become unhealthy communities that turn into paranoid nations. What begins as an individual seed of discontent is planted into the minds and doctrines of society, expanding to create major division, suspicion, and unrest. One act of terror causes a corresponding reaction of terror, and the process continues in the name of what is holy or just until one side obliterates the other into submission…for the moment.

The Holy moment is the one in which each finally turns within to the truth of their being. May we all come to this, internalize it, and experience the solace of spirit and the peace that passes understanding.

We Are Not Abandoned!

 

It isn't God who separates from us, it is we who close the door to God. Everywhere present, always available, God waits on welcome as we struggle with the world and delay our good. Yet the Good is waiting for us - waiting for us to open to worthiness, to belief that we are entitled to receive provisions. We have become mesmerized with Camp Earth. We feel abandoned on an island that is not home, but that we are attempting to make home. And yet "Home" is a blink away - right here - is part of our internal provisions and all we have to do is turn the key - to be still - to go within - to ask, to be receptive, to refuel and refill our reservoirs. We need not go hungry. We need not thirst. It is the illusion that has set us apart, not the reality.

Everything we see in the physical universe is a projection of the images we have created within our mind's eye. So one person sees heaven here, and another sees hell. Both are based on an inner image and an inner imaging using imagination. One distorts, and the other creates. One succumbs, and one is victorious. All of it is based on what is feeding the mind. What channel are we focused on?

Home has nothing but Love to give us. Other channels that are based on fear continue the process of fear based reactions. War, winners/losers, better/worse, good/evil - all the field of opposites and opposition - all from the mindset of fear. Separateness and separation are fear based constructs.

For those of us who feel abandoned on earth, alienated from one another, we have forgotten who we really are and what opportunity we originally chose. Earth is not banishment - it is a field of dreams where we have the potential of creating a living garden or projecting a living hell. The choice factor is ours.

Walking In To God

 

I've noted that we are all sleepwalkers. We see our daily reality as THE reality, and we go about wandering in the wilderness believing it is the real deal. Yet, there is always something hauntingly missing from the quotient until we wake up.

The great teachers and sages of all traditions through time have attempted to point the way, but many ignore the signposts and advice, much as teenagers do not want to listen to their elders.

So, in thinking of this, I recognized that as we are born into life, we are separated physically from the womb of insulation and thrust into a reality that appears to be composed only of physical elements surrounding us. We adapt to this physical reality and play out our years in accordance to opportunities, impulse, and expectation. The underlying hunger that propels us may be channeled into goals and personal success, or we may simply see ourselves as victims of an unfair deal, making our way through the process with minimal effort or enthusiasm. However, at some point, there is a yearning for something more - something beyond the self that we have come to identify with as being us.

At some point, all the messages that confirm our separateness cease to make sense. We recognize that going it alone or feelings of "us against them" do nothing to make our lives better - only to further separate us from an inner knowing that lies deep beneath all the layers of illusion we've come to accept as real. It is when this gnawing desire to know truth hits us that we look for something more - something beyond what we've been told is real. It is then that we recognize in the teachings of "as above, so below" that if we spend a good portion of our lives in a state that is asleep, returning to waking and questioning the weird dreams or illusions presented in the sleep state may indeed be a clue to what is going on in our seeming reality time. In other words, maybe we are asleep right now, playing out a scenario of separate self that is as bizarre as some of our dreams. Perhaps we are not these separate selves at all, and that there is something bigger awaiting our awakening.

A bridge to reality is often needed for those of us who have been steeped in the sleep mode. This is where so many of the spiritual teachings come in. We have guides to help us. We have those who have become enlightened - who have woken up - seeking to aid us in our own awakening. They are the bridges we sometimes need to help us to walk into the real world - the one that has no separateness - the one that is God.

In looking out at the garden and at the sky, it dawned on me that any illusion of separateness is ridiculous. After all, I cannot exist without the air I breathe or the environment that feeds and clothes me. I am utterly dependent upon all of it. Yet, we see the earth and its abundance as something we can use and defile - as though it has no connection to us or us to it other than as a useful tool. How can we be so arrogant as to think that what we depend upon for life is a tool? It is part of the system to which we all belong, and all of it and us is one system that is fully alive - not separate systems where one is more special or prized, and another is of little value. Where does air begin and end? Where do sky and earth not connect?

Through the multiple traditions, there are many names and ways to recognize  unity in consciousness. Yet, interestingly enough, most are born of separateness because each often claims the exclusive right to enlightenment. Only through this teacher or this tradition or these practices can you become part of the "in" group, and if you don't adhere, you are an outsider - banished from the kingdom.

When we really take a look at how ridiculous any claim of exclusive domain is, we see things from a clearer perspective. It is as though we have been propelled to the top of the mountain where we see the 360 degree view of all connected in one sweeping panorama of beauty and awesome diversity. Everything is an expression of the One. We are part of this beautiful earth, the part of our system that keeps us alive. We are united with space and cosmos as well. All of it is one continuum without artificial boundaries that separate any of it from the other, save in our minds.

So, as we feel the stirrings of awakening, we open to the concept that perhaps we are connected also in God. Perhaps we are not some separate thing out here that is an eye sore or insult to that which it truly is. Perhaps we and it are one consciousness expressing in diversity, just as nature who we hold as inanimate and separate, expresses through multiple forms in concert with one another to bring life and growth and renewal over and over again. Perhaps if we saw earth and God in terms of our bodies - we would be able to have an eye opening experience. How does the heart be separate from any other part of the internal organism that is the guts of what keeps us living? How can we choose one part of the essential running of these bodies as the exclusive one, when without everything in harmony, we suffer minor or major ailments and disease? 

Our bodies are cells in the larger body of consciousness, God, Allah, Christ, Source - whatever we want to term it. And until we recognize that we are that larger reality expressing itself, we can use the intermediaries and luminaries who help us to bridge the gap. Once we wake up, we can move forward with or without external guidance, because we "know" who we are, and then we are open to the journey of a lifetime - Walking Into God.

Use It or Lose It

In the United States we have been given a gift from our ancestors who risked their lives to insure that we would be a free and democratic country for the people, of the people, and by the people. Over the years, this country became the beacon of light to the world. We went through many different versions of ourselves, but always there was pride in being American, and an understanding that freedom is only safeguarded by participating in the process of choosing the leadership from local, state, and national levels that would insure that our democracy and freedom would prevail.

My partner and I have been involved in the electoral process as election officials for the past 13 years. We serve as Field Techs for the county in which we live and during each election have 6 precincts that we monitor and assist with technical difficulties. As the years have gone by, it has been very clear that fewer and fewer people vote. We see that the majority of voters are either elderly or immigrants. The immigrants come into the polls with pride and appreciation for the ability to vote, many of them from former repressive regimes where they had no say over the quality of their lives.

In the United States, we see shrinking numbers of voters each year. People are so busy trying to make a living and so disillusioned with politics and the dysfunction of our government that they have opted out of the process, determining that their vote won't make a big difference anyway. In this misguided thinking, they also forget that local and state elections are vitally important to the quality of governance at those levels, and that by not voting, power is given to a few special interest groups who have a definite agenda of what they want from the country, and who are committed enough to their cause to make sure that they ALL get out to vote.

By abdicating one's right and responsibility to vote, we are handing our government over to the few who are dedicated to insuring their success in a view that may not match what the majority wants, but will be the predominant rule because the majority was too busy to take time out of their day to vote, or too busy to educate themselves about what the important races are about.

There is another sad commentary to this turn of events. More and more money is being spent by candidates who have backing from "deep pockets" and the media will naturally gladly take their money in exchange for airing commercials that are intended to sway voters and win the election. In this political reality of today, excellent people who would be great leaders cannot aspire to a role in governing unless they are either wealthy or willing to "sell" themselves to sponsors who will want something in exchange for the donations to the political cause of the one running for office. In this way, we have created a system that is heavily tilted towards special interest groups, those who are wealthy, and those who are willing to sell out for the financial assistance of political backers.

To top off the list of woes connected to this, the consolidation of media into the hands of less than a dozen conglomerates indicates that there is a bias in what is presented and in the intended objective of those who own the airwaves. All of this is counter to the concept of democracy of, by and for the people. What people?

And the answer is unfortunately very simple. The ones who vote!!