Isn't That Interesting

We spend so much time and energy getting caught up in our dramas. Somebody hurts our feelings, or we lose our job, or the dog dies, and we experience all of these ups and downs as if we are a boxer getting beaten to a pulp. Our mind stays on constant go mode, like it is mental masturbation. We think about what has happened, and we have regrets, joys, anger, etc., or we think about what will happen, and we have the same as above. We never live in the present moment observing. What if we observed these fears or this anger and just said to ourself, " Oh isn't that interesting." It would take us to a totally different perspective. It would take some of the fear away from the fear, or some of the anger out of the anger. Because a lot of our angst is our judgment of the fear, or our fear of the fear. We can see the fear for what it really is, just another energy arising within us. Oh isn't that interesting.

We Have Equal Parts in Salvation

When we see only through eyes of separation, we see differences. The world takes an appearance through contrast, through the appearance of differences. But if we believe these differences are what truly exists, then we are not seeing God, and hence ourself, as One. There is only One of us awakening to ourself. When we meet another expression of God, we remember. We see ourself in that other expression, and that brings us back to a recognition and remembrance of our true self. The appearance of differences is a tool that helps us to do that. Each of us, as the One, has agreed to appear in this dream and fill a certain role. We are each a piece of an infinite puzzle. If you see yourself on a spiritual path, and you feel that you are somehow better, special, or different, then you are seeing through eyes of separation. No part is better or worse than another. No one has more to contribute to the awakening than someone else. Our salvation depends on all pieces of the puzzle going in to place. Those who care nothing for spirituality or God have as important a part as everyone else. When you think that being spiritual is better than not being spiritual, you are applying your belief system, which is based on illusory good and bad, and which is not real. Those who are not "spiritual," these expressions of God, have chosen to do their part in salvation in another form. If you are spiritual, this is just a form that passes away. Each of us has a very important function. We are all God. In fact, the person who is not caught up in being spiritual may have a very profound insight to share with you if you will only listen. They are not sharing their divinity from an ego standpoint, so they may be a clearer vessel than someone who sees themselves as spiritual.

Getting Hurt

Most people are afraid of getting hurt. That is why so many people invest so much in their relationships with animals. We have 3 dogs and a cat, and I love them as part of the family, but my greatest personal growth has come from not running away from human relationships. That is where the true manna can be found. As opposed to an animal, people can hurt you. They will hurt your feelings, your sense of self worth, and your ability to love. By their words and their actions they will make you feel small. For me, because I had significant childhood issues I was dealing with, a comment could throw me back in to feeling like I was little and powerless. When you feel powerless as an adult, you either become withdrawn and depressed, or you become angry. Throughout my twenties and in to my thirties, I did both at different times. As I worked through those issues and became more of an adult emotionally, I was no longer frozen in emotional time as a kid and no longer reacting from that state. My self worth came from a knowing that I am perfect as I am and no changes are needed. I no longer saw the world through rose colored glasses of past experiences. When you live more and more in the wholeness, you recognize your holiness, and in that holiness God is found. So when you unwind all of the false beliefs you have about yourself, what you discover is God within. If you get hurt easily and you have reacted to this by putting up an emotional wall, you are cutting yourself off from Love. You think that you are "protecting" yourself, but in reality you are damming the flow. Ironically, the way to not get hurt is by getting hurt. When you allow yourself to feel everything, when you allow yourself to be in relationships where someone you love might hurt you or leave you, you learn how to deal with and grow from those hurts. What happens is that you learn to rely on yourself, not in the sense of being like Rambo, but in the sense of being your own nurturer, your own comforter. And you learn to rely on God, who is always there for you. Then when you enter in to a relationship, you can love fully, without expectation of what the other person will give to you or do. All the love they give you becomes a gift for which you are very grateful. If they leave you, will it hurt? Probably, but you now have the ability to comfort and fully love yourself. It is a great thing when equally you can love being by yourself or being with people. That is an authentic and fully open person.

The New Garden of Eden

God wants us to love him by our own choice. He does not require anything. As His love is freely given to us, he is completed when that Love is freely given back to Him. No expectations. In order to know Himself, Herself, as Love, God desired that we would have the appearance of choice in order to turn away and then back to Him. I say appearance, because we can never be separate from God. But in order for God to have an experience of Himself, the appearance of separation was necessary. So when Adam desired the knowledge from The Tree of Life in order to make his own choices, God did not intervene. This was a necessary part of the journey. As subsequent choices were made by us, most with the appearance of turning ourselves away from God, God was saddened but not angry. For a God of Love does not get angry at the subject of His Love. God knew, that in order for us to have an appreciation of His Love, we needed to experience what it was like to feel absent from that Love. Instead of committing a "sin," the act in the Garden was necessary. So in this journey of many eternities, as we have "moved" farther away from His Love, the longing to return to who we are in Oneness calls us back. The "farther" we get away from it, the stronger the pull to return. And when we return, we are coming back fully of our own free will. It is drawing closer in time to experience the true Garden of Eden. This is a place where we have the knowledge that we can make choices, and we choose to stay fully present in the recognition of our Oneness and Love with God. All of our choices are made from a space of His Love. We are truly Cocreators in this new Garden of Eden. There is no appearance of separation between Heaven and Earth, and we live in paradise, experiencing ourself as Love.

What is Right

I have mentioned in this blog that my fourteen year old son is very spiritual and he asks me deep questions. The other day he went to a Baptist church with one of his friends, and the preacher gave one of those sermons that are heavy in judgment, making my son angry. When he got home, he asked me how do we know that what we believe is right. I explained that there is only the appearance of right and wrong in this experience. Each of us has different beliefs based on our past experiences and future expectations. We see life through our own unique rose colored glasses. and even what we see as right and wrong can change in the next moment. Truth is not variable. It is self evident. What underlies all of these belief systems is what is Real, what is changeless. My book, my words, and this blog are not Truth. They are symbols which may or may not point us to the Divine. God is not about symbols or perception, because these change. If someone can find benefit in my words/symbology which can point them to their divine nature, then that is great. Everyone who listens to this judgmental Baptist preacher is also being led to the Divine, because all roads lead to God. God is All. These roads may appear to take a person away from God, but their path just may be a little longer. Or someone listening to this preacher may learn from contrast. They may learn about Love through the appearance of non Love (the judgment.) There are an infinite number of ways this can happen, and everyone, including me and this preacher, are exactly where they need to be. Maybe this preacher, this manifestation of God, decided to come to know God in this experience by being a piece of the puzzle that appears to be negative. What a sacrifice he is making for others. Remember, we are all One, and we are doing this together. In this experience, in appearance only, the difference between the preacher and me is that I know that God can be reached in innumerable ways, traditions, religions. And I know that what I am speaking about is not ultimate Truth, because words and symbols are still part of the illusion.

Next time you encounter someone with heavy judgment, hear them out. If you judge them, you are falling in the same trap and illusion they are in. Remember that this person is also on a path of remembrance and recognition to their true Divine nature, just like you are. Ask yourself the question, why have they been brought to me.