WISDEOM 16

“To be is to do”—Socrates.

“To do is to be”—Jean-Paul Sartre.

“Do be do be do”—Frank Sinatra.

P. 147-148

No , that’s not a mistake--same numbers as last week--we just went deeper!

Often times when we pray we have a preconceived notion of how that prayer should be answered or how we think it will be answered. Although this is a natural inclination of the mind you can begin to notice that our preconceived or pre-programmed notions of what should be, drastically limit our awareness. You probably recall the old joke about the two row boats and a helicopter* Well this is a similar dynamics.

*A severe flood hits a remote village. The resident of one home decides to stay and pray that God will save him. The water rises and a man in a boat comes by, but the homeowner politely thanks him and says, “God will save me.” A little later the water is up to the top floor and another rowboat comes by with the same response. Finally he is sitting on the roof and a helicopter comes by and offers to carry him to safety--, “No, thank you, God will save me.” 

The water continues to rise and he finally drowns. 

He is quite annoyed with his Creator as he comes to the gates of heaven and unloads on St. Peter who finally responds--”Joe, what the hell do you want we sent you two rowboats and a helicopter. 

It is important to note that we are not being asked to do something that we do not do all the time anyway. When we are watching a movie or reading a fantasy or present at a musical play, we are doing with some teachers would call “the willful suspension of disbelief.” We don't go about criticizing the impossibility of people dancing in the streets, we just simply accept that and enjoy it as part of the show.

Somehow we seem to think in matters of the spirit that we should completely understand and agree with and even predict what shows up. When we are in that limited state of consciousness we are looking over there for the answer when the answer presented to me is right in front of my nose.

“And the alignment that we are offering you now, to a higher vibration, a higher way of seeing, will do much of the work for you provided you set the intention to hold your vibration, and your awareness of the worth of your fellows, and the self in truth, in high and wise acknowledgment in the inherent divine within all. ”

Our willingness and intention to see things differently, to be raised to a higher vibration, can allow that to happen. I think the imagery used a while ago was imagining dropping the sandbags that were holding down this hot air balloon. The balloon rises on its own, to a higher vibration, once we let go of the preconceived notions that we were holding on to.

A number of years ago when working with this material I had the image of an Olympic sport called “curling.” It is a type of shuffleboard on ice. Along with attempting to place the stone in the highest point area, two of the teammates with brooms or brushes are madly sweeping in front of this moving stone to guide it in the desired direction. They do not touch the stone; they simply clear the path. It is very similar to the biblical reference made by John the Baptist to “make the rough ways smooth and the crooked ways straight.” Once the path has been cleared, it is quite a bit easier for me to travel on. 

This counteracts the preconceived notion that I carry with me quite often that somehow or another I am doing this all by myself and that this work of Spirit appears to be drudgery more than anything else.

It is quite fascinating to me as we work together on Sunday mornings how much humor we can work into our study and our Awakening. It reinforces for me that this whole thing could be quite a joyful experience!

We mentioned that being at a higher vibration gives us a different point of view. The old points of view or the turmoil below continue to exist. It is just that they no longer have much of an influence over us. My higher vision or my higher vibration allows me to see these (lower vibrational energies) as the limitation that they are.

There was a question that made reference to “The Disappearance of the Universe,” and for those who are not aware of it that is a book title by Gary Renard. He is a student of the Course and one of the major teachings of A Course in Miracles is that all of this stuff is an illusion and once we let go or release all of our illusory ideas or attachments there are no more lessons to be learned and so the world of matter or the classroom we have created is no longer necessary and disappears. The course might say it had no substance anyway.

I'm not going to get into a philosophical debate about real or unreal or Illusion or not. My viewpoint today, although that might change, is that as long as I am here then I am still choosing to learn and to grow.

One of the insights that was revealed to me a while ago was that Love or God or the Creative Source, whatever you would like to call it, is not a static entity. It evolves, and each one of us in our own unique way through our learning, through our growing, through our stretching, through our expression, contributes to that evolution.

This idea stands in stark contrast to my ego or my personality self that looks at all this in a very linear way and wants it to be done, wants it to be finished. For me that is probably one of my more conscious struggles. Although I hesitate to use the word struggle. I am working on moving away from that sort of negativity.

I guess I might be able to say along with Doctor Seuss, Life's a great Balancing Act. We live in a world where we have created duality as being one of our more formidable teachers and at the same time we realize that duality is not the truth. There is only One. That is why it is so silly to speak of my divine nature when really there is only One. There is no such thing as my divine nature or your divine nature, there is simply Divine Nature.

The seeming contradiction we explored towards the end of our work this morning had to do with the sense or the idea of loving and embracing our own worthiness, and realizing that when we embrace our worthiness, we are embracing ourselves right where we are at this moment, which again sometimes can be a limited perception, but at the same time we open ourselves to continuing growth in evolution.

It is only in linear time that we need to decide which one of those comes first--embracing myself or openness to the possibilities of life. In the world of Spirit those two energies are so intertwined with one another, are so dependent upon one another, that it is truly impossible to decide which comes first or which one necessitates the other.

They both exist. Now we recognize there are times when you might experience yourself as being down or depleted that it will be necessary for you to first consciously reinforce your worth by embracing the self as you perceive it to be at this moment. But even when that occurs, we encourage you to be aware that you are doing a necessary piece of work by pulling yourself out of or allowing yourself to rise above the illusion of separateness.

Thank you all for your love and your devotion to the work we all do as individuals and to know that the work we are doing with or for or by ourselves Hutches and Grace's every moment and every aspect of creation. 

I could not resist this one: