WISDOM 22

 

P. 152-154

 

 

 

 

            Solomon was asked by Yahweh what gift he desired to receive. He asked for wisdom and “So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice,12 I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.13 Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings.”

Now this is a story, yes, or a myth perhaps, but it is also a truth. As a seeker of wisdom and with an openness to receive it, you also open yourself up to everything else in return. If you have wisdom, true wisdom, the git of discernment, then you know how to fathom or explore all other gifts.

 

There should be a warning label on wisdom however, because it is not usually what you think it ought to be or should be. It has nothing to do with being right, it is not connected with the ego or personality consciousness at all, nor does it necessarily produce the emotions or feelings of goodness, of righteousness. True wisdom is beyond that.

 

Just to go back for a moment to a past paragraph 

 

“You true soul’s yearning, we say, is to be embodied in the Christ manifestation.”

That is simply another way to describe wisdom. In this sense, it is an awareness and a listening to the deep inner yearning of your soul, but it goes beyond that is well because it also begins to touch the Object of that yearning.

 

I've mentioned this quote from Augustine before, but it always strikes me as being pertinent. His prayer goes thusly “Lord you have made our hearts restless and they will never rest until they rest in Thee.”

 

I cannot tell you how many times that prayer, that statement, comes back to me. It is especially poignant to me when I find myself overly involved in my emotions and feelings. I know I have mentioned this many times before as well, and I am probably doing it now because I need to hear it again myself. My emotions and my feelings are an important part of life, but they do not define who I am, nor do they define my spiritual state. There have been many times when I have been called to recognize the truth ofbeing unconditionally loved by Godand also being part of that Divine spirit at the same time. If I find myself listening to only my emotions or my feelings, my response to that wonderful statement “You are Divine Child of God” would be, “Well it certainly doesn't feel that way!”

 

And that's true. It doesn't feel that way, but which is true, the truth of my knowing who I am or how I happened to be feeling at this moment. Again I am not denying the power and the importance of my feelings or my emotional nature, I am just suggesting again that equating how I feel with a definition of who I am is just nonsense. I've done that too much in my life already.

 

It seems like I am telling a lot of old stories today but I won't apologize because they do have some meaning. Years ago when guided imagery first came onto the scene as a part of pop psychology and inner healing, a colleague of mine and myself used to use some techniques in group therapy sessions at a treatment center. One of the primary exercises we would do was called “The wise person exercise” or meeting a wise person. The object was to lead the group through an imagery of walking through the woods or climbing a mountain and eventually meeting a wise person at the end of this journey-- a person who you could pose with a question that had been puzzling you. Inevitably they would ask the question and when we would bring them back back here to planet Earth again, practically everyone had an answer to their question, even though it might not have been what they expected. Now the important piece here was not just the answer to the question, but to give the individuals the opportunity to explore where that wisdom came from. Usually, without thinking, they would tell us that the answer came from the wise person on the mountain who might have been Jesus or Buddha or Mary or a friend or relative of theirs and they loved and respected. But as we explored it a little bit more, some individuals became aware that the answer to the question came from inside of themselves as puzzling is that might have been.

 

It was a deep essential truth, but they began to become aware of that no matter what the question, no matter how confusing or how deep it might happen to be, there is a part or an aspect of the Self that realizes the answer. 

I can recall when I was in therapy years ago is my therapist, a very wise man in his own right, once told me “I will accept anything you tell me except when you say ‘I don't know.’” “I don't know” was a signal to me that you do know, but for some reason or another you are not willing to look at the answer. That directive really irked me quite often, but I continue to recognize the truth of it. I did know; I might not have wanted to be aware of that knowing, because that might have called me into some difficult stuff or some healing or awareness that I was not or did not think I was ready for yet. But here it is. I would catch myself periodically wanting to say “I don't know,” but as soon as those words came to mind I would stop. I would breathe; I would remind myself that I did know and let the answer come to me as difficult as that might be. 

 

 

“Take a moment now and simply be still and ask yourself a question that you know the answer to—“I know that my address is . . .” “I know the day of the week that this is . . .”—and then take a moment, and hear the answer come to you. Now take a pause and ask yourself a question that you do not know the answer to—“I know the reason I am . . .” “I am willing to know the reason I am . . .”—perhaps, if you wish to frame it as a question.”

 

This paragraph is probably an example of what the guides are calling your “homework.” (which I will touch upon more deeply a little later). It is easy to simply read over a paragraph like that and gloss over it, but avoid the opportunity of diving into it and perhaps wrestling with it a bit perhaps feeling your own resistance.

 

“But when you go into a question, you must align to the possibility that the answer that comes will not be the convenient one, the one you had hoped for, the one your mother told you would be. So we offer you this: Ask yourself a question you do not know the answer to and be still and know. Now, knowing, we say, is not grabbing, it is not asking, it is receiving. You may claim your knowing in reception by allowing and aligning to it.“I am wisdom,”as we told you, will align your vibration to the conscious knowing that may be available to you at any moment.”

 

 

No matter how you know, what matters is it says is your willingness, your openness to the possibility that wisdom is yours at this moment no matter what your situation might be, no matter how difficult or complicated the life situation is the you might find yourself in.

 

Now the answers, we say, do not come from your ego or your personality consciousness, they come from the Truth of your soul, your spiritual nature, the quality of the Divine that you are a manifestation of. A hint about wisdom: it will guide and direct you if you are willing to listen and ask for the guidance, but it might change from day-to-day and might only apply to you under certain circumstances. Your awareness of wisdom is the manifestation of the voice of the divine within you, and your trip is not somebody else's. What is true wisdom for you, might not be for another.

 

The books and the guides often talk about an energy field about them always being present and that the text itself goes beyond the words of the printed material. Contained within the words and print is high vibration of awareness and healing. I forget that once in a while, but I am always reminded of that as we come to a close on Sunday morning when we allow ourselves to quiet down a little bit. We become aware of this what I call openness or spaciousness that we realize we have created by our combined effort of openness to the truth but which is also created in manifested through the guides the Angels the beings who are helping us on this part of our process.

 

The simplest a metaphor I could come up with was to imagine that each Sunday morning that along with our physical bodies here are a bunch of disembodied spirits who are singing or chanting something very, very powerful. It's all in the background. We might not be aware of it with our physical senses, but it is happening all the time and just gently and powerfully raising the vibration not only of our thoughts but also of our entire being.

 

Now I want to suggest that this is not just happening Sunday morning, and it's certainly not just happening when you are reading this book or similar one like this. That chorus of high vibration, of the chanting, of a healing mantra, is going on all the time, no matter what we happen to be doing-- driving a car, making the bed, brushing our teeth, taking a walk, sitting at our job being bored-- whatever it might happen to be, higher vibration, not just my higher vibration, but the higher vibration of All is always here for me .

 

The chapter on wisdom begins to close with this marvelous prayer and affirmation which contains the essence of the material that has been taught over the past few months. I would encourage each one of us to repeat this to ourselves either out loud or silently within and just sit with this energy for a while. Do not question, do not try to understand it, just let it come to you. Let the vibration from the source that is created this prayer, this loving affirmation, let it speak to you, however it chooses to speak to you. 

 

 

“On this day, I align myself to the next level of awareness that may be available to me in this incarnation. I set the intention that I am being attended to in this lifting so that I may see and perceive the information and the truth, the creations that are available to me at this level of sight. I agree to be supported in this alignment, and I offer myself to the guides who work with this text to support me in my own growth and well-being. I choose this of my own free will. As I lift my spirit, I lift my life. As I lift my life, all unfolds before me in perfect ways. I am Word through this intention. Word I am Word.”

 

I have been taking guitar lessons for years and sort of bouncing between one teacher and another. I found I was never quite satisfied. I really did not want to learn musical scales or learn how to play each and every note on the fretboard. I wanted to be able to learn how to play and enjoy playing and advance my skills in some ways. Through the help of John Gage, I came in contact with a wonderful teacher who I'm still with today. The point of this brief piece of my history is to align with something that is said in the last paragraph or so of this lesson. 

When I go to my guitar lesson, I would learn something and even if I did not practice it during the week. The next lesson could pick up where I left off. BUT there was a huge difference if I practiced in between lessons. Without practice, I still learned something, but it wasn't very deep. With practice there was a whole other dimension that continue to open up for me 

 

 

“The lecture that we are giving you now is as much about responsibility as it is wisdom and perception, and we will echo this lecture, again and again, as we continue our teaching. Many of you wish to be taught, but you do not wish to do the homework. Many of you wish to receive information, but you do not want to attend to the possibilities that it offers you. Many of you wish to learn, but you do not wish to do. So we are supporting you each.

Paul is seeing the image of a ski lift. The skiers are all bundled up in their winter clothing and they are being carried up a mountain. And that is the appropriate image of today. We are carrying you up the mountain to the new view. You will see the new view, and you will decide for yourself what is before you.”

 

WISDOM 21

On the road of experience, I'm trying to find my own way.

Sometimes I wish that I could fly away

When I think that I'm moving, suddenly things stand still

I'm afraid 'cause I think they always will

And I'm looking for space

And to find out who I am

And I'm looking to know and understand

It's a sweet, sweet dream

Sometimes I'm almost there 

Sometimes I fly like an eagle

And sometimes I'm deep in despair

(John Denver, Looking for Space)

 

P. 152

 

“You true soul’s yearning, we say, is to be embodied in the Christ manifestation.That is the true soul’s journey for all men. The times that you stand in now offer the opportunity for a rising, for an escalation of consciousness in a way that has never been possible on this plane. And the choice that each one of you makes to incarnate at this level supports all of mankind in doing the same.”

 

That first sentence contains all the Truth we will ever need. But is some ways the statement also embodies Paradox we live in. We know the truth of that first sentence, but then immediately my mind kicks in send says, “Okay, fine, but how do I do that?” You see, we have come to this crossroads fairly often, and it is the one we refer to as the ‘personality self attempting to become the Divine consciousness.’ Now the personality or the ego self can be blessed, can be sanctified can be raised to a higher level of vibration, but no matter what we do with it, it is never going to be the essence of Who We Are. So it is not going to transform itself into the Divine consciousness.

 

This is not to deny its role in our continuing journey. As we have said many times before, the personality or the ego consciousness is the lens through which the Divine shines through in its own unique way.

 

Now there are beings on planet Earth where this shining through happens automatically and with ease. These beings are called babies. They are not conscious of their process, but the lens through which the Divine shines through is so clear at this moment that there is very little that is blocking the light. Soon, however, the process of life begins with a lens becomes “dirty” or fogged with judgement, fear, blame, and self-doubt. All of which are not necessarily created from within, but come from outside of ourselves, and yet we are responsible for taking it in and thinking it is the truth. Then comes the continuing evolution of our earthly trip-- a realizing that there is something I have missed; I've somehow become lost “myself” along the way. No matter what metaphor or story we might wrap around that forgetfulness, it is also the beginning stage of our remembering. Some people mistakenly think then we need to literally become a baby again. When Jesus Spoke of becoming as a little child he was speaking on many dimensional levels one was returning to innocence, Another aspect that we are emphasizing here was coming to a conscious awareness of our divine nature. The big difference here is that the child is not consciously aware of itself as this unique expression of Divine Light, whereas the responsible and functional adult can bring this truth into their awareness and consciousness.

 

Also as we have stated before as we evolve in this awareness we realize that our thoughts and our actions affect all beings all creation. When I raise my vibration I raise the vibration of all.

“We must say this one more time for the reader who becomes frightened when we speak of the Christ manifested. The Christ, as we describe it, is simply the aspect of you, seeded by your Creator, that seeks realization as you. And the Divine Self you are, you must trust, knows his own path, knows her own path, and may know more than you know as you sit in your chair deciding what things should look like.”

 

 

 A good bit of our study this morning came about through the exploration of the difference between judgement and discernment.

 

We've all become familiar with what we might call the negative energy or lower vibration of judgment. Now this is not a judgment about judgement, it is simply an awareness that the process of thought which produces judgment is also a process or an energy of lower vibration. The reason for this is that judgement, by its very nature, reinforces a sense of duality and anything that reinforces a sense of duality automatically produces a sense of separateness. As we have learned so often through our own life experience, a sense of separateness leads us into anger, fear, isolation and sometimes even helplessness. All of which are lower vibration states of mind.

 

That is one level of what we might call the lower energy that surrounds judgment. If there is good there has to be bad, if there is left there has to be right, if there is up there has to be down, if there is joy there has to be sorrow, if there is love there has to be hate, etc. Notice what Francis did in his wonderful prayer. He named one side of the duality and owned it, but did not dwell on it. He did not try to deny or erase it, but his open-hearted prayer asked that this energy that I might be using producing lower vibration or resonance might be transformed to a higher vibration a higher resonance.

 

Let us take a simple example. If I am angry about something, probably nine times out of 10 if not 10 times out of 10, if I look closely and honestly enough I will discover that something I love is actually being threatened or I think it is. Now we could choose to stay in this lower vibration mindset of anger and fear with the mistaken notion that somehow or another it is keeping me safe, or I can put my energy, gratitude and open heartedness intp that which I love. Granted, to the personality self this feels quite vulnerable and it is! To my ego and the personality, my small self, being open to the light and grace feels quite exposed. Just notice how my ego responds to that statement from A Course in Miracles “In my defenselessness my safety lies.” 

Now we can make that into a struggle or we can realize that our soul is being called to move beyond or move past these petty attachments that do nothing except to produce more anger and fear.

 

The other level of energy surrounding judgment is what Jesus spoke of when he spoke about when he said, “Judge not and you shall not be judged.” It is the same sort of energy that we are expounding on in the Lord's Prayer when we pray that we might be forgiven as we forgive those around us. In reality it cannot happen any other way. If I am lost in anger and blame at my brother or sister, then there is no way that I can be open to a the higher vibration of forgiveness and release. It just can't work that way. It is also a reflection of that wonderful perception of Merton when he said “The arrow with which I shoot my enemy has to pass through my own heart first.”

 

Jesus also explained how easy and seductive it is to point out or focus on what I think is wrong about somebody else and miss what I need to work on myself (because that is all I can work on anyway.) He spoke about trying to “remove the speck from my brother's eye while neglecting the log that is in my own.” Or this other marvelous image when he warned the Pharisees about “straining at gnats yet swallowing camels.

 

I too struggled with this one about judgment and discernment. It seemed as if everything had to be a judgment one way or another and when I heard the word “discernment” and people attempting to describe to me what that was, it sounded as if I was just playing with words. Later I found out there is a truth here. Again, that goes beyond the personality or the ego self. Discernment has to do with inner wisdom, inner knowing and inner listening and because of that it requires focus, concentration and practice because these are not gifts that we are used to using. We are much more comfortable with a list of rules and laws. It seems as if we if we rest on inner knowing and inner listening and are left to our own devices then “How can we be sure?

 

And then of course we are called into trusting or learning how to trust our own inner knowing, our own inner wisdom. All through these works that we have been studying, there are some truths that we continue to come back to. One of them is this whole sense of inner knowing. We might not have any outside proof and yet we all sit with this dilemma of knowing that we know and thinking that we need to reinforce that knowing. So we all show up on Sunday morning, all of us somehow knowing that we know, and yet thinking we need confirmation that what we already know is real, is true, is okay. And believe me I find myself there as well. What is fascinating, however, is that at the end of our 45 minutes together, we all seem to be resting in that place of peaceful knowing. Will we forget? Will we be sidetracked? Probably, and yet we can embrace the forgetfulness with love just as well.

 

And then someone asked “Is it possible to live without judgement?” That's a real kicker isn't it? I recalled a couple of things that can offer us some reflection on that question. The first one was the opening lines of a Zen poem called the Hsin hisn Ming.

 

It begins by stating: “The great way is not difficult for those who have no opinions. 

          When Love and Hate are both absent 

          everything becomes clear and undisguised. 

          Make one distinction however 

and Heaven and Earth are set infinitely apart.

 

In the biblical story of what is sometimes called “Jesus and the woman taken in adultery.” After all of her accusers leave, he asks her “Does anyone condemn you?” and she replies “No one Lord,” and he says, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way.” This is a marvelously beautiful simple story because not only does Jesus notice that all of the external accusers or holders of judgment have left, but, in the light of his love and forgiveness, the woman does not even condemn herself and because of that is blessed and encouraged to move on with her life.

 

Here is an additional thought to ponder: We can observe without necessarily judging.For instance, we could have observed that the person standing next to me as being quite tall. I had that experience this morning when Jim and I were talking. I was looking up while he was looking down. There was no judgment there, however, it was simply an observation. Now, interestingly enough, my observation called for an adjustment in my action. I had to choose to look up to look in his eyes just as he need to choose to look down into my eyes.

 

Now it would have been different if I was standing or sitting next to someone and held on to the thought this person I am sitting close to is really fat. The language seems familiar or similar to what we said a moment ago but you see how quickly and observation can turn into a judgement. What I am suggesting here is that observation does not have to turn into judgment but often times it does because we have been trained that way. A “cleaner” observation would be recognizing that the person I am sitting next to is “really big.” No judgment, just observation.

 

Is it possible to live without judgement?

                        First, we will emphasize--what creates the highest good for ourselves and all creation is affirming the POSSIBILITY of this being true--in this case, through my willingness and intention, the possibility of life without judgment.

This morning I had an experience of what A Course in Miracles calls a “holy instant.” In this moment of quiet meditation, as we closed our process this morning, there was a quiet and a spaciousness that was essentially devoid of judgment. There was no this or that or good or bad or right or left or up and down or black or white. There just IS.

 

I would encourage each one of us to help create those moments of ISNESS. As we have said many times before, they do not need to be dramatic. They could be as simple as playing with the cat or raking leaves or listening to a good piece of music or a book or a movie or a piece of poetry or being hugged or wrapping ourselves in the warm memory and experience of being with another that we love and who loves us. Not only are those moments priceless, they are also free of judgment and free of negative vibration.

 

What we are referring to as discernment here is what is also claimed as a gift of the Holy Spirit, but it is not a written down rule or law. In fact, the actions or the responses that I might be called upon today might be different than the ones I am called upon tomorrow.

 

Discernment is inner knowing, inner listening and, what we might call, inner guidance. In its simplest terms it is being open to The Knowing of what is best for me right now in this moment, in this situation. I certainly have free will to follow this prompting of the Spirit or to go with what I think is the most logical explanation or direction (what my thinking mind or ‘habit’ behavior might tell me. Sometimes they might be the same, sometimes not.

 

There have been many times when I have worked with people as a psychologist or spiritual director when I have been totally stumped about what to say, what to ask you or even what the next direction might need to be. Often times, I have prayed, “God I don't know the answer. Show me the way; give me the words to speak.” Inevitably the words, even though they might not have made complete sense to my intellectual mind, have turned out to be exactly what the other person needs to hear.

 

Another example of discernment was expressed in class this morning. For instance, if I felt the need to speak to another person, to point something out to them. Then I felt needed to be heard, not just for my own sake but for theirs as well. That instead of simply trying to frame what I thought would be the best presentation in my thinking mind, I might begin to apply the Buddhist principle of Right Speech which ask the questions “Is it kind; is it true; is it necessary?” And after passing through those filters to notice what is left in terms of my expression to another. 

 

Now I realize there are going to be times when we might not hear that inner voice or it might seem to be in conflict. Any of those times it might be advisable to do nothing, to let go of the demands of the mind, to do only what is necessary in the moment.

 

Also, since many of us, myself included, have not been overly involved in taking care of ourselves. When we are asked to do something by another, we might automatically respond, “Yes” perhaps because we think we should, because we don't want to be disliked, perhaps we just do that out of habit. Saying “Yes” is fine, but if it happens to be to the detriment of my own physical, spiritual, mental, emotional well being, remind me to look at that again.

 

I understand there are also times when we need to stretch ourselves, to go beyond our self-imposed limitations, and at the same time there are going to be times when we need to say “No” when we realize that we need to take this time for ourselves to heal to grow or to nurture.

 

You see there is no rule here. There's no little book that will give you the nice neat little answers or judgments that will make it either right or wrong, good or bad, this or that. Discernment is much more than a middle way, it will lead us and will guide us but it will not tell us what to do we are the ones who choose.

 

 

Peace.

 

 

 

WISDOM 20

P. 151-152

 

When we open our hearts in compassion there are all sorts of emotions that get stirred up inside of us. In what I am going to say next, I am asking you please do not this do not use this information as a form of judgement. The essential elements of our “study” are awareness and healing.

 

Although, initially, it seems, as we open our hearts in compassion, that our feelings or our emotional response is towards the other person, and I certainly do not deny that piece. However, for the most part, what is triggered off within us are those aspects of our lives that need to be addressed and therefore they are brought to our attention so that we might be able to work on and heal them. Certainly not alone/by ourselves. There are times when we might need the help of therapeutic energy so we can move through some stuff that might be deeply embedded. There are other times when prayer and meditation is called for. There are other times when other forms of catharsis might be helpful. Not only speaking to another person, but sometimes writing down or even speaking it outloud, what is going on with us. It allows us a certain amount of objectivity and through release, we create a way of moving some of that anger fear and desolation through us.

 

As we have said before, we cannot fix another, but we can be prayerfully attentive to their needs. Another piece that I learned so powerfully from a therapist friend of mine when I started entering the counseling field myself, he said, very simply, “If you find yourself working harder than one of your clients, then there is something out of balance with this picture!”

 

Many of the questions that arise in our spiritual search and which are open to healing have no definitive answers. Or perhaps the answer we get today is not the same as we will get tomorrow. The personality-self would love to have an answer to everything so that all of my conflicts, my desires, my wishes, my hopes, my joys, and my fears could be all wrapped up in a nice neat little package and I wouldn't have to deal with them anymore. That might be a great wish, but it is not how most things work.

 

Just because we are becoming more aware of our spiritual trip--that does not mean that we ignore or deny our emotional and psychological needs! I will leave that one up to you

 

There are two chapters from Kahil Gibran’s book The Prophet that I was being called to share with you all: Pain and Joy and Sorrow.

 

These are not explanations but more like meditations. Sit with them; even with conflict, let the readings pass over and through you. Allow the Solutions and the healings to emerge from your own heart, because that is where they begin and that is where they end. 

 

 

On Pain

Kahlil Gibran

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses your understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart, even as you have always accepted the seasons that pass over your fields.

And you would watch with serenity through the winters of your grief.

 

 

Much of your pain is self-chosen.

It is the bitter potion by which the physician within you heals your sick self.

Therefore trust the physician, and drink his remedy in silence and tranquillity:

For his hand, though heavy and hard, is guided by the tender hand of the Unseen,

And the cup he brings, though it burn your lips, has been fashioned of the clay which the Potter has moistened with His own sacred tears.

 

 

On Joy and Sorrow

Kahlil Gibran

Your joy is your sorrow unmasked.

And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears.

And how else can it be?

The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.

Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?

And is not the lute that soothes your spirit, the very wood that was hollowed with knives?

When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy.

When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. 

 

Some of you say, "Joy is greater than sorrow," and others say, "Nay, sorrow is the greater."

But I say unto you, they are inseparable.

Together they come, and when one sits, alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed. 

 

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy.

Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced.

When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

 

“You true soul’s yearning, we say, is to be embodied in the Christ manifestation. That is the true soul’s journey for all men. The times that you stand in now offer the opportunity for a rising, for an escalation of consciousness in a way that has never been possible on this plane. And the choice that each one of you makes to incarnate at this level supports all of mankind in doing the same.

We must say this one more time for the reader who becomes frightened when we speak of the Christ manifested. The Christ, as we describe it, is simply the aspect of you, seeded by your Creator, that seeks realization as you. And the Divine Self you are, you must trust, knows his own path, knows her own path, and may know more than you know as you sit in your chair deciding what things should look like.”

 

​This is the essence of today's lesson. In the Now moment there is no “this or that, up or down, right or wrong, good or bad.” There simply IS. Far from the now moment being empty, it is the moment of pure potential, when we have the ability to create and to choose.

 

We can always choose a higher vibration. What that will look like? How that will affect us? How might that influence the people, places and things around us? We do not know. So at the moment of creation, this now moment, we are also releasing and letting go of all preconceived notions of what we think this should look like or how we think it should be. Again, far from being empty, it is the openness to the realization of the Divine truth within us. 

 

I emphasize this again and again because of my own need to remember. We live in a world of created duality. even our language is set up to be dualistic by comparing everything. If there is one side of a coin there has to be another; if there is a right there has to be a left; if there is an up there has to be a down; etc. The essential difficulty lies in how we define or perceive ourselves. Our language divides us into a human and divine, and, of course, the mind likes to think that one is better than the other, but we are neither one or the other; we are both; one is not better than the other.

 

I am a Divine Being expressing myself through the human energy of my body, my mind, and my personality. Because of that, what I refer to as “me” is a unique expression of the Divine here in this atmosphere of the planet Earth. Even when I leave my body behind and my personality or my ego consciousness is no longer a necessary part of my being, because I am an aspect of creation, I will continue to be a unique expression of the Divine. When my intellect no longer interferes or attempts to define me, I will be in that mysterious place where I am both the unique expression of the Divine and One with the Divine as well.

 

Can you get a sense of that? We probably all experience that one way or another. I know there have been different ways of describing this, what Joseph Campbell calls “being in your bliss,” but there are so many opportunities and times when we have found ourselves being “out of time” in a place of joy or playfulness or wrapped up in artistic beauty or some other way or form that does not have to be dramatic at all. And yet the separate sense of self, for whatever reasons, has dissolved and for a moment, at least, is no longer an attachment.

 

So much of what we have talked about and discussed is also an examination and healing of different aspects of the self. We do not deny anything and so there are times when it is extremely important that we might find a way to heal emotionally so that we might be able to live more spiritually. We are never about denying physical or emotional needs. They need to be cared for; not only are they part of Who We Are, but they are also part of our chosen Journey here in classroom Earth.

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

 

 

May all beings be at peace; may all beings be free of suffering; may all beings remember who they are.

 

 

WISDOM 19

 

P. 150-151 (kind of like Henry the 8th by Hermin’s Hermits--”second verse same as the first”)

I'm afraid I might have muddied the waters a bit by bringing up what I perceived as a severe dilemma in today's world, but I will dive in right here without apology.

It seems as if one of the aspects that contributes to the severe polarity, not only in politics but in everything, that we seem to be living in two different worlds or a world in which we have views that are so deeply different from one another there doesn’t seem to be any ground for agreement or even understanding. That predicament saddens me and I'm sure it does you as well.

And this brings us to the point that is emphasized in the next section from the book.

I noticed that there is sometimes a fine line of distinction between judgement and awareness. I emphasize this is not about judgement. I do believe that we can be aware that someone is in a lower vibrational state without making a judgment about them being bad or wrong. This is the line we walk when we open our hearts in compassion. I do not decide what another person needs nor how they need it. I can recognize a lower state of vibration in another just as I can recognize within myself. By raising my vibration, I literally raise the vibration of those around me. Now, again here is a fine line of distinction. I don't raise my vibration because there's something wrong with you or I think there's something wrong with you; I raise my vibration because it is the thing to do, for me and for the universe. If you desire to participate in that higher vibration then you are always more than welcome to it, but I have no say in how that happens nor do I have any say in what that will look like. You might be deeply affected by the higher vibration of love and compassion and yet you might not show that. In other words, your external appearance might be exactly the same.

If I am doing this just to feel good or just feel good because I'm making you feel better, I am losing something in the process. I'm not sure about you, but often times I find myself with mixed motivation, and so I did not want to wait until my motivation is pure before I act on my behalf or yours. As a stumbling fumbling human being I'm doing the best I can with what I've got and today I am grateful for that and I am certainly grateful for all of you in my life.

 “There are many ways to doctor someone. There is medicine and there is love. There is true recognition of worth, and there is the authority you bring as a conscious being who no longer aligns to a lower vibration. When you are encountered by somebody who holds low vibration, the opportunity that you have is to lift them to a new ideal, and this is done through your vibration, not necessarily through language or intentional action.”

My sense is that we spent most of our energy and exploration on this particular paragraph. When that happens (long focus on a seemingly small amount of material), it speaks to me that the energy contained in these few words is extremely powerful and vital to our own process of growth and evolution. We are not picking them apart intellectually, but we are listening to the reverberations and echoes of the energy behind these words which are resonating within us on a level of Truth beyond that which we could create with the intellect.

I was reminded of how we describe the miraculous healings of Jesus, and that was to say or to be aware that the reason people got well in his presence was because he did not see illness or disease. He did not see sickness or imbalance. “I see you as whole and complete,” he might say. “And because my vision of your wholeness, completeness and perfection is so strong and powerful it overcomes your limited vision of yourself as being sick or ill or incomplete.

I dare say, there have probably been people in our lives who have loved us so deeply, despite our seeming imperfections, that we have allowed our heart to open in profound and deepest ways.

My physical eyes might not be able to see you as being perfect, my emotional or personality self might be lost in argumentation and being right, and yet when I sit with you in the highest vibration available to me, I see you as a soul, as a spiritual being, very much like me, wrestling with your demons and looking for peace. When I can hold you that way I literally heal both of us.

Because so much of this happens on a non-verbal level, we sometimes miss the depth and importance of someone else's presence. When I look back on my early education there are some teachers that stand out for me. I know that I might remember very little, if anything at all, of what they might have taught me in terms of subject matter, but the experience of our connection, which they usually made much more directly than I did— the experience of our connection, their presence to me, remains outstanding and clear. They did not offer me a thing or a thought or an idea or a book or a script, but somehow or another they communicated to me beyond words, “I am here for you; I trust you; you are worthwhile; I care about you as a human being; you are an integral part of my life.”

I related that story of the traffic stop in Chicago where I saw this little street pageant unfold, when a woman walks by homeless person with an empty coffee cup, drops a dollar in the cup and then I saw her deliberately stop and turn around and go back and engage this person in conversation. I did not get to hear the conversation at all, but I have a sense of what transpired perhaps even beyond words— “I want to know who you are; I want to know your name; you are more than empty cup sitting in a chair outside of department store; I want to tell you my name; I don't have to hear your whole story, but I want you to know that I care; I want you to know that I am present, and even though we might never meet again that we have met on a level of understanding that goes beyond money, goes beyond need goes beyond words.

I often quote this examination of love from Sheldon Kopp’s book If You Meet the Buddha on the Road Kill Him. He says this: “Love is sometimes living with the helpless knowing that I can do nothing about another person’s pain. You can sit with that one for a while.

I came across the meaning of that years ago. It was fairly soon after I had read the book and I was with my mother in Upper New York State right after my father's passing. I started trying to do everything I could for my mother-- cook dinner, take her out to dinner, take her to a movie, do this do that, until finally she said to me “Stop, I need to grieve.” I realized what I was doing. I was hurting because she was hurting, and I wanted somehow or another to take her pain away. Surely I wanted her to feel better, but I also wanted to feel better myself.

When she told me to stop, the quote from Sheldon Kopp came into my mind and I realized that all I could do was to be with her and her pain. I couldn't carry it; I couldn't fix it; I couldn't quickly make it better, but I could be here with you. So I am amending that quote by saying, “I can do nothing about another person's pain, but I can be here with you; I can offer you my presence. I can offer you my love, my compassion, my embracing you as a fellow human being. And even though I can't take away your pain, even though I would like to, I can be here with you as you move through whatever it is you need to move through.

What a blessing that teaching was and continues to be. 

This was such a powerful gathering this morning with all of our sharing, our questions, our doubts, our fears, our pain, our joy, our ability to be together and to create a Sacred Space.

For all of this, for all of you, for all who we are together, for all of those who are on this journey with us, those we know and those we do not, my prayer continues to be “May all beings be at peace; may all beings be free of suffering; may all beings remember who they are.

Be at Peace. Amen