Evolution

Evolution flickr

Where would we be today if we could have foreseen our future slavery, genocide, colonization, separation from our cultures, and unawareness of our nature and Spirit?  Where would the world be?  The destruction of a species is abhorred.  But, in the process of evolution, many forms die.  In the case of human beings, there are plagues, wars, and mass killings.  Eventually, all empires and regimes fall and disappear.  During the process of extinction, the death is very painful.  Much darkness endures, sometimes for centuries.  Out of that decay comes new beginnings and knowledge.  We miss the old ways; but, if nothing ever changed, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

Massacre, genocide, and extinction are worse than horrible.  However, if we believe that Life is eternal, that there is an infinite energy that continuously creates and destroys; if we realize that we exist within that Energy, that Flow, whatever it is that IS, then we have to accept that we are part of Its process of creating and destroying.  We have to accept that we have these tendencies within us and to notice when we ourselves are destroying and creating (at any level – at home, at work, in our communities, in our states, in our nations and in the world) and whether our actions in this regard are productive or harmful, are kind, loving, considerate, and virtuous.  Do our thoughts and actions nurture or destroy life?

We will one day not exist.  We must strive while we are here to not cause harm, to have a positive effect, and to not leave this place worse than when we arrived.

I believe that I chose to live as a physical being on Earth, but once embodied in the flesh, I became caught up in the ecstasy of physical feelings and the emotions of love, pride, and ego.  It became overwhelming.  Eventually, I forgot who I Am and why I came here.  I became lost.  How do I return to that which I Am?  Maybe I don’t.  Maybe I came here to evolve into something greater.  At some point, it will all come together.  My awareness of who I Am will be accentuated by all that I have learned.

Our Connection to God

I was thinking about how we got so far away from God, from Spirit, from our connection with Nature.  In ancient days, people reportedly could actually hear and see a physical presence of the Creator or Spirit as, today, we see each other.  What happened to those capabilities?

All wisdom traditions have a creation story where the original Earth beings had direct communication with their Creator.  Most indigenous cultures had personal contact with their spiritual ancestors who protected and guided them.

We can see reasons for the current disconnect in our known history.  I remember the film “Daughters of the Dust,” about a community in coastal South Carolina where the descendants of former West African slaves continued to practice the Yoruba traditions of their ancestors.  I felt sad after watching it.  I understood why the young people left the island.  They wanted to be modern.  They wanted to have more, to be more.  They didn’t want to live the same life over and over.  Ultimately, those indigenous ways went the way of the wind.

Each generation that relinquishes ancestral teachings contributes to the dilution or extinction of that knowledge and connection with the earth and spirit and life itself.

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Achieving Your Personal Best

Your Personal Best  katesiner

What I know for sure is that no matter where you stand right now – on a hilltop, in a gutter, at a crossroads, in a rut – you need to give yourself the best you have to offer in this moment.  This is it.  Rather than depleting yourself with judgments about what you haven’t done, who you could have become, why you haven’t moved faster, or what you should have changed, redirect that energy toward the next big push – the one that takes you from good enough to better.  The one that takes you from adequate to extraordinary.  The one that helps you rise from a low moment and reach for your personal best.  Oprah Winfrey

Come, even if you have broken your vow one thousand times, come, yet again, come, come.  Rumi

In every challenge, there is good.  If you give up, you have not given yourself an opportunity to learn what there is in the challenge for you to learn.  The Reverend Dr. Barbara L. King

Becoming Accustomed to the Flow of Being

Flow of Being nancybenet

There is an indescribable feeling that I get in meditation or after yoga, even when I have monkey mind throughout (thinking of bills, chores, and people).  It may last for only a few seconds; but, the memory of that feeling makes me want more.  That’s why I always return to yoga, meditation, and other transformative practices, and read and listen to varying sources of wisdom.  I am repeatedly led to this feeling, however brief, that is hard to describe.  Is it peace?  An opening or space?  A flow?  An awareness?

I have similar experiences with eating.  I became a vegetarian after visiting my sister.  After six months, I craved my favorite meat dishes and returned to habitual ways of eating.  My body reacted.  It was though my system had cleansed itself and was clear.  When I resumed eating meat, grease, and other fatty foods that usually accompanied my meals, I began to experience indigestion and feeling uncomfortably stuffed.  In general, I did not feel well.  I realized that, prior to my vegetarian experience, I considered this state normal.

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Contemplate

It is as if in creating us God asked a question, and in awakening us to contemplation [God] answered the question, so that the contemplative is at the same time, question and answer.                       New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton

The Universe does not recognize good or bad.  It only recognizes universal principles that are exhibited by both “good” and “bad” people.  The Universe does not judge.  It only responds to focused intent.       Robin Hart

Reality and Illusion

Reality and Illusion taniamarieartist

Spiritual and personal growth practitioners often speak of Reality and Illusion.  These can be challenging concepts.  Reality with a big “R” is indescribable, but called by many names.  It is like a fluid, all-encompassing, and malleable energy.  We get a glimpse of this Presence during meditation, in the overwhelming love that we feel for our child, and in the unspeakable and exuberant joy that we sometimes experience.

Reality with a big “R” is Creation.  It is Creative.  It spontaneously creates and actively gives form to thoughts.  Reality is Infinite Possibility.  What we are right now is an Illusion because it does not accurately reflect what we will be and what we can be.

Think of what you currently see, feel, hear, and experience as reality with a little “r.” Little “r” realities can be deemed illusory because they are transient and susceptible to a myriad of perceptions.  For example, in the wonderful book Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, a little boy thought something was wrong with an orange that had seeds.  He had never seen or eaten oranges with seeds.  Seedless oranges were part of his reality.

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Spiritual Unfoldment

Spiritual Unfoldment whiteeagle

It is illogical to face the present only as an object of enjoyment or tolerance, neglecting to use it as the opportunity to create the future.  Unknown

When people are unsympathetic to you and the world does not go as you wish, this should be a help to detachment of feelings from the repetitious cycle of becoming and decay, gaining and losing.  Unknown

Never look upon the discords and inharmonies of your life as if they represented a lack of understanding or a lack of demonstration.  Regard these unfortuitous circumstances as opportunities which will be dissolved when they no longer serve their purpose as spurs to your spiritual unfoldment.  Joel S. Goldsmith, The Art of Meditation

 

You Have Everything You Need

Abundance dpmuk

God has given you everything and everyone that will enable you to fulfill your purpose in this lifetime and to learn the lessons that will propel you to your destiny.  We get in our own ways, impede our progress, and give in to despair when we are actually experiencing new birth or tremendous opportunities.

Be patient.  You were given the right family, the right friends, and the right circumstances that will appear and disappear, cause stress, and provide the help that will sustain you when you cannot hold yourself up.  You are being pushed to your highest potential.  Developing any kind of muscle can be painful.  Cultivating spiritual muscle can be challenging because there is not always a tangible goal that can be clearly seen.  As well, the timeline for achievement is indefinite.  The end result seems illusive.

We’re all going through something because we are to evolve into more than what we are.  We are seeds that have to push through the dirt and rocks to give birth to our greatness.  We have to withstand the rain, the wind, and the harsh sun in order to develop strong roots that may blossom into mighty oaks and redwoods.  Then we will stand tall throughout the millennia, ever reaching towards the infinity of our beings.  Remember, the higher the building, the deeper the foundation must be.  What looks like a setback may actually be a setup towards your greatest success.

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Reflect Upon Life by Knowing Self

reflection thefabweb

The ancients who wished to illustrate illustrious virtue throughout the Kingdom first ordered well their own states.  Wishing to order well their states, they first regulated their families.  Wishing to regulate their families, they first cultivated their persons.  Wishing to cultivate their persons, they first rectified their hearts.  Wishing to rectify their hearts, they first sought to be sincere in their thoughts.  Wishing to be sincere in their thoughts, they first extended to the utmost their knowledge.  Such extension of knowledge lay in the investigation of things.   Confucius in the Great Learning.

For the first time I noticed – as I would notice repeatedly during my ordeal, between one throe of agony and the next – that my suffering was taking place in a grand setting.  I saw my suffering for what it was, finite and insignificant, and I was still.  My suffering did not fit anywhere, I realized.  And I could accept this.  It was all right. (It was daylight that brought my protest: “No! No! No! My suffering does matter.  I want to live!  I can’t help but mix my life with that of the universe.  Life is a peephole, a single tiny entry onto a vastness – how can I not dwell on this brief, cramped view I have of things?  This peephole is all I’ve got!”).  I mumbled words of Muslim prayer and went back to sleep.  Life of Pi (Novel by Yann Martel)

Attack the evil that is within yourself, rather than attacking the evil that is in others.  Confucius

When you see a good person, think of becoming like her/him.  When you see someone not so good, reflect on your own weak points.  Confucius

Your task is not to seek love, but merely to see and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.  Rumi

The Challenge to Love

challenge of love gembapantarei

There are various avenues of response to the oppressive situations in which people live and suffer:

Violent resistance.  Violence cannot succeed against a dominant power that has more arms and physical might.  Violence merely perpetuates itself even as the power holders change.

Complete assimilation such that one’s own identity is lost.  When one assimilates completely, one no longer exists as a unique being capable of following his or her own destiny.  When a tribe, community, or society of people assimilate, cultures are lost.

Cooperation with the oppressor to guarantee one’s own security and survival. This form of cooperation requires an adoption of the immorality of the oppressor.  Cooperation is best when used for the purpose of being a light in the darkness and to lead the blind back to themselves.

Reducing contact as much as possible with those causing the suffering.  Isolation breeds hatred, resentment, and fear. It also makes easier the oppressor’s ability to target the isolated group for destruction.

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