Category Archives: PathPosts

The Challenge to Love

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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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Anger, Forgiveness, and Letting Go

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forgiveness rocks motherrr

One day, I became so angry that I did not know what to do.  So I sat in meditation and asked for a solution to the situation that had caused the anger.  As I became still and continued to ask for guidance, my request became more refined.  I asked for clarity so that I could become a channel for healing. The answer did not come during this meditation. Throughout that day, I thought: “Clarity – Healing” to remind me of the answer that I sought.

A couple of days later, I watched a medical intuitive who was a guest on Oprah.  She was, in essence, a psychic, but didn’t like that label.  She explained that words carry energy and she wanted to be very careful of how she used them. The intuitive revealed what I’ve known for years, but have had much difficulty implementing in my life.  Do not judge.  Have no expectations.  Give up the idea that you need to know why things happen as they do. Forgive.

Forgiveness is a selfish act because it helps you more than the other person.  Let go and be aware that every thought and emotion has power that can be used for or against you. Do whatever you need to do to transcend your pain so that you can stop creating more of the same.

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Practice What You Preach

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Kara, a woman on my swim team, told me how she and her partner, Simone, were trying to keep secret the fact that they were lesbians and that they were dating. The conversation came up because Kara had been telling me about this guy and speaking as though she was interested in him. I said, “I thought you were a lesbian.”  She asked, “How did you know? How can you tell?”  Kara wanted to check her behavior because she felt there were problems at work and didn’t want to encounter the same on the team.  She said that she was looking for another job, one with a better environment for gays and lesbians.

I told her that I was surprised that she was keeping her sexual identity a secret.  I listed all of the people on the swim team who I knew for sure were gay or lesbian.  Since there were quite a few, I thought the team was open to gays and lesbians.  Kara didn’t think so and said that Simone was worried that their relationship would hinder her plan to be a coach. I was incredulous.  I always thought being lesbian would insure that one would be selected to coach.

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Pushed Towards Greater Consciousness

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When I broke my foot, I was devastated. I had my whole summer planned, my whole life really.  I was going to parlay this year’s fitness into future years of triathlons, longer open water swims, etc.  I had a 72 mile bike ride in two days for which I had vigorously trained.  I was looking forward to open water swims at Santa Cruz, Lake Berryessa, Donner Lake, Tiburon, and other venues.  My yoga practice was consistent and improving.  In one unfortunate second, my plans came to an abrupt end!  I sat on my pity pot for weeks.

Many believe that we are in an era during which we are being pushed to move towards greater consciousness.  It could be that we’re just getting older and shit happens and our bodies start to break down.  But, I choose to think that we are being forced through circumstances to look at our attachments.  If we can get to a place of non-attachment, we become open to experiencing peace and contentment in the moment.  Our joy and fulfillment are not dependent upon the external.  Therefore, whether or not they are lost or found is ancillary, not primary, to the wholeness of our being.

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The Revelation

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enlightenment smashandpeas

The Revelation

Years ago, I began my meditation with the question, “What is life?” I then asked, “What is?”  I began concentrating on the senses that I am not aware of, encouraging them to be expressed in my awareness, feeling them, being aware of using them, being them.  A question came into my mind: “What is my true essence?”  No answer came and I ended that day’s meditation, but continued to use this question as a focus in my subsequent meditations.

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Havingness

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Havingness marcelledavis

Havingness.  That is my challenge at this time in my life.  My ability to have all that I need and desire without struggle, without pain, without loss of dignity and sacrifice of self.  My ability to have simply as a right of being a creature of the Universe.

The conflict is within myself.  Not accepting my right to have.  Not being completely aware of my gifts.  Not fully comprehending that my unlimited abundance is right before me awaiting my acknowledgement.  I keep looking for the key.  What else must I do?  I believe in my abundance.  I accept it, but it has not manifested in the ways that I desire, in the manner in which I define abundance.  Why?

Could it be because the very acts of seeking, desiring, and questioning are all proof of a belief in not having?  How can you desire that which you already have?

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Going Through Darkness to Get to the Light

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Bright Light timothywest

I had been somewhere and I was walking home.  I don’t remember from where I was coming, but I had to walk through a dark area.  The area was an upper-class neighborhood where there weren’t many homes.  Those that were there were mansion-sized, surrounded by lots of land with mostly bushes and trees, so that you couldn’t see the houses.  The landscaping was natural, not landscaped.  Turning left from where I was coming, there were no houses, just raised land with bushes and trees.

I wasn’t afraid to walk down the first block to the left because of the light from where I started.  However, I was to make a right on the street after that first block.  This street was very dark.  I didn’t see any lights.  I walked a ways and turned back because it looked like the kind of street where someone would snatch me.  I wasn’t going to walk down that street by myself.

I walked back to where I started.  No one was there.  Everyone had gone.  I couldn’t get a ride.  I didn’t have a choice.  I had to go ahead and walk alone in the dark.  I had to go forward.

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Sit Still, Stay Focused, Become Rooted

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Sitting in the Rain wunderground

 

Riding on a train from Saratoga to New York City, I had a vision that I was going through an initiation.  I was led into a forest.  Everything was dark.  I was told that a path would light up.  I was to begin walking on this lighted path and stay on it no matter what happened.  If the path disappeared, I was to sit down and go through the experience and endure whatever presented itself until the path appeared again.  Even if I felt that I was falling or felt the touch of a giant spider (my greatest fear!), I was to know that these were all illusions.  I was to remain seated until I saw the path again, even if I felt as though I was drifting through space.

About a week later, I was sitting in a park after experiencing a painful experience with a now former friend.  I was thinking about how unfair life was and how cruel people are to each other.  As I wiped the tears from my eyes, I thought that whatever initiation I might be going through was not as simple as monster spiders and floating in space.  It is constantly attempting to stay focused on a spiritual path, focused on God, and not letting the emotions of mortal beings negatively affect my own energy and make me react.

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Choices

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Points to Ponder pinterest

More and more, I’m becoming aware that people don’t want to acknowledge that we are living the consequences of choices made. No matter how our choices are influenced by society, family, and circumstances, each of us makes a choice every time we speak and act.

During the Middle Passage, many slaves chose suicide over the the horrible conditions in which they found themselves. They were kidnapped, chained, and imprisoned within a ship, tightly packed with other captives, and forced to exist in their own waste, inhaling and swallowing their own and others’ filth and excrement. When allowed to come on deck for air, many jumped overboard and threw their children to certain death by drowning or sharks. This was a choice.

Many others chose to live as slaves. Their capture and trade as slaves was not a choice. However, within that circumstance, some chose to live. Others chose to die. Once in the foreign lands, some chose to fight, to escape, to kill their captors, to befriend and love their masters, or to simply survive to live another day. All kinds of choices were made within this era of non-choice.

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Groundhog Day

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Groundhog Day movie poster en.wikipedia

Yesterday, I read my horoscope and the movie Groundhog Day was mentioned in such a positive way that I went out and rented the movie. Surprisingly, I found it totally related to my current life. I laughed and cried throughout.

The Bill Murray character, Phil Connors, was bored with life; but, he blamed his state of affairs on other people. Others were to blame for his inability to get a better job and better assignments. People were morons. When he realized that he was living the same day over and over, he started using people, stealing, and otherwise taking advantage of the fact that he knew what was going to happen.

Over time, this got tiring so he tried to kill himself. Here I started crying, realizing that I have also wanted to end my life. But, every day, over and over, Phil Connors experienced his suicide attempts until he realized the fruitlessness of his endeavors. Finally, he started to see things differently. He started to see the beauty in life and how nice people were. He started changing himself.

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