Dealing With Terrorism

The most powerful way to wage war against this evil is do everything we can to win souls to Christ; personally and collectively. Support the church. Wisely and compassionately encourage people toward Christ. Let His Light shine–don’t be ashamed of the Gospel . Support Christian organizations which are bringing the Gospel into the darkest nations on the planet, i.e. Voice of the Martyrs, Samaritan’s Purse, etc.. Every believer becomes not only safe for humanity, but a blessing to humanity. Now more than ever we must recognize the importance of the Great Commission. {Matthew 28}
We must not hate those who are lost in this darkness, as Jesus did not hate the Pharisees. He knows that they "do not know what they are doing". And we must not fear them or their deeds. We must simply abide in Christ--in His Love, Joy and Peace.

Life

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly. Jesus, John 10:10


In all your doing, don't forget to live. We can get lost in our daily activities, or in our own minds, and in the “worries and cares of this world and the pursuit of riches.” In that lostness we are out of touch with the wonder of being alive. Jesus offered life to living people. You can do all things through Christ, Who has promised and offers life! You can even experience more of the most valuable thing you possess: LIFE. How alive are you? How alive do you want to be?
Be that alive!
Use your marvelous, God-given mind to be open to the beauty that God has placed in this world. Try [peacefully] not to miss any of it. Falling leaves [try to catch a few of them!], phases of the moon, children, pets, birds, the goodness of food, sunshine filtering through those amazing trees. Especially try [peacefully] not to miss any opportunities to love the people in your life. Love them with your joy. Help them to be more alive also. [But don't lose your joy in the process.]

Stay awake! Don't get lost in the world of “worries and cares”. Stay free in the liberty that Jesus has purchased for you at such a great price. Receive the gift, over and over again, of “abundant life.”

Tony Snow--A Testimony of Faith

This is an outstanding testimony from Tony Snow, President Bush’s Press Secretary, and his fight with cancer. Commentator and broadcaster Tony Snow announced that he had colon cancer in 2005. Following surgery and chemo-therapy, Snow joined the Bush Administration in April 2006 as press secretary. Unfortunately, on March 23, 2007, Snow, 51, a husband and father of three, announced the cancer had recurred, with tumors found in his abdomen,- leading to surgery in April, followed by more chemotherapy. Snow went back to work in the White House Briefing Room on May 30, but resigned, ‘for economic reasons,’ and to pursue ‘ other interests.’ He died July 12, 2008. He was 53.

‘Blessings arrive in unexpected packages, - in my case, cancer. Those of us with potentially fatal diseases - and there are millions in America today - find ourselves in the odd position of coping with our mortality while trying to fathom God’s will. Although it would be the height of presumption to declare with confidence ‘What It All Means,’ Scripture provides powerful hints and consolations.
The first is that we shouldn’t spend too much time trying to answer the ‘why’ questions: Why me? Why must people suffer? Why can’t someone else get sick? We can’t answer such things, and the questions themselves often are designed more to express our anguish than to solicit an answer.
I don’t know why I have cancer, and I don’t much care. It is what it is, a plain and indisputable fact. Yet even while staring into a mirror darkly, great and stunning truths begin to take shape. Our maladies define a central feature of our existence: We are fallen. We are imperfect. Our bodies give out.
But despite this, - or because of it, - God offers the possibility of salvation and grace. We don’t know how the narrative of our lives will end, but we get to choose how to use the interval between now and the moment we meet our Creator face-to-face.
Second, we need to get past the anxiety. The mere thought of dying can send adrenaline flooding through your system. A dizzy, unfocused panic seizes you. Your heart thumps; your head swims. You think of nothingness and swoon. You fear partings; you worry about the impact on family and friends. You fidget and get nowhere.
To regain footing, remember that we were born not into death, but into life,- and that the journey continues after we have finished our days on this earth. We accept this on faith, but that faith is nourished by a conviction that stirs even within many non believing hearts - an intuition that the gift of life, once given, cannot be taken away. Those who have been stricken enjoy the special privilege of being able to fight with their might, main, and faith to live fully, richly, exuberantly - no matter how their days may be numbered.
Third, we can open our eyes and hearts. God relishes surprise. We want lives of simple, predictable ease,- smooth, even trails as far as the eye can see, - but God likes to go off-road. He provokes us with twists and turns. He places us in predicaments that seem to defy our endurance; and comprehension - and yet don’t. By His love and grace, we persevere. The challenges that make our hearts leap and stomachs churn invariably strengthen our faith and grant measures of wisdom and joy we would not experience otherwise.
’You Have Been Called’.  Picture yourself in a hospital bed. The fog of anesthesia has begun to wear away. A doctor stands at your feet, a loved one holds your hand at the side. ‘It’s cancer,’ the healer announces.
The natural reaction is to turn to God and ask him to serve as a cosmic Santa. ‘Dear God, make it all go away. Make everything simpler.’ But another voice whispers: ‘You have been called.’ Your quandary has drawn you closer to God, closer to those you love, closer to the issues that matter,- and has dragged into
insignificance the banal concerns that occupy our ‘normal time.’
There’s another kind of response, although usually short-lived an inexplicable shudder of excitement, as if a clarifying moment of calamity has swept away everything trivial and tiny, and placed before us the challenge of important questions.
The moment you enter the Valley of the Shadow of Death, things change. You discover that Christianity is not something doughy, passive, pious, and soft. Faith may be the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. But it also draws you into a world shorn of fearful caution. The life of belief teems with thrills, boldness, danger, shocks, reversals, triumphs, and epiphanies. Think of Paul, traipsing though the known world and contemplating trips to what must have seemed the antipodes ( Spain ), shaking the dust from his sandals, worrying not about the morrow, but only about the moment.
There’s nothing wilder than a life of humble virtue, - for it is through selflessness and service that God wrings from our bodies and spirits the most we ever could give, the most we ever could offer, and the most we ever could do.
Finally, we can let love change everything. When Jesus was faced with the prospect of crucifixion, he grieved not for himself, but for us. He cried for Jerusalem before entering the holy city. From the Cross, he took on the cumulative burden of human sin and weakness, and begged for forgiveness on our behalf.
We get repeated chances to learn that life is not about us, that we acquire purpose and satisfaction by sharing in God’s love for others. Sickness gets us part way there. It reminds us of our limitations and dependence. But it also gives us a chance to serve the healthy. A minister friend of mine observes that people suffering grave afflictions often acquire the faith of two people, while loved ones accept the burden of two peoples’ worries and fears.
’Learning How to Live’. Most of us have watched friends as they drifted toward God’s arms, not with resignation, but with peace and hope. In so doing, they have taught us not how to die, but how to live. They have emulated Christ by transmitting the power and authority of love.
I sat by my best friend’s bedside a few years ago as a wasting cancer took him away. He kept at his table a worn Bible and a 1928 edition of the Book of Common Prayer. A shattering grief disabled his family, many of his old friends, and at least one priest. Here was an humble and very good guy, someone who apologized when he winced with pain because he thought it made his guest uncomfortable. He retained his equanimity and good humor literally until his last conscious moment. ‘I’m going to try to beat [this cancer],’ he told me several months before he died. ‘But if I don’t, I’ll see you on the other side.’
His gift was to remind everyone around him that even though God doesn’t promise us tomorrow, he does promise us eternity, - filled with life and love we cannot comprehend, - and that one can in the throes of sickness point the rest of us toward timeless truths that will help us weather future storms.
Through such trials, God bids us to choose: Do we believe, or do we not? Will we be bold enough to love, daring enough to serve, humble enough to submit, and strong enough to acknowledge our limitations? Can we surrender our concern in things that don’t matter so that we might devote our remaining days to things that do?
When our faith flags, he throws reminders in our way. Think of the prayer warriors in our midst. They change things, and those of us who have been on the receiving end of their petitions and
intercessions know it. It is hard to describe, but there are times when suddenly the hairs on the back of your neck stand up, and you feel a surge of the Spirit. Somehow you just know: Others have chosen, when talking to the Author of all creation, to lift us up, - to speak of us!
This is love of a very special order. But so is the ability to sit back and appreciate the wonder of every created thing. The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense. We may not know how our contest with sickness will end, but we have felt the ineluctable touch of God.
What is man that Thou art mindful of him? We don’t know much, but we know this: No matter where we are, no matter what we do, no matter how bleak or frightening our prospects, each and every one of us who believe, each and every day, lies in the same safe and impregnable place, in the hollow of God’s hand.’
 

Greed and Deceit

One of the largest car manufacturers in the world deliberately deceived its customers and the EPA.  That means that a group of high-level managers, engineers, executive officers, etc., sat down in conference and decided to install a device on millions of cars that "tricked" emission standard tests.
Quoting from a BBC report of October 7, 2015:
It's still unclear who knew what and when, although VW must have had a chain of management command that approved fitting cheating devices to its engines....
"Cheating devices."
Conscious, willful deception at a very high level in world commerce.


I taught an ethics class briefly at a community college. I learned that, in past decades, ethics was the premier philosophy course, required of all seniors, esteemed as the crown of legitimate education.
When I was teaching it, it had fallen to the status of one among a number of electives.
Ethics is concerned with distinguishing between good and evil in the world, between right and wrong human actions, and between virtuous and non-virtuous characteristics of people.  Our higher educational system has evolved [or devolved] from all major universities being seminaries, to secular education with strong emphasis on ethics, to the study of ethics as a weak, second-rate, banal discussion of how anyone determines right or wrong--or even if there is such thing as right and wrong. ["OK, give me my degree so I can start making money to pay off my student loans."] 


It concerns me that we might become desensitized to deceit and greed. I hope it doesn't become the status quo.

Mindfulness and Christianity: Miscellaneous Notes

Prayer/meditation

I. Intro. Xns? M. practicers?

Initially thot I'd talk about M. then Xn'ty, but they kept flowing into each other; which I realized is how they have become in my experience and practice. Both are bigger than anyone has plumbed the depths of. And words about them are the finger that points, but not the experience: Both must be practiced in order to benefitted from. “Only by practicing mindfulness will be able to look at everyone else with an open mind and the eyes of love.” [TN Hanh]   “It's really all about kindness.” [JK Zinn]. Both these statements also indicate mindfulness is a pathway/means to a more compassionate way-of-being, which is of course, what Xnty is also.  Jesus said “If you know these things, happy are you if you do them.”  T.N. Hanh: “Mindfulness is at the same time a means and an end, the seed and the fruit.” A means to build up concentration; and the end of living life—staying free of distractions.

“Love received and love given comprise the best form of therapy. But love is not easily commanded or offered by one whose whole life has been marked by reactive protest against early deprivation.” Gordon Allport

II. Prayer-meditation “We ought to listen to music or sit and practice breathing at the beginning of every meeting or discussion.” T N Hahn

Being Light. = individuation since light cannot be polluted by that with which it comes in contact. “You are the Light of the world. Let it shine!” Jesus

Peaceful Warrior. Must be a warrior. [story of man with bowl of oil and soldier with sword behind him.] But if you lose your peace, you are losing the battle. Mindfulness calls you back. Mindfulness may be thot of as awareness of the Holy Spirit. Ruach. Breath of life.

M. is the foundation upon which you can build a personhood.

When you sit on the bank of your stream of consciousness, you can see that there is some pollution and useless stuff in the river. If you are not on the bank, you are in the stream, and you can't discern what is useful and what is useless [or destructive]. When you are on the bank, you can see that you might be straining to get somewhere that cannot be attained by straining, and that straining is the problem. You can stop straining! You can see, from the bank of the river, that you are shaking the turtle of life, trying to get it to come out of the shell; and the harder you shake, the more the turtle withdraws into his shell! Then you can smile at the absurdity of your actions.

From the bank of the river you can see that you are going through your life feeling deprived of something, or regretful about something, or frustrated about something, or anxious about something. You can observe your own heart instead of being lost in it—like a fish in the water. We can practice letting go of the useless stuff. If we simply look deeply into it, we realize that it is delusional. You should be very thankful when you dispel one of your delusions. You have removed an encumbrance to your joy and peace. Joy and peace are by-products of the realization of Universal Truth—the Truth of Christ—the Truth by which we and everything are here—the Truth that generated our consciousness. [Remember, we did not generate our selves through conscious effort. But we can purify our selves through conscious effort. We can recognize and move beyond our delusions.]

A poet [Keats] said “Beauty is truth, and truth beauty..”. I believe it is more accurate to say that Love is Truth, and Truth is Love. This is also what the Bible teaches: “God is Love.” And Christ, [God in the flesh] said “I am the Truth”.

M. is defined as “Paying attention on purpose in the present non-judgmentally.”

“Non-judgmentally” does not mean we do not evaluate [and elevate] our consciousness. For instance, I might be driving down the road on the way to meet a client in my office mindfully thinking: “There is an aluminum can beside the road. Looks like a Bud Light” etc. This is a form of mindfulness and being in the present, if I am aware of what I am thinking as I am thinking it. I might decide to shift my awareness to: “How can I best serve the client that I am going to meet? What did we discuss last time? Where is he/she stuck and how can I best facilitate forward movement?” This is how we can use mindfulness to be happier and more productive human beings. It is important to do this peacefully. The non-judgmental aspect means we do not put down on ourselves for thinking about the aluminum can. We just peacefully shift to the love-mindset.

I associate Jesus with my breath—the Breath of Life—and He delivers me out of the random chaos of my mind. The “worries and cares of the world that choke out the fruit of the Holy Spirit.” He delivers me into: forgiveness [of self and others], peace, loving kindness [JKZ “It boils down to kindness”. Be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving ea. other, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven you.” Eph.], Good will toward the human family, thoughts of how to love my people today—this moment, etc.

Clear vs. smoky thinking. Lucidity. When we are mindful we can be clear even if we are smoky.

Poems Altar Smoke and Tempo, both representing a shift in awareness.

My personal experience driving to office from Russel's.

It's disheartening that most people seem predominantly disinterested in spiritual growth. What is spiritual growth? It's an interest in unseen things. You can not see love, peace, joy, fear, guilt, shame. You can see the by-products of these, but you cannot put any of them under a microscope or break off a piece like a candy bar and share it with someone. The mind is unseen. We can see the brain but not the mind. And we live in it. Isn't it interesting that we live in our mind, which we neither understand nor completely control. What's more interesting is that we can become more mindful of our minds, and by so doing assert some influence thereon. How do you want to influence your mind? This place where you live? What's more important, tidying up the house or tidying up your mind?

“I know of no more encouraging fact than the unquestionable ability of man to elevate his life by conscious endeavor.” HDThoreau Mindfulness facilitating compassion/agape love is this conscious endeavor.

CBT is a form of mindfulness: becoming aware of certain thoughts that are contrary to peace, and consciously changing them to thot's that bring peace. Like choosing gratitude. Theologically speaking, this is ultimately a journey toward Truth; since Scripture teaches that truth is good—Gospel—good news. This seems to be confirmed in the phenomena of the great mysteries of beauty, music and humor; giving us an opportunity to grow in trust—in God or the universe, Who or which has given us life. [Of course I fall on the “Who” side of that postulation.] But even if you fall on the “universe” side, you might as well trust what you cannot change about it. You didn't have to be anxious to be given life—seems unnecessary to be anxious about death or anything that comes in life. Jesus queried “Can you add anything to your life by being anxious about it?” I understand that, for those who suffer from some types of anxiety, a simple statement about trust does not cure it. But if one presses that universal truth down deep into his psyche, [burning some new neuron pathways in the most evolved part of the brain] it can begin to displace the anxiety, or enable one to progressively transcend it. And transcendence of some manifestations of anxiety and depression seems to be the best we can currently do, since we do not seem to be able to eradicate it. Transcendence is the cure, in some sense.

Mindfulness: paying attention on purpose, non-judgmentally. Sitting peacefully on the grassy bank of the stream of your consciousness. Peacefully observing the clouds of your thoughts pass thru the sky of your mind. Becoming aware from a more transcendent realm. Like the poem: “Hurrying from here to there, suddenly I become aware....” AWARE. We can be lost in what we are doing, which can be OK, or not OK. But we will not know if it's OK or not OK if we do not become mindful. When I am birdwatching I am lost in what I am doing, but that is OK because I choose to get lost in it. I love to get lost in it! This type of “lostness” is another form of healthy mindfulness.

Xnty gives us a home base other than, or in addition to, our breath to come back to [from all our distractions.]

Hope. Faith. Love. Gratitude. Trust. Peace. Smiling heart. Certain promises from Scripture.

Xnty may be thot of as the embodiment of a certain type of mindfulness—the mindfulness of Christ Himself.

How can the Xn faith be used in therapy?

1. Clients are Christians and open to drawing from their Xn roots in their growth

2. Prayer. Invoking an awareness of the Holy Spirit: Love, Peace, Comfort, Acceptance, Truth.

3. A deeper reliance upon the Truth of Christ – His teachings.

4. Concept of idolatry [of persons, needs, addictions, etc.]

5. “In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world”* Embracing the reality of suffering with a cheerful heart.

6. “Peace I give to you. I come that you might have life, abundantly. These things I've spoken that you might have joy, the fullness of it.”

7. Discover what is oppressing you and bring the Truth of Scripture to bear upon it.

8. *I am in you and you in me and I in the Father [Creator].

9. “Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed [metamorphosed] by the renewing of your mind”. “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are honest, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever is virtuous and praiseworthy, think on these things.” Phil 4:8

10. Concept of Light = individuation. Also “Love your enemies...”

11. Love casts out fear. Be anxious for nothing.. thanksgiving. Thankful in all situations. “If we didn't learn a lot...etc. LOVE and GRATITUDE as enemies of FEAR.

You are a stream of consciousness.





How we become who we are seems to be a random process emerging out of the spontaneous thoughts that have been stored up in our mind in response to life experiences, combined with our particular genetic inheritance. As neuro-scientist Wolf Singer says, "The mind is an orchestra without a conductor." We become what we choose through devotion: Devotion to core characteristics [love, peace, courage, faith, hope, gratitude, etc.]. We set these as our default to come back to from the thousands of distractions that we inevitably experience in daily life. Mindfulness is how we stay in touch with what we are devoted to. This is one of the primary functions of our religious life. The word "religion" derives from latin words meaning to "bind back". True religion binds us to what we are trying to become, and thus shapes us, over time, into that person. We have the wonderful opportunity [it is an obligation, but should be felt as an opportunity] to consciously cooperate with God in the shaping of our personalities. We wake up from our distractions; over and over. We realize that we're not waiting for something to happen. Life is not primarily about trying to get to the next thing. It has to be about being where we are because that's the only place we can ever be! Fear, regret, dread and desire can be parasites to life; and they can be sucking the precious life out of us without us even knowing it. Mindfulness is waking up from this bad dream. The Holy Spirit may be thought of as an awakening influence. Jesus declared that some were “blind” , and He offered “life—abundant life” to people who were biologically alive [bios]. He was offering Zoe. The “fruit” or results of living in the Spirit is a life characterized by “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.” Not a bad repertoire. This is our “default setting”. Mindfulness brings us back to it through the doorway of being-here-now.

The conscious will can, and at times ought to, run counter to the normal flow of life-awareness. The normal flow can be despair, pessimism, dread, fear, chronic anger, feelings of deprivation or entitlement, guilt, shame, hopelessness, etc. We need not try to block or eradicate these—a process that can be fruitless and tiresome—through mindful awareness they can evaporate in the sunlight of a greater, transcendent Truth. The Bible calls Truth “Gospel”, which means “GOOD NEWS!” Not fearful, hopeless, despairing news. Truth leads us to understand that the good and evil interwoven tapestry of life is ultimately good. The important thing is to LIVE this Reality—not just to know it. Jesus said “If you know these things, happy are you if you DO them.”





Begin with Intro. Get to know.

Altar Smoke and Tempo representing a shift in awareness.

Mindfulness = making a conscious shift.

Xnty offers some wonderful Truths to shift into:

1. God is Love.

2. The goodness of God already is. Ann Linthorst of A Time To Love [?]

3. All is well, and all is well, and all shall ever be well.

4. Be still and know that I am God. [Sarah Young of Jesus Calling]

5. I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Jesus

6. I am in you, and have overcome the world. And you are in Me.

7. All things are being worked together for good for those who love God and are called according to His purpose” which is Love.

8. This is a perfect moment. I have everything I need in this moment. I let go of all desire, need or want except to abide peacefully in this moment.

ACTIVITY

The opportunity is to create a “Home Base”--a default core of consciousness to which to return from all the distractions. Create some new neuron connections. What truth/s do you want to remain close to? Decorate your “home base” with these. [Activity: Take a moment to get in touch with the most comforting, inspirational, life-enhancing truths you have discovered and felt inwardly. Not just nice-sounding platitudes, but truth your soul has resonated with. Write them. Create placards of these and place them on the walls of your mind's home base.] Use mindfulness and devotion to awaken from the distractions of life [or embrace them] in the light of this home base.

What were you thinking three minutes ago? Maybe it was a complaining thought or a happy thot—“stinking thinking” per AA. Maybe it was a thought that diminished [or enhanced] the effectiveness of your immune system. If you are not aware of what you are thinking, your thots are random; and the universe of possibility contains mind content that is life-enhancing and life oppressing. Mindfulness enables you to discern and choose. It is awareness of awareness. When you are mindful, you can come back to “home base”. Or chase a rabbit if you like. But at least you know what you are doing.

Below is a quote, the conclusion, of an article by Katy Butler entitled “Living On Purpose”.  In it she chronicles certain aspects of the lives of two men, Tony Schwartz and Jim Loehr, [co-authors of The Power of Full Engagement] who were seeking perfection; one in coaching, the other in his own life. Her conclusion represents as close a description, from the secular standpoint, of the Christian worldview as I have seen. She implies that there are forces [Psychological? Social? Spiritual?] that we do not control, and that shape us. We can cooperate with these forces [and by implication resist or “channel” some of them], but we must also practice “self-acceptance”, “persistence”, and “forgiveness”. The article also briefly chronicles the secularization of culture and the helpful religious rituals that were left behind, and the deleterious effects of their loss.

This may be the greatest paradox of the expanded definition of the unconscious. The more we know about factors outside our conscious control, the greater the chance we have to influence and channel them. At the same time, the more the Renaissance vision of the perfectibility of man recedes into the distance, the more our genuine ability to shape our lives grows, and the more our grandiose sense of complete control wanes. So does Freud’s magisterial conception of an Ego that would, after indefinite years of psychoanalysis, supplant the writhing Id.

This paradox invites us to look over our lives, take a deep breath, and hold the reins with a looser hand. We can’t control ourselves. We can’t even control the factors that control us. We can simply help shape what helps shape us. We influence our lives, but we don’t control them. If we want to be effective and happy, we need to include on our lists of values not only “excellence,” “effort,” and “integrity,” but “self-acceptance,” “[peaceful] persistence,” and “forgiveness.” [and compassion] This may be the deeper meaning of the notion of “practice” that the seeker and the tennis coach have stumbled on, and a way to approach the vast unconscious with a deeper emotional wisdom. Katy Butler, “Living On Purpose”

Whatever is in the unconscious—whatever good or evil forces have shaped us into what we are—a conscious, peaceful, persistent devotion to the Love of Christ—agape—will refine us into what we choose to be. Mindfulness is the means by which we can practice this Love, because if we are not mindful, we are randomly living out whatever forces are within us or reacting impulsively to our environment. And evil exists within the world of randomness and impulsivity. The Holy Spirit keeps us mindful of the Truth that makes us safe and free.

MINDFULNESS SAYINGS

Let our doing come out of our BEING.

It's not about the object of our attention, but about the attention itself—with tenderness and conpassion.

It's about showing up [dropping in] in this moment, which is all that we have.

Befriend a silent intentionality.

Just stopping can be a radical accomplishment.

The real meditation practice is how we live our lives in the infinite present moment, which is all we have.

Mindfulness involves an awareness of relationality—recognizing how we are in relationship with our thoughts.

Feast on your life as it is unfolding—stay out of the complaint box.

Settling into this moment as if it is important. In fact it's the only moment you'll ever have to settle into anything!

Just sit. Nothing more. No big deal. A human being falling awake, over and over again. Reminding yourself that you are alive. Re-bodying yourself. Coming home.

Stillness. Silence. Presence. Wakefulness. Being.

Create a home [or discover the home] for yourself in your body that is a very good place, that you can return to at any time.

Imagine your consciousness as a stream or river. Sit peacefully on the grassy bank of that river and observe your stream of thoughts.

Choiceless awareness—just being the awareness itself; which is bigger than conceptual knowing.

Taking up residency in your home—your body.

You can chase the rabbits of your thoughts peacefully, even joyfully, knowing that you have a home to come back to—and never really left. Some of the thoughts will take you to important and beautiful places. Others will take you into useless nonsense. But you will know which is which, because you will not be lost in them.

Nothing is beyond us that we cannot embrace, welcome, observe, and learn from.

I could be happy if only things were perfect—or different, etc.

Someone asked the Dalai Lama, “What is your happiest moment?” “I think now!”

You can practice being home wherever you are; like a snail, carrying your home with you.

Mindfulness is being in touch with the great mystery that transcends all our conceptions.

M. is awareness of awareness.

SCRIPTURAL INVITATIONS:

Be still and know that He is God.

I have calmed and quieted my soul. As a baby at its mother's breast is my soul.

Peace I give to you. My Peace I give to you. Not as the world gives, give I unto you. Jesus

Don't be anxious about anything, but in all things by prayer and supplication with THANKSGIVING let your requests be made known to God; and the PEACE of God, that passes all understanding, will keep you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

As a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Whatever is good, true, pure, just, excellent, praiseworthy—think on these things.

He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside quiet waters. He restores my soul! Ps. 23

I come that you might have LIFE; and that you might have it more abundantly. [Jesus]

These things I have spoken that my JOY might be in you, and that your JOY might be FULL. [Jesus]

In the world you will have tribulation, but nevertheless, BE OF GOOD CHEER. I have overcome the world.[J.]

I am in you and you are in me and I am in the Father. [Jesus]

What are we trying to do? We are trying to live the best life we can possibly live. And, of course, that involves helping others to live their best life. We are trying to stay awake to this Reality: It is an amazing gift to be a living human being!!

Our practice is designed to help us stay awake to certain realities that keep our lives moving in the direction of the “abundant life” that Jesus spoke about. And to stay free from distractions, maya, the “world”, the darkness of zombie-land. Christ offers us a core of eternal Truth. Mindfulness is a practice by which we can abide in that Core.

What is the Core? It's what people who've had NDE's try to describe. It is the Kingdom of God in which we are aware that the Conscious Core of this universe, permeating every nook and cranny of it, is LOVE. That we are here because of Love—and we are man and woman b/c of Love. Flowers, birds, the sky, ocean, beauty, humor, creativity, etc. all are here b/c of Love. Evil is here b/c God wants us to be free. He is not a controller.

But even in talking about this wonderful Reality, we can drift away from the inner experience of it, at which time our words are useless. If I say “God” or “Jesus” or “mindfulness”--these are just vibrations in the air. The vibrations may or may not awaken us to the Reality that cannot be captured in words. There is a credit card commercial that ends with the question “What's in your wallet?” At the end of any words about Truth, we must ask “What's in your heart?” That is what really matters.

My prayer is that our practice will keep us in peace and loving-kindness, like the dawning of the sun, shining brighter and brighter, to the full light of day.

Our Spiritual Immune System

After reading about the legal haggles  surrounding the Supreme Court's Junes 26 ruling re-defining marriage and the backlash response of the Religious Freedom Protection Act, I struggle against a sinking feeling. All the laws remind me of the Pharisees of Jesus' time. They had a lot of laws too. Jesus violated some of them because He valued compassion and healing and freedom of soul above doctrines and laws. He realised that man made laws could  deter people from living in the Spirit of the Creator of the Laws of the Universe. He realised that Satan could creep into laws through unredeemed minds. The Pharisees therefore, though very law-abiding, did not recognize the Truth when He stood before their faces.

At first my hope rises up when I read about the Religious Freedom Protection Act: a counter attack against the clear assault against religious freedom of  the June 26 ruling. Then I think, "The Muslims can use the RFPA to protect their rights to do things Allah's way." That way certainly has not worked out very well for the human family.

I finally come to rest in the deep understanding that the redemption and transformation of the heart brought forth by faith in Jesus is the only hope for our nation and our world. I remembered the devotional I wrote some years ago entitled "The Nation's Immune System" [below].  The best I can do for this world is to live and try to propagate the Christian Faith--the realization that there is a God of this universe Who is Love. That He commands us to love each other, and has demonstrated Truth through Jesus the Christ. If I or those Christians coming after me are  jailed or beheaded [like many of my brothers and sisters in other nations today] for this belief and profession, we will die victoriously for the best Cause in the human family. And we can be at peace amidst the swirl stirred up by the battle against good and evil, like Jesus asleep in the storm at sea, knowing that in this peace--the peace of Christ--we are the most powerful warriors.
 

THE NATION’S IMMUNE SYSTEM

Psa 33:12   Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

Mat 13:33   He told them another parable. "The kingdom of heaven is like leaven which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, till it was all leavened."

On two recent motorcycle trips, one to El Paso and the other to my hometown of Sylacauga, Alabama, I decided to avoid the interstates, take state and county roads instead and get a feel for some parts of the rural South. On both occasions I was struck with the number of churches along the way – hundreds of them. Many of them had roadside signs with admonitions, encouraging statements or invitations: “Looking for a church family? Try us!” or “The man who is not ready to die is not ready to live.” They had names that included certain qualities of the Faith, like, well, “Faith”, and “Hope”, “Grace” and “Abundant Life.” Many of them were named “New” something or other: “New Life”, “New Hope” or “New Beginnings.” One was named “New Morning Star Baptist Church.” Another was named “Mt. Nebo”, the mountain from which Moses looked over into the Promised Land, and on which he died. One church that particularly seemed to invite me to stop and take a nap under the shade of its live oaks [which I did] was, appropriately enough, named “Pilgrim’s Rest Baptist Church.” I rested well there.

I’ve heard people make disparaging or scornful statements about the “Bible Belt.” I felt very encouraged by all those churches. I know that, in them, every Sunday, children are being taught to respect and obey their parents and elders. Husbands and wives are being taught to be faithful and kind to their mates. Parents are encouraged to care for their children. And all are being taught to live the “Golden Rule” - to treat others the way they want to be treated. Jesus said the Word of God is to the world like yeast is to dough: a little goes a long way to enhance the quality. All those people in all those churches hear the Word of God – the wonderful teachings of Jesus – then they go out into their communities with the Light of it shining in their hearts. They are not perfect, of course, but how can they not be a little better, week after week? A little better at loving the people in their communities. When I stop and talk to some of these gentle, friendly people, I imagine that they – or perhaps their parents or neighbors – attend one of those churches. I feel comforted. I am at home. I am among my people. I am among God’s family.

Lord, thank You for making us a true family. May Your body of Believers – the Church – continue to flourish and prosper, and protect our world from evil.

The King of My Domain

I am the king of my domain. My domain is my home, family, pets, yard, and everything within my sphere of responsibility, including my work.  My neighbor is the king of his domain. Our domains overlap at times: my dog wanders into his yard; his grandchildren come over and jump on my trampoline; I have permission to pick cucumbers from his garden; he can use my wheelbarrow at any time.  This is no problem for us because we are both beneficent and generous kings. Since we are both beneficent kings, there is peace in our domains. If we were not beneficent kings there would be no peace within our domains or between them. We are beneficent kings because there is a King of kings who has authority over us. And that King is the most beneficent king imaginable. He loves all his subjects and desires only the best for them. He is totally unselfish,  and he requires us to love each other. Not only does he command us to love each other; he also commands us to keep peace in our hearts, and to be at peace with all who are under his authority. He commands these things but he does not force them because he is a gentleman King of kings; and gentlemen do not force. He commands, and he has rightful authority to do so; but he does not control, even though he has rightful authority to do that also. Some of the people who live in the King of kings' domain recognize his beneficence and authority and joyfully submit to it. Others who live in his domain do not recognize his beneficence and rightful authority and do not submit to it. Within these subjects there is no peace, and love is not practiced. In fact, all of us kings have not perfectly submitted to the rightful and beneficent authority of the King of kings. And to the degree that we have not, we have brought unnecessary suffering to ourselves and to our loved ones. And the King of kings, in his amazing grace, does not hold this against us. He recognizes that we have weaknesses; that we are not perfected beings, and he does not expect us to be perfected beings. He is all wise and all knowing. and so the King of kings, in His grace, has made propitiation for our weaknesses and blindness. He has given us the true and amazing  gift of forgiveness. He does not hold our rebellion against us.
Even though our Lord does not hold our rebellion against us, it has caused us much unnecessary suffering. It has been very costly in every aspect. Because the King of kings, in his infinite wisdom knows what is best for his subjects; and in his infinite love, only wants what is best for his subjects. Everything he desires for his subjects, every edict and command, has come from his heart of perfect, unselfish love for those in his domain. Every aspect of his will is for our good. And so when we rebel against him, we rebel against our own happiness, peace, joy, and well-being.  Some of his subjects know these things. They know that they have not lived in perfect subjection to the King of kings who has given us everything in his domain, and who has given us dominion of our kingdoms. They recognize that they have rebelled against him, and have been blind, and done things within their domains that have been hurtful to themselves and their subjects, which has never been the will of the King of kings. They've realized these things, and have approached the King of kings with contrite hearts, saying," O King, we realize that we have used the power that you gave us in ways that were contrary to your beneficent will, and brought unnecessary suffering into our domains and your domain. We have made a terrible mistake. We have hurt, deceived, used, ignored and tried to impress people, but we have not really loved them, as you have commanded us. We have ignored your beneficent authority and disobeyed your gracious commands. We have tried to throw off your authority and act as if we were the King of kings. We come now, in sincere humility, asking you to forgive us."  And the King of kings, in his amazing grace, has smiled upon us, and welcomed us back into his good graces. But we realize that  this grace has come to us at the expense of the suffering  of a Righteous One who was appointed by the King of kings to come into our domains and show us the way of True Life. And if we desire to maintain the righteousness that has been imparted to us, we must walk in the Spirit of this Righteous One. And those who have come to know these things walk in the Light of that Spirit, and become Light in their domains, and bring peace, and act in accordance with the Love of the King of kings.  And within this joyful domain in which we know that everything has been given to us by the King of kings who loves us with an eternal Love, our only sadness is that there are those who are still in rebellion. And our primary desire is to extend from the heart an invitation to those who are still in rebellion, to come into this peace, freedom, joy and love of the King of kings, in whose domain they live, but without awareness of his beneficence and rightful authority. And so we want everyone to recognize the King of kings' infinite beneficence, good will and rightful authority. But those who are in rebellion misunderstand this invitation as a form of condescension; even though anyone operating within the Spirit of the King of kings could never look down upon anyone. He would not allow it! He requires his subjects to love everyone; and to respect and keep peace with everyone, and have them understand that all are equally loved by the King of kings; whether in rebellion or not. But those who are in rebellion tend to see this invitation as a statement of condescension, or as an attempt to usurp their personal authority and control their domains--to exercise unrighteous authority--something the King of kings would never allow, because he has placed the authority of every person upon and within that person, and he does not allow anyone to usurp that personal autonomy.
But the King of kings is not only all-wise and full of infinite Love, good will, kindness and grace; He is also all-powerful. He has and is the Source of all power. And all the power that is being asserted within his domain has been given and authorized by him. And at any time, at his will, he can withdraw that power and call into account those who have been exercising that power, whether or not it was being asserted in the service of love and good will. In fact it has been revealed to all his subjects in all the realms of His domain that he will do that--he will call all into account as to whether they have used their power in the service of his love and truth, as demonstrated and espoused by the Righteous One. And so we know that at some time we will stand before the King of kings, who has given us all things; the earth, life, manhood and womanhood, all the senses; the ability to love and think, work and play, create, laugh, contemplate, etc. We will stand before him and give an account of how we have used the freedom that he gave to us; whether selfishly or lovingly. And those who have not willfully sought him and sought to abide in his love for all, will have to stand in the Light of that Truth about themselves.

Newness of Life

We did not do this! We did not think up and bring into existence manhood, womanhood, the amazing processes of conception and how the single cell produced from the union of a sperm and ovum has within it the secret inconceivable "knowledge" to produce a whole new human being with a beating heart and seeing eyes!  We did not do the earth with its hippopotamuses, octopi, seahorses, crocodiles, redwood forests, water in many forms, changing sky and weather patterns! We did not do our own amazing bodies that support and protect us automatically. We did not do our own minds! We live in our bodies and our minds, and we do not even understand them! An earthworm is more complex than our space station, computers, and cell phones! The complex interwovenness of the plant and animal life in our back yards and undeveloped woods is an infinite source of amazement and awe if we can get unplugged from man-made things long enough to really see it. Everything man has created was made with things he did not create, and with the use of his mind--which he did not create.
Whether you are a theist [as am I] or an atheist, this is an amazing situation for us to be in: this life-journey; this consciousness; this ability to know that we know, and to contemplate the universe. Of course, since we were born into it, the normal course of human development is to lose our since of wonder by late childhood. "Oh, that's just a tree." Only when we see something new does that wonder re-emerge.   But it can also be resurrected by spiritual growth--by consciously choosing to look deeply into life with new eyes and a new heart. The Bible says, "If anyone abide in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things pass away; everything becomes new." Everything becomes new! Eleanor Farjeon wrote:
Morning has broken like the first morning. Blackbird has spoken, like the first bird.
Praise for the singing; praise for the morning. Praise for them springing fresh from the Word.
Sweet the rains new fall, sunlit from heaven, like the first dew fall on the first grass.
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden sprung in completeness where His feet pass.
Mine is the sunlight, mine is the morning, born of the one Light Eden saw play.
Praise with elation. Praise every morning, God's recreation of the new day!
Tagore caught the spirit of this newness and wonder in his simple statement: "The same sun is newly born, in new lands, in a ring of endless dawns." Endless dawn. The Bible describes our awakening into Truth along the path of righteousness as the "dawning of the sun, shining brighter and brighter, to the full light of day." [Prov. 4:18] Someone has said "You can never put your foot in the same river twice."
We live on the cutting edge of eternity. Each second is like the sharp blade of a knife, cutting into the future, separating the present from the past! And the process that brings everything into its proper focus, gives meaning, and constantly renews the great adventure of life is to use the gift of our conscious will to peacefully love all people with the Love of Jesus the Christ. If you can think of anything better than that to do with your life, please do it. I've racked my brain, and I cannot. But if you cannot think of anything better than that to do with your life, then please don't waste the amazing gift of your precious life on anything less.

Manhood

A true man does not have to prove that he is one. He does not have to make the final decision; but if one has to be made, he will, if no one else is willing to or wants to take the wrap if things go bad. And he will consult with others because he's not threatened by others' intelligence--he delights in it, learns from it, and uses it for the common good. And he gives credit where it's due. A true man's willing to put dishes in the dishwasher, and not complain or brag about it. He cares about responsibility, first and foremost his own. He feels a little like a failure if others are doing more than him. And if anyone's working too hard [other than himself] he tries to help them slow down a little, knowing that it's not good to work too hard for too long. A true man breathes deep, and isn't rushed. He's at peace because he knows the truth about  God--the Truth that Jesus brought to us.  It has settled all the way into the bones of his soul. Death is new freedom, added to the freedom that he is growing in every day. And he sincerely desires that everyone have that same peace and freedom; and he's even doing some work, in church, or volunteering, etc. to ensure that they do. He is kind and civil, even to those who are insensitive and competitive, but he will protect himself and others from being hurt by them. He knows when he's trying to love people, and when he's only trying to impress them; and he eschews the latter. He deeply respects womanhood, and the amazing gifts [grace, goodness, nurturance, enjoyment of life, diligent concern, intuition, etc.] that she brings into the world. He acknowledges and enhances her freedom to be all she chooses to become. He knows how to feed his children's strengths rather than their weaknesses. He relentlessly faces the truth about himself: the good, bad and ugly, especially the latter two, because he knows those are the traits that can  be used of Satan to hurt his loved ones; something he's dead set against. His greatest concern is that he might falter in a way that damages his integrity and his ability to share with others what God has given to him. He considers this sharing an honor, and prays [always with gratitude] that God will never remove His hand from him and his family [the human family.]

He is a warrior, provider and protector. He fights peacefully for all that is good for the human family—for the Truth of Christ to be lived out in the world. The front line of this warfare is within himself, against the relentless upcroppings of selfishness and egoistic pursuits. He recognizes the importance of diligence, which is perfectly married to peace. He carefully avoids the pitfalls of addictions to substances and attachments to the things of this world, knowing that they will all pass away, but the “Word of the Lord endures forever.”

Guarding Your Heart

The fact that we guard ourselves at all reveals that there is something to be guarded against: destructive dynamics; evil. But we should be mindful of what we are guarding ourselves against. Sometimes we are attempting to guard our self against something that cannot be guarded against, in which case the guarding itself becomes the problem--like bracing against chronic pain. Bracing against chronic pain does not alleviate, rather it exacerbates the pain.
One very important thing to guard yourself against is this: the part of you that resists the truth about  yourself. Knowledge of the truth about you brings you closer to God, Who is Truth. To resist the truth about yourself is to resist your own freedom; the freedom that can only come with spiritual growth. Spiritual growth moves us into the Love that frees us from the need to be guarded--as Jesus did not guard Himself from the Cross.
If I do not guard myself against the part of me that resists the truth about me, I will guard myself against the truth about me. This will create a dark place in me from which Satan can do his destructive work.

Death

"The place I went was real.  Real in a way that makes the life we're living here and now completely dreamlike by comparison.  This doesn't mean I don't value the life I'm living now, however.  In fact I value it more than I ever did before because I now see it in its truest context." -Eben Alexander, M.D. regarding his near death experience, Proof of Heaven, 2012.
“If I had my life to live over again, I should form the habit of nightly composing myself to thoughts of death. I would practice, as it were, the remembrance of death. There is no other practice which so intensifies life. Death, when it approaches, ought not to take one by surprise. It should be a part of the full expectancy of life. Without an ever-present sense of death, life is insipid. You might as well live on the whites of eggs.” Muriel Spark, Memento Mori.

“Throughout the whole of life one must continue to learn to live, and what will amaze you even more, throughout life one must learn to die.” Seneca

"Don't be afraid, and don't let your heart be troubled. In my Father's house are many rooms. I go to prepare a place for you." Jesus, John 14.
"The mere thought of death somehow makes every blessing vivid, every happiness more luminous and intense." Tony Snow, Commentator and broadcaster; Pres. Bush's press secretary.
Written while experiencing cancer, of which he died at the age of 53 in 2008.

Scriptures Regarding Death

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. [Jesus](John 3:16)
I tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God and those who hear will live. [Jesus](John 5:25)
I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he will never see death. [Jesus](John 8:51.)

I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. [Jesus](John 11:25-26)
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.[Jesus] (John 14:3)
He is not the God of the dead, but of the living for to him all are alive. [Jesus](Luke 20:38)

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body

but cannot kill the soul.[Jesus]

(Matthew 10:28)

For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
(1 Corinthians 15:25-26)
I declare to you, brothers, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. (1 Corinthians 15:50)
Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
Where, O death, is your sting? Where O death, is your victory? (1 Corinthians 15:55)

No man has power over the wind to contain it; so no one has power over the day of his death. (Ecclesiastes 8:8)

I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. Where, O death, are your plagues? Where, O grave, is your destruction? (Hosea 13:14)
Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death. (Isaiah 57:2)
Man's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.
(Job 14:5)
For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Philippians 1:21)
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)
But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. (Psalm 33:18-19)
But God will redeem my life from the grave; he will surely take me to himself. (Psalm 49:15)
For you have delivered me from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life.
(Psalm 56:13)
Our God is a God who saves; from the Sovereign LORD comes escape from death. (Psalm 68:20)
My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (Psalm 73:26)
For you, O LORD, have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the LORD in the land of the living. (Psalm 116:8-9)

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

If we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord. (Romans 14:8)

Death is the destiny of every man;

the living should take this to heart.

(Ecclesiastes 7:2)

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity

under heaven: a time to be born and a time to die…

(Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)

Man’s days are determined; you have decreed the number

of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.

(Job 14:5)

For since death came through a man, the resurrection of

the dead comes also through a man. For as in Adam

all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.

(1 Corinthians 15:21-22)

And just as we have borne the likeness of the earthly man,

so shall we bear the likeness of the man from heaven.

(1 Corinthians 15:49)

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!

In his great mercy he has given us new birth into

a living hope through the resurrection of

Jesus Christ from the dead.

(1 Peter 1:3)

Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face

judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins

of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear

sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.

(Hebrews 9:27-28)

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,

that each one may receive what is due him for the things

done while in the body, whether good or bad.

(2 Corinthians 5:10)

But our citizenship is in heaven . And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that

enables him to bring everything under his control,

will transform our lowly bodies so that they

will be like his glorious body.

(Philippians 3:20-21)

So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body

that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable…

It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.

(1 Corinthians 15:42,44)

Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?

We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. (Rmns 6:3-5)




And the world passes away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides for ever. (1John 2:17)




I have fought the good fight; I have finished the course; I have kept the faith; in the future there is laid up for the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. (2 Tim. 4:7-8)

So we are always of good courage; we know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are of good courage and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord (2 Cor. 5:6-8)

The Bible and many life experiences remind us of the transience of life. It is very important that we not fear death, for our fear will cause us to expend unnecessary energy keeping the reality of it pushed away, denied; and we will be deprived of the great blessing that its awareness brings to us. Death gives great importance to life. Death gives life a peaceful urgency that causes us to move onward toward and into those activities that we most want to accomplish. Death awakens us to priorities, and spurs us toward their fulfillment. Death causes us to examine our way of being in the world. It reminds us that we only have a limited time to love our loved ones, all of whom must face their death also. Perhaps most importantly, death reminds us to cultivate our life in Christ; our spiritual life, which is eternal and constantly being renewed, even as the body slowly deteriorates [2 Cor.4:16]. We are essentially spiritual beings in physical bodies. Our bodies will return to the dust – and it’s important to remember it – but our souls are eternal.