Growing Up

 

Our parents are largely [not completely] responsible for our psycho-spiritual condition when we enter adulthood; but we are 100% responsible when we enter adulthood. We are responsible for how we handle what we were dealt as children. Doesn’t do any good to just keep crying, and we can’t blame them anymore. In fact, blaming is counter-productive—no matter whom is blamed. Blame is a distraction from the important work of overcoming whatever we are blaming anyone for. Those who have hurt us or our loved ones are unenlightened--- “They know not what they do” as Jesus says. This is true even if they are consciously mean or malicious—especially when they are. We guard our hearts from what is in them, and try to protect our loved ones as best we can; but they are going to wreak some havoc, nevertheless. We do damage control as best we can. But we continue to recognize and transcend the various ways our own souls have been wounded in this arena of life with humans who are still emerging from darkness into Light. And we remember that our war is not with “flesh and blood” but spirits that possess and move within the human heart. Those who are possessed of meanness, for example, are the primary victims of it, even though many others are hurt through them also. And we are careful not to “return evil for evil, nor be overcome by evil; but rather to overcome evil with good.” Our ability to do this is the very evidence of our healing and enlightenment. As the Cross of Christ absorbed and destroyed the sins of the world, so now, as we take up our crosses and respond to everything in courageous and peaceful Love, we, as His body, also negate the evil in this world. This is what we help each other do. This is one important way that we love each other: by carrying our load with integrity, and bearing each others’ burdens when necessary. We do all this as Christ described: in peace, with thankful hearts, in a “yoke that is easy and a burden that is light.” {At least most of the time. And more and more so as we grow.} We stay consciously grounded in the eternal Truth that He is perpetually revealing to us---the Truth that sets and keeps us free. We are always “more than conquerors.” Peaceful warriors. Joyful servants. Nothing from the dark side, not even Satan himself can change this. It is our default setting; the Foundation underneath all our experiences. And in death {our final victory} all these “slight, momentary afflictions” will be obliterated by a light of glory that the NDEers cannot describe, even in the most superlative terms.

Grief

 

[Jas 4:9 KJV] 9 Be afflicted, and mourn, and weep: let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to heaviness.

This initially sounds like a strange thing for the God Who promises joy---Who reminds us that the “joy of the Lord is our strength”--to command. And then we have Jesus’ words from the “Sermon on the Mount”:

[Mat 5:4 KJV] 4 Blessed are those who mourn: for they shall be comforted.

It doesn’t take very long, living on this earth, to accumulate some sadness. Many children have already been afflicted with death, neglect or addiction of a parent; or divorce and animosity of their parents. Certainly by adolescence, most hearts have been afflicted with sorrow. Jesus was afflicted with it also. He said “My soul is swallowed up in sorrow, even unto death.” [Mt. 26:38]

We lose our loved ones. And we are alienated from some of them due to the divisive influences of the world. The more sensitive and compassionate the soul, the more intimate and fulfilling the relationships, the deeper these sorrows seem to penetrate. What should we do with this sadness and sorrow? We should allow ourselves to feel it, in its darkest depths. We do not have to fear it. It is holy. It is an aspect of our love. How could there be love, in the deepest sense, without sorrow? Christ’s sorrow, as ours, was His Love. In our fear we try to hold ourselves above this sorrow. It feels like an endless pit that we dare not allow ourselves to sink into. We may never come out of it! But God speaks otherwise. Mourn, weep, and feel the heaviness of sorrow. Allow yourself to sink all the way down to what feels like the bottom of the pit; for there you will discover that it is not a pit at all but rather a dark tunnel that you must move through. Jesus, Who has been all the way down into feeling forsaken by the God He had unfailingly obeyed His entire life, will be with you. He allowed Himself to feel this. He did not try to hold Himself above this sorrow so as to avoid casting a cloud of doubt over others’ trust in the God Who conquers all. He felt the sorrow and the forsakeness. And He arose from the grave as an eternal beacon of hope for all those who suffer similarly! There is, without doubt, Light on the other side of the tunnel of sorrow and grief. And it transforms us into more of everything we truly want to be. How could it be otherwise, since it is being allowed by the God Who is Love. When we mourn, we discover that it is just as He said: we are comforted. We can still love—even better than before we entered the dark night of the soul. Then we discover as an inner experience what was spoken through Jeremiah:

[Jer 31:13 KJV] 13 Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.

Harmony

 

I watch the birds on my backyard feeders. Like us, they vary regarding how to share the wealth. Some, like blue jays, woodpeckers and sometimes cardinals, will sit alone in an eighteen square inch feeder filled with sunflower seeds, and immediately drive away any bird that lands, even if on the opposite side of the bountiful feeder. Others, like goldfinches, chickadees, cardinals [sometimes] and house finches will congregate and peacefully share the feeding space. The main theme of the Olympic Opening Ceremony seems to be world peace, mutual respect between nations, the possibility of all human subgroups to be together, competitively but peacefully and respectfully; as the Olympic games hope to demonstrate to a divided world. I guess we’re all hoping that the woodpeckers and blue jays will become more like the finches and chickadees; especially since there certainly seems to be enough for all of us. I suppose it’s childish to think such things. But then, Jesus did say something about becoming like children in order to experience the Kingdom.

Truth

I heard this quote today on a documentary. It resonated deeply within me, and has been a fruitful meditation. Perhaps it will be for you also.

“The great truths of philosophy and religion are to most men like the rays of the sun shining on the arctic snow; they glitter and reflect, but they do not penetrate and warm.”

When Jesus says “I am in you…” (John 14:20), does it glitter and reflect, or penetrate and warm? 

Suffering and Love

 

Only those who suffer can Love. Suffering teaches us the importance of the work Love invites us to do to alleviate that suffering, enabling us to experience the Joy that arises in that process. The transcendence of our suffering is a great gift to the world.

Human Evolution

 

We cannot define a human because a human extends---beyond any words that could be spoken---outward, toward, and perhaps already at one with infinity. Anything that happens to that human happens within the context of this infinity; this eternity. And once we get beyond our fear of it ever ending, we can get on with the important work of Love. As we accept deeply that this journey was not meant to be easy, we relax into it peacefully, becoming much better students of the lessons our sufferings teach. We realize that we are being transformed by these blessed lessons into everything that we truly want to be.  Every death, every betrayal, every rejection, every abuse has within it a precious diamond, ruby, emerald or pearl of wisdom, enlightenment and strength. And we become true warriors. We do not often look like warriors. As Goliath mocked and scorned David, the world mocks and scorns. We do not have the power that they covet, so they don’t respect us. But we are not seeking the respect of man---we are working for his healing. We know that he does not know---as Christ proclaimed from the Cross, praying for their forgiveness (our forgiveness). But we are indeed warriors because we have the fire of Christ’s Divine Love burning within us; and it will never be quenched. And we see the desperate need of the world for it. But we are not desperate. Because we have been to the mountaintop, we are peaceful. We know now, as Moses knew, as MLK Jr. knew that the dream will be fulfilled. And it IS being fulfilled, one generation to the next. We recreate the same sequences, but we learn something new (and ancient) each time. Something new and farther along gets wired into our DNA and passed down to the next generation. They start farther along than we did. We get collectively wiser. And we progress in Loving each other, which is the fruit of wisdom.  

Our human evolution may appear, at some angles, as a repeating circle. We do repeat some history. But it is actually an upward spiral---something that is starkly evident in the material world. But the final frontier---that which will get us to the top of the mountain and somehow redeem all these messes we have made---that frontier is Love. The primary challenge that humans face---the primary question we must answer by the way we live our lives---is can we love each other? All other endeavors are secondary and meaningless without that one, because we are facing global, not just tribal or national challenges. And we must not fear them.  As we become unified in Love, those problems will cease to exist---at least those that we create, which is most of them. And the others---those we did not create—will be handled compassionately and effectively without ego entanglements. The Love that will unify and liberate us can only be pure, which means free from the desire to impress people or to control them. Many people already know this (thank God!) and many are awakening to it. We seek to peacefully facilitate this awakening. This might be called “evangelism”, but the word has taken a bad rap. There’s really no need to label it. We just want people to be free in this Love—which is the only true freedom. Our lives become a wonderful process of allowing this Light to shine through us. We become who we truly are. And we experience inwardly, palpably, the blessings that Jesus promised: Peace, Joy, Abundant and Eternal Life.

 

 

 

 

 

 We only become as loud as is necessary to expose evil and to protect the powerless and (to the world) unattractive. The rest of the time we live peacefully and quietly in our tribes, like macrophages prepared to attack the bacteria and viruses that invade and destroy life.

BE STILL

 

Whatever we encounter within ourselves when we “Be still…” and open ourselves to the inner world, and bring into the Spirit, becomes something beautiful and useful for the Kingdom.  It could be a deep sadness (and He will place His loving hand underneath it—underneath your heart—and sustain you through it into a brighter Light than you have ever seen.) It could be feeling alone and unloved, hurt, guilt, fear, anger, frustration, feelings of failure, having been betrayed, or to have betrayed. Only those who are willing to go to the top of the Mountain will face those demons within themselves. Jesus will cast out every one of them. Without fail. And He will replace that place in your soul where they resided with Divine Love. This is the top of the Mountain.