a vision of “Revolutionary Love”

I highly recommend this Audiobook by Valarie Kaur; 

it is very much in alignment with this Blog (imoe ; )

"See No Stranger is a 
practical guide to changing the world, 
a synthesis of wisdom, 
a chronicle of personal and communal history
— all joined together by a story of awakening. 
Revolutionary love is medicine for our times. 
It just might be our best chance for our collective future"

In relationships, there will be tears... this is par for the course

I like to say,
once in a relationship, there will almost definitely be tears:
at least one person, leaves or dies, and at least one person cries.

I don't mean to be whiny, here,
actually the opposite:
I mean to put the whining to rest.

All things in life ebb and flow,
this is the natural course of things and
there is No fighting it, in the long run.

When we play the game of Love,
we are in-for a Wild Ride!

I like to say with children,
loving them is like having pieces of our heart dancing out there in the world, without us.
Anything can happen to them, and we live the consequences!

I say this about kids, because it is SO damn obvious,
but really, this is how it is with all our relations...

.
This is just the game;
pain and loss are part of the game...
if we don't like it we shouldn't play.

.
This is how I deal with all my relations:
I know when I engage in a relationship, my heart will break open;
the more I invest, the more it will break open... in ways I enjoy and in ways that I don't.

I always like to look at the worst-case scenario,
it helps me choose, it helps me plan, it helps me consider the risk-reward...
maybe you are different, and you don't like this way of looking at relationships, that's cool.

But, this frame helps me.
It has me remember that my precious little heart, 

my precious little heart-breaks, 

my precious little feels-like-all-the-walls-of-my-life-are-all-falling-down...

this is not Sooo Special, 

but, my particular loss and pain is not Sooo Special.

It is just the game that we are All in... 

how we play it matters a lot, 

but it is still the only game in town.

.
Some like to use the lever:
"I have been hurt before, 

so you have to accommodate me; 

my pain gets to run the show."

This is BS, IMO.
Everyone has been hurt before, 

no one's pain gets to run the show.

Within ourselves, and in our relationships, 

optimally, we live in freedom and joy:
our pain doesn't get to run the show.

Of course, a lot of times our pain does run the show,
THAT is what healing is For ; )

That's my opinion, YMMV,
Wendy

Allowing wholeness: letting go of eschewing pain

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In my spiritual tradition, we practice letting go of energies that no longer serve us, and this 'housecleaning' in my energy system serves me, A LOT.

AND what I have noticed is: for the 'core issues', the deep wounding:
- eschewing the pain, pictures, experiences, energy...
- wanting to turn away and not grok this dark gift, rather just let it go:
this path Does Not Work.
I notice it doesn't make the pain move out easily in my system, or my healees or students systems either. In general, I notice for our deepest wounds, something else is often needed.

What seems to work, is being present to the brokenness, betrayal... whatever it is
- being present to what happened
- being present to what I thought and felt and made it all mean
- being present to how 'what happened' affected me then and affected me throughout my life to now;
- seeing the players and the game spiritually
- and holding it all, 'being with' myself then and now, and eventually validating and loving it all.

I don't mean spending a lifetime there, or even necessarily reliving it. I do mean not continuing the lifetime habit of running away from the pain/fear/whatever, hoping to bury it so deeply that it can't hurt me anymore. Because I can never run fast enough, and the price I pay for trying is very high!

So, in my tradition we notice the energy comes 'up and out to clear', if we let it. This process can be intense for a while, and happily that intensity ends and the fruit is amazing afterward:
- we need less distraction, obsessions, addictions...
- we can stop running from that old pain/fear/whatever...
- we can Just Be in our self and in our lives, more.
And as our internal expereince changes, our external expereince usually shifts as well.

This excerpt below inspired me to share, it is a wonderful description, IMO, of someone else's process of what I am referring to as allowing wholeness: letting go of eschewing pain. I hope you are blessed.
-wendy
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As Energy Comes Home

Compacted, frozen pain energy is like a baby. As a mother does not address her fussing baby with nondual language, neither do we in the meeting with ourselves. You may know and understand a lot and be conscious, but these energies are not conscious.

You come into direct relationship with them. Direct but gentle, not piercing, not intrusive, not willpowering anything. Asking contracted energy what it needs is a lovely way of acknowledging its presence and becoming intimate with it. Everything that is not at rest wants to be acknowledged, to be received and bathed in gentleness and benevolence.

It calls for a major slowing down, to receive the old, repressed cries of pain that show up now as contractions, as bodily sensations.

The mind is conditioned to want results - the result in this case being the disappearance of the disturbance. It is very, very sweet to bypass this, allowing the body to have what it has for as long as it does. You may walk around for hours with disturbance but you can be nurturing and aware of your precious cargo. Mercy and opening.

As you become more relaxed with meeting energy in yourself, you find a natural extension of this happening with others. Pain energy in another is no different in any way from energy in your own system. It is all the same separated, totally impersonal energy seeking resolution, looking for Home. So you find yourself, if the situation is fitting, in direct, welcoming relationship with these balls of energy in another, bypassing the personality and issue and mechanisms of mind. A catalyst for the dissolution of pain in others, a totally organic movement of Love.

The Kuan Yin of your heart is awakening. You come to see that You are Home and all is invited and welcomed Here.

- Mags Deane

Delicious Invitation from Rumi

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Subtle degrees
of domination and servitude
are what you know as love.

...but Love is different;
It arrives complete
just there
like the moon in the window.

like the sun
of neither east nor west
nor of anyplace.
when that Sun arrives
east and west arrive.

desire only that
of which you have no hope
seek only that
of which you have no clue.
Love is the sea of not-being
and there, intellect drowns.

this is not the Oxus River
or some little creek.
this is the shoreless sea.
here, swimming ends always in drowning.

a journey to the sea
is horses and fodder and contrivance
but at land’s end
the footsteps vanish.

you lift up your robe
so as not to wet the hem;
come! drown in this sea
a thousand times!

the moon passes over
the ocean of non-being.
droplets of spray tear loose
and fall back on the cresting waves.

a million galaxies
are a little scum
on this shoreless sea.

-Rumi

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To Fully Show Up in All our Glory & Darkness

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To fully show up in the face of others, in all our glory and all our darkness, is a courageous choice to make.

I live in marriage beyond my wildest dreams. Not that it is always pink and frilly and happy-ever-after, no, it is utterly fulfilling for a whole other reason.

To fully show up in the face of others, in all our glory and all our darkness, is a courageous choice to make. The arena in which the depths of this challenge most reveals itself to us is perhaps that of our intimate relationships.

I was only sixteen the first time I made a desperate decision never to involve myself in a relationship again. I was determined to avoid the pain of a broken heart; I decided to be a nun. This lasted a month, until another prince came along and I was back on the merry-go-round of romantic highs and lows, happily oblivious to the errors of the past. Of course, I crashed again. And again.

My attempt to take the spiritual escape route was not very successful either. Although I enjoyed being alone and meditating, basking in silence, life constantly nudged me toward relating to other people. It became clear to me that I needed to find a way to merge relationship and spirituality instead of holding them as opposites.

Because most of our spiritual role models have been men who lived more or less reclusively, away from family and sexuality, it has been all too easy to conclude that we all should strive for a similar lifestyle to find spiritual freedom. Our attraction to relationship has been looked on as a weakness and a distraction.

Now that the awakening feminine is emerging in our lives again, we see a shift of paradigm. The feminine is naturally drawn to relating and to community and sees no intrinsic contradiction between spiritual realization and full involvement in life. On the contrary, it is in areas of relationship, sexuality, and family that she may find her deepest expression of the sacred.

- Awakening Women Institute

What We Resist, Persists

. Jung, speaking before a group of Ministers in 1932

We cannot change anything unless we accept it. 

Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses. 

If a doctor wishes to help a human being he must be able to accept him as he is. 

And he can do this in reality only when he has already seen and accepted himself as he is. 

Perhaps this sounds very simple, but simple things are always the most difficult. 

In actual life it requires the greatest art to be simple, and so acceptance of oneself is the essence of the moral problem and the acid test of one’s whole outlook on life. 

That I feed the beggar, that I forgive an insult, that I love my enemy in the name of Christ—all these are undoubtedly great virtues. 

What I do unto the least of my brethren, that I do unto Christ. 

But what if I should discover that the least amongst them all, the poorest of all the beggars, the most impudent of all offenders, yea, the very fiend himself 

—that these are within me, and that I myself stand in need of the alms of my own kindness, that I myself am the enemy who must be loved—what then? 

Had it been God himself who drew near to us in this despicable form, we should have denied him a thousand times before a single cock had crowed.

(WRW added whitespace) 

The so-called "WAR" between men and women

. What if the issues between men and women weren't all or mostly because we are different genders, 

but rather because we are love/ sex objects for each other? 

I am very enrolled in the idea of Imago theory, which basically says: 

I am attracted to those who remind me of my early care-givers - in positive and negative ways. 

I want to bond, love and be loved, heal and be healed - and make it come out RIGHT this time. 

Often this feels very good in the beginning, and devolves to feeling not so good and going not so smoothly as time goes on… 

especially if I am not conscious about healing myself, supporting the other, deliberate in my communication, and especially receiving directly from Source. 

I like to share in meditation classes a picture that one of my 'readees' showed me a few years ago. 

She was monogamously married, but infatuated with some guy - you know the story… 

I looked at it and saw very clearly that energetically this guy was a 'gumball machine' to her 

- she believed she could receive the things she was missing in her life and her 'heart' from him 

(she completely made-up this idea, but it was an enrolling fantasy nonetheless ; ) 

I saw that she really could receive all the things she was looking for outside herself (from the elusive gumball machine), directly, energetically, in a very real way: from Spirit and from the earth 

(this is a practice in my spiritual tradition, which is delicious and I highly recommend, BTW ; ) 

My assumptions: 

- Being self-contained, receiving what we need spiritually first, is not a common practice in our culture. 

- Most people don't even have a concept this Can happen, and certainly don't know how to Open to this kind of experience. 

- Meanwhile, the basic paradigm in our society is "fall in love” 

(Find gumball machine that will give me the best approximation of what I need, 

Do whatever I have to do the get the gumball Machine to give me what I want; 

repeat, ad nauseum)

- Then probably "fall out of love” 

(when the cost becomes much higher than the value of the gumballs… 

then I need to find a new and better gumball machine) 

I submit to you:

Our basic beliefs around romantic relationships in our society don't serve us very well… 

If I need something from my gumball machine(s) that I can't get it to give me, 

or I can't find another gumball machine: 

isn't it a very small step to judging, blaming, hating the gender from which I enjoy finding my gumball machines? 

Is it really the FAULT of the 'pink' team (or the 'blue' team) that one of the 'pink' (or one of the 'blue') gumball machines won't line up in perpetuity to be a good-little-gumball-provider for me? 

Meanwhile, from the other side: when I go around trying to get my needs met from others, 'outside myself’, 

I can get very attached, controlling, irrational, manipulative, desperate, etc. 

It isn't pretty - really, you don't want to see it… 

*I* certainly don't want to see how ugly I can get! 

It may be easy for some to make up a story that I act that way because I am on the 'pink' team. 

Sure, I act certain ways because I am in a female body and because I am socialized as a female in this culture 

– but the REAL issue with my behavior, in this particular scenario, is not about which gender body I am in, 

rather it is that I am STARVING for gumballs! 

I act crazy when I am starving - most people do - it is understandable. 

I hope we can deepen into more compassion for each other (and especially ourselves). 

And most importantly, I hope we can all continue to learn to go to Source for the gumballs: 

because we really do need them 

– we just don’t HAVE to get them ‘out there’. 

Actually when I Have them 'in here' already - they quite magically SHOW UP 'OUT THERE’

... it's just how it works… 

(there are some good reasons why this is so, but it is off-track in this conversation ; ) 

Meanwhile, I am not saying there is no value in a sexual and/or romantic partner(s) 

- because certainly there is! 

But, the more I can be self-contained - the more my basic needs are met: 

the more I can choose to enjoy and invest in relationships or not: 

the better my relationships go! 

So, when I do, especially, the soul 'work'; as well emotional and relational and communication-al 'work’: 

my relationships are Quite Delicious, 

and I am generally easy and fun to play with, in them. 

.

So, back to my main point: 

How much are the issues about gender? 

How much are they about other things, such as: 

- Having so much pressure on my love/sex-object(s) to fulfill so many of my needs, as the examples above. 

ALSO: 

- Dealing with all the projections, emotions, thoughts... I have about past intimates 

as well as how my intimates SHOULD be 

There are A LOT of conscious, and especially unconscious stuff that comes up for me 

in {especially} my romantic {as well as other} relationships, 

that is completely irrational and non-tangential) 

- projections, emotions, thoughts… 

I have regarding whatever gender I am relating to ("men ARE this"... "women ARE that”) 

THESE things are an awful lot of baggage to try to have a relationship through! 

And these are just the obvious issues that come to mind as I write this… 

My experience has been, as someone with several long and short-term romantic/ sexual relationships with each gender (and folks who don’t fit well in the gender boxes - including Me, btw): 

for me relational strife has very little to do with how annoying men are and how annoying women are 

- because I can tell you from hard experience: 

they EACH can be freaking annoying in intimate relationship (as I certainly can be, as well ; ) 

SO I am not enrolled that the issue of gender is that huge an issue at all 

- I certainly don't believe gender is the most important issue. 

I recognize it is an issue to be managed and enjoyed, 

but these challenges are much easier to manage as I do my work, 

and deal with some of the other issues as named above. 

Thanks for reading

; ) wendy

Choose: the spiritual way or the un-natural way, the material way

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Excerpts from White Buffalo Teachings

 "

When I was 12 years old, words of our ancient Prophecies were instilled in me by our Spiritual Elders of that time. 

Those Prophecies concern drastic changes that would come to all life upon Mother Earth. 

These changes are here with us today! 

Our Prophecies tell us that we are at the Crossroads. 

We face chaos, disaster, and endless tears from our relatives’ eyes - or we can unite spiritually in peace and harmony. 

It’s time to bring the Message of the urgent need for Peace, of creating an energy shift throughout the world. 

As Keeper of the Sacred C’anupa Bundle, I ask for your prayers for Global Healing.

 

Our Mother Earth is suffering. 

Her wonderful gifts — the water, the trees, the air — are being abused. 

Her children — the two-legged, the four-legged, those that swim, crawl and fly — are being annihilated. 

We see such atrocities occurring everywhere.

 

Nineteen generations ago the beautiful spirit we now refer to as Pte-san win-yan (White Buffalo Calf Woman) brought the Sacred C’anupa to our People. 

She taught the People the Seven Sacred Rites and how to walk upon Mother Earth in a sacred manner. 

She said, "Only the good shall see the Pipe…the bad shall not see it or touch it."... 

We must comprehend in each of our hearts and minds the two ways we human beings are free to follow, as we choose: the good way, the spiritual way - or the un-natural way, the material way. 

It’s our personal choice, our personal decision - each of ours and all of ours. 

You, yourself, are the one who must decide. 

You alone can choose. 

Whatever you decide is what you’ll be - good or bad. 

You cannot escape the consequences of your own decision. 

On your decision — yes, on your own personal decision — depends the fate of the World. 

You can’t avoid it. 

You must decide. 

You personally - each of us personally - is put here in this time and this place to decide the future of humankind. 

Did you think you were put here for something less? 

Did you think the Creator would create unnecessary people in a time of such terrible danger? 

Know that you are essential to this World. 

Believe that. 

Understand that. 

You yourself are desperately needed. 

 

This is the message that I carry to you as we stand at this Crossroads in history — 

I, Chief Arvol Looking Horse, known also as Horse Man, Keeper of the Sacred C’anupa (pipe) brought to the Lakota-Dakota-Nakota Nation by the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Woman nineteen generations ago. 

Hau kola. 

I am honored to greet you. 

I honor your sacredness, your humanness. 

I ask you to honor mine. 

It is good that we meet. 

Yes, good. Wasté! Mitakuye Oyasin.

 

When we say Mitakuye Oyasin — "All Our Relations" — many people don’t understand the meaning of those words. 

The phrase Mitakuye Oyasin has a bigger meaning than just our blood relatives. 

Yes, it’s true; we are all one human race. 

But the word Mitakuye means relations and Oyasin means more than family, more than a Nation, more than all of humankind. 

Everything that has a spirit. 

The Earth herself, Maka Unci, is our relation, and so is the sky - Grandfather Sky - and so is the Buffalo… and so are each of the two-leggeds, the four-leggeds, those that swim, those that fly, the root nation, and the crawling beings who share the world with us. 

Mitakuye Oyasin refers to the interconnectedness of all beings and all things. 

We are all interconnected. 

We are all One. 

Don’t call us "earth-based," as if we worship the Earth. 

We don’t worship her. 

We honor her. 

But to worship anyone, we, the Indigenous, will never do that. 

We humble ourselves to the sacred energy of all life knowing we are one. 

We stand up when we address the Creator, we bow down and touch the earth, to acknowledge and give thanks to our Mother. 

We see ourselves as part of the universe, part of all that is seen, and part of all that is unseen. 

We recognize that we are no better - and no worse - than the grasses, the trees, the birds, the insects, the animals, the stars. 

But we also understand that we humans are different. 

Each being of Creation has a unique role and place, and a specific task to perform. 

Our Original Instructions tell us what our role is, where our place is, and what our task is as human beings. 

Do you know your task? 

Unless you know it, and then perform it in this life, you have strayed from the Good Red Road that the Creator - Wakan Tanka - has given each of us to walk. 

Even those who don’t know how will pray or meditate. 

They will learn to contribute their energy. 

All people need to learn that within each of us, we have this ability and gift. 

Yes, our life energy must be a gift for our future. 

Your life, my life, everybody’s life must follow your given path. 

So pray or meditate. 

Follow your inner path and learn just how powerful you are and learn that you are a leader for your people, your family, your children, and the Mother Earth. 

What happens within us happens in the World. 

We are the Message of the World. 

As we are and as we do, So the World will be. 

 

When the people of all colors pray together with the Sacred C’anupa (pipe), or with any other sacred gifts given by the creator, even with just our natural spirit energy — without anger or resentment or prejudice — extremely powerful things can occur. 

When we do this with a good heart and in a sacred way we can - and will - change the world! 

When you begin to believe in the sacred way of life, you will begin to understand the importance of the sacred sites, knowing that they are a connection to Mother Earth. 

You will understand the traditions and the ability to see the prophecies that were passed down through the generations of Ancestors, who lived in harmony. 

They had seen what was in store for their seven generations to come (us), they prayed we would re-find the "key" to harmony in understanding the Spirit of the Circle of Life. 

It is then that you assist in bringing health, prosperity and balance back to Mother Earth. 

That is human sacrifice and spiritual growth. 

That is the way.

 

We as the Buffalo People believe in this circle of life, where there is no ending and no beginning. 

The process of mending the sacred hoop continues..... 

Know that you yourself are essential to this world. 

Believe that. 

Understand both the blessing and the burden of that. 

You yourself are desperately needed to save the Soul of this World. 

Did you think you were put here for something less?

" 

-Chief Arvol Looking Horse 

(WRW added old, and whitespace) 

Standing outside the Fire

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        If your knowledge of fire
        has been turned to certainty by words alone,
        then seek to be cooked by the fire itself.
        Don't abide in borrowed certainty.
        There is no real certainty until you burn;
        if you wish for this, sit down in the fire.
        ~ Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi

I believe poetry is wonderful because there is no exact meaning, it means many things, and different things to different folks. Below are 3 thoughts, of many, I have regarding the quote. I would love to hear your ideas!

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1) Experience and practice, being in present time with our body and in this world, ARE reality - I hear Rumi say: jump in with no holds barred!

Theory and hearsay are shadows of reality.
I would rather directly experience what is real and true and love and God... for Myself... not second-hand (That is like watching it on TV, it is not LIFE!) AND at the same time, oh how reality Burns!

But then, no one can say this theory or that theory to me, I KNOW my experience - that is my own certainty, not someone else's belief or theory... (Christian writer Paul says: "in order that we may be no longer babes, tossed and carried about by every wind of that teaching but... holding the truth in love, we may grow up to him in all things")

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2) God (Light/Love/Life/Fire) burns up everything that is not God (Light/Love/Life/Fire). My favorite preacher, Dr Bruce Morgan, used to say this all the time, for me it is axiomatic.

From my perspective, everything comes from God and everything returns to God. I can flow with the process or resist it.  From my level of resistance I can suffer little or much.  But in the end, everything ends: everything goes into the fire...

.
3) One of the Christian spellings for Rumi's quote, I believe, is Jesus saying: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me".

I would translate this something like: I must let go of letting the 'lower/ego self' run the show... let go of the physically-focused self; and be who I really am as spirit, a part of God, and walk my unique spiritual path. This fulfills me and naturally serves the world; AND this Way goes through the fire, there is no way around it!

When we stop chasing around outside of us (fixing, changing, squirreling, consuming, desiring, worrying, scheming, helping, controlling... ad infinitum) and focus inside of us (which feels like sitting in the fire, no? at least at first!!!) then, well, that is IT.  The way can be painful, but the fruit is sweet.

The fire could be THE BELOVED (GOD), it could be LOVE, it could be LIFE, it could be BEINGNESS.  Here is one possible reading of Rumi's words, that could sum all these things:

If your knowledge of GOD
has been turned to certainty by words alone,
then seek to be cooked by GOD directly.
Don't abide in borrowed certainty.
There is no real certainty until you are consumed/transformed through/by GOD;
if you wish for this, sit down in GOD.

Of course I find myself singing Garth now  ; )

Life is not tried, it is merely survived
If you're standing outside the fire

 .

Gd shall supply all your need

Now No Trace Remains, Niyazi Misri

I thought that in this whole world
no beloved for me remained.
Then I left myself.
Now no stranger in the world remains.

I used to see in every object a thorn
but never a rose–
the universe became a rose garden.
Not a single thorn remains.

Day and night my heart
was moaning “Ahhh!”
I don’t know how it happened–
now no “Ahhh” remains.

Duality went, Unity came.
I met with the Friend in private;
The multitude left, the One came.
Only the One remains.

Religion, piety, custom, reputation–
these used to matter greatly to me.
O Niyazi — what has happened to you?
No trace of religion now remains.

This exposition is greatly appreciated - I think we need it, to help make the truth real for our bodies:
because our personal pain, loneliness, ambivalence, striving... is SO REAL to us.
The answer, the fulfillment we seek, cannot possibly be simple, can it?

Well, yes it can, and it has been said very succinctly, as well:

God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory (Philippians 4)

Most important IMO, is to notice the singular - we only have One real need!

We look at the physical, and we seem to have 10,000 needs - an alphabetized list!
But, when we allow ourselves to Know our Oneness, all our need is supplied.

Inside this new love, die

.

Inside this new love, die. 

Your way begins on the other side. 

Become the sky. 

Take an axe to the prison wall. 

Escape. 

Walk out like someone suddenly born into color. 

Do it now. 

You're covered with a thick cloud. 

Slide out the side. 

Die, and be quiet. 

Quietness is the surest sign that you've died. 

Your old life was a frantic running from silence. 

The speechless full moon comes out now.

 

-Rumi

Divine Love

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A GOLDEN COMPASS, Hafiz: 

Forget every idea of right and wrong 

Any classroom ever taught you 

Because An empty heart, a tormented mind, Unkindness, jealousy and fear 

Are always the testimony 

You have been completely fooled! 

Turn your back on those 

Who would imprison your wondrous spirit 

With deceit and lies. 

Come, join the honest company Of the King's beggars – 

Those gamblers, scoundrels and divine clowns 

And those astonishing fair courtesans 

Who need Divine Love every night. 

Come, join the courageous 

Who have no choice 

But to bet their entire world 

That indeed, Indeed, God is Real. 

I will lead you into the Circle Of the Beloved's cunning thieves, 

Those playful royal rogues 

– The ones you can trust for true guidance – 

Who can aid you In this Blessed Calamity of life. 

Hafiz, Look at the Perfect One At the Circle's Center: 

He Spins and Whirls like a Golden Compass, 

Beyond all that is Rational, 

To show this dear world 

That Everything, Everything in Existence 

Does point to God.

Hate replaced by love - in reality

From a spiritual board, someone asked a couple months ago:

I really would not know how to cease hatred by love.
Sounds good in theory, but how does one actually do it?

I replied:

Yes, I actually do experience ceasing hatred through 'love'.
The results are palpable to me, my friends and my family.
I am blessed to watch many other folks change their lives, and then the world around them changes as well.

This is not an intellectual or emotional exercise,
it is part of our spiritual work:
opening to the energy of love, choosing to let go of the energy of hate.

I practice meditation techniques which consciously release energy that doesn't serve (such as hate or fear or invalidation...)
and also consciously receive energy that does serve (of things like affinity or validation or faith...)

The journey can go through many layers and may take time, attention, intention...
It is sometimes joyful and sometimes ridiculously challenging - but Always Exciting - I strongly believe it is worth it!

Although I believe the meditation techniques I use are very powerful and helpful, they are not Necessary.
We can just spiritually ask and receive from Gd.

What we Resist, Persists

. Here's a snip from: Wellington Tan, Inner Wisdom Newsletter: 

 Love Your Shadows 

"

Each of us has characteristics we define as ‘good’ and those we define as ‘bad.’ 

The parts of ourselves that we continually reject want to be acknowledged and loved. 

Until we honour these aspects, they will continue to assert themselves. 

They will do whatever they can to get our attention. 

What aspects of yourself do you reject? 

Take a few moments to open to the parts of yourself that you do not love. 

See each one honestly for what it is. 

Explore the wounds and the motives that gave rise to its condition. 

Love a wounded part of yourself and it will heal.

"Strangely enough we strengthen love in ourselves when we raise into consciousness the shadow side of our lives. 

Conversely, when we keep negative feelings out of sight, they smother the love that seems to lie deeper and closer to the real self. 

This is probably why there is so much pain in not loving. 

The life that is not able to express the love which is so integral to it grows deformed." 

~ Elizabeth O'Connor

(WRW added whitespace) 

is 'service' spirituality?

I participate in a 'spiritual list'. Currently there is a big conversation going on about the importance of ‘service’ in our spiritual life – here is what I posted:

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I completely hear you about the value of loving in palpable ways – in my tradition, love is defined through:

• reality (real on the physical, in ways that are real for the body)

• affinity (an experience of our actual spiritual oneness) and

• communication.

Love is not about concepts, thoughts, especially not about feelings, or sex!


I am in agreement that service and giving are fruits (end products) of our spiritually-focused life – although what service looks like may not Always live up to expectations.

Although I appreciate posts reminding us of the value of love/service/giving/etc as priorities in the spiritual life, I am not in agreement.

I used to believe in the centrality of these activities.

I no longer see them as spiritual behavior per se (in themselves)

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I see spiritual behavior as (non-exclusively, but fundamentally)

1) spiritually receiving information and energy from Gd.

2) being/doing in the direction of my true self, in alignment with Gd – both within my own system and in my interaction with the world.


I believe the Spiritual Masters did/do this.

I am on my path to do this and I encourage my students to do this.

Doing this is More than enough to fill my plate!


Sometimes it may look like serving the poor, or serving the rich, or serving myself…

Sometimes this may be on another continent, or in the wild places, or in the city, or in my own family (ug!)…

Sometimes it may look like a perfectly ‘normal’ life, or living as a hermit, or as a ‘star’, or as an impoverished wanderer…


An example, Jesus referenced in Luke 7 (YLT) different ways one can be led to live a dedicated spiritual life, and how this often jives (not!) with social/religious expectations (requirements!):

And the Lord said, 'To what, then, shall I liken the men of this generation? and to what are they like? they are like to children, to those sitting in a market-place, and calling one to another, and saying, We piped to you, and ye did not dance, we mourned to you, and ye did not weep! 'For John the Baptist came neither eating bread nor drinking wine, and ye say, He hath a demon; the Son of Man came eating and drinking, and ye say, Lo, a man, a glutton, and a wine drinker, a friend of tax-gatherers and sinners…

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I invest a good deal of my time with my students to assist them to see and release ‘nice pictures’ and ‘ethics’ as well as ‘religious programming’ – and other concepts/beliefs/attachments/energy of that ilk – the kinds of ‘pictures’ that encourage the love/service/giving/etc we are talking about.

From my perspective, these concepts serve us on the physical level – they help the body be comfortable with others, grease the wheels of society and political systems, etc

But, from my perspective, they do not serve us spiritually.

I will say again, IMO, as a rule: being Nice, following morals and ethics, as well as general religious information do not serve us spiritually.

From my perspective, it is our job as spirit to listen (spiritually hear, see, know, whatever) to the ‘still, small voice’ which says ‘this is the way, walk ye in it’


Sometimes the voice will say go left, sometimes right.

Sometimes we will be called to do/be what others (and ourselves) agree with (oh, you are so, wise, smart, loving, caring, giving, etc).

Sometimes disagree with (oh you are such a sinner, evil, rotten, selfish, etc)

Doesn’t matter.


Sure our bodies don’t usually like going against our social and religious programming.

But we take care of our bodies, love them, retrain them – they learn to enjoy and profit from going the way of Gd instead of the way of the world… by and large…

In the old days, following our spiritual information could get us dead, imprisoned, etc – and there are times and places it still can – but usually not.

Often it leads us to the dreaded Social Ostracizing – which Feels like potential death for many of us – and most of us try to avoid this like the plague!

(in my tradition we call these ‘death pictures’, they are very valid experiences in our space – and they can be seen and released… yes, there is a theme here ; )


Our spiritual freedom is a gift from Gd.

It is a gift that our society tries to steal (pretty much) every minute of every day.

It is a gift, IMO/E, I do best to re-own and hold onto with both hands – so I am free to be my unique self in the world, and to follow my unique spiritual path. In this way I best love and serve Gd and best love and serve my neighbor, as well best love and serve my self.

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In my tradition, On A Spiritual Level, we believe strongly in personal responsibility. Not as a punishment or competition - but as a gift! (free will, always, and again)

I Cannot do stuff for anyone else (helping them) on the spiritual level, although I can assist if they choose to do it themselves.

I Cannot heal anyone but myself (of course together with Gd, and the mighty spiritual forces I am aligned with), although I can assist if they choose to do it themselves.

(Trying to do these things For others is a great way for me to lose energy, health, joy, life… and make a very small difference in the world - > been there, got the T-shirt ; )


But, the up side is: the more I allow Gd to heal Me, the higher I allow my vibration to go, the more I learn to own my space, my path, my power, my spiritual abilities, my relationship with Gd and the many spiritual friends available… The more others around me do these same things for themselves.

I learn new tricks, it is easier for them to learn new tricks…

This is not just theory to me – I have watched it happen, over and over and over.

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I invested my 20’s working in non-profits. I have seen first hand so many examples of how ‘good’ is done with the right hand, while ‘evil’ is done with the left.

I have spent a lot of time with spiritual people and do-gooders (as I am one myself!) And it is interesting to watch our shadows playing in our ‘good works’ (we see it on this spiritual board with almost every post, except our own!)


One of my dearest and longest friends, as an example, is the most sweet, caring, giving, loving, spiritual people one would ever want to meet. She does many good works and makes my life and many lives around her So much better. And at the same time, she has a big streak of meanness/hate/cruelty running right down the middle. She doesn’t see it, most folks don’t see it – but it creeps out and does ‘evil’ – like the snap of a whip.

I am not bringing this up to judge my friend (and I have similar shadow stuff myself, of course!), but to point to the absolute necessity of allowing Gd to heal us, deeper and deeper. This is of primary importance before going out to ‘save the world’, IMO. Because if we don’t, the ‘good’ we mean to do, can sometimes (often?) come in a dung wrapper.

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If I am doing stuff, even obviously ‘good’ stuff, but I am doing it because I think it is a good idea, or the ethics I was trained in says it is a good idea, or I am compulsively trying to look or be good, or earn karma-points, etc (anything other than: Gd told me to do it, here, now).

Then there is a chance that my ‘helping’ could be hurting.

There is a very good chance that my ‘helping’ isn’t helping.

There is an almost definite chance that I am diverting time/energy from the unique contribution I could be making, that possibly only *I* could be making, that it is my blessed opportunity to be doing in the world right now.

I am missing that opportunity and the huge and multiplied effect that my service may have in the world for others…

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That’s enough
Random thoughts, quickly typed, full of holes
But meant to point in a direction, which I hope can be of service to some.
Thanks for ‘listening’.

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a further conversation about service and spirituality:
(questions in italics, my responses follow)


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Now whether you agree/disagree with what my premise is (service to others is true love manifestation) ... that’s an entirely different conversation and one that I would like to have.

Generally, and on an everyday level, I agree that there is a high correlation between what looks like ‘service’ and ‘true love manifestation’. But I believe sometimes ‘true love manifestation’ may sometimes not look like ‘service’ to some, maybe many.

Jesus cleared the temple, he verbally chewed up Pharisees and spit them out (and that is putting it very kindly), I believe this was ‘true love manifestation’. Does it look like service to you? Did it look like service to them?

Many times ‘true love manifestation’ looks to me like leaving someone alone. Not helping. This is a very hard thing to do. Does that look like service to you? Does it feel like service to them?
(Believe me I am a big ol’ healer / helper – please let me help! Leaving them alone is ‘service’ in my book ; )

IMO, it is best, on a spiritual level to un-collapse these two ideas, so I can be free of my concepts (baggage/compulsions) about what love is, and what service looks like. And therefore act in what (according to my spiritual information) seems to be a beneficial way.

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You are not in agreement that service/giving are priorities in a spiritual life. Do you mean that they are not "the" priority? Or do you mean that they aren't any priority whether it be a small or big one?

Thanks allowing me to clarify, from my perspective – service is the fruit, not the sunshine, water, dirt.

Service comes out of our spiritual life – it is the cart not the horse, imo.

AND, service may not even look like service to most folks, although often it will...

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I understand that we each go thru personal spiritual development and what’s true for me is not true for you (i.e. we are each on our own path).

Agreed.

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Some are messengers, some are teachers, some are masters, some are students ... and all of these individuals have great purpose.

Agreed

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But if we're talking about truly living in spirit ... being one with light ... having Christ consciousness ... reaching love manifestation ... what do you think the characteristics of such individuals are/have been?

I believe each Master has a very unique manifestation, focus and energies – as we each do.

And of course they share things in common.

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What are their priorities?

Oh, that is like a whole book, if I try to think about it…

I ask God and I see a picture that looks like: being one with the Light, like being in a waterfall of light, very bright – aligned with Source, as well as grounded in the physical world.

From my perspective, How that manifests on the physical, again, is completely unique, to each of them, and for each of us…


On a spiritual level, I see how it manifests; it spiritually looks like clouds, or waves, billowing out from the Master, in all directions (when the waterfall hits bottom it plumes out...). From my perspective, it is the energy billowing out that matters most, Not any particular way it looks on the physical…

On the physical - Peach trees make peaches, plum tress make plums. They just do it , no effort, no shoulds, no agenda, no try. It is like falling off a log – and there is fruit ; )

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Christ taught, he spoke, he did miracles. In teaching he filled the hearts of many. In speaking he brought hope to many. In performing miracles he was an example of breaking the shackles of this world to many. But it was in his actions with the poor, the sick, the helpless and the discarded ... did he show the many.

Jesus, from my perspective, did a whole lot of NONE of that for ~ 30 years.
Three decades is a Very Long Time.
He was Jesus the Christ and he did relatively nothing of note for ~10/11ths of his whole entire human life!

I believe out of (from, because of) his quiet, non-obviously miraculous/healing/serving/inspirational/freedom-producing/demon-casting/etc 30 years, he was ready for public ministry.
Before that, not-so-much…

He did his work, deepened in himself and in the Father, increased in Knowledge and Power, etc.
He was centered in who he was and what God had him to do. Then and only then did he go out to serve… as he was led/called to do, not just any ol' thing!

Even then, in the last ~ 3 years of his life, he was constantly moving away from the crowds. He consistently sought out the quiet, if he had to at night, to be with the Father, to do his spiritual work – or else he couldn’t have done what he did.

Great fruit. Amazing fruit. Fruit comes in its season, not before.

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That’s my opinion – thanks for asking!
; ) w