For Goodness Sake

When we are ill it is important to treat the cause of our problem. Otherwise we are treating symptoms alone and the problem will persist. One of the greatest causes of illness in the human body is resentment. We suffer the wounds of hurts from perceived wrongs that we can remember and those many we have long since forgotten. What to do? We can try to deal with those hurts we remember but what about the much larger number of injuries we can no longer recall. Are we to remain the victim and let our body continue to be tormented with suffering from those offenses that reside beyond our recollection?

We are children of Infinite Loving Kindness and when we become aware of this all fear and resentment will simply evaporate. However, no matter how magnificent we are, the awareness of this as human beings is something that is aroused within us gradually, thought upon thought and act upon act. We often believe we earn healing through faith but the truth of the matter is we are children of Infinite Tenderness and health is not earned but our birthright. One of the most effective reminders of our holiness is to be channels of grace, instruments of forgiveness. As bearers of grace our awakening is incredibly moving as we begin to remember who we really are. 

We need not remember or even confront the resentments we harbor because by awakening a sense of our divinity they simply evaporate. Act upon act, deed upon deed we awaken the awareness or our unspeakable holiness that dissolves fear and resentment. 

So where do we begin? We may begin by forgiving all offenses, those that confront us and those we can recall. To be effective our forgiveness is not something that needs to be earned. There is no limit to how many times an act or even the same act should be forgiven. Likewise it would be well for us to place no requirements upon the offender for the only prerequisite to which we should be subject is that which simply requires us to be forgiving. This single act of unlimited forgiveness, repeatedly exercised, will do more to awaken as sense of our own divinity than most anything else we can think of. 

Let us resolve this day that we will forgive our brothers and sisters without hesitation, without limit and without condition. As we do this we will draw to us those that seek the grace that passes through us as forgiveness that they may see more clearly in the light reflected by our activity. Then we may find we are healed every bit of those conditions that are dissolved in the presence of that Infinite Loving Kindness of which we are comprised.

The Love That Heals

We are more, much more than projections of Infinite Love. Divine fragments yes but existing within and not apart from our Lord. Thus our God is expressed through us as our mind is expressed through our hand. 

How then are we to account for error? How do we explain fear, greed wars and illness? How can we make perfection imperfect? The answer is we cannot and how we see our Lord expressed is largely a matter of perspective. Our having chosen to see our self apart, separate from Infinite Tenderness is a matter of choice both personal and collective.  And only when we see our self apart or separated from our Lord can we account for those conditions that appear opposed to boundless omnipresent goodness. 

This does not mean that fear and the wages of fear are not real. They are to us and we feel their effects. However, in a larger sense these things are the result of our distorted perspective both individually and collectively. That which we fear we create and what we create we become.

We may think this cannot be; fear and the results cannot be simply an illusion. We may fear threats to our wellbeing on a daily basis and we build a whole world around them. Yet the things we dread may be largely an illusion as we proceed to build an entire life because of them. If we can do this in our daily doings we can do it individually and collectively on a grand scale. However, once we see the illusion, once we see we are not threatened by the things we fear, dread and the result simply evaporate. Why? Because they exist only in our perspective and not within that Infinite Tenderness of which we are a part.

There may be lack of every kind in our life and abroad but it is the result of the illusion that we are separate from that boundless love we call God. Whether that lack is expressed in health, wealth or friendship it is the result of an error in perspective. We do not begin by seeing lack, we see separateness from limitless bounty from omnipotence and fear then lack is the result. If we stand in front of a light and cast a shadow we can call our silhouette lack but it is simply a matter of perspective. It is our own shadow we see and not a flaw in the light.   

How do we overcome the errors and illness that result from our fears? We cannot. However, if we surrender and allow that goodness and grace of which we are made to flow through our hearts, our minds and our hands our fears will simply evaporate. Once our perception of our oneness with the all that is is restored and our hands find to do the hopes of our hearts all else will likewise be transformed.

CHRISTMAS 2016

At this time of year we celebrate the life of He who is the embodiment of Tender Loving Kindness, our precious Savior. He lived a life of perfection and forged a path for each of us to follow in His foot-steps. If we would walk this path we must try to understand what it is, to reconcile His divinity with His humanity. For, to tread in His divine foot-steps we must walk in His shoes as a human being. 

Chief among His human attributes was His limitless compassion for His brothers and sisters. He became the savior of mankind because His overwhelming compassion would allow nothing less.  He felt more than the pains of His brothers and sisters; He stepped in to their shadow and felt their darkness, their sense of separation from God. And, He entered the darkness as deep and for as long as it would take to restore the light of Loving Kindness for them. Our Prince demonstrated the path to perfection is in unbridled compassion for those in our life and giving all we have to light their way.

Unless we arouse compassion in our daily affairs and do what is necessary to keep it awake hour by hour, day by day we will lack the motivation necessary to make a meaningful difference to those with whom we share this world. Our own shadow is long and dark and in the absence of compassion it is cast upon all who stand before us. 

Our brothers and sisters stand in the light before us beset by the darkness of their own shadow. Through our compassion, our sacrifice we may step aside and let the light of Tenderness shine through and light up their life. By acts of gentleness, kindness and patience we may restore the illumination in the world around them. Would we be channels of blessings to those in our care we must bless their life with all that is available to us to do so, not just once or twice but without end. Our Lord demonstrated that to be lights to others our compassion for our fellow souls must be both continual and endless. 

Our life is enriched forever because our Lord walked the earth as human and divine. He stepped aside so His desires were for the lives of others so the light of Infinite Loving Kindness would light the way for them. In this light whom so-ever he touched was healed every bit. 

Let us follow the pattern set by He who embodied the Father, to feel compassion for those who suffer and without judgment, without condemnation, be the source of limitless mercy in their life.

Oneness

When we began this journey in to materiality we really did not go anywhere. We turned our back to the infinite oneness of which are a part and created the possibility (even if it was only one of perspective) of being separate. Thus we focused our attention away from where we were but we never really left our state of oneness. In this we could experience our self as a single individual but it was only our attention that became single. This was certainly not our beginning but it was the beginning of our concept of separateness. 

We have always been, we are and will always be an intimate part of creation. It does not exist apart from us but interpenetrates us completely, body, mind and soul. Because of our focus we have come to think of divine creation as outside of us and hidden from our view. In our thoughts we form the concept that the highest form of holiness is to stand face to face with our loving Lord and His ministers of grace. We may use terms like being watched over, which although comforting, further reveals our sense of separateness. We cannot stand face to face or be watched over by what already permeates us and this is an important distinction. 

As a result of such incomprehensible holiness completely penetrating us on every level we are neither isolated nor vulnerable.  Yet we fear and as a result we suffer. If we could accept a fraction of a fraction of the concept of our oneness fear would evaporate and find no place in our life to reside. For it is in the embrace of our oneness with the divine fear is dissolved and not by our experiencing mortal combat with those things that make us afraid. 

Many of us have been taught to meet those things that threaten us, to do combat with and defeat them. Yet when we begin to war with our self the resulting conflict can make life more difficult. If instead we opened the windows in our life to those gentle breezes of loving kindness, the darkness of separation would be made light and the bitterness of fear transformed into the sweetness of faith.

We are in the arms of Infinite Loving Kindness and His tenderness flows through us. All of the goodness in creation suffuses us every moment while His angels and ministers of grace reside within us.  Given this, how can we possibly feel isolated or vulnerable? Considering the holiness of which we are comprised what have we to fear? 

Let us remind our self of this every moment of every day and live as holy treasures made in the image and likeness of our Lord. Then we will find our self body mind and soul projections of that indescribable holiness we call God.

One Step At A Time

Among those sayings handed down to us through the generations is “What we can break we can fix.” We may consider this is much more difficult to accomplish than to say but it really isn’t. There is difficulty only in maintaining the patience and persistence to take the small steps necessary to accomplish our goal. 

Whatever our condition, whatever our ills, we probably did not get there in one single act. We took many steps along the way to get to where we are and the road back is likewise traveled one step at a time. In our impatience we often try to make long leaps that usually result in failure.

We are told the longest journey begins with one step so if we wish to begin, where do we begin? The first step along the road to change is attitude, one that is clear, concise and unambiguous. An attitude so simple and all-consuming it will see us through our entire journey; an attitude that would describe itself as “yes I can.” If every step along our way is energized by this attitude we stand a much greater chance of success.

It is self-defeating to say yes I can and then take steps so large that they make the journey perilous. A positive attitude is only helpful when our actions are both reasonable and proportionate. Each step will get us closer to our goal and our success is experienced in the journey itself and not in its completion. 

If we are reasonable we will find one step at a time is not too difficult. With this in mind we can experience success after success, step by step. However if we truly wish to change, even the most dedicated among us will be challenged by that part of our self that got us to where we are. Once we are committed we must be convinced that small steps are of inestimable value. Where we can no longer resist our commitment to change we can still combat it by taking long leaps that may eventually doom our mission to failure. 

Whether the road we travel back to wholeness is paved with stones of mental activity, physical activity or both it would be helpful to plan our journey like we would any long trip. Our plans can be specific for the short range and general for the long one but one designed to take us to our destination. Again they should not be overly ambitious to become self-defeating. Then in the execution of our plan … one step at a time … we should be filled with the joy of success … one step at a time.