Clarity Would Disagree

If you think you've seen the ocean because you stand at the water's edge, think again.  Perhaps you've sailed across the open sea communing with whales and sea birds, do you think to yourself, 'now, I have seen the ocean, now, I have seen the sea'?  What if you've only flown over the oceans, from land to land, would that perspective be the one?  One glorious sunny day, you swim with dolphins and snorkel with sea turtles and sting rays, does your mind satisfy the heart and say, 'I've seen this before'? And, sitting at a fancy restaurant, the waiter brings you a fresh sea bass dinner, do you think you know fish now?

The mind is quick to relay a complete compilation of perspective in unfathomable time.  It is so convincing.  The mind can take any story, any image, any thought, any thing and create an epic masterpiece of illusion.

Even the best of us can become hypnotized by the confusion with which the mind presents its stories.  The best actors and actresses are portrayed on the stage in the mind way before a toe has ever graced a stage.  What of all this drama?  What of all this chaos?  We channel it outward to space, to thin air, to each other, to our children, to everything with very little concern of the result.  We are so sure of what we see.  We are so sure of what we feel.  We are so sure.

Clarity would disagree.

In my own personal journey, in my own personal mind, I have been disillusioned.  I have been hoodwinked.  Scammed.  I have believed the epic story teller's tale of woe, fear and defeat.  I have reaped the minds suffering of repeated dwellings, deep caverns of discontent and discord.  I have believed others' stories too.  I have believed the media.  I have believed merchandise.  I have believed that which has no soul.  The mind is soulless.  The mind is conflicted, quick to reverse its ego serving hard drive.  The mind is a tool that can malfunction.  The mind can be manipulated.  It is one of the human souls' routing systems of all we have the potential to become, but the mind has to be controlled, corralled, soothed and calmed.  The only thing that soothes the mind is the human taking control of it.  And, might I add, if you don't control your mind, someone else will.  Perhaps just an archetype run a muck, or perhaps it's someone else like government, or pharma.  It is much harder to control that which you do not understand.  Knowledge is truly power here.

It's been a long 40 years for me in the desert of my mind.  Unlike the seas and oceans depth, my mind just stretched across for miles in the dust of scorpions.  I am referring to the process that I allowed my mind to take when navigating my world.  Sure, we all have issues, or past experiences, or things that have happened to us that we carry.  We all do.  And sure, some of us are more aware than others even convincing themselves that they're doing something different, finding a better solution, a more profitable outcome, but the results speak volumes.  You are what you think you are, and I am what I think I am.

And, all of that is subject to change in a flash, like a comet streaming across the sky illuminating the shadows and dust that transcends.  Give in to it.  Allow.  Stop resisting.  Only silence and meditation can lead the way through the noisy hallways and persistent sign posts showing choices always, but definitives never.  Courage.  It takes courage to look within and to cultivate truth and integrity in a society that is dead set against your freedom.  My freedom.  I choose to carry my dust pan around on the inside and tidy up.  I'm clearing out, with love, that which no longer serves me.  With respect and gratitude, I silence fear and reach for trust.  You are welcome to sift my ashes to find your own peace.  The grains of sand have much to say and I gladly share, only asking you to use your own discernment, your own souls' affinity for truth, when seeking answers.   Seek your own sands of truth.   Truth wins, hands down.

New International Version

"What is truth?" retorted Pilate. With this he went out again to the Jews gathered there and said, "I find no basis for a charge against him.'

Isn't it interesting that the bible depicts Pilate questioning what truth is?  He is asking from his mind what truth is and then, from his heart he testifies to the truth of that hour, of that Great Man and Teacher Jesus, "I find no basis for a charge against him.", and they crucified him, first with their minds, and afterward their hearts bled.

Oh, that discernment could have formed itself out of dust and ashes and testified to all of us....  Oh, wait.  it did.  Jesus certainly came in truth, died in truth and testified from his heart, truths that will serve mankind until man is kind, kind to ourselves and then, kind to each other.

I am cultivating a kinder mind now.  I am serving a Higher Master now.  No longer will I serve the will of the mind, but the mind will serve my will.  I am the Master.  For this purpose we have come.  We have come into existence to experience the fullness of life and that is love, not drama, not struggle, not a lot of things.  You decide.  I am and I have.    ~*~

The Most Random of Days

We put so much emphasis on events in our lives, the ones coming up and the ones we've just experienced, but how often do we get excited for the sometimes mundane, here and now?  I say mundane, but I surely do not feel that way.  I say mundane, because I think most of you feel that way. Oh sure, cleaning the toilet or washing windows (if you're so privileged) may seem tedious at best and dirty at worst, it is being ever present within that task that actually transcends the task itself making it a moment worth pursuing.  Being present allows consciousness to expand beyond the imposed limitations of disdain and drudgery into the visions of Heaven.  One need only recognize these tasks have virtuous merit pouring out and over into every interaction, every connection, every moment.  Having morphed through life's many challenging experiences, I recognize that the quietest moments can be so much more powerful than the marching bands (and we all know not all marching bands are harmonious, to say the least).  Indeed, the quietest moments help us to stay grounded when the illusory marching bands come clanging by.  Remember in the Bible in the Old Testament, God was neither found in the rushing wind, nor the shaking earth, nor the fire, but in the quiet whisper that followed when things settled down a bit.

1 Kings 19: 10-13

And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty. The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put your prophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me too.”

11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. 13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

I am never alone in that stillness.  And, neither are you (if you believe in that sort of thing).  Belief is paramount, of course, to experiencing the presence of Almighty God and His Host of Heavenly Saints and Angels.    Stillness creates that atmosphere conducive to the ever approaching, gentle yet so powerfully mysterious Spirit of Heaven.  Faith in God allows the presence of God, and all that that brings into life.  But first, you must believe and fortunately for me, I chose to believe at quite a young age.  It is so much more a part of my life than anything else.  I say 'it' but I mean 'Spirit'.  The Spirit of God transcends everything that we do if we allow it to.  Lean into God if you want to know God.  I know after speaking to several college classes lately, that God is needed now more than ever.  

Which brings me back to the present moment (always return to the present moment) and how God transcends every single moment, every single breath, every single thought, every single deed, if we allow Her/Him to.  I am ever allowing.  I welcome the experience of God in everything that I do, and if I'm engaged with you in any way, I am welcoming the experience of God in you.  I have not only come to share but to receive.  I am more open to receiving now than I've ever been and frankly, sometimes, what I need to receive is a lot but we don't always get what we need when we need it. Transcendence truly comes in handy in moments like these.  Given eyes to see, one recognizes the moment is always so much more than we believe it to be.  We sulk when we don't get what we want. We stomp our feet like children when fear overtakes us.  We lash out in disagreement when things don't go our way.  It's moments like these that faith makes all the difference.  You will know them by their fruit and if someone bites your head off, chances are they are not truly utilizing the quiet moments of their lives to maximize Grace during the 'fight song', which they take literally.  

Acknowledge God in all your ways, and He will make your path straight.  Take a moment to thank our Almighty Creator for all that has been given freely and abundantly.  Notice the abundance around you in nature and in love.  There are typically no limitations where God is concerned, so why do we impose limitations on ourselves, and others?  Why is it okay to create turbulent atmospheres throwing peace and tranquility to the wayside like some under appreciated step-child?  When does humility and appreciation overtake us to the point that we would do anything to keep it?  We go to war in the name of peace.  What if we went to peace in the name of war?  What if we put others needs first reaching far beyond our comfort level and opening up the clenched fists?  We're just so quick to anger and at what cost?  When has anger ever put anything into our hands worth keeping?

This is not the way.

In the stillness, you become acquainted with the darkest shadow parts of yourself, and others.  In the quiet, you begin to recognize what, and who you are, and 'whose' you are, as well as others.  As Pastor Joel has said and I'm paraphrasing, 'you came through your parents' you do not belong to your parents.  So who do we belong to?  Where do we come from?  And, do we really want to dismiss those shadows hoping the light won't illuminate them one day on our sojourn back to Source (which is our life's work)?  

Surely I could never live my life that way.  Bring on the light.  Bring on the stillness.  Bring on the evaluation.  I am an open book and I live for God.  I know that you and I have shadows and I acknowledge that I am helpless to dispel them without the Grace of God.   God forbid I should think that my bad behavior is capable of saving anyone on my best day.  No.  If I have ever done any good, it is the Grace of God that has done it and rest assured, if I have done any wrong (and I have) - it was truly I who is responsible and it is I who needs to repent, and I do.  All day, every day.  I have a reset button and I hit it often, as Jim Carey has said, "I ride that sucker all day long".  

God's Grace is sufficient to illuminate my transgressions and allows me the trans-formative power to transmute them for the good.  Thank God for that!  Thank God that I will be a work in progress until the last breath I take.  Thank God that the more I learn, the less I know.  Thank God for humility and love and Grace and stillness.  Thank God for patience and forgiveness.  Thank God for tests and trials. Thank God for all of those that have transgressed against me for they have become my greatest teachers.  I am still receiving this great gift through the Grace of God.  

I would be completely lost without it on the most random of days.