Changing all thoughts that hurt

Loss is not loss when properly perceived.  Pain is impossible.  There is no grief with any cause at all. And suffering of any kind is nothing but a dream. This is the truth, at first to be but said and then repeated many times; and next to be accepted as but partly true, with many reservations. Then to be considered seriously more and more, and finally accepted as the truth.
ACIM-W-284:1:1-6

I'm back. 

Truth is I never left you...all through my wild days, my mad existence...I kept my love for you don't keep your distance...lol...do you know what that is from?  

Okay I am back...not like a normal focused human being who understands what she is writing or why...like I had hoped to return to you. I am  still as confused and 'all over the place' as I was before I left. I am just a little bit more accepting of it, I guess.  :)

Truth is...the week away did not answer any questions for me. I am still not sure why I come here but I find joy, purpose and passion for whatever reason and that is enough. 

I also find escape from my stressors out there.  When I use the word 'escape' I do so with reverence as in 'finding freedom'.  I find a way through the muck and mire of day to day existence in the physical world of limitation, scarcity and 'dukkha' to a peace that exists in the inner world. I don't have to spin my tires here no matter how stuck I may feel out there.  Everything just makes sense. That has to be a good thing, doesn't it?  And if I am not spinning my tires maybe others can stop spinning theirs. Wouldn't that be the next course of action then...to share what I am learning so others can find a certain peace as well?

So here I am.

I can elect to change all thoughts that hurt.

What I am learning is that I can change the way I think.  If I change the way I think and perceive the world, I change the way I live.  I am not saying I have mastered the lessons yet...I am just stepping beyond my reservations into serious consideration.  I cannot  apply them with 100% efficacy out there...but I am learning and I am gaining a little bit of mastery in practice  bit by bit. That has to account for something, doesn't it?

I listen to the wisdom that comes my way.  I do my best to interpret and make sense of it (what you get here) and then I practice it.

We can choose to change all thoughts that hurt.

I came across this video yesterday from my mentor (though he will never know he is my mentor lol), Eckhart Tolle, on getting beyond negative thinking. This is not the first time I spoke of this.  I believe I have a video on negative thinking somewhere on this blog.  But to believe it, sometimes we need to hear it from an expert.  I am, after all, no expert ...just a student of Life, like many of you are.

Tolle, in this video, explains how we get sucked into negative thinking...the muck and mire of our life situations which exists only in our minds. Negative thinking is an addiction.  Something in us does not want to let it go.  We get something from it.  We cling to the thought pattern at certain times in our lives because it serves a purpose.  We want to spin our tires in it.  We want to get stuck in it.  We resist letting it go because ego loves it.  Ego wants us in that mud.  The emotions brought about by negative thinking  like anger, for example, inflate the ego and give identity to it.  

Not on a conscious level, of course, but on some level....we can become " a grievance looking for a cause."  

Tolle offers us steps to follow to help us get out of the negative thinking ruts we may find ourselves in.

 Steps

1.       Be aware.  We need to find that small stream of awareness that allows us to see self while we are in the stream of negative thinking.  We must recognize that  a part of us  “likes it” and does not want to let it go.

2.       Notice part of you that likes the negative thinking and is identified with it and is getting something from it as your ego

3.       See how mind activity of this nature is absolutely futile and serves no purpose.  Ask “Does this thinking pattern change anything in my life for the better or does it  just continue to drag me down and keep me in this hole?”   “Do I have a conditioned belief that I learned that expression of unhappiness will bring reward of some kind…that things will change to my favor if I express unhappiness to self and others?"

4.      Question the truth of those old beliefs and thinking patterns. Need to see how unhappy thoughts actually make life worse and harder, not better.

5.       Question what life would be like without unhappy and negative thought?  “Could I actually feel peaceful presence without this type of thinking?”

6.       Choice comes in…choose to put down  the pattern of negative thinking. 

 

7. If you decide to seek peaceful presence be patient…negative thinking doesn’t go away that quickly.  It has taken years to develop its power and strength and it will take time to let go of it.

8.       Don’t fight negative thinking…don’t resist the thoughts as they  come…just be aware of them. Likely they will come back…it is a familiar pattern that was developed over a life time…just go back to being aware of the futility

9.      Continue to honor and appreciate moments of awareness. When you see what you are doing, you are the awareness…you have separated from the negative thinking.  When you don’t see it…you are the negative thinking, the depression, the anger.  You have identified with it.  Awareness detaches the reality of who you are from that false identity with ego's thinking pattern.

10.  Have faith.  Freedom from negative thinking will come eventually.

 

It is good to be back. All is well in my world.

 

References:

ACIM-W-284

Tolle Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j91ST2gtR44

Rethinking My Purpose Here

Still pondering over whether or not I should take a break from this and rethink my purpose here.  In the mean time,  I came across these words this morning that have settled in my core when it comes to the healing and finding purpose that I have been writing about lately. 

For Your Voice will tell me what to do and where to go; to whom to speak and what to say to him, what thoughts to think, what words to give the world. ACIM-W-275:2:3

I Don't Know What to 'Do'

I don't know why I am here. 

And I don't know what to do 'out there' ( by that I mean this messy world around me :)) I don't know how to fix the things that are broken (if they are broken).  I do not know where to begin to put things back into order if this is indeed chaos.  I don't know what I am supposed to do, to say, or to give to my children, my loved ones, a reader, the world  or this tiny little pile of flesh and bones I over identify with.  (Some may argue about the 'tiny' descriptor I am using lol).  In fact...I don't know anything any more, if I ever did!

That's a strange sensation...to realize one doesn't know  anything but at the same time it is quite freeing.  Needing to know what to do, where to go, what to say and to whom, what to think...are all about me and this isn't about 'me'.  Is it?  This idea of 'me' besides being so darned exhausting, just gets in the  way    of me doing what I am here to do.  (And I don't know what that is)

 Gut -Thing                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               lol)

I come here to the page because I hear that Voice to some degree.  I am definitely not saying I am having a divine calling, that I am channelling or having auditory hallucinations...I am just saying I feel a gentle call for 'inspired action' that brings me here....a gut thing.   I do not understand it.

The Ease of Here

Maybe my writing here  is just some form of addiction, some numbing activity that keeps me away from dealing with the life events going on around me.  Maybe it is an excuse, a form of rationalization so I can feel like I am doing and accomplishing "something' when I feel 'useless' and unproductive out there. There is a certain ease, a certain flow...a certain order to Life  that transpires so effortlessly while I am here.  It is so much easier being here than it is out there.

Not What 'me' Wants

It is not what my little 'me' wants though....far from it.  This idea I have of myself does want to write and play with words but it  wants to write 'normal' stuff...fiction and psychology books based on science and years of other-expressed philosophy. It wants to teach but in the classroom like most 'normal' people.  (Man...I miss my Anatomy classes).  It also wants recognition and praise for what I do...money lol... which would require more readership. This little 'me', this ego, this idea I have of myself...doesn't want me stepping out in to the unknown like this, risking social rejection and failure by writing about such a delicate and controversial thing that I absolutely  have no expertise in, no mastery of.    

Besides the kind comments from a reader or two I have no idea how it is being received by the world or if it is even being received.  I imagine there is a lot of , "Who the %^&* does she think she is writing about this stuff. Is she odd or what?"  To which I would have to honestly answer, "I don't know who I am and yes I am definitely odd because I can't seem to  help doing what I am doing."    It really is beyond me.

Sigh!   The biggest concern of mine lately is what type of example am I setting for my children when they see me here.  Do they see someone who is passionately driven by a creative force and will they be inspired to listen to their own inner callings despite what society deems as appropriate?  Or will they see a lazy, unproductive someone running away from the world, from doing, from Life and learn to do the same?

I don't know!  I don't know anything! Yet here I am.

I need to meditate on this and pray on this and then we will see what the future holds for me and this blog. Chances are I will be back. I have been here before, haven't I?  Many times, I have asked the same questions, taken a break and have come back.  Something keeps pulling me back in again and again...Something much bigger than 'me'.

All is well!                                                                                                                                             

Still pondering Rumi's words of wisdom

The only advantage of not being too good  a housekeeper is that your guests are so pleased to feel how very much better they are.
-Eleanor Roosevelt https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/guests

Eleanor and I would have been really tight if we got to know each other, I think.  :)

Am I one of those uninvited Guests?

 I might step away from this for a while.  It is pure compulsion that brings me here and I cannot explain why or what I am supposed to accomplish by being here...I really do not know.  All I know is that it is the one thing I can do, I want to do, that I am committed to doing. At the same time, it doesn't make a lick of sense to what is left to my rational mind.  Do I need time to ponder my purpose here?

Why am I writing in a blog about waking up when I can barely get out of bed some mornings? There is little readership besides a few devoted souls whom I appreciate immensely but how do I know what I am bringing when I step over the  threshold of their guest houses?  I may be showing up as an undesirable guest in someone else's life, just as these spammer sites are showing up in mine.  Who knows?

Is this good for me?

While I spend the hour or a bit here each day, things are piling up all around me . Despite my love of Being I know things need to be done. I am not 'doing' enough.  I do not even know what to do.  I haven't the mental and physical energy to resist entropy :).  I do not have the desire or motivation to put things in order...by that I mean my life, my house, my family.  And man am I hiding out! I seem to be ducking from anything that requires energy. This blog does not seem to require energy of me.  Isn't that strange? The rest of my life does!

Welcoming it All in!

 To be fair to myself, I am allowing everything Life offers me  in...even the dark thoughts, the shame and the malice for all kinds of positive Self developing reasons but mostly because holding the door closed is too darn tiring. :)

But I am certainly not a gracious host like Rumi suggests we should be. I am not enjoying the company. 

And I get pi$%ed  off from time to time. Some of those little jerks,  the ones that  come in groups (sorrows) seem to be  sweeping everything away from my house, my life, leaving it empty and bare in so many places.  You  think I would appreciate  someone cleaning up around here because I certainly am not. Besides we need more than a little de-cluttering in this place  and the furniture...man...really though...they can have all those fur collectors. I would rather sit on the floor. :)

Still...I cannot seem to appreciate this little gang of hyperactive party thieves simply  because I 'can't control them'. I want control, peace and quiet ...they don't bring that. They(life circumstances) bring unpredictability, chaos and then a sense of emptiness I am not yet used to, when they leave with all my belongings on their backs. So I do not honor them enough for their 'clearing' potential. 

Not an entertaining Host!

As far as being an  entertaining host...  I am not.  I am the kind of person who says in not so many words when I open the door..."Come in, make yourself at home but don't expect me to go over and beyond for ya!  I am not going to stand on my head and spit out nickels for ya.  As soon as you walk through that door, you are treated like family not royalty, k?"  I never liked small talk or gossip nor do I appreciate the energy it requires to put on masks or be anything but what I am.

So when Life shows up in the many ways she does (each moment), I do not go out of my way to entertain her. If she is nasty and hard to handle ...well I want nothing to do with her lol.  I tend to walk with my extra depressing and mean  guests as they go on and on,  towards  the back door  in hope they will take the hint and  leave through there.

Laughter

I do love to laugh though.  I am not laughing enough these days. Oh man...I miss laughing.  I had one little bout a week ago over an email I wrote.  I was describing my life to a couple of others and seeing the absurdity of it struck me so funny...and I laughed. I laughed and laughed until the tears came out and my belly hurt.  D. and the kids thought I finally went over the cliff I was wobbling on ...they couldn't understand why I found it funny.  I was reminded of how wonderful it feels to laugh and to make others laugh.  Man...I miss laughing!

Now I will accept all the unexpected and undesirable guests if I have to but what I would really like is for some experiences to come to my 'guest house' carrying bundles of hope, sunshine and joy...to just fill up every corner of this place with it. That would be so great.

I know that these desirable guests will not be able to stay here for ever though, that they too will just be temporary visitors passing through, but  if they could...just  for a bit... bring a little of that good stuff in, in  such an obvious way that I can't help but to laugh... I would really be grateful then.

Rumi's Point

Ahhh!  But that's not the point of Rumi's teaching is it?

I need to also be grateful for those guests who come into my house carrying their garbage and their baggage, who are unpleasant  and who get my attention with their misbehaviour.

Those guests that bring darkness are just as valuable as those that bring light.  Those that bring tears are just as valuable as those that bring laughter. Those that take away are just as valuable as those that give. (That's a good thing then because they seem to be arriving in flocks lately).

Each  so called "Guest" is sent by Something Greater- a guide from beyond.  Each comes with a purpose to teach and enrich my Life with the magical experience of being human....even if I cannot see or understand what that purpose is.

Who am I to judge them, to deny them or  to discriminate against any newcomer? They are, after all,  all guests in my house. I pray that I will learn to welcome them all in with laughter.

All is well in my world!

The Guest House (translated by Coleman Barks: (http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poems/guest-house)

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness, 
some momentary awareness comes 
as an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they’re a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still, treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond.

Jalaluddin Rumi

Meet them at the Door Laughing

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
 and invite them in.
From Rumi's, The Guest House


How many of us, I wonder,  can meet these things at the door laughing? Most of us do whatever we can to pretend we are not home when these types of visitors knock on our 'Guest House' doors,  don't we?

"Sh@#!!!"  we might say, as we, with the reflexes of a NHL goalie,  duck below the window frame and turn the light switch off with whatever object we are holding in our hands.  Crawling on hands and knees we are going to try to get as far away from the undesirable, unexpected ( and sometimes expected) company, are we not?

Many of us do not  see our human lives  as"Guest" houses, anyway.  We hide, instead,  in  private houses with "Beware of Dog!" and "Keep off the Grass!" signs where 'Welcome' and 'Come in! We are Open' signs should be.  We have bolts and locks and double alarms for protection. And many of us do not open our homes to the friendly visitors, let alone malicious ones.

Dark thoughts, shame and malice are among the many  life events  we do not want in our private mental  spaces.  So we shut them out with repression and suppression; we turn our backs on them with denial.  We pretend we are not home by numbing out on senseless activity or substances.

And if after all this... these 'guests' continue to push their way in we, with tongue protruding, push with all our might against the opening door.  We resist!  We do not care how many toes we break in the process or how much peace and effort we must expend.  The message is "Keep Out of my house!"

 

At what cost?  Does this bring us the protection we long for?  Does it keep our mind's safe and calm? Our lives peaceful and serene? No!

There is no running or hiding away from life's contrast.  These visitors were sent to us for a reason.  They are on a mission and they will get in, one way or another.  If we fail to accept them, they can become intruders pretty fast.

When you are sleeping at night, exhausted from the battle of defending and resisting...they will break in and out of vengeance wreck your home.  They will hide in closets and dark corners and attack you when you are not looking.  They will pop out when you least expect it!

Resisting them only makes them more persistent. Resistance makes them enemies and violent intruders when all they really want to be are guests!

It is not they that destroys your peace, wrecks your home and leaves your life in a mess.  It is your resistance to them, that does that.  They have to come in one way or the other and they will.  It is up to you to choose whether they will be guests or intruders in your mind.

The next time they come to your door/your Life...try not to resist. See them as the guests they are...welcome them in with a laughing attitude.  Know that as long as they are guests they can not harm you.  They will come in, stay a bit, do whatever they do but like all 'guests' they will eventually leave.  See no harm in them and they will bring no harm. 

Learn to laugh at their arrival and their silly antics knowing that there is no reason to fear. You are after all a 'guest house' meant to be  welcome and open to all kinds of experiences.  Enjoy all guests without resistance and just see how much easier Life will seem!

(This is clip art I am not sure how to cite it)

 

 

Today belongs to love.  Let me not fear.

ACIM-w-274

 

All is well in my world!

References:
http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/poetry/poems/guest-house

Some 'Wonder'ful Wisdom from Thich Nhat Hanh

All the wonders of life are already here. They’re calling you. If you can listen to them, you will be able to stop running. What you need, what we all need, is silence. Stop the noise in your mind in order for the wondrous sounds of life to be heard. Then you can begin to live your life authentically and deeply. https://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/42431497-silence-the-power-of-quiet-in-a-world-full-of-noise

Are you there for the wonders of this life or are you stuck in one of those seemingly endless traffic roundabouts in your mind?  I don't know about you but I seem to keep missing the exit and I am running out of gas.  :)

If you know how to be happy with the wonders of life that are already there for you to enjoy, you don't need to stress your mind and your body by striving harder and harder, and you don't need to stress this planet by purchasing more and more stuff. The Earth belongs to our children. We have already borrowed too much from it, from them; and the way things have been going, we're not sure we'll be able to give it back to them in decent shape. And who are our children, actually? They are us, because they are our own continuation. So we've been shortchanging our own selves.

https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/533152-if-you-know-how-to-be-happy-with-the-wonders

Parenting is a wonder that is all about loving presence.  I love this:

When you love someone, the best thing you can offer is your presence. How can you love if you are not there?
Read more at: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/thich_nhat_hanh_531602It's

 

It's all good!

Reacting to stats

My stats are showing that I am getting spammer sites accessing  my blog that I definitely do not want!  This 'faz*****... site that has been showing up on stats... is a sex solicitation  site and I do not want to see it to my stats.  I do not understand how it is getting past my spammer protection.

Man...that sounded so judgmental, didn't it?  I am not judging those who take part in the act of prostitution.  I have no right to.  So many make a conscious choice to solicit for whatever reason and too many others don't have that choice.  Sex trafficking is a very sad  reality robbing the lives of men and women everywhere.  That breaks my heart.  I am not judging  and definitely not saying I don't want individuals who may find themselves in these situations, by choice or otherwise,  not to read.  I just don't want the type of spammer attachment...which has nothing to do with readership...that brings more of the same type of traffic .

Man...I 'reacted' instead of responded  when I seen the new site increasing the readership stats.  Responses are of the heart which is always kind; reactions are of the mind which is  rarely kind

Respons-ibility Vs Respons-(dis)-ability

One's philosophy is not best expressed in words; it is expressed in the choices one makes...and the choices we make are ultimately our responsibility.
Eleanor Roosevelt (https://www.brainyquote.com/topics/responsibility)

Eleanor's words have been vibrating in my ears since my "Aha!" moment at 530 this am.  (Why on earth do moments of profound realization have to hit us so bloody early in the morning lol...especially when we are already so sleep deprived?) It was so intense.


The Aha!

The realization, that pretty much floored me was, "I am responsible to some degree for what my children are continuing to experience and act out as suffering in their lives."  Whoa!!! That was a big one.  All the ' could of,' 'would of', 'should of' dones of my parenting  hit me like  a slap in the face, one at a time.   I seen so clearly how I was allowing my own 'crap' to get in the way of my parenting responsibility for too long. My own need to hide away from the world, like a sick cat licking its wounds, interfered with my response  to my children's needs in a healthy and effective way.  I let them down to save myself.

  It was a truth that knocked me to the ground.  It was a truth I knew all along but denied, rationalized, and intellectualized my way over like I was on some mental John Deere mowing away all the unpleasant grass that was interfering with my need for smooth.

I neglected my responsibility. That's not a nice thought to realize at 530 in the morning and ego can have a field day with it if we let it, overwhelming us with punishment for our sin in the form of guilt and shame. That's because we truly do not understand the nature of the word.

What does responsibility mean?

We often get tripped up on the word responsibility.  We see it as meaning obligation, duty, something we 'owe' and 'have to do.  It induces fear, anxiety, a tendency to want to avoid it or to over exaggerate it leading to constant  guilt and shame.  Yet that is because we got it all wrong. Responsibility...respons-ability- is simply the ability to respond...and to act in the way that serves all best.

We all have a certain amount of responsibility to others in this world.  We all have the ability to respond rather than react, whether we know it or not.  As parents we have an ability to respond to our children in ways that will best serve them.  When they are in need we have the ability to respond....but too often we react in self serving, 'self'  protecting ways without even realizing it.  Ego too often gets in between the situation and our knowledge of our ability to respond.  It tricks us into reacting.

Respon-(dis)-ability

Ego is not an altruist parent nor is it a friend to us.  It couldn't care less about our children or about us.  It just wants to serve itself. Reactivity serves ego, responding from a place of higher wisdom doesn't. It therefore creates reactivity in the form of non-action; too much action...chaotic unfocused action.It will then blame us and shame us for the choices it encouraged us to make; for what we do or do not do as parents; it will then try to soothe us and redeem us with a whole bunch of rationalizations, denials, and  intellectualizations  just so we do not 'respond' from the higher place that diminishes its power over us.  It gives us a long list of reasons why we couldn't, shouldn't and are unable to respond. It creates the respons-dis-ability net for us to fall into and hide under. Ego reacts...it does not respond but we can!

Responsibility is not about taking blame...it is about owning our ability and making better choices for ourselves and others. My hiding away from life has translated into my running and hiding away from the bigger issues my children face.  Though I have been dealing with it on a superficial level...able to truthfully say in words what I have done as a parent...I have not been dealing with it on the deeper more Life affirming and 'healing' level.  I was not operating from the state I want my children to operate from.

I need to be there for them, not in my ego derived sense of 'me' way. I need to reach out from a state of peace, the kind healing provides. So what if my body is tired.  so what if my mind is tired...I do not need to use that as an excuse for not taking part in inspired action for their benefit. ?  This is not about 'me'.  It is  about the greater I.  I still need more healing to get there.  If I want them to heal I have to be healed. 

My best response is owning that I am not healed....admitting that, and making honest steps to heal.  And ...not from my head or my physical being but from the only place where healing can take place.

Man...I am not making sense...and I am not sure I care....because it is not in words that my philosophies will be expressed but in my actions. I may need to do a little more...in an inspired way. I need to respond and to know that without ego, I am not disabled.

If we give way to a disturbance, let us learn how to dismiss it and return to peace. ACIM-W-273:1:3


When we respond we dismiss it...when we react ...we resist it.

All is well.

Accept Before You Act

Accept - then act. Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you have chosen it. Always work with it, not against it.

-Eckhart Tolle (https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/177877-accept---then-act-whatever-the-present-moment-contains-accept)

 

 

The Guest House

 

This being human is a guest house.
Every morning a new arrival.

A joy, a depression, a meanness,
some momentary awareness comes
As an unexpected visitor.

Welcome and entertain them all!
Even if they're a crowd of sorrows,
who violently sweep your house
empty of its furniture,
still treat each guest honorably.
He may be clearing you out
for some new delight.

The dark thought, the shame, the malice,
meet them at the door laughing,
and invite them in.

Be grateful for whoever comes,
because each has been sent
as a guide from beyond. 

Rumi

 

From: https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-guest-house-2/

Say "No" to Reactivity

Always say "Yes" to the present moment. What could be more futile, more insane than to create inner resistance to what already is? What could be more insane than to oppose Life itself, which is now and always now.  Surrender  to what is. Say "yes" to Life- and see how Life suddenly starts working for you rather than against you.
-Eckhart Tolle (https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/4493.Eckhart_Tolle)


Say 'No' to  Reactivity

So how do we know that we are reacting to life events ?

Well if you find that you are spending most of your time 'thinking' about your life situations than you are probably reacting.  Most of our reactions are mental. Of those 60,000 thoughts, we are said to have a day, 80 percent of them are related to what has happened and what we anticipate will happen in our lives. We are 'reacting' to life event when we think the same tired thoughts over and over again and we are  making these life events so much 'worse' than they actually are in most cases.

Do you find yourself needing to move, fix, solve and do?  If you find that sitting quietly in a room alone is next to impossible...than you are likely reacting.

If you find yourself complaining about others or life events internally or externally...you are reacting rather than responding. Complaining is a sign that we are resisting life as it is and reaction is all about not being willing or able to settle into our moment, accepting it as it is. If there are any "No!  This should not be happening!" or "This is not fair , I won't accept it!" in your vocabulary than you are indeed reacting

If you find yourself unbalanced skipping from one emotion to the next, you are reacting. Do you find your happiness and peace  is dependent on just the right thing happening in the way you expect it should?   Are you angry one second because someone is not doing what you ask and think they should, and relieved the next when they do?  Are you happy about something positive that might happen and sad when it doesn't happen? If so, you are reacting.

Are you fighting against anything or anyone ?  Putting effort and struggle into making a stand against those people and conditions  of the world that are 'unfair,' 'wrong,' and 'unjust."?  I f so you are reacting.

If you are judging anything to be 'unfair", unacceptable," "shouldn't be'...or even   'right' than you are reacting.

Are you a victim of the clock? Are you constantly dwelling and talking about the past as a rationalizing and explanation?  Or are you filling your minds and speech with "Whens" and "ifs" that belong to a future time that will only be the 'now' when it arrives? If so you are reacting.

If you are also filling your speech and mind with "I" and "me" and identification with story...than you are reacting to the events of a story you are partially creating.

Can you sit quietly through any experience with the same calm expression on your face?  If you can't you are reacting.

Hmmm! Are you reacting?

So if we are finding that our response to life's offerings is one of mental, emotional and behavioral reactivity, what do we do?

The way to deal with reactivity I believe involves the following steps:

1. Be aware of your own reactivity.  Don't beat yourself up over it just be aware of it. Look for it when things are not going your way and even when they are. See it in yourself. Ask yourself: How am I feeling physically and emotionally right now? What is my mind telling me that is leading to this emotion? Where does this thought or belief come from: ego or my higher self? Just be alert.  As long as you are aware of it; as long as you are seeing it...than you are not getting lost in the crazy notion that you are it.
2. Get out of your head and into your physical body: Breathe!  Take those nice slow breaths or at least be aware of the breath going in and going out.  This will soothe the mind and reconnect you with the body you are in.  It will take your focus from your mind to the body. 
3. Use your five senses to connect you with the here and now: You have to get out of your head and back into the moment.  Most reactivity is a result of resisting the moment. ...of making an enemy out of the here and now. A lot of times we run from the present moment into our mental activity.  We hide in that head of ours so we do not experience the 'unpleasantness' of the moment.  We lose touch with our bodies and the world around us.  Get back in your body and work from there. Become aware of your surroundings.  what do you see/  What do you hear, smell or taste? What does it feel like?
4. Detach from the life event, person or circumstance:  All we need to do this is to dis-identify with it.  See it as something that is happening around you or even to you but it isn't you.  Make the distinction between life circumstance and Life; your reaction and you.  As long as you are aware of your reactivity you are detaching from it.
5. From here...accept the present moment which will mean accepting where you are, the person in front of you, the situation (whatever it may be), the way your  body and mind is feeling.  Just say yes! to it.  Stop resisting...surrender and let go. Tell yourself "It is what it is, and it's okay."  And it is okay...no matter what is happening...it is okay.  No matter what the other person may be saying or doing...it is okay. Once you remove reactivity , the circumstance becomes just that...circumstance. There is a simplicity to it and there is a temporary nature to it that the ego doesn't want you to see.  Like all things of this physical world, "It too shall pass!".  What you are feeling and experiencing will pass as well.  It's okay.
6. Allow everything to be as it is!
7. Become aware of your awareness.  Feel the is-ness of you that has been hiding  beneath your reactivity. this Is-ness is calm, serene existing in space and silence...it is not one tiny bit disturbed by what is happening to you or around you. Just feel it and know it is there.
8. Now ask It: What can I do here, if anything to improve the situation in a way that will not hurt me or others and that will involve a higher Will?
9. Listen and take part in the inspired action or inaction as you are guided.
10. Respond to Life instead of reacting to life situation.  

All is well.

Peace- filled Faces Reflect Peace -filled Responses

The face is the mirror of the mind, and eyes, without speaking, confess the secrets of the heart.
St Jerome ( https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/st_jerome_190064?src=t_face)


I want to talk a little more about the learning that comes from Lao Tzu's story about the old farmer that I wrote about in my last entry.  I want to talk about learning to respond to life rather than react.

Are your reactive or responsive? 

When faced with unpleasant life situations do you contract and cry out to the universe with anger, frustration and shock, "No!  This shouldn't be!!!"? Is your happiness and peace dependent on what happens 'to you' or around you?  Do you shrink up with every unkind gesture or word you receive from another?  Are you at the mercy of life events that do not turn out the way you think they should?  If you answer yes to any of the above questions (I always wanted to say that lol) you are reacting to life rather than responding.

Not alone

Don't fret though because you are not alone.  Most of us, well those of us who still operate under ego's guidance ( and that would probably be about 99 % of us :)), react more than we respond.  It is the person who is able to put away his ego or her attachment to a socially prescribed idea of what he/she or life should be like that is able to respond like the old man did in the story.

Response differs from reactivity in that in involves so little emotional drama, no desire to miserate or commiserate, no resistance,  and no yo-yo like up and down movement of our feelings.  At the  same time it offers no assurance that everything is going to be great and that we are fortunate or not...it does offer stability and peace. It provides  a grounding into who we really are so we can deal with the event, the other person, the body etc...in a way that is healthy and much more Life affirming.

It is written on the face

One way to determine if we are responsive or reactive is through our facial expressions. It is said that our faces reveal what is in our minds. This is such a well known fact that a study was recently done to monitor the driving risk factors  associated with angry or overstressed drivers through facial expression alone. https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/200407/files/icip1024-cam-ready.pdf  Our faces can express  just how reactive we are both in the car and outside of it.

Do you smile at the person who walks by only when they smile at you?  If they shoot you what seems to be a dirty look  do your eyes and mouth drop as your heart sinks?  If you are waiting for a check in the mail...does your face light up when you open it or fall when the mail box is once again empty?  The face says so much about what we are feeling and if we are not feeling peaceful all the time we are reactive.  If our facial expressions change quickly from one moment to the next , mirroring the life events we are encountering (and judging) than we are indeed reactive.

 

The Never Changing  Faces of the Wise

When what others would call adversity came to the old farmer's hilltop  and he uttered that famous word, "Maybe," his face was calm and peaceful.  When what others called good fortune showed up, his face was calm and peaceful.  His peace was not dependent on life situation being a certain way. He did not allow emotional reactivity to feed his ego.  Instead he just responded with a tiny word of acceptance,  faith and hope in possibility. "Maybe"

Sages and saints, those who have truly lost their attachment to ego lies and who see the distinction between life events and Life, exude and exuded that same facial expression as the old man did...one that does not fluctuate with the change of outer world events.

Look at the Dali llama when he is speaking.  When he goes from easy friendly topics of discussion to ones that are rather intense, his face does not change much.  There always remains a hint of  that beautiful infectious smile. Sri Rama Maharishi was reported to keep the same calm expression on his face no matter what was going on around him or to him.  It is said that when he was having major surgery on his arm, and only under mild local anesthesia, his face did not flinch through the entire procedure. (Jnani, 2018)

Putting Peace on our Faces and Into Our Lives

When we learn to accept life as it  is and not see it as a series of random events that are happening to us or around us; when we give up our self destructive attachment to things and ideas that deny who we really are; when we put away our idea that we are supposed to feel and react a certain way because we are human; and  when we stop depending on external things to make us happy...than ...'maybe' we too can exude the face of calm wisdom that shows the world and ourselves that we are ready to respond rather than react.  Maybe we can feel and express peace at all times.

All is well in my world.

https://infoscience.epfl.ch/record/200407/files/icip1024-cam-ready.pdf

Sri Ramamna Maharshi (2018) Jnani. Cineflex productions

The Power of Maybe

Not a victory is gained, not a deed of faithfulness or courage is done, except upon a maybe....And often enough the faith beforehand in the uncertified result [the maybe] is the only thing that makes the results come true.
William James; from The Will to Believe (pg 43)


"Maybe",  A Story

I am going to begin by telling you an ancient Chinese story. It was originally told by Lao Tzu  many, many years  ago and later relayed by many spiritual teachers including Allan Watts(see the link below to his narrated animation) and the authors of the wonderful little book I am reading now, Experiencing Spirituality. It goes something like this:

There was once a hard working and devoted  farmer who lived way up on the hill above the village.  He was a faithful man and  loved his horses and he loved his children very much. One day, his favorite horse ran away.  His neighbors, hearing the awful news, flocked to his side to offer their condolences.  Clicking their tongues, they voiced their desire to commiserate, "Oh this is such terrible luck!  What an awful thing to happen.  The absolute worse, don't you think?" To which the farmer, with a look of calm acceptance on his face, replied, "Maybe."

The next day, as the farmer was milking his cow in an open stall overlooking the village, he saw in the near distance his own prized stallion leading a herd of beautiful mustangs toward his farm.  The horse was not only returning but bringing six more soon to be prized animals with him.  The villagers, huffing and puffing with excited effort, ran up the hill behind the herd to congratulate their neighbor.  "You must be so happy", they exclaimed.  "Isn't this the most wonderful thing to happen? What great fortune, don't you think?" To which the old farmer, not removing himself from the task of milking his cow and with a look of calm, acceptance on his face replied, "Maybe".

Later that week, his eldest son who the old farmer heavily  depended on to help with the farm, saddled  one of the wild stallions in an attempt to break him in. He was thrown high and far, landing in a way that broke his leg in several places.  Knowing that the old farmer would now be forced to watch his beloved son suffer while he was left to run the farm himself, the  villagers once again climbed the hill.  They gathered around  the old man so they could commiserate with him.  Clicking their tongues and shaking their heads they cried, "Oh my, I can't believe this happened to you.  What terrible, terrible luck, don't you think?"  To which the old man replied while he tended to the splint on his son's leg and with a look of calm acceptance on his face, "Maybe".

The day after the fall, conscription officers marched to the village to take away all the young men of fighting age for the emperor's army.  The old farmer stood on the top of the hill and watched  as many strong, strapping and beloved sons were taken away. Once again, the neighbors saddened and disheartened by their own losses, climbed the hill to tell the old man how fortunate he was for the turn of events.  Crying and weeping in their own grief they exclaimed.  "Oh how very lucky you are. This is the  best thing that could have happened to you, don't you think?"   To which the  old man replied with a look of calm acceptance on his face, "Maybe".

(I added my own little bits here and there lol). 


So what is the moral of the story? 

Well Lao Tzu said it best in Verse 58 of the Tao-Te-Ching, Happiness is rooted in misery, misery lurks beneath happiness.  Who knows what the future holds? 

In other words, do not get too hung up on circumstances or on emotions.  We never know what life is going to give us and emotionally reacting as socially expected is not a necessity for peace.  Staying calm and accepting of the  fact that life is unpredictable, is.


Let all things be exactly as they are. ACIM-W-268

So What Does this have to do with anything?


So what does it all have to with my topic today? I wanted to talk about the not so obvious meaning of the word 'Maybe. ' Maybe is a word of faithfulness that implies  there just may be  more than this, what we seem to be going through; there may be more to life than circumstance; there 'may be' a way to get through whatever life has to offer; 'there may be' light even when everything appears so dark  and 'maybe' there is more blessing than we realize in things that don't go our way. 

Maybe doesn't give us any certainties but it certainly offers us hope and possibility, doesn't it? If maybe  makes us put away the ego ingrained notion that we are powerless to change or  stuck in the emotional holes we are in, for even  the briefest of times, is it not a word we should be reciting often?  I think it is a pretty darned amazing word, don't you?

Now I am going to get intense!


Depression

I have been thinking heavily on the effects of depression.  I see so many people in this world of ours suffering with it.  I also see people I love gasping for breath  under the hold it has on their minds.  I see and hear loved ones  choking on negative thoughts as light and beauty gets zapped away from their perceptions and maliciously replaced with veils of  darkness and hopelessness.

The Canadian Association of Mental Health reports that one in four people in Canada will be affected by this darkness at some point in their lives. The world statistics are even graver. Depression, in today's society, is very real and most tragically, it can be lethal. 

To me...this 'disease' is ego at its miserable worst. Ego strips beautiful minds, with the potential to do so much good, of hope just so it can survive. Plaguing the world with fear based negativity and its selfish  attitude, "If I gotta go down, you are coming with me'', it robs so many of the precious will to live.

It saddens me deeply to  look upon this global and somewhat 'personal' issue and I feel somehow that  'I" in this little vehicle of skin and bone with just a few meager gifts and talents to offer, am supposed to do something about it.  I feel the inspiration to do something about it!  Not just to help my loved ones 'get through' it but to help others in the world as well. 

Say What?

At the same time the inspiration arises, I shake my head over the immensity of the problem and my own  grandiosity.  "Who am I, to do anything?  What have I got that can help?  Is my wish to help just my  ego stepping in with its desire to be recognized for some martyrdom award? Isn't help the sunny side of control?  What can I possibly do  when I can barely take care of myself, let alone my loved ones?

When I silence ego, I hear the faint 'maybe' vibrating inside me and I know that 'maybe'  isn't of me but of something so much greater. That 'maybe', may be the response to my prayers.  I had asked over and over recently to be shown where I should now serve in this world of ours.  As my ego slips away, I so know it isn't all about me anymore.  I asked that I be taken where I am needed most.

Is it  to this area of mental health, where the inspiration is pointing?  'Maybe'. 

Can I do good here?  Maybe.

Infuse the world with Maybe.

Maybe, all my part entails is helping to infuse the world with the power of 'maybe'?

I fell in love with the word 'Maybe' today because I suddenly realize its power.  This whole problem I see  is a result of a lack of maybe in our world.  Be it deemed a biochemical imbalance or a human response to trauma....depression is a symptom of a greater 'maybe-less' disease. 

So what do we do about it? Besides improving access to and service from our mental health systems; besides removing the damaging stigma from society, once and for all; besides increasing public and professional understanding of the  disease, we, as people, need to  infuse this anemic world with 'maybe'.  We need to offer  faith in something bigger than our own little 'me-sense'.

Is  that where I come in? May be.

Could it be in spirituality ,that the answer to depression lies?  Maybe

I recently came across a wonderful TED Talk Video on the possibility that depression is not just a biochemical disorder or a response to life circumstance...but it could also be a door that opens to something greater. It could be gateway for the Divine to come through.

Could depression take us closer to God?  "May be"

If anything, it can be the solution to this epidemic, may be.  The clinical psychologist and scientific researcher speaking in this video states that the frontal cortex of people with depression was shown to be thin and fragile...but in those who claimed a spiritual faith/practice( which they did not doubt)...the cortex is thick and strong. Hmm!

Could science prove that spirituality is the best antidepressant there is?  "May be"


Whether science proves it or not, it is time for me to do my small, possibly insignificant part, to bring hope back to the hopeless. It is time to encourage the use of the word that inspires faith and is inspired by faith.  It is time to fill the world with the possibility of 'May be."

And I don't mean maybe.  :)


Suppose, however thickly evil crowds upon you ,that your unconquerable subjectivity proves to be their match, and that you find a more wonderful   joy than any passive pleasure can bring in trusting ever the larger whole[spirituality].  Have you not now made a life worth living on those terms? What sort of a thing would life really be, with your qualities ready for a tussle with it, if it only brought fair weather and gave these higher faculties of yours no scope? Please remember that optimism and pessimism are definitions of the world, and our own reactions on the world, small as they are in bulk, are integral parts of the whole thing, and necessarily help to determine the definition. They may even be the decisive elements in determining the definition. (James; page 43-44)

Maybe the use of 'maybe' could be the decisive element that brings the world from pessimism to optimism; and from darkness in to the light.

All is well in my world!


References:


ACIM Workbook; Lesson 268

James, William ( 1896 ) Excerpts from The will to Believe as retrieved from: https://books.google.ca/books?id=3PxcDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA43&lpg=PA43&dq=Not+a+victory+is+gained,+not+a+deed+of+faithfulness+or+courage+is+done,+except+upon+a+maybe&source=bl&ots=56Y0niqHP2&sig=yRW8gwM-zjeAacyV9_DMB6Ibcxo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiOr8j1jtbdAhVpplkKHaE2AWsQ6AEwAXoECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=Not%20a%20victory%20is%20gained%2C%20not%20a%20deed%20of%20faithfulness%20or%20courage%20is%20done%2C%20except%20upon%20a%20maybe&f=false


Kurtz, E. &  Ketcham, K. (2014) Experiencing Spirituality: Finding Meaning Through Storytelling. New York; Penguin

Miller, Lisa (July, 2014) Depression and Spiritual Awakening-Two sides of one door. TEDx Teachers College. Retrieved https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7c5t6FkvUG0

Tao-Te-Ching (March, 2016) Allan Watts on the Tao of Gain and Loss http://tao-in-you.com/alan-watts-on-tao-of-gain-and-loss/

Chapter 58, Tao-Te Ching. Retrieved from Wassu http://www.wussu.com/laotzu/laotzu58.html

They Exist; They Are

Truth, wisdom, goodness, beauty, the fragrance of a rose: All resemble spirituality in that they are intangible, ineffable realities. 

 We may know them, but we can never grasp them with our hands or with our words.  These entities have neither color nor texture; they cannot be gauged in inches or ounces or degrees; they do not make a noise to be measured in decibels; they have no distinct feel as do silk, wood, or cement; they give no odor; they have no taste; they occupy no space.

 

And yet they exist; they are.  Love exists, evil exists, beauty exists, and spirituality exists...We do not define them; they define us.

 

Beautiful words from:

 

Kurtz, E. &  Ketcham, K. ( 2014 ) Experiencing Spirituality:  Finding Meaning Through Story Telling. New York: Penguin. (page 31)

Children's Toys?

Shall we not put away these sharp-edged children's toys?
-ACIM-W-4. What is Sin?:5:2

My head is spinning today with new ideas, new questions and new thoughts.  :) I want to expand a bit on what I wrote about last entry and indirectly use it to explain another word I have been tripping over. That word is 'Sin".

How does entropy relate to the word sin? 

Well, to begin, I see both the use of 'entropy' and 'sin'  as being open to a lot of conflicting interpretations. I could have put the science community in an uproar with my lay man's description of such an important and complicated natural law, as I have described in the last post.  From what I read, chemists differ in their interpretation than biologists do.  The mathematicians and physicists understanding of the term may differ from that of the organic scientists.  A philosopher's or mere writer's definition or interpretation should be ignored all together, lol. (From what I read).  So there is some conflicting interpretation in regards to this word, entropy. 

And there is a lot of conflicting interpretation of the word, 'sin'.  I know I am going to cause an uproar with the majority of opinion holders by my description of this new understanding of it that takes me away from what I was brought up to believe it meant.  I know how 'sensitive' this topic is...how ingrained the belief in sin ideology is.  It is not my intention to offend or step on tender toes. I am not denying the importance of religious or cultural belief. I do not mean to hurt anyone but at the same time I seriously believe we need to question this idea of 'sin' we cling to.  Maybe we have to ask: Is sin a useful, educational children's toy that promotes goodness and God's order or a sharp-edged one that damages and scars? 

Our conditioned idea of Sin, I believe, is a sharp-edged children's toy.


I was raised Catholic and sin was a very big and ominous word for many of us who grew up in that faith tradition. ...most Christian  faith traditions, actually.  Sin was something we were taught that we intentionally and unintentionally committed as we tramped along our paths.  It included  a myriad of judged infractions  from swearing to viciously murdering someone.

Sin was  a horrible thing that stained the soul and made us unworthy of God's proximity. It didn't just illicit feelings of guilt and remorse for what we did or did not do.  It induced and maintained a sense of shame and unworthiness for who we were.  It separated and kept us away from God until we repented and were forgiven. Like the cross, it was a heavy, heavy weight to carry but carry it we must because  the thing is...we were born with it.  We didn't have to 'do' anything to be sinners.  We were born that way.

Who judged a sin a sin in this version?  God did, of course, and all his management people, trickling down the hierarchy from the Pope to the old lady sitting in the pew behind you with Sunday's missile rolled up in her hand, ready to give you a bonk on the  head whenever you sinfully disrespected the Mass by giggling or forgetting to kneel at the appropriate time.

Because of the extensiveness of this hierarchy perception of  what God might have meant by 'sin', the understanding and meaning of it   would likely change and even become distorted as it made its way down the chain of judges.  Sin could  change from place to place and person to person.

A lot of individual 'judgment' is infused into the traditional version of sin. Moses laid down the laws as directed by God  but man expanded on those commandments  with his own interpretation and his own judgment and his own means of punishment.  Sins after all have to be punished. . . .

The punishment

In societal terms...this interpretation of sin gets muted and distorted from culture to culture leading to social sanctions and laws for the cultural community it is expressed in. Many of these laws are still based on religious influences of that area. And of course, if you break the law there is punishment by law.

Well the punishment in metaphysical terms for sin is different than that of the law. It involves  further staining on your soul.  The punishment is a  deep seated sense of shame and unworthiness that you will be expected to  carry forever and that will trickle into all avenues of your life.  The punishment is this sense of isolation and separation from God...this being pulled away from Source.  The punishment lies in  not being accepted or maybe  even rejected  by the One that is everything. 

The punishment is fear.  Sin brings the devil and the devil, sin. The devil  is the entity that symbolizes the 'evil' and 'demonic quality of sin.  It represents, I believe, man's internal conflict with fear. Sin means man, knowing it or not,  is choosing hell over heaven, fear over Love. That type of damnation  punishment is very destructive to peace and happiness, to say the least.

Repent


There is a so called hope though in this belief system...not for ridding one's self from sin altogether, that  stain on the Soul, according to certain religions,  can not be wiped clean with any amount of Shout... but penance could lessen  the effect sin had on your life  and more importantly  after death.  The message is: "Maybe, you will never get close to God now but after you die there may be a room for You in that big house of His...if you follow the repenting protocol."

Every tradition has their own idea of how to repent.  I spent hours in the confessional as a kid and consequently hours on my knees saying the Hail Mary because I said the  Lord's name in vain or spit on my brother after he drew freckles over my favorite doll's face.  Was this penance working?  Did it cleanse me?  Was I really that 'dirty' to begin with?

Penance can differ from one faith tradition to another. Whether it is through karma or confession...the idea is to clean the soul as much as possible...though the original stain may never be removed in this life time. Heaven will never be attained until after the body dies and only if  you repented in the 'right way'.

Do we truly understand the meaning of 'Sin'?

 Do you know what the  earliest biblical translations of this Hebrew word chait, where sin is said to come from, actually means?  It means to miss the mark...to miss in reference to aiming a sling shot.  How did we get what we know it as now, out of that? 

Did we blow the translation out of proportion or what? How did we bring the devil and eternal damnation into a reference of  being a bit off target with the sling shot?   Who is responsible for that connotation?  Certainly not God.

We make mistakes as human beings.  Not saying what we do is right, not saying that it is wrong.  I am not even saying that even minor infractions don't  deserve punishment. Yet is the way we view 'Sin' and its consequences totally realistic , when what was actually meant was a missed target?

Many of us  are off target in our lives...We are away from the target...that alignment with God.  We do things that may cause pain to others. We go a bit too far off the course or way too far and that is 'a mistake!'  A great big one many times! 

Why do we miss the mark? Probably because we are not seeing or thinking clearly.  That is what sin is. Sin is not thinking or seeing clearly enough to hit the mark!

 "Sin is insanity.  It is the means by which the mind is driven mad, and seeks to let illusions take the place of truth." ACIM-W-4. What is sin?-1:1-2

Do we truly understand the meaning of Repent?

The word repent comes from a Greek translation meaning basically, 'a change of heart or to perceive differently'.  Wow!   If that is what it means, we simply need to change our minds...stop thinking in the illusionary way we are and to be willing to perceive differently in order to 'pay for our sins'..  We do not have to bargain over heaven and hell, to walk around carrying this heavy cross of shame.  Do we?

We are told that if we repent in certain self-punishing ways we will be worthy enough to get closer to God. What good does the self loathing, the shame, this sense of unworthiness do for us, others or God anyway?  Does it help us get closer to God and to each other?  Certainly not.  It creates separation and isolation.

Isn't this true?:

 Whoever does not love, does not know God, for God is Love. 1John 4:8 NIV

So if this is true and we reach out with a fear of damnation  in our hearts, are we repenting with a desire for God's forgiveness out of love  or are we repenting for fear of God's wrath and further separation? Is our idea of 'sin' and 'penance' promoting fear or love?

Wouldn't we do more good if we loved?  Wouldn't we be able to do more of God's work if we could put that sense of unworthiness away?  Wouldn't we do more for the world if we were happier and more peaceful?  Isn't that what God truly wants for us...for us to love ourselves and each other?

Do you think a better tool to repent with then...could be a change in perception? Should we be focusing more on  changing how we perceive the world instead of shuffling around with heads down chanting, "Unclean!  Unclean!"

Instead of seeing  the world through eyes of fear we could learn to see it  with hearts full of love.  Instead of seeing and judging sin and a case for damnation everywhere...we could see God's love in everyone including ourselves. Wouldn't that somehow be more in tune with what God wanted for us?

Knowing what both biblical  words actually pointed to before man got it all mixed up  in translation can certainly make us feel a lot better...and it can certainly make our loads a lot lighter.  Couldn't it?

How Sin relates to Entropy

The two terms  relate in a very round about way and probably only in my mind. lol

Well...in entropy we have chaos and we too often see chaos as sinful.  If  we have chaos and unpredictability  in our lives we may feel shame and guilt like I do because we can't control it! We are all familiar with another big error in interpretation from the bible that became a very common cliché that supports the notion of resisting entropy, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness."

Do I need a confessional or a string of prayers to recite as penance for my lack of 'Godliness' ? To 'repent'...all I really need to do is see differently and to fill my heart with love instead of fear. I need to change the way I see myself and the world.

I am not 'sinful' because of the perception of chaos in my life situation...I am just seeing unclearly.  Through a change in perception,  I will see that what I look upon with my body's eyes isn't chaos after all...but God's Will which I will someday realize is my own.

So that is where the similarity comes into play. 


All is well in my world!

References

ACIM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metanoia_(theology)

http://www.aish.com/jl/p/ph/48964596.html

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+John+4%3A8&version=NIV