The flower doesn't dream of the bee. It blossoms, and the bee comes.
Mark Nepo
Wednesday, June 7, 2017
Now it is time to sit quiet, with thee, and to sing dedication of life in this silent and overflowing leisure.
Tagore
I absolutely love the poem, A moment's Indulgence. I think it says so eloquently what sits within my heart. I, too, want more time with God...in silence, in peace, absent of the need to do and fill my day with "endless toil". I want my heart to sing of the preciousness of life this moment offers while the world around me plays beautiful music "in the court of the flowering grove".
I always feel good when I read this poem. No matter what is going on around me or in me...I read that and I smile. (I wonder though if he meant to write "quiet" instead of "quite." lol...I am kind of hoping he did ...because if a beautiful poet like Tagore can goof up every now and again, I don't feel so bad about my many goof ups. Of course, he probably wrote it in Bengali...so my theory has holes as does my need for redemption through the errors of others lol) )
His words make me think about how precious every moment is and how we should live each one like we do not know if we will ever see the next one. If you thought your time was running out, would you not want every moment to be full of overflowing leisure? Would you fill it with more endless toil or would you sing dedication of life? Would you want peace or a sense of productivity?
As I have mentioned before I often feel like my time is running out. I am not focusing on illness or death obsession as I write that...I just have this feeling that all I have is now.
My sense of urgency in embracing the now may not be coming from some eerie forewarning of the upcoming demise of my body but actually be a symptom of my "waking up". As I wake up I begin to see that...yeah...all there is is now.
The past is past...never to be lived again and the future...never comes. If I spend each moment trying to rectify what I experienced yesterday or project all my life happiness on what will come tomorrow...my life will be full of endless toil...won't it? If I spent this moment in silence...mindfully...looking around at all I see...hearing all I hear...feeling all I feel...would I not be singing a song of life? Would I not be experiencing God? Would I not be truly living?
So many of get lost in "work" and our egoic need to be productive. Work can be a wonderful thing ...it can be a great expression of who we are, especially if we are passionate about what we do. We often need to work to survive...so I am not saying "Don't work" and either is Tagore. Far from it.
What is implied in the poem...is to take a moment...this moment...right now and embrace the life that is waiting in it. Don't get lost in your work. Indulge yourself in the summer waiting outside your window with all its beautiful sighs and murmurs. Live mindfully. Live now.
On that note, lol, I am ironically off to work.
All is well in my world.
Tagore
I absolutely love the poem, A moment's Indulgence. I think it says so eloquently what sits within my heart. I, too, want more time with God...in silence, in peace, absent of the need to do and fill my day with "endless toil". I want my heart to sing of the preciousness of life this moment offers while the world around me plays beautiful music "in the court of the flowering grove".
I always feel good when I read this poem. No matter what is going on around me or in me...I read that and I smile. (I wonder though if he meant to write "quiet" instead of "quite." lol...I am kind of hoping he did ...because if a beautiful poet like Tagore can goof up every now and again, I don't feel so bad about my many goof ups. Of course, he probably wrote it in Bengali...so my theory has holes as does my need for redemption through the errors of others lol) )
His words make me think about how precious every moment is and how we should live each one like we do not know if we will ever see the next one. If you thought your time was running out, would you not want every moment to be full of overflowing leisure? Would you fill it with more endless toil or would you sing dedication of life? Would you want peace or a sense of productivity?
As I have mentioned before I often feel like my time is running out. I am not focusing on illness or death obsession as I write that...I just have this feeling that all I have is now.
My sense of urgency in embracing the now may not be coming from some eerie forewarning of the upcoming demise of my body but actually be a symptom of my "waking up". As I wake up I begin to see that...yeah...all there is is now.
The past is past...never to be lived again and the future...never comes. If I spend each moment trying to rectify what I experienced yesterday or project all my life happiness on what will come tomorrow...my life will be full of endless toil...won't it? If I spent this moment in silence...mindfully...looking around at all I see...hearing all I hear...feeling all I feel...would I not be singing a song of life? Would I not be experiencing God? Would I not be truly living?
So many of get lost in "work" and our egoic need to be productive. Work can be a wonderful thing ...it can be a great expression of who we are, especially if we are passionate about what we do. We often need to work to survive...so I am not saying "Don't work" and either is Tagore. Far from it.
What is implied in the poem...is to take a moment...this moment...right now and embrace the life that is waiting in it. Don't get lost in your work. Indulge yourself in the summer waiting outside your window with all its beautiful sighs and murmurs. Live mindfully. Live now.
On that note, lol, I am ironically off to work.
All is well in my world.
Tuesday, June 6, 2017
Peace through Kindness
Great calm, generous detachment, selfless love, disinterested effort: these are what makes for success in life. If you can find peace in yourself, and spread comfort around you, you will be happier than an empress.
Rabindranath Tagore
A bit worried today about the bees, my dogs and my peace. lol If I get the peace thing under control all would be well but every now and again I feel the pangs of ego. I do have to struggle a little bit to subdue my need to be right so that I can be kind.
I am trying to be kind more for my own peace of mind than anything humanitarian lol. It is a selfish motivation. I don't want to be burdened by the heaviness of anger, resentment, or self righteousness. My heart is already tired enough lol.
So...I am trying to look past the behaviour of others, skirt around the drama, empathize, see the light and let what they think, say and do go. I am actually doing pretty good and I was totally cooperative with the police yesterday. Though the fine was for "dog at large" which my dog wasn't...I signed my name and admitted guilt I guess because my dog did go to the end of the driveway and bark at her. I did not see it but the witnesses stress the dog did not leave the yard. I take full responsibility for the dogs barking and D. did have her off lead which he, according, to the law, should not have done even if she remained in the yard.
So I gladly pay the fine but my ego is stepping in with a great deal of suspicion..."You know she isn't going to stop, eh? Until she has the dogs away from the neighborhood? You know by signing your name to that...it puts her in a position of power over you...she can call again a couple of more times and the dogs will have to go. She knows what she is doing. She is on a mission and you are the target. Being kind is not going to help here. "
I step back; I see my ego at work; I breathe; I meditate; I remember my father talking about kindness; I picture the big plaque I have on my kitchen wall reminding me to "Be Kind" and I let it go. Every now and again it will pop up in my mind and fester a bit. I have to bring myself back down with reality.
I know I cannot control what other people do. I can only control myself . I have little control of what goes on around me but I can make choices to work on controlling what is within me. If I am at peace...nothing else really matters, does it?
I made a decision yesterday that I will not get rid of the dogs...if they have to go...we go with them. I also made a decision to work on their obedience. They cannot run after people or things and the barking has to be minimized. I totally agree with that.
I fear ( ego again:)) that it won't be enough...that the lies and the exaggerations and the drama may continue until we are out of here and she feels that she has won the war...a war I want no part of, by the way. The truth is, if this continues I do not want to be in this neighborhood. If others are joining in creating more and more drama...I don't want to be around that negativity...that toxic sludge. I don't want, what's left of my life, contaminated by that.
If the healthiest spiritual thing to do is walk away...I will walk away. I have no problems letting her win because I don't want to get tied up in this imaginary ego war she is so intent on winning. I just want peace. And the only person who can give me peace is me. So be it!
All is well.
Rabindranath Tagore
A bit worried today about the bees, my dogs and my peace. lol If I get the peace thing under control all would be well but every now and again I feel the pangs of ego. I do have to struggle a little bit to subdue my need to be right so that I can be kind.
I am trying to be kind more for my own peace of mind than anything humanitarian lol. It is a selfish motivation. I don't want to be burdened by the heaviness of anger, resentment, or self righteousness. My heart is already tired enough lol.
So...I am trying to look past the behaviour of others, skirt around the drama, empathize, see the light and let what they think, say and do go. I am actually doing pretty good and I was totally cooperative with the police yesterday. Though the fine was for "dog at large" which my dog wasn't...I signed my name and admitted guilt I guess because my dog did go to the end of the driveway and bark at her. I did not see it but the witnesses stress the dog did not leave the yard. I take full responsibility for the dogs barking and D. did have her off lead which he, according, to the law, should not have done even if she remained in the yard.
So I gladly pay the fine but my ego is stepping in with a great deal of suspicion..."You know she isn't going to stop, eh? Until she has the dogs away from the neighborhood? You know by signing your name to that...it puts her in a position of power over you...she can call again a couple of more times and the dogs will have to go. She knows what she is doing. She is on a mission and you are the target. Being kind is not going to help here. "
I step back; I see my ego at work; I breathe; I meditate; I remember my father talking about kindness; I picture the big plaque I have on my kitchen wall reminding me to "Be Kind" and I let it go. Every now and again it will pop up in my mind and fester a bit. I have to bring myself back down with reality.
I know I cannot control what other people do. I can only control myself . I have little control of what goes on around me but I can make choices to work on controlling what is within me. If I am at peace...nothing else really matters, does it?
I made a decision yesterday that I will not get rid of the dogs...if they have to go...we go with them. I also made a decision to work on their obedience. They cannot run after people or things and the barking has to be minimized. I totally agree with that.
I fear ( ego again:)) that it won't be enough...that the lies and the exaggerations and the drama may continue until we are out of here and she feels that she has won the war...a war I want no part of, by the way. The truth is, if this continues I do not want to be in this neighborhood. If others are joining in creating more and more drama...I don't want to be around that negativity...that toxic sludge. I don't want, what's left of my life, contaminated by that.
If the healthiest spiritual thing to do is walk away...I will walk away. I have no problems letting her win because I don't want to get tied up in this imaginary ego war she is so intent on winning. I just want peace. And the only person who can give me peace is me. So be it!
All is well.
Plying their minstrelsy at the court of the flowering grove....
Not sure what this was shot in or with what...I think it might have been my Coolpix with the telephoto lens ( obviously)...seems like so many years ago...seven maybe? Please know that every photo you find here (with the exception of graphics) is mine. For whatever it's worth ...I am into supplying the original lol.
Not sure what this was shot in or with what...I think it might have been my Coolpix with the telephoto lens ( obviously)...seems like so many years ago...seven maybe? Please know that every photo you find here (with the exception of graphics) is mine. For whatever it's worth ...I am into supplying the original lol.
A Moment's Indulgence
I ask for a moment's indulgence to sit by thy side.
The works
that I have in hand I will finish afterwards.
Away from the sight of thy face my heart knows no rest nor respite,
and my work becomes an endless toil in a shoreless sea of toil.
Today the summer has come at my window with its sighs and murmurs; and
the bees are plying their minstrelsy at the court of the flowering grove.
Now it is time to sit quite, face to face with thee, and to sing
dedication of life in this silent and overflowing leisure.
that I have in hand I will finish afterwards.
Away from the sight of thy face my heart knows no rest nor respite,
and my work becomes an endless toil in a shoreless sea of toil.
Today the summer has come at my window with its sighs and murmurs; and
the bees are plying their minstrelsy at the court of the flowering grove.
Now it is time to sit quite, face to face with thee, and to sing
dedication of life in this silent and overflowing leisure.
Rabrindath Tagore
Monday, June 5, 2017
The dogs with the loudest barks are the ones that are most afraid.
Norman Reedus
Awe!!! I want to begin by saying that I don't like people lol.
I don't like the need to attack and defend...to be right at all costs...that people possess. I don't like the gossip and the lies...the drama and the over exaggeration people spread in order to be "right". I do not like the villianization of others so one can bask in the light of martyrdom and victimhood in order to rationalize their behaviour or to feel better.
I don't like projection of lower emotions and qualities like fear onto others so humans do not have to deal with those things in themselves. I don't like contempt. I do not like the desire to exclude the unwanted and or include the selected few. I don't like anger, vengefulness and self-righteousness. I don't like narcissism and ego-centrism.
I don't like selfishness. I don't like the sense of entitlement so many seem to possess these days and the attack that follows when needs are not met the way they were expected to be met. I don't like ingratitude and disrespect.
I don't like the lack of accountability and the blatant irresponsibility I see lately. I don't like dishonesty and manipulation. I don't like blame and unfair accusation. I don't like the mistreatment of people, animals, nature based on judgment and assumption with disregard for the truth. Most importantly, I don't like to be the target for all that lol...that's the real problem. Who am I kidding? I don't like it directed my way. :)
But... oh.... what a wonderful lesson life provides us, when it is directed our way. It gives us an opportunity to take a good long look at ourselves to see not only if there is any truth behind that judgment that will help us to grow and be accountable for our behaviour...but it also allows us to see that the very same "crap" that is being flung at us...is the same crap we have the potential and possibly the past experience of flinging at others. The old saying about the karmic wheel is true: What goes around, comes around.
It makes one want to re-examine how we treat others when we are the recipient of such unwanted drama. We can empathize with those we shunned, judged, attacked, ridiculed, lied about, created stories about...feeling the pain we must have caused them with our deeds. We also feel the pain the realization of hurting another causes us. There is no winning here. When we are attacked...it hurts. When we do attack.... it hurts even more in the long run. Attack, in whatever form it comes in, brings pain. It is an unnecessary pain because attack is unnecessary. Anything that comes from the ego is unnecessary.
I never really meant what I said in the opening. It is not people I do not like...just ego. :) I see the ugly effects of ego in myself and I see it in others. I see how, if we let it, it will damage the state of peace we are meant to experience.
Nope...I am not particularly fond of dealing with the human ego. I prefer being around animals more than people because animals do not have egos, they don't do the drama thing or play games. Ego can be nasty!!! I know what I see in others, is definitely in me. That's the scary part.
My outward world reflects this ego ...my ego. Certain neighbors have become gatekeepers in this community...deciding who belongs and who doesn't. If one speaks their mind openly and honestly and shows little concern for social etiquette or a need to belong...they are outcasted. Attempts are then made to get the unwanted out of the neighborhood. Add fear or even a full fledged but undealt with phobia in a person who tends to be a little narcissistic to the mix and things go flying out of control very quickly.
The fear is projected outward onto other people and other things. Instead of saying "I am afraid" because that puts the individual in a vulnerable position...the person deals with the unwanted fear response aggressively by blaming someone else for having the thing they are afraid of.
In order to rationalize their vulnerability they over exaggerate the situations, spin the web, make someone the villain, and they themselves the brave victim who is out to protect the entire neighborhood... all in an attempt to eliminate the source of their fear.
Aggression gives us power and we tend to use it when we feel the most threatened. This is done by unjust accusations and reports to police and animal control...an over exaggeration of incidents to the point of lying ...spreading of malignant gossip that other neighbors absorb like thirsty sponges...and creating an image of the target human as someone who needs to be removed for the betterment of the neighborhood. All because the person is afraid.
The thing about a phobia is...it doesn't go away when you eliminate a trigger. I mean the reaction does and there is momentary relief but the phobia doesn't go away. There will be other triggers...more reactions...and the more you avoid the source of fear...the bigger and more intense the phobia actually becomes.
Even if this neighbor is successful in getting rid of me and my dogs...there will always be other dogs who bark...some of those dogs might even be vicious. My dogs are not vicious. They sound scary...especially when they are all barking at once...and one looks scary weighing in at 80-100 lbs...but they are not vicious. They bark at first but before long they are wagging their tails, sniffing and leaving the source of their curiosity alone. Of course if you run by them...they may chase but once they caught up they wouldn't do anything.
I can understand why someone would be afraid if they are walking by the house and the larger dog is off leash and heads toward the end of the yard and starts barking at them...especially when they have a baby carriage with them. Yes...that would be scary and even scarier if you have this supressed fear of dogs anyway. But that's all they do is bark. They do not even leave the property when they bark.
But the story has been spun that they come running out at the neighbors snarling and bearing teeth, nipping at their ankles, attacking them. It has been reported that my dogs are vicious and out of control, always at large and seldom restrained... that the individuals with babies and small children are concerned about their safety. They jeopardize public safety?
Come on! First of all, have you ever heard of any dog...vicious or not... snatching a baby from the carriage while its pushed down the road? Secondly, if someone was so concerned about the baby's safety why would they push the carriage in front of my house, where there is supposedly, "wild, vicious, unrestrained dogs with neighbors who do not do anything about them" twice a day when there is an alternate route that is shorter and easier? For the sheer purpose of creating drama.
Of course, egos disguised as neighbors like the juicy gossip, they like to judge and condemn and accept the untruths as truths. They like having a black sheep to focus their attention on so they do not have to deal with themselves. They succumb to such stories and they too become afraid, talk, judge and condemn as the drama spins out of control. When I say they, I should say we...and when I say we...I am referring to our ego driven selves...not who we really are.
I am sure this neighbor who is attacking me...is not a vicious and malicious person. I want to believe her fear is the only vicious thing in this drama...that's all. Her fear is of the ego. Her ego is encouraging her to attack and create this drama to justify her response. I am not above that...that could be me if I let my ego take over.
I just get so astounded when I see how much damage the ego can do if we let it. How nasty it can get.
What she is doing to me is not that nice but little does she know that what she is doing to herself is so much worse. If she doesn't admit to her phobia and own up to it and abandon her unhealthy and impossible mission to control all external circumstances that trigger it ...this phobia, her anger, her need for retribution and her ego are going to keep spinning out of control. She will hurt herself. She will get caught in a lie. The truth about this situation will eventually be known to all but until then...I believe she is suffering more than I am over this. For that reason, I am driven towards a certain empathy for her plight.
I do not want anyone to be afraid. I just want peace. I am going to my best to let it all go and not be overly concerned about other opinion unless it is based on solid truth and it is determined from that truth that a change is called for. I already spent way too much time an energy on this matter lol. The police are coming tonight as charges are pending. I will conserve my mental energy for that. I do not need to be right. I just need peace. I can be kind in order to achieve that. This drama will end eventually even if it is just ending in my mind. That is all that matters anyway.
All is well in my world.
Norman Reedus
Awe!!! I want to begin by saying that I don't like people lol.
I don't like the need to attack and defend...to be right at all costs...that people possess. I don't like the gossip and the lies...the drama and the over exaggeration people spread in order to be "right". I do not like the villianization of others so one can bask in the light of martyrdom and victimhood in order to rationalize their behaviour or to feel better.
I don't like projection of lower emotions and qualities like fear onto others so humans do not have to deal with those things in themselves. I don't like contempt. I do not like the desire to exclude the unwanted and or include the selected few. I don't like anger, vengefulness and self-righteousness. I don't like narcissism and ego-centrism.
I don't like selfishness. I don't like the sense of entitlement so many seem to possess these days and the attack that follows when needs are not met the way they were expected to be met. I don't like ingratitude and disrespect.
I don't like the lack of accountability and the blatant irresponsibility I see lately. I don't like dishonesty and manipulation. I don't like blame and unfair accusation. I don't like the mistreatment of people, animals, nature based on judgment and assumption with disregard for the truth. Most importantly, I don't like to be the target for all that lol...that's the real problem. Who am I kidding? I don't like it directed my way. :)
But... oh.... what a wonderful lesson life provides us, when it is directed our way. It gives us an opportunity to take a good long look at ourselves to see not only if there is any truth behind that judgment that will help us to grow and be accountable for our behaviour...but it also allows us to see that the very same "crap" that is being flung at us...is the same crap we have the potential and possibly the past experience of flinging at others. The old saying about the karmic wheel is true: What goes around, comes around.
It makes one want to re-examine how we treat others when we are the recipient of such unwanted drama. We can empathize with those we shunned, judged, attacked, ridiculed, lied about, created stories about...feeling the pain we must have caused them with our deeds. We also feel the pain the realization of hurting another causes us. There is no winning here. When we are attacked...it hurts. When we do attack.... it hurts even more in the long run. Attack, in whatever form it comes in, brings pain. It is an unnecessary pain because attack is unnecessary. Anything that comes from the ego is unnecessary.
I never really meant what I said in the opening. It is not people I do not like...just ego. :) I see the ugly effects of ego in myself and I see it in others. I see how, if we let it, it will damage the state of peace we are meant to experience.
Nope...I am not particularly fond of dealing with the human ego. I prefer being around animals more than people because animals do not have egos, they don't do the drama thing or play games. Ego can be nasty!!! I know what I see in others, is definitely in me. That's the scary part.
My outward world reflects this ego ...my ego. Certain neighbors have become gatekeepers in this community...deciding who belongs and who doesn't. If one speaks their mind openly and honestly and shows little concern for social etiquette or a need to belong...they are outcasted. Attempts are then made to get the unwanted out of the neighborhood. Add fear or even a full fledged but undealt with phobia in a person who tends to be a little narcissistic to the mix and things go flying out of control very quickly.
The fear is projected outward onto other people and other things. Instead of saying "I am afraid" because that puts the individual in a vulnerable position...the person deals with the unwanted fear response aggressively by blaming someone else for having the thing they are afraid of.
In order to rationalize their vulnerability they over exaggerate the situations, spin the web, make someone the villain, and they themselves the brave victim who is out to protect the entire neighborhood... all in an attempt to eliminate the source of their fear.
Aggression gives us power and we tend to use it when we feel the most threatened. This is done by unjust accusations and reports to police and animal control...an over exaggeration of incidents to the point of lying ...spreading of malignant gossip that other neighbors absorb like thirsty sponges...and creating an image of the target human as someone who needs to be removed for the betterment of the neighborhood. All because the person is afraid.
The thing about a phobia is...it doesn't go away when you eliminate a trigger. I mean the reaction does and there is momentary relief but the phobia doesn't go away. There will be other triggers...more reactions...and the more you avoid the source of fear...the bigger and more intense the phobia actually becomes.
Even if this neighbor is successful in getting rid of me and my dogs...there will always be other dogs who bark...some of those dogs might even be vicious. My dogs are not vicious. They sound scary...especially when they are all barking at once...and one looks scary weighing in at 80-100 lbs...but they are not vicious. They bark at first but before long they are wagging their tails, sniffing and leaving the source of their curiosity alone. Of course if you run by them...they may chase but once they caught up they wouldn't do anything.
I can understand why someone would be afraid if they are walking by the house and the larger dog is off leash and heads toward the end of the yard and starts barking at them...especially when they have a baby carriage with them. Yes...that would be scary and even scarier if you have this supressed fear of dogs anyway. But that's all they do is bark. They do not even leave the property when they bark.
But the story has been spun that they come running out at the neighbors snarling and bearing teeth, nipping at their ankles, attacking them. It has been reported that my dogs are vicious and out of control, always at large and seldom restrained... that the individuals with babies and small children are concerned about their safety. They jeopardize public safety?
Come on! First of all, have you ever heard of any dog...vicious or not... snatching a baby from the carriage while its pushed down the road? Secondly, if someone was so concerned about the baby's safety why would they push the carriage in front of my house, where there is supposedly, "wild, vicious, unrestrained dogs with neighbors who do not do anything about them" twice a day when there is an alternate route that is shorter and easier? For the sheer purpose of creating drama.
Of course, egos disguised as neighbors like the juicy gossip, they like to judge and condemn and accept the untruths as truths. They like having a black sheep to focus their attention on so they do not have to deal with themselves. They succumb to such stories and they too become afraid, talk, judge and condemn as the drama spins out of control. When I say they, I should say we...and when I say we...I am referring to our ego driven selves...not who we really are.
I am sure this neighbor who is attacking me...is not a vicious and malicious person. I want to believe her fear is the only vicious thing in this drama...that's all. Her fear is of the ego. Her ego is encouraging her to attack and create this drama to justify her response. I am not above that...that could be me if I let my ego take over.
I just get so astounded when I see how much damage the ego can do if we let it. How nasty it can get.
What she is doing to me is not that nice but little does she know that what she is doing to herself is so much worse. If she doesn't admit to her phobia and own up to it and abandon her unhealthy and impossible mission to control all external circumstances that trigger it ...this phobia, her anger, her need for retribution and her ego are going to keep spinning out of control. She will hurt herself. She will get caught in a lie. The truth about this situation will eventually be known to all but until then...I believe she is suffering more than I am over this. For that reason, I am driven towards a certain empathy for her plight.
I do not want anyone to be afraid. I just want peace. I am going to my best to let it all go and not be overly concerned about other opinion unless it is based on solid truth and it is determined from that truth that a change is called for. I already spent way too much time an energy on this matter lol. The police are coming tonight as charges are pending. I will conserve my mental energy for that. I do not need to be right. I just need peace. I can be kind in order to achieve that. This drama will end eventually even if it is just ending in my mind. That is all that matters anyway.
All is well in my world.
Sunday, June 4, 2017
What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Save the dandelions! Save the dandelions!
I have a hard time killing dandelions.
I have become the black sheep of my neighborhood for many reasons lol (four at least...my dogs) but I have discovered recently, the new reason of contempt is because I do not keep my yard up the way the neighbors feel I should. That is true...my yard is not as green and as perfectly tended as many of theirs. I have crab grass, clover and a host of yellow headed creatures popping up all over.
I do not always use my limited energy reserves to rake up leaves, trim the hedges or take part in other routines of upkeep. I also refuse to use fertilizers on my lawn though I know they want me to so the "weeds" do not spread into their yards and destroy their perfectly appearing lawns.
I know they put a lot of effort into maintaining these appearances and it shows. Their yards look so nice. They are proud of them as they probably should be.
I, however, think differently. I understand that the consequences of my own physical limitations and belief systems interferes with those efforts and tarnishes what could be viewed as a perfect community.
Still, I only have so much energy and I will not use it on creating appearances that are not so good for the environment in the long run. At the cost of other judgment, I let nature be nature. I willingly accept the role of black sheep in my decision not to use use chemicals in fear of what such destruction does in the long term.
In short, I do not like to kill dandelions because I see how the bees and butterflies are attracted to them. The population of bees especially, in my yard has seen a tremendous decline over the last couple of years and that concerns me. When my lawn is yellow...I see more bees and butterflies.
I do mow...I know I have to...but I will not destroy something that does so much good because it is labelled as "imperfect" and "unsightly". I am accountable for that and accept the ostracization that follows. (I feel like a Green Peace revolutionist from the 60's... instead of whales I am putting my boat between the dandelions and the harpoon of the Weedman lol).
The neighbors may not approve of my decision. Gossip, negative opinion, judgment, assumption, bold faced lies, drama and over exaggeration using fear as the tactic spreads more quickly through a neighborhood than dandelions ever could. I do not blame them for their opinion. I am far from the perfectly conforming neighbor. I will not own their opinion of me though. They are entitled to it. I will accept it and accept my accountability for the truth that lie within it. It is I that does not wish to conform to the values. of the majority...they do not need to conform to mine.
I would suggest, however, a little human fertilizer to tame the righteous judgment and anger, we are unknowingly spewing, into a more manageable population of truths ....for all of our sakes. Compassion feels so much better to the soul than judgment and a desire for revenge ever could.
Why do we Discriminate?
In truth though, I do not know why we discriminate so...even in the plant world. Does nature see the dandelion any differently than she sees the prized winning rose in some one's flower bed? I don't think so. They serve the same purpose as far as she is concerned. I bet she sees both as equally beautiful creations. :)
I also believe she has a special mission designed for our busy little yellow headed friends. I think she makes these flowers we call "weeds" so abundant to compensate for the damage we are doing to her insect populations. It is us humans who fail to see the value in life and destroy and discriminate against her gifts. The dandelion has virtues we have yet to discover.
All is well in my world.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Save the dandelions! Save the dandelions!
I have a hard time killing dandelions.
I have become the black sheep of my neighborhood for many reasons lol (four at least...my dogs) but I have discovered recently, the new reason of contempt is because I do not keep my yard up the way the neighbors feel I should. That is true...my yard is not as green and as perfectly tended as many of theirs. I have crab grass, clover and a host of yellow headed creatures popping up all over.
I do not always use my limited energy reserves to rake up leaves, trim the hedges or take part in other routines of upkeep. I also refuse to use fertilizers on my lawn though I know they want me to so the "weeds" do not spread into their yards and destroy their perfectly appearing lawns.
I know they put a lot of effort into maintaining these appearances and it shows. Their yards look so nice. They are proud of them as they probably should be.
I, however, think differently. I understand that the consequences of my own physical limitations and belief systems interferes with those efforts and tarnishes what could be viewed as a perfect community.
Still, I only have so much energy and I will not use it on creating appearances that are not so good for the environment in the long run. At the cost of other judgment, I let nature be nature. I willingly accept the role of black sheep in my decision not to use use chemicals in fear of what such destruction does in the long term.
In short, I do not like to kill dandelions because I see how the bees and butterflies are attracted to them. The population of bees especially, in my yard has seen a tremendous decline over the last couple of years and that concerns me. When my lawn is yellow...I see more bees and butterflies.
I do mow...I know I have to...but I will not destroy something that does so much good because it is labelled as "imperfect" and "unsightly". I am accountable for that and accept the ostracization that follows. (I feel like a Green Peace revolutionist from the 60's... instead of whales I am putting my boat between the dandelions and the harpoon of the Weedman lol).
The neighbors may not approve of my decision. Gossip, negative opinion, judgment, assumption, bold faced lies, drama and over exaggeration using fear as the tactic spreads more quickly through a neighborhood than dandelions ever could. I do not blame them for their opinion. I am far from the perfectly conforming neighbor. I will not own their opinion of me though. They are entitled to it. I will accept it and accept my accountability for the truth that lie within it. It is I that does not wish to conform to the values. of the majority...they do not need to conform to mine.
I would suggest, however, a little human fertilizer to tame the righteous judgment and anger, we are unknowingly spewing, into a more manageable population of truths ....for all of our sakes. Compassion feels so much better to the soul than judgment and a desire for revenge ever could.
Why do we Discriminate?
In truth though, I do not know why we discriminate so...even in the plant world. Does nature see the dandelion any differently than she sees the prized winning rose in some one's flower bed? I don't think so. They serve the same purpose as far as she is concerned. I bet she sees both as equally beautiful creations. :)
I also believe she has a special mission designed for our busy little yellow headed friends. I think she makes these flowers we call "weeds" so abundant to compensate for the damage we are doing to her insect populations. It is us humans who fail to see the value in life and destroy and discriminate against her gifts. The dandelion has virtues we have yet to discover.
All is well in my world.
Saturday, June 3, 2017
Bursting Balloons
A relationship is not meant to be the joining at the hip of two emotional invalids. The purpose of a relationship is not for two incomplete people to become one, but rather, for two complete people to join together for the greater glory of God.
Marianne Williamson
Bursting balloons and bubbles!
I want to soothe your egos a bit. I know I probably burst some bubbles (or balloons [for the sake of the upcoming analogy]) for those few of you that may have read my entry yesterday.
Romance is celebrated so much in our culture. We dream about it, write about it, sing about it and watch it transpire in front of our faces. We like that fantasy. It makes us feel good. It gives us hope. It is like a balloon we carry with us. When we feel down or out of sorts, we can look up at the sky where the balloon is floating on the end of the string we cling to...and we feel better. You don't want anyone coming around with a pin to pop that hope, do you?
It was not cynicism, then, and a lack of hope in the beauty and value of love ...that led me to write what I wrote yesterday. It was a new awareness and wisdom of Love that led me there.
For years now, I found myself looking up at the balloon so far above me, so elusive, filled with nothing but air and I questioned. Why do I; why do we as a culture cling so to something that is basically just a shell holding nothing but air within it? What does it give us in this moment but a sore hand from clinging so and a kink in our neck from looking up? How can something so fragile...something that could be carried away by a gust of wind, busted by a sharp object or deflated because of outside pressure save us from ourselves? It didn't make sense.
I needed to know more. In my desire to wake up I began to find answers and a new awareness about what Love really is emerged. As that new awareness gradually grew within me, the air in my fantasy of love just gradually and without pain slipped out. It was a graceful and easy process...one in which I found peace...a peace I never truly knew when I was clinging to my balloon.
Balloons carrying the fantasy will gently loose their air
It is when I began to understand that most of the emotional turmoil that I wanted love to save me from was simply illusion created by my own thinking, my ego...that the balloon above my head began to deflate and come down to earth for closer examination.
I seen it for what it was. It wasn't solid and real. It was a future projection of a desire for salvation in something outside myself. "When I find my soul mate; when prince charming comes into my life I will have peace, I will be happy then." Once I seen it merely as a thought form that took me out of my now and gave me very little in my present moment, I realized I didn't need it any more. I didn't need this version of love.
Don't get me wrong...I am not saying I don't need Love anymore because I do...I just don't need the fantasy of romance anymore.
Love, however, is something I know I am destined for...we are all destined for. It is why we are here. It is everything.
Real Love Vs. the Fantasy of Love
Real Love differs greatly from the fantasy of love so many of us are still clinging to.
There is no neediness in real Love. Why? To know It is to know that we are already complete in God's Love. We are whole and perfect beneath our bodies and personalities....though our egos do not want us to go there. When we know this...truly know this...we do not need to desperately reach out to another with fear and longing pleading with them to fill us up...to make us complete. We do not have to crave for something/someone in our future moments to give us what we think we are lacking.
No one else can or needs to make us complete. We already are, right now.
It was when this truth began to settle in my core that I ironically came across a partner that I can be my healthiest with. We share a relationship, healthier and more mature, than any I have been in before. Why? There is much less ego. My ego, though definitely still there, is less reactive and destructive than it ever was in the earlier experiences of my life and he has very little egoic reactions. It is not a relationship based on fear, drama, guilt or neediness. It is a relationship of two complete (or almost complete lol...I still have a long way to go before I reach full realization) individuals who are loving for the sake of loving. In that regard we are joined together for the greater glory of God...not the greater glory of ego. We love in the moment instead of dreaming of a "better love" in the future. :)
Knowing Love does not start with looking up or outward for your salvation but begins by going inward. See Self beyond the little self...love that Self and than love another.
From that point... Love all others in this moment. That's real Love.
All is well in my world.
Marianne Williamson
Bursting balloons and bubbles!
I want to soothe your egos a bit. I know I probably burst some bubbles (or balloons [for the sake of the upcoming analogy]) for those few of you that may have read my entry yesterday.
Romance is celebrated so much in our culture. We dream about it, write about it, sing about it and watch it transpire in front of our faces. We like that fantasy. It makes us feel good. It gives us hope. It is like a balloon we carry with us. When we feel down or out of sorts, we can look up at the sky where the balloon is floating on the end of the string we cling to...and we feel better. You don't want anyone coming around with a pin to pop that hope, do you?
It was not my intention to do that. I love hope...in whatever version it comes in but I also love truth and wisdom. You see the bubble that held my fantasies of romance, that I ferociously clung to since I was a little girl hooked on Fairy tales, was never busted. Though I have experienced heart break and disillusionment many times in my romantic relationships...that didn't make me cynical. It did not lead me to go around with a large pin and a cackling laugh, on a mission to pop everyone's balloons lol. I personally do not like the sound of balloons popping. :) In fact...every disappointment only made me more determined to cling to that balloon and hope for the salvation of romantic love in my life.It was not cynicism, then, and a lack of hope in the beauty and value of love ...that led me to write what I wrote yesterday. It was a new awareness and wisdom of Love that led me there.
For years now, I found myself looking up at the balloon so far above me, so elusive, filled with nothing but air and I questioned. Why do I; why do we as a culture cling so to something that is basically just a shell holding nothing but air within it? What does it give us in this moment but a sore hand from clinging so and a kink in our neck from looking up? How can something so fragile...something that could be carried away by a gust of wind, busted by a sharp object or deflated because of outside pressure save us from ourselves? It didn't make sense.
I needed to know more. In my desire to wake up I began to find answers and a new awareness about what Love really is emerged. As that new awareness gradually grew within me, the air in my fantasy of love just gradually and without pain slipped out. It was a graceful and easy process...one in which I found peace...a peace I never truly knew when I was clinging to my balloon.
Balloons carrying the fantasy will gently loose their air
It is when I began to understand that most of the emotional turmoil that I wanted love to save me from was simply illusion created by my own thinking, my ego...that the balloon above my head began to deflate and come down to earth for closer examination.
I seen it for what it was. It wasn't solid and real. It was a future projection of a desire for salvation in something outside myself. "When I find my soul mate; when prince charming comes into my life I will have peace, I will be happy then." Once I seen it merely as a thought form that took me out of my now and gave me very little in my present moment, I realized I didn't need it any more. I didn't need this version of love.
Don't get me wrong...I am not saying I don't need Love anymore because I do...I just don't need the fantasy of romance anymore.
Love, however, is something I know I am destined for...we are all destined for. It is why we are here. It is everything.
Real Love Vs. the Fantasy of Love
Real Love differs greatly from the fantasy of love so many of us are still clinging to.
There is no neediness in real Love. Why? To know It is to know that we are already complete in God's Love. We are whole and perfect beneath our bodies and personalities....though our egos do not want us to go there. When we know this...truly know this...we do not need to desperately reach out to another with fear and longing pleading with them to fill us up...to make us complete. We do not have to crave for something/someone in our future moments to give us what we think we are lacking.
No one else can or needs to make us complete. We already are, right now.
It was when this truth began to settle in my core that I ironically came across a partner that I can be my healthiest with. We share a relationship, healthier and more mature, than any I have been in before. Why? There is much less ego. My ego, though definitely still there, is less reactive and destructive than it ever was in the earlier experiences of my life and he has very little egoic reactions. It is not a relationship based on fear, drama, guilt or neediness. It is a relationship of two complete (or almost complete lol...I still have a long way to go before I reach full realization) individuals who are loving for the sake of loving. In that regard we are joined together for the greater glory of God...not the greater glory of ego. We love in the moment instead of dreaming of a "better love" in the future. :)
Knowing Love does not start with looking up or outward for your salvation but begins by going inward. See Self beyond the little self...love that Self and than love another.
From that point... Love all others in this moment. That's real Love.
All is well in my world.
Note of apology for the font on the previous entry. I cut and pasted the quotes so I wouldn't miss any words or punctuation...and because different fonts were used in the different articles...it screwed up the font format in that entry...even after I tried to fix it and it looked fixed on my draft. The more I try to get it right...the worse it gets so I will leave it alone and ask for your forgiveness if your eyes have to strain to read it. :)
Friday, June 2, 2017
We love best when we do not love out of desperation.
Leonard Price
I desperately want to understand human relationships in terms of what is healthiest for us and for the world at large. I want to look at romantic love or what A Course in Miracles refers to as "The special relationship" and compare it to real love. I have been reading and researching most of the morning so I am hoping I am not too tired to get into a natural wave of free flow thought. Only one way to find out. So here we go....
We have all watched, with anticipation, as the hero on the big screen bends his handsome head down to kiss the beautiful heroine. At the moment their lips touch, the music in the background escalates signifying that their struggle is finally over and a happy ending is foretold.. We may experience those same butterflies of expectation and hope when the guy or gal of our dreams looks our way.
We wonder if they will call, and if the call will lead to a date, and that date to a long term relationship equipped with k-i-s-s-i-n-g in some proverbial tree as we eventually look down to see ourselves walking by with a baby carriage. Many of us begin fantasizing about our weddings when we are mere children, looking forward to the day when our dreams will all come true.
Through a long awaited intertwining with a special person, we will become whole and once we are whole we will be free of pain forever. Well maybe not forever...or completely.
We know romantic love is full of turmoil and unpredictability. We even assume that it is supposed to be...that's what makes it more exciting. We read about the roller coaster ride of passion in novels and poetry. We hear the twangs of downward falls that accompany lost love over the radio waves. And we get lost in the thrilling upward climbs in the honeymoon periods of our own new relationships.
Love is a fun, game of chance that promises if we win, we will find pure joy and happiness. Most importantly, it tells us, we will be saved from ourselves. We become addicted to the promise of freedom it offers. It is a pursuit we are more than willing to risk our whole mental life of peace on.
After all, the world is a scary place, void of safety, meaning and purpose for too many of us. We do not want to be alone in it. We feel lost, broken and incomplete...we need someone or something outside ourselves to fill in the holes. We want a reason to live. We seek refuge in the romantic love the poets and songwriters write about.
Price, an American Buddhist Monk,writes that most of us , "longing for authentic and moving experience, turn to the vision of the "lover," that source of wonder, joy, and transcendence, who, it is thought, must be pursued and if captured perfected and if perfected then enjoyed forever — or until some other lover lights up the horizon." (2005,par 9) We find ourselves on a mission to seek and find a person who can fix our brokenness.
We are told that we may not always win in love but we should not give up trying to find that "one" perfect person who fits us like a puzzle piece, convinced that when that happens everything will be okay. We hear the pain of lost love echoed through music and song but it does not deter us. We see people breaking up, getting divorced, yelling obscenities at each other or even killing for the sake of love or its end but we still believe that type of love...is the only thing that will save us.
Besides if it hurts that bad to lose it, how good it will feel to own it? We, as human beings, have been conditioned to believe that , "Love, or possibly the myth of love, is the first, last, and sometimes the only refuge of uncomprehending humanity." (Price, 2005, para 3).
Are we uncomprehending, when it comes to this version of love we use? I believe so. I believe romantic love differs dramatically from real Love which is the only type of love that will save us. Real Love is of spirit. Romantic love is of the ego. One is based on wholeness and completion; the other is based on an idea that we are separate, incomplete and alone. One is truth; the other is illusion. One brings peace; the other brings unfulfilled anticipation and grief amongst its few happy and excited moments. One is permanent and eternal; one is temporary and conditional. Hmmm!
So Now That We Know the Difference....
References
Leonard Price
I desperately want to understand human relationships in terms of what is healthiest for us and for the world at large. I want to look at romantic love or what A Course in Miracles refers to as "The special relationship" and compare it to real love. I have been reading and researching most of the morning so I am hoping I am not too tired to get into a natural wave of free flow thought. Only one way to find out. So here we go....
Bursting the Bubble on Romance
We have all watched, with anticipation, as the hero on the big screen bends his handsome head down to kiss the beautiful heroine. At the moment their lips touch, the music in the background escalates signifying that their struggle is finally over and a happy ending is foretold.. We may experience those same butterflies of expectation and hope when the guy or gal of our dreams looks our way.
We wonder if they will call, and if the call will lead to a date, and that date to a long term relationship equipped with k-i-s-s-i-n-g in some proverbial tree as we eventually look down to see ourselves walking by with a baby carriage. Many of us begin fantasizing about our weddings when we are mere children, looking forward to the day when our dreams will all come true.
Through a long awaited intertwining with a special person, we will become whole and once we are whole we will be free of pain forever. Well maybe not forever...or completely.
We know romantic love is full of turmoil and unpredictability. We even assume that it is supposed to be...that's what makes it more exciting. We read about the roller coaster ride of passion in novels and poetry. We hear the twangs of downward falls that accompany lost love over the radio waves. And we get lost in the thrilling upward climbs in the honeymoon periods of our own new relationships.
Love is a fun, game of chance that promises if we win, we will find pure joy and happiness. Most importantly, it tells us, we will be saved from ourselves. We become addicted to the promise of freedom it offers. It is a pursuit we are more than willing to risk our whole mental life of peace on.
After all, the world is a scary place, void of safety, meaning and purpose for too many of us. We do not want to be alone in it. We feel lost, broken and incomplete...we need someone or something outside ourselves to fill in the holes. We want a reason to live. We seek refuge in the romantic love the poets and songwriters write about.
Price, an American Buddhist Monk,writes that most of us , "longing for authentic and moving experience, turn to the vision of the "lover," that source of wonder, joy, and transcendence, who, it is thought, must be pursued and if captured perfected and if perfected then enjoyed forever — or until some other lover lights up the horizon." (2005,par 9) We find ourselves on a mission to seek and find a person who can fix our brokenness.
We are told that we may not always win in love but we should not give up trying to find that "one" perfect person who fits us like a puzzle piece, convinced that when that happens everything will be okay. We hear the pain of lost love echoed through music and song but it does not deter us. We see people breaking up, getting divorced, yelling obscenities at each other or even killing for the sake of love or its end but we still believe that type of love...is the only thing that will save us.
Besides if it hurts that bad to lose it, how good it will feel to own it? We, as human beings, have been conditioned to believe that , "Love, or possibly the myth of love, is the first, last, and sometimes the only refuge of uncomprehending humanity." (Price, 2005, para 3).
Are we uncomprehending, when it comes to this version of love we use? I believe so. I believe romantic love differs dramatically from real Love which is the only type of love that will save us. Real Love is of spirit. Romantic love is of the ego. One is based on wholeness and completion; the other is based on an idea that we are separate, incomplete and alone. One is truth; the other is illusion. One brings peace; the other brings unfulfilled anticipation and grief amongst its few happy and excited moments. One is permanent and eternal; one is temporary and conditional. Hmmm!
The Illusion of Romantic Love
According to Arenson(2013), Price(2005) and A Course in Miracles our idea of love is a twisted version of real Love. In this twisted, distorted, egoic version... love is a desperate craving for something that we will never be able to truly attain by this means. Romantic love can never sustain us because it arises from our fear of being alone with ourselves.
Anything that comes from fear will breed more fear. Fear is of the ego and the ego wants to use whatever ploy it can to keep us from knowing the truth of who we really are. We somehow forgot who we are and from Whom we came and that sense of separation leaves gapping holes in our beingness. We feel anxiety, pain, grief , hatred and fear. Ego tells us we just need something that will lift us up from this painful perception. It tells us we will find it in a special relationship. We listen and we believe.
Anything that comes from fear will breed more fear. Fear is of the ego and the ego wants to use whatever ploy it can to keep us from knowing the truth of who we really are. We somehow forgot who we are and from Whom we came and that sense of separation leaves gapping holes in our beingness. We feel anxiety, pain, grief , hatred and fear. Ego tells us we just need something that will lift us up from this painful perception. It tells us we will find it in a special relationship. We listen and we believe.
What ego doesn't tell us is that our seeking of some special other, like all seeking and craving in the physical world, is a thirst that will never be truly quenched. It is an attachment to something that will not end the suffering we want it to end, it will only cause more. It will not ground us and keep us stable because this type of love is always changing. It will not serve and protect us no matter what because it is very conditional.
In short, we won't get what we want from this type of love...just more longing and craving. “So powerful, so insistent is it that we seldom notice that the gratification is rare and the craving relentless. Love is mostly in anticipation; it is an agony of anticipation; it is an ache for a completion not found in the dreary round of mundane routine." (Price,2005,par 7)
In short, we won't get what we want from this type of love...just more longing and craving. “So powerful, so insistent is it that we seldom notice that the gratification is rare and the craving relentless. Love is mostly in anticipation; it is an agony of anticipation; it is an ache for a completion not found in the dreary round of mundane routine." (Price,2005,par 7)
Romantic love is simply an illusion. It isn't real. Ego feeds us with fear and hate which are also illusions but we believe them to be true so we cling to the only plausible route of salvation ego offers ...the special relationship. Yet, it really doesn't save us.
According to, A Course in Miracles, "The special love relationship is an attempt to limit the destructive effects of hate finding a haven in the storm of guilt. It makes no attempt to rise above the storm, into the sunlight.” (ACIM, T:16:IV:3:1-2).
We want safety. We want freedom from these awful emotions we are tricked into believing we are destined to feel. We want the sunlight. So we seek out a special partnership, to fix it all and to give us what we want. But it really doesn't fix it all, does it?
It doesn't fix it because it is only an illusion. It isn't real. We will not escape the illusion of hate with this illusion of love. “The special love partner is acceptable only as long as he serves this purpose[creating and maintaining a place of safety]. Hatred can enter, and indeed is welcome in some aspects of the relationship, but is still held together by the illusion of love. If the illusion goes, the relationship is broken or becomes unsatisfying on the grounds of disillusionment.(ACIM, T:16:IV:3:5-7)
According to, A Course in Miracles, "The special love relationship is an attempt to limit the destructive effects of hate finding a haven in the storm of guilt. It makes no attempt to rise above the storm, into the sunlight.” (ACIM, T:16:IV:3:1-2).
We want safety. We want freedom from these awful emotions we are tricked into believing we are destined to feel. We want the sunlight. So we seek out a special partnership, to fix it all and to give us what we want. But it really doesn't fix it all, does it?
It doesn't fix it because it is only an illusion. It isn't real. We will not escape the illusion of hate with this illusion of love. “The special love partner is acceptable only as long as he serves this purpose[creating and maintaining a place of safety]. Hatred can enter, and indeed is welcome in some aspects of the relationship, but is still held together by the illusion of love. If the illusion goes, the relationship is broken or becomes unsatisfying on the grounds of disillusionment.(ACIM, T:16:IV:3:5-7)
What is Real Love?
Real Love is of the Spirit , of the now and it does not cause pain. It is the permanent and real truth that brings peace. (Arenson, 2013) “How can real love devastate you when real love
is the absence of superficial egoic needs, the absence of falsehood, and all
real love is the presence, and the present? With love, there can be emptiness,
but no feeling of emptiness”. (Par 9)
Love is a real love of Self without hatred, fear and guilt. "For love is wholly without illusion, and therefore wholly without fear.” (ACIM, T:16:IV:11:9)
Real Love is found within. “If you seek love outside yourself you can be certain that you perceive hatred within, and are afraid of it. Yet peace will never come from the illusion of love, but only from its reality.” (ACIM; T: 16: IV: 6: 5-6)
Real Love is whole and complete within itself. Though we can deceive ourselves of its true meaning, it is our true nature so there is no escaping it. The search for love is, "Ceaselessly searching for the ultimate feeling
of completion. That which is searched for exists already within." (Arenson, 2013) We need to turn our eyes from the outer world and let them rest on the inner world where Love is bountiful and sure.
So now that we know the difference between real and romantic love what do we do? Break up with our partner, join a Buddhist monastery and forsake all romantic relating?
No...healthy and mature romantic love can offer much joy to our lives. We do not forsake it unless we are committed to getting completely beyond the confines of all physical world attachments in search of the higher glory (what the Buddhists might call Nirvana/nibbana, and the Christians... "a full devotion to Christ".)
Most of us won't take it that far which is a beneficial thing for the growth and survival of our species. We do not have to forsake our committed and intimate relations with others in search of enlightenment.
As much as I wish to wake up fully and consciously, I won't do that at this point in my life...because I love my present partner and I want him in my life. Besides, I do not look good in orange :) .
We do need to give up...we just need to wake up. We need to look at these relationships in a different and healthier way while we seek the Real Love that our partners cannot give us but that we can share with them once we find it.
Once we realize what real love is we seek it by going within. We detach from our desperation and our need for others to fill us by knowing they can't and most importantly, they do not need too. We are already complete and whole. We do not need to end the relationships we are in but we do not need to depend on them to be what they can't be, either...external things that save us from ourselves.
If we are not in such a partnership at the present time...we look with gratitude at where we are at, knowing we can use that time to embrace solitude. We can go inward to the source of all things and learn to love ourselves by knowing who we really are and from Whom we came. Once we find that we will be able to detach from our desperate need to find someone to fill us up. We will know we are already full and complete. Every relationship we approach from that point on will be healthy and mature based on the desire for Real Love over romance. We give up the desperate need for an external fix. We learn to love better.
No...healthy and mature romantic love can offer much joy to our lives. We do not forsake it unless we are committed to getting completely beyond the confines of all physical world attachments in search of the higher glory (what the Buddhists might call Nirvana/nibbana, and the Christians... "a full devotion to Christ".)
Most of us won't take it that far which is a beneficial thing for the growth and survival of our species. We do not have to forsake our committed and intimate relations with others in search of enlightenment.
As much as I wish to wake up fully and consciously, I won't do that at this point in my life...because I love my present partner and I want him in my life. Besides, I do not look good in orange :) .
We do need to give up...we just need to wake up. We need to look at these relationships in a different and healthier way while we seek the Real Love that our partners cannot give us but that we can share with them once we find it.
Once we realize what real love is we seek it by going within. We detach from our desperation and our need for others to fill us by knowing they can't and most importantly, they do not need too. We are already complete and whole. We do not need to end the relationships we are in but we do not need to depend on them to be what they can't be, either...external things that save us from ourselves.
If we are not in such a partnership at the present time...we look with gratitude at where we are at, knowing we can use that time to embrace solitude. We can go inward to the source of all things and learn to love ourselves by knowing who we really are and from Whom we came. Once we find that we will be able to detach from our desperate need to find someone to fill us up. We will know we are already full and complete. Every relationship we approach from that point on will be healthy and mature based on the desire for Real Love over romance. We give up the desperate need for an external fix. We learn to love better.
According to (Arenson, 2013), "The only remedy for love is to love better." (para 14). How do we love better?
We remove this notion of specialness from ourselves and from those we choose. We love all. We love without ego. We remember who we are and from Whom we came.
Then, we love without fear and we love without desperation. "When we lean hard, out of passion, we will fall hard — such is the nature of attachment. But when we do not lean, when instead we stand upright with an eye to the heights, then the love we bestow flows out of us without weakening us, like a superabundance of vigor. This is metta — loving-kindness devoid of selfishness." (Arenson, 2013,para 15)
Real Love is metta - loving kindness devoid of selfish ego need and craving. It is the one thing that will save us.
All is well in my world.
We remove this notion of specialness from ourselves and from those we choose. We love all. We love without ego. We remember who we are and from Whom we came.
Then, we love without fear and we love without desperation. "When we lean hard, out of passion, we will fall hard — such is the nature of attachment. But when we do not lean, when instead we stand upright with an eye to the heights, then the love we bestow flows out of us without weakening us, like a superabundance of vigor. This is metta — loving-kindness devoid of selfishness." (Arenson, 2013,para 15)
Real Love is metta - loving kindness devoid of selfish ego need and craving. It is the one thing that will save us.
All is well in my world.
Arenson, D. (2013)
The True Meaning of Love from a Buddhist Perspective. Mind-Body-Green. Retrieved
from https://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-7740/the-true-meaning-of-love-from-a-buddhist-perspective.html
Foundations for Inner Peace . (2007) Text. A Course in Miracles: Combined Volume, Third Edition. Mill Valley,
CA: Foundations for inner Peace.
Price, L. (2005). Nothing Higher
to Live for : A Buddhist View of Romantic Love. Access to
Insight. Retrieved from http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/price/bl124.html
Thursday, June 1, 2017
Ego says, " Once everything falls into place, I will feel peace." Spirit says, "Find your peace and then everything will fall into place."
Marianne Williamson
Peace of mind is the one thing in life I long for more than anything else.
Oh I get mixed up sometimes. I listen to ego too often and get all twisted around by its promises. "Get your health back...and then peace will come. Get some money in your accounts and pay your bills...then you will have peace of mind. Get that book published...and then you will know what peace really is. Get perfect at meditation...and peace will be your stepping stone for more."
So I start thinking peace will be the reward for doing more; for putting all my energy into fighting my body...for working harder...for focusing more on submitting than writing new stuff...and for making a mediation practice a chore I try to perfect everyday. Peace will come sometime in the future when I got my life in order....when I have health, money, recognition, and the perfect meditation practice.
Wow! I don't have these things right now. My life is not in order according to the ego...so there will be no peace. Or will there?
When I stop to think though...I mean when I sit in stillness without thinking lol...I hear Spirit and I come to know that peace can be experienced now, peace is meant to be experienced now.
I just need to close my eyes, shut out the external world and concentrate on my breath. Peace.
I just need to open my eyes and my mind to the world that is happening around me right now, right here and peace can be found.
I just need to tell myself that my thoughts are not who I am and attempt to gently get beyond them. Every time I watch them walk by my psyche when my eyes are closed without attachment...I experience peace.
I can find peace in my very imperfect meditation practice. I am still struggling to get a comfortable position that doesn't cause back strain and puts me in the alignment all our bodies are meant to be in so I can truly "relax" and stay alert at the same time...but...I still meditate. I still go to a place where peace can be found for 20 minutes twice a day. I know as I perfect this...it will get better and deeper...but for now I am finding some peace...so it is all good.
It is all good now. If I put more energy into finding peace now than I do into trying to get the help I need physically, trying to get more money by working harder, submitting rather than writing (writing brings me peace) and seeing meditation as something I need to do perfectly ...then I would discover that peace is where it always was. I just need to tap into it and I will have what I really want. If everything else turns around for the best because of it...so be it. What I really want though is peace now!
All is well in my world.
Marianne Williamson
Peace of mind is the one thing in life I long for more than anything else.
Oh I get mixed up sometimes. I listen to ego too often and get all twisted around by its promises. "Get your health back...and then peace will come. Get some money in your accounts and pay your bills...then you will have peace of mind. Get that book published...and then you will know what peace really is. Get perfect at meditation...and peace will be your stepping stone for more."
So I start thinking peace will be the reward for doing more; for putting all my energy into fighting my body...for working harder...for focusing more on submitting than writing new stuff...and for making a mediation practice a chore I try to perfect everyday. Peace will come sometime in the future when I got my life in order....when I have health, money, recognition, and the perfect meditation practice.
Wow! I don't have these things right now. My life is not in order according to the ego...so there will be no peace. Or will there?
When I stop to think though...I mean when I sit in stillness without thinking lol...I hear Spirit and I come to know that peace can be experienced now, peace is meant to be experienced now.
I just need to close my eyes, shut out the external world and concentrate on my breath. Peace.
I just need to open my eyes and my mind to the world that is happening around me right now, right here and peace can be found.
I just need to tell myself that my thoughts are not who I am and attempt to gently get beyond them. Every time I watch them walk by my psyche when my eyes are closed without attachment...I experience peace.
I can find peace in my very imperfect meditation practice. I am still struggling to get a comfortable position that doesn't cause back strain and puts me in the alignment all our bodies are meant to be in so I can truly "relax" and stay alert at the same time...but...I still meditate. I still go to a place where peace can be found for 20 minutes twice a day. I know as I perfect this...it will get better and deeper...but for now I am finding some peace...so it is all good.
It is all good now. If I put more energy into finding peace now than I do into trying to get the help I need physically, trying to get more money by working harder, submitting rather than writing (writing brings me peace) and seeing meditation as something I need to do perfectly ...then I would discover that peace is where it always was. I just need to tap into it and I will have what I really want. If everything else turns around for the best because of it...so be it. What I really want though is peace now!
All is well in my world.
Wednesday, May 31, 2017
Where flowers bloom so does hope.
Lady Bird Johnson
Slept poorly last night and awoke early drenched in sweat ( oh the life of a perimenopausal woman lol). It is all good. I got up and did yoga and then I meditated for 20 minutes ( or I tried to...the dogs had other ideas for me :))
I am trying to make the best use of my time and energy, considering them both potentially or actually limited in the physical sense. So I try to spend each section of my day mindfully, asking myself these questions before I embark on a task or activity,
"Is this the best use of my time and energy? If I only had today left, would I spend it doing this? If this depletes my physical energy , will it be worth it? "
Yesterday I gardened which I have not done in soooo long. The answer to each of the above questions was a resounding yes. Gardening is a great use of time and energy...because when I have my hands in the soil, I am doing something that not only brings joy to me but reflects the joy of life. Planting new things that will make the world more beautiful, attract and sustain more bees and butterflies ( my primary objective) and carry on long after I am dust...is a great use of time and what I have left of oompf. I am outdoors. I am actively using my body which I so love to do. I am literally elbow deep into nature lol feeling life under my fingertips as it crawls or creeps away from my prying hands.
If I only had one day left I would want to plant and maintain new life...leave something behind for my children and for this world. I would want to do my small part in ensuring that a species of insects that are so vital to sustaining this planet are given an opportunity to carry on. So yeah...gardening is a great use of my time and a worthy last day on earth activity. :)
Shouldn't we all be thinking and acting like it is our last day on earth so we are more conscious of how we are spending each moment and so we make each task a worthwhile one?
Gardening does deplete my physical energy. I squat in front of raised flower beds and I try not to pull or lift or those types of things that bring on symptoms...but heck, I never succeed lol. I end up doing what I do with every task I take on with my overly focused and determined mind...I give it all I got regardless of the cries from my body. Most times, I literally do not hear more than a whimper until I have accomplished what I set out to accomplish. Then I feel it. After an hour of weeding one flower bed that was in urgent need of care...I was completely wiped. I wouldn't finish until it was all done and then I had to go in and lay down on my zero gravity patio lounger D. bought for me when my back was out, that I placed in the middle of my living room floor (pretty lol), and I was out like a light.
I also went back out to the garden in the evening. My daughter went to the garden center for me to buy me more soil and some perennial's. Together we planted those while nature swarmed around our heads and bit into our flesh. I have not felt so alive in a long time. I was determined and we planted what we wanted to plant. I felt so much accomplishment when I was done despite how exhausted I was. I felt I used my time and my body in the way God intended...so what were a few symptoms. My energy was definitely depleted but it was all worth it.
Now it is raining. I won't have to water or do anything but let nature take care of the new additions to our yard. Whatever happens, happens. I can just sit back and watch the fruits of our labour materialize before us in blossom, bloom, butterflies and bees. How cool is that?
All is well in my world.
Lady Bird Johnson
Slept poorly last night and awoke early drenched in sweat ( oh the life of a perimenopausal woman lol). It is all good. I got up and did yoga and then I meditated for 20 minutes ( or I tried to...the dogs had other ideas for me :))
I am trying to make the best use of my time and energy, considering them both potentially or actually limited in the physical sense. So I try to spend each section of my day mindfully, asking myself these questions before I embark on a task or activity,
"Is this the best use of my time and energy? If I only had today left, would I spend it doing this? If this depletes my physical energy , will it be worth it? "
Yesterday I gardened which I have not done in soooo long. The answer to each of the above questions was a resounding yes. Gardening is a great use of time and energy...because when I have my hands in the soil, I am doing something that not only brings joy to me but reflects the joy of life. Planting new things that will make the world more beautiful, attract and sustain more bees and butterflies ( my primary objective) and carry on long after I am dust...is a great use of time and what I have left of oompf. I am outdoors. I am actively using my body which I so love to do. I am literally elbow deep into nature lol feeling life under my fingertips as it crawls or creeps away from my prying hands.
If I only had one day left I would want to plant and maintain new life...leave something behind for my children and for this world. I would want to do my small part in ensuring that a species of insects that are so vital to sustaining this planet are given an opportunity to carry on. So yeah...gardening is a great use of my time and a worthy last day on earth activity. :)
Shouldn't we all be thinking and acting like it is our last day on earth so we are more conscious of how we are spending each moment and so we make each task a worthwhile one?
Gardening does deplete my physical energy. I squat in front of raised flower beds and I try not to pull or lift or those types of things that bring on symptoms...but heck, I never succeed lol. I end up doing what I do with every task I take on with my overly focused and determined mind...I give it all I got regardless of the cries from my body. Most times, I literally do not hear more than a whimper until I have accomplished what I set out to accomplish. Then I feel it. After an hour of weeding one flower bed that was in urgent need of care...I was completely wiped. I wouldn't finish until it was all done and then I had to go in and lay down on my zero gravity patio lounger D. bought for me when my back was out, that I placed in the middle of my living room floor (pretty lol), and I was out like a light.
I also went back out to the garden in the evening. My daughter went to the garden center for me to buy me more soil and some perennial's. Together we planted those while nature swarmed around our heads and bit into our flesh. I have not felt so alive in a long time. I was determined and we planted what we wanted to plant. I felt so much accomplishment when I was done despite how exhausted I was. I felt I used my time and my body in the way God intended...so what were a few symptoms. My energy was definitely depleted but it was all worth it.
Now it is raining. I won't have to water or do anything but let nature take care of the new additions to our yard. Whatever happens, happens. I can just sit back and watch the fruits of our labour materialize before us in blossom, bloom, butterflies and bees. How cool is that?
All is well in my world.
Tuesday, May 30, 2017
Sin?
All bad qualities center around the ego. When ego is gone, Realization results by itself. There are neither good or bad qualities in the Self. The Self is free from all qualities. Qualities pertain to the mind only.
Ramana Maharshi (early 20th century Indian Sage and guru)
Questioning
Still on the kick of understanding what temptation, our tempters and sin really is from a broader more universal standpoint than the one I was brought up on. I go against everything I was brought up to believe even in my questioning. If my parents were still alive they would be packing me a lunch or an overnight bag and sending me off to the nearest confessional where they would expect me to be for quite some time. Still here I am...questioning and wondering. "Bless me Father for I have sinned. It has been much, much too long since my last confession.... I question everything I was brought up to believe. I am looking outside the church for answers." How many Hail Mary's do you think that would get me? Still I ask: What is sin; what is the "evil" tempter and what is temptation?
Foundation for Inner Peace(2007) A Course in miracles: Combined Volume (Third Edition). Mill Valley, CA: Foundations For Inner Peace.
Ramana Maharshi (early 20th century Indian Sage and guru)
Questioning
Still on the kick of understanding what temptation, our tempters and sin really is from a broader more universal standpoint than the one I was brought up on. I go against everything I was brought up to believe even in my questioning. If my parents were still alive they would be packing me a lunch or an overnight bag and sending me off to the nearest confessional where they would expect me to be for quite some time. Still here I am...questioning and wondering. "Bless me Father for I have sinned. It has been much, much too long since my last confession.... I question everything I was brought up to believe. I am looking outside the church for answers." How many Hail Mary's do you think that would get me? Still I ask: What is sin; what is the "evil" tempter and what is temptation?
What is Sin?
Religion as the Interpreter
Most of us would answer that question with, "That's easy...Sin is the breaking of the Ten Commandments; it is going against the pillars of Islam; It's what Hindu's and Buddhists call the defilement: killing anything, stealing, being unfaithful in marriage or partnership; lying or being inauthentic and using intoxicants. Simple right...sins are clearly labelled and the rules are there. Sins are "bad", "wrong", "evil" behaviours or qualities that our religions help us to avoid, right? Is it that simple?
Is There a Simpler Way to Understand Sin?
Is There a Simpler Way to Understand Sin?
In a way I think it is and in a way I think it isn't. Sin is probably a very simple concept to understand under a very complicated judgment offered by religiosity. I think it can be looked at in a more simpler way. Let's try to simplify it.
I believe that sin is anything that is unhealthy to our knowing the Self.
What is the Self? In the quote above the Self is something that is free of all qualities, that is not effected by thought form and judgment; that cannot be labelled as good or bad...that just is.
Say what, crazy lady?
The Self
The Self is who we really are beneath our bodies, minds and personalities.
The Self is spirit, soul, the Observer, true beingness, the One, Source, energy Life, Love or God...whatever way you want to label it.
Self is who we really are. It is what moves us, allows the blood to pump through our vessels and the air to be breathed in through our lungs. It is the force that allows the flower to push through the frozen earth in spring time; that sets the sun and that moves the tide.
The Self is the One thing that we all share. It is beyond mental judgment and the labelling of qualities. It is everything all at once...so there is no good or bad, right or wrong in the Self. We prescribe those qualities to things outside the Self using our minds.
It is our minds that see and understand sin...not the Self.
Sin: An Obstacle to Knowing Self
I believe that sin is anything that is unhealthy to our knowing the Self.
What is the Self? In the quote above the Self is something that is free of all qualities, that is not effected by thought form and judgment; that cannot be labelled as good or bad...that just is.
Say what, crazy lady?
The Self
The Self is who we really are beneath our bodies, minds and personalities.
The Self is spirit, soul, the Observer, true beingness, the One, Source, energy Life, Love or God...whatever way you want to label it.
Self is who we really are. It is what moves us, allows the blood to pump through our vessels and the air to be breathed in through our lungs. It is the force that allows the flower to push through the frozen earth in spring time; that sets the sun and that moves the tide.
The Self is the One thing that we all share. It is beyond mental judgment and the labelling of qualities. It is everything all at once...so there is no good or bad, right or wrong in the Self. We prescribe those qualities to things outside the Self using our minds.
It is our minds that see and understand sin...not the Self.
Sin: An Obstacle to Knowing Self
What we call sin is only that which is unhealthy on our journey to Knowing the Self. It is that which stands in the way or slows down our progress.
What we call sin will never harm the Self...the Self is beyond that. It will just harm us in our ability to get back home to where we belong.
The Self is reflected in humanity, all humanity...it is reflected in the universe, the entire universe. If I harm another; kill a living being or steal from the earth( that which we may prescribe to as sin under a religious pretext) I am delaying my progress to knowing who I really am. Because part of me is the thing I harmed, the thing I killed, the part of the earth I destroyed. It is an unhealthy behaviour and having the desire or the inclination that I have a right to do such things is an unhealthy quality.
It is All Relative
Bad or good; right or wrong are not relevant here...these judgments can change from one religion to the next, one culture to the next, one situation to the next...so it may not be universal.
Sin is not universal...but our progress is. If one of us delays the progress...we are all delayed. Sin then is simply an unhealthy thought, feeling or behavioural choice that leads man away from knowing who he truly is and from Whom he came. That simple.
What we call sin will never harm the Self...the Self is beyond that. It will just harm us in our ability to get back home to where we belong.
The Self is reflected in humanity, all humanity...it is reflected in the universe, the entire universe. If I harm another; kill a living being or steal from the earth( that which we may prescribe to as sin under a religious pretext) I am delaying my progress to knowing who I really am. Because part of me is the thing I harmed, the thing I killed, the part of the earth I destroyed. It is an unhealthy behaviour and having the desire or the inclination that I have a right to do such things is an unhealthy quality.
It is All Relative
Bad or good; right or wrong are not relevant here...these judgments can change from one religion to the next, one culture to the next, one situation to the next...so it may not be universal.
Sin is not universal...but our progress is. If one of us delays the progress...we are all delayed. Sin then is simply an unhealthy thought, feeling or behavioural choice that leads man away from knowing who he truly is and from Whom he came. That simple.
We believe in sin. Why? According to ACIM, The belief in sin is an adjustment. And an adjustment is a change; a shift in perception, or belief that was so before has been made different. Every adjustment is therefore a distortion, and calls upon defenses to uphold it against reality.(III:1: 1-3)
We have come to believe in sin, changing the truth we know deep down to be true, and we work diligently at defending this belief. How do we do that? We create evil doers and evil tempters in our mind.
We have come to believe in sin, changing the truth we know deep down to be true, and we work diligently at defending this belief. How do we do that? We create evil doers and evil tempters in our mind.
Who are the Tempters?
Christians are brought up to believe that the tempter is the devil. Hindus are brought up to believe, possibly, that the tempter is Mara. We personify temptation into a form we can understand but what is it really?
Ego as the Tempter
I have come to believe that our tempter is our ego...just that....a frightened part of human identity that we created, in our minds, to defend our belief in sin...in separation from God.
Ego wants us to identify with it, not the Self. It derives from fear and it breeds fear. What better way to induce fear than to create frightening demons.
Ego rationalizes sin because it knows "sin" keeps us from reaching the Knowledge of Self/Spirit that we seek ( whether we consciously know we are seeking or not). What better way to rationalize our unhealthy behaviour than to call it sin and say "The Devil made me do it!" Ego wants us to cling to this belief. It knows without it...it will perish under the truth of who we really are.
Ego as the Tempter
I have come to believe that our tempter is our ego...just that....a frightened part of human identity that we created, in our minds, to defend our belief in sin...in separation from God.
Ego wants us to identify with it, not the Self. It derives from fear and it breeds fear. What better way to induce fear than to create frightening demons.
Ego rationalizes sin because it knows "sin" keeps us from reaching the Knowledge of Self/Spirit that we seek ( whether we consciously know we are seeking or not). What better way to rationalize our unhealthy behaviour than to call it sin and say "The Devil made me do it!" Ego wants us to cling to this belief. It knows without it...it will perish under the truth of who we really are.
The real tempter is ego. It is ego that tricks us and manipulates us into believing things it wants us to believe for its own selfish gains. It is ego that leads us to attack others, kill living things, steal, collect, hold onto greedily the materials of this world. It encourages us to feel hate and anger, resentment and shame. Ego wants this because it wants us afraid enough to depend on it for salvation...and it sees that the only way we will adhere to its own twisted rules is if we are afraid.
Sin and tempters lead us to fear. Ego is our tempter but it offers no real salvation...just momentary pleasure if anything. salvation will only come if we get beyond temptation from our tempter.
Sin and tempters lead us to fear. Ego is our tempter but it offers no real salvation...just momentary pleasure if anything. salvation will only come if we get beyond temptation from our tempter.
What is Temptation?
Illusion and Distraction of the Outside World is Temptation
Temptation is the momentary reprieve ego offers us from the suffering, fear and destruction it gets us to believe is real.
Temptation is ego's promise of salvation. "If you succeed at this at all costs...you will feel better." "If you stand up for what is yours at all costs you will be righteous." "If you take, collect and own all you can from this world...you will be stronger and more powerful." "The world is a scary place and you are basically all alone in it...do the best you can to make it better for yourself...at all costs."
It encourages us to think thoughts that take us away from Self and focus on the little self...thoughts about how sinful we are; how alone we are; how awful the world is; how we need to constantly protect ourselves from others, how getting ahead is everything etc.
t encourages us to feel things that harm us in the long run like anger, jealousy, resentment, greed, lust, shame, worry, anxiety, guilt etc etc.
It encourages us to make choices that take us away from Stillness, solitude and the road that will take us home. It brings our focus away from the spiritual to the physical and material and tells us that this is all there is so we should make the most of it.
It's temptation is based on the need to take us away from the truth.
Temptation is ego's promise of salvation. "If you succeed at this at all costs...you will feel better." "If you stand up for what is yours at all costs you will be righteous." "If you take, collect and own all you can from this world...you will be stronger and more powerful." "The world is a scary place and you are basically all alone in it...do the best you can to make it better for yourself...at all costs."
It encourages us to think thoughts that take us away from Self and focus on the little self...thoughts about how sinful we are; how alone we are; how awful the world is; how we need to constantly protect ourselves from others, how getting ahead is everything etc.
t encourages us to feel things that harm us in the long run like anger, jealousy, resentment, greed, lust, shame, worry, anxiety, guilt etc etc.
It encourages us to make choices that take us away from Stillness, solitude and the road that will take us home. It brings our focus away from the spiritual to the physical and material and tells us that this is all there is so we should make the most of it.
It's temptation is based on the need to take us away from the truth.
What is Salvation then?
Salvation comes with getting beyond our thinking to our being who we really are.
It comes with recognizing ego's hold on us and the illusions of reality it provides.
It comes with recognizing that it is an illusion and forgiveness.
It comes with choosing another way of seeing.
Salvation is setting forth, once again, on the road to truth. That simple. Imagine!
It comes with recognizing ego's hold on us and the illusions of reality it provides.
It comes with recognizing that it is an illusion and forgiveness.
It comes with choosing another way of seeing.
Salvation is setting forth, once again, on the road to truth. That simple. Imagine!
All is well in my world.
ReferencesFoundation for Inner Peace(2007) A Course in miracles: Combined Volume (Third Edition). Mill Valley, CA: Foundations For Inner Peace.
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