Friday, September 24, 2010

Acceptance and Being

Last night at the daily meditation in Second Life I had a most wonderful experience.  What was so wonderful, you might ask?  Well, I realized how much acceptance is playing a part of my perspective and how clear I am on the Divine being through everyone. 

After the invocation (a brief affirmative prayer designed to set the intention for sacred space for the meditation) a question was posed by a newcomer.  "What is the goal of meditation?" He asked.  I started by thanking him for the most excellent question.  I then responded along the lines that for me the goal of meditation is learning how to think.  Following my expanding upon the answer and I was asked another question.

"How do you deal with the forces coming to you?" He asked again.  I explained that I believe that God is Omnipresent, in, as, and through every thing, every event, and every one.  Therefore, I do not believe that any forces come at me or to me.  I believe that God is being through me, through the centre of my being, and as a consequence I have the creative potential of God within.  And it is only my thinking, my feelings, old thought-patterns, beliefs and attitudes that get in the way of this potential.

As you might imagine, by this point, I was enjoying some great questions and the opportunity to contemplate some thoughtful questions.  However, that previous question had waved a flag in my mind.  I had a sense that there was a motive in the mind of the questioner that was confirmed by the next question.

"Jesus said in John 14:6, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” He said.  This comment was clearly a shift from question to declaration.  And to this I replied that whilst I view Jesus as a Master teacher, ranking him alongside the other great masters and prophets such as Buddha and Muhammed, I do not believe I need a mediator to commune with God.  Whilst I honour and accept all the beautiful paths to devotion this is not my path.  I closed my response by sharing that whilst we had different belief systems and are traveling by different paths I believe we are headed toward the same destination.

In the meantime the rest of the group had been silent.  But following this last comment someone then responded with a quote from Matthew 5:8. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."  This was an interesting counter-reference since it implies that one need only be pure of heart to see God, which obviously provides a striking contrast to John 14:6.

At this point we went into meditation and in spite of inviting the visitor to stay and join us in community after the meditation they left.  I offered them blessings and entered into spaciousness.

Upon reflection I celebrate this event.  I felt, and feel, a complete sense of love for this visitor.  At first I contemplated memorizing Matthew 5:8 for such conversations in the future.  But then I had a realization.  What is the point of debating theology?  The idea of trying to convince someone of a theological standpoint is not what I feel drawn too.  I feel drawn to supporting others convince themselves.  If our visitor is in love with Jesus and is focusing on inspiring and supporting the transformation of consciousness who am I to get in the way of that in any fashion?  And besides, God isn't interested in my theology, rather in the love, acceptance and compassion I fill my heart and my life with.

Truly he is blessed by God being through him.  But then so am I, as is everyone for that matter.  I feel a deep sense of peace and joy around this conversation, as I did last night.  I celebrate my acceptance of all paths.  I celebrate that God is being through me.  I celebrate that perhaps a year or two ago I wouldn't have held such love in my heart as I did last night when speaking with him. 

Celebration is a spiritual practice.  If you notice you have made progress toward your vision in a way that brings you peace and joy, then take the time to celebrate this, just as I am in this blog posting.

I celebrate that the path that I follow does not ask me to go forth and "make disciples of all nations."  I am coming to realize that my gospel in this regard is to, "go forth and live in love and acceptance."  If others feel drawn to ask me why I am so peaceful I shall share the story of my path with them.  And if they feel drawn to walk with me for a while I shall celebrate.  And if not, then with acceptance in my heart I will offer them blessings and know that ultimately their destination is as beautiful as mine.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Transition

It has been a while since I was inspired to write a poem.  But this one flowed after a meditation and a deep moment of peace.

Know the Flow as you go, my brothers and sisters and in light.


Transition
I trust that you will remember,
how Divine you really are.
As you transition to the fullness,
beyond the seas, the lands, the stars.

Did you live each moment,
being the change you wished to see?
Return to Oneness is delightful.
I am sure you would agree.

The thought of transition stirs me.
Not stirring saddened heart.
I know not to truly mourn you.
for we shall never be apart.

Yet regardless of who you tried to be,
I cannot help but shed these tears,
For the beauty of transition has,
meaning through all reflected spheres.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Connection and Service

This morning I had the pleasure to be in service with the Practitoner Team at the Centre for Spiritual Living, Edmonton.  I have to confess that I love arriving at 9am and beginning the setup for meditation.  By the time 9.30 am comes I feel beautifully aligned and ready to serve. 

For this morning I had an intuition to introduce the mantra I blogged about yesterday.  I wrote the phonetic words on the white board and then proceeded to spend a minute or two explaining about meditation and mantras in general.  After that I invited them to either use the Buddhist mantra or to say God Is, or I am that I am.  This felt right as it offered people an option depending on where they were.

However, in the interests of it being a 15 minute meditation and that mantras are not normally done in this setting I invited them to focus on this mantra mentallly before starting the meditation with one round of chanting this mantra out loud.

Specific feedback was not needed but I felt very connected after that meditation.  The exchanged glances were of peace and joy, and I was left with the sense that we had all been moved. 

After that the service was a delightful blur of awareness and peace.  My Practitioner-Intern friend who had recently been in hospital (and for whom I'd been visiting and offering affirmative prayers for) had sent a testimonial letter to the Practitioner team, which Reverend Patrick then read in both services.  I have to say that I cried as he read her letter.  There was something so very real.  Perhaps it was my state of mind, perhaps it was the simplicity of a story of healing where someone who, according to the surgeon, was not supposed to live through this experience?  But then I don't think that knowing the answer to this question is what matters. 

Today I was reminded of what beautiful connection and service are.  I touched in with the Divine today and I will confess the day has been a wondrous morphing of smiles, tears, and mantras.  Awakening is truly a delight.

Saturday, September 18, 2010

My New Favourite Meditation

Over the couple of weeks I've been leading a series of meditations through Second Life and focusing on sharing thoughts about different practices and approaches.  Over the past few years I've enjoyed many meditations but this one was quite exceptional.  I can still feel the resonance and the vibration through my body.

Not only will I be including this meditation in my 'heavy rotation' list but I thought I'd come and blog about it with you.  It is a Buddhist mantra that goes, "Gate Gate Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha"  It is pronounced:

GAH-TAY GAH-TAY PAH-RAH GAH-TAY PAH-RAH-SAHM GAH-TAY BOW-DEE SWAH-HAH

The meanting is, "Beyond, Beyond, the Great Beyond, Beyond that Beyond, to Thee Homage."

I am not certain why I had waited all this time to lead a mantra meditation but I am delighted that I did.  There is something very special and yet I am thankful to the teachers in the books I've been reading of late for introducing me to this particular meditation practice.

Know the Flow as you go, brothers and sisters in Light.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Love Simply Is

Last night I had the joy to start supporting the Meditation is more than you Think class at the Centre for Spiritual Living, Edmonton.  As you can imagine after spending those three hours in a meditative state or discussing meditation that by the time I came to lead the daily meditation in Second Life that I was feeling very inspired.  But what struck me was the bearing of those I interacted with.  I witnessed much courage and authenticity last night and I felt humbled by it.

At one point I recall saying the following: Fear is where love got forgotten.  A question had been asked by a participant about thinking they had moved past fear and yet had seen fear within them during the meditation. 

Fear, like the ego, will always be a part of the human experience.  Ego has its place.  It is the mediator between the physical and the spiritual world, it is the analyst, and the editor.  In the right context it can bring me value, so long as I do not collapse into it.  I have for some time now taken the stance that I seek to integrate my ego, not deny it.  I honour my ego.  After all, if God is expressing through all then God definitely had something in mind when creating ego.  If I can assume God knows what they are doing, then surely this is a good basis upon which to accept ego whilst remaining aware of it. 

And so it is with fear.  Fear has its uses.  If I am caught in a burning house fear will activate adrenalin and provide me with enhancements to my physical body so that I can seek survival.  Fear is healthy so long as I am aware of it and do not collapse into it.  But much like the ego it is not so much the reaction of fear than the response to it that really counts.  If I collapse and lose myself within fear, then I have forgotten love. 

And with this still in my mind I felt inspired to tweet and post Fear is where love got forgotten to Facebook.  This post inspired a comment. What about the fear that love is being ignored?  The authenticity of this question struck me.  The one posing the question was obviously touched by the comment at some level and felt inspired to ask a meaningful question.  I cannot say that my response is the right answer, but it was my answer. 
Love does not need acknowledgement and so cannot be ignored. Love simply is. When we live in love we honour the most profound quality in the Universe. And so even if the person or event that is the target of an expression of our love should be ignorant of or ignore our expression this in no way invalidates that the love has been given, just like the clouds do not invalidate the sun. And yet love given with the expectation of acknowledgement is love with an attachment; and attachment leads to suffering. We should love regardless of our love being ignored, and tap into it in an unconditional form.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Yoga and a Journey Through Healing

I suddenly realized today that the past 3 months have been subtle, yet a change in my health has snuck up on me. 

Perhaps I should step back.  Probably around 6 months ago I had an urge to try Yoga out.  However, for one reason or another it just didn't seem to happen.  And then about 3 months ago, during a meditation, an idea came to me.  Why not go online and search out a nice, gentle Yoga routine? 

And so I did just that.  For the first couple of months I would do my gentle yoga routine (only 8 stretches by the way) before meditation.  And then about a month ago I started to get up at 5.30am and do some yoga as well as my morning meditation.  Not being one to settle for the easy stuff all the time I decided to take it up a notch.  Two days ago I looked up Sun Salutation.  Talk about shock to my system!  The past two days have been very gentle efforts to try and go through this set of poses.

Ultimately, I've enjoyed doing yoga as a solitary practice.  I am sure I could benefit from a teacher guiding me in my poses.  And yet, I also realized that my back pain is a thing of the past.  I can lean over to brush my teeth in the morning without a problem now.  In the past some mornings and such motion would result in pain and my needing to lean on the sink.  In fact, about 4 years ago my chiropractor diagnosed me with spinal degeneration.  Not only do I have 6 lumbar vertebrae (instead of the normal 5) but the they were starting to wear down, the bone becoming serrated and chewing down on nerve and ligament.  This would even result in locking of the back, not to mention excrutiating pain.  In fact, my back problems go back nearly two decades and my days of martial arts. 

The healing journey began on February 9th 2009.  At the time I was in Practitioner studies and was inspired to use the assignment to treat for a change in condition in my life as an opportunity to know perfect health for my back.  And after a couple of months my back had gotten better.  The severe locking stopped, and my need to visit the chiropractor greatly reduced.  In fact, in reviewing my visits to the chiropractor in the years leading to the middle of 2009 I would have an average of 1 visit per week.  Over the past 12 months that's dropped to one visit per month.  And now that I think about it, I have only been to see my chiropractor twice in the past four months.

The past 3 months and embracing yoga as a practice, have completed this journey through healing.  Obviously, I have released old beliefs, and am embracing a new vision for what health means to me.  I celebrate the days without pain, and with only the occasional moment of discomfort currently in my experience I look forward to continued perfect health, particularly around my back.  And there is no doubt in my mind that Yoga has played a part of this journey through healing that I have taken.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

The Power of Love

Over the past few days a wonderful lesson has unfolded for me.  During the weekend I had been struck by a series of events that had challenged me to grow and to live in awareness.  And as is normal during my meditations in Second Life I try to relate an experience I have had, the Spiritual Principle that I've spotted, and how I've applied in life.  The goal of these sharings is to try and learn more about living spiritually and by exploring my transformation more deeply.

Well, unbeknowst to me (at the time) one of the people who had been in one of the aforementioned events had shown up at the meditation.  I had never intended to single them out but they came away from the experience feeling less than positive and had sent me a letter explaining what had happened for them. 

I wanted to share the reply I sent them.  After that I will share their reply (removing their name of course).  This letter was written after an experience where I had showed up with less than my very best, but I like to think showed up with love when it most mattered.
I love you, I am sorry, please forgive me, and thank you.
As I read your note and processed what happened I realized that the only thing for me to do is to look within. The Truth can only be found within. Any effort to explain why I reacted to your words and actions will distract me from Truth; but I can look to understand what beliefs I have and neutralize them with Spiritual Truth. Any effort to explain what I meant by the use of the word 'projection' is to focus on the past and to take me from the present work that I must do.
I had initially spent some considerable time writing a lengthy response. However, upon reflection I believe that what needs to be said is much simpler than that. I forgot two very important spiritual principles:
- do not take anything personally
- do not make assumptions
I managed to forget both of these spiritual principles. I do not regret what happened. I am grateful for the choices that both you and I made as they have served to bring me insight through experience. And in turn I hope that this letter, and the experience that we have shared, serves to support you in your journey. Relationship after all is an opportunity for awareness, fulfillment and healing.
I love you, I am sorry, please forgive me, and thank you.
Know the Flow as you go.
And when I logged in today here's the reply I got:
Hahahah! I have to laugh because your note was so awesome and came as such a relief
Your words made my heart sing, "There's hope in the world yet for more compassion, real relationship and authentic community".
I value your response very highly. As Abraham says, we are all allowed to comment on the affect others have on us when they attempt to create their reality in the proximity of our experience. It would be my dream to see this coming to fruition in Second Life ... and moreso that we begin to be masters of *beneficial effects upon one another.
But honestly, reading the words " I love you" were the most soothing balm I could ever hope to read and worth more than a thousand Lindens. It helped unlock love as my response to you as well... and THAT's the type of attitude I want to pay forward. And I will.. thanks to you.
: )
In Inspiration and Spirit and with Love
I celebrate this experience.  What a wondrous connection and learning I have had.  And what a gift this person gave me.  Thank God I managed to set my ego aside.