RSS My Books
Jul 01 2009

sacred threads ~ pronouns for god

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

“I, you, he, she, we.
In the garden of mystic lovers,
these are not true distinctions.”

~ Shams of Tabriz

Does the mystical Divine subscribe to a particular pronoun?

I tend to think not.  That may explain my ruthless abandonment of rules when I write about, speak to, consider “GOD.”  Sometimes, He, sometimes She, sometimes It … out in that field.  That field free of rules, that’s where I meet the Mystic.

As you might have discerned by now, I’m interested in exploring the sublime Knowledge of the Truth as described by saints and seekers across a wide variety of spiritual traditions and in my own experience.  In sharing this exploration, I’m first devoting space to the consideration of what various scriptures and sacred writings say about who or what God is . . . to me.

Here’s where I’m landing today (and for the last several years now).  In the feelings of inner peace, delight and love – that’s where I most feel the connection to Holy (see how I mix it up?  What is God’s true Name after all?).

I think of God as that all-pervasive Consciousness that permeates all that is.  I am THAT.  So are you.  So is every thread that comes together to weave this tapestry we are all creating together.  To tune into that awareness and align with the Vibration of Consciousness takes practice, attention, awareness, mindfulness and willingness.  I’m talking about willingness to drop our limited understanding, concepts and ideas, willingness to open to the presence of Grace in this unfolding moment.

For me, it gets rather simple.  If I’m feeling good, I’m feeling God.  If not, it’s up to me to restore my state to a more LIFE affirming stance . . . not through denial, through acceptance and transcendence.  I’ll get to that later :)

After all, God’s right here.  If I’m not there?  Where am I?

My golden key is in the embrace of the inherent power of taking full responsibility for myself while abandoning that sometimes not so unconscious wish and waiting for rescue from any of my own destructive tendencies.  By destructive here, I am referring to that old definition of “sin.”  Sin derived from the archer’s term of “sinning” – when one misses the mark.

This is not your mother’s “sin.”  If my mark is SELF-realization (recognizing with steadfast cognizance, I am THAT”), sin is anything that is not in alignment with recognition of the Truth.  Because that TRUTH is right here, right now as near as my next breath, as intimate as my own heartbeat.  My glorious responsibility in this play of Consciousness is to drop into the ever-available peace, love and/or joy in this moment.

The really good news is that it’s not that tough.  These days there are numerous tools and technologies at our fingertips to transcend our own limited state and return to the Garden.

Later, I’ll share more about how I return to the Garden.  For now, try this – re-read the poem at the beginning of this post.  Now, take a deep breath and read it again.  One more time, this time out loud (if you can without your neighbors calling the men in white coats).  What did you discover?

Like a hiker who has come to a magnificent vista as she rounds a curve on a trail, pause, take a breath, look up at the sky.  Even if you are inside, you close your eyes and remember the vista of the vast sky.  Breathe in and allow room for that mystical Presence hidden within the  the poem.  Give that Presence room and time to peek out at you and present itself.

It may also be useful for you to know my own thinking in regards to how to best play with this blog.  First, you might want to print it out, or set it as your home page so you can read and re-read.  I imagine that some of what I write may challenge you.  That’s ok with me.  I hope it’s ok with you.  Share your comments on the blog.

As you can tell by now, I’m not a scholar, I’m not a theologian.  My sole credential is that I love God, God of my understanding.  I yearn to love Him even more deeply and know Her completely.  And, I’m ok with the Mystery.

Most of us walk in blindness to the experience of the great Truth, despite the abundance of sacred and mundane writings pointing us clearly and directly to the Presence all around us and within us.  In this blindness, I not only accept but embrace the challenge of cultivating disciplined (read playful) self-responsibility and engaging self-effort to shift my identification from my small ego self to my True SELF . . . all the while LOVING that small ego self.

This challenging and playful dance reminds me of my worthiness to live in the steady awareness of God, allowing me to touch Love, experience Peace and delight in Joy.  Such rigorous assumption of self-responsibility jogs my memory of the Truth of who I am (and you are) creating heaven on earth ~ my personal paradise.

If you liked this post, consider buying me a cup of tea ...

 

Jun 24 2009

heartfelt thanks

Go Gratitude!  Despite life’s ups and downs, there’s so much for which to be grateful.  Even more to the point, being grateful makes my heart sing!  Sometimes, it even feels a little selfish to dive into a luscious pool of gratitude because it feels sooooo good.  Try it.  Get grateful…genuinely, really, authentically grateful.

One of my mentors, Dick Olney, told me one time that he daily said out loud, “I give heartfelt thanks for help unknown already on it’s way to me!”

Now, Dick had a giant booming voice and a bit of flare for drama.  I like to imagine Dick standing with his arms wide booming out to the world, “I GIVE HEARTFELT THANKS TO HELP UNKNOWN ALREADY ON IT’S WAY TO ME!”

Me too, Dick.  Me too.

So, join the party y’all.  How ’bout some heartfelt thanks?  Don’t be shy.

Gratitude is the Master Key

By the way, if any y’all know how to insert a video into a post, clue me in.

If you liked this post, consider buying me a cup of tea ...

 

Jun 17 2009

sacred threads ~ enter the garden

Lately, I’ve been reading an old copy of Hsin Hsin Ming, The Book of Nothing. It is Bhagawan Shree Rajneesh’s commentary on the teachings of Sosan.  Again, I find myself startled to see the abundant generosity of Consciousness, the myriad means of attaining Knowledge of Truth available to us.

There are a thousand doorways into the Garden, I just want to open one.  Everyday.  I want to open a door into the Garden, then kneel and kiss the ground.  In reading The Book of Nothing, I’ve been contemplating that sweet spot that balances precariously between non-striving and self-effort.  When I’m poised there, in that spot, I feel the sweet breeze of Consciousness playing in the garden of my life.  I recognize God.

Across time and culture, sacred writings have drawn clear and detailed maps to guide those travelers seeking deeper understanding and meaning.  For me, I’m seeking both meaning and union with God.

What makes my heart sing on this journey is knowing that there are as many doorways into the garden as there are each of us.  It’s a little startling to me that there is Supreme acceptance of  the uniqueness of our various natures and moods.  In some texts, the Bhagavad Gita for instance, the seeker is encouraged to pursue knowing God according to her nature.

In the commentary on the Bhagavad Gita, “Jnaneshwari”, Krishna invites Arjuna to recognize this generosity of the Lord.

“Keep your mind on Me alone, your intellect on Me. Thus you shall dwell in Me hereafter.  There is no doubt of this…
But if with your whole will and mind you are unable to fix your attention entirely on Me, Devote to this concentration at least a brief period during the twenty-four hours of the day…
If you are incapable even of practice, be intent on My work; even performing actions for My sake, you shall attain perfection. . .Whatever action you perform, surrender it wholeheartedly to Me, and do not consider whether it is great or small…
But if you are unable even to do this, then, resorting to devotion to Me, and abandoning all the fruits of action, act with self-restraint…
Let this be.  Set aside remembering Me, and direct your mind towards controlling the senses…”

When confronted with the revelation of Truth as revealed in sacred texts, literature, stories, and poems across cultures around the world, I cannot help but stand in awe when regarding such a compassionate Lord.  I see these threads of Truth woven across continents and centuries as a mystical tapestry of clear patterns revealing well-trodden paths to the heart, paths to God.

God in His great compassion created many ways to love Him, many roads that lead to Her.

In ignorance and prideful yearning to know God, many of us have repeatedly and for centuries confused  religion with the goal rather than the road to the goal – union wiht the Divine.  Despite the repetition of the theme, “God is Love,” scattered throughout sacred texts, men and women continue to indulge anger, hate and pride to justify the fighting of wars and rejection of whole segments of our shared world “in the name of God.”  Really?

Rather, our various roads to God, the diversity of religious paths, can serve as a reminder of God’s magnificence and compassion for the uniqueness of His Creation.  I don’t want to EVER become mired in the differences.  I intend not to confuse the flower for the honey, the road for the destination.  Religious and spiritual freedom is a means to an end given by a loving God.

Living in the bible belt, where churches on almost every corner boasts that they have the key to eternity and knowledge of the Truth, at a time when, yet again, there are “holy wars,” I want to accept the unspoken invitation to choose and practice loving Divine Consciousness according to my nature.  I don’t want to find myself choosing to love and serve God out of fear of what will happen if I don’t do it “right” and desire for what will happen if I do my spiritual path “right.”

When I stumble upon the revelation of Truth as revealed in sacred texts, literature, stories and poems across cultures around the world, I cannot help but stand in awe when contemplating such a compassionate Lord.  There is no “right.”  There are many well-trodden paths to the Heart.  There a thousand doorways into the garden.

Embracing full self-responsibility for my life is a way I can remind myself of my worthiness to live in the steady awareness of God and allows me to perceive Love.  Such rigorous assumption of self-responsibility jogs my memory of the Truth of who I am and truly creates my heaven on earth.

“Let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”
~ Holy Bible (11)

On a side note, I received an email from a reader who shared that she has been printing out and reading and re-reading these posts.  You might want to consider re-reading as well.  I have found re-reading to deepen my understanding and provoke a more practical understanding of what I’ve read.  In this way, perhaps this Sacred Threads can serve you as a kind of spiritual correspondence course.

If you liked this post, consider buying me a cup of tea ...

 

Jun 09 2009

sacred threads ~ meeting grace

Flowers with Dew Drops by Judith Goldston

Flowers with Dew Drops by Judith Goldston

First, let me begin with a little side note.  I’m switching pronouns.  I’ve realized that what I am sharing is my experience of my spiritual path. So, there you go.  Me, rather than you, our, we, one, etc.

It is clear to me that when I look into what the various religious teachings and lovers of God have taught throughout the ages, we are all expressions of the heart, the Great Spirit, Allah, God.  The play of our lives is the play of God.

In divine ignorance, I identify with the experiences of my personality, the mutterings of my mind, and my oh so present ego, rather than with the Witness of these experiences.  More and more I am coming to recognize this ignorance, this false identification as also divine, as part of play of the Great Spirit.  I am in the play, watching the play and I am the forgetfulness that there’s a play going on.

I want to establish myself in remembrance.  To do that, I believe in the power of cultivating a steady state, a state of peace, joy and love, a state of well-being.  Because, I think that’s where I’ll meet the Truth.  Indeed, in that state is where I have met that Truth.

If I’m not in a state of joy, peace, love or some variation, I think it’s totally, 100% my responsibility to engage a little self-effort and restore my state to well-being.  Because, that’s where I meet God, Allah, Shiva, The Great Mystery.

My self-effort is in the thoughts, words and deeds that support me in rising up to meet the Grace of God.  For me, this means surfing in the confluence of spiritual practices and change techniques from the field of psychotherapy.  It means using every tool at my disposal to dis-identify from the experiences of my ego and identify with the essence of who I am, the Truth Playing in the Field of Consciousness, God.

Still with me?

Both common and more esoteric teachings of saints and sages across tradition teach that God is within, as near as the next breath, as near as our own heart.   And, they teach God is within reach.  I “only” have to do my part.  I only have to engage self-effort to experience the inherent Truth of their mystical encouragement, their view of Grace.

There are times that “only” feels like a thousand miles long and 14,000 lifetimes.  But, still no one else is going to confront and embrace that “only” but me.  No one can do this effort for me.  In embracing that “only” and engaging in self-effort, those are the moments that I seem to disappear in a meeting with Grace.

Mechtild of Magdeburg wrote with simplistic beauty on the nature of Grace.  As a young girl of twelve in the early thirteenth century, she had a revelation of the spirit when she saw “all things in God, and God in all things.”   Much later, with her life devoted to service and spiritual practice, she wrote “How God comes to the Soul.”

“I descend on my love

As dew on a flower.”

Mmmmmm.  As a dew on a flower.  There’s a quiet peace, a sweet love in that statement.  It reinforces my experience that it is in those quiet present moments of the peaceful, loving, joyous NOW that I meet God.

Swami Muktananda, a modern mystic and meditation teacher, repeatedly suggested that being on a spiritual path is like the flight of a bird.  He wrote, “Self -effort and grace are like the two wings of a bird: the bird needs both to fly to the goal.”  Just as a bird needs both wings to fly, as a would-be Knower of God, I lean into both Grace and self-effort.

How do you meet Grace?  Click on the comments above and share your experience.

If you liked this post, consider buying me a cup of tea ...

 

Jun 02 2009

sacred threads ~ the root of all this wanting

The yearning to know and recognize God is thought by some philosophers to be the root of all desire.  It may be that the desire disguises itself, showing up as a wish for a new car, or a particular job.  Perhaps it shows up as some wanting for a girlfriend, a boyfriend, a relationship.  However it comes to us, there is desire.  What is it we REALLY want?  For what are we REALLY yearning?

In our ignorance, most of us think that our desire will cease when we obtain the object of our wanting.  Yet, the moment we fulfill the desire, the moment we obtain the object of our wanting, there is another desire.  Often, even before we obtain the object of our wanting, there is still another desire.  The desire itself never goes away.

Patanjali (Yoga Sutras, 2nd Century BCE) even gives guidance as to how one transcends the desires of the ego and return to the purist desire of the soul, to know God (Yoga Sutras, 2nd Century BCE).  He suggests that we be relentless in our determination to know and recognize God.  He advises spiritual aspirants to gain gradual control over the negative tendencies of the mind through vigilant self-inquiry.

He wrote that we should ask ourselves, “Why do I really desire that object?  What permanent advantage should I gain by possessing it?  In what way would its possession help greater freedom and knowledge?”

In all our restless wanting, we get lost.  And often, we feel that the goal is beyond our reach.  This is especially evident in those who reach for the high goal of knowing the Truth.  Clearly, as we work towards the achievement of a particular goal, we have all experienced the alluring pull to simply give up and quit.

How many students in fact do quit before they obtain their goal and graduate?  Either they fall prey to the mistaken belief that they will never reach their goal due to their own ignorance, the demands of family, or the whining and screaming of their own ego leads them down a different road.

How many times have we found ourselves confronted by a particular job or goal that stretched beyond what we thought we were capable of, only to find that in our tenacious perseverance, we succeeded?

Choose to Persevere.  In every success, there is perseverance.  Claim perseverance as one of the many golden treasures within you.

Several years ago, on an exquisite autumn afternoon, one of those afternoons when the air shimmered with golden light, I went on a hike with some friends and our children.  The children galloped ahead and came to huge rock standing alone among the trees in the woods.  Two children stood transfixed as they looked at this kid-size Mt. Everest.  They decided to find a way to climb it.

As they surveyed possible routes, both children determined that the “south face” of this monolith held the most likely avenue for their success.  First, one tried the get on the rock, and succeeded.  However, after a bit of clinging to the rock, he jumped from his holding place.  He gave up.  The second child (my now adult daughter, Kait) saw the place she wanted to begin.

She took a deep breath and got hold of the rock.  With a look of determination on her face, she found her next foothold, then her next, and her next.  In a few minutes, she reached the top.  The light on her face matched the golden light filtering through the trees.  She raised her hands in jubilation and shouted, “I did it!”

Clearly both children could have made it to the top of this rock.  The difference is that the first one quit.  He gave up.  His ability to climb this boulder was no different from the Kait’s.  Yet something inside brought him to a decision to quit.

On the spiritual path, indeed on any quest, we come upon inner enemies that attempt to convince us to abandon the quest.  The moment we succumb to the mutterings of these inner tricksters, we abandon the goal, if even for only one moment.  We cease to persevere.  Such abandonment for some is complete, for others it is only a short time before the heart beckons and they begin again.

In his yoga sutras, Patanjali describes the inner tricksters as “obstacles to enlightenment.”  While the tradition of Christianity refers to them as the “deadly sins” the Bhagavad Gita calls such tendencies the “doors to hell.”

The human tendencies of desire, anger, fear, and pride abound in life experiences acting as tricksters throughout our lives, sometimes leading us astray on our path Home.  These tricksters draw our attention away from our highest nature, our highest understanding of the Truth and, ultimately, the Truth itself.

A modern day philosopher beautifully articulated the import of humanity aligning itself with our highest nature.  He said, “In an age in which mankind’s collective power has suddenly been increased, for good or evil, a thousand fold through the tapping of atomic energy, the standard of conduct demanded from ordinary human beings can be no lower than the standard attained in times past by rare saints.”(A.J. Toynbee, A Study of History)

Assailed by the pull of life’s drama, many of us consider the standard set by such a statement beyond our reach.  We abandon the idea that we can be saints or live saintly lives.  We abandon the quest.  Yet, the longing is still there.  Instead, if we learn to simply watch the play of life with amusement and return to the path before us, we could find the secret of living in the steady awareness of God’s Presence, the God of YOUR understanding.

In his book entitled, Lift Up Your Hearts, Fulton J. Sheen gives a glimpse of the necessary tools.  He wrote, “Self-discipline never means giving up anything – for giving up is a loss.  Our Lord did not ask us to give up the things of earth, but to exchange them for better things.”  Mr. Sheen points us to the twin tasks of remembrance and self-discipline.

Somewhere within our own hearts there is a knowing, a remembrance, that all the tricks of our mind and our ego are just that, tricks.  As when we were children playing hide and seek, we can learn to spot the tricksters hiding in our ego and race for Home.  Recognizing them as no more than playful tricksters, we return Home to heaven in the heart, Home to identifying with God within, Home to recognizing God.

If you liked this post, consider buying me a cup of tea ...

 

May 26 2009

interwebs meet sacred threads

For the last several years, I’ve been writing a book called Sacred Threads. It’s a weaving of sacred teachings and psychotherapy principles that form a tapestry of practical spirituality.  Mostly, I’ve been writing this book for myself.  I’ve decided to share it now on the interwebs…a bit at a time.

I hope you find it useful.  If so, I hope you will share with others.  Please post comments and share your thoughts and your own journey.  Don’t be shy.  Sometimes, I’ll respond to your posts.  Sometimes, I won’t.  However, I will read every one of them.

My intention is to post a Sacred Threads thread on Sunday, Monday or Tuesday of each week.  So, stay tuned.

COMING HOME TO HEAVEN
“Religion is a journey, not a destination.”
~ Anonymous

When I was young, my parents occasionally left me with my very religious grandparents so they could have a night alone.  Some would call my grandparents them fanatics.  Some would call them devoted, depending on who was doing the calling.  Nonetheless, my grandmother singled me out from my brothers and sister.  She implored me, as a young child of four or five, to “save” my parents so they could go to heaven.  She insisted that they had to accept Christ as their savior, “It’s the only way.”

I was terrified of her late night stories of hell-fire and damnation.  My eyes grew wide with her descriptions of the desperation of those poor souls doomed to eternal hell.  She was convinced that my parents were sure to be among the doomed.  In spite of my fear, I was convinced my grandmother was a little bonkers.

When Grandmama was finally fast asleep, I crept to the big black phone with the heavy handset and called my mother.  It seemed to take the strength of an Amazonian goddess to dial each number.  When finally she answered, my mother soothed me with her loving and calm voice.  With infinite patience, she told me to look at my hand and remember hers.  She would then tell me a story that she had told me many times to assuage my fears and soothe my troubled heart.

“Do you see how many fingers you have?”  In the quiet dark, I could feel her voice wrap around me like her strong loving arms.
“Mmm hmm,” I mumbled.

She told me to trace each finger all the way up my arm and down to the center of my chest, “That’s where your heart is and that’s where heaven is.  And even though your grandmother may be taking the index finger to heaven, I may take a whole different finger, and your dad, he may take the ring finger all the way to heaven.  These fingers of ours are like all of the different roads to heaven.”  I could feel the soft touch of her fingers tracing the veins in my hand and up my arms as her sweet voice filled the quiet dark.

“And you,” she went on, “you may take your very own way, different from mine and different from your Grandmama’s.  You may take the pinky finger road all the way to heaven.”   She reminded me that Grandmama loved God very much and only wanted to be sure that we were all going to heaven.  She talked about how maybe there were just so many trees on Grandmama’s road to heaven that she just could not see the other roads of knowing and loving God.    She couldn’t see that there are other roads to heaven.  Grandmama only knew her road.

My grandmother’s fear and my mother’s love continuously kindled in me a burning desire to know God, to love God, to reach heaven.  Throughout my youth, my mother took me to whatever church I wanted to attend.  While living in Turkey, she took me to mosques and helped me learn about Islam.  While living in the southeastern United States, she took me to evangelical and Baptist churches.  My mom reminded me that God was more than a church and a religion.  Throughout my youth, she supported and encouraged my questioning and my desire to know God.

If you liked this post, consider buying me a cup of tea ...