"The constant assertion of belief is an indication of fear."
-- Jiddu Krishnamurti
Possessors of strong faith operate from that faith. They manifest their deep, conscious connection to the One through how they live in the world, treat others, and generally comport themselves.
Those who build their lives on beliefs, rather than faith, must constantly reaffirm and defend those beliefs because they are not rooted in Reality. They especially feel the need to promote and defend those beliefs vis-a-vis competing belief systems.
Faith is not in competition with anything. Reality does not need bolstering. Beliefs are mental-emotional constructs. Faith, on the other hand, is an intuitive relaxation into Reality. It is, "a non-cognitive way of knowing" that is rooted in Mystery rather than in limited, personal understanding.
When you hear a person vehemently, almost violently, professing their beliefs, you can be sure that it is not just the external world that they are attempting to convince -- they are also speaking directly to the doubting and non-compliant portions of their own Being. In fact, by putting so much energy into championing particular beliefs, they are also strengthening resistance to those beliefs both in them self and in others.
So, today, try an experiment: See what the world looks like without the spectacles of belief. Anytime that you are tempted to put forth a particular belief, or argue with Reality because it is not matching your beliefs, let the beliefs go. Letting go of belief is the first step to finding faith. Faith is always there, waiting patiently for you to return home. Home to Reality, home to your Heart, home to a land that is unbelievable!
The Ordinary
"...but the ordinary is the miracle.
Ordinary love and ordinary death,
ordinary suffering and ordinary birth,
the ordinary couplets of our breath,
ordinary heaven, ordinary earth."
-- Derek Walcott. Tiepolo's Hound
Everybody wants a miracle. A stock market miracle, a sports miracle, a miracle of conception, a miracle from Mother Teresa or God or Mickey Mouse -- it doesn't matter. Just give me a miracle!
OK. Here it is. Today. Right now. The ordinary miracle of life and all it entails. Nothing fancy, nothing special. Miraculous nonetheless.
The challenge we all face is to see, feel and experience the miracle rather than get lost in our heads, lost in our emotions, lost in our unconsciousness. The world-as-miracle perspective is not one that is supported by our scientific, materialistic, consumer culture. And so, if you choose to see the ordinary as miraculous, you will always be "in this world, but not of it."
And that's a good thing. Not grounded by, not attached to, the dominant cultural perspective. Free of mental, emotional, and social baggage. Let today be an ordinary miracle. It already is.
Ordinary love and ordinary death,
ordinary suffering and ordinary birth,
the ordinary couplets of our breath,
ordinary heaven, ordinary earth."
-- Derek Walcott. Tiepolo's Hound
Everybody wants a miracle. A stock market miracle, a sports miracle, a miracle of conception, a miracle from Mother Teresa or God or Mickey Mouse -- it doesn't matter. Just give me a miracle!
OK. Here it is. Today. Right now. The ordinary miracle of life and all it entails. Nothing fancy, nothing special. Miraculous nonetheless.
The challenge we all face is to see, feel and experience the miracle rather than get lost in our heads, lost in our emotions, lost in our unconsciousness. The world-as-miracle perspective is not one that is supported by our scientific, materialistic, consumer culture. And so, if you choose to see the ordinary as miraculous, you will always be "in this world, but not of it."
And that's a good thing. Not grounded by, not attached to, the dominant cultural perspective. Free of mental, emotional, and social baggage. Let today be an ordinary miracle. It already is.
Suffering
"The sense that things should be other than they are is suffering."
--Wayne Liquorman
Anytime you don't accept what is, you will suffer. Guaranteed. In fact, non-acceptance is already, in and of itself, suffering. There's no lag time. You don't have to wait for the suffering to hit you. Non-acceptance = suffering.
We have been indoctrinated by our families, religions, authority figures and cultural institutions to believe that things should be different than they are -- always. No matter how much things change, no matter how much "better" they get, we can always find something to be discontent about. The next better is always superior to the current better.
And so we pass through life in a state of perpetual discontent. Nothing is ever quite right. Everything is just a little bit off, a little bit inferior to what it could be.
We set goals, we fulfill desires we achieve accolades, and we manifest dreams. And still goddam reality is never quite perfect!
Here's the secret of secrets: It never will be. The secret is not to make the world match your intentions. Intentions are just desires in drag! The secret is to accept and harmonize with what is, and be detached from all outcomes. Give up ideals of perfection. Be in complete accord with Reality.
That's it. Nothing fancy. No exotic asanas, mantras, visualizations, or prayers. Complete acceptance. Nothing more, nothing less.
--Wayne Liquorman
Anytime you don't accept what is, you will suffer. Guaranteed. In fact, non-acceptance is already, in and of itself, suffering. There's no lag time. You don't have to wait for the suffering to hit you. Non-acceptance = suffering.
We have been indoctrinated by our families, religions, authority figures and cultural institutions to believe that things should be different than they are -- always. No matter how much things change, no matter how much "better" they get, we can always find something to be discontent about. The next better is always superior to the current better.
And so we pass through life in a state of perpetual discontent. Nothing is ever quite right. Everything is just a little bit off, a little bit inferior to what it could be.
We set goals, we fulfill desires we achieve accolades, and we manifest dreams. And still goddam reality is never quite perfect!
Here's the secret of secrets: It never will be. The secret is not to make the world match your intentions. Intentions are just desires in drag! The secret is to accept and harmonize with what is, and be detached from all outcomes. Give up ideals of perfection. Be in complete accord with Reality.
That's it. Nothing fancy. No exotic asanas, mantras, visualizations, or prayers. Complete acceptance. Nothing more, nothing less.
Fortune Cookie Truth
"Ultimately
All attempts at discussing Truth
Leave you sounding like a fortune cookie."
-- Ram Tzu
The Truth can be encapsulated in a few simple precepts. All is one. Be kind. Take care of each other. Take care of yourself. Live in the present. You know, the short, pithy phrases that Ram Tzu calls "fortune cookie truth," and that I call "bumper sticker wisdom."
Theologians, philosophers, and other so-called experts delight in complicating, codifying, and californicating the Truth, but behind, beneath and beyond all their talk, the Truth remains pure and simple.
And you know It. You know It intuitively. You don't need a PhD in Truthology. You don't need to sit at the feet of some guru for 20 years. You don't need to read even one more book. The Truth, like its buddy The Kingdom of Heaven, resides within. Within each of us. All of us. The only action you may need to take is to quiet down enough so that you can hear It speak.
And that's the Truth.
All attempts at discussing Truth
Leave you sounding like a fortune cookie."
-- Ram Tzu
The Truth can be encapsulated in a few simple precepts. All is one. Be kind. Take care of each other. Take care of yourself. Live in the present. You know, the short, pithy phrases that Ram Tzu calls "fortune cookie truth," and that I call "bumper sticker wisdom."
Theologians, philosophers, and other so-called experts delight in complicating, codifying, and californicating the Truth, but behind, beneath and beyond all their talk, the Truth remains pure and simple.
And you know It. You know It intuitively. You don't need a PhD in Truthology. You don't need to sit at the feet of some guru for 20 years. You don't need to read even one more book. The Truth, like its buddy The Kingdom of Heaven, resides within. Within each of us. All of us. The only action you may need to take is to quiet down enough so that you can hear It speak.
And that's the Truth.
The Way Grows Narrower
"And the truth is that as a man's real power grows and his knowledge widens, ever the way he can follow grows narrower, until at last he chooses nothing but does only and wholly what he must do."
-- Ursula K. LeGuin
Have you ever had that feeling when faced with a choice that you simply must choose one specific option? It's as if intuitively you know which way to go, and yet you can, perhaps at your own peril, choose a quite different path. Many times we think of power as being the freedom to do whatever we want to do. And, of course, we've all heard the phrase "knowledge is power." And yet, paradoxically, LeGuin proposes that added knowledge and increased power give us fewer choices, not more.
Honestly, I think the choices are still available; it's just that there becomes, in most situations, one clearly higher choice. Making that choice further expands our knowledge and builds our power. Ignoring the strong call of intuition may lead to temporary gain, but is in the long run the path of abject failure.
Having choiceless awareness means being in tune with the Universe; it means having your mind, actions, soul and Spirit aligned. Your vocation matches the world's needs in very specific and personal ways. You merely answer the call. You don't answer it out of duty, or out of obligation, or even out of choice, you merely answer it because it is natural and perfect to do so.
So, beginning today, watch for those times when the path unfolds before you in beautiful and obvious ways. Surrender to the magnetic pull of the next step. Don't take time to review all your options, don't take time to choose, above all, don't wobble. Go forth on the ever narrowing way. Go forth now.
-- Ursula K. LeGuin
Have you ever had that feeling when faced with a choice that you simply must choose one specific option? It's as if intuitively you know which way to go, and yet you can, perhaps at your own peril, choose a quite different path. Many times we think of power as being the freedom to do whatever we want to do. And, of course, we've all heard the phrase "knowledge is power." And yet, paradoxically, LeGuin proposes that added knowledge and increased power give us fewer choices, not more.
Honestly, I think the choices are still available; it's just that there becomes, in most situations, one clearly higher choice. Making that choice further expands our knowledge and builds our power. Ignoring the strong call of intuition may lead to temporary gain, but is in the long run the path of abject failure.
Having choiceless awareness means being in tune with the Universe; it means having your mind, actions, soul and Spirit aligned. Your vocation matches the world's needs in very specific and personal ways. You merely answer the call. You don't answer it out of duty, or out of obligation, or even out of choice, you merely answer it because it is natural and perfect to do so.
So, beginning today, watch for those times when the path unfolds before you in beautiful and obvious ways. Surrender to the magnetic pull of the next step. Don't take time to review all your options, don't take time to choose, above all, don't wobble. Go forth on the ever narrowing way. Go forth now.
It's Always Now
"I take it, not only one day at a time, but a moment at a time, and keep it at that pace. If you can be happy right now, then you'll always be happy, because it's always now."
-- Willie Nelson
Old Willie knows about alot more than just Whiskey River, golf, and Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain. He knows about life. Specifically he knows that the only life you have is right here, right now. Everything else, i.e., past and future, is pure fantasy. He also knows that being happy in this moment is the best way to assure that you'll be happy in the next moment. No hurry, no worry, just moment-to-moment happiness. Quite a life.
Today, no matter where your today takes you, is the perfect day to practice the art of momentary happiness. You may start by looking at what you're happy about right now. You have a place to live, you have enough food to eat, you have friends -- on an on a million and one reasons to be happy. But ultimately happiness doesn't depend upon having, or even doing, but rather upon Being. The real discipline of happiness is to BE happy, regardless of what you do or do not have, regardless of what you can or cannot do. Unreasonable happiness is true happiness.
Everytime that you are unreasonably happy, you strengthen your happiness muscle, you nourish your spiritual core, and you make your soul come alive and dance! Each moment of happiness adds to the momentum that propels you towards another moment of happiness, on and on, a daisy chain of happiness, happy moments woven together into the texture of a damn fine life.
-- Willie Nelson
Old Willie knows about alot more than just Whiskey River, golf, and Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain. He knows about life. Specifically he knows that the only life you have is right here, right now. Everything else, i.e., past and future, is pure fantasy. He also knows that being happy in this moment is the best way to assure that you'll be happy in the next moment. No hurry, no worry, just moment-to-moment happiness. Quite a life.
Today, no matter where your today takes you, is the perfect day to practice the art of momentary happiness. You may start by looking at what you're happy about right now. You have a place to live, you have enough food to eat, you have friends -- on an on a million and one reasons to be happy. But ultimately happiness doesn't depend upon having, or even doing, but rather upon Being. The real discipline of happiness is to BE happy, regardless of what you do or do not have, regardless of what you can or cannot do. Unreasonable happiness is true happiness.
Everytime that you are unreasonably happy, you strengthen your happiness muscle, you nourish your spiritual core, and you make your soul come alive and dance! Each moment of happiness adds to the momentum that propels you towards another moment of happiness, on and on, a daisy chain of happiness, happy moments woven together into the texture of a damn fine life.
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