Deny the Denaial

Devorah at HQPubs.com would approve of this post. Visit her there and see if you agree. Since the ego denies that an exchange of fear for truth is easy or even possible, it is my job to turn within and deny the denial, to allow mySelf to reveal itSelf to myself. Duh! What did I say?

 Remember the post about the frightening perceptions of little children? That when we’re little our perceptions sometimes frighten us because we do not understand them? This is still happening to us. If you and I ask for enlightenment and accept it, our fears will vanish. Poof! But we’ve got to look at what scares us. We’ve got to go within first and centered with spirit face what frightens us. This is how I and you can overcome fear, not by hiding it, nor by minimizing it and nor by denying its full import in any way.

I’ve got to deny the denial of my and your reality as spiritual beings having earthly experiences. If I refuse to face my fears or face them alone without spirit, I am holding on to them, clinging to my nightmares. I am hiding my head under the cover of the heavy blankets I have laid upon myself. I am hiding my nightmares in the darkness of my own false certainty – the belief that I know what my ego perceptions mean or because I believe I should know and don’t want to embarrass myself by asking.

Each day, hour and minute offer an opportunity to throw off the covers, open my eyes and look at what I’m afraid of. Only the anticipation is scary. Once I look with spirit I will see as FDR said that we have nothing to fear, but fear itself.

The Same But Better

How often do you feel like you’ve got to know the answer (even tho you barely comprehend the question) or have got to know what to do even when you haven’t a clue? I feel that way a lot and it makes me uncomfortable. Perhaps it makes you feel that way, too. Spirit advises not to make the mistake of believing I understand what I perceive. Become as a little child it advises because little children recognize they don’t understand and so they ask.

So as a little child I ask, going within, seeking the Kingdom first, giving my perceptions over, and asking what does this mean, asking to experience it differently, with spirit instead of ego.

Easier said than done? You betcha (as Sarah P would say)!  The difficulty is I think I know or at least I’m supposed to know or should know. But as long as I think I know or feel as if I’ve got to cover up my ignorance, I won’t embarrass myself by asking. I’ve got to be that small child and give everything over, especially the experiences and things I’m most certain of.

“Resign as your own teacher for you have been badly taught,” the Course in Miracles advises. Looking around at the mixed blessing humanity has made of the planet, there’s little doubt that this is good advice. While I vacillate between ego and spirit, spending most of my time with ego, I’m not misguided, I’ve accepted no guide at all.

I need to recognize how I vacillate but not accept it and not blame myself nor feel guilty about it. Recognizing the vacillation, I can become as a little child, go within and ask mySelf what it’s all about (Alfie), and receive the answer that is already there, within, waiting for me. Bottom line, do I and perhaps you, want the problem or do we want the answer?

Anytime, Anywhere

Devorah in Book One of The Covenant and The Scrolls (HQPubs.com) didn’t know about holographs. But she knew, like a holograph in which each part contains the whole, so the whole power of spirit is in every part of it and behind every bit of the illusion. This means that at any moment doing anything anywhere I can awaken to my reality as spirit and experience mySelf. And tho it is impossible not to believe what I see, it is equally impossible to see what I do not believe. Believing is seeing. Believing comes first. I see what I believe. What I see reflects my beliefs.

So I’m seeing the fertilizer plant in Texas, that had not been inspected for 28 years, blow-up and destroy an entire town. I’m seeing two immigrant boys bomb the Boston Marathon. I’m seeing the elected Congress of a so-called democracy frustrate the will of 90% of the population. I’m seeing a Presidential election won but the losers refusing to honor the results.

What I see reflects the thought system I’m using right now. What thought system am I using? Who am I identifying with right now, ego or spirit? I know, KNOW, that at any moment doing anything anywhere I can awaken to my reality as spirit and experience mySelf. But it is so difficult sometimes, isn’t it?

My Dark Comforters

Only you and I can deprive ourselves of anything. Not God nor Spirit, nor the Republicans nor the Democrats. Only you and I. We are responsible. Accepting this responsibility is to begin to get our heads out of our asses, to be able to see the stars and the heavens and to fan the inner spark.

Denial of this simple fact takes many forms: fear, anger, blame, each of which you and I must become aware of, breath into and with a simple: ‘Oh, there I go again,’ release. Blaming, fearing and being angry with yourself, others or conditions, keeps us locked in the ego illusion with our heads up our asses.

The beginning phases of letting go my dark comforters of fear, anger, and blame are often quite painful, for as blame is withdrawn from without, there is a tendency to direct it within. It is difficult at first to realize that this is exactly the same thing, for as spiritual beings in a spiritual universe there is no actual distinction between within and without.

So, if other people, things and events are part of me and I blame them for my experience, I’m blaming myself. Similarly, if I’m blaming myself, I’m blaming them. This is why my dark comforters of fear, anger and blame must be undone and not seen anywhere.

When tempted to indulge these emotions and fall into the ever welcoming arms of my dark comforters, I want to become aware that I’m identifying with ego, not spirit, breath into the feelings and with a simple: ‘Oh, there I go again,’ release them. This takes lots and lots of practice, but gee whiz, daily living gives us so many opportunities, doesn’t it?

 

 

Head up my ass

How can I see the stars and the heavens if I’m always looking down? How can I see the light if I’ve always got my head up my ass? If I want to see the light, to experience spirit, I’ve got to be where spirit is. Actually, you and I are already there. Spirit has done all it can. It is within us, as us, waiting.

Now it’s up to you and me to choose it. The way is not hard but it is different and being different, uncomfortable. It is up to us not to be stopped by the discomfort and difference, not to be tempted by or settle for imaginary comforters, but to continue on the way.

 But the differences and discomfort do indeed make me feel in need of familiar albeit illusory comforts. Probably you feel this, too. The Kingdom is ours within us yet we do not know it. At home in spirit we are lonely. But this need not be! If I would see the sky and stars we have but to look up. If I’m tired of the stink and the dark, it’s up to me to get my head out of my ass.

Hostage or Host?

Would I, and you, be hostage to the ego or host to spirit?

 

Spirit’s spark is already in us. Inviting a greater awareness of it, thinking with spirit ever so slightly, causes the spark to ignite and become an ever brighter light illuminating the ego’s darkness.

 

My willingness, and yours, to allow the spark to ignite need not be perfect. If we offer just a little willingness, the spark will ignite and grow ever brighter. But our willingness is essential. Spirit shares, It will not thrust Itself upon us. Real freedom depends on welcoming reality, on remembering ourSelves and allowing the spark to ignite.

 

Every healing thought I give and receive, every situation I perceive as an opportunity to affirm my, and your, identity as spirit fans the spark into flame. But remember, allow this to be the gradual process it is. We will not burst into flames of divine perfection all at once. But each time you and I nurture the spark and heed the still small voice, we become better and more like ourSelves.

Backwards

 

I’ve always thought of using my spiritual reality and my spiritual practices of meditation, mindfulness and tai-chi as ways of helping me in the world: to be a better person, be more successful and make a contribution to a world that works for everyone. But actually, what I’ve been understanding lately is that I’ve had it backward – that the point is to use the world to enhance my spiritual practices and my awareness of being a spiritual being having an earthly experience. In other words, use the world to awake to spirit, instead of using spirit to improve the world. Spirit is real, the world is the illusion.

 

Margaret Storz says in this month’s SOM Magazine: “We cannot look to externals to validate ourselves to ourselves. Spiritual growth is a lifelong journey that we are making every day. The world of conditions cannot help us” except as opportunities to remember who and what we really are.

Remembering

I like to think of myself as a tolerant, both/and person. That for example it’s not either the Democrats or Republicans who are ‘right’ but both Democrats and Republicans who have a piece of the Truth. Yes, when it comes time to vote, it’s either/or, but when solving problems and shaping legislation it’s both/and.

 

Imagine my chagrin when the Course says it’s either God or the ego; that if I examine the evidence on both sides fairly, I will realize this must be true. “Neither God nor the ego proposes a partial thought system. Each is internally consistent, but they are diametrically opposed in all respects so that partial allegiance is impossible. Their results are as different as their foundations, and their fundamentally irreconcilable natures cannot be reconciled by vacillations between them.”

 

To me, this means I have to stop trying to serve both the ego and spirit, stop trying to compromise between them and choose either one or the other. I can compromise and seek for both/and common ground politically within the ego framework, but spiritually I’ve got to reject the ego framework completely. Huh? How do I do that? I choose spirit and then from the spiritual place do both/and. In fact it is spirit that enables me to even conceive of both/and and find a way to do it. Only spirit is inclusive, compassionate and creative. Ego is either my way or the highway, you’re either for me or against me.

 

So my goal, and perhaps yours as well, is to remember our reality as spirit, to choose that and go within first. To use each situation as an opportunity to remember and to realize that remembering is merely to restore to my awareness what is already in my mind. I did not put it there, it’s part of the original factory equipment we all have. My part is to use each situation as an opportunity to remember and accept again what is already there, but was rejected.

Go to Amazon or Barnes and Noble enter Devorah Liebowitz

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From Amazon.com

 Go to Amazon, type Devorah Liebowitz

 

Book Description

Publication Date: April 19, 2013

The Story the Bible Couldn't Tell 175 years after Moses led Israel from Egypt, Prophetess Devorah struggles to unite her divided people. As judge, she avows the punishing God of the Scrolls. As teacher her belief in the loving God of the Covenant. As general, she leads her reluctant Israelites into war. "...evokes the spirit of the biblical age, bringing new life to old tales." Rabbi Edwin Goldberg, D.H.L., Temple Judea "...edgy...ground breaking...read this fascinating and provocative book." Richard Allbritton, BS, MS, MPA "...wonderful! Steve uses historical context to impart deep spiritual ideas in a very palatable way. His characters are highly believable and leap off the page." Ilene L. Dillon, M.S.W., Coach, Parent Educator, Radio Host, Full Power Living

 

The Story the Bible Couldn’t Tell

175 years after Moses led the Children of Israel out of Egypt, Devorah, a prophet, became the first and only female Judge to rule ancient Israel.

 

Surrounded by pagan Canaanites practicing ritual sex and human sacrifice, Devorah must find ways to maintain the Hebrews’ belief in the One God and overcome the Canaanites’ overwhelming military supremacy.

 

Devorah walks a tightrope between her personal view of the One God as a present, loving force and the prevailing view of God as a distant, punishing power. She calls the fearsome God of the temple and formal worship, the God of the Scrolls; and the benign, loving and accessible God, the God of the Covenant.

 

Devorah’s story is the first in Steve Liebowitz’ The Covenant and The Scrolls series of novels based on these conflicting views of God and its influence on the lives of Kings Saul, David, Solomon and other Old Testament characters.

 

Steve Liebowitz’ interest in alternative ways of knowing and understanding the Bible, began when he read Kazantzakis’ Last Temptation of Christ under fire during the first TET Offensive in Viet Nam in 1968.  He shares in these books that God is both more than and less than we’ve always thought Her to be. These concepts sustained him in the defense of his doctoral dissertation on alternative ways of knowing in l990, and continue to support his Business Coaching practice today.  He’s lived these ideas, as well as researched them.

 

 

The New Professionalism 2

New professionals realize that Science & Spirit are connected, are two sides of the same coin. Nearly 200 years ago, Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, "Get your bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits."

 

New professionals get their bloated nothingness out of the way by using both/and thinking instead of either/or thinking. New professionals realize it's not either Science or Spirit, but both Science and Spirit. New professionals know that trade-offs are not necessary. Being an old professional and choosing either Science or Spirit is playing with half a deck, only some of the marbles.  Why not learn to be a new professional and play with all your marbles and a full deck? Imagine what you could accomplish for yourself, your community and the world if you had the full use of both Science and Spirit, right now.

 

Most people still want to be considered ‘professional,’ even as professional prestige and self-image decline. Encouraged by the wealth of specialized knowledge available on the internet, hungry, desperate and hopeful people seek the professional life-style, fueling an explosion in the self-help "industry."

 

Even as the professions are subordinated to the interests of corporations and government, the ideal of the independent professional flourishes. As scholars, lawyers, engineers and physicians become employees -- workers in a bureaucracy rather than autonomous managers of their own careers, the myth of their career-style remains strong. Mergers and consolidations create vast concentrations of power spanning the globe - difficult even for national governments to manage, but most individuals still cling to the ideal of professional integrity and independence.

The New Professionalism

Do you consider yourself a professional? Most people do. What kind of professional are you? Are you a new professional or an old professional? Old professionals don’t use all the energy available to them and so they struggle and don’t enjoy themselves as much as they could. New professionals do use all the energy available, struggle less and are happier. Old professionals rely on science and exclude spirit. New professionals combine scientific objectivity and analysis with the spiritual qualities of creativity, compassion, spontaneity, and intuitiveness.

 

Every human being, even you, has access to both Science and Spirit.  Using them both enables you to become a new professional, enjoy yourself more and be more successful.  Using either one or the other, or restricting spirit to traditional religious practice, or thinking that you can't do science, holds you back, limits you, keeps you struggling as an old professional instead of enjoying life as a new professional.

Grace happens

I’m trying to remember that grace is a constant – all around all the time. Everything I experience, no matter how I label it with the ego, is an opportunity to be aware of and experience grace. Right now having just fucked up a small thing (don’t sweat the small stuff and its all small stuff) I want to know that every time I feel dumb, stupid, inept, victimized or worse is an opportunity to experience grace.

 

Grace is not just for the ‘good’ experiences. Like most of us, I have been conditioned to believe that grace only comes gift-wrapped as love and light, clouds miraculously parting, and angels singing on high.

 

Not so. The truth I’m trying to get my heart and mind around, and my ego out of the way of, is that grace has numerous faces and comes in many different disguises and does not always look the way I might prefer. So my spiritual practice is to be open to its presence, aware that it’s there, be in the present moment with what is, asking it to reveal the grace and good it brings. Grace happens, the only question is will I notice it happening?

Suffering?

We suffer, not because suffering is imposed on us, but because we are ignorant of our true nature.

 

With the grandeur of spirit within me, always available, always singing of its love, I keep choosing to be little and lamenting my littleness. Grandeur is only of spirit. Therefore whenever I become aware of it, no matter how dimly, I automatically abandon the ego because in the presence of grandeur the meaninglessness of the ego is perfectly apparent.

 

When this occurs, the ego believes its enemy has attacked. It then offers gifts to induce me to return to its protection. Naturally, egotism--self inflation and grandiosity, are the only gifts it can make. So I, and you, get to choose between the grandeur of spirit and the egotism and grandiosity of the ego. Who of us aware of the love of spirit upholding us would choose grandiosity over grandeur?

It's Pointless to Attack

 

I know the ego always speaks first and is wrong, but…. But it’s difficult not to pay attention to it. It’s everywhere, insistent, shouting ‘danger! Danger Will Robinson!’  Dealing with it and choosing to ignore its lies and chatter is a constant, never ending process. But it’s not like there’s no alternative. There is another choice. In fact the whole point of the ego is to blot out that other choice, to keep me mindlessly busy, unable and unaware of the other choice.

 

Spirit, mySelf, is not deceived by all this or anything I do under the ego’s influence, because it knows who and what I am. The ego, on the other hand, is deceived by everything I do especially when I respond to spirit. At such times its confusion and anger increases, and it’s more likely to attack me when I act with spirit, compassionately and lovingly, because it has judged me to be as it is and I am going against its judgment. The ego attacks my motives as soon as they’re clearly out of accord with its perception of me. Then it shifts abruptly from its usual suspiciousness and anxiety to viciousness.

 

But it’s pointless to attack in return. That only puts me with the ego at its level. The last thing I want to do is deal with it on its home turf. I can be free of it only by turning completely away from it and not using its methods. Even for only a moment or a second it’s still worthwhile, still building spiritual muscle.  So, I’m training myself to hear the ego then pause, take a deep breath, go within and first seeking the kingdom both within and without, go from there.

More be ye perfect

A corollary to, “Be ye perfect as your father in heaven is perfect,” is – “and experience everyone and everything else as perfect, too.” Perhaps not at first, no usually and normally not at first. At first I experience with the ego. I instantly subconsciously assess the threat/benefit level and go from there. But the ego speaks first and is always wrong. So, I’m training myself to hear it then pause, take a deep breath, go within and first seeking the kingdom both within and without, go from there. I’m seeking to experience everything that happens, no matter how it seems to the ego at first, as a gift, moving me to Self actualization.

 

Neither spirit’s light nor mine is dimmed because I don’t see it – the sun is still shining somewhere even when its night. Everyone and everything are children of light, even snakes, spiders and Republicans. Each person, experience or thing I recognize as a being of light adds to my own awareness of light. Wholeness is indivisible, so I can’t learn of my own wholeness until I see it everywhere. What I offer, is what I receive. It’s a paradox. I won’t experience it if I don’t believe it first. How can I experience something, I don’t believe is there, or possible or real? But neither spirit’s light nor mine is dimmed because I don’t see it. Spirit is there, always – always giving, blessing, creating and loving. If I’m not experiencing It this way, it’s not because spirit limited its giving but because I have limited my receiving.

"Be ye perfect...."

“Be ye perfect as your father in heaven is perfect.”

 

I used to think of this as a curse. C’mon! Give me a break! I can’t be perfect. That’ll never happen. What’s the point? When I didn’t think of it as a curse, I thought of it as a ‘nice’ idea, but not practical, as an ideal like Don Quixote’s impossible dream. So I became anti-perfect. Good enough was good enough. People who strived for perfection were brown nosers and losers. I didn’t mind being a ‘good boy’, but I didn’t see that as the purpose of my life.

 

But gradually, oh so gradually, I began to experience ‘perfection’ differently; not as an external thing, not as pleasing anybody or meeting anybody’s expectations or standards of perfection, not as a goal, something external to me that I had to strive for and to try to be, not as filling a hole in my soul, correcting some mistake or lack, but as something I already am. Wow! You mean I’m already ‘perfect’? There’s nothing to strive for, nothing external no goal that once achieved will make me feel whole and complete? Right! Remember the, ‘is that all there is?’ experience….  What a buzz! What a high, what a sense of OKness comes from not having to chase after perfection. Perhaps you’ve felt it but if you haven’t, try it now. Take a deep breath and relax into it. Wow, how good, how cool, how divine!

 

You and I are perfect because we are spiritual beings first and spirit is perfect. I’m perfect now, right now. Not when I die and go to heaven. Not when all my books are published and I’m a best selling author. Now. God, what a relief! No more stress, struggling and striving, pushing and shoving! Yipee! The challenge is to allow the perfection that I am, and you are, to flow; to get our bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits.

 

“Be ye perfect as your father in heaven is perfect,” is an invitation to do that. It’s not a curse, it’s an enticement, a delicious invitation to be yourSelf, to allow your unique talents, ideas and skill to flow, unimpeded by fear, doubt and trepidation. Its an invitation to seek the kingdom first and allow all else to be added. It’s advise about how to use the spiritual technology available to you right now.

 

“Be ye perfect as your father in heaven is perfect,” and use yourSelf to make a unique contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything in it.