Stand Your Ground Law

The very large headline on the front page of the Herald this morning read, “’Stand Your Ground’ Has Broad Support.”  Oh, too bad!  How depressing!  Who are these people? Why am I so different?  I feel like a stranger in a strange land; cut off, disconnected and out of touch.  How am I to relate to my brothers and sisters? How can I feel comfortable, safe and at home when I know that some minor altercation might get me or someone I care about shot and killed? What depth of fear, hate and frustration is at work here?

It reminds me of how I felt when I was in the Army stationed in Wiesbaden, Germany in 1967.  I liked Germany: good food, great scenery. But one day, walking down the street, I saw a middle-aged guy (remember this is 1967, only 23 years after the Nazis), and it suddenly struck me that he could have been an SS trooper and even put some of my relatives in the gas chambers. I let that thought go, but after that, I was forever paranoid about German men in their 40’s and older. It didn’t completely ruin Germany for me, just gave it a new dimension and an uncomfortable edge.  Now, that feeling returns as I contemplate, “’Stand Your Ground’ Has Broad Support.”

Then, a few minutes later, doing my spiritual reading in the SOM magazine, Jesse Jennings, quotes Emma Curtis Hopkins saying, “All evil is done in the name of good,” and I am reminded that besides working to understand those that support this primitive law; besides working to have it repealed; I need to know that these people desire the same good I do – peace, joy, safety; and partake of the same spiritual essence that I do; that they, too, are part of the divine unfoldment; and I can’t hold the belief that some people don’t deserve good and expect to attain that good for myself.

Isn’t it interesting how things unfold and how balance is achieved?

The Miraculous Shimmering in All That Is

What do you accept as true and expect to occur?

Is it a world full of lack and limitation, a dangerous, dog eat dog, competitive, survival of the fittest world in which the golden rule – them with the gold, rules, applies; where evil and original sin are human nature and only the fear of God, strong law enforcement and quick and rapid punishment keep civilization afloat?

Or is it an abundant and generous, but neutral world, a world that is neither for us nor against us but one which is responsive to our deepest thoughts and feelings, a world in which human nature is good and god-like, in which cooperation, empathy—there but for the grace of God go I, compassion, trust, honesty, community, fellowship, and mutual respect keep civilization afloat?

The world view you accept as true, determines what you expect to occur. We tend to see what we want to see, what we believe is possible.

If I believe in a dog eat dog world, that’s what I see. I see people competing and tearing one another apart, and viciously attacking one another for scraps. If I believe in an abundant, neutral world, I see that it is done unto you as you believe, and I see the lilies of the field that toil not, yet are fed.

Most of us accept both world views as true, and expect both kinds of phenomena to occur.  That is duality, the belief in God and in a power equal and opposite to God. But if there’s only one God, how can there be anything equal and opposite to It? There can’t be, contemporary Judeo-Christian theology to the contrary. If I am able get my bloated nothingness out of the way and let go of the equal and opposite power, accepting the truth that there is no equal and opposite power, then I can expect to behold the “miraculous shimmering in all that exists.”

The Promised Land

God’s promise to Abraham and Moses, as often reported in the Old Testament, was to take the people to a land flowing with milk and honey. What if that “land” was not a “land’ at all, not a geographical place? What if the land flowing with milk and honey is a spiritual place, ready and waiting, as promised, already within us? What if God’s promise is fulfilled, right now?

The Kingdom of Heaven is within you, Jesus said. So we are in the promised land, or rather, the promised land is within us.  God, divine Mind, and Its ideas, are fully present, available and immediately, practically useful right now, right where you are, wherever you are: in traffic, on the toilet, getting chemo, watching a sunset, having sex. The awareness of this promise fulfilled, this Kingdom within, is the ‘milk and honey’, the sustenance we need waiting for us to tap into.

The Kingdom and Its milk and honey flows as pure energy along a continuum going from the invisible to the visible: from Spirit thru Mental and Emotional to the Physical. Only our thoughts and feelings limit Its manifestations.  The energy Itself is limitless, inexhaustible and unbound by human experience. Living in the Kingdom of the promised land with Its abundant flow of milk and honey is actually the truth about us, our default, once we get our bloated nothingness out of Its way.

To see It and experience It we need to believe in It and want It, letting go of fear and a belief in duality, a belief in a power opposite It. There is only one power, one God. The Kingdom of the promised land is not a far-off destination, It is at hand. Seek it first, and all else shall be added.

Desire as a Divine Urge

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “What lies behind us and what lies below us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” SOM (Science of Mind) says, “The great mystics like Jesus have taught that as we enter into the One, the One enters into us and becomes us and is us.” 

What if our desire to make an authentic, particular contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything, is a spark of the divine in us, guiding and urging to express Itself, and release our hidden splendor? Would you go ahead? Why wouldn’t you?

Check out your beliefs. What if you could remake the world by remaking yourself?

Refuse to remain trapped in a prison of limitation!  Release the splendor that is your true nature. When you align with your desire to make an authentic, particular contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything, you dissolve all the rest.

Understand that your desire to contribute, your consciousness, is a window through which the divine shines Its light of compassion, peace, joy and prosperity. Know who and what you are, and who and what everyone and everything else is, and get your bloated nothingness out of the way of the divine circuits. When you release the splendor in yourself, you inspire and enable others to do the same.

Friday Funnies

SIMPLE TRUTH 1

Partners help each other undress before sex.

However after sex, they always dress on their own.

Moral of the story: In life, no one helps you once you're screwed.

SIMPLE TRUTH 2

When a lady is pregnant, all her friends touch the stomach and saying "congrats".

But, none of them come and touch the man's penis and say "Good job".

Moral of the story: "Hard work is never appreciated.

No Underwear - Makes Sense to Me

A man came to visit his grandparents, and he noticed his grandfather sitting on the porch in the rocking chair wearing only a shirt, with nothing on from the waist down.

'Grandpa, what are you doing? Your weenie is out in the wind for everyone to see!' he exclaimed.

The old man looked off in the distance without answering.

'Grandpa, what are you doing sitting out here with nothing on below the waist?' he asked again.

The old man slowly looked at him and said, 'Well....last week I sat out here with no shirt on and I got a stiff neck. This is your grandma's idea.'

FIVE RULES TO REMEMBER IN LIFE

1. Money can not buy happiness, but it’s more comfortable to cry in a Corvette than on a bicycle.

2. Forgive your enemy, but remember the a**hole’s name.

3. If you help someone when they're in trouble, they will remember you when they're in trouble again.

4. Many people are alive only because it’s illegal to shoot them.

5. Alcohol does not solve any problems, but then neither does milk.

A World That Works for Everyone and Everything

I’m always writing about making an authentic contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything in it. To me, this is the ultimate goal, our purpose, the reason we are here.  It is the standard by which everything else we think feel and do is measured, not success, winning, or being a millionaire.  Making an authentic contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything in it is the best anyone can do. It is inclusive, not exclusive; it is kind and compassionate, not rough, tough and uncaring. It is about real people in the real world, not ideology and perfection.

‘Authentic’ means leading from the heart, the kind compassionate heart, not the angry, hate-filled heart, and including all four aspects of being human – spiritual, mental, emotional and physical. It is about expressing wholeness, vision and intuition as you see them, not as the bible, the law or your mom sees them. It is about owning and being responsible for what you do, not blaming others, trying to prove something, make up for past mistakes, hide your shame or unload your guilt. It is about doing the best you can, when you do something.  Not the best you’ve ever done or the best you’re capable of, but the best you can do right when you do it, in that ‘now.’

‘Contribution’ means something you do in the context of all of the above, that enhances life for everyone and everything. It doesn’t have to be huge or great or even appreciated. It could be as small as smiling at a stranger, picking up a piece of litter, or refraining from anger or blame. You don’t have to be a CEO, President of the USA, priest or rabbi. It’s about living your life from the inside out in the context of all of the above, so that what you do enhances life for everyone and everything. And, because we and all of life are interconnected, even the smallest, simplest acts that do no harm and are done with authenticity and kindness, in the context of all of the above, contribute to a world that works for everyone and everything.

A Better Way

I get very worried, upset and pessimistic at times.  It gets really fierce and stressful.  My body, heart and mind tighten up and shut down and the flight or fight response pours dangerous amounts of cortisol into my system, reinforcing the downward spiral and making it worse.  Does that happen to you, too?  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I didn’t have to go through all that; if I could take a nice, deep calming breath and step back from it all?  Wouldn’t it be wonderful if I didn’t take things so seriously; didn’t react as if my very life and the well being of others and the entire planet were at stake?  Yes, it would be wonderful.

What if I could see mySelf watching myself, the way an adult sees a child playing with toys? At times children take things so seriously, some things that happen in their games are good, others are bad.  Yet the adult, mySelf, does not share these perceptions and judgments because It knows it’s all make believe.  Like that child, myself may believe it is involved in something serious, but the adult, mySelf, knows it’s fantasy.

That’s how we can be, the wonderful way we can feel and be in the world, when we claim our reality as Spirit. What if you experienced, and you have, but haven’t really owned it, how when you change your heart and mind, everything else changes, too?  Wouldn’t you want to work with your Self, your heart and mind first, before getting your self hooked on adrenalin, fear, worrying and doing things in the world?  Isn’t that what Dickens was telling us in the Christmas Carol?

Course in Miracles interpreter Ken Wapnick says, “when you step outside the [ego’s] dream, where Jesus is and always was, you look with him on the world and share his gentle smile, knowing that what you see are children’s games, with no real consequences.” What if you could wake up to your power?  What if you recognized this world is an hallucination, really understood that you made it up and knew that you were safe, secure, loved and at home in the arms of Spirit?  Would any of the fear, stress and uproar be necessary?  No.  Would you be able to make an authentic contribution to a world that works for everyone and everything? Yes!