Guiding Thought

If we are to be our Self in the world, we must be for others as well as ourselves. There is no other. We are willing to be receptive to the Infinite Love of All. We are willing to understand how we must rise above the struggles and pains of the world. We are willing to rise again and again with each call for help, each outstretched hand. We are willing to be the ones to choose to change. We offer our pain, suffering, guilt, and blame up for transformation, into the light of Love that we may see and give only the light of Love always.

Reflection

I had an incredibly emotionally uneventful day. Such a welcome after the past four weeks! Maybe it’s the japa I’ve been doing; I can–by now–feel my mind sort of tighten, like it’s flexing after a session of strength-training, when I do a lot of japa. I am very thankful for japa. It’s one of those things that whenever I leave it alone for a period of time (as I have for the past 2 months or so, even though I’ve been doing other mantra practices), and then come back to it, I always wonder how I stopped, because it just feels so good.

My practices, my “little devotions” as I now like to call them, are often in flux. There are several that are my backbone practices– bathing, breathing, japa or mantra. Then, there are others that come and go and come again like the spiral dance, yoga, Sacred Geometry, Om meditation, Violet Flame meditation, sitting with fire, orthodox prayers, etc. I am hoping that the fire ceremonies become a backbone practice, but I have not been doing them long enough to know.

Sometimes I wonder why I don’t or can’t just stick to one practice, like all those folks who have been meditating for 20+ years. I used to worry about it. I used to have this definition about spiritual practices that said “you must choose a practice; you must do that practice.”

But I decided that my practice–my devotion— is God. Seeking God. Living a life worthy of God. Doing what is pleasing to God. With this, everything can become a practice, or a devotion. Life is the devotion.

I felt good about this insight when I read this in A Course in Miracles:

Use all the little names and symbols which delineate the world of darkness. Yet accept them not as your reality. The Holy Spirit uses all of them, but He does not forget creation has one Name, one meaning, and a single Source which unifies all things within Itself. Use all the names the world bestows on them but for convenience, yet do not forget they share the Name of God along with you.

We live in this world together. Despite our different bodies, we are unified, sharing the name of God.

If we are to be our Self in the world, we must be for others as well as ourselves.There is no other.

We are willing to be receptive to the Infinite Love of All.

Our struggles and pain divide us; these things take our attention away from the Infinite Love of All, and “demand” that we focus on ourselves. This is why we must rise above the struggles and pains of the world.

This is why we must understand our worthiness, understand our unity, and offer our pain, suffering, guilt, and blame up for transformation (healing!).

Only then can we rise to aid those with outstretched hands. Only then can we love our brothers and sisters as ourselves. Only then can we truly do unto others as we would have them do unto us.

And life itself becomes devoted to seeing and giving only the light of Love always.