Paths of the Gods

Mastery through Changing Our Minds

The great teachers of all time say pretty much the same things.  Life is good, relationships are holy, and all we want in an abundant universe is ours for the claiming.  If each of us could fully accept those three ideas, what would our world be like?

I have an idea what our world would be like.  We would live without fear.  We would live without anger, without competition, without war, without hatred and discrimination, without pollution and crime.  The only reason we experience these things, hatred and fear and war and the rest, is because we believe that there is not enough to go around, we believe some people are dangerous and bad, and we believe mistakes are inevitable and deadly.  Are you ready to give up those beliefs?  Let’s see if I can tempt you.

Without fear and anger and competition, we would all be free to live our lives in an ecstasy of creativity.  Remember for a moment how good it feels to do something really creative.  Wouldn’t you like to feel that way all the time?  Creativity and fear cannot live in one mind at the same time.  The only reason for fear is a belief in lack, in not enough for me.  Not enough money, not enough resources, not enough love.  War is simply ongoing scrabbling for the top of the heap which we are compelled to do because of our belief in “not enough”.

Without war and hatred and discrimination, all of our resources could be spent on making this a better world.  For example, an international study was done that concluded every human being on the earth could be provided with adequate housing, food, medical care and education, and it could be done in six years.  The total cost for this huge project is less than the nations of the world spend on armies and defenses in a single year.  What’s it going to take for us to give up our belief that some people are evil and war is necessary? What is it going to take to realize that if enough of us change our beliefs and begin to live fully creatively, experiencing abundance and safety, we will be able to handle the relatively minor problems such as crime and pollution easily?

Stay tuned.  More next week.

Paths of the Gods

Mastery

   Each of us is on a sacred path; a path to freedom, a path to growing, a path to the heart of love that lives at the very center of our beings.  A path to knowing we are an extension of the energy field that created the universe, and as living extensions of Divine life, we are, in the daily lives we share with each other, walking among the gods.

   Our journey is toward mastery, the state of being in which we no longer see events as happening “to me” or even “through me,” but “as me.”  As Nelson Mandela proclaimed, “I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul.”  We come to realize that the energy field we generate with our thoughts and feelings creates our human experience.  The great gift we must discover and learn to trust is that every experience, joyful or painful, brings us growth.  Our human understanding grows into the mastery that is our souls, stretching and enhancing our souls as we do so.

    Mastery is a state of pure grace and can't be forced.  As spiritual masters, we model a pattern of life fully in harmony with the greatest good possible.  We live at the "As Me" level when we experience no separation from Creator or Creation.  The dreams we build on the earth are temporary, but the transformation in our soul is eternal.  Building our life as a co-creator within the creative force of the universe is the most important thing we will ever do.  As you move through each step of building your dreams, you grow not only closer to achieving a harvest you can smell, taste, and feel, but into the eternal harvest of awakening.

Now you begin to awaken to the truth of you.  So enter freely and safely into the halls of the Gods.  You are one of them, one of us.  You belong here.  Love is your source.  Love is your nature.  It is the ground of your being, and the lens of your life.  Walk, and be welcome, on the paths of the Gods.

Prayer

What is prayer to me; my personal experience of prayer?  In childhood I thought my family was the universe and I was the center, literally with “Now I lay me down to sleep.  I loved praying as a child, especially the rosary.  Then in my late teens, it seemed to me that all that praying didn’t do much, and that was the beginning of resistance.  Life became busy, and there were more important and effective things than prayer that I could do.  It was the stage of believing the illusion that I could consciously master my fate, and that no one out there was listening anyway.  My universe had gotten much larger than my family, but I still had the unconscious perspective of being the center of that universe.

Robert and Janet Ellsworth defined three major types of prayer.  The first is results oriented prayer, in which you pray for specific requests for yourself or someone else.  The next is defined as consciousness expanding prayer, or affirmative prayer and prayers of praise and thanksgiving.  The third is defined as non-directed prayer, or meditation and the experience of the silence. 

All three of these types of prayer have a place in my life.  When I am troubled, or when another is in need, results oriented prayer brings me great comfort.  God is within me, but God is also much more.  I turn within to find Divine contact and surrender my concerns and the needs of others to that one Presence and Power which sustains all of us in love.

Consciousness expanding, or affirmative prayer, is a tool to break down the barriers in my own mind to the good of God’s will.  It is my path to discovering and activating the power of creation in and through me.  It is a method to transform my own negative thoughts, my fears, my false beliefs, into realization of the love and power active in my life, often in spite of me.

Non-directed prayer, or meditation and the experience of silence, is the source of my joy.  This is where the thoughts of my mind, the feelings of my heart, and the knowing of my spirit come together and meet a “something” that is so great and so beautiful that touching it, even for just a few moments, sustains me and give me a serenity which lasts for days, sometimes weeks.

I invite you to examine your own prayer history, and your prayer life now.  Which forms of prayer seem to work best for you?  What brings you the most joy, the most comfort, the most growth?  Is it different kinds of prayer at different times, or is there one way that always suits you best?  Become familiar with what stimulates you to pray, which forms of prayer you use, and which kinds of events lead you to the various forms of prayer that are a part of your prayer life.  This is where the conscious mind and will can make a positive contribution to mastery of your fate.  Know yourself, become consciously aware of the truth of who you are, and use your will to make the choice for comfort, for growth, and for joy.

Signs of the Times: Three

Radical Gratitude

As Thanksgiving approaches, it’s obvious that there are many in the world with little to be thankful for, even in our ‘advanced’ western societies.  I would like to invite you into a state of radical gratitude that will hopefully become your practice reaching far beyond this holiday.  In these changing times the personal energy we each broadcast is the most powerful change agent of all.

Someone I know once took a vacation in Bali where she met an amazing woman.  The woman lived in a grass hut with a dirt floor.  She was thin, prominent bones witnessing to malnutrition.  She also had a radiant smile.  She supported herself by weaving cloth for the beautiful sari’s so common there.  She herself only owned two sari’s; one thin and ragged and the other lovely silk that she wore for special ceremonies.  The visitor asked why she smiled so much, and her response was to recite a litany of all the beauty she saw around her.  That humid climate produced a year round riot of colorful flowers.  The birds were amazing and the sky glorious.  She had friends and family who loved her.  She had work she enjoyed.  The visitor admired the beautiful silk sari and the woman insisted on giving it to her.  She would accept no payment other than a promise to carry smiles back to her own home.  Her focus was one of gratitude and she lived in joy.

Radical gratitude is about the little things.  My lovely stone tile floor collects balls of cat fur rather frequently.  I can be annoyed at needing to sweep, again, or I can smile about the four affectionate Maine Coon cats that share my life and make me giggle.  The wind blows a lot where I live.  A Navajo urged gratitude for the wind blowing bad spirits away.  I am getting older and sometimes that’s uncomfortable, but I have lived fully and joyfully in this body, and still do.  I have had some very difficult relationships but each one taught a priceless lesson and I’ve finally grown up enough to be in a very good relationship.  My flower beds are full of newly planted violas and pansies that will survive the winter and burst into incredible bloom in late March.  Mice and tiny lizards nibble in the flower beds, putting on a daily wildlife show.  Oh, and have you ever seen a hummingbird war?  Two species visiting your yard at the same time makes for an amazing ruckus.  I have the time to write.  Finally!

Begin with a small notebook, or a document that sits on the desktop of your computer.  Put it in your calendar if you use one.  No bit of appreciation is too small or too silly.  Write something down at least once a day.  If you are not a writer and hate that sort of thing, you’re not off the hook.  Instead you can find at least one person a day to listen as you speak aloud the blessing of your gratitude.  Become the Pollyanna of your tribe, the one who always sees the good and speaks the good.  That is not a position of weakness; it is a stance of power.  Your words, your thoughts and your attitude are the greatest gift you have to give to the future of the human race.  Your choice is to stand under a cloud of gloom and feed it with your thoughts, or radiate a spirit of joy that will lift those around you and lift you to a new level of experience.  Get your light out from under that bushel and shine on!