Category: Observer

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Our Spiritual Nature

Behind your image, below your words, above your thoughts, the silence of another world waits. A world lives within you. No one else can bring you news of this inner world.

~ Anam Ċara: A Book of Celtic Wisdom

 

spi-natOur spiritual nature is an inextricable part of us. Yet, while we do not wear it on our sleeve, it does live within us and there is evidence of it all around us. Nature is all spiritual, because it never exists in opposition to the divine. Man is the only creature on earth that tries to defy nature, creating artificial substances and devices in an attempt to “cheat death,” part of the birth-death-rebirth cycle, which is common to all life.

We are the only creatures, that think ourselves to death. Rather than living in a flow, we create blocks of resistance, which cause us to become out of sync with the world around us. We are the only creatures on the planet that don’t give back to the earth in a natural way. We use, abuse, rape and pillage its natural beauty and resources and leave behind refuse that is indigestible and non-renewable.

Yet, if we just looked to the mystical roots of all of our religions or spiritual paths, we would find that if we did the inner work, spent time looking within ourselves, we would find all the answers to living a gloriously, happy life, that isn’t about consumption and destruction. We would find that whatever we do and whoever we are is enough. We would find that we don’t have to keep up with the Joneses, because we have already surpassed them in the only way necessary. We are happy with our life as it is.

When we are in the flow of life, we find that everything we need is already provided for us. Just as all of nature, unobstructed by man, receives everything it needs, we would receive all that we needed and more. The natural ecosystem is a phenomenally complex system, which provides what is necessary for life. When the system is attacked, it makes necessary corrections to bring itself back into alignment.

We can do the same thing with our lives. If we get out of alignment, we can change how we do things or think about things to bring ourselves back into alignment with life, and find ourselves happier, healthier and more energetic.

~rev jim

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The Sounds in Mindfulness

“While everybody is nodding off, I find those moments where I see sunsets and sunrises and all the times in between that are fascinating and so beautiful and it’s almost like [being] free.”
-Julian Lennon

It’s funny. When I found this quote, I saw the brackets around the “being” implying that the person who added the word, did so for clarity, and maybe he did, and that was Julian’s intent. The quote is obviously out of context, but that doesn’t make it any less powerful either way.

And either way, the meaning is the same. That unconscious place where most people spend most of their lives is just the fine line between sleep and freedom.

Most people never notice the sunrises and sunsets and enjoy the incomparable beauty that is there in that moment, let alone see the beauty and the expression of life in the rest of the day. Most people walk through life asleep, and without a conscious thought of the constant change around them. They see their lives as static and uninteresting, a drudgery they endure, but seldom enjoy.

When was the last time you took a moment in a simple task like washing dishes and noticed the way the water flowed over your hand or the way the bubbles have an iridescent property. Or, took a walk and noticed the sound of rustling leaves or, in colder weather, the steam rising from the drains. Have you ever listened to the music that some trees make or the whirring sound of flag pole wires, or, in the city, the music the hi-rise buildings make? I often just sit on my back porch in St. Augustine, close my eyes and listen to the wild sounds of nature. I can imagine myself somewhere else, a jungle maybe, listening to the “gronks” of the herons, mixed with the finches, mockingbirds, laughing gulls, and myriad other birds, mixed with the deafening sound of cicadas, crickets, and other critters of the undergrowth amidst the background music of the wind whistling through the longleaf pines, live oaks and cedars.

It is amazing how much life we miss with our headphones or our music cranked up.

~revjim

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3 Steps to Making Conscious Choices

three-steps-300x3001) Still Your Thoughts

When we still your thoughts, we make room for Spirit or God, the Presence, to be recognized within us. It is always there, but most of the time we are so busy with busy-ness that we don’t notice. By being in the moment we allow our thoughts to fall away and we shed the façade that ego superimposes on us we move into our more authentic self.

2) Become the Observer

With ego out of the picture, we have the ability to become the observer of our thoughts and the world. As the observer, we are no longer judging ourselves or our situations, and we can see everything as just actions. These products which move before us are now available for us to choose from. We can then make our choices from a non-judgmental place. We make our decisions from a place of observations rather than reaction.

3) Make Responsible Choices

As we make our decisions from the non-judgmental place of observer, our choices become authentic choices we can live with. From here, we can accept responsibility for these actions and know we have made responsible choices.

~rev jim

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