Category: spirituality

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On Seeking

“Our conceptual minds like being involved in searching and seeking and sometimes prolong it, slyly keeping ego alive and kicking in the process, hoping for its own ‘enlightenment.’”
~Kathleen Dowling Singh, The Grace in Living

backlit-clouds-cropThere is so much available today for individuals seeking something greater in their lives, so much so, that people spend most of their lives seeking something that seems elusive to them. It seems to me that spending all their time seeking leaves them fractured, confused and unable to really find something to actually build on. You can’t build a house by continually searching the perfect design and not being willing to settle on one to actually build. Whereas, if you build something, and it isn’t quite what you envisioned, you at least have a starting point, and know a little better what you would do differently the next time.

It seems people seek because they can’t see what they want, or because the “grass is always greener” or seems it may be greener, because another person doing something else seems happier.

Until you are willing to settle upon something and stop seeking, you can’t actually build, a house or a spiritual practice. Like Jesus says in Matthew 7:26, “But everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.” You need to build your foundation on rock or today, in a more “concrete” manner, in order to build a spiritual practice. Constantly seeking will only keep you seeking. Until, you are willing to take a leap of faith and make a choice, change conscious change cannot happen.
-rev-jim

““Without mindful attention, self-doubt and confusion can lead directly to discouragement. Indirectly, they can also lead to egoic striving—the grim determination of the self to choreograph enlightenment—as well as endless seeking.”
~Kathleen Dowling Singh, The Grace in Living

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Are Your Needs Being Met, Spiritually?

team-spirit-2447163_640A friend just confided that hers were no longer being met with the community she was involved in. There are so many things we get from and expect of community. Number 1 is like-minded people. What is that?

People who have similar wants, needs and desires, spiritually and, and in most cases, business and personally. Most people want the camaraderie of those who can uplift and challenge them to be their highest and best. Who doesn’t?

We all need a friend when we’re down or someone to share our uplifting moments with. We need people to laugh with, to cry with, and because we’re communal animals, we just need to be around others who operate in the same vibration we do.

Spiritually, we may want to pray with someone, or just brainstorm some business ideas with them.

While there is no real replacement for physical community, if that is not an option, I highly recommend you find something. If you are at all tech savvy today, and the requirements aren’t that “techy,” I highly recommend you find even an online community that you can interact with. There are many “Virtual” churches and spiritual out there. Check us out, if nothing else is working for you.

from Love, in Peace,

~revjim

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Man’s inhumanity continues . . .

As the Charlottesville incident is still fresh in our minds,I have to ask myself, Why?

First, why is there such a visceral reaction in me to this senseless violence , and second, what is it in me that creates a space that allows this to happen?

To the first, I just can’t understand what it is in people that brings them to such a place of loss that they see no other option than to do harm to another child of God. Where is the thought process that says this is an acceptable solution? In this country especially, where the standard of living, even for the poor and disadvantaged is so much higher than so much of the world, there is still a disconnect so deep that people would rather listen to others opinions, rather than discern any truth for themselves. Even self-proclaimed Christians seem to abandon the teaching of the man around whom the religion was born to resort inane acts, so out of character with their savior. Instead, they engage in hate mongering, acts of violence, discrimination, and other base acts of horror, in the name of religion.alan-paton-novelist-quote-there-is-only-one-way-in-which-one-can

Today, this is stretched to a breaking point by an ignorant, misogynistic and arrogant @POTUS and a militant, violence spouting media, that seems to have lost perspective as to their job of delivering the facts and instead incites discontent. This is not limited to the so-called alt-right. All the unknowing media is contributing to this base rhetoric of hate. Their opinions become the opinions of the unread, and self-absorbed everywhere and their untruths become rallying cries.

To the “What;” what can we do to alleviate suffering and maybe encourage a new and more loving behavior going forward?

To this, I can only speak for me. I can look inward to what it is in me that creates this reaction in the first place. I can look at my own thoughts of bigotry and hatred, however benign or repressed they might be. They must be there for me to react in the ways I do. I need to not only look at them, but I need to be aware that they are obviously somewhere in me, and in my awareness of them, do a healing process to bring them into my consciousness, so I can begin to release these thoughts.

In the Christian faith, Jesus’ teaching bring us to recognize the God within us, which is always there to guide us toward Love. In the Muslim faith, there is the inner struggle, jihad, which is our guide to bring us into the Love of God. In Buddhism and Hinduism, there is the desire to achieve selflessness, which brings us into communion with the universe.

Whatever the teaching, they are always toward Peace, inner and other. As Thomas Merton says, without a balance of the spiritual and the human, we are incomplete, not a “Whole Person.”

What does this mean for me? It means I need to do the deeper interior work every day. I need to be in greater awareness of all the exterior things that “effect” me, and I need to remember the Spirit moves in, through and as every living thing, always. If I can remember and live these principles, then I can remain in tune with the infinite, and I tune with Love, which God is, and I AM.

“To forget the self and its pettiness is to actually show up, open and embracing, in the present moment’s play of form and formlessness.
~ Kathleen Dowling Singh, Grace in Aging

from Love, in Peace,

rev jim

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I have challenges every day!

For the majority of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, jihad is a word that literally means “to struggle.” It’s a concept within Islam that represents a commitment to serve God, to be good to yourself and to your neighbors.
~ Carol Kuruvilla Associate Religion Editor, Huffington Post, 03-28-16

clip_image002I have challenges every day!

Struggling or having challenges in life is something we all face. We struggle with writing papers and articles, with taking tests, with driving in traffic, doing our jobs and many other tasks and relationships.

Just because we find ourselves in these very human modes, doesn’t mean we are going to go berserk or crazy. Sometimes it does, but in most cases we turn to a friend, or our version of God for help. We oft times turn to a higher sense of purpose within ourselves to give some perspective to our struggles. And, isn’t that key to our healing?

I joined a Medical Mission to Tanzania in Africa in 2007, and did a little research on the area and Africa in general before I embarked on the mission. I found the average earnings in Tanzania annually is $365. That’s a dollar a day. How many of us could live on a dollar a day in this country, or even $5 a day? Few of us I would guess. I remember being in my teens and reading all these articles of exploring Europe on $5 a day. But $1 a day, and many with families!

Muslims and Christians live together in peace in Tanzania, and religion is a large part of life. Yet, when I got there, while I saw dirt roads, and simple structures, I was amazed that the majority of the people that we treated were only grateful. Grateful for everything in their lives. I some cases their clothing was thread bare, but their spirits were always high. They were loving, warm, and outgoing, and the children were always curious. It didn’t seem like they even knew the word poor. They were living life! And, they addressed their challenges one at a time.

Are you grateful for where you are? Would you be willing to reach out to God when you are challenged?

~rev jim starke
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The Joy really is in the Journey!

People say, “The joy is in the journey,” but they rarely understand what they are saying. You are in this focused time/space reality with goals and objectives that call you because as you identify a desire it literally summons life through you. Life summoning through you is what it’s all about —it’s not the completion of anything.
—Abraham, excerpted from the workshop: Chicago, IL on November 01, 1998

Wow! This has so hit home for me as developed my website for my first focus ministry., Spirit On The Road. And, literally it was a journey all over the eastern United States.

What I found out though, was that success isn’t always measured in dollars and cents. There are many facets to success. I experienced many of them along the way. There was a lot of travelling, which I did enjoy. I shared what I was doing with all the CSL communities along the way, and I met many wonderful people along the way. I cherished those years in my motor home. Ultimately, I was able to help a couple of spiritual seed groups get started, and introduced Science of Mind to a few communities that had been previously unserved.

As for it paying for itself, that never happened. It turned into an act of SEVA. That was ok, because I was fortunate enough to have a job that didn’t require a great deal of work during that period and still brought me a decent income.

I learned through this experience that the joy IS in the journey, not in the destination. Along the way I made many like-minded friends, and gave support to many who otherwise may have not been supported as they were. I visited a lot of new places to me, and experienced the diversity those areas offered.

~ rev jim
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Ego is…

Our  egos don’t have to control us bu,t in fact, they are within us to guide us, to keep us safe from harm and to help us move forward toward whatever goal we may have n the moment.

~rev jim
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Spiritual Growth

In my early 20’s, I walked into a funky, little bookstore on the main street leading to the capitol building in Madison, Wisconsin. I was really missing college and looking for some mind stimulating reading material. “A Handbook to Higher Consciousness” by Ken Keyes, jumped out at me and I decided it was interesting enough to take it home and get a closer look. I soon learned that this was advanced stuff. In fact, I didn’t know anyone who even came close to living like this. I quickly disregarded it because I couldn’t believe that anyone could ever attain such a high state of consciousness. Surely I knew of no one in my circle, which was pretty limited now as I look back. It remained on my bookshelf for another 15 years before I would pick it up again. Having matured some, it now began to make more sense to me. I read it cover to cover hoping that my familiarity with the material would assist me in learning how to live in such a high-minded way. Another 12 or so years later, I picked it up a third time and I finally began to see that it really was possible. This book has truly been a guide and handbook for me…priceless.

Having a fascination with books since my early beginnings and being an avid reader, I was inspired to be a writer. I always knew there was a book in me early on. The only problem is when I decided to sit down and start it, nothing came. I realized I hadn’t had enough experience yet to write about. What I needed was some real life experience and boy did I get it. With that under my belt, and a new way to look at life, I knew it was time. Now I had something to share that would help others who were struggling out there as I had been. Finally, a way of thinking and seeing clearly that could make a difference gave me the inspiration to start. The title, “I Can Do This Thing Called Life and So Can You!” came to me 8 years before the book was published. During that time, the title served me as a mantra and the writing, itself, further reinforced everything I learned, so much so, that now I could pass it on. I wanted to create a book that could provide a lifeline or handbook to others just like Ken Keyes. And so I did!

 

Guest Post by:
Rev Cath DePalma, Central Florida CSL
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