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

Truth Revisited

truthI find myself writing about truth and authenticity quite often. While I am speaking to “my truth” all of the time, there are certain truths that I hold to be true for everyone.

One such truth is “All men (and women) are created equal.” And then I realize that at this point in time and space, this is only my truth. It may be a belief that is held by many and it may be true, but until all peoples, everyone, believes this, it is not an absolute. Whether by sex, racism, religion, or for whatever other reason, it is not a universally held belief. So few things are held as universal truths. They may be universal within a group of people but not all.

It would not surprise me to one day hear that Gravity is not a universal truth on this planet. And there’s the kicker and the qualifying statement again, “on this planet.”

So, what this means to me is that I have my truths, which may be held by many others. They principles on which I live my daily life. My principles are not written in stone, but unless something dramatic in my life happens to change them and make me go, “Aha!”, they are beliefs I live by and my life works well, as long as I believe in these truths.

So, why do things not work sometimes? I believe it’s because I question what I hold as true for me. I fall back on comments of others, which may limit me by their unbelief. That’s why I always say, you may listen to others, but always follow your intuition or gut feeling.

So, what do you believe? Is it working for you? Are you open to a new thought or stuck trying to make someone else’s thought work?

If you’re not comfortable or can’t align with a particular thought, it is probably not for you. I’ve read a lot of books with a lot of advice, but I take every bit of it with a grain of salt. There may be a lot of truth in something, but I have to pick from it what works for me.

Just like the news… There’s always an element of truth within the ratings grabbing hype, but nothing or almost nothing can be accepted exactly as presented, because there is almost always someone’s agenda influencing what is written. Ego or our humanness demands it.

The bottom line is, we need to think for ourselves, inquire, research, and build our own idea of correctness, building on what we can already know as what is true for ourselves, without harming anyone else.

What is true for you?

from Love, in Peace,

~revjim

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Self-Love or Narcissism

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“If I asked you to name all the things that you love, how long would it take to name yourself?”

A Facebook friend recently responded about post image about self-love that she was afraid it sounded narcissistic if she stated that. I guess my direct comment would be, “yes, it would, if you would go around declaring that to everyone,” but what I feel is that self-love is the basis for loving others.

Narcissism is total lack of love for self and others. It’s really a self-loathing that out-pictures as, “It’s all about me” and what “I” do, and nothing about you. The individual is trying to convince themselves that they are a loving person and deserving of Love, because no one does. They usually believe that money, fame, notoriety, bombastic behavior, which always draws attention, are the behaviors that not only draw people to them, but also make people love them.

People are drawn to that type of behavior today, or at least it seems so. That’s most of what you see on the internet and the news, because it sells, and attracts “likes.” There are also other things that can attract “likes” beyond outrageous behavior and cat videos, Loving thoughts.

They’re not good press though. That’s why there is little success with websites about good news or loving thoughts, or at least less sharing of those sites.

Remember, Hate only begets more hate, but when you respond to hate with love it becomes disarmed. So, if you find yourself in the presence of outrageous behavior from someone, just send them love. You don’t need to embrace them with anything more than your mind, if you don’t feel inclined, but it can have a healing for you and you never know what it may do for the other person.

from Love, in Peace,

~rev jim starke

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Spirit Education is a CSL Authorized Virtual Education Provider
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Prison or Paradise?

q-markMy question today is, “do you believe that you create your life by the thoughts you have? Can you, knowing that there is strife in the world, that there is killing in the world, really believe that you exist in a world of your own creation?

Thinking about that for a moment, are you responsible for that killing or that strife? Heady thoughts, aren’t they? Chances are each of us may be to some degree by our thinking the general lower thoughts of humanity that says, “they deserved that” or “they are bad people not good like me” and other things of the same ilk.

Does that make us bad people? No, not really, it just means we’re human beings with human frailties and judgments. We have thoughts that are historically human thoughts based on our geography, ethnicity, spiritual or religious upbringing, and many other factors that cause us “unknowingly to act the way we do. It can be difficult to know that we are being unjustified in our thoughts and actions sometimes as we float through life, because we do “feel” fully justified in our actions.

Sometimes we get involved in situations that we don’t even realize may be callous or hurtful to a group or section of the population that has, in truth, done nothing to deserve it. One example of this is or was military veterans returning from the war in Vietnam. During this time of political upheaval in our country our boys were returning from the war ill prepared for the horrendous greetings they had to endure at the hands of the young idealistic protestors of that unwanted conflict.

They, in essence, were treated as the enemy, when, in fact, most were conscripts of a war that nobody wanted outside of the government and corporations. Sadly, they were the easiest and most visible group for protestors to attack and get press. So, these men who spent most of their time just trying to survive in an untenable situation were smeared by the protestors and became a focus of the press, while the “directors and suppliers” of the war continued in business as usual.

So, did we contribute to that? Many of us did. I was guilty of it by protesting the war on campus in college, and even though I never called anyone a baby killer or threw red paint at anyone, I was still responsible for that general condition. And it wasn’t until I was drafted in my senior year of college that got to know the people who were the cannon fodder of the war, and realize that damage that we did to another human being in our idealistic unknowing.

And, this is not an isolated incident. It has been going on since the beginning of time. Imagine if didn’t consider our way of doing things better than anyone else’s way. Imagine what the world might be like if there was universal respect for everybody as individuals without regard for religious beliefs, ethnic heritage, sexual proclivity, or geography. Imagine if we wanted the highest and the best for each and everyone. Imagine the world without labels, without judgment.

If we as individuals can begin to see the good in each other and let this good by our guiding theme in our life, we can indeed begin to see the world as a safe place, as a place where our children are safe, where we are safe. This is how we can begin to live stress free in this world of our own creation. We don’t have to change the entire world ourselves. We need only change the way we see the world and the way we see ourselves within this world. The future is as bright or and dim as our thoughts. It is heaven or hell right now. We sentence ourselves to prison or paradise.

Where do you choose to reside? How do you choose to see your life?

~revjim

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We’re having a Zoominar September 28th
1st Century Mystics  October 4th
https://spirit-edu.com/learn/courses/zoominar/
https://spirit-edu.com/learn/1st-century-mystics