Awareness comes before response

Spirit tells me that awareness always comes

Before response, however limited or distorted

That awareness might be.

 

Knowing that it’s raining outside may inspire us

To dress appropriately for that particular

Weather condition, before we open the door.

Or, we may choose to remain indoors until

The rain decides to stop.

 

We adapt, each in our own way and to an

Individual degree, to whatever situation

Life presents us with.

 

We choose how and why to face it, or not to,

Or, at least not yet.

 

Is one of us stalling for time?

 

Yes, you are.

 

 

Existence doesn’t depend on a belief system

 

Spirit tells me that His existence does not depend upon

My temporary belief system, or my seeming illusion that

We are separate in any real way.

 

Belief in an individual ego, He tells me, serves us well,

As long as and to the degree that it does. But,

The reality is, we are as separated from each other as

Individual neighbourhoods are separated from

The city that they are a part of..

 

Imperfection as a Universal Law and a gift

Spirit tells me that imperfection is a Law of Nature,

Which is to say, a Universal Law.

 

Everyone and everything, He tells me, is

Necessarily imperfect, and always will be.

As such, it is a gift of Life, as is our

Awareness of this gift.

 

How can my awareness of my imperfection

Be a gift?

 

Not awareness of your imperfections.

 

Then what?

 

Awareness of The Law of Imperfection.

 

How is it a gift?

 

It allows you to aspire to become all that

You can be, without ever having to worry

About reaching absolute limits.

 

 

 

Success in small things prepares us

Spirit seems to scold me for setting goals that are

So limited that they do not, to Him, qualify

To even be called such.

 

Where is intention and striving toward?

 

Perhaps I’m afraid of failure.

 

What’s wrong with failure?

 

I’m also afraid of success.

 

Yes. But, why?

 

Where to go from there?

 

It would, or could, He tells me, become as

Just one more of the many everyday successes

In my life.

 

Such as?

 

Preparing dinner.

 

 

 

How we live develops patterns

Spirit suggests that I become increasingly aware of

The patters of thought, emotion, and behaviour that

I am developing.

 

How we live each lifetime is important, He tells me,

Not just for this particular lifetime but also for how

It will influence future lifetimes.

 

How we respond to any challenge that Life

Presents us with affects and is affected by

The individual patterns of thought, emotion, and

Behaviour that we have developed.

 

These lifestyle patterns; for they are styles among

Countless other styles, tend to become habitual

Ways of responding, or reacting, to whatever.

 

Our thoughts and emotions, He tells me, are

Different types of energies that harmonize, or

Do not. How we understand and respond to

Experience expresses both thought and emotion.

 

Spirit asks me to become increasingly aware that

My individual energies and how well they harmonize

With each other will, does, affect everyone and

Everything in my life, Himself included.

 

What an awesome responsibility.

 

Yes.

 

 

 

How we learn who we are

Spirit tells me that we are as individual sparks of Life

Experiencing life.

 

We learn to know who we are and what we are by

Experiencing relationships with other sparks of Life,

Of intensities that may differ, in some way, or ways,

To our own.

 

They are, these other sparks, what and whom they have

Become, as are we.

 

The strengths and weaknesses of other sparks

Provide us with a means of knowing our own, by

Comparing ourselves with others.

 

This awareness is not meant to be used to judge

Others, nor ourselves. Differences exist and are

As a gift to everyone.

 

How would it be possible, He asks me, to know

Anything, if nothing or no-one differed, or seemed

Not to,, from anyone or anything else, in any way?

How could we grow? or be aware that we had, or

Had not?

 

Awareness of differences can serve to inspire each

Of us to become, not as any other, but all that we can,

And in this way, inspire others to do the same,

Not be the same.

We each have a duty to care

Spirit tells me that we each have a sacred duty to care for

The world we live in, the world that sustains us and

Makes it possible for us to experience physical

Existence within a material creation.

 

Each suggests a personal responsibility.

 

Yes.

 

How is it possible for individuals…

 

Are you speaking of individuals in general or of

Yourself, in particular?

 

Both.

 

The answer is the same.

 

My question is still, how can it be done?

 

It can only be done individually. We each must learn to

Care about and care for everyone and everything else.

 

We each may have a different understanding of

What it means to care about and for.

 

What is your understanding?

 

I do care about and for whom and what I can.

 

How much do you care about and for, and

How do you express this care?

 

Am I on a witness stand?

 

Everyone is on a witness stand.

 

 

Different teachers for different seekers

Spirit tells me that there have always been Spiritual teachers

Who cared enough for their community to risk their lives

To share the wisdom that had been shared with them.

 

There have always been people who needed to understand

What life was all about and what purpose socially accepted

Rules served in their particular time and place.

 

How can we understand rules whose purpose has not been

Explained to us? Or does not seem to make sense?

 

Spirit tells me that leaders have always feared being

Questioned abut the purpose of rules they impose on

Their followers. The very nature of rules requires that

They are not an option and must be obeyed.

 

The problem arises, claims Spirit, when these rules

No longer serve their original purpose, the best interest

Of the community and, instead, serve, or seem to serve

The personal interests of those who enforce the rules.

 

Then a new teacher rises up out of mass discontentment

With old ways of thinking, to share a new way of living that

Requires new rules.

 

The old game then begins again. Young people insist upon

Change while the elderly remember that they too were once

Young and had listened in their youth, and followed a then

New teacher and new leaders with new ideas of new rules.

 

So, what is the solution?

 

To what?

 

To sharing new ideas of how to live.

 

There are no new ideas of how to live.