Unconditional Surrender is a no-win Situation

Spirit tells me that unconditional surrender is a no-win situations.

Winners become losers if their influence over other powers

Depends solely upon force.

 

Such a situation requires continued use of force to maintain

Control over whomever or whatever.

 

Whatever?

 

Yes.

 

Such as?

 

Addictions and other self-destructive lifestyles.

 

But, will power …

 

Will power alone can sometimes control but never

Release the need for whatever.

 

Then what is a solution?

 

A solution for what?

 

The tension, the stress in maintaining control.

 

Awareness, acceptance, understanding, compassion

For self, and respect for the so-called enemy.

 

And intention?

 

Yes.

 

 

 

 

Knowledge is not Understanding

Spirit tells me that we live and share with each other

As teacher and student of wisdom, and that

Wisdom is understanding while knowledge alone

Is not.

 

Knowing what is what is not the same as knowing

Why what is what and how to use that knowing

To serve self, community, and Life.

 

A farmer usually knows more than what

To plant, when to plant, and where to plant.

Why requires understanding based on

Experience.

 

The same is true of compassion, He tells me.

The memories or personal pain compel us

To feel the pain of others, or we have not

Suffered enough. It’s as simple as that.

What Emotion is Trump?

Spirit patiently listens to my complaints about some

personal relationships. Why? I ask, do some relationships

Seem to be charged with emotion beyond what could

possibly make sense, at least to me.

 

Life, He tells me, is like a game of cards.

We each play as well as we can with

the cards we have been dealt. When we

Play a kindness card, we expect the other

Player or players to pay an equal or higher

Kindness card.

 

But, that doesn’t always happen. Why would,

As they sometime do, play an anger card when

 A kindness card is seemingly called for?

 

What emotion is trump?

 

Compassion?

 

Love..

 

Life is incomplete and non-linear

Spirit tells me that all stories are necessarily incomplete and

Non-linear, when they attempt to accurately describe life

 

But, I was young, once, and now I am not. Surely that is

A case for linear development.

 

Did you grow in equal proportions during each segment of

Your so-called linear life?

 

No. Babies grow faster, doubling their birth weight in a few months.

 

So much for linear growth.

 

Perhaps linear growth could refer to stages of

Development.

 

Are stages of growth, or development

Of equal time duration for all people and

Other life forms?

 

Why would stages of growth have to be of

Equal time duration to be linear?

They could have a certain sequential order

Within a linear framework.

 

Explain, if you can.

 

You’re asking me to explain? What?

 

Linear development.

 

How can I explain it to you?

 

Then, explain it to yourself and I’ll listen in.

 

I’m on slippery ground.

 

Yes.

 

But, if we do not develop within a linear

Framework, then how do we?

 

How do we what?

 

Develop.

 

In what way?

 

Are we going in circles?

 

No.

 

Then what?

 

Cycles.

 

A Formless and Tuition-Free Academy of Higher Learning

There is no urgency, Spirit tells me. There never was

And never will be. Perhaps not for Him, but it stresses

Me to be, or seem to be, a very slow learner of His

Gems of Wisdom. Sometimes I wonder how

I could ever grasp the depth of insight

That seems almost comprehensible

And yet still beyond my understanding.

 

At times like this I feel compassion

For Spirit, my teacher, whom I greatly

Respect, but do not always show it.

Why? I fear I’ll lose myself in

The immensity of his energy, that is

So totally beyond that of my own.

 

The compassion I feel for Him comes

When I consider that possibly

He was assigned to teach me,

Perhaps as a Cosmic joke.

 

Spirit seems to smile at my misplaced

Compassion, if it is misplaced, and

I suddenly feel appreciation and gratitude

Beyond measure, for being blessed with

The opportunity to study at a

Tuition-free and formless academy of

Higher Learning. Then I wonder, as if

To bring myself back to a denser form

Of thought, do formless energies have

Form other than of their own choosing?

 

Spirit assures me that, just as all matter

Has form and energy, so it is with Him

And all so-called formless energies.

Form, He tells me, is in the eye

Of the beholder, but not as beauty is.

 

Compassion flows as a Pressure Gradient

Spirit tells me that compassion flows

When it does, as a pressure gradient,

In response to a recognition of

Suffering, as that suffering flows

Back to us, to be relieved by

The compassion that we send

To those for whom we care for,

When we recognize their pain.

 

We may pity the plight of whomever,

And be thankful that we do not share

Their pain. but, claims Spirit,

When we feel compassion, we

Not only recognize the pain,

We feel it as we would our own.

 

Rules can teach  us, or try to,

To feel pity for people or animals,

In distress, but, only personal

Experience can teach us

Compassion.  It is

A precious gift we give, and in

The giving, we share a common

Bond. Compassion expresses

Awareness of having suffered, and

We share that experience with those

For whom we feel compassion.

 

Why do we feel compassion? We

Know the pain and, perhaps we

Suffered more than the one for

Whom we feel compassion, because

Perhaps we suffered alone, and

Could not Wish that pain

On those we care for, whether

We know them or not.

 

Suffering

Spirit asks me, What is it that we want

More than anything else?

I don’t know.

Then you need more suffering.

As punishment for not knowing?

No. As experience.

Why would I want to experience

Suffering? I thought freedom from

Suffering was the highest goal.

Freedom from suffering is not a

Goal in itself but a means

to an end.

What end?

Compassion and love.

 

.

Defeat is not Surrender

Spirit teaches me His own style of

Meditation. He does not accept that

Meditation should calm the mind..

 

Spirit seems to believe that

The mind should be agitated and

All dearly-held beliefs and

Understandings be put

Under attack, debated,

Challenged by His

Superior thought system.

 

When I tell people that

I meditate often, they ask

If it relaxes my mind and

Look disbelieving when

I tell them it exhausts me.

 

Focus, Spirit teaches, on whatever

Aspect of my understanding or beliefs

He has chosen to alter. Somehow

I begin with confidence that,

Since I have spent a lifetime

Seeking greater understanding of

Philosophical and spiritual

Principles, that I have nothing

More to learn. My arrogant

Confidence, He loves, and

Perhaps, delights all the more

In dissolving, one by one,

Precious truths..

 

I never surrender; I struggle

To the inevitable, it seems,

End. My defense, sooner or

Later, collapses, and I must,

With great reluctance,

Let it go, and accept

Spirit’s more logical and

Compassionate wisdom.

He wins, again.