Tag Archives: wisdom

Relationships are self-confirming

Posted on by under developing awareness, grass-roots ethics, Spirit shares words of wisdom, Uncategorized

Spirit asks me where confirmation of our relationship could come from

In a world of form?

 

His words, He tells me, can speak for themselves, to those who have

Ears to hear.

 

He shares words of wisdom with me and tells me that we will share them

With others. He speaks with power of conviction, with both strength and

Gentility. Nobody but myself seems to be able to hear him but, perhaps

He prefers it that way, for now.

 

Our relationship is self-confirming, even as it is changing.

 

How is it changing?

 

You are becoming more comfortable with it.

 

Is acceptance comfort?

 

Yes.

 

We play by rules we choose

Posted on by under developing awareness, grass-roots ethics, Spirit teaches I Ching wisdom, Uncategorized

Spirit Teaches I Ching Wisdom.

 

Today’s I Ching is 7 – The Army.

 

Spirit explains: As today follows yesterday into the past, so The Army

Follows Contention (6); and, as today reaches toward tomorrow, so does

The Army reach toward Closeness (8).

 

I can understand The Army and Contention acting on each other, but,

What relationship can The Army have with Closeness?

 

When reason alone fails to solve contention then power is a necessary

Organizing force. It serves a good purpose if it can bring together

Contentious groups. It can contribute to a sense of closeness.

 

Okay, I can accept that, but how does it relate to me?

 

Who is contentious?

 

Perhaps I am, at times.

 

Who is The Army?

 

I don’t know.

 

Is the army as a referee in this instance?

 

That’s possible, but not all referees play by the same rules.

 

What rules do I play by?

 

Perhaps rules of your own choosing.

 

Yes, and so do you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Studying with Spirit

Posted on by under developing awareness, grass-roots ethics

There are times when studying with my Spirit Teacher is less than a

Pleasure. There seems to be such a deep and wide gulf between

The awesome wisdom He would share with me and my shallow

Capacity to absorb it that I must protest.

 

What do You expect from me? I’m not that bright. Perhaps you want

More than I could ever give.

 

We know more than you what you are potentially capable of being,

Doing, and giving, and We more than reasonably expect. We know

What we can and what we cannot expect from you or anyone else.

Obedience is not co-operation

Posted on by under developing awareness, grass-roots ethics, Uncategorized

A spirit wisdom teacher explains I Ching 12 – Obstruction.

 

Obstruction follows Tranquility, or might, if might rules.

 

The construction of the hexagrams for Obstruction and Tranquility

Both present yang and yin energies as concentrated and opposed.

 

Tranquility expresses followers as being seemingly held in a high status.

But, the power remains concentrated in the leadership. Obstruction shows

A more or less reversed order. Leadership is on top, but only by suppression,

Which invites resistance.

 

Obedience is not co-operation. There is no sense of trust and each side feels

Alienated from the other. There must be a blending of energies for each to feel

Part of the solution.

 

Is this a political situation or one of relationship?

 

Yes, and an attitude one.

 

Why attitude?

 

Attitudes direct how we perceive whatever situation and how we perceive

Directs our action, or reluctance to act.

 

Could the situation apply to teacher and student …

 

Yes.

 

Then what is the solution?

 

Can we find common ground?

 

Some.

 

Yes, and some is a beginning.

 

 

 

 

Different teachers for different seekers

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, Uncategorized

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.

 

 

 

Knowledge is not Understanding

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, simple spiritual insights

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.

Defeat is not Surrender

Posted on by under developing awareness, seeking the middle way, Uncategorized

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. 

 

 

Where is the promised book

Posted on by under Uncategorized

Spirit has always promised, no, pledged that

We would write His book.

Sure, twenty-five years later and,

Where is the book.

Meanwhile, I have filled

Piles of journals with notes,

Words of wisdom, and

I have served as a channel,

Sometimes, but

Never in a way that

Satisfied my soul.

It all seemed too frivolous,

Unimportant, and yet,

To those involved,

On either side, it was

Obviously satisfying. But,

Nobody seemed to ask Spirit

How to live a good life.

Instead, they wanted to be happy,

Here, and rich, if possible.

Perhaps I do, too.