Celebrating All
with
How is your trust holding up? Have you discovered large reserves of it? Found out you never had much to begin with? Did you find it tied to contingencies? Did you realize your faith was based on parameters and in the world beyond them, disintegrated? Have you become disillusioned, bitter, angry, sad, or simply given up?
Are you continuing to look at the world outside of you to determine how you feel on the inside? How's that working out? Are you running into, over and again, revulsion and disorientation? Have you considered that perhaps these experiences are not circumstantial? That you've been carrying them within for some while and now it's time to face them?
Running, hiding or deriding "ugly" never solves the sour acrimony you've held so close for so long. The mayhem all about is foul to be sure, but taking it in so readily --agreeing and decrying -- is affirming an existing imbalance within, affirming your faith in darkness over light. When we feel "wrong", nebulously & abstractly, or specifically with proof of condemnation, we show ourselves how much more we believe that what's "wrong" is what's "real". We have not yet moved beyond doubt and fear and the ensuing impatience reeling us between compulsion and desperation.
Big whoop.
So you've found another reason (or the same reasons on autorepeat) to belittle yourself. You've heard it millions of times before: it's loud and it hurts, but you're still here & whatever negativity you've agreed to let overtake you can never diminish the actuality of you. Would it be inconceivable that in this experience of degradation too contains proof of something Greater? That that which you reject could also affirm, affirm(!) your faith rather than providing more proof of nihilation? If everything is imbued with Spirit equally, Spirit must also exist in regions of so-deemed futility. Myopia causes more heartache than most afflictions but, we're playing the long game here: Love always prevails and the future will reveal this.
Let us never give up for the answer lies in our future selves bringing forth the light you so long for; YOU will be the LIGHT you're searching for... However, when we're mired in darkness we're stuck in the past. Let us shift into now by calling on the Source of all within you, that force, bold dignified strong and definite brings you into the present, a present contributing to the you of Light yet to come, I celebrate you! I sing the body electric!
Pride of ego however, remains a pitfall, one so wide that any, any attraction towards it will suck you into the proverbial black hole reducing you to nothingness. As you continue making your way out of issue-laden patterns, claiming your inner beauty and your real pride into effectiveness, know that what stops you will often be ego-related. It keeps you small, keeps you its slave, keeps you down, keeps you out. Above all, it estranges you from you real self, which is what sees you through ultimately every time. Your spiritual umbilical cord is never severed, but our attempts to take a knife to it by succumbing to the ego's demands is when/where true suffering flourishes.
We've established a baseline of suffering, genuine suffering: When we create an environment bereft of love, suffering is always the accompaniment. When we place loathing upon our self-created suffering what MUST follow is a living nightmare. WAKE UP! Whatever subconscious, karmic, experiential requirement for growth is playing itself out doesn't mean you cannot inhabit this space at least with some dignity. We never forfeit our right to bear our burdens with whatever dignity we can muster and, importantly, the compassion Buddhism so fiercely advocates. Our suffering is our own and shouldn't be compared to others'.
The root of suffering can be "desire" according to Buddhist pedagogy, but, moving closer still to the heart of it, is the lack of heart: We are ashamed of our weakness, squirming in our own "worminess"; some can't stop apologizing for existing, so appalled by their own "waste of space" that sublimation to any, to all, is preferred to any kind of honoring of one's being. Why? Why? "Why?" one asks? The answer to that question doesn't generally provide a solution. We may uncover why we feel so "wrong", conjecturing and theorizing, even landing at the truth. For some this knowledge is essential, but it provides very little "know-how". The work, the opportunity in the challenge, remains to be done.
The more self-immolation we subscribe to the less capable we are to address and move towards/for our own higher good. In times of dogged inertia there can be no greater ally than LOVE. Our faith, our trust, must carry us forward even if we ourselves cannot. What benediction this can provide! The feeling of being unable to make a change in your own life can be an experience you're overcoming and you don't know enough yet to just brutally divide life in half, placing experiences in "undesirable" vs "acceptable" categories. It's not good enough and based on limited understanding. It suggests we run, that we're powerless over how we respond, that in life we have no choice except maybe to panic or become neurotic. Choosing a life from a place of love is the most powerful agent of change in whatever shrouds us and believing otherwise is a terrible detrimental lie.
Tuning in and trusting in something Greater than yourself alone is beginning, middle, end; journey, destination, and destiny. When we take the time to stop and consult with that core of Love within, life is immediately altered as you're engaging the "parachute" setting within, that which you call upon when every other option has been denied or exhausted. Exhausted yet? Still want to keep pursuing the path of most resistance? So be it. When you're ready, or even forced, that incredible eternal but still latent asset remains at your disposal. This is the realm where miracles occur, and you could probably use some of those in your life more often!
It's being led by the Light within moment to moment, giving your choices over to that light knowing that Love can never steer you incorrectly, it's the relief of releasing the reigns knowing fully you weren't directing your life very well anyway. To let your ego take those reigns is to remain guessing in darkness where certainly always mistakes are made, accidents occur, and all kinds of myriad danger pull you down and drag you into subsistence living, barely alive (barely a life!) but ghoul-fodder; ghouls feasting on suffering, snacking on anger, keeping you petty, small, jealous, out of control. Any and all of your energy is sucked away when you engage in negativity. Blame, guilt, shame, greed, gossip, confusion, self-doubt, cruelty, selfishness, complaining, whining, lewdness, obsessiveness, paranoia, a need to be right, vying for attention, worshipping superficiality, CONTROL, violence, being overly critical of yourself or others, implacable resentment... Whatever your go-to bull---- is, bless it and face them...
Face them then overcome them.
So, a "New" year begins in this time of extreme accelerated transformation. It's still an arbitrary construct based on man's version of linear time. If you imagine you'll start "afresh" with resolve based on shame or guilt, know you'll be right back where you were because you're addressing the symptoms, the manifestation of your punishment, rather than the source. The source is simply that which you've been denying: The Source itself. You've cut love and self-respect out of your inner experience and decided to condemn rather than support yourself. This can create quite the mess. So, you're a mess and don't want people to see it. So, you're a mess and can't stop telling everyone so you can add to your shame! So, you're a mess... SO WHAT?!! Greet that impermanent state with a little love for once. Bear your sorrow with some pride knowing you're worthy of the challenge at hand. TRUST this current process is bringing into being a solution with the know-how to move beyond it. A human being recognizing their divinity more than their fallibilities is being forged by this very time you so revile.
A person who knows more is RIGHT about him/her can see, even in the unseen world, faith that all is being made well; whole, complete, perfect. To anyone enmeshed in a world of wrongness and blame this seems a foolish impossibility. But, if all you believe in is wrongness, then everything you believe is also wrong. Cynicism looks smart to stupid people. That may sound cruel, but a staunch adherence to idiocy is just what it is: stupid. Stupid AND stubborn. Stupid is bad enough and it's time we outgrow this sophomoric defense, a defense of morons. You're not a moron -- quit acting like one.
Still, in willful madness and foolishness God can be found. Nihilistic indulgence is also evidence of Love. We can all outgrow our fallacies and impotencies and are meant to. I don't condemn self-abnegation but applaud the future when we return to the abiding Love within instead. Until then, we remain usurped stumbling sovereigns blind enough to inspire the Thai adage, " We cannot see the mountain for the strand of hair blocking it". Faith is like that mountain -- it's there, always there -- it's WE who cannot see it as we're distracted by the multitude of little lies blocking our view. Faith doesn't require results. What's faith on a good day? Faith is what we need when we're lost in shadows of uncertainty waiting for what seems interminably in a precarious trap of provisos imposed and self-imposed.
Even in this land of the damned is the Grace of God. And faith is one of those graces. Faith is never unrewarded. It's not setting the terms or making bargains. God cannot be cojoled nor bribed. Faith is what joins you the the Source of Love actively, so that you may know you're not alone, so that that which is Greater is a real and certain presence in your life you can count on, always, if you would but do so. Quit hoping, crossing your fingers, praying but believing more in hopelessness. You're fooling no-one, faith is not to be faked. Perhaps having faith, in spite of all contrarian, is its greatest reward. It points invariably to one outcome, one decisive action: Being the best person you can be every moment of every day, knowing you've the wherewithall to do it no matter your circumstances, in spite of what you think you've done, or whatever you think you deserve or don't deserve. Faith is the only intelligent choice.
This is living faith: Real faith.
Let's love it all -- starting with yourself.
Real faith is right NOW and the future will prove the wisdom of your choice. That day will come, is coming into being, by your faith right now. It's a declaration of war on that which seeks to destroy you. We annihilate nihilation with Love. Powerful, are you not? Still can't see it? Look to the light, past those strands of hair. It's there. It's always there.
Are you continuing to look at the world outside of you to determine how you feel on the inside? How's that working out? Are you running into, over and again, revulsion and disorientation? Have you considered that perhaps these experiences are not circumstantial? That you've been carrying them within for some while and now it's time to face them?
Running, hiding or deriding "ugly" never solves the sour acrimony you've held so close for so long. The mayhem all about is foul to be sure, but taking it in so readily --agreeing and decrying -- is affirming an existing imbalance within, affirming your faith in darkness over light. When we feel "wrong", nebulously & abstractly, or specifically with proof of condemnation, we show ourselves how much more we believe that what's "wrong" is what's "real". We have not yet moved beyond doubt and fear and the ensuing impatience reeling us between compulsion and desperation.
Big whoop.
So you've found another reason (or the same reasons on autorepeat) to belittle yourself. You've heard it millions of times before: it's loud and it hurts, but you're still here & whatever negativity you've agreed to let overtake you can never diminish the actuality of you. Would it be inconceivable that in this experience of degradation too contains proof of something Greater? That that which you reject could also affirm, affirm(!) your faith rather than providing more proof of nihilation? If everything is imbued with Spirit equally, Spirit must also exist in regions of so-deemed futility. Myopia causes more heartache than most afflictions but, we're playing the long game here: Love always prevails and the future will reveal this.
Let us never give up for the answer lies in our future selves bringing forth the light you so long for; YOU will be the LIGHT you're searching for... However, when we're mired in darkness we're stuck in the past. Let us shift into now by calling on the Source of all within you, that force, bold dignified strong and definite brings you into the present, a present contributing to the you of Light yet to come, I celebrate you! I sing the body electric!
Pride of ego however, remains a pitfall, one so wide that any, any attraction towards it will suck you into the proverbial black hole reducing you to nothingness. As you continue making your way out of issue-laden patterns, claiming your inner beauty and your real pride into effectiveness, know that what stops you will often be ego-related. It keeps you small, keeps you its slave, keeps you down, keeps you out. Above all, it estranges you from you real self, which is what sees you through ultimately every time. Your spiritual umbilical cord is never severed, but our attempts to take a knife to it by succumbing to the ego's demands is when/where true suffering flourishes.
We've established a baseline of suffering, genuine suffering: When we create an environment bereft of love, suffering is always the accompaniment. When we place loathing upon our self-created suffering what MUST follow is a living nightmare. WAKE UP! Whatever subconscious, karmic, experiential requirement for growth is playing itself out doesn't mean you cannot inhabit this space at least with some dignity. We never forfeit our right to bear our burdens with whatever dignity we can muster and, importantly, the compassion Buddhism so fiercely advocates. Our suffering is our own and shouldn't be compared to others'.
The root of suffering can be "desire" according to Buddhist pedagogy, but, moving closer still to the heart of it, is the lack of heart: We are ashamed of our weakness, squirming in our own "worminess"; some can't stop apologizing for existing, so appalled by their own "waste of space" that sublimation to any, to all, is preferred to any kind of honoring of one's being. Why? Why? "Why?" one asks? The answer to that question doesn't generally provide a solution. We may uncover why we feel so "wrong", conjecturing and theorizing, even landing at the truth. For some this knowledge is essential, but it provides very little "know-how". The work, the opportunity in the challenge, remains to be done.
The more self-immolation we subscribe to the less capable we are to address and move towards/for our own higher good. In times of dogged inertia there can be no greater ally than LOVE. Our faith, our trust, must carry us forward even if we ourselves cannot. What benediction this can provide! The feeling of being unable to make a change in your own life can be an experience you're overcoming and you don't know enough yet to just brutally divide life in half, placing experiences in "undesirable" vs "acceptable" categories. It's not good enough and based on limited understanding. It suggests we run, that we're powerless over how we respond, that in life we have no choice except maybe to panic or become neurotic. Choosing a life from a place of love is the most powerful agent of change in whatever shrouds us and believing otherwise is a terrible detrimental lie.
Tuning in and trusting in something Greater than yourself alone is beginning, middle, end; journey, destination, and destiny. When we take the time to stop and consult with that core of Love within, life is immediately altered as you're engaging the "parachute" setting within, that which you call upon when every other option has been denied or exhausted. Exhausted yet? Still want to keep pursuing the path of most resistance? So be it. When you're ready, or even forced, that incredible eternal but still latent asset remains at your disposal. This is the realm where miracles occur, and you could probably use some of those in your life more often!
It's being led by the Light within moment to moment, giving your choices over to that light knowing that Love can never steer you incorrectly, it's the relief of releasing the reigns knowing fully you weren't directing your life very well anyway. To let your ego take those reigns is to remain guessing in darkness where certainly always mistakes are made, accidents occur, and all kinds of myriad danger pull you down and drag you into subsistence living, barely alive (barely a life!) but ghoul-fodder; ghouls feasting on suffering, snacking on anger, keeping you petty, small, jealous, out of control. Any and all of your energy is sucked away when you engage in negativity. Blame, guilt, shame, greed, gossip, confusion, self-doubt, cruelty, selfishness, complaining, whining, lewdness, obsessiveness, paranoia, a need to be right, vying for attention, worshipping superficiality, CONTROL, violence, being overly critical of yourself or others, implacable resentment... Whatever your go-to bull---- is, bless it and face them...
Face them then overcome them.
So, a "New" year begins in this time of extreme accelerated transformation. It's still an arbitrary construct based on man's version of linear time. If you imagine you'll start "afresh" with resolve based on shame or guilt, know you'll be right back where you were because you're addressing the symptoms, the manifestation of your punishment, rather than the source. The source is simply that which you've been denying: The Source itself. You've cut love and self-respect out of your inner experience and decided to condemn rather than support yourself. This can create quite the mess. So, you're a mess and don't want people to see it. So, you're a mess and can't stop telling everyone so you can add to your shame! So, you're a mess... SO WHAT?!! Greet that impermanent state with a little love for once. Bear your sorrow with some pride knowing you're worthy of the challenge at hand. TRUST this current process is bringing into being a solution with the know-how to move beyond it. A human being recognizing their divinity more than their fallibilities is being forged by this very time you so revile.
A person who knows more is RIGHT about him/her can see, even in the unseen world, faith that all is being made well; whole, complete, perfect. To anyone enmeshed in a world of wrongness and blame this seems a foolish impossibility. But, if all you believe in is wrongness, then everything you believe is also wrong. Cynicism looks smart to stupid people. That may sound cruel, but a staunch adherence to idiocy is just what it is: stupid. Stupid AND stubborn. Stupid is bad enough and it's time we outgrow this sophomoric defense, a defense of morons. You're not a moron -- quit acting like one.
Still, in willful madness and foolishness God can be found. Nihilistic indulgence is also evidence of Love. We can all outgrow our fallacies and impotencies and are meant to. I don't condemn self-abnegation but applaud the future when we return to the abiding Love within instead. Until then, we remain usurped stumbling sovereigns blind enough to inspire the Thai adage, " We cannot see the mountain for the strand of hair blocking it". Faith is like that mountain -- it's there, always there -- it's WE who cannot see it as we're distracted by the multitude of little lies blocking our view. Faith doesn't require results. What's faith on a good day? Faith is what we need when we're lost in shadows of uncertainty waiting for what seems interminably in a precarious trap of provisos imposed and self-imposed.
Even in this land of the damned is the Grace of God. And faith is one of those graces. Faith is never unrewarded. It's not setting the terms or making bargains. God cannot be cojoled nor bribed. Faith is what joins you the the Source of Love actively, so that you may know you're not alone, so that that which is Greater is a real and certain presence in your life you can count on, always, if you would but do so. Quit hoping, crossing your fingers, praying but believing more in hopelessness. You're fooling no-one, faith is not to be faked. Perhaps having faith, in spite of all contrarian, is its greatest reward. It points invariably to one outcome, one decisive action: Being the best person you can be every moment of every day, knowing you've the wherewithall to do it no matter your circumstances, in spite of what you think you've done, or whatever you think you deserve or don't deserve. Faith is the only intelligent choice.
This is living faith: Real faith.
Let's love it all -- starting with yourself.
Real faith is right NOW and the future will prove the wisdom of your choice. That day will come, is coming into being, by your faith right now. It's a declaration of war on that which seeks to destroy you. We annihilate nihilation with Love. Powerful, are you not? Still can't see it? Look to the light, past those strands of hair. It's there. It's always there.
