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My email inbox attracts lots of messages that I don't want or need. Most of it is from people or websites that I may have visited once, or from online vendors I have patronized in the past. Periodically, in order to prevent these unsolicited messages from flooding my mailbox and overwhelming the few that I actually want to read, I go through and click on the tiny "unsubscribe" link at the bottom of the message. In that way I am able to reduce the distracting clutter and focus on the messages that are really important.

Life these days is a lot like my email inbox. I am constantly bombarded by messages from people I may know slightly, or from people I don't recall ever knowing, wanting my attention for their political cause, their candidate, their product or service, or their particular approach to spirituality and healing. These messages come over the television, on the phone, in newspapers and magazines, and of course over the Internet in emails or popup ads. 

In addition to external messages, I hear ego's many voices calling on me to be concerned about this or that perceived problem, or so-and-so's personal attitude. Ego whispers in my ear that I can't rest until I have solved the problem or dealt with the interpersonal situation in a way that gratifies ego's need for protection and self-aggrandizement. 

Just as I need to periodically cleanse my inbox, I realize now that I can perform a similar cleansing on my personal space. While I can't stop people from broadcasting their appeals, or ego from nagging, I can manage my own attention so as to minimize the effect of these distracting voices. By the following affirmations, I renounce giving any attention to things that would distract me or divert me from the Path of Love and Joy. I invite others to add their own suggestions:

• I renounce the need to judge the thoughts, speech, actions, or beliefs of others, however different they may be from my own. I affirm my own commitment to express Love and Joy in all that I say or do.
• I renounce the need to worry about my health or that of my loved ones. I affirm that the Universe will restore any temporary physical imbalance in its own time and its own way.
• I renounce the need to be concerned about the financial security of my family. I affirm that all our needs will be provided for and that we will have the opportunity to earn a generous living.
• I renounce any belief that the key to happiness lies outside my own heart and mind. I affirm that the source of Joy and Love is within me and is accessible at all times, and in all places.

And so it is.

Namaste.

Love Is Still the Answer

A friend asks, "Why haven't we as a society made more spiritual progress?" There are at least two ways of interpreting current events in light of that question, but to begin with the more obvious one, our progress can't be measured by the things we see in the news - lives and property damaged or destroyed, hateful messages and deeds - but by the extent to which our (individual and societal) response is sourced in love and compassion rather than violence and hatred. By that measure it may well be that we as a society haven't progressed since we baby boomers were young adults, or indeed have regressed, but we must look beyond the news to find out. Each of us is responsible to look into our own soul and ask whether we are contributing to the problem or to the solution through the energies we resonate to and broadcast. If we collectively have not raised the level of our energy, our vibration, beyond the negativity that ego generates, then we cannot expect love and compassion to manifest in our world. The necessary response from people of good will is not to despair, but to redouble the effort to broadcast love and forsake hatred. This is an imperative for individuals, but it must also become a goal of society that is implemented in the ways we relate to ourselves and others and, above all, the ways we teach our children. This is not a goal for a day, a year, or an individual lifetime, but for the future of life on this planet.

There is a sense in the spiritual community that a wave of compassionate connection is sweeping across our society. This is not because spiritual people don't read the papers, but because their awareness reaches the deeper level of the collective soul. If indeed the imperative to "choose love" is taking root and spreading, then it is predictable that the collective ego will react violently to prevent it. This leads to the second interpretation mentioned above, which is that an upturn in the level of violence actually is a positive sign because it shows that the forces of hatred are threatened by the increasing influence of compassionate teachings, and are reacting in ways calculated to generate anger and violence. 

I'm not a big fan of apocalyptic good versus evil theories, nor do I believe that there is a devil or some other intelligence behind the swing toward xenophobia and hatred in some areas of popular culture. The knowledge that each individual has an ego that will fight desperately to protect its grip on individual consciousness is sufficient to explain the mass effects of many egos pulling in the same direction. But I do choose to believe that an increase in violence is at the very least not inconsistent with the spreading influence of love and compassion (as, for example, racial or gender-based violence can be triggered by new expressions of societal commitment to racial or gender equality). 

For this reason, I encourage you not to despair, to stay the course, teach love and compassion, and make the effort to cultivate the lotus that grows from the garbage heap. If we allow ourselves to be guided by our own egoic impulses rather than the teachings of Spirit, we can't expect better from others or from society.

Posts about ego and the higher Self

Overcoming the influence of ego, and learning to live from the higher Self, is at the heart of spiritual living. Here is a collection of earlier posts about ego and the higher Self:

Ego is not the self.

Inner Peace

No Limitations

Spiritual Surrender

The Power of Patience

Love or Attachment

Ego and the News

Are "Ghosts" the Survival of the Ego?

The Source of Unhappiness

Attachments

Are There Demons?

The Mind's Filter

Ego and Spirit

Living Without Ego

The Mind's Self-Importance

How to Treat Enemies

Recognizing guidance

There are inflection points in life where individuals become aware of the many messages of support and guidance that the Universe sends them. Those messages are always there. What makes them stand out in one's experience is that they seem responsive to the internal questioning that is rising closer to the surface of consciousness. Uncertainty and meditation in combination attract guidance. This is an interactive phenomenon between the individual consciousness and Spirit. Since individual consciousness is only an imperfect manifestation of Spirit, one could see this as Spirit refining consciousness to be more in alignment with itself. Uncertainty is only a surface condition; the Spirit within always knows the correct course to follow. What is necessary is to bring this knowledge to the light of everyday awareness so that it can guide action. When the clouds of uncertainty begin to dispel, like the calming of ripples on the surface of a clear pool, the Spirit within recognizes its manifestation on the other side of the looking glass and draws to itself the guidance it has formulated for itself in the words of other individuals. Spirit knows just which guidance to pick out of the stream of information flowing around and above it. So it is when you read something that speaks directly to your present condition: it seems as though the Universe has sent this guidance to you, when in fact it is Spirit within that has recognized the concrete truth that crystallizes its own inchoate longing. This is the formula: meditate, wait patiently, examine all the guidance that is offered, recognize that which is right for this moment, and then act.

Spiritual growth

Our individual spiritual development is a continuous process. Religion, atheism, philosophy - these are not disconnected points between which we randomly jump. We are embedded in a continuum and each phase in our awareness prepares us for the next. Every belief system contains some learning, some truth that contributes to the emergence of the next. An atheist may believe she has completely rejected religion, but really she has rejected only the outer forms of religion. The internal seeking that led her to adopt religion is the same pattern that led her to reject it. 

Everyone has access to wisdom deep within.  Each of us is looking for a system that expresses that wisdom in a way that speaks to us. When we adopt a new set of beliefs, we are visualizing ourselves against a new background, but our fundamental nature doesn't change. Our perception evolves, but that which we seek to perceive is eternal and immutable. Truth is holographic, and the more perspectives we gain, the closer we come to understanding it holistically. Every experience of Spirit brings us closer to that perception, until eventually - for those who are aware - we see ourselves Incorporated in Truth and Truth embodied in us. 

Mothers Day

Today is a good day to celebrate the Divine Feminine principle, the current of Love that runs through our Universe and infuses it with purpose. Through this principle Spirit manifests as the loving energy that connects all beings in harmony. She is worshipped in many religions, as Devi, and Shakti, the Goddess, Kuan Yin, Mary, and under many other names. She embodies the highest aspirations of the human Spirit. As Mother, she is the giver of Life and the nurturer expressed in each of us at our best. As Sister, she is the source of power and of the energy that sustains and drives us. Without her our souls are drab and barren. As she manifests within beings of any gender, she completes us.

To meditate upon the Divine Feminine, chant a mantra or simply visualize  being suspended in the warmth and security of the loving womb of the Universe. 

Many mantras can be found on YouTube, including

Om Shakti and Namo Guan Shi Yin Pusa

Simplicity In Healing

I have always felt intuitively that one measure of the authenticity of a spiritual experience is its simplicity. Spontaneous Beauty wrote several years ago that "Spirituality is not complex. What could be simpler than Oneness? It is the elaborate visions constructed by Mind to distract Spirit that are complex."

Religions are good examples of this. Nearly every religion began when a simple person of faith experienced Oneness with God (or Spirit). That person sought to share the great gift with others, who became disciples. Eventually the message attracted so many followers that institutions arose, and those institutions promulgated dogmas that then had to be defended against heresy. As the institutions drifted away from their simple origins, egos stepped in to demand the elaboration of doctrines and rituals that were designed to concentrate and maintain power in those holding positions of control. Sadly, a religion is defined at least as much by the beliefs and practices that it rejects, as by those it accepts.

I am attracted to Reiki by its simplicity. Administering Reiki to a subject requires only that the practitioner accept their connection to the Source of all energies, and direct the flow of healing energy to the subject. No rituals, incense, crystals, or special music are required, although most practitioners do use one or more of those to facilitate the exercise of healing intention. There is no need to identify different grades or flavors of healing energy; Reiki is simply Reiki. Reiki does not come in colors or intensities. Nor does the practitioner need to direct the energy to the part of the subject's body that requires healing. Reiki will seek out and remedy any imperfections that have erroneously manifested in the body. There are no Reiki incantations or prayers, other than the simple invocation of Spirit to share its healing power. A Reiki practitioner does not even need to touch the body of the subject to infuse the healing energies. The sole element of Reiki that can be regarded as ritualized is the use of Reiki symbols, but I have never regarded the symbols as necessary or as anything more than helpful guides to express the healer's intention.

There are other schools of energy healing that do classify energies according to color, intensity, frequency, or the like. Many make extensive use of crystals, sage, incense, incantations, and other trappings. I believe that whatever assists the healer in focusing and directing healing energy is an appropriate part of the energy treatment. What practitioners need to be wary of, however, is assigning special powers to the trappings themselves. These can never be regarded as more than aids to the only essential elements of healing, which are the healer's sense of oneness with the Divine, and their intention to share that divinity with the subject. No crystal, no incantation, no incense, no color has power in and of itself. The only power in the Universe is Spirit, and Spirit does not allow its power to be limited in such a fashion as to be available only through this or that material device.

Consider the authentic healers of the past. Did Jesus pronounce incantations over those he healed? 

I don't discourage the use of symbols, chants, crystals, or other aids if they help healers to visualize their Divine connection or to pass that connection along to their subjects. However, to the extent the symbols, chants, and crystals themselves are ascribed special powers, the healer is putting separation between him or herself and Spirit. That separation cannot make the healing process more effective; by definition, it can only interfere with the healing action of Spirit. This is why I choose to use such material aids only sparingly, and only in full awareness, and furtherance, of the central role of a direct connection - a Oneness - among Spirit, the subject, and myself.