Constant Mindfulness

The constant practice of mindfulness is necessary in order to maintain focus on the spiritual life. For most people mindfulness does not come naturally. 

To be mindful does not necessarily mean to be focused, nor does it mean to be distracted.  Life is replete with potential distractions, and the mindful life even more so. I would define a distraction as something that draws your consciousness away from whatever it is centered on at a given moment. Since mindfulness involves being aware of what is happening around you as well as within your own mind, it is easy to see how the mindful person must be especially on guard against distracting influences. There is a practice of noting the distracting event without focusing on it – merely allowing it to pass through one’s awareness without being evaluated or judged – that can help us maintain centered equanimity, either to focus on a subject of our own choosing, or to remain in the passive, unfocused state that invites the guidance of Spirit to enter in.

A Healing Blessing

This is from my Web page, The God In You, The God In Me

A Healing Blessing

You are a perfect child of God, and all your needs are provided before you ask.

God's love enfolds you now, warming your soul and permeating your body, softening and driving out any appearance of negative thoughts, energies, and emotions.

God's light glows from your center, and its rays emanating from you shine forth in purity and power. No shadow of illness or infirmity can exist in the presence of this brilliant illumination.

God's peace is in you always, soothing and calming whenever you turn to it for comfort.

We are God's perfection manifest in physical form. We are one in God and God is one in us. This is the one Universal Truth in this moment and at all times, in this place and everywhere.

By the power of God in you, you are whole.

And so it is.

Compassion or Manipulation?

A disciple came to the Teacher and said: “This person is taking advantage of you! How can you allow that?”

The Teacher replied: “In your Universe people take advantage of each other. In mine, people take care of each other. When a person in need comes to me for help, I give it to them. I do not judge whether the need is ‘genuine.’  It is a privilege for me to fulfill another’s need, even if what they truly need is just to know that I care about them. No one can take advantage of me, because I freely and willingly give what is asked.”

Teachings of Love and Comfort

One reason for Spontaneous Beauty is to bring teachings of love and comfort to people who are struggling with some aspect of life.  Most of us struggle daily with one thing or another, especially in these trying times.  

I would like to share a selection of teachings with those who may find them helpful.  Please be aware that these are for the most part meant to be food for meditation and contemplation, not platitudinous thought-bites.  If you take them seriously, you risk changing your life in the way they have changed mine.  I believe the change brings greater peace. As you will see, the central principle is Love.

Here are some relevant posts.

Everything is all right

Learn love from hard times

Replace self-pity with self-love

Replace fear with love

Affirm Love and Joy

Healing through oneness

A visit from Elvis

Inner Peace

Thoughts on the passing of a friend

Selfless giving

Finding meaning

Peace through surrender to Spirit

Immortality

Impermanence

Affirmation for Difficult Times

Please join me in this affirmation:

I am well at the core of my being.

I am connected to the Source of universal love.

There are many people I love, and who love me.

We support each other.

We are one in our essence.

All that I need is provided to me.

Nothing can harm my essence.

Whatever happens, I can handle it.

I react to all events with equanimity.

Because I can handle anything, 

And I know I am safe, 

Equanimity comes easily to me.

I am surrounded by love that is all powerful.

I am at peace.

Is the Devil loose among us?

I have to remind myself frequently that all souls deserve love. Jesus and Buddha both taught this. A certain segment of American politics today seems to be completely ruled by egotism, greed, and hate, to the point that it seems to evidence some sort of demonic possession. To blame any kind of devil is to externalize evil and deny that the cause of hateful and destructive behavior lies within all of us. The cure is also within, and it is the pure essence of Love that is the life-giving manifestation of the universal Spirit. What has been cast as a struggle between good and evil is really between Spirit and ego, between Love and not-Love. A leader who expresses pure ego is dangerous because his example encourages the expression of unloving egoic traits in others. You could say he makes hatred acceptable. The temptation to resist hate with hate is strong, but that in itself is an ego response. Putting the blame for our negative impulses on any outside influence only keeps us from acknowledging our own responsibility to turn our backs on those impulses. The best we can do is to resist ego by accepting Love as the source of our attitudes and our behavior. Surrender is an essential spiritual practice, but we must be mindful at all times to surrender to Love and not to ego.

This blog contains a great deal of guidance on this subject.  For convenience, some posts are listed (and linked) below.

Love Is Still the Answer -- "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."

Spirit and Politics -- "Even if government becomes cold and selfish, we must remain loving and compassionate, even redoubling our efforts."

Ending Xenophobia -- "It has become increasingly clear over the last several decades that humanity will not survive much longer as a species unless all of our disparate members are able to live peaceably together."

Compassion for the Uncompassionate --  "You are mistaken if you think compassion is a gift that you bestow upon others. Compassion is your obeisance to God, the recognition of the universal spirit that unites you with the other. If you lack compassion for any child of God you are choosing to separate yourself from God to that extent."

Are There Demons? -- "Belief in the Devil is seductive, because it allows us to blame our negative feelings and our misfortunes on an outside influence."

Karma the Teacher

We sometimes speak of karma as an instrument of Divine retribution - as a sword with which God is standing ready to strike down those who transgress Its laws. For many of us this is because we grew up in the framework of traditional Christianity with its vengeful and tyrannical Jehovah. We may have distanced ourselves from the surface trappings of our childhood religion, but the fundamental attitudes are deeply ingrained and harder to escape.

If karma were intended for punishment, it would be an incredibly inaccurate tool. "Good" things happen to "bad" people, and vice versa. This observation led me to conclude in an earlier post that things happen in the physical Universe at random. It's also possible that our opinions of "good" and "bad" are off the mark. But it's clear that there's no strong correlation between behavior and worldly rewards, whether behavior is measured against the traditional standards of our youth, or the "New Age" principles we have learned from teachings handed down thousands of years earlier.

What if karma is not a scourge for the disobedient, but the firm hand of Spirit guiding each of us to the experiences we need to have in order to learn the lessons plotted out for us in this turn of our existence? Material success and worldly comfort are not always the best teachers. We did not come here for them. We came to learn that Love is all there is, and to apply that learning in every life situation. We came to learn that all other principles we might choose to guide our choices are either subsumed in Love, or false and hollow. We need to reinforce that knowledge by learning to live every moment and make every decision in a manner dictated by Love. It is relatively easy to live by Love in soft times; much more difficult when times are hard. Each of us must learn at our own pace. But we all must run the gamut of life experiences to complete our education. Most of us will require many lifetimes to do so. Karma the Teacher must test us under a wide variety of circumstances, perhaps with many repetitions, to learn the value of Love and how to identify and produce a loving outcome in each situation.

Since we do not have active memories of our former existence, either in this material Universe or in the space between lifetimes where karmic planning takes place, we cannot judge our lot in life against the measure of lessons we need to learn. Much less are we able to understand the reasons for the circumstances in which others find themselves. It could be that what we perceive as randomness is in fact the mechanical operation of an unguided and impersonal Universe. But is it not more likely that Spirit employs the karmic record to help us find the lessons we set out to learn in this life? I would like to believe so.