My Books Available Now on Amazon ebooks

Amazon Kindle books now have some of my books. Please keep checking for more titles as they become available. Thanks!

Monday, April 27, 2020

The Realm of Attachment

I've been thinking this morning about Meister Eckhart's detachment, Buddha's non-attachment, Jesus' idea of not being caught up in things that rust, and my old acquaintance's (Ken Keyes) idea of addiction as related to being attached to anything so much that it controls one's peace of mind.

I think they are basically talking about the same thing. The things that populate our lives are transient, only God is not transient. Before we began this spiritual journey with our full being, this or that bauble set us into upset. What! I can't have this particular thing (doll, car, job, trip, etc.)  And we would experience various forms of upset, maybe even obsession.

This came home to me with the sudden death of my husband Christmas 1976 to New Year's 1977. The aneurysm in his brain, sudden and massive, and he was gone. He took not one item of this earth with him. What he took was his consciousness, his development as a person, his soul. All those things, and even people, that were of extreme importance to him one moment, no longer mattered. He left this life and all the baubles he had worked so hard to gather.

Since that time, I have expanded my understanding and application regarding non-attachment. I have experienced, read, discussed, meditated, prayed and found amazing things.

One thing I have learned is that non-attachment does not mean cold or withdrawn from life. In fact, it means being filled with a lively passion to live as fully and lovingly as possible, but to do so without attachment to it all. It means to follow the Holy One that is within all of us, and to trust the outcome, even though it may not be what we expected.

The way to get there begins with understanding one of the main purposes of this life is to look beyond appearances and love no matter what. See the Christ within the angry person before you, not requiring them to be different. See the current situation in life as temporary, and also as a momentary teacher. What can we discover in this moment if we truly look?

Imagine yourself looking from a distance at your life, maybe even after this life, reviewing this life. What do you see? What was truly important? How could you have loved more fully? (Please actually do this, maybe write in your journal)

Armed with this understanding, refocus your life now, this very day. As it has been said, this is the first day of the rest of your life. Live it well.

Monday, April 20, 2020

Where Do We Look?

Hoses 11:9 says, The Holy One is within you. Jesus of Nazareth said, You have looked here and there, but the Kingdom of God is within you.

It seems to me that these are two great clues. The yearning of our hearts is to go into a life expressing and in relationship with The Holy One.

How would we walk and talk and choose from an awareness that our lives are sacred, that we are carrying The Holy One within us?

Perhaps we would shift away from ego concerns. Perhaps we would reign in our angers and passions. Perhaps we would find a deep compassion. Maybe we would see the sacredness of all life and treat all with gentleness and care.

I invite you to ponder with me. What would your life be like if you lived with the knowledge that The Holy One actually dwelt in you, in everything, in everyone?

Saturday, April 18, 2020

Turning Lemons Into Lemonade

This Covid19 is a lemon sort of time. Our once taken for granted freedom has been reduced to a tiny trickle. Some are physically ill, some are in financial difficulty, some are having psychological issues, some/many are having spiritual issues.

We are face to face with many dilemmas. One such dilemma is centered around our needs. We are seeing how some needs are not needs at all, falsely created by culture and advertising. In a quarantined world, we can begin to understand that the latest whatcamegadget is not really needed. We need shelter, food, health, relationships, mental and physical stimulation, and we need a first hand relationship with God, The More, The Presence.

It seems to me this is a great time to learn and practise meditation. It is a fine time to read some spiritual books. It is a perfect time to start a spiritual journal. You might even share this blog with friends and begin a spiritual discussion group via one of the new technologies from Skype to Zoom or even phone or email.

You have questions to explore. What is it that you believe? What is the purpose of your life?  What about God? What is your dream for your life? What have you accepted as true that might not actually be true? And many more??????

Let's turn this lemon time into a time of spiritual awakening. This lemon time has immense potential. Let's use it to free ourselves from the worn out patterns and half truths of our pasts and walk together into a brighter future.

Oh Divine Presence, light my way into a closer walk with You. Lead me onto Your path, to deep and meaningful understanding, to freedom. Awaken in me all that calls out to be awakened. I dedicate this time in my life to all that is spiritual.  

Wednesday, April 15, 2020

A Sadist God

Let me say right in the beginning that I strongly think a sadist God taught in some circles is absurd. Many people, historically and presently, paste upon God the very worst kinds of emotional illness, barbarity, etc.  They project wrath, jealousy, cruelity, violence and more - while out of the other side of their mouths they speak of God's love and mercy. They make the Divine an example of multiple personality disorder, and they profess schizoid ways to look at God.

God cannot be both pure love and a sadist who tortures people for eternity. Think about that. No matter what people have taught that, it is ridiculous. Notice the gradual evolvement of the idea of eternal torture in history. It was not taught in Judaism. It was not taught by Jesus. It was added by thinkers who thought too much without common sense.

Think of a human who burns people who don't agree with them, or tortures them for days or weeks or years in their basements, or is pathologically jealous, who is prone to outbursts of extreme anger - and then turns to say they love you. Wouldn't we want them locked up? I suggest we lock up the sick idea of a God who tortures. I suggest we cease believing such absurd ideas about God.

I suggest we look instead to build a relationship with the actual Divine Presence. Fear not.

Friday, April 10, 2020

Practical Resurrection

Once again it is Easter time, historically a sacred time. In long ago ages it was celebrating springtime renewal, welcoming the new growth and possibilities. For centuries it has been remembering God's saving grace, leading ancestors out of slavery. For the last 2,000 years it has also been about Jesus becoming the Christ and showing the way to live and then to life beyond the grave.

In one way or the other, this season has always been about hope, renewal and possibilities. It seems to me that there is a current deep need for this time to be taken to heart.

The early years of the 21st century has its dangers which we are challenged to overcome. Right now we have a long list that cries out for renewal, saving from and rising above. Some are: the pandemic, poverty and hunger and homelessness, political strife, drug addiction, polarized everything, and the usual greed, selfishness, unkindness, etc.

In some ways, the pandemic is awakening compassionate action and old fashioned kindness. You might call it the silver lining, behind every cloud there's a silver lining. But in these challenging times, is it enough to tip the scales and awaken us permanently, or at least send us on a more positive direction?

Humanity has repeatedly had junctures where there were immense possibilities for either good or evil. Our responses in such times have been mixed.

Let us look within to our own highest self, and let it be our commitment to live with the highest light possible leading our way. Let us be all that we can be. Let go of what was or was not and look to what can be. Let that Spark in our souls live freely and fully. Let this be our resurrection time, igniting the Kingdom Within, empowering the best in us to soar.

This is the moment.

Friday, April 3, 2020

Science and/or Religion

The debate has raged in some circles for several centuries - How can both be true? Is one wrong?

Let's consider the possibility that both are true in their own lane. Science is materialistic, and so it is about what can be proven about our material world. Religion and spirituality are about the mysterious, the nonordinary, and the why.

Science can prove human life is initiated by a random sperm and an egg merging. It cannot tell us why this life or most any why about this life. Science can tells us the gorgeous sunset is light at certain angles shining through the atmosphere and pollution creating colors. It cannot tell us why we are breathlessly experiencing such beauty, moved by it, in awe. Science can tell us how a piano works, but it cannot explain Mozart and also how his music stirs something deep within us.

This other level of life, this spiritual experience, has been experienced by people in all times and places. Since the experience of awe, of something More, cannot be conveyed by words, people have employed myth and poem and story and music and art as attempts to communicate IT.

People in recent centuries that are almost entirely into materialism, dismiss spirituality as superstition and go no farther. I would guess materialists have not stood in a redwood forest and contemplated the life of one of the ancient trees, or set quietly overlooking Sunset Beach at sunset and been overtaken with awe. I would guess they have not explored the myths and stories of various cultures and discovered how the themes fit together and how meaning is embedded in them.

Yet I know many of such peop!e and know the empty spot in them. I am quite certain that there is a spiritual yearning in each of us, that there is a Divine Presence calling to us.

Organized religion has turned many people away from spiritually seeking the mystery and meaning of life. It rarely accurately represents the original thinkers and experiencers or the whys of it all. It does not give tools and guidance that lead to The Experience that cannot be told. They did this mostly from incongruity. What they do is not consistent with what the teaching represents. What, for example, would Jesus have to say about inquisitions, crusades, concentration camps, gulags, hurting others, lumping people into groups and then treating other groups badly,etc.

I urge you to meditate, to go quietly into nature, to open yourself to The Experience that changes your life forever. You cannot unknow what you experience once Oneness has lifted you.