Happy Independence Day!
Many cultures celebrate some form of independence day! In The US we celebrate the 4th of July! With that in mind, Welcome to AWAKE O SLEEPER.
You may be entering this blog long after it began, but this day is your independence day. Begin here, no rush to get to the more recent posts.
This is a weekly blog that is released each Monday. We will be celebrating our freedom; so, grab a cup of coffee and join us on a one year journey of change. You’ll be glad you did!
If you would like to subscribe, you can do that on the front page by scrolling down and filling in your contact info. Updates will be announced in your email. If a quote, song, video or link come to mind later, rather than searching through the posts you can find them under resources.
I hope you will also check out my novel, “Awake O Sleeper - Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Others,” pictured to your right. It is available through these links:
Post #1
YOU are extra-ordinary
My friend Loretta used to love puzzles. She would bring one to the beach in the summer and pour out the pieces onto a table and work on it all week. I would pass by, pick up a random piece, and try to fit it in. But Loretta chose puzzles with many, many pieces. Puzzles with leafy trees and water. Invariably I would choose a piece and then there would be a vast number of places it would appear to fit, but when I placed the piece down on the table it would not. Every single piece was unique even if it appeared in my hand to be the right color, size, and nuanced shape to fit. By the end of the week, by patience and perseverance, Loretta had completed the puzzle – every piece in place.
If even one piece had gone missing it would have been incomplete – diminished.
Isn’t it fascinating that every butterfly, like the ones to the top left, emerge in Spring totally unique? They may have similarities, but just like every snowflake that falls in winter, 0r every newborn child’s perfect fingerprint, they are unique. Actually, that is quite an ordinary reality. In truth, every flower, every leaf, every blade of grass, every bumble bee, every gnat, every grain of sand, every human has this trait in common – they are unique. So, it is very ordinary to be extraordinary! YOU ARE EXTRA-ORDINARY!
Like the puzzle, in life the whole would be diminished by your absence. Somehow less without your participation, because no other one can take your unique place. There has never been another you. No matter how ordinary you believe you are – you are wrong. You are extra-ordinary and you always have been.
Why do we find that so difficult to accept? Be perfectly honest, when you shut your eyes and consider what I just said isn’t there a small voice deep within you that says…yes, yes I am unique! I am one of a kind! Perhaps you hear that quiet voice, but another voice questions, “sure, but is that a good thing?”
The answer is emphatically yes! It is an extraordinarily great and amazing thing that you are uniquely one of a kind. It does not make you an outsider, alone, or odd – it means you are essential to the fit of all things.
If you struggle to believe you are uniquely extraordinary, or that that is a good thing, I hope you will continue this discussion through these posts. Send me an email if you’d like. This journey will be a journey of discovery of truth about yourself, the world you live in, and reality itself. It may be an uncomfortable journey at times or, like completing the puzzle, even maddening, but I promise it will be a life changing one. Like the journey of the butterfly.
Check out the poem “Our Deepest Fear”. Read it a couple of times and let it sink in. What do you think? Isn’t it true?
OUR DEEPEST FEAR
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.
We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?'
Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking
so that other people won't feel insecure around you.
We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.
And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear,
our presence automatically liberates others.”
BY MARIANNE WILLIAMSON
Post #2
Greater than the parts
The last time we talked, I challenged you with the idea that you were unique. Not just unique, but extraordinary. Yes, from the moment your parents’ DNA merged to conceive YOU, you have been one of a kind. The sum, that is you, was greater than the parts your parents contributed.
Even each of the triplets in the picture of the girls is completely, uniquely different. I’ve known several sets of identical twins over the years; none were identical. That was a misperception. Each was very unique though they came from the same parents, the same egg, were raised in the same environment, and, at the beginning looked the same. Nevertheless, as time moved forward, their unique personalities, looks, talents, indeed everything about them emerged to show they were distinct.
The saying, “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts,” was first coined by Aristotle more than 4000 years ago! Aristotle was actually recognizing that the outcome of the “parts” when brought together was not just greater, but something “besides” the parts. Not just half one and half the other. Science confirms this to be true even at the biological level. We are akin to our parents, but something besides them.
The bible, as well as many other ancient religious texts, says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I chose you.” If that is true, then you have existed long before you were born. You are not the simple biological combination of genetics provided by each of your parents. For that matter, you are not simply biological. You are known. Who is this that knows you? Has always known you?
The message here is that you belong. One of the biggest fears we all have about our uniqueness is that it separates us. Separates us from our peers. Separates us from family like the black sheep. Separates us from the one we love most when we don’t see things the same way. That being separate even extends to our creator.
How can we be made in the image of God, if we believe our very nature separates us from relationship with that God? One of the first steps to embracing your extraordinary life is to dispel some misperceptions like this one.
Have you ever seen the black and white image? It was created by a psychologist Edgar Rubin. I’ll bet many of you have. If you haven’t, what do you see when you look at it? I’ll wait while you take a good look… Many see a vase or chalice. Others see two faces facing each other. Now try to see whichever image you did not see at first – they are BOTH there. Isn’t that interesting? It is all a matter of perception. Just because you saw the vase, doesn’t mean the two faces are not there.
It is a misperception that we can be separated from God. God is not a body like a human with arms and legs. God is other — besides. This is not a religious description. The Creator has no biological form. God is not bound by matter, space, or time. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation; nor will they say, ‘See it is here!’ or ‘See it is there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you.” Unformtunately this verse has been translated in many English translations in a way that gives a misperception. The original Greek language for this verse was written like this, “οὐδὲ ἐροῦσιν ἰδοὺ ὧδε ἤ ἐκεῖ ἰδοὺ γὰρ ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ θεοῦ ἐντὸς ὑμῶν ἐστιν.” Using our alphabet that would read,“Malkuthe d’aloho lenha’o malkhun E’e.” This is translated in the first English translations of the Geneva Bible and King James Bible as, “The kingdom of God inside you IS.”
You may say, but I am body, therefore I am separated from God. Again this is a misperception of who you are. Like the picture, you are both body and spirit, or soul, or consciousness. As spirit you are made in the image of God and therefore inseparable from God. The kingdom of God is within you. I like to think of the body as the vase in the picture, a vessel to house the spirit, or soul, or consciousness. But we are also the facing figures. We face God in constant communion. We may choose to argue, debate, converse or shut our eyes and ignore God, but face to face we commune.
One of the greatest likenesses you reflect of God is your freedom to choose, your free will. If you choose to commune with the spirit within you with open eyes, an open mind and an open heart it will not be easy. It will require change. Not the kind of change you here about during many sermons, not a fundamental change of yourself, but a change of perspective. Perhaps the change of many perspectives allowing your true self to blossom and grow and evolve – to transmutate like the butterfly. Are you ready?
I hope you will check back weekly to join the discussion. Check out the poetry, music, books, articles and art that will also be shared with links to them. You will gain so much more from these than I can offer you. Let’s do this – together.
Post #3
Nothing can separate you from the Love of God
Interesting understanding of both Life Source being the breath of God and that the Kingdom of God is within you.
I love wine! Martin Luther said, “beer was made by man, but wine by God!” I even have three grape vines in my garden, but sadly they are not wine grapes. One day when I was pruning the vines, I realized that if I took cuttings from the root, the vine, a branch and the grapes and then ran DNA tests on them they would all carry the same DNA strand. They would all come back - grape vine. You’re probably thinking, “Wow, Julie, that’s profound.” Stick with me. Each aspect or part of the vine looked different. They didn’t just look different they had different functions. Each part was unique, yet each part was essential to the whole. When Jesus was teaching his followers he gave them an analogy using the grape vine that got at this same idea. He said, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
Frankly, this used to confuse me. I thought I could do quite a lot. I know, I know - pretty arrogant. I also felt challenged by “remaining”. How was I to remain in God. But when I was thinking about my grape vines, I remembered Jesus also said, “The kingdom of God is not coming in ways that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘look, here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ for behold, the kingdom of God is within you.” I was not separate; I was part of the vine. I was part of the whole which at its root was God. Let’s look at that a bit closer before you close the door on the topic. I may not be going where you think I’m going.
Words are challenging things, because they can mean different things to different people. I asked my husband once what one word he would use to describe God’s interaction in his life – he said coach. I laughed! Of course, my husband is an athlete and coach himself, so that was interesting. A coach instructs you how to play a game, teaches you the rules, gives you pointers for improvement, sometimes rides your ass. Many a professional athlete credit a coach as being the most influential person in their life. For me, from my experiences in life, that was not an all together positive description. He returned the question and I said, father. For my husband, that was not an all-together positive description. Answer the question for yourself? Is that positive? Are you open to new ways of seeing God?
In the previous post, we talked about feeling separated from God. Did your answer above give you some idea why you might feel separated? Is it possible you just feel separated. Alan Watts once made the bold claim that if we were actually separated from God we would cease to exist. Another way of saying this is, “If the human body is created by God, then God is the inhabitant of it right now. Because it is the vital energy of that God that sustains the human body.” Gives it life. Did you know the body can live about a week without a brain? That’s without medical technology intervening. Without a heart, the body only lives about an hour without medical intervention. Yet, it lives. What is keeping the body alive? What is life? The ancients said it was the breath of God that made us living (not brainwaves or heart beats). Genesis tells of God breathing life into Adam. The video to the left blew my mind as it explains this ancient understanding.
However, if you feel separated from God, this feeling or perspective may create the experience or perception of being separated. Consider a new perspective. Jesus described our connection with God with a beautiful image of a vine in which we are the branches abiding or springing from the vine and bearing fruit – much fruit. To truly separate a branch from the vine, would mean death. Not the apparent death of a sleeping vine in winter, but actual death caused by the separation of the branch from the vital energy of the vine. You are alive, therefore you are not separated.
You cannot be truly separated from God’s life giving being. You can be dormant and unaware in the long winter of your life. You can sprout out away from the vine in crazy desperation, as grape vines so radically do, in an attempt to distance yourself from the vine. But you cannot separate yourself from God. You have the DNA of God. You have the breath of God. It is in you – within you. The quote to the left is from the Bible. It confirms that we cannot be separated from God by anything. We will talk more about this very important verse later.
Take a moment for an activity. Brainstorm all the words you can think of to describe God – even if you aren’t sure of God’s existence. Push yourself to list at least 20. Use google or a thesaurus if you have to.
Did 20 expand your perspective? Did you google? If you did, you can google any of the 30 some entries that came up and get additional lists, and additional lists, and additional lists. Let these lists challenge the limited view you have of God. If your view is primarily negative, spend some time contemplating those words you see as positive. Perhaps use a highlighter and highlight the ones that you see as more positive. Remember, I did not initially respond to my husband’s answer of “coach” as all positive. He did, but I didn’t. In turn, he didn’t see the quality of father as all positive. If your list’s perspective is negative in your view, use an online thesaurus to add words with a positive connotation to you. Then focus your attention on those for a few days.
The first book of the bible, Genesis, says we are made in God’s image. The words you use to describe God may actually describe you. My husband’s described him as mine did me. If they don’t, that is probably part of the reason you feel separation. Hopefully, the discipline of renewing your perspective with the activity above will begin to help you have a new experience. A connection.
Post #4
Created to Rule
I made a comment last time that we have God’s DNA, like the vine and the fruit share a common DNA. What is that DNA doing?
The bible describes our creation this way, “Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule… So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.’” If one wants to dig into this thoroughly, there is a lot here, but for now let’s focus on the man and woman being made in the image of God, “so that they could rule.”
What is that DNA shared with God doing? Ruling. My brother was pretty small when my mom asked him to apologize to my sister for hitting her. We laugh about this story, but it was pretty telling. He said, “you can make me say I’m sorry; but you can’t make me sorry!” You are self-ruling in the image of a sovereign God. You may be doing a poor job of it, but you are ruling. If it doesn’t seem that way, step back and adjust your perspective. No one else can truly make you do or be something without your permission, passive or intentional.
I realized this personally as a new parent when our first child, and every child after that, began to crawl. I could “make” our son stop touching something unsafe by picking him up. But ultimately his will would override any interference and take him over and over again to whatever had peaked his curiosity. As he grew, I could not “make” him do anything. I could make it uncomfortable by interfering as I did when I picked him up. I could really make him uncomfortable by punishing him as he got older. But I could not “make” him do anything.
Many a parent doesn’t give up this power struggle easily. Discipline can become harsh – sometimes terribly, as a parent tries to rule through control. It may even be abusive if a parent or any authority figure tries to control through force. History chronicles the sometimes horrific and painful attempts of man to coheres his fellow man into action. We each may be influenced, persuaded or even coerced into action, but we each ultimately rule ourselves. This life is your own – own it!
Much of history’s greatest literature centers on this theme. In the dystopian book, Brave New World, author Aldous Huxley, prophetically presents a world where people’s lives are pragmatically orchestrated and pharmaceuticals keep everyone copasetic. Like other futuristic books such as 1984, Big Brother manipulates citizen’s lives through television and even the words and language of Newspeak. Atlas Shrugged, Fahrenheit 451, V for Vendetta and even more contemporary young adult novels such as Divergent or Hunger Games, all seek to inspire the individual reader to embrace their uniqueness as an aspect of their power and see themselves as individually sovereign over their life choices. With that power, readers are pushed to take personal responsibility for what they are doing or not doing as an aspect of that empowerment. The times we are living in now call out for individuals to recognize their unique power and embrace it, stepping out to be extraordinary. Embracing their self-rulership. Being responsible for who and what they are.
In his book, Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, Dr. Joe Dispenza challenges his readers to own their choices. Take responsibility for them, and their consequences, “If you want a new outcome, you will have to break the habit of being yourself, and reinvent a new self.” Over the last few years, this has really been challenged. On both sides of societies issues there are passionate people willing to put their lives on the line for what they believe. However, the vast majority have been quietly disengaged and simply following the group think that surrounds them. This group think can center around any ideology, but if one is just succumbing to it they are not taking personal responsibility.
In our spiritual lives this is sleep walking. If we are habitually mirroring the group surrounding us (culture, ideology, political views, even religious beliefs) we are not experiencing the joy, power, engagement, indeed adventure of who we are. We are not AWAKE.
I am not suggesting you jettison all of your relationships in order to assure you are not joining their group think. Nor am I suggesting you correct everyone else around you if you disagree with them. Not at all. The kingdom of God is within – remember?
Start smaller – much smaller. What one step could you take today to unhinge the habit of you. To choose a new path. Make your bed? Don’t make your bed. Go for a long walk each morning, or before you go to bed instead of watching TV. Continue the exercise from last chat to focus on the positive traits of God.
Earlier in this chat, some of you had a visceral reaction to a paradox that you noticed. You believe that if God is ruling, then we must be subservient. Therefore, when I transitioned to saying that, like God, you must take personal responsibility for your sovereignty, for your life choices, that didn’t add up for you. This is the quandary that the overly harsh parent or tyrannical leader faces also. As I warned before, a perspective change is needed to unravel the problem. A benevolent or servant ruler allows for the sovereignty of those being ruled. We will discuss this more as we go, but it would be helpful to first release the idea that God’s rulership is as a tyrant. God is the one who gave you free will – in the image of God.
There are many very good illustrations in history and everyday life that reflect true rulership. Ideally, parenting, industry, government, in fact all leadership ought to reflect benevolent, servant rule that allows the free will or sovereignty of those following the leader. When it does not, those ruled know the injustice of it and chafe under the control and outsiders can spot it. The dystopian literature discussed earlier depends on the reader recognizing the injustice of it. Society recognizes the injustice of an abusing parent. Societies revolt against the injustice of a tyrant. All of human kind believes this misuse of rule to be wrong. Where does that deep knowledge come from? From the deep recognition that this is not the image of God nor creation as it was meant to be.
God himself made YOU to rule. He is not, as some religions or people would have you think, dominating you in judgement. He has released you, by your very nature, to rule by your free will.
—- CAGED BIRD by Maya Angelo
But a BIRD that stalks down his narrow cage
Can seldom see through his bars of rage
His wings are clipped and his feet are tied
So he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
Of things unknown but longed for still
And his tune is heard on the distant hill for
The caged bird sings of freedom.
Post #5
Down the Rabbit Hole
In the book Alice in Wonderland, Alice escapes the boredom of her caged Victorian childhood into the adventure of a lifetime. Even if you are only vaguely familiar with the story by Lewis Carrol, you probably know that the adventure begins with Alice following the Rabbit down the rabbit hole.
How improbable to discover a talking Rabbit in a waistcoat lamenting over his pocket watch that he is late, late for a very important date! Nevertheless, how fascinating. Alice cannot resist her curiosity and longing for something new to happen and follows the Rabbit. Thus, with one seemingly small decision, Alice breaks free from her boredom, her stifling surroundings, her own ordinariness to pursue the extraordinary.
Our adventure is about to take you down the rabbit hole, so to speak. In the story, the wild characters and their odd even ridiculous interactions actually symbolize something else from Alice’s life and more profoundly from the life of the reader. In literary terms this is a roman à clef. What if you are also living a roman à clef? What if your life hides the symbols and metaphors of a deeper reality all around you in plain sight? What if most people are blind to it? Would you willingly choose to remain blind? Or awaken to see the mystery revealed?
Alice is changed by her experience. In fact, her newly altered perspective makes her open to a broader frame of reference and new exploits in the sequel, Through the Looking Glass. Venturing into the unknown is not without fear. Our personalities are often hesitant and shy away from the unknown and opt for the safety and comfort, if unfortunately the mundane or boring, of routine and habit. However, if faced with courage and willingness, like Alice, to consider new perspectives, the Discovery of the unknown can open us to see reality very differently and enjoy life more fully.
Read the excerpt on the left by Dr. Joe Dispenza. What do you believe about what he is saying? Will you take the plunge with me down the rabbit hole?
In my book, Awake O Sleeper, the heroine, Faith, is essentially sleep walking through her life allowing the storms of life to carry her this way and that eventually leaving her overwhelmed. Through a process of self-discovery, she is awakened to the reality that her life, as she knows it, has been formed by the choices she herself has made. The book ends with Faith at the crossroads. What life will she choose?
Today, you stand at that crossroads. Will you passively sleep as the forces around you determine the course of your life? Or, will you awaken the power within you and take the reins? What does that look like?
Maya Angelo wrote the poem linked to the left, Caged Bird. She is writing about the condition of her fellow black Americans who have faced different forms of being caged, but I believe it speaks of a universal longing of us all. “The caged bird sings with fearful trill of the things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.” The irony is that the cage door lies open. It is the fear of the unknown that cages you; step out into it. What is out there is what you are longing for.
Joseph Campbell, author and philosopher, wrote, “Fear of the unknown is our greatest fear. Many of us would rather enter a tiger’s lair before we would enter a dark cave. While caution is a useful instinct, we lose many opportunities and much of the adventure of life if we fail to support the curious explorer within us.” Where would the caterpillar be if she settled for eating herself to death never venturing to spin her cocoon?
Are you ready? The first step is to simply keep an open mind to what is coming in the future posts. I will not suggest anything so troubling as entering a tiger’s lair, or following a talking rabbit underground, though you may at times feel you are entering a dark cave. There is light at the end of the tunnel; I assure you!
Post #6
Sovereign
To be human is to be free to rule one’s own life. Sovereignty, or free will, is the DNA of God. You may not feel extraordinary or sovereign, but you are. This is an essential concept. It is at the core of whether you will experience joy and freedom or victimhood in your life. This post may be hard to accept, but stick with me.
The caterpillar is vulnerable. From the time she lays fragilely within the egg she is prey to other insects. When she hatches she must devour more foliage than seems possible to stuff into her tiny but growing body. Precariously, she sheds or molts her skin each time she becomes too fat for it, but her growth is essential for her future self. She is prey to birds, diseased foliage, starvation if she cannot find enough of just the right leaves. She spends most of her life surviving. Yet, ultimately she will make the choice to spin a cocoon leaving herself hanging dangerously exposed from a limb, because she dreams of the freedom of flight. She will emerge transformed – free.
Not all caterpillars make the journey to become the butterfly. Many obstacles stand in the way. I have a saying that my own children and my students have heard me say so often that it will likely haunt them long after I am no longer in their lives, “Your life doesn’t happen to you; it is the consequence of the choices that you make.” So much more so than the butterfly, we have choice. We have free will and the ability to choose.
A moment ago when I said you were sovereign over your own life, that may have created an uneasy feeling in you. We don’t think of ourselves as sovereign. In fact, much, if not most, of history has taught us not to see ourselves that way. A King is sovereign. At one time, the church was Sovereign. God is sovereign. Not us. Let’s look at some synonyms for the word sovereign: ruler, self reliant, free, independent, in control, in charge, decision maker, choice, able, responsible. I could have chosen the term personal responsibility, but that is so cliché these days. Nevertheless, it is the correct meaning.
The word for rule in Genesis 1:26 is radah. God made us to “radah”. Radah is the same word used when God is sovereign and when a king is sovereign. Therefore, ultimately we are responsible for the life that we have. Our life doesn’t happen to us we have personal responsibility for it. We aren’t passive victims of it.
It may feel that way at times. Certainly where you were born, to whom you were born seems to be out of your control. If you are present during an earthquake, or fire that too may be out of your control. I am not unempathetic to the tyranny and abuse that many have experienced at the hands of others. I am not saying that any (including you) brought on the evil that may have been perpetrated upon them.
I am saying that we are made in the image of God to rule, and we have the power to do so. To intentionally choose, as the caterpillar does, to free ourselves from whatever cages us by the choices we make. Sometimes these choices are in response to terrible circumstances, even abuse, we did not choose. Will we choose fear, victimhood, insecurity, bitterness, stagnation and much worse, or embrace our destiny to fly beyond our circumstances?
There are many stories of individuals that have done just that. The three biographies to your right have impacted me. These people have seemingly extraordinary lives, but like you and me they are ordinary individuals, who overcame tremendously difficult situations extra-ordinarily. Biographies of such individuals can be inspiring, IF we don’t lose sight of the fact that they are not different than us. Their stories should not make us essentially hero worship them, but they should give us hope to take the reigns of our own lives. We each have this DNA. The DNA of God to rule in life.
Today’s thought is a prayer from St. Francis of Assisi. He found himself often in circumstances he did not choose for himself, but within them expressed his sovereignty by owning his response. This prayer has been used by Alcoholics Anonymous for years, so if you are familiar with it please don’t just skip over it. Slow down and really take in its meaning for your own life and the empowerment it can bring to your life. It was impactful centuries before AA.
Post #7
Nature or Nurture
The time has come for that first small step down the rabbit hole, which may actually feel like a giant leap. Following me down the rabbit hole will not require any pills or cake such as Alice consumed, or Neo in the Matrix. That actually might be easier than what it will actually require.
By your will, you will need to choose to shut down the possibly deafening voice inside your head screaming at you that, “You don’t need this!”, “We don’t have time for this; you’re too busy!”
So the first step today is to ignore that voice, and begin with the monumental question of who are you? In my book, professor Forsythe asks his class, “Are you simply a product of your DNA?” Many in the world today would say, yes! In fact, the Human Genome Project’s whole approach begins with this premise. You are your DNA beginning with your blue eyes, down to your craving for avocados and your paranoia of public speaking. This idea has become so prevalent, that DNA test kits of a wide variety are one of the most popular gift ideas online. This emphasis on the body’s physical DNA says, you are no more than the hereditary soup of your ancestors who contributed to your DNA. You are your body. No more.
Most of us intuitively know this is not the whole picture. Even science knows this is not the whole picture. A friend recently told a group of us that her DNA test results said she had the DNA of an elite athlete. We had a good time teasing her over a camping weekend about that, since she may have had that potential but it clearly wasn’t realized. Why? Some would say that her environment had not provided the opportunity for that aspect of her to develop. That is the crux of the Nature vs Nurture debate throughout science. She may have the nature potentially, but was not nurtured in that direction by her parents, friends, her schooling or overall environment. So, are we a product of our environment?
That seems inadequate as well. What if my friend had been born in the 1890s. Her DNA may have had the potential to result in an elite athlete, and her parents may actually have been unusually supportive of that potential, but the era or timeline of her birth would have worked against that outcome. Nevertheless, Issette Miller became an elite professional golfer during that time and is credited with inventing the first golf handicapping system. What drove her and other women athletes or others in history to excel beyond their environment and time? Was it simply their body’s DNA potential? Their nature? We could go back and forth with these examples and debate all day long. In fact, many have all century long. Both arguments seem inadequate.
Are we more than our bodies, environment and time? Neo discovered that the answer was emphatically yes. Morpheus could wake Neo from the incubation of the Matrix, but Neo had to free his mind to accept he was more, much more. What is that more?
Today, quantum physics is challenging all of the preconceived notions about the natural world. Particle-Wave theory has demonstrated conclusively that all potentials exist simultaneously and that it is the observer that determines the reality. Ha, that’s a mouthful. What does it mean? Below is a link to a film that more thoroughly explains these concepts in a relatable, even funny, presentation. But for our purposes, this means that there is something more going on than just the DNA world of your body, the environment of people and places, or the time we live in. Those who achieve greatness often express a clarity, an inner drive to be more than either their Nature or Nurturing environment. (The movie “Gatica” remarkably presents this idea.) Is there another dimension that allows them to overcome physical, environmental and time obstacles to reach a desired ideal. Like the caterpillar, they dream of flight beyond known realities and step out of the cage to pursue the uncharted – the unknown.
That inner drive is within all of us. Most of us shush that voice with another louder voice that says, that’s unrealistic, you can’t do that, who do you think you are?
The film to your left is a fascinating explanation of how the science of quantum physics can help us to understand who we are and more importantly who we can choose to be. Unlike evolutionary biologists, who refuse to see mankind as other than an animal that has evolved slowly from a primordial accident, quantum physics, Epigenetics, and Neuro science challenge all those who venture into these sciences with the necessity of design and the possibilities presented by our participation in that design. Watch the film. Consider the obstacles that keep you caged. Your body? Your environment? Your time or current era of social awareness. Are there unrealized potentials within you? Does their existence peak your interest, your wonderment, your passion? Why not, like Neo, consider the possibilities and free your mind?
Post #8
As a man thinketh…
Did you watch the film, “What the Bleep do we know?” I am not going to unpack all of it here, but what if what quantum physics is discovering is true? Whether it is easy or difficult to accept, quantum physics is already proven to be so. What does that mean for us as individuals? Is it true that we are much more powerful to determine our reality than perhaps we ever believed? The bible’s book of Proverbs says, “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.”
James Allen took this passage and, well before a public understanding of quantum physics, extrapolated on this idea. He said, “’As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.’ A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts. As a plant springs from, and could not be without, the seed, so every act of man springs from the hidden seeds of thought, and could not have appeared without them. This applies equally to those acts called ‘spontaneous’ and ‘unpremeditated’ as to those, which are deliberately executed.” Much of ancient wisdom literature throughout the ages supports this idea. Buddha wrote, “We are what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts, we make the world.”
If this is so, it commands that any change we desire, wish to pursue, are determined toward, begins not with action but thought. The first step down the rabbit hole is to, “take every thought captive” as the bible says. This will take much more will and commitment than making your bed in the morning, going to the gym, or going on a diet. Real change takes focused consistent thought.
That voice inside your head is already complaining… what mumbo jumbo is this? Let’s go. I’m bored. Any complaint to prevent upsetting the status quo. This inner voice has developed these arguments to keep the familiar, comfortable, and known surrounding us like a blanket (or a cage?). In fact, this is exactly why psychologists say that most of your personality is set by 6 or 7 years old. By age 30, more than 90% of our personalities are set and will not substantially change. That is terrible news. No new growth? No new adventures that change our understanding? No new thoughts or insights? Each mundane morning our alarm wakes us from the same side of the bed, the mirror greets us to confirm we are getting older, we drink our coffee, eat our lunch, drive our car in well determined and familiar patterns. We are tired, bored, sick, empty and don’t really know the reason. As I said, we may go to the gym, diet, buy a new car, go on vacation, but essentially WE are the same. Real change must begin from within. The doorway is our thoughts.
Remember Maya Angelo’s poem, “The caged bird sings with fearful trill of the things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.” If we do not, like Neo, free our minds, we will remain caged simply because the unknown is too scary, too challenging, too incomprehensible, too hard to not only engage but consider. So, how do we do it?
The bible gives us a very helpful instruction, “take every thought captive.” That is a tall order. The interview video with Joe Dispenza may help explain the process - especially the first 7 minutes.
Let’s take a closer look at one example that comes with an actual recipe for exactly how to do it. In the book of Philippians, there are step by step instructions which I have enhanced with italics only in a minor way for a clearer understanding of the meaning.
“Do not be anxious about anything, instead in everything, by prayer/meditation and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.”
If you are like me, I used to read this as a command, which I was failing at, and just felt guilty. But as we discussed earlier, you are not separated from God. God is within, not out there somewhere in the constellations above your head and prayer is not an absent minded begging of a distant god/genie to grant us three wishes. The quote above is not a command! it is instructions, a recipe, for taking every thought captive. Take a seat (even in a bathroom stall at work), close your eyes, take a deep breath, settle your complaining inner voice, and instead of focusing on the anxiety or stress that you feel, silently talk to God within you and ask for the power to change the direction of your thoughts that are leading to worry or even fear.
2. “With thanksgiving.”
Be thankful. Ok, this is not mere politeness. You are asking for something, and saying thank you. What image does that bring to mind. A hundred times in life you ask someone to pass the salt, “Could you please pass the salt?” As they do, you say, “thank you,” as you receive it. As you receive it! Our society rolls its eyes at such niceties, but here is its power. You are expressing thanksgiving, gratitude, appreciation for what is being received BEFORE you have the experience of having received it. You are expecting its receipt.
3. “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds.”
If that peace doesn’t come immediately give it a few minutes. Keep your eyes closed and take another deep breath. Breath in through your nose deeply and exhale slowly through your nose. Stay focused and breathe. Prayer is not a begging; the verse to the right from Matthew is Jesus speaking to his disciples. Prayer is an intentional, focused thought. If you are having difficulty with that concept, instead of asking for something, picture it. Picture the situation that has you anxious as perfectly ideal. Picture it is completely worked out. Expect it. Fill your heart with thankfulness for it. Hold that focus. Then…
4. “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.”
Replace the thoughts that were causing you to be anxious, worried, angry, fearful, or stressed with those above. It is interesting that in almost every sermon, this portion is left out!! This final step replaces the negative thought with a positive one. If you are serious about receiving what you anticipated this must be the last step.
Picture the conversation with your co-worker going well. Imagine passing the test with fine scores. Allow yourself to feel the emotions of your presentation going well. This requires focused time and repetition - practice. Neo didn’t make the jump between buildings the first time. This is how one can pray unceasingly. You cannot pray unceasingly, as the bible and other spiritual writings suggest, by kneeling by your bed or in a pew begging or pleading with a faraway God for some intervention. But you can take every thought captive. You can intentionally focus your thoughts (especially on an image); hold your thoughts on an ideal outcome allowing the feelings of peace, gratitude for the change and thanksgiving to fill your heart and mind.
This recipe was not given to increase your guilt as a command coming down upon you by a judge waiting for you mess up – again. This, and much of wisdom literature, is meant to be instructions for realizing the inner power of the spirit or as quantum physics would name it, the observer. The power of God within you, both to will and to act for His good pleasure (Philippians 2:13).
One final thought for this time together. Your inner voice may be truly struggling with the steps above being some new age trick. It isn’t. James, the brother of Jesus, wrote, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” Before you think too quickly that James is being pretty harsh (which I did for years) consider this passage in light of quantum physics and particle-wave theory. What James is really saying here is that you must believe (intentionally focus on the ideal desired) and not doubt (give in to that arguing voice within) because the potential focused on is the potential that will materialize. The thought you spend time thinking - will be. “As a man thinketh, so he is.”
Humorously, if you ask your God to bless your neighbor but you spend your time plotting how to get back at him for an offense, what do you think the outcome will be?
Try this one exercise above! Next time you are anxious, afraid, or stressed, follow the steps above. Repeat them each time you find your blood pressure rising for one reason or another.
James Allen’s classic AS A MAN THINKETH. The Bestselling book, and Allen’s most famous work, today is considered a classic self-help book. Its underlying premise is that noble thoughts make a noble person, while lowly thoughts make a miserable person. Taken from Proverbs 23:7, James Allen reveals how our thoughts determine reality. Whether or not we are conscious of it, our underlying beliefs shape our character, our health and appearance, our circumstances, and our destinies. Allen shows how we can master our thoughts to create the life we want, lest we drift through life unconscious of the inner forces that keep us mired in failure and frustration. "The Vision that you glorify in your mind, the Ideal that you enthrone in your heart-this you will build your life by, this you will become."
Post #9
Power of Your Mind
Dr. Caroline Leaf —
“As we think, we change the physical nature of our brain. As we consciously direct our thinking, we can wire out toxic patterns of thinking and replace them with healthy thoughts.”
Do not copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.
-Romans 12:2
I trust you had at least one opportunity to try the four steps to take every thought captive from our last post. So, now that you have a little experience, I’d like to delve a bit farther down the rabbit hole.
Why do those four simple steps from the last post work? That is, when you really are able to do them and do them with consistency. Candice Pert, a research neuroscientist and doctor of pharmacology, gives a very accessible scientific explanation for the whole process in the film linked in post 6, “What the Bleep Do We Know?” as well as, in her book Molecules of Emotion. If you haven’t watched the video, I highly suggest it. The book is very readable, humorous and easy to follow as well.
As a well-known scientist within the ranks of Nobel prize winners and researchers at labs like the National Institute of Health, Johns Hopkins, and other labs, Pert discovered the brain's opiate receptor. She also was the first person to isolate the T-cell receptor which was key to producing effective treatments for HIV and AIDS. It is a vast understatement to say she was an expert in the field of how our chemical body impacts our reality.
At the risk of oversimplifying the beautiful function of our wondrous bodies, I will attempt to describe an aspect of Dr. Pert’s work. Dr. Pert discovered, or proved, what many scientists hypothesized must exist in the human body; that is for pharmaceutical chemicals (the prescription drugs we all take) to work there must be natural chemicals already in the body that function the same way. Why? Because your body wouldn’t know what to do with the medicine you took if it didn’t already have the means to recognize the chemical makeup of the medicine and guide it to intended targets that could utilize it.
She discovered, or proved, that the cell of the body had literally thousands of receptors that essentially function as locks on the surface of cells awaiting the right chemical key to unlock them and in turn send messages with instructions throughout the attached cell and ultimately the body. The lock and key relationship can actually change the cell itself and thus also change the body. How does this connect to our exercise of taking every thought captive? Very profoundly!
Your brain is not only an electrical center of the body, but a chemical one. Most of you probably remember lessons in school science classes that explained the vast electrical network of the brain. Like the hard wiring of a computer, neurons fire their electrical messages along strands of cables made up of dendrites to axons which fan out and connect to other neurons across an open synaptic gap (see diagram to the left). We will talk about this function again later. But did you know that the message this electrical system transmits is actually a chemical one (see picture behind first Pert quote). As Dr. Pert discovered, this is only the beginning. These chemical message keys called peptides are very specific and travel throughout the body locating the exact receptor molecule lock they can open.
And here is the part that is pertinent (pun intended) to our discussion. These chemical message keys ARE the emotions we experience as they unlock the receptors of our body. The hormones, peptides, neurotransmitters of the body, are what we experience as emotions. These emotional messages, sparked by incoming data such as sights, sounds, smells, are translated to thoughts or images and then into emotions. Our experience of anger is a chemical release. Our experience of excitement is a chemical release.
The simplest example to paint the picture is the sexual fantasy. A sight, sound, smell, produces a thought/image in the mind which is sent as an electrical message through the neurons of the brain resulting in hormonal chemical transmitter keys being released into the body. Within milliseconds the message has found the right receptor locks and opened the door with its message. More receptors in the chest area around the heart make the heart pound a little faster, the body temperature rises, the skin and sexual organs become more sensitive and a feeling of euphoria fills the body. You may even blush. Nothing more than a THOUGHT has caused all this change in the body.
Another example can illustrate how profoundly different the outcome can be with a different initiating thought/image. You are cut off in heavy traffic. The surprise plus the image of the offending driver is sent as an electrical message through the neurons of the brain resulting in different chemical transmitter keys being released into the body. Within milliseconds the message has found the right receptor locks and opened the door with its message. The heart begins to pound faster like before, but tension fills your muscles as they tighten, you feel hot and anger even rage fills the body.
I could give you many more examples, but you are probably already thinking of them yourself. If you are prone to anger, as in the last example, how will you begin to change that response? You will need to prevent the chemical messaging that your body is programed to follow. You must change the thoughts/images that initiated that response. You must take every thought captive. Ah-ha!
If you want proof of the power of your mind, try an experiment like we just discussed in the examples. Consider a highly charged moment; it can be sexual, anxiousness/worry, fear, anticipation, anger. When you bring the thought, fantasy, image to mind, become aware of your bodily response. What is happening to your heart rate? Your breathing? Muscle tension or relaxation? Temperature? Did you begin to cry, sweat, or other response. Do you suddenly feel like you must act out in some way? What if you were to change some aspect of your thoughts? Would your bodily response change? Grow stronger? Weaker?
Now, perhaps the exercise from the last post will make more sense to you. Would you try the four steps again? Tweak them a bit to better fit your situation. Why don’t you try it and see?
Post #10
join me on a journey
I’d like to take a brief detour to let you into my own experience a bit deeper. It won’t take long. If you happened to read the blurb “about the author” you would have discovered that I grew up in a Christian home, as had my parents, but spiritual journeys are always individual journeys. My parents each had to consider and pursue what they believed individually from what their parents believed and even separately from one another. In turn, I had to do the same. My children are on their journey. You are on yours.
In the bio, I mentioned that my life got messy, it did. All lives do. For me, that messiness provoked several periods of spiritual change and I am happy to say growth. The first was when I was a young adult. I had grown up around the beliefs of Christianity and church, but was only very superficially interested. That didn’t mean that I didn’t have a sense of God being present. Interestingly, I did. Many I know consider themselves atheists; I didn’t. However, I also didn’t really consider God particularly relevant to my day to day life; I actually tried to bench God as best I could. From the outside, I did not appear to be a spiritual person at all, nor interested in becoming one.
the consequences of the choices I was making ended up creating a life that was no longer happy, and I felt tired, depressed, and lonely. I turned to God. Growing up with the background I did, I decided to go to church. I didn’t want any empty religion. I was already feeling empty. I discovered a church that was passionately pursuing what they saw in the bible’s book of Acts and the New Testament. They wanted an authentic New Testament experience. I wanted something real, and I thought I had found it. I learned so much about God’s love for me and loving others there and for that I will always be grateful.
But as often happens, our joy became arrogance as we came to believe we had it all figured out. It is always a sad thing to view yourself, or your group, as spiritually superior to others. Years later, my husband and I went through a difficult struggle. During that struggle, it became apparent that our community didn’t accept the kind of struggle we were having. The pressure of their disapproval added to the struggle. While this could have resulted in our distancing ourselves from God and spiritual things, it actually pushed us deeper. We came to see that, while community can be many positive things, our spiritual journey was as individuals and we were responsible to know one else for it. In case you might misunderstand, we are still married after 36 years and enjoying life together!
This second period brought a lot of change. It was during this time that I really began to trust in my own spiritual connection and ability to be directed spiritually. That didn’t mean I didn’t appreciate many wonderful people that came and went in my life. In fact, this recognition of personal responsibility for my spiritual life guided me through the struggles that my husband and I were having and continued to guide me through other types of troubles that were to come. It made our marriage stronger, as well as our parenting, our friendships and even our work.
The most recent period of my life has been one of trusting myself, my understanding and growing wisdom that comes through experience, and my God who leads me. I have come to understand that staying open and humble is the canvas for continued growth and learning. I once told our kids that they would change more between 15 and 25 than any other period in their life; while this is true for many, many people, I no longer believe it has to be true. This is not at all to say that I do not have mentors, or that I do not gain knowledge and perspective by reading, listening and other activities. I am a life-long learner. What I am sharing, in all of my writings, is what I have learned and am learning. Lessons like the ones in the first 9 entries.
My deepest, heartfelt motivation is that through my story you will have new experiences that widen your understanding of God, yourself, and even reality. God is not a stern distant judge condemning us. I’ve provided just a few of the many biblical scriptures that point that out to us. You are loved more than you know. You are accepted more than you realize. You can embrace that reality and be transformed by it, no mater how old you are or what your experiences to date have been.
We are marvelously created and our Creator is within us speaking in that still small voice (that sometimes roars) the recipes, strategies, and beautiful steps for life and spiritual growth. Some of you might better appreciate words like instructions, knowledge and wisdom. As we discussed before, we have differing perspectives on the same ideas, but words impact us differently. Don’t let mine prevent you from discovering “things unknown but longed for still”. That growth is what we are made for; it is the most fulfilling journey of life.
Similarly, like my early experience with very well intentioned churches, these perspectives are not always common. They require one to reconsider man-made tradition, institutional dogma, cultural trends and common ways of looking at things that we can easily take for granted. Trust your intuition, wisdom and discernment on this journey. Test and see that the Lord is good. I challenge you!
Post #11
The Key
The detour is behind us and we press on. Today, we will look a bit more at Dr. Pert’s work. I do hope you will take the time to watch the video linked in post 6 and even read Dr. Pert’s book, Molecules of Emotion. A clear understanding of the magnificence of your self is a fundamental key to becoming all you are meant to be.
So, by way of review, remember that we have dancing, vibrating molecules within us all looking for a dance partner. These molecules were set in motion by our own thoughts or images in our brain, like the car that cut us off. As these molecules dance across our cells looking for a receptor, what if there aren’t enough partners to go around? Remember, receptor locks will only dance with certain peptide keys. This is where the habits of your thoughts really make an impact.
If you watched the film, or read the book, you discovered that your body will listen to the demands of your thoughts and feelings, creating additional receptor cites to supply the demand of the hormones and peptides being released into your body. This is how addiction functions within the body. If opioids are being released into the body (naturally or unnaturally) they will connect as a key to the lock of a matching receptor on the cell. If the body is flooded with opioids it will respond to the deluge by actually changing some receptors into matching receptors to provide the necessary docking of key to lock.
Let’s really consider that. As a heroin user becomes an addict, the cravings for the drug tell the body to create more receptor sites for the opioid. This “flooding” however, is detrimental. If additional receptors are needed, then receptors that previously functioned as locks for nutrition for instance may be altered to provide for the onslaught of need for opioid receptors. Now the body is being deprived of absorbing necessary healthy nutrition. This can cascade exponentially resulting in literally starving the addict.
But this is not just true for heroin addicts. If a person is immersed in a stressful job, for instance, and is daily running on adrenaline, norepinephrine, and cortisol, then this flood can also trigger the body to change some receptors into matching locks for those keys. This would be the correct response if the body was in stress because it was being hunted by a predator; however, if the predator is an ongoing condition of a job this response will eventually lead to health issues.
The science of neuropharmacology, epigenetics, neuroplasticity, quantum consciousness are all producing cutting edge research into how the mind not only influences how we think and feel, but how our bodies actually function and even how we experience reality. Dr. Pert is not the only researcher to study the effects of thought on the body and therefore on reality. Dr. Joe Dispenza, author of You are the Placebo and Breaking the Habit of Being Yourself, has done significant work with large groups of people studying the effects of focused thought on the body. Like Pert, Dispenza’s research has focused largely on how thought creates electrical and chemical messages that then travel through the body to effect change, both negatively and positively.
Essentially, this research is resulting in evidence that James Allen, author of As A Man Thinketh, ancient wisdom and the bible have been right all along. Your thoughts are the reality that your body believes in. It doesn’t really matter if you say something different, your body shows the evidence of your thoughts. Consider the verses listed here. Like the steps to dealing with anxiety that we have already discussed, they are the key instructions for changing your very neurology to have a healthier, happier life.
These verses were never meant to condemn; they were meant to free. The truth shall set you free!
Today, consider what your body is telling you about your reality. Is your body telling you that you are happy, joyful, grateful, relaxed, confident, at peace? Or is your body telling you that you are angry, bitter, resentful, a victim, and in fear.
Watch the YouTube video linked on the left. Dr. Watkins’ research focuses on how our thoughts and emotions determine our reality, or our experience of it. But we do not need to be controlled by them, WE can control them.
Post #12
All things are permissible - not all things are beneficial!
The question near the end of the Alan Watkin’s video at the end of the last blog was, “is this emotion really serving you?”
As Dr. Watkins said, there is no right or wrong to the emotions you are having, but are they serving you? Are you controlling them or are they controlling you? Humorously, or not so, if your emotions are controlling you then it is a bit like the tail wagging the dog.
I highly recommend Dr. Watkins’ videos and books on this journey, but this is not a new science. Like Pert and Dispenza, Watkins is understanding, from a new perspective, an ancient reality. One that has been written about and taught for millennia.
As an English teacher it is always a challenge to overcome an almost innate resistance of students to read old literature. They have almost a guttural reaction as soon as they hit the classes, usually in high school, when they are required to study classics in literature. Students begin to groan. Even avid readers or students who love the story telling of movies or even the hallway gossip, roll their eyes and slouch down in their seats as soon as the Shakespeare unit is introduced. Why? Universally they believe it is hard to read and understand AND they believe it to be irrelevant to their more modern lives. Even worse, they think it’s boring.
Much of ancient wisdom or the bible and other books like it fall into this category even for most adults. It is my hope that the same process that I used in my classes with my students will help create a bridge of relatability for you to these works.
First, these writings are often hard to read and understand because they are written in a language that is significantly different than our own. Even if that language is English! Shakespeare is a great example. That’s when a translation that uses modern language can be helpful. The problem is that in these translations we often miss some of what was actually being communicated. It can be like one of your kids interpreting something you said for one of their siblings – sometimes funny, other times frustrating. However, we can gain understanding the same way children learn the language of their parents — through their ongoing relationship.
Second, this means that finding a connection in the writing that makes sense to us will build relevance for us and then we can begin to work with the language to understand the meaning.
Third, having an open mind and heart will allow the truth and inspiration of what is being communicated to germinate. The epiphany I have witnessed in my students when they, not I, recognize a truth or meaning that they hadn’t seen before is the magic of learning. I love to experience it both as the student and as the teacher.
To get us started, today we are going to begin with a word picture from the bible.
“For whatever a man sows, that shall he reap.
For he who sows to the flesh will from the flesh reap decay
And ruin and destruction, but he who sows to the Spirit
Will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
Ok, don’t rush into sermons you’ve already heard on this passage or your grandmother’s ominous warnings. Let’s dissect this short word picture.
What is sowing? Many of you already know, but for those who don’t, sowing is what a farmer does when he plows a field and then plants his seed. At the time this was written, a very large percentage of the audience would have been farmers. Even if they weren’t, they knew farmers and farming. So, this was a very easily understood analogy, that’s why it was used. If you plow up a field and then plant zucchini, you will later harvest, or reap, zucchini. You will NOT reap, or harvest, tomatoes. See how easy the word picture was supposed to work? Very straight forward.
Now, this picture allows for two different plants to be sown. Either flesh or spirit. As we have discussed before, this is still a very current debate about human beings. Are we just our physical selves, our bodies, or is their more to us? Is there an intangible self of the soul or spirit? This analogy puts forward that there are two possible ways to live, or plant, your life. One sows to the flesh or body. The other sows to the spirit. It says that if you plant only for the body, you will reap decay, ruin or destruction. In other words, death. If you instead sow to the spirit you will reap, or harvest, eternal life. Pretty simple imagery. At least it was meant to be.
The difficulty here is defining what seeds are flesh and which are spirit. Here’s also where I ask you to keep an open mind and not presume upon past interpretations. Sowing to the flesh would be all those things the body or physical self needs or desires. I am sure many things are coming to your mind. It DOES NOT mean these things are in and of themselves sinful or evil. They may be, but more importantly they are simply unable to produce a harvest of eternal life - life beyond this physical one we are living. This eventually would result in death, decay, etc. Yes, if any one need or want were to be overly indulged in, it may lead to destruction sooner than later as we have discussed in the last two blog posts. Sowing to the flesh may create addiction. It could create poor health or death due to heart attack. However, that is not actually the main point. The main point is that all sowing to the flesh, body, will eventually produce only death. It can take longer or shorter depending on the flesh being sown, but ultimately all sowing to only flesh will bring only death.
The word picture says that only sowing to the spirit will produce eternal life – ever existing life. What would those seeds be? It isn’t explained here but assumed. In another part of the bible a list of the fruit of the spirit, which seems to align with our analogy here, says that the “fruit” (another farming/harvesting image) of the spirit is, “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”
Now this word picture seems pretty clear and possibly a lot less condemning that you used to think.
Using what we are learning from taking every thought captive and Dr. Watkins emotional mapping, perhaps a focus – or sowing – of these emotions and attitudes is a key. It has been the focus of my life for a long time. I am progressing, but it takes intention and does not happen by happenstance. Just like the farmer must arise each morning to sow and then cultivate the seed, we must choose to sow to the spirit daily. Along with eating, sleeping, and caring for our flesh we must make the focus of our lives sowing to the spirit if we are to enjoy eternal life. Am I focusing on seed that will produce love in my life? Joy? Peace? Patience? Kindness? Or even Self-Control? Or am I being drug through life sowing seed of what to eat, getting more money, sleeping, sex – all fine and good, but flesh seeds.
Here is the activity for today. What thoughts can you meditate on today to sow to the spirit. What thoughts can you “take captive” and pull out like a weed so that you can better cultivate the fruit of the spirit? Take a few minutes, take a few deep breaths, and let your thoughts just flow. If they flow toward anger, stress, fear, victimhood, etc make a conscious decision to let those thoughts go like a butterfly flying out of view and intentionally replace that thought with its opposite. The situation is unimportant and you don’t really need to be concerned with that persons opinion. Take your thoughts captive, and focus on the project you’re working on turning out great, or replaced by a new opportunity. Picture yourself prevailing over what threatens you. Practice embracing love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
We have only had a few exercises suggested in these posts so far. However, we will increase those activities now to begin putting into practice the concepts we are discussing. For this week, try taking a brief moment to refocus your thoughts and emotions each time during the day that a negative thought or emotion return. Try this every day this week, as many times each day as you find you are focused on the negative, or the flesh. Also, take note of any increase in Joy, peace, patience, kindness, or self-control you experience. Consider writing down any improvement you notice.
Post #13
sowing in good soil
Last post we ended with the word picture about sowing. Farming is a marathon, not a sprint. Jesus’ audience were keenly aware of that. Even seemingly short gestation periods such as wheat or your garden vegetables take time to grow. Sowing to the spirit is similar. You may experience some amazingly quick results. When you practice the 4 steps of taking every thought captive from post 8 you may even have some immediate harvest. But permanent life change usually has a longer gestation period.
This idea is prevalent in many eastern writings with the example of the bamboo tree. After the seed is sown, the bamboo does not break ground for four years. FOUR YEARS!!! Once it does, it can grow up to 90 feet tall in just five weeks! FIVE WEEKS!!! It may take repetition and time to cultivate spiritual fruit, but once you have, YOU will have changed.
I planted a vegetable garden for the first time last spring since I was a kid helping my dad garden in our back yard. I started some seedlings in our kitchen and they sprang up just as planned. However, they were very tender, fragile sprouts. I waited the allotted time before transplanting them outside, but several plants didn’t make it. You are NOT the plant in this story. I am not drawing the analogy that some of you will not make it!
You are the gardener. Some of the seeds you plant won’t make it. Others may almost seem out of control like my zucchini. If one of the seeds you sowed doesn’t make it, sow it again, and again, and again if need be. The ground of your heart may be hard, or acidic to some seeds.
My mother passed just a few days ago. She was 97, but it was still difficult. I had time to reflect on our relationship and I am here to tell you of the blessing of sowing the seed of forgiveness, understanding and Love. I had unforgiveness and even bitterness that had hardened my heart from past experiences. I had to work on that ground before I could effectively sow new seed in it. I couldn’t move past this step. Just working the soil of my heart and thoughts took time, then it was time to sow new seeds of forgiveness, patience, kindness, Love, and self-control. Nevertheless, the work was worth the effort. Love, peace and patience sprang up in the softened soil and are growing well now. (We will talk soon about tilling up hard areas of our heart.) I was able to be with my mother the last days and hours of her life, and the moments we shared were the precious and tender fruit of seed sown over many years.
The videos on the left are very helpful in considering changes like those we are talking about. When I am getting the soil of my garden ready for planting, I have to dig up the ground. I have to break up the hard soil, sometimes add better soil, certainly put effort and intention to preparing for the change that is about to happen in sowing my seed. These videos are encouraging but also informative and challenging. The second one, of Jordan Peterson, deals with how difficult digging up the fallow ground can be. One of the issues I’ve had to deal with, and I am sure you will, are the times that I’ve been betrayed. Sometimes betrayal is obvious, sometimes we can feel betrayed and the betrayer doesn’t even know we feel that way. Whatever your situation is, don’t give up easily. Consider what these videos are saying.
On another note, if you are simultaneously sowing to the flesh and the spirit, your flesh fruit will likely make attempt to take over the garden like a bindweed – beautiful but the vine will choke out your other plants. Another word picture Jesus used to communicate this began this way.
“A sower went out to sow his seed: and as he sowed, some fell by the roadside; it was trodden down, and the birds of the air devoured it. And some fell upon a rock; and as soon as it was sprung up, it withered away, because it lacked water. And some fell among the thorns; and the thorns sprang up with it and choked it. And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bore fruit an hundredfold.”
Like before, keep an open mind. Check your pre-concieved notions of this word picture. You’ve likely heard some version of this word picture before and with some negative baggage. Jesus himself said, he did not come into the world to condemn the world. So, no condemnation from past experiences with this analogy. OK?
If we are going to be sowing to the spirit, this word picture gives us some clues. Some of our seed may fall on the roadside. It’s busy there. We are busy. We are distracted by many, many things. This seed did not get the proper focus of being planted in good prepared soil, but was just sort of thrown out there. Therefore, it did not take root. Simple. An adjustment of focus and attention is all that is needed. We sowers need to focus!! Make room in our busy schedules, and more importantly busy minds to be intentional. To do the work necessary for real change - fruit to develop.
It isn’t enough to throw some seed out there and hope for the best. I believe many of us take this approach. We have a sense that we should grow in generosity, so the first homeless person gets a $5 and then we go back to our busy lives. Or, the holiday’s roll around and we volunteer one day at a food drive, or throw some change in the red bucket outside the grocery store. This is not sowing to prepared soil.
The seed that fell upon a rock is like the seed I was attempting to sow on top of my hard bitter heart. Love doesn’t grow easily where unforgivenss, bitterness or anger have hardened into rock. Breaking up this ground to prepare it for seed may be difficult and take time. But remember the list of the fruit of the spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. These seeds will not grow on a rock hard heart.
Some seed fell among the thorns. Well, they may not be thorns exactly; they may be beautiful flowering bindweeds that wrap around our newly sprouted fruit of the spirit and choke it out. Passions that are just more powerful than our newly tender sprouts. This may not be porn, or alcoholism, or the traditional list of deadly lusts you’ve heard about (though it could be). Just as likely, it may be simple overindulgences in anything benign but of the body. Comforts that choke out the time and energy of sowing to the spirit. Sleeping, eating, exercising, shopping, TV, social media anything that steels the time you set aside for sowing. Believe me, your body is creative and can scream in any number of languages to keep your attention focused on the flesh.
This weeks activity requires that you take some time each day, preferably before you start your day each morning, to intentionally work your soil. Allow your inner voice to tell you where the work is needed - Don’t be overwhelmed if you see several places that need work. Choose one: Busyness, rock hard heart, weeds of the flesh. Chose one and acknowledge to yourself that that area is going to get some tilling.
Then, each day, intentionally take a few minutes to follow the five steps in Dr. Dispenza’s video above. Do each step with focus. don’t rush. Your conscience/intuition/spirit know what you need to work on.
A Chinese proverb says, “The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second-best time is now.”
Post #14
Kingdom of God is within
“The kingdom of God is within you.” Luke recorded these words of Jesus in the New Testament. Yet, doesn’t most of religion focus on the external rather than the internal. Do this. Don’t do that. After the last post, I wouldn’t want this to be our mistake. Sowing to the spirit is not an external thing. It may have external fruit, but the planting and cultivating is internal. The kingdom of God – or eternal life – is within you. This reality has been missed throughout time.
In fact, when specifically addressing religious leaders Jesus warned them, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside… but inside are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside… and then the outside also will be clean.” Unlike instructions we’ve looked at before this is more of a reprimand. How do we know? Well, he calls them hypocrites and later vipers or snakes. When he is teaching the crowd or his followers he doesn’t do that – he is not condemning. He goes on to tell these religious leaders that they are like whitewashed tombs that are beautiful on the outside but dead and rotting inside.
Clearly the religious had gotten it wrong. It wasn’t at all about keeping rules and judging all those who didn’t. But isn’t that what most religion is all about. Not just in Christianity, but all religions. Not only many wars throughout history, but many wars being fought today in the world come down to this.
Spiritual growth and evolution is about something very, very different. In an attempt to trip Jesus up, these same religious leaders asked him which was the greatest commandment in the Law? Jesus replied, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.” Interestingly, this is true. All of the 10 commandments written down by Moses can be summed up with these two commands. PLUS all of the 603 additional laws the religious leaders had added over the course of the 1400 years between Moses and Jesus are also summed up with these two commands. But unlike the 603 Jewish laws, these two are introspective. I can’t see your love for God, yourself, or others from the outside. I can only judge that from the outside. But perhaps that’s part of the point.
Before we get too critical of Jewish religious leaders, the Quran has over 500 laws. Today’s denominations have added food laws, laws for music, dancing, playing cards, dress, alcohol, and many others. Hinduism has even set laws binding you from birth into a caste system that determines your potential for jobs, marriage, and even how you are buried. Why does religion focus so much on laws? On the outside of the cup? A Jewish prophet named Samuel gives us the answer, “God sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”
The kingdom of God is an internal heart kingdom, not an external performance kingdom. You can’t buy, cheat, or con your way in. You can’t even actually perform or achieve your way in. But, the good news is you are already IN! The kingdom of God is within you. What you do about that is up to you, because from the outside the best the rest of us can do is guess at how that is going for you. You are in control. You are responsible. You have free will. You must choose. No one can do that for you.
Do you remember the images of the two faces from post 2? From a different perspective, the image was also a chalice. We are the chalice. Are we cleaning the inside or the outside? We each must change our perspective from doing everything outside of us, to inside of us. Instead of doing things on the outside to prove the inside is spiritually growing, we must turn our attention inward to the conversation between the two faces in the image. The conversation between just ourselves and our God.
We all know that the world looks on the outside. We experience it every time we make an embarrassing mistake. We are afraid of it and choose to lie rather than face that judgement. We pander to it to impress or gain favor with others. Out of caring what other people think, we clean the outside of the cup hoping to be approved by them.
To gain true freedom and spiritual growth we must change our perspective. How do we change? It’s pretty simple. We take our focus off the world outside and turn it inward. As Jesus summed it up, are we loving the Lord our God with all of our heart, soul and mind? Are we loving ourselves? Yes, that is the next question, because apparently we are to love our neighbor as, or in the same way, that we love ourselves. Three simple questions. I didn’t say easy – did I.
Ever since Christianity has been outwardly professed, this question is for men in their social life like the question which presents itself to a traveler when the road on which he has been journeying divides into two branches.
He must go on and he cannot say: I will not think about it, but will go on just as I did before. There was one road, now there are two, and he must make his choice.”
― Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God Is Within You
Consider what this Neuroscientist, Dr. Jeffrey L Fannin, is saying about the physics of taking every thought captive.
Post #15
I AM JOY!
Going inward can be scary – or at least uncomfortable. Isn’t that interesting? We so fill our senses with the outside world, that our inner being becomes a stranger. In fact, in today’s fast paced, noisy world we compound the situation with a TV that is always on, a phone that is always in our grasp, and many of us even sleep with something outside of us drowning out our inner self. Why?
Perhaps we have become so unfamiliar and uncomfortable that we have become strangers to ourselves. Like meeting a stranger for the first time, we are nervous. No wonder we spend all of our time polishing the outside of the cup.
Since 2019, when many of us began working remotely, we have become even more obsessed with the outside of the cup. Many of my co-workers went out and bought special computers, special lighting, and even designated special home space near windows just so that they would look better for Teams or Zoom calls. Now the trend is to create filters and even avatars to replace our real selves on social media. Are we whitewashing tombs?
In the U.S. we have an epidemic of depression, anxiety and stress. Medicating these conditions is a multi-billion dollar per year industry. But is the problem really a lack of knowing ourselves? How can we come to love or even accept who we are if we are strangers to ourselves? How can we begin the transformative growth we so desire? Remember that saying I told you about, “Life doesn’t happen to you, it is the consequence of the choices that you make.” A friend of mine suggested changing it to … “it is the consequence of the thoughts you chose to focus on.”
Earlier we quoted something Jesus said, the greatest commandment is to, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind… and the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” The last part, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” is itself a quote from the Law of Moses in the Jewish Torah. It is a theme in many religions: Jewish, Christian, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism. Wisdom literature assumes that we love ourselves. It also assumes that this love for self is the basis or foundation for loving others. Could it be that the separation we feel from others, the alienation and loneliness could stem from this cause? If we don’t know ourselves, how can we love ourselves; and if we don’t love ourselves, how will we love others – or even love the Lord our God.
The first step to cleaning the inside of the cup is not to condemn or even belittle our inner selves. Scolding ourselves rarely produces true introspection. The first step, like any relationship, is to get to know that person. I believe that the primary reason we drown out all meaningful inner awareness is because we don’t authentically know ourselves; we are strangers to ourselves. What we do know, or think we know, we are sure we don’t really like very much. Therefore, we don’t really love ourselves. But it is no surprise, then, that we are incapable of real change.
Once again, I will suggest that you watch the Ted Talk by Alan Watkins to the left. If you didn’t take time to view it before, Dr. Watkins has spent years helping professionals, athletes, and people from all walks of life. Here he shares his research on understanding our emotions and thereby understanding ourselves. If it resonates with you, go to his website and consider more of what Dr. Watkins is saying about emotional mapping. I also recommend the book below, “Loving yourself into Life.”
For today, let’s take a step in cleaning the inside of the cup. try this exercise. Create an image in your mind of JOY. If it helps, take a piece of paper and draw a picture of joy. Ok, Ok I know many of you are not artists. This is not a Rembrandt; no one but you is going to see it. For those of you complaining, “joy is not something you can draw!” Draw the image that comes to your mind – a bright yellow sun, a smiling face, a heart. This is YOUR picture of joy.
Now, close your eyes as we did when we were “taking every thought captive”. Take a few deep breaths through your nose and let them out very slowly – this will put you at rest and focus your mind. Keep repeating this rhythm of breathing until you feel your heart calming and your breathing slow. With your eyes closed, bring the mental image your created or the picture you drew to mind. Hold it there in your mind’s eye. While you are viewing your unique image of joy in your mind, repeat to yourself, “I AM JOY.” Allow yourself to let go and feel the image. Linger there as long as you can repeating, “I am joy.” What do you feel? Warmth? Are you smiling? Are you tearing up? If so, let it go! “I am joy!” repeat it to your inner self. Again. Again.
Repeat this exercise every day, perhaps several times per day as you can, until the next post. Consider what comes to your mind as you do this exercise – other than the turkey sandwich you want for lunch. Let your mind pull up thoughts as you focus your thoughts on, “I am joy.” Reflect on what thoughts you were having when you were experiencing joy. Where were you? What did it feel like? If your thoughts stray to unpleasant thoughts or critical ones, stop the thought and refocus – I AM JOY.
In addition, try to go to sleep without music or TV on. Perhaps do this exercise as you go to sleep. Consider taking a walk without your phone or ear buds and again focus your thoughts on this exercise. Give it a try.
Post #16
“Know thyself”
Welcome… this post is early, since I will be out of town. Enjoy!
You may be wondering, what does joy have to do with who I am? The state of joy is our natural state. Did you watch the video on the frequency of emotions by Dr, Fannin in the last post? If not, go back and watch it now. Joy is a natural state of being. It may not feel that way, especially if you are choosing to live in another state like anger, but all you have to do to be convinced is to spend time around a small child. Yes, yes the terrible twos are also a part of childhood, but no being is more readily disposed to express joy through laughing and laughing hardily than a small child. Glee springs from a child’s belly laugh over the simplest gesture (and its contagious!).
I was walking through the grocery store with my 2-year-old grandson and asked him if he wanted some popcorn. I over-exaggerated the P in the word blowing a gust of air into his face. Immediately, he burst into giggles. I repeated myself and again his face lit up and his belly shook with laughter. Yes, the game lasted for at least 10 rows through the store and soon every passerby was smiling from ear to ear. It brought back the joy filled memory of my own son at the same age laughing with the same delight when my husband said the word pretzel in the same way blowing in his face and dancing the pretzel sticks around his highchair tray.
Whatever brings you joy, I did not say happiness, pleasure, or satisfaction but joy, is at the heart of who you are. It may cause laughter like my grandson. It may be the source of peace like a sunset. It may bring tears, but tears of cleansing release. It can be anything that erases all except that deep feeling of joy. You may not be able to sustain that state of joy for more than a moment for now, but you can build upon it.
If it has been a long time since you remember feeling JOY, go back and watch Dr. Watkins video on emotions. Do the exercises he suggests. In the same way a meeting of old dear friends can be awkward as you try to remember how it felt to relate to one another, it may take a few inner conversations to get comfortable with your old friend - SELF.
“Know Thyself” is one of the oldest Greek philosophical maxims. It is carved on the temple at Delphi. Socrates later quoted it when he said, “Man Know Thyself.” His works inspired other philosophers through time such as Pythagoras, Descartes and John Locke. This wisdom was not a precursor to psychotherapy! This ancient wisdom was an understanding that to Love God and Love Others, we had to clean the inside of the cup, we had to do the inner work of knowing ourselves and “sow to the spirit!” If we don’t have an understanding of ourselves, how can we make the real changes that will produce the fruit of the spirit, outer change, we are looking for. Unless we look inward, we will only be cleaning the outside of the cup - sprucing up whitewashed tombs.
In the same way that getting to know another person takes time, it will take intentional cultivation for you to get comfortable with your true inner self and get to know that person. Some individuals will find it easier than others depending on many factors. Whether it comes fast or slow doesn’t matter – this is not a completion. Remember this is an inner work not an external one. Don’t share this journey to impress others or to check on your progress compared to theirs. This is between you and you – and your God. Don’t forget to smile! Just smiling will release those peptides Candice Pert told us about: endorphins, dopamine, and serotonin. (https://intermountainhealthcare.org/blogs/the-real-health-benefits-of-smiling-and-laughing)
In the same way that you did the exercise from the last post, try this meditation to the right. If you are unfamiliar with meditation and it makes you feel uncomfortable you can turn it off at any time. There are more than 20 verses in the bible regarding meditation. In Genesis 24:63 it says that Isaac went out into a field to meditate. Meditation is a part of all holy writings. If the guided meditation is distracting, another approach is to play some music (with no words) in headphones while you do the exercise from last post again now.
When the video instructs taking a few breaths, remember to breath in SLOWLY through your nose as far in as you can, hold it just a moment, and then release the breath SLOWLT through your nose. This calms your mind and body so that you can focus - there’s nothing weird going on here. You’re just relaxing and focusing.
After you’re finished, listen to the song to the right. Enjoy. Try one of these ways of meditating every day this week and consider how it has impacted your mood, your outlook on life, any change?
Post #17
Count it all joy!
When I first began contemplating what joy really was, I was challenged to consider what joy really was. Like Dr. Alan Watkins described, I had a difficult time distinguishing between joy and many other emotions such as humor, happiness, being excited, cheer or even love. All of these can be aspects of joy or expressions of joy, but joy is deeper and more profound.
Webster’s definition of joy is, “a settled state of contentment, confidence and hope.” This is quite different than transitory humor, pleasure or even a sense happiness. Joy is a state of being. Actually, is your natural state of being. We discussed this in the last few posts, but I want you to really consider it. The bible mentions joy 430 times in our English translation and possibly up to 500 times if we translated it more completely. Consider that sin is only mentioned 182 times in the bible; repent only 40 times, condemn only 24 times 36 if you include condemnation, judgement 127. that means that joy out numbers these other ideas by least 100 instances on its own. That does not include love, peace, and the other fruit of the spirit. Why is that?
This is not just a Judeo/Christian perspective. Ancient Egyptians had the same perspective centuries before Abraham. As did Native Americans half the way around the world. In fact, the idea that joy is our natural state of being is fairly universal throughout all wisdom literature throughout history.
We are moved by persons such as Anne Frank or Gandhi because they are examples of those whose lives were characterized by joy – even in the worst circumstances. How can this be? Anne Frank wrote in her diary just weeks before she died, “I still believe, in spite of everything, that people are truly good at heart.” James, the brother of Jesus, wrote, “Count it all joy whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
Joy, therefore, is not the absence of hardship or heartache. Certainly, humor may be tempered by such trials, and even happiness, but not joy. In fact, joy sustained through these difficult times can bring about strength to persevere, growth, maturity and an inner completeness. Even perhaps the return of humor and happiness. Perhaps that is why it is named as a fruit of the spirit. It is not superficial, but deeply spiritual. (The fruit of the spirit are listed as love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.)
This is important, because joy need not cease because there is difficulty. In fact, it can increase. Joy is our natural state of being. The video to the left is of workers singing with joy as they work. Facing poverty and challenges most of us are unfamiliar with they are expressing joy through song. Have you ever tried singing an uplifting song when you don’t feel uplifted? It isn’t easy, but if you will try it, you might find your joy returns. Perhaps through tears, but it can return. Try singing along with the little children in the video below – just try it!! Don’t be embarrassed.
In his famous book, “The Power of Positive Thinking,” Norman Vincent Peale wrote, “You can think, talk and act yourself into dullness or into monotony or into unhappiness. By the same process you can build up inspiration, excitement and surging depth of joy.” Peale understood taking every thought captive. He was aligned with James Allen, As a Man Thinketh…so he is.
Our exercise today is from Peale’s book. “Think joy, talk joy, practice joy, share joy, saturate your mind with joy, and you will have the time of your life today and every day of your life.” He also wrote, “Joy increases as you give it, and diminishes as you try to keep it for yourself.” Give it away today! Smile at the barista! Look someone in the eye and say thank you – and mean it! Compliment a co-worker. Give away joy!
Finally, I’d like to challenge you to continue the we have exercises for meditation. Take a few minutes, hopefully before you start your day, to sit in a comfortable, undistracted place and take a few deep breaths. After you are completely relaxed and focused, bring the image of the picture you drew of joy to your mind. Focus on it, while you continue to breath slowly and relaxed. Spend a few minutes imagining joy. Feeling it permeate your being. Let it “Be” your state of being. Then consider the day ahead of you. Picture each element of the day going well and being joyful in the situation. Regardless of the challenges, be joy in it! This is creating your day, rather than having it come upon you. Remember, Your life is a consequence of the choices YOU make, it does not happen to you.
Post #18
Instead…
If you listened to the King and Country song in Post 16, there is a common theme that JOY is not dependent upon circumstances in your life. You can find joy or choose joy in any condition. This is the secret of heroes like Anne Frank, Gandhi, Bonhoeffer, Nelson Mandela, Marie Curie and many more.
Nevertheless, it isn’t as easy as putting on a new coat over old tattered clothes. That strategy won’t work for long. You have to do the inner work we’ve been talking about.
Part of knowing and coming to love oneself is understanding what steels your joy. What is it that distracts you from living a joy filled life? What is it that squashes your joy? What is it that killed your joy? It likely has already come to your mind.
Today, looking straight at that person, place, time or event is part of knowing yourself, healing and loving yourself. Letting go of what steels your joy is work – sometimes hard work. Yet, it is essential to truly knowing yourself. My bitterness that I described earlier was steeling my joy. Forgiving and accepting was not a release of the persons or events that led to the bitterness, it was a release of myself. My bitterness and my unforgiveness bound me, not them. For all I knew, they had moved on without looking back. In fact, the person may not even be alive anymore. For me to be free was going to be a process of plowing up my hard heart so that joy could grow again. The natural state of joy was the environment needed for me to love myself, and ultimately love others.
Buddha said, “Holding hatred in the heart is like drinking poison and hoping others will die.” I love that word image. It is very clear that hatred, bitterness, and unforgiveness poison only ourselves. It steels our joy. In the bible it says, “Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander… Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another just as God has forgiven you.” Like many recipes for a better life in wisdom literature, this is a put off and a put on. A word picture often used is the image of taking off an old worn out garment and putting on a new one. In fact, the old clothes are likened to grave clothes. That is supposed to be a funny idea. If someone is raised from the dead to new life, it would be absurd to see him walking around in his new life wearing mummy clothes. (It is sad we miss the humor in ancient wisdom because we attribute to it such dry piousness!) Wearing grave clothes is exactly what we are doing if we continue to wear clothes of bitterness, anger, hatred or unforgiveness.
In my book, Awake O Sleeper - Mother’s, Daughters, sisters, others - Faith is learning this lesson. My editor tagged Faith’s story as one of overcoming trauma, in fact generational trauma. At first, that characterization of the book bothered me. The characters of the novel would not have had our modern persona of victimhood about them. They each met their difficult circumstances with strength and perseverance. However, after my editor and I talked about it, I saw that Faith, and the women of her heritage, experienced trauma. The difference was they forged forward.
These women, though tough, had had their joy trampled. They had grit, but did they have joy? Faith’s journey was to dig up that hardened ground to sow new seeds of joy!
Norman Vincent Peale wrote, “Everybody really knows what to do to have his life filled with joy. What is it? Quit hating people; start loving them. Quit being mad at people; start liking them. Quit doing wrong; quit being filled with fear. Quit thinking about yourself and go out and do something for other people. Everybody knows what you have to do to be happy. But the wisdom of the test lies in the final words: ‘if you know these things, happy are you if you do them.’” Not so easy, you say? I agree. But there’s no time like the present to get started!
Today, try to simplify what has stolen your joy into an image. One you can draw simply on a card. A broken heart, or a chain that binds, or angry face. Anything that to YOU can symbolize the person or experience that is at the root of your lost joy. If there are many, choose just one for today.
Then we are going to use that image in the same way that we have your picture that symbolizes joy, but with a difference. Begin with breathing in through your nose and out slowly as before. Do this breathing exercise several times. Once you are in a calm, focused, meditative state, begin by focusing on the image that has stolen your joy. After a few breaths and a deep sense of the emotions caused by the image – burn it in your mind. Set it aflame in your imagination while continuing your meditation. You may feel anger – let it rise out of you like the flames and smoke. You may cry – let the tears go like a flood to quench the fire of anger and hate. When you have seen the image fully destroyed by the fire, let it go. This may take a few moments. Take a deep breath and slowly let it out. If you are tense - do the breaths a few times more and more slowly to bring back a relaxed state.
Bring back to your focus the picture that symbolized your joy. Let that image fill your mind and heart. If you can, lie down and remain in a meditative place filling your mind with joy. As you did before, notice where you are. Who is there? What does it feels like? Let it fill your heart and body. Remain there for as long as you are able.
When you are finished, open your eyes and physically destroy the drawing that represented the person or experience that stole your joy. Set it ablaze, rip it up, whatever pleases you.
Several times throughout the day, perhaps a minute or two each hour, bring to your mind your image of joy. If the picture representing what stole your joy comes to mind, take a minute or two to set it ablaze and replace it with the image of your joy.
These brief minute or two meditations can be in the bathroom, in your car, on a brief walk. They don’t take long, but they are actively focusing not just your mind but your being. Take every thought captive!
