Are Being Right, Being Happy, And Being Involved All In Conflict With Each Other?

What are we to do when it appears that being right, being happy and being involved all seem to be in conflict? Part 1

Following last week’s message, “I Don’t Have To Be Right To Be At Peace” [Msg-2-June-2012] I received a pertinent question from a good friend and subscriber. She had been teaching a group of spiritualists for over 3 hours. In an email to me, she asks (and I quote):  “After a very successful 3 hours of teaching I was moved to talk about charlatans in the metaphysical field and how so many are seeking, even as Creflo Dollar [Note: An Evangelical minister who preaches that God’s salvation can be quantified as monetary success] has decided, and is teaching that we are Spiritual Beings having a human experience. I referenced Jim Jones and the kool-aid in his back pocket. I got shouted down that we are all one and if someone gets "taken or mislead" it is part of their path. I thought about that and just can't come to terms that we have no responsibility or due diligence … to warn and give signs to watch for….  We don't tell our children to cross the street without first teaching them to watch for traffic, or not to put their hand on a hot burner without educating them about hot burners. 

“…. Those experiences simply leave me wondering about the rose colored glasses and the ideal world that some are able to create for themselves.”

I have written before in these messages that there is always a conflict within me about the idea that … “We are to be IN this world without being OF this world.” Where I draw the line-in-the-sand between the two is not a once-and-it’s-done event. My line between being in, not of, this world can shift by the hour – depending on the situation, the event, and the people (including me). My perceptions shift that suddenly. I’m sure yours do, too.

I don’t, however, want to try to explain the inner intentions/beliefs of those described by the emailer as wearing “rose colored glasses” or having some “ideal” world they imagine.

The spectrum from being IN the world to being OF the world stretches from the Hindu purist who can watch a baby drown because it is the baby’s Karma, all the way to meddlesome religionists who are trying to control and regiment everyone’s life, because they are convinced they are doing what they perceive is the Will of God.

Most of us are in the muddling middle between these two extremes.

I have learned a very critical spiritual truth getting sober in AA: I share myself and the positive changes that take place in me as I work AA’s Twelve Step Program, understanding that:

• ·      Some listeners will objectify or intellectualize my message without seeing my humanity existing in their own life.
• ·      Some will take my lessons to their hearts.
• ·      Some will be too busy convincing themselves that what’s happened to me is totally irrelevant to them.

That’s the decision of the listener. Regardless of the listeners’ responses, I do NOT NOT share myself – honestly and completely!

Continued in Part 2