I Don’t Have To Be Right To Be At Peace! (Part 2)

Part 2 of 2 - Continued from Part 1

This is exactly where my ego creeps in to make my ACIM meeting its own – to make me its own. Of course others can feel the same feelings I was feeling. They feel them every Sunday in their congregations, synagogues, or mosques. They feel them out in the woods hunting or creek-side fishing. They feel these feelings with family all around or in their private times with only themselves for company.

My own beliefs in ACIM or in the Twelve Steps and Principles of AA can get very twisted very quickly into the “I’m right, you’re wrong (or at least you’re incomplete)” syndrome. Those whose religious beliefs rely on a fear-based theology, a vengeful Old Testament God, and a cherished conviction that they are right and everyone else is wrong can feel the way I was feeling. Those whose political beliefs provide them with a sense of purpose and meaning and “rightness” can feel the way I was feeling. Those of Jewish, Islamic, Buddhist, or Hindu faiths can feel the way I was feeling.

AH-HA – I’m not so superior after all. I’m not really on that much of a higher spiritual plane/path after all. I can get caught up in all the fear, defensiveness, and justification of my thoughts just as quickly as anyone else after all. It’s just a different fear. It’s just a different sense of superiority. But, it’s just as sick and ego-based.

I guess you could construe this as a depressing realization, and I have certainly been down that road. However, it also can be understood as a significant clue that I and my brothers are truly one. And I mean ALL my brothers: Fundamentalist Christian, Islamist, Zionistic Jew, aloof Buddhist, Tea-Party member, rabid progressive, racist, straight, gay.  If I can discipline my mind to see them in me and me in them, then the fear-based barriers that have separated us might be a little more porous – a little more elastic – than I thought. Of course, I cannot control others – but I CAN love them as an extension of myself. They want peace, serenity, calmness, and freedom just as I do. They want justice, change, and understanding, just as I do.

In the final analysis that’s all the Holy Spirit asks of me. I don’t have to change someone. I don’t have to change things or events. I just have to keep my focus on me and my thoughts. That’s my perceived reality. If I am willing, the Holy Spirit will change my perceptions.

I can live with that.

As always, thanks for listening and feel free to share this message with your friends, family, and those with whom you are walking your spiritual path.

Don

#2 June, 2012