The Gospel of Transformation, discover the real story of the Bible: February 2017

Saturday, February 25, 2017

Letting Go and Letting God

From a subscriber (with her permission): “I really enjoyed these [last] two [posts] – (Being Politically Active and Spiritually Serene, Parts 1 & 2) and you have made me consider several people in a different light. Your statement, Everything is either an act of Love or a call for Love, is one I just quoted to someone on Facebook who expressed hatred for Trump. I can see him as "calling for love," and, although, I totally oppose nearly all that he is doing, I now feel almost pity for him, as he does not understand why people like myself do not "love" him. It explains his tirades about protests and parodies. I have also had the opportunity to apply this to two personal situations with family members this past week. I feel much better about these situations even though I recognize that they may occur in the future.”

The importance of trying to “train” our minds to think differently is such an important and critical first step. I cannot overestimate how significant this has been for me. However, I must always caution myself in this process. I have a tendency to believe I know better and, therefore, want to actually be the agent of change in someone’s life. Unfortunately, the “change”” they need to make is the “change” I want them to make. Here is where my caution and humility must lie.

It is the Voice for God or the Holy Spirit who opens the doors (cf. Lesson 56, 3, below) when we are truly willing to have our perception corrected. I cannot force my doors to be opened nor can I “open” someone else’s doors. I can, I believe, attempt to correct the actions/behaviors of another by recognizing their “call for Love” while telling myself “He/she is doing the best they can with the awareness/perception they have – just like me.” Whenever I find myself in a state of fear, vulnerability, rationalization, defensiveness, justification, projection, or disbelief – tools I use to protect "my" world – I am feeling like a victim, potential victim, or victor, all of which means that I'm in an attack mode! They have attack thoughts just as I do.

Let me allow some of ACIM’s Lessons to speak for themselves. Lessons 55-56 in the Workbook For Students in A Course in Miracles (ACIM) deal with this very concisely, in my opinion, (as do many of the other Lessons). As I mentioned above, this is a critical learning step for me. You may find this a critical step for you, too.

From Lesson 55: 1. What I see now are but signs of disease, disaster and death. This cannot be what God created for His beloved Son [collective humankind]. The very fact that I see such things is proof that I do not understand God [and do not understand me]. What I see tells me that I do not know who I am. I am determined to see the witnesses to the truth in me, rather than those which show me an illusion of myself.

2. The world I see … is a picture of attack on everything by everything. It is anything but a reflection of the Love of God and the love of His Son. It is my own attack thoughts that give rise to this picture. My loving thoughts will save me from this perception of the world, and give me the peace God intended me to have.

3. I can escape from this world by giving up attack thoughts. Herein lies salvation, and nowhere else. Without attack thoughts I could not see a world of attack. As forgiveness allows love to return to my awareness, I will see a world of peace and safety and joy. And it is this I choose to see, in place of what I look on now.

4. How could I recognize my own best interests when I do not know who I am? What I think are my best interests would merely bind me closer to the world of illusions. I am willing to follow the Guide God has given me to find out what my own best interests are, recognizing that I cannot perceive them by myself.

5. To me, the purpose of everything is to prove that my illusions about myself are real. It is for this purpose that I attempt to use everyone and everything. It is for this that I believe the world is for. Therefore I do not recognize its real purpose. The purpose I have given the world has led to a frightening picture of it. Let me open my mind to the world's real purpose by withdrawing the one I have given it….

From Lesson 56: 1. How can I know who I am when I see myself as under constant attack? Pain, illness, loss, age and death seem to threaten me. All my hopes and wishes and plans appear to be at the mercy of a world I cannot control. Yet perfect security and complete fulfillment are my inheritance. I have tried to give my inheritance away in exchange for the world I see. But God has kept my inheritance safe for me. My own real thoughts will teach me what it is.

2. Recognizing that what I see reflects what I think I am, I realize that vision is my greatest need. The world I see attests to the fearful nature of the self-image I have made. If I would remember who I am, it is essential that I let this image of myself go. As it is replaced by truth, vision will surely be given me. And with this vision, I will look upon the world and on myself with charity and love.

3. The world I see holds my fearful self-image in place, and guarantees its continuance. While I see the world as I see it now, truth cannot enter my awareness. I would let the door behind this world be opened for me, that I may look past it to the world that reflects the Love of God.

4. Behind every image I have made, the truth remains unchanged. Behind every veil I have drawn across the face of love, its light remains undimmed. Beyond all my insane wishes is my will, united with the Will of my Father. God is still everywhere and in everything forever. And we who are part of Him will yet look past all appearances, and recognize the truth beyond them all.

5. In my own mind, behind all my insane thoughts of separation and attack, is the knowledge that all is one forever. I have not lost the knowledge of Who I am because I have forgotten it. It has been kept for me in the Mind of God, Who has not left His Thoughts. And I, who am among them, am one with them and one with Him.

As I’ve stated before, “I have to understand, on a visceral level, who the “Me” or “I” really is when I am speaking or thinking. The “I” that says to myself, “I really need a newer, more reliable car” is a different “I” than the one that says to Spirit, “I can’t do this anymore; help me perceive things the way You see them.”

Although these messages are mostly for me, thanks for listening to me and getting to know me – warts and all. As always, feel free to forward this message to your friends, family, and those accompanying you on your spiritual journey.

Don

#4 Feb 2017

Friday, February 17, 2017

Being Politically Active and Spiritually Serene – Part 2

Several people responded to my message last week by indicating that it wasn’t really very helpful. It contained some nice thoughts, was well-written, but was almost Pollyanna-ish. Not very helpful in the practical sense.

Here’s Part Two.

Last week I wrote:

“It’s been very difficult for me to be (a) politically active since the election and (b) spiritually centered at the same time. The more active I want to become the more frustrated/angry/disappointed I also become. Something’s not right – and the problem is in me.…

“I need to be in balance with both sets of these activities. In short, I need to be as politically active as I can, but not out of anger, fear, frustration, or anxiety. I need to be politically active out of love and acceptance.

“But how can I do that?”

I tried to answer that question by providing some simple analogies. I closed with:

“I need to understand that my perception of things, people or events is not really real. I have to acknowledge that these things certainly appear to be very, very real. But they’re not. I need to ask for a different way of looking at the situation. I need to “see” not with physical sight, but with spiritual vision – to “see” the same way the Holy Spirit “sees:” Everything is either an act of Love or a call for Love. That ability to “see” like the Holy Spirit is given to me as a gift from God.

“So, I can protest, write my congressional representatives, send emails, sign petitions, or contribute money sensing that this movement of our new government is simply a call for Love. It is an attempt to assuage fear by accumulating and exercising power to provide them with security. I can try to accept (which is to be aware without fear or judgment) their insecurity and attempt to correct their “not knowing” rather than screaming out of my self-righteous anger and fear.”

Being a grateful member of Alcoholics Anonymous has helped me beyond what can be discussed here. I cannot speak for AA (no one can) but I can relate things taught me by old-timers in the Program. These ideas and practical suggestions lie behind all of what I wrote last week. [As an aside – I believe the principles of A Course in Miracles (ACIM) and the practical suggestions of AA are so much in sync that they become almost indivisible in my mind]

Basically, I want to suggest that you simply do the next right thing when faced with “political” issues that are coming out of Washington, DC. Pray, meditate, discuss, or whatever it is you normally do, and then do what you think is right/correct/possible for you to do. But, as I was taught, do these things without expectations.

It is similar to making a 9^th Step amend to someone I have harmed while still drinking. I am making the amend for myself – to help me clean the messes I have made. This is necessary for me to open up myself to positive change. If the other person cannot accept my amend, I cannot worry about that. I may be saddened, of course. But how someone responds to me is beyond my act of contrition and the amend I was offering them. I was cautioned to “do the work honestly and let the God of my understanding handle the outcome.”

When I find myself frustrated, worried, fearful, and – especially – angry at not getting the outcome I was hoping for (translation: expected), then I can be relatively assured that I was not focused on my part only. I was concerned with the outcome I preferred to occur, not on the solid genuineness of making an honest, heart-felt amend.

When I am focused on outcomes, then I fully understand that I am not trying to simply do God’s work as best I understand it. I am really trying to do God’s job. When I put it to myself that that’s exactly what I was up to, and that’s exactly why I’m feeling so frustrated and angry – I am always stunned at the error I made – again. And again. And again. I am still a work in progress.

So, continue writing, calling, emailing, attending Town Hall meetings, working in concert with other groups, marching, making signs, or whatever. But do so following your heart and allowing the God of your understanding to control the outcome. I can try to accept (which is to be aware without fear or judgment) the politicians’ insecurity and attempt to correct their “not knowing” rather than screaming out of my self-righteous anger and fear because I want my outcome to occur.

You are not expected to do God’s job. So, quit trying to.

Don

#3 Feb 2017

Sunday, February 12, 2017

Being Politically Active and Spiritually Serene

It’s been very difficult for me to be (a) politically active since the election and (b) spiritually centered at the same time. The more active I want to become the more frustrated/angry/disappointed I also become. Something’s not right – and the problem is in me. I am being faced with the concrete reality of the perennial conflict of being in this world without being of this world.

I need to be in balance with both sets of these activities. In short, I need to be as politically active as I can, but not out of anger, fear, frustration, or anxiety. I need to be politically active out of love and acceptance.

Is that possible? If so, how can I do that? That is the real question.

As far as I’m concerned, I must comprehend several spiritual axioms:

· All God understands about me is that everything I think and do can be put into one of only two categories: It is either an act of Love or it is a call for Love.

· Every thought, word, or action I do will either add to fear or to love. That being the case, to fight fear with fear only adds to fear. To protest in anger or fear will simply create more anger and fear and defensiveness.

· To approach these same issues with loving acceptance may provide me the opportunity to make my voice heard without adding to the enmity that is surrounding me. But how?

Let me explain with some examples.

A Course in Miracles (ACIM) teaches me that what I believe about this physical world I live in is determined by my perception. My perception has been “taught” from the perceptions of my parents, whose perceptions were “taught” by their parents, and so on. All of our perceptions are reinforced or modified by all the others we interact with. So, many of us share a lot of common perceptions. That doesn’t make these perceptions real or valid – just systemic. However we explain our perceptions, ACIM states that all of them – good, bad, righteous, evil – are illusionary.

I explain to myself ACIM’s teaching using the following two small analogies.

We’ve all been to birthday parties for one- or two-year old children. Cameras flash all over the place as the children try to eat the birthday cake. The children begin to see flash spots from the picture-taking and, not knowing what they are, begin to try to grab these floating spots. However, we adults know that what the children think is real isn’t. Nevertheless, it’s cute to watch. That may be exactly how God sees us – reacting to things we think are awful, frightening, hellish, hurtful or loving, righteous, graceful, serene. He knows we think they are real – but He also knows they aren’t. All He knows is Love. All He perceives in our thoughts and actions are either acts of Love or calls for Love.

Most of us were taught to discipline children or grandchildren out of love, not anger. To discipline a child out of anger will create more anger, guilt and fear. When a parent says, “I’m punishing you because you did something that made Mommy/Daddy angry/scared/frustrated” fills the child with guilt or fear because the punishment is all about the parent’s emotional reaction, which the child doesn’t understand.

To discipline a child out of love and acceptance is to acknowledge there is no personal “hurt” involved on the part of the parent nor is there any “blame” the parent is forcing on the child. It is simply a teaching moment – trying to explain how what the child did is incorrect/hurtful/dangerous/inappropriate. It is acknowledging the child’s “not knowing” and is trying to correct that.

Now, I know I cannot treat members of Congress or the Administration as two-year olds grabbing for unreal floating spots before their eyes. (Well, maybe a little!) But I can try to correct an issue on this 3-dimensional world I perceive with incorrect perception. I can try to treat these politicians with the same tolerance I treat drivers who cruise at 30 mph in a 45 mph zone because they do not pay attention to road signs. (I admit I’m still working on this.)

I need to understand that my perception of things, people or events is not really real. I have to acknowledge that these things certainly appear to be very, very real. But they’re not. I need to ask for a different way of looking at the situation. I need to “see” not with physical sight, but with spiritual vision – to “see” the same way the Holy Spirit “sees:” Everything is either an act of Love or a call for Love. That ability to “see” like the Holy Spirit is given to me as a gift from God.

So, I can protest, write my congressional representatives, send emails, sign petitions, or contribute money sensing that this movement of our new government is simply a call for Love. It is an attempt to assuage fear by accumulating and exercising power to provide themselves with security. I can try to accept (which is to be aware without fear or judgment) their insecurity and attempt to correct their “not knowing” rather than screaming out of my self-righteous anger and fear.

Don

#2 Feb 2017

Saturday, February 4, 2017

The “Joy” Of Hitting Bottom

In Chapter 9 of my book, How the Bible became the Bible [ISBN – 978-0-7414-2993-3, Infinity Publishing, 2006] I described a little of my story as an alcoholic: During the last year [before I stopped drinking], I was drinking about a fifth [of vodka] a day and a half-gallon over the weekend. I had to have alcohol in my blood at all times, twenty-four hours a day, just to feel normal. That meant I had to have a drink every four hours or so—even in the middle of the night. And during that whole time it never dawned on me that this was abnormal.

Eight or nine months before April 17, 1987 [my sobriety date], I awoke one morning at three with severe indigestion and had my son take me to an emergency care facility. My diagnosis: critical, acute pancreatitis. “An ambulance is being arranged to take you to the hospital. Oh! By the way, your blood alcohol level is 2.8!” I had gone to bed (a.k.a. passed out) at 10:30 p.m. that summer night. If I had a blood alcohol level of 2.8 five hours later, just how drunk was I when I “went” to bed? In the mid-to-upper-threes? That’s well into the range of toxic, fatal alcohol poisoning.

I had done that night after night after night!

That was my life and that’s what I thought I had to do in order to “cope.” I thought I was relatively normal under the circumstances. After all, if you had my life, wouldn’t you drink, too?

I was relatively normal. I was a relatively normal alcoholic—a maintenance drinker who had lived for thirteen or fourteen years drinking a pint of booze every evening between 6 and 11 p.m. Then, all at once, I needed more. My sense of control left. Sometimes I could drink almost a fifth and appear outwardly sober. Other times I could have only several drinks and I’d black out. This loss of control terrified me because it threatened my ability to maintain my pretense—my front—to the world: that I was successful; that I had an important, pressure-packed job; that I was a good father; that ... well, you get the picture. Anything that would crack that shell and let the world see the awful mess and hollowness inside me was to be avoided at all costs.

The last year or so of heavy drinking began with intermittent shots of vodka during the night. I’d wake up at 4 a.m. in a cold sweat with the shakes. Later, leg cramps would come as well. I’d go to the bathroom and then “snitch” a swig of vodka. Soon, that 4 a.m. pattern became a 1 a.m. and 5 a.m. pattern. I didn’t understand that I was experiencing alcohol withdrawal. It seemed that three or four hours was about as long as I could go without a drink—day or night, asleep or at work—day after day. I began carrying a flask with me to work because I couldn’t last all the way to the two double-vodka gimlets I had for lunch. I kept a bottle in my car so I could make it home after work (as well as one in the trunk—for emergencies! Unless you’ve been there, it’s hard to imagine the nightmarish, stark terror of being stalled in traffic gridlock—alone—with the thought of no vodka.).

Within the blink of an eye I was having mid-morning and mid-afternoon grapefruit/vodka cocktails at my desk. I now believe that those two small cans of grapefruit juice were providing me all the nourishment I’d get some days. Co-workers and clients began to complain of alcohol on my breath. I would explain I had a prescription throat spray for my sinuses. I bought a pair of self-darkening prescription glasses to help hide my red, puffy eyes.

Rule number one: Keep up the pretense. Rule number two: There are no other rules.

It took all that living, if you want to call it that, to get me to a place where I finally gave up. Gave up what? The pretense, the vodka, the illusion that I could handle myself, the belief that I could manage my life.

I really believe that without “hitting my bottom,” I would never have made it to Alcoholics Anonymous and witnessed the hope, happiness, and serenity I found there. Today, I am very grateful to be a recovering alcoholic.

I think my story may be a very apt analogy to what is happening in our country. In order to wake up and seek real transformation, we have to “hit bottom” as a nation, just as I did as an individual. Although sometimes I wish events in my life had taken a different course, I know in my heart that it took all that happened to me to get me into those rooms where I found an acceptance that transformed my life.

What happened to me has happened to every recovering alcoholic who, in working AA’s program of recovery, will readily admit they would never have become a grateful member of AA’s Fellowship without having hit their bottom. So, perhaps ….

· … we have to have Donald Trump, Steve Bannon, and Mike Pence work to eliminate the recent regulations that protect water, air, natural resources or our wilderness areas.
· … we need this Administration and complicit Republican Congress to roll back civil, religious, LGBT, workers’, women’s, and minority rights in favor of business and evangelical Christian beliefs.
· … we need to have this Administration and its Republican congressional support move back to the pre-Obama financial regulations to control Wall Street and lenders (including credit cards) just as the Bush Administration did. This way we can openly enjoy a repeat of the 2007-08 financial crisis.
· … we need to come face-to-face with our very own ignorance in determining the difference between fake and factual news, as well as determining that voter participation and political awareness is both a blessing and a responsibility and non-participation carries with it a very severe penalty.

Be grateful, be aware (without fear or anger), and begin in your own way to work for our national recovery.

Don

#4 Jan 2017