A-Maze in Grace

Since the past few months have been a personal incubator for anxiety, it is of interest to note what little soft, fury Ah HAs have pecked their way to freedom from their prior prison of habitual thoughts.

My preference is to DO.

I’m equipped for that battle with my skills, brains and helpmate. When she and I identify a challenge before us, we simply begin to adjust to the handling of that change. We re-integrate the new direction back in to some routine, predictable pattern.

On a smaller scale, when I identify a task to do at work or at home, I can then “get to work” doing it because “I already know how” or because “I have successfully done it before.” This can be a task that takes me seconds or a task that takes me hours.

The key attribute of my DOING is that I am focused on productivity – on “getting it done” — as efficiently and effectively as possible. When I am focused-attention on productive DOing, I am seldom also aware of BEing.

Guidance from Spirit is available in the awareness of BEing. The “still small voice” that asks “What’s next?” or “Where to from here?” is drowned out by the Din of Doing. The ability to follow God’s Will (The Tao) – to “work without doing” (wu wei)- is temporarily lost.

I seek a straight but artificial path from Here to There for my mindless Doing.

Yet I am constantly interrupted in that quest by the latest twist or turn in the path we have chosen to walk together. It is nerve-wracking, disturbing, irritating — not knowing what is next or when the next next will not be predictable.

The anxiety and pressure, I’ve discovered, is on me, “my ego,” to get things done, to look good and strong.

This is ever the way when my focus is on the small minded task of my Ego-Doing. It is safe, limited, do-able (however much effort or patience or perseverance might be required) and ultimately an illusion. As I become more engrossed or consumed in reaching the goal or finishing-the-project, I tend to hold my muscles and breath with unnatural strain. My breathing stops being deep or thythmic.

The real world-of-spirit is infinitely connected. There is no pressure on the me or I to get things done because it is not me or I doing anything. I am Being directed by God with all the time and resources of the WHOLE available.

As I learn to turn my attention more continually to Spirit’s Guidance, I become less anxious about the discontinuation of my habitual doing and less anxious about my productivity achievements. In the same spirit-paradox of the “last shall be first,” my “doing” becomes both effortless and magnificently adequate. It becomes Nature’s Work or wu wei in its effortless mastery.

When “my habitual doing is interrupted, “I’ take it personally.

I’m busy! Back-off, universe! Why is this happening to “ME?” What did “I do to deserve this? Taking any thing from any circumstance personally is a guaranteed prescription for additional self-inflicted suffering. Whatever happens — it is never about ME personally. So stow the drama and save the organ music for the soaps.

Taking things personally sets up resistance vs “yield and overcome” and Be One.

NOT taking things personally opens up the BEING and wu wei side of things. It allows WHOLENESS which is healing and peaceful.

Humility, which is touted by so many religions, can be seen as simply withdrawing from this bubble of ego importance attached through our various identities with our clever Doing. I’m a “financial planner” — ” father” — “President of _____” — “man”– “big-shot athlete” etc. The attachment or identifying with these “roles” leads me into being “personally” attacked when some aspect of my role (mistakenly think me) is questioned or criticized.

The real “me? can observe these roles instead of identifying them as the same as “me.”

When I become “as a child” in order to enter the kingdom of Heaven/God, I understand these “serious” roles in my life as so much “play acting.”

“If we have a purpose of our own, it destroys the simplicity and the calm, relaxed pace which should be characteristic of the children of God.” writes Oswald Chambers.

The Zen Life

Infinite Gratitude toward all things past.

Infinite Service toward all things present.

Infinite Responsibility toward all things future.

Emotions and feelings – crying and laughing. These are human responses. Aside from obvious physical trauma or pain leading to expressions, it seems that most of my responses have more genesis in my mental self-talk than in the actual events themselves.

How I attitudinally approach and event brings the stress to the event.

If I suppress my immediate feelings, then they accumulate like debris behind a dam until the emotional water-pressure and the weight of the debris leads to breaks in the obstruction. If, on the other hand, I am able to let the emotions and feelings be accepted immediately, then they can flow through in the moment before they have built up any real momentum.

The mental self-talk might arise mainly from the fear or sense of incompleteness — lack of wholeness — mental perceived reality of external enemies and conditions that could “really” harm me. When I am in One-ness in the Moment, the peace from the sense of wholeness greatly reduces those fears.

An equanimous attitude is more like nature. Despite the “violence” of many natural events, the “attitude” of nature is that of natural consequences.

There is no extra worry about the future or judgment of the past. The plants and animals just do their thing. They don’t agonize, judge over behaviors.

Few extremes. Life just is.

Intention appears to be one of the special gifts of humanity. Its subtle quality is different from desire for a goal or objective. It is very different from “animal desires” which can become addictive or compulsive in nature.

Intention seems like a quiet resolve — a pointing and focusing of the attention toward a certain state.

This state is always subject to change yet can become our intention until we realize it. In the sense that we are turning around from useless, scattered intention (wishful thinking or vague hope), there is an element of “forgiveness” or “redemption.” Intention seems to arise from our Being, not our Doing.

The less ego we have in the process, the deeper, wider, more effortless and more far-reaching is our intention.

Historical Prophecy Fulfilled

There are multiple references in the Old Testament that can be interpreted as foretelling the Death and Resurrection of Jesus the Christ. Some of these are more cryptic than others. Regardless of how tight or loose you find the wording and how often subsequent meaning overlays are needed in order to reach a direct “hit,” there is the matter of historical timing of the events in Jesus’ life that moves His ministry from that of an interesting prophet into a play produced and directed by God.

How could someone possibly orchestrate the political climate and all the people involved so that He, as the Lamb of God, was crucified on Passover, rose from the dead on the Day of the Offering of the First Sheaf and then Pentecost occurs 7 weeks after the Offering of the First Sheaf on the Feast of Weeks (Harvest or First-fruits)? Coincidences that might be hard to miss…unless you were looking for a very different kind of messiah.

Example or Model of Sacrificial Love

There is no stronger love than that one would lay down their life for others. When your life has been heightened and expanded to the level of Christ Consciousness, as Jesus’ was, this act of sacrificial love takes on cosmic significance and power. In the Buddhist tradition, those reaching the upper reaches of spiritual development sometimes take the Vow of the Bodhisattva where they promise to return and help mankind until everyone is released from their suffering.

The same concept as with Jesus, yet his level of consciousness was so high, that his effects were universal.

Inner Interpretation — Death of Lower Nature/Ego/Flesh/Sinful Nature

The Cross re-presents the death of our lower nature with its ignorance of the truth, desires and attachments leading to sin and suffering. This is true freedom. This is the light burden and the easy yoke. As we are “born from above,” we re-all-eyes the oneness inherent in reality. We let go of the illusion of duality: good and evil, here and there, me and not-me. We become WHOLE, WHOLY, HOLY, HEALED, COMPLETE, and SAVED from our former fragmented brokenness. We move from “of” the world to “in” the world. We see and attain the Perfection in Paradise into which we enter.

Crucifixion was usually death by asphyxiation. With Spirit so closely related to Breath in language as well as practice, crucifixion literally pushes us to the point where we can no longer draw in that last bit of Spirit/Breath. This complete emptying finally prepares us for the in-pouring of the Spirit for our resurrected New Birth.

In I Corinthians 15:30, Paul says, “I die daily.”. This business of death and resurrection, like so many other cycles, happens at many levels. What Jesus did once and “for all” we continue to repeat as we journey closer to Him and become Lighter Beings more capable of Love.

A Way out of Sin and Suffering

John the Baptist preached (some say he sang) “Prepare Ye the Way of the Lord. Make His Pathways Straight. Raise up the valleys, smooth down the mountains.” When Jesus as the Christ was done on the Cross and had emerged from the Tomb. The Way was there. It was finished. The mystical journey taken by seekers of various faiths all go through the level of Christ Consciousness on the Way to Oneness with God.

Prior to this act of sacrificial love, special seekers still found their way to God. It was simply far more difficult — not much of a trail had been blazed. The Taoist followers of the Way, the Buddhist Eight-fold Path, the various Hindu practices, Shamanic practices, Hebrew and Sufi mystical traditions all lead to God.

As the apostle Paul and countless other Christian mystics would attest, this process is not a done deal with a simple statement of belief and a commitment to have Christ in our lives. That is simply the beginning of a long and exciting journey as we endeavor to “Love Him more dearly, See Him more clearly, and Follow Him more nearly.”

We all have quite a number of selves (parts of our souls) that continue to cause us suffering. Some have been crucified, some have been buried and a few have rolled back the stone and gone Free in the Light.

With the help of Christ and our steady intent to be Free, the rest of us can some day be liberated from the chains of sin and death.

Salvation – From What?

A God who is more judgment than unconditional love would require some kind of payment/ransom to set things back to a right and fair balance with Himself.

Given Old Testament images, a blood sacrifice would be a nice touch and sacrificing your only Son makes for an even stronger quid pro quo. Given that kind of judgmental, inflexible God, we can even twist our logic into viewing such a thing as an act of love. For this God who we see as an Awesome and Fearful King rather than as a Loving Father, it could even be viewed as a benevolent act. (An act He admonished Abraham not to commit.)

Of course, for THAT kind of God, it wouldn’t end there. No, it would be up to us to “believe” or respond in some required way or face the final judgment of eternal damnation.

If, as I believe, God is Unconditional Love, who is way beyond the duality of Good and Evil. These, as well as other petty human characteristics we so often project on to the Divinity. God treats us ALL as Jesus described the shepherd and his wayward flock — not satisfied until ALL are accounted for and safe in His arms.

So if Salvation is not about deal making with a pouting, judgmental God who, after sacrificing His Only Begotten Son wants something from us, then it might be more about a Prodigal Son’s finally seeing the Light and returning to his Father’s Loving arms. We are being saved from our selves, from our free will, from our fear and from the attachments and ignorance born of that fear. We are being saved to a state of wholeness, grace and light where we know God intimately as His Children, Made in His Image.

Jesus, the human, walked this very same path to show us the Way. We need only follow Him. The Prodigal Son’s Father did not have a time schedule that said,

“If he’s not back in 1 day or 10 days, then he’s damned in my eyes.” Neither does our Father care whether it takes us one, ten or thousands of lives to get back to Him. His time is etermity and our access to that eternity is each NOW when we have choices of which Way to Follow.

Easter Thoughts: Easter Letter from Self-Realization Fellowship

During this blessed Easter season, I pray that the glorious promise Christ’s resurrection holds out to each soul may awaken within you renewed faith in the boundless potential of your immortal Self. The beloved Lord Jesus, in whom that God-consciousness was perfectly manifest, had to face the dualities of the world, as we do. But he rose above them and vanquished the most pernicious of illusions — that we are frail human beings, living out our lives within the narrow confines of birth and death. Through the radiant example of Jesus, God calls each of us to fulfill our highest destiny — to realize that we too are children of the Heavenly Father, meant to conquer all that hinders the pure and perfect expression of our innate divinity. That transformation comes through the little daily victories that subtly change and enlarge our consciousness until we can look beyond the narrow perspective of self-interest, ego-demands, and differences with people, and feel the divine love that sustains and unites us all.

It is human nature to respond to others according to how they treat us. But Jesus expressed the divine nature. His compassion for and understanding of evervone was so all-embracing that even in the midst of suffering beyond human endurance, he could show tender concern for those who thought themselves his enemies. It takes greater strength to forgive than to retaliate. That soul-power which Jesus brought forth is also present in you.

You can choose to let love rule in your life, however others behave. When someone speaks sharply and you resist the impulse to answer in kind; when someone wrongs you and instead of holding on to resentment, you turn within and say, “God, help me to feel Your love for that soul,” you are attuning yourself with the divine harmony that can bring peace into your life and the lives of others.

The Christlike empathy that perceives the beauty and goodness of every soul can only flow from a heart anchored in God’s limitless love. As your consciousness expands through deep inner communion with Him, the well-being of others becomes as important to you as your own. Ultimately one is able to say, as Paramahansa Yogananda did: “I know no strangers. What a great state of happiness and joy! Even the worst enemy cannot make me feel that I am not his friend. When that awakening comes, you are in love with all. You see that everyone is your Father’s child, and the love you feel for all beings never dies.” May that Christ-love grow within you until you can look at everyone with eyes of infinite understanding and behold with reverence the divine image hidden there.

Where is the Peace?

I suspect that inner peace is our natural state. Perhaps the state of a child, playing outside in the sunlight of a crisp morning in a world where everything is as it should be, is that state to which we are all longing to return.

As I fondly recall mornings (beginnings) such as those, I was certainly not dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. I was looking forward with alertness to what each next moment might bring or simply enjoying the wind rushing through my erstwhile hair follicles. It was a time of discovery, a time of adventure, a time of change, a time of promise from a pregnant-with-possibility-and-discovery existence.

How do we lose that inner peace and at the same time cling more tenaciously to the desperate hope that the next moment will be the same as the one we are in right now? Astoundingly this can occur even in the midst of bad times — so worried are we about change. Maybe as we are increasingly taught to judge the past by our elders, we fear the mistakes of the future. Perhaps this encourages us to view the present situations with the hope that they contain some permanence. For most of us, permanence is aligned with comfort. Many of those ingrained habits, although self-destructive, are nonetheless comfortable in their predictability. Our routines give us a place to relax and not have to chose. Choice is hard work. Conscious choosing takes effort.

It is my experience that my routine and habitual responses to stressful circumstances usually involve eating poorly. I suspect that whatever feelings of stress arise, my unconscious antidote is comfort food — which of course takes the form of sweets of the “there, there, have some of this and you’ll feel better, just treat yourself this once, your having a rough time” variety. Of course, I am so comforted by this while I sit and gorge and so un-comforted when I later reap the results.

Duh!

Another dynamic here is our Ego/Brain needing to be important and have a big role in our personal drama, so it makes for great theatre when we can have this incredible, on-going dialogue in our heads about What WAS. We can judge our past behaviors and then judge our judgments, feel bad about them, use our critical parent voices on them and generally get all worked up about the What WAS. Judgment and Guilt are the two main characters in this drama.

Then, based on our own What WAS or someone else’s What WAS (that we’ve read about or heard about) we can project those awful results into the future and have a great drama about What IF.

What IF has unlimited characters, subplots and really brings our pathetic Ego/Brain into the action. It is gleefully running hither and yon playing different roles, being the drama critic, and feeling soooo important and needed.

The main character, with varied costumes, is Fear.

In the mean time, our bodies, of course remaining in the Present are stuck with all the anxiety and tension generated by the dramas created by the Ego/Brain on the stages of What WAS and What IF.

To the extent we can keep What WAS and What IF safely in the background (the more distant the better) and allow WHAT IS to occupy the foreground, we can enjoy the peace of the Present — a true gift to ourselves and others

As Arthur Somers Roche once said, “Anxiety is a thin stream of fear trickling through the mind. If encouraged, it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts are drained.”

The Bible tells us that there are enough troubles today without borrowing from tomorrow and again like the birds of the air and lilies of the field, not to worry about tomorrow.

We can train our minds to chose what we think about. We are not stuck thinking only about what our Ego/Brain continually offers to us. We can direct our thoughts with our will. An interesting definition of emotion involves a continuum where at one extreme of highly emotional is the person who believes they have no choice whatsoever in what they choose to think. On the other extreme, the person realizes that they have complete choice in what they choose to dwell on. Neither of these statements ignores the fact that thoughts and feelings are usually simply tossed into our awareness. The issue here is what we do with them when they show up. Do we embrace the initial fear-filled thought and then stampede off on a herd of “ifs” or do we decide that we will shift our attention to other thoughts.

Quote from Gina Lake channeling Jesus: “Who is responsible for these thoughts and feelings? You’re not responsible for having an ego; it’s part of your software. AND you’re not responsible for the thoughts produced by this software, this programming. HOWEVER, you are responsible for any feelings you experience, because they are the result of giving your attention to the thoughts produced by the programming.”

It is said that one way to access What IS is through the body. Breathing, focused attention, and being in nature are three common techniques.

I suspect, yet have not reached a working awareness level, that I need to become more aware of my feelings related to the stressful events and then move toward acceptance. If I can notice and allow my feelings as they arrive, to be welcomed like guests and do the same with thoughts that just pop in, then I can dive into the core of the feelings or limitations, magnify, analyze and notice they are mostly empty space, with little substance. Then.. (using the Sedona Method) Be aware of the feeling. Allow the feeling.

Don’t label the feeling, just feel it.

Ask: Could I let it go?

Ask: Would I?

Ask: When?

And No is an OK answer to any of the above questions.

Another way to quiet the Ego/Brain’s incessant dramatic dialogue is to Play/Pray/Chant/Drum/Sing

An important component to this seems to be the idea we hold about the nature of this God to whom we pray. As we make contact, we can leave the world of What WAS and What IF and focus on our experience of God’s presence “right now.” This can bring about an immediate peace.

What WAS and What I get back on stage as we start thinking about our experience and judging the results. Is the God to whom we pray seen as…

# A Protector, where I am a Survivor and fit in by Coping, where I find God through fear and loving devotion; where Good is Safety, comfort, food, shelter and family and Evil is physical illness, threat and abandonment, where prayer becomes supplication for protection from an unfair and unreasonable world where my luck seems lost?

# The Almighty, where I am an Ego or personality and fit in by Winning, where I find God through awe and obedience; where Good is getting what I want and Evil is any obstacle to getting what I want, where prayer becomes bargaining and manipulating to work a deal?

# My Special God: where I am one of the Chosen Few and fit in by conforming to the law-and-order rules of this One True God and behaving myself, where Good is being part of the special saved and chosen group and Evil is being outside that group; where prayer becomes righteous expectation of reward for proper behavior and having read, quoted and invoked the special magic words required by the formula for salvation?

The other half of the coin of Praying Boldly and Ask-anything-in-my-name is that of Discernment or What-is-God’s-Will-in-this-matter.

One of the cruelest hoaxes perpetrated by the Church on the spiritual life of modern Christians is the notion that their prayers failed because they didn’t pray correctly or with enough faith. An alternative conclusion is the view of a world that is “not fair” and a God who “owes” us something after we’ve “paid our dues and been good.” Each of these views places us in a victim role — which is aided and abetted by our Ego/Brain who masquerades as our White Knight charging to our rescue — while never quite reaching where we hurt the most.

If we could discern/see the whole picture, we would understand that some events are more likely to happen than others. If we could truly see the WHOLE picture, the outcomes for which we pray would probably fade into insignificance. Given our partial sight and understanding, we can understand that we may have set in place a series of consequences that are now being reaped — and.. in the 11th hour they can sometimes be changed and sometimes not. Some of those consequences may have root causes deep in past lives, pre-natal or post-natal experiences. Perhaps experiences today can heal them and perhaps not until another time and place.

SUPPOSE (and I know these loom large from the normal Christian perspective)

1. God UNCONDITIONALLY loves each and every one of us. Thus no one is in need of salvation from such a God’s condemning them to everlasting damnation.
2. God’s Creation is still Good/Perfect as He created it — especially in the current unfolding Present Moment of
   NOW and Eternity — as opposed to in the judgmental realm of What WAS and the fear-filled realm of What IF.
   In other words, post-creation God hasn’t said, “Oh, no! That wasn’t supposed to happen! How am I going to fix this mess?”
3. God is the Unavoidable instead of the Unattainable and we are each completely and personally and intimately ONE with God.
4. As individuals we are each following our own journey
   WITH GOD WITH US EVERY INSTANT OF EVERY DAY. Our challenge is to notice this. Just because we go inside and close the door, doesn’t mean the sun stopped shining.

Our relationship with God is very personal. The level of Christ Consciousness is absolutely “the only way to come to the Father” because it is the 6th level in our human system of consciousness and we must go through it to get to the 7th level. It is simply our Energy Anatomy.

The fundamental essence of that Christ consciousness is way bevond the limited requirements of belief in the human body of Jesus and the various labels from doctrine and church dogma.

This level of consciousness has been accessed by mystics and others from all the religions and from people espousing none of them.

So, if we truly have an unconditionally loving God, intimately involved in our daily lives (standing at the door and knocking), how do we access this awareness for guidance and peace?

The Christ

For those of us with the upbringing and myth/story enrichment in our youth, we can have a constant companion and friend in Jesus the Christ. This can take many forms. We can talk to Him as we would a friend. We can imagine ourselves merging with him in Spirit as he enters our body to aid us with healing or other actions. We can cry in His arms, hold His Hand and have Him touch us for comfort and healing. We can hand over our burdens to Him. This works especially well with Judgment, Guilt and Fear. These just melt away in His Hands. We can turn parts of our body over to Him as we do when we listen to others with the Heart of Christ. We can use Him as our primary Guide on journeys into the Spirit World as well as any other adventures/explorations we might be about.

This is personal, private and intimate. This is Relationship.

This is in the Present. This accesses the part of us that is Made-in-God’s-Image, our Higher Self. It kindly and compassionately ignores our Ego/Brain’s ranting and raving dialogue.

The Buddhist View

One of the key tenants of Buddhism is Impermanence. In this context, that means we embrace change. We mistakenly see the world as a place of suffering rooted in our ignorance of the actual nature of the world, our mistaken belief that we are a separate entity and encouraged by our desires and attachment. When we are able to cut out the root of ignorance (like the head of a snake), all the coils of suffering drop away. To the extent, we can meet each new moment in our lives with the openness and vulnerability of a child, then we are open to the possibilities and infinite potential.

Like a hologram, each moment in time/space contains all moments in time/space. We are usually unable to access these possibilities because we have already decided that the last moment (day, week, month, year) will continue unchanged into the next one. If things are going well, that will continue.

If they just changed for the worst, that will continue to worsen.

A T-shirt says, “Just when I was getting used to yesterday, today showed up.”

We have a tendency to make What IS into What Will Be and then have that future become a self-prophesy vs Noticing What IS, and What IS Next. When we don’t desire and are not attached to a particular outcome, the possibilities are endlessly amazing.

This is personal, private and intimate. This is Relationship.

This is in the Present. This accesses the part of us that is Made-in-God’s-Image, our Higher Self. It kindly and compassionately ignores our Ego/Brain’s ranting and raving dialogue.

The Taoist View

One of the key metaphors in Taoism is Water. It flows in low places, humbling itself. It yields and overcomes. When it meets an obstacle, it goes around, singing as it goes. The description of the Taoist sage describes someone fully aware of and present in the Now.

They look confused, because they are waiting, listening, discerning what is next for them. Following the Tao appears VERY nearly the same as following the Will of God.

This is personal, private and intimate. This is Relationship.

This is in the Present. This accesses the part of us that is Made-in-God’s-Image, our Higher Self.

It kindly and compassionately ignores our Ego/Brain’s ranting and raving dialogue.

Miracles and Healing

Jesus wandered the countryside healing people — often with the comment that “their faith had made them well.” Usually, there was an interaction with Jesus which was followed by the healing. We don’t have story after story of people sitting around all by themselves being healed because “their faith had made them well.” This has been twisted into a perversion where lack of faith leads to lack of healing.

If we continue in our Victim, powerless mentality then we will continue to depend upon miracles to “save us” from something (suffering, death, damnation or whatever). The medical profession and Western culture predominantly take the attitude that the Power is outside of the individual. It resides with the government, the experts, the drugs, God, the Bible, the right words approved by some group, luck, or whatever other shiny item we “need to acquire to succeed and be happy.” Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court aptly illustrates that one person’s miracle can be another person’s routine. It is all about how you see it. If I can “see” (with my understanding) that electricity can flow to a switch that can then be turned on, then the sudden appearance of light is not miraculous.

If I can see the flow of events as I watch from the Eternal Now, I am not surprised by change. It is arravyd before me like a tapestry hanging on the wall. If I fail to have preferences for the outcome, then I am open to more possible outcomes from which to chose. I can sooner and more easily “let go of that, and choose this.” I am more response-able to choose an outcome or Way to further explore — as opposed to being “frozen” in place, unable to let go of the past or my future version of “s’posed to be.” To the outside observer, miracles just continue to happen to me. The new events are unexpected and bring me joy.

I have often gotten waylaid investigating the “how” of things.

My science-bent early years encouraged me to look for the cause-and-effect chain. I figured if I could identify and label each step of the process, then I could better understand and describe the outcomes thus making my world more predictable, safe and comfortable. I would always “Be Prepared” like a good Boy Scout should.

After learning about quantum physics, I now understand that there is a certain amount of randomness built in to the apparent chaos despite an underlying, inherent orderly progression. I also have come to realize that labeling and story-telling about the cause-and-effect chain of events doesn’t bring us any closer to a real understanding of the world. A shaman’s explanation of phenomena evoking various spirits and paranormal sensory data is simply different from a 5 hour dissertation of multi-syllabic words describing the physiological, biochemical, and psychological processes that pretends to explain the same phenomena. ‘The simplicity of the shaman’s tale allows for far more intuition and imagination in its actual use and we can keep the actual result clearly in our mind.

Guilt is a potent by-product of our time spent in the judgmental realm of What WAS and the Fear-filled realm of What IF. On top of my current suffering. I can pile more suffering in the form of guilt feelings about the suffering I am supposedly “causing others” to experience. Of course I have to “pretend” I am the cause since I have no actual power to make another person “choose” to suffer in their own What WAS and What IF. If the other person is a loved one, then I can augment my own suffering with an even heavier guilt.

One of the Four Agreements is “Don’t Take it Personally – it is not about You.” This means that when someone else chooses to react in some manner to their own perceptions of the world and the circumstances in which they find themselves and then directs some body language, comment or diatribe in your direction, the reason and source of the outburst comes from them, not you.

Death as an Advisor

Carlos Castenada’s Yagui Indian guru, Don Juan describes Death as an Advisor who waits over your left shoulder.

The advice from Death is that of keeping perspective and not taking yourself too seriously. With this advice, we can more easily remind ourselves to cherish the Now — for that is the only time we have to live our lives.

Aside from some extra pain and suffering, if death is the worst that can happen, then that realization can lessen the horror of the world of What IF.

Exploring Stoic wisdom will find similar attitudes and advice.

Alan Hobson’s description of the Sherpas who work the high-altitude climbs brings all these things to mind. No matter what the circumstances, they remain equanimous, happy and work steadily on about whatever task they have before them.

Despite prodigious strength and physical prowess, they remain humble and self-effacing. An instance of this was one of the Sherpas, weighing about 125 pounds, routinely carried loads of 150 to 250 pounds. He did this with a band wrapped around the load which rested on his back and then simply extended looped around his forehead. They climb without crampons or ice axes. The band around their foreheads keeps their hands free. All this at 17,000 feet and up?!