Who’s Knocking at Your Door?

Love After Love

by Derek Walcott

 

The time will come
when, with elation
you will greet yourself arriving
at your own door, in your own mirror
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,

and say, sit here. Eat.
You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine. Give bread. Give back your heart
to itself, to the stranger who has loved you

all your life, whom you ignored
for another, who knows you by heart.
Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,

the photographs, the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit. Feast on your life.

 

I heard this poem for the first time today. I love the energy of this poem and the wisdom that it generates!

May we all come to arrive at our own door and recognize the being which is our self!

How Does Your Light Shine …

On my way to a meeting this morning the song “Shambala”  by Three Dog Night played on the radio.  What a wonderful upbeat and spiritual song to start my day out with!  I love the question, “how does your light shine in the halls of Shambala? I love this question because, it is a great thing to ask. How does our light shine?

Are we lighting the way?

Are we radiant with love?

Are we kind to all or just the ones we feel deserving our kindness?

Do we look for the light in our brothers and sisters even when the ones who seem to be void of light?

Today I want you to ask yourself these questions. Be brutally honest with yourself. If you find that you fall short of where you would like to be, simply resolve to be more aware and to radiate light from yourself and seek light in everyone.  This is not a time to beat yourself up for where you are, this is a time to create awareness and move forward!

You are light, you are love and if you really look, you will see that in your self and in everyone who comes in and out of your life.

Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain
With the rain in Shambala
Wash away my sorrow, wash away my shame
With the rain in ShambalaAh, ooh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah Everyone is helpful, everyone is kind
On the road to Shambala
Everyone is lucky, everyone is so kind
On the road to Shambala

How does your light shine, in the halls of Shambala
I can tell my sister by the flowers in her eyes
On the road to Shambala
I can tell my brother by the flowers in his eyes
On the road to Shambala

How does your light shine, in the halls of Shambala

Note: Shambhala (Tib. bde ‘byung) is a Sanskrit term meaning “place of peace/tranquility/happiness”  It is also thought to be an actual place hidden in the Himalayas. People and countries have even launched explorations to fine Shambhala. Of course the truth is that it is a place that was always with them.

Possibility – Remember Your Vision

 

If I were to wish for anything I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of what can be, for the eye, which, ever young and ardent, sees the possible. Pleasure disappoints, possibility never. And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating as possibility?

• - Soren Kierkegaard – Philosopher

Ah, to have an ever young perspective, what a great wish! When it comes to the perspective of the young, us who are older and supposedly wiser often cast a wary eye on the enthusiasm and naivety of the endless possibilities that young people see. We may even look back upon our youth recalling how different the world looked through our eyes when we believed with all of our heart all of the possibilities that we envisioned.  I personally recall one of my least favorite statements that those who were older and wiser than I would say, it was, “Why should we change it, this is how it’s always been done”. I despised that statement then and I despise it when I hear it today. Back then and today, I truly believe there is often a better way or a different way which we can do things and that we are held back by a lack of vision or because we have become too comfortable in the way we do things.

Many people lose the wide eye wonder and belief in possibilities of the youth as we grow older. We become disenchanted with the world and find that what seemed so painfully obvious to change about this world when we were young is much more complex the more we learn how “things really are” and we slowly give up while at the same time letting go of our vision of all of the possibilities. We get caught up in the race that we humans seem to be in. We get caught up in fitting into society, being socially accepted and doing and owning what our peers do and own. Our vision quickly becomes blurred and what once seemed all so possible gradually becomes the foolish ideas of our youth.

All the while, the truth is that we were not that naïve, we did have a vision and it was a vision of possibilities. Some people hung onto those possibilities and worked to make them realities as they matured and traveled along their journey. We often celebrate these people even though they went against the grain and achieved incredible changes in the world and had tremendous positive impact on themselves and the masses. The difference between these few and the many is that they always believed in the possibilities. As they grew and merged into the adult world they held onto their vision and found ways for the possibilities that they saw become realities.

There are no limits to the possibilities. We are incredible beings who know very little of our power to impact this universe.

I ask you to remember how it felt at one time in your life to see the possibilities without the cloud of so called experience and doubts that other people placed in front of you.

I ask you today to consider your life, the life of others, this world and this universe and to imagine all of the possibilities! They are still there and the only limits to achieving all the possibilities that are in your vision are the one you create.

Remove your self imposed limits and see the possibilities!!

Imagine – Part II

 

“We are already one and we imagine we are not. And what we have to recover is our original unity. Whatever we have to be is what we are.”

- Thomas Merton

In last writing we talked about John Lennon’s song “Imagine” and how he asked us to imagine that we were all one. Today, I was guided to this quote, and what a powerful quote it is at this moment, for it really turned the table on what John Lennon was saying in his lyrics. The truth of this quote hit me squarely in the face because YES we are already all one! It is our imagination; our thoughts which make us believe that we are separate from each other!!

It is our ego which dares us to think that we are separate from Source and in turn that we are separate from each other. The reality is that we are parts of the same Source and that the same Source is within each one of us.

To imagine that we are all one is to think and believe that which we truly are, which is that we are all one and this is because we all come from one.

Our authentic story is really very simple is it not? It is our thoughts, our ego and our combined egos (our culture) which have in many ways complicated that which is so simple and pure.

May we all see beyond the shroud and come to see, feel, hear and know the beauty which is us. Allow love to be your light today. Trust in your spirit even when you do not feel comfortable. Step into the unknown with confidence that what appears to be unknown and uncomfortable is truly what you already intuitively know and will be comfortable beyond your understanding. Step confidently across the threshold, for that is where you truly are, where we all truly are. Shed the illusion which blinds you and be warmed by your radiant self which is pure love.

Imagine

 I was in New York City this past weekend and parked at West 65^th street. I walked down a block or two and crossed over to Central Park where I found myself in a part of the park named “Strawberry Fields”. Strawberry Fields is a beautiful section of the park that was named in memoriam for the memory of Beatles and music legend John Lennon. John Lennon was assassinated in front of The Dakota  which was his last physical residence which is located very near to Strawberry Fields. Strawberry Fields for those who might not know, is the title of one of the Beatles hits that John Lennon wrote and performed along with the rest of the Beatles.

At the entrance to Strawberry Fields one finds a mosaic in the sidewalk which simply has the word “IMAGINE” written in stone. “Imagine” is yet another song which John Lennon wrote and sang, which is known throughout the world. In this song, John asks us to imagine a world where we are all one, where we have no boarders, nothing separating us from each other. One cannot help but to imagine the world which he depicts and marvel at the wonder of such a world.

At the word “IMAGINE” many people were gathered. People from all over the world were standing there looking at the memorial, taking pictures and soaking in the word and I can imagine hearing the song “Imagine” play through their mind as they stood there in reflection of John Lennon and his simple, yet powerful directive.

I questioned why so many people were gathered at this spot. Sure it is a tourist attraction, yet I believe it holds more value than that for most that gather there to stand and think for a moment. I believe that many people stand in that spot, most without a conscious thought as to why they are there, are standing in that spot because it is a spiritual place for them. They stand their much for the same reason that someone may reach out to touch the clothing of a famous person, they stand there in hope of feeling the energy that we knew as John Lennon. His was an energy of love and peace. His was an energy of vision, a vision that most would find an unachievable utopia, however John Lennon’s magic was that for a moment he helped us to imagine that which seems impossible and that is that one day we realize we are all one and that we live in love and peace.

Even though most on an intellectual level cannot believe that this could ever truly happen, deep down they know that is what our ultimate purpose is, for our essence is love and peace.

John Lennon like many other spiritual people understood on the surface that which most have buried deep under the guise of their ego and societal expectations and that understanding is that we are all one and that for us to all know that is a reality and for that reality to become true, we must first “imagine” for to imagine is to create thought, to create thought is to create energy and that energy which we create, creates our reality.

Remember today to do yourself and the Universe a favor and take time to “imagine“!

Resurrection, Re-birth, Re-Invention of Our Self

 

In the Christian community this is the holiest of weeks which builds up to the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Millions of people around the world today celebrate Good Friday and will celebrate Easter this Sunday in recognition of this pinnacle event in Christian belief. Easter eggs will be hidden and discovered by many children. The egg serves as a simple of re-birth, a symbol of resurrection.

Resurrection is defined as rising from the dead, a form of re-birth into another state or realm. In the Christian belief, Jesus died for the forgiveness of the sins of humanity thus giving a form of re-birth to humanity which allows them to enter into heaven for eternal life once they pass from this form.

The idea of resurrection is used in many belief systems. Before the time of Christ, resurrection was represented by the story of the Phoenix rising from the ashes.

Whatever you personal beliefs may be, the lesson of resurrection or re-birth is a very important life lesson. Going beyond the literal constructs of the story of the Resurrection of Christ, we learn some of  life’s key lessons, one, we are eternal energy which will live on long after this current form we inhabit expires and decays. We also learn that we have the unique ability to experience resurrection at any time in which we choose, that is, we do not have to die of the earthly body to be re-born!

I believe resurrection is one of the greatest lessons that many of the known spiritual masters, including Jesus Christ attempt to teach us.  We are the creator of our story and as the author of our own story we have the unique ability to re-birth our self, to rise from the ashes, to be resurrected!

Let’s take a look at this thought in a simple context. Have you ever said to yourself or heard someone else say “That looks like fun, however I could never do that, it’s just not me”? I think most of us have said this at times in our life. What do we mean when we say “that/it’s just not me”? What we are saying is this certain thing does not fit within the story of who I am. See we all have a story; our story is how we define our self. Most people have spent a lifetime writing their story and they are very confident that their story is reality. Truth is that the story of our self which we create is merely our perception of our self. As it is with any perception, this perception can be changed. How do we change perceptions? We change perception with changing our thoughts.

Changing our thoughts permits us to re-write our story, start a new chapter or even experience a re-birth and start a whole new book!  

If you could re-invent your self today, what would you change?

Once you know how you would re-invent your self, you simply have to know that you can!

You will surprise others when you re-invent yourself or have a re-birth, a resurrection; whatever you want to call it and you most importantly you will surprise and delight yourself.

So, what are you waiting for? Go and be who you desire to be! When you do this in spirit rather than ego, you will become “You”, you will become who you already truly are, through your personal re-birth you will uncover your authentic self!

Breaking Up Is Hard To Do

 

Have you ever been around someone who has decided to break off a relationship? This could be a relationship with another person; with a habit they have, with a church or faith that they belonged to or with some other entity in their life. 

Often when people “break-up” they go through a process of justifying why they broke-up. Many times, we will verbalize to anyone who is willing to listen why we made the decision to make the break, that is, all the reasons that support the decision to remove our self from the relationship. This behavior is normal and to be expected for a period of time after the break-up. In many ways it is a grieving process for what we have chosen to change in our life.

When someone is still going through this process as much time has passed, then we must ask what is going on. Why does every conversation with this person end up in explanations of why that person or thing is no longer part of their life? Most of us have been exposed to a person who a year after a relationship breakup they still find a way to draw a line of comparison back to the relationship they once had.

People who continue to justify their decision after a sufficient amount of time has transpired are simply still holding on to that which they have chosen to lose. They simply have not “let go” of their past relationship. They may have not yet let go because they still are not confident that they made the right decision. Their continuous verbal justification is more of an effort to convince their self that they made the right choice.

Again this choice could have been to end a romantic relationship or to change their core religious beliefs, or to change their basic path in life.

Uncertainty of a decision which is life altering is usually because the decision was made in haste, probably during a moment of passionate emotions or made because they hit a bottom and felt their was not other way to go. Deep down, they feel some regret for this change they made, yet their ego will not allow them to alter from this decision they made.

For many of us, once we make a life changing decision to discontinue a relationship, weather that relationship be with a person, an organization or some other thing, even if we come to a point where we realize we didn’t make the best decision for our self, the pride of the ego will fight us from retracting our decision.

When we find our self in this situation where we have not let go of a relationship that we chose to leave then we have two choices. One, if we truly believe with our spirit that we made the right decision then we must let go of that relationship and not expend anymore of our energy towards it; two, if in spirit we feel that we made the wrong decision then we must choose to put our ego aside and make an attempt to re-enter the relationship with humility and love.

There are times in our life where we will end relationships. We will end relationships with people, we will end relationships with organizations, we will end relationships on many levels and that is okay. When we do decide to end a relationship we must do it with love and not with ego. We must learn to end our relationships without anger or resentment in our heart. We must end our relationships with love and peace and be able to let go and set the relationship and our self free and be able to smile a knowing smile that we made are choice with a soul full of love and peace.

We do this with love regardless of how the other entity in the relationship reacts. We always act purposely with love.

Spirituality and Voting in The United States Presidential Election

 I live in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the United States of America, which is quickly becoming the venue of choice for a political firestorm as Hillary, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama launch their political machine in Pennsylvania in an effort to win the upcoming Pennsylvania Democratic primary.

Politics is one of the ultimate illusions and the politicians and their political machines are the master illusionists. Many speeches will be made which will be peppered with promises of change, remembrances of hard times and visions of better times. Many grand things will be said in an attempt to win the hearts and minds of the public, all designed to persuade us to cast our vote for a specific candidate.

The election of the President of the United States is extremely important, not only will who we elect have an impact on the citizens of the United States, that person will have an impact on many people of the world, from many different countries.

I know that many people who read this are not citizens of the United States, however this election and who we elect into office has a global impact and therefore should be of concern to all of us.

The question is how does one sort through all of the information about a candidate to determine who is the best choice for this powerful position. Surf the Internet, change channels on your TV or radio and you can find someone or some group of people who will have a very convincing argument as to why their candidate is the best person for the job. You will also find equal arguments against each of the candidates. With all of the information available to us, it is a herculean task to sort out the fact from the fiction about each candidate.

Some people will dismiss all of the information about the candidate and vote based on their political party, thus some people in the end will vote for McCain because he is the Republican or they will vote for Hillary or Barrack because they are Democrat. Other people will cast their vote because the candidate is a woman or because the candidate is black or because the candidate is a white man with grey hair. For many people to vote for someone because of gender, race or age seems very superficial, for others it does not seem superficial at all, for some there is great purpose behind this way of thinking.

I believe that each candidate has pluses and minuses and that each candidate brings different things to the table and that each will provide their own brand of leadership which will have an impact on the United States and the world.

Voting is a very personal event. We need not explain to anyone why we vote the way we do. Many people will vote with their intellect, they will listen to the information presented, try to sort it all out and vote for who they logically believe is the best candidate. Many people will vote from a ego center, that is, they will vote on how they personally feel they relate to the candidate and what they believe the candidate will do for them, that is, how will this person impact them at a personal level. Some people will vote with their emotions, they may cast their vote based on something one the candidates said or did along the campaign trail that touched them in some profound way.

We all have are own reasons for the way we vote.

As we travel along our spiritual path, we are still very much of this world and our thoughts and decisions impact and create the world in which we live. Choosing and voting for a presidential candidate is a huge responsibility, one in which we should approach from a place of spirit. I believe that as we participate in the world stage that we should meditate on who we shall cast our vote for and ask ourselves very pointed questions and understand why we are casting our vote of a certain person. As in all things, we must let go of our ego and turn to our spirit self and vote from our spirit. We must trust our intuitions as we approach this election and cast our vote with love and a knowing that we have asked ourselves why and have been honest with our self as we cast our votes. We must also focus our thoughts and disburse our energy to the candidate whom we select. Understand that your vote is only one part of your civil responsibility, your thoughts create energy which impact this world and will have an impact on who is elected and who is not elected.

It is important to note that this election is not simply an election of the American people, it is an election which will have global impact. Therefore, even if you are not a citizen of the United States I encourage you to place your thought and energy on which candidate you would vote for if you could and place the energy of your thought out onto the Universe. Your thoughts have tremendous energy and you will be able to affect this election through the energy of your thoughts. Cast your spiritual vote for you will make a difference.

May we be guided by our spirit, which is love, in all of our endeavors and may our spiritual path be consistent with the physical path that we walk along our journey.

Our Gordian Knot

  “The Gordian Knot is a legend associated with Alexander the Great. It is often used as a metaphor for an intractable problem, solved by a bold stroke (“cutting the Gordian knot”).”  – Wikipedia

I once worked with a team who had a performance problem. When I began working with this team they gave me a very understandable reason why there seemed to be a continuous problem with the performance of the team. At first, their explanation of the problem made sense. As time went on, I noted that this team’s performance did not increase and that the reason they used for their poor performance was always a variation of the same problem they had identified when we first met. The team also went to great lengths to explain why the problem was still not fixed and until the problem was fixed that the team’s performance would continue to suffer. The team was provided coaching and direction on ways to resolve the problem at hand, however they continued to feel that the problem at hand was unsolvable; in essence the team believed they were dealing with a Gordian Knot and they indicated that as much as they tried to solve this problem, the problem just kept getting worse.

As an observer of the team’s behavior, I could not understand why what seemed to me to be a fairly simple problem had become to them unfixable. The problem at had was indeed something that could be fixed, however the teams behavior and language said otherwise. I became frustrated and perplexed at the team’s inability to resolve this problem and then it hit me, I clearly understood what was holding them back from fixing this problem. The answer was so simple; the team did not really want to fix this problem! If they fixed this problem then they would have no more excuses as to why their performance was below expectations! If they fixed the problem and their performance did not increase, then they would have to admit that their may be other reasons that performance was not where it should be. Now, I don’t believe that this was all done on a conscious level, however on some level they were self sabotaging out of fear. On some level, they feared that they might be the reason their performance was down and facing that would be too difficult, therefore it was much easier to keep blaming their performance on what they viewed as a problem that they could not solve.

When you stop and think about the behavior of this team, it is not that uncommon. Many of us create a Gordian Knot, a seemingly unsolvable problem in our own life. We create a Gordian knot in our life so complex that even when we do find the motivation within our self to untie the knot we find that we are overwhelmed with the complexities of the knot which we have created and we quickly lose our motivation to make the changes we desire to make. We then point to the Gordian Knot that we created and blame the knot for our inability to change. All the while we are pointing and blaming the knot, the reality is that our blame is a smokescreen. It is a smokescreen designed to protect us from the fear that we may reveal something about our self that we do not want to deal with. Often times, the problem that we cannot/will not solve is viewed as less painful than what we fear the light of day will reveal about our self. The reality of course is that what we fear is usually not as bad as we imagine it to be and that the frustration and angst that we bring upon ourselves by not slicing through our Gordian Knot does much more damage to us in the long run and impedes our growth.

We must learn to identify the Gordian Knots that we have created for ourselves and slice through the knot with a sword edged with love, knowing and fearlessness!

Intuitive Truth

“Life cannot wait until the sciences may have explained the universe scientifically. We cannot put off living until we are ready” – Jose Ortega y Gasset

If we wait for absolute proof of everything, we will miss so very much. As a society we are hungry for answers. We are hungry for all kinds of answers, answers to the mundane all the way up to answers to the purpose of life, answers about what happens after this life is over, etc. As a society many people are spending a great deal of energy on scientific research to validate everything. For many people things must be proven scientifically before they will accept them.

The unfortunate truth for many is that often the proof they seek is internal, it is intuitive truth. This is unfortunate because so many people don’t understand or believe that all the truths they need reside within their very self. Intuitive truth is not something that you can chart on a piece of paper or build a model to represent. Intuitive truth is a knowing, a wisdom that is ingrained upon your soul. True, for many, intuitive truth may be buried deep under their surface learning and it may indeed be shrouded by their ego, however it is there.  Most people know that intuitive truth is there, they often hear it as a voice that bubbles up within them, however they often dismiss this internal voice as wrong or as uninformed and they choose to seek out an external proof for what they intuitively know.

The dilemma of course is that some things will never be proven by external means. This waiting for “scientific” proof often leads to frustration, depression, etc as one searches for that which is not to be found outside of ones self.

When we choose to turn inward and learn to trust our internal wisdom, our intuitive truths and let go of the need for everything to be proven or explained we then find an incredible peace. When you do this you may initially be greeted with a flood of truths to the point where you may feel overwhelmed. Again, the key is to allow your thoughts to flow, trust in your intuition, trust in the wisdom which has be written upon your soul and you will rejoice in knowing that you are truly living and not waiting in the wings for someone else’s validation.

The other aspect of truth we get hung on, is who’s truth is correct. That answer to that is not as complicated as we make it out to be, it really is rather simple. The correct truth is always YOUR truth!