This week’s blog is definitely a case of my teaching what I need to learn, but I know that this is always the case.
It is easy to become disillusioned in today’s world. Even if we try not to expose ourselves too much to the doom and gloom of the world portrayed by the media, we find ourselves affected by it, nonetheless.
It is easy to feel like the world is cracking at the seams, and to be frightened that one might fall through the cracks. For those of us who have learned the benefits of maintaining a positive outlook, our resolve is being tested daily by all the negativity to which we are exposed on a regular basis. The world seems to be reacting to all the issues we are facing in ways which confront our God-given sense of freedom, justice, equality, and love. All that we have learned from our spiritual studies seems to have little practical use in our troubled world. It is easy to start to feel overwhelmed.
Having just learned about the power of the healing miracle, thousands are still dying from Ebola in West Africa.
Having learned that we are one with all the people of the world, and that Islam is a religion of compassion and mercy, we are again at war with ourselves in Iraq.
Having learned that there is nothing to fear in this world, our freedoms are being eroded to secure us and G20 attendees against possible terrorists.
This erosion of our freedoms was brought home to me this week with two incidents.
Firstly, I discovered that all of the rubbish bins have been completely removed from Central Station (Brisbane) due to security reasons. There is no way that everyone is going to be able or willing to take home all of their rubbish, as the PA announcement asked them to do, which means that those responsible for cleaning the platforms are just provided with extra work. I know that I have nothing to fear in this world, so I would rather keep the rubbish bins, and face the threat of terrorism if and when it comes.
The second incident was when I discovered that the bus stop which I use to go to my French class had a sign saying that that stop would be closed during the whole week of the G20 summit. Did the powers that be think that the terrorists would only use that particular bus stop to arrive in Brisbane? I had no way to comprehend their reasoning, but could only see this as a disruption to my usual routine.
All of these occurrences feel like they are outside incidents of conflict being brought into my awareness and thereby shattering my inner peace. I therefore have lots of other people to blame for feeling grumpy and depressed.
I know that I am never alone. I know that I always have the assistance of angels, archangels, spirit guides, ascended masters, and God. And yet, I too, can feel overwhelmed by all of these events. It is not surprising that there have been advertisements on TV to bring suicide prevention to people’s awareness. Even with all of my spiritual backup, life can sometimes seem too hard. How hard must it seem for all of those people who have not yet learned of their spiritual back-up team?
My spiritual back-up team have helped me to look at things differently today.
I received an email from Médecins Sans Frontières celebrating their 1,000th survivor of Ebola. Could it be that all of our prayers are really having an effect?
Governments and large companies are beginning to donate money and resources to help in West Africa. It may be that their motives are purely selfish, because they understand viruses do not respect borders. In following this line of thinking, however, they are reaching the same conclusions that our spiritual teaching has taught us: we are one. We cannot isolate ourselves from the problems of others, because we are the others.
What we can do, however, is to refuse to see others as western governments would have us see others. It is time to stop viewing the people of the world as “us” versus “them”. While we continue to identify with the “us” that we have created ourselves to be, we will continue to find a “them” who are against us.
Jesus taught us in Matthew 12 that the first of the greatest commandments was that God is one, and that we should love that one God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strengths. The second greatest commandment, which is like the first, he said, is to “Love your neighbour as yourself”. In Matthew 5, we are reminded that our neighbours include our so-called enemies. “Love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you”.
Those who have ears to hear understand that this means that God is one with each of us and each of our neighbours, including our enemies.
If we are to find peace in this world, we first have to follow these commandments. We have to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strengths. In doing so, we withdraw our focus from our egos, and we no longer associate ourselves with the “us” we have created. As I have learned from A Course in Miracles, within each of us there is an ego-mind and a God-mind. In loving God with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strengths, we are making our own mind one with God’s.
When our minds are not in conflict between the ego part and the God part, we no longer see others as “them”, as everyone becomes part of us, as we are one with God and all of his creation. It is then easier to love our neighbours and our enemies as ourselves.
Even though some of our actions are not done with the conscious use of our God-mind, there are no accidents or errors in God’s world. Everything can be seen in the light of God, which means that everything is always working towards our benefit, even if the benefit is a spiritual one, and not obvious to all.
Sooner or later, those who are taking up arms against their brothers and sisters will look at their enemies and see themselves. They will understand that there is no need to attack another part of God, in order to have their inheritance which God has willed them. They will understand that God has given everything to all of his creation, and it is only our seeing ourselves as separate from “them” that stops us from receiving all that we have in truth.
It is our identifying with our bodies that allows us to think that we can ever be harmed. As Jesus tried to teach us with the resurrection, we are not our bodies. We are much greater than we think we are.
The law of conservation of energy in physics says that energy cannot be created or destroyed, but it can change form, and this is all that occurs when we see a physical death.
All of life involves exchanges of energy, and our thoughts are the energy which creates as God created. If we are to follow the commandments which Jesus identified as the greatest, we will be making sure that our thoughts are focused on the God-like part of our mind. We will use our thoughts to love God, to love our neighbours, and to love our so-called enemies.
Love is the most powerful energy. With love, Jesus made the lame to walk, the blind to see, and dead to live again.
With our loving thoughts and the faith of a mustard seed, we can move mountains. We can send our loving thoughts to all those affected by Ebola, to all those affected by war and violence, and to governments who believe that the threat of terrorism is a greater hazard than a loss of freedom.
As we do this, instead of allowing world events to shatter our peace, we will be sharing our inner peace with the world.
If we are to continue to have inner peace to share with the world, however, we have to give ourselves a break. We have to break the habit of putting pressure on ourselves to achieve more and more, or as Louise Hay would say, rather, to dissolve the habit. We also have to give ourselves a break from the negativity with which we have surrounded ourselves, and take some time in nature, where negativity can be transmuted.
- Love surrounds us everywhere; we just need to breathe it in. As we breathe in this love, we can breathe out negativity.
- Hug a tree, or lean your head against its trunk. See the negativity leaving your mind and travelling down the roots of the tree to the earth, where the negativity is transmuted, once more, into love.
- Walk or swim in the sea or a stream, and see the negativity pouring out of your feet or pores, and washing away to be transmuted there.
- Lie on the grass or sand, and feel all of your negativity being absorbed by Mother Earth, who will replace it with love for you.
Thank you for allowing me to teach you what I needed to learn. I now feel like I have some inner peace to share with the world. Won’t you join me?
Image courtesy of dan at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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