Let the Results Speak for Themselves

"A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn't there. A theologian is the man who finds it." (H. L. Mencken, "the Sage of Baltimore")

A spiritual path cannot insulate us from pain. We also experience the same emotions that our more agnostic brothers and sisters enjoy and endure. Meaning, however, is something that every spiritual traveler can look forward to. "God is not mocked",  says "A Course in Miracles". SHE would be, if after years of divine GUIDANCE love would still leave us empty-handed. 

Many roads lead to Rome they say. Based on my own observations as a spiritual traveler all we have to do is to zoom into our life mission, put our best foot forward every step of the WAY, and let HER do the rest. Live your story, make it a beautiful one, and tell us all about it. Be the one who finds the lost cat while others do the thinking. When love is involved, GOD is bound to show you the WAY.

What is Your FUNCTION?

To each his special function is designed to be perceived as possible, and more and more desired as it proves to him that it is an alternative he really wants.

(A Course in Miracles)

Being able to perceive ONENESS is a vision. A spiritual traveler has the eye of an artist. We are not holy though, we just see upside in a situation that others fail to see. We also experience conflict; we remember old battle wounds; we become aware of the desire to strike back at those who supposedly cause us harm; but then we mumble to ourself, "I will be damned if this movie repeats itself". It is then when the WAY opens up. We recognize the path that transcends the tensions and makes everyone better off, not just ourself. The WAY always exists, but you have to patiently look out for it.

I hear often in our spiritual community how we are supposedly more enlightened than others; there is arrogance in that view. The brothers and sisters who play with us just mirror back our own tensions, conflicts and aspirations. Sure, there are times when we need to turn our back to an aspect of ourself that we have effectively outgrown. But more often than not, the annoying situation we are in is in fact an opportunity to heal old wounds, and to discover resistance and dark spots within ourself. This annoying brother just wants to give us another chance to come clean with our SELF.

The search for spirituality often starts with the frustration that hits us in a dysfunctional situation, when we drop everything and state, "there must be another way!" The above quoted "A Course in Miracles" started that way. When the boss of a psychology department  complained that all colleagues where at each other's throats, Helen Schucman was part of a team that volunteered to look into possible solutions. It was then when she heard voices that became a 700 page volume full of spiritual nuggets. So please respect the interferences along the WAY; they too have their spiritual meaning.

It was an incredible wake-up call for me when I realized what my FUNCTION at work; I do not need to do a thing. All I need to do is just to be there and assist everyone with my positive vibration. I perform this FUNCTION everywhere, at work, at home, or in my spiritual community. I am simply  one with the environment I am in. But I am not the holy one in this, everyone is. The healing exercise is a two-way street. I have inner conflicts and tensions just like everyone else. And while I know nothing about my subconscious interferences, my brother brings them out in the open for me and we heal together. We don't need to do a thing, we just need to be willing to hang out with each other - GOD does the rest. 

So what is your FUNCTION?

My Father and I

You don't have to try so hard.

You don't have to give it all away.

You just have to get up, get up, get up, get up.

You don't have to change a single thing.

(Colbie Caillat, Try)

It was a rude awakening I had some 15 years ago when I took golf classes at the Delhi golf course. No, it was not just the realization that I really sucked at this game, it was even more depressing than that; I realized that I had incredible back pain when the coach asked me to assume the right golf stance. What I had not realized until then was that already at the age 35 I had walked slightly hunched over. The good news, I knew what to do about it. I hit the gym and I built my muscles. I used every opportunity there is to sit or stand upright, feeling my back muscles and being upright like a German oak. The symbol of being hunched over is that of having the weight of the world on your shoulders. Why that may have been even true, I would be sure to do something about it, both mentally and physical.

A few years later I realized why I was so afraid; I discovered how my father's illness deteriorated. He got more hunched over year after year, and as the years went by, even lost the ability to move without the assistance of a walker. Yes, my father was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was a judge in the family court, deciding the fate of children, mothers and fathers in case of divorces; despite his beautiful mind, his genuine and loving nature, he was in no position to handle this emotional toll the job took of him. He developed bi-polar - an emotional disorder disease. His demanding job and the disease destroyed him over the years. For some reason unknown to me he never took the medication to help minimizing the symptoms. And also for no reason known to me, my family never had the will to impose it on him despite his protest. I was 4000 miles away from him, watching helplessly how his life and health went downhill.

I can't speak for my father's soul contract. I know that in his final years his soul had made peace despite the fact that his physical conditions continued to deteriorate. I don't know why he felt that he had to take this sacrifice, but I do know that he has given me the opportunity not to go down the same road. They say that there is a 50 percent chance to develop bi-polar genetically, and I am the one within our family closest to him. Well, that's how it might end up in the aggregate, but as an individual I very much have a choice in this. In the last years when my father lived I realized that I have the same emotional imbalance in myself, and was part of a very similar movie set. As a financial strategist, a beautiful mind with little emotional awareness was facing the overwhelming roller coaster stress of global financial markets. My co-author and friend Su Zhen helped me open up to my emotional side, putting thoughts and feelings on equal footing for the first time in my life. I made many changes spiritually, in my behavior, and professionally. Today, I would be the first to just walk out of my job if it gets too overwhelming. I owe that to myself, my family and my friends.

We have a choice, and we always have an opportunity at hand to do things a little differently than the previous generation. We never know whether the sacrifices of our parents were their mistakes, their soul contracts, or a little bit of both. Be it as it may, but we have a choice to do better. "Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God", states the Course in Miracles. So let's make sure that we do not lose sight of God's Plan as we face life's complexity.

We see the choices of the giants on whose shoulders we stand, and they have put us in a position to do even better than they. It is our mission to aim high with their help, but please not without undermining our spiritual and physical health. Yes, the heart and the soul need to get what they want, but so does God. And let's not forget in all the moving and striving, we should always leave a little homework behind for the next generation. For it is their birth-right to have the chance to even outgrow us. We simply don't have to try so hard, as Colbie Caillat puts it so well in her song "Try". Children need their parents; let's reach for the stars together in that inter-generational soul contract, while staying grounded at the same time. Let's return Home hand-in-hand, father and son. I love you Papa, and always will!

Facing Evil along the Way

Brother, take not one step in the descent to hell. For having taken one, you will not recognize the rest for what they are. And they will follow,

(A Course in Miracles)

When a hurricane sweeps the country and homes get destroyed and people die in the process, is this event evil? If a lion hunts down a gazelle and eats it, is it evil? What if a cat plays with a mouse for a few minutes before it eats it; is that evil?

When the thunder roared a few thousand years ago, the Northern Europeans felt that Thor was swinging a hammer. To that day, some devoted Hindus only roll their eyes when catastrophe strikes, "Oh, Kali Maa has Her way", they would say. Natural disasters may just be the accumulated karmic debt that has to be released from time to time. So even these disasters could be viewed are nothing but a releasing thunderstorm. Viewed from that perspective, are they really evil?

The word "evil" may only make sense on a human scale. A lot of our actions are subconscious; they happen because we have been programmed by ourselves and others to do it. Does that constitute as evil? Probably we should reserve this expression only for truly conscious steps away from the light. Perhaps it even takes some spiritual maturity to reach that stage; I honestly don't know. But as you do, you will feel a dark cloud descending on you, just as the Course in Miracles stated. 

I have written often about shadow work just because I feel that it is under-appreciated in our spiritual community. If you strive for the light, your shadow naturally pops up; that's the yin and yang of spirituality. I know this distinction is subtle, but shadow work shouldn't involve taking deliberate steps away from the light. It is more the awareness that you are in the process of missing a beat along the Way with the intention to pick up the broken China on the floor the next morning. Shadow work is the state of being conscious of the battle of spiritual super ego and soul desires. If in contrast you take deliberate steps away from the light, you may need others to lift you out of the hole again.

I would conjecture that eventually we all get a bit tired of all the climbing spiritual stairs and light working. There comes a time when we even can grasp the darkness and thunderstorms without judgment and without getting involved. As we stop moving towards the light, the shadow stops in its tracks as well. We let the Tao of darkness and light do Her thing and are happy either way. By stopping to aspire to be beyond the world we operate in we in fact transcend good and evil. 

When the Eye Sees what the Heart Knows

You can see the Christ everywhere, except in bodies.

(A Course in Miracles)

We all make mistakes. We all step away from God's Path but mostly it is a missed step here or there and we immediately recognize that something is off. Sometimes we experience anger rising in us; on occasions we spot arrogance; there are times when we are careless and accidentally hurt our friends' feelings. But all that is not a big deal; we apologize afterwards and promise to do better next time around. Every missed step in fact makes the Way shine even brighter afterwards.

Sin is the deliberate looking in the wrong direction. It is the conscious journey away from God. Lust can blind us; greed and fear can lead us away from the Tao. Yet, while a seasoned spiritual traveler will experience these emotions just like everyone else, we physically just can't follow through. Walking away from God simply hurts too much. After you have experienced high energy vibrations you mind going back to the lower ones.

A spiritual traveler sees what is. It may be a vision at first, it may be foggy at times. Yet, 'what is' suddenly dawns on us in contrast to what 'appears to be'. There may still be a voice babbling in the back, there maybe a missed step along the Way but we can no longer be fooled by the stuff that appears to be. We reach the point when the eye sees what the heart knows and at that blessed moment we are Home.

Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ has come again (Revised)

When I was in graduate school many years ago I had a strange dream. Jesus Christ was actually living among us, but he turned into a drug addict - thousands of years of reincarnation took a heavy toll on him and his spirit finally gave in. I then saw myself marrying my wife and we both ascended to Heaven together. You can imagine my surprise when I woke up! Intuitively I understood what this dream was all about. It could only mean that I had to venture out in the "real" world and put my spiritual mission on hold. As it turned out for me personally, real world and spirituality don't have to be in conflict.  Today I have both feet in the real world while I am still able to share my spiritual journey with you!

A few years ago I came across A Course in Miracles. In it, the voice of Jesus is channeled through a psychologist, Helen Schucman, who provides a breath-taking reinterpretation of Jesus' teachings in today's psychological language. When I googled her life story, I realized that Helen Schucman might have been quite conflicted about these insights as she spent years in depression afterwards  - in apparent contradiction to everything this book is about. Yet A Course in Miracle and Jesus's teachings are very real and very relevant. At least speaking for myself, A Course in Miracles has transformed my life.

The spirit of Christ is with us always. You can discover it in A Course in Miracles or you can meet Him in every loving interaction that comes your way today. The spirit of Christ is wherever loving people are. Jesus the man did his work to discover the universal power of love for us; now we have to do our part. Re-live it, re-discover it but find your own unique way of expressing it. We already had the Christ and the Buddha and are consequently blessed to do our work on the shoulder of spiritual giants. So what's in store for us? For me personally, I discovered the Way - the Tao - in my daily work as a financial analyst. What spiritual insight will you pass on?

Peace

Nothing real can be threatened.
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.
(A Course in Miracles)

The other day I asked in the Spiritual Networks community the question whether there is a dark force at work that wants to keep us from God, or whether our perceived God-separation is just based on our own illusions. The majority of the spiritual travelers thought that there was a dark force at play, but the thoughtful commentary made me realize that the answer to this question doesn't really matter that much.

You probably remember Jesus's story of how he resisted three temptations in the desert. He experienced a dark force and just ignored it. Buddha experienced the battle between good and evil as well and just kept meditating until the theater dissolved into nothingness. The philosophy of the Tao traveler is to interact with life. Our premise is that peace and love is always ours to choose no matter what. We don't engage in the battle of good and evil either.

Whether the ego is deliberately leading us astray or not, each time when we feel separated from God, a battle between "good" and "bad" will be brewing; whenever we perceive that we are "here", but want to be "there", a voice will pop up reminding us that we are fooling ourselves. Say, we discover that we are greedy, competitive or horny, but look for God's peace and love instead. The moment you feel disconnected from the Way, a dialogue will be raging inside.

Just step out of it! You can can avoid the yin and yang of spirituality every step of the Way. If greedy thoughts pop up, let's ask whether there are some authentic desires that we don't grant ourselves. If they are, work on those instead. When competition enters our mind, let's contemplate the cooperative solution. And if lust overcomes us, we can always ask whether love is nearby. Step out of the battle between good and evil. Peace is always yours to choose; that's the promise of your Creator.

A Shaky Handshake

The lion and lamb lying down together refers to the fact that strength and innocence are not in conflict but naturally live in peace.
(A Course in Miracles)

Many years ago as I was visiting my colleagues in London and as I shook hands with the director of the office - he is quite a tall man but not as bulky as I am today - he complained that my hand-shake was not strong enough. I thought to myself, "well, that's a weird comment", but the scene burnt itself into my brain, and it was only later that I understood its true significance.

I was born a shy and good-natured boy. And while I rarely experienced conflict, I always tended to shy away from aggression. Today, I still mind aggression a lot, but I face it, in whatever shape or form. I have seen enough repressed violence in me to understand that conflicts have to be solved on the surface, otherwise they will move to your subconscious level where they are really, really hard to deal with.

I once had a colleague who was the most driven person I have ever seen. She also put a lot of pressures on her co-workers and subordinates. She was out to fight for fame and name, but when it was really time to close the deal, she - for some unknown reasons - shied away. I have often thought that all the aggression on the surface was nothing but an act of compensation for her fears that she couldn't commit when it really mattered. So I figured, if you don't show up in the hour when the swords are drawn, everyone will only end up miserable. I doubled my efforts to never let that happen to me.

What exactly is violence? It is not a committed, physical act; it is going against the will of someone else. You can be incredibly violent with the softest voice but physically abusing the person you speak to. In contrast, you may be "violent" in action, but literally saving somebody. I once saw my father saving my mother's life by applying the Heimlich Maneuver when she was choking on a piece of meat. The act was aggressive, but in a way, it almost seemed like an instinctive reaction to the situation. As he lifted my mother up, the beef fell meters away on the ground.

Don't get me wrong. I am not saying that a spiritual traveler should enroll in the army to make peace with his violent tendencies. Me personally, I work in the financial industry and I have encountered - very much against the public stereotype - many nice and gentle colleagues. Kindness is part of our firm's culture and I was attracted to this place for this reason. Yet, my colleague in London also had a point when he reminded me to show up. Lion and lamb lie side by side in the Garden of Eden for a reason. Strength and innocence do not preclude each other. Show up when you have to and step out of aggression's way when it is not yours to interfere. The Tao will let you know what to do on a case by case basis.

My handshake actually hasn't changed much over the years. I still only touch hands symbolically when I meet someone, but I will be the first to give it a good squeeze when my friend expects me to. Lion and lamb are in harmony now.

Do You Have a Choice?

You are responsible for what you think, because it is only at this level that you exercise choice.
(A Course in Miracles)

Neurologists ran a strange experiment. They observed brain activity and found that there is an institution in our brain that apparently knows about a decision before we are consciously aware that we made this choice! Could it be that we don't have a free will at all and only ex-post explain what we would have done anyway?

Have you ever seen people on auto-pilot? The way they run after money, fame, power, entertainment, or trophy spouses? Do you have observed people who worry excessively? The way they would like to protect and scheme themselves into safety? Everybody probably acts like a robot on one level or other, the question is whether we can - with the help of a spiritual quest - increase our degrees of freedom.

Sure you can! Have you ever meditated on a day when you feel absolutely carefree? You perceive thoughts popping up and they do - just like cloud formations in the sky - disappear as quickly. In contrast, how different everything becomes once you go after something that you care a lot about. Thoughts and actions soon can't be separated any longer and the deeper you get lost in whatever it is that gets you going, the more intense the stream of thoughts become until they can't be shut off anymore.

Have a look at the wheel below. Thoughts bubble from what appears to be the subconscious. But they themselves are a function of what you have been occupied with in the past. Thoughts form in your mind and once you start engaging with them you act them out, which on turn gets the new subconscious thought pattern going. As long as you live this wheel will always be spinning; but you can definitely decide on its intensity and the direction you want to take with it.

                                       subconscious



action                                                           thought



                                         engage



The question is now, how can you spin this wheel in the desired direction: away from fear, worry and greed towards love, peace of mind and freedom. That's where the spiritual path comes in. Engage in stuff that gives you peace and happiness and avoid the stuff that pulls your energy frequency down. It is a process. You can't will yourself to be an angel. And when the dark stuff pops up from the subconscious at times then you have to deal with that to.

As you clean your agenda you will observe that a distance starts growing to the thoughts that go through your mind. They no longer define you. I started the note with a strange neurological experiment. Whether we have free will in the end I cannot say. But I can tell you that you can always look back on the past - very much like a recovering addict would - and decide that in some areas of your life you now have a choice whereas before you didn't.

Sin

Sin exists only for people who are on the Way. Sin is what puts man to sleep when he has already decided to awaken.
(G. I. Gurdjieff)

Walking the Way can at times be an incredibly liberating down-hill journey, while at times it can be quite an uphill struggle. Programs have to be over-ridden, fears have to be faced and desires suppressed. If you think that walking the Way is simply always going with the flow, you are most likely mistaken.

"Sin" is easy to define when you are a spiritual traveler: it is a missed step along the Way. Missing the beat is tragic from one perspective, yet it is a trifle from another. Every moment is a new priceless opportunity to connect with the Way, so what exactly should we regret or worry about. Just get lost in the holy Now and let the sin of the past be history.

Since always maintaining the internal balance to be prepared for the holy Now can be hard work indeed, the temptation to just let go and fall back into the state of slumber is unfortunately very real. It can be the love for money or power, the cravings for sex, drugs or alcohol. Commit the"sin" of being disconnected and then observe how much work it is to get back onto the Way. There comes a day when you are unwilling to pay the price to be disconnected, but until that blessed day there is little you can do but battling for your freedom in an apparently endless yin and yang motion.

The word "sin" implies regret. Free yourself from this concept. What do you think gives you the will-power to try again harder next time around; what do you think gives you the staying power to do better this time? It is the mistakes of the past, they prepare you perfectly for comes your Way today. The Course in Miracles maintains, don't fear temptation but see it at what it is, another opportunity to choose again!

The Tree of Wisdom at the Garden of Eden is always in front of you, and the sound of the slithering snake is what keeps you awake. Why don't you use your new-found power to help a brother awake from his slumber today!

There Must be Another Way

The Course in Miracles was born when the head of a psychology department got fed up with the quarreling of  his colleagues and one fine decided, "There must be another way!" A working group to find a resolution was formed and Helen Schucman volunteered to participate. Around that time she heard voices in her head. A couple of years later 700 plus pages of deep spiritual insights formed the book.

It is a little hard to stomach the idea that Jesus Christ channelled his updated message to the world with the help of a modern day psychologist, but it is not hard to see that Helen Schucman's mission is yours as well. You must have seen for yourself that well-meaning people get lost in their aspirations and career strive, or that seemingly healthy friends suddenly have to face life- threatening diseases; that some of our parents disintegrate in front of our eyes, or that even some of our children have to face the harsh realities of life well before they are supposed to. Why should we accept any of this stuff. There must be another way!

The Course in Miracles has become a religion for some, but you can test its main premise like any scientist would. In sum it claims, "There is no miracle you cannot have when you desire healing." Well, try and see whether it works in your vicinity of influence. When you see dysfunction, and when you are sufficiently fed up with the situation that you are willing to let go of your agenda, try to see what happens when you approach your environment with the goal of healing instead.

The surprise you will be in is the realization that our minds and fates are entangled in way beyond your comprehension. As you seek compromise, so will your friends, colleagues and so-called foes. As you drop your guard, so will they. Try this conjecture, what exactly do you have to lose? The good thing about dysfunction is that there is little downside in trying something new, but lots of upside if you succeed.

There must be another way! The truth of the matter is that there always is, but the change has to start with you. Make healing your hypothesis for a while and let us know what happens. A new prospective is well worth the try!

Saying Yes to Love

There is a choice that you have power to make when you have seen the real alternatives. Until that point is reached you have no choice.
(A Course in Miracles)

Isn't it always the case that when you look back you feel as if you have been asleep? I at least have that impression about my past. Do you know that brain imaging shows in decision times a light bulb going off moments before we are consciously aware of our decision? Are we all just taken for a ride in a massive virtual movie plot and we only think that we are in charge? Could well be. The bible says that Adam fell asleep in the Garden of Eden and nowhere does it say that he ever woke up.

Saying "yes" to the Way can be hard work, so I am pretty sure that once you are a spiritual traveler you have at least gained partial consciousness. Saying "yes" to love even though the "I" screams into your ears does take effort. While you think that you are abused when you reach that fork in the road, it is not so. All that you do is to stand up to your own interferences that have prevented you all the while to appreciate the Way. This agony is just temporary. Soon the decision for love and for life becomes automatic; a no-brainer really!

Finding MySelf Every Step of the Way

I do not know the thing I am, and therefore do not know what I am doing, where I am, or how to look upon the world or myself.
(A Course in Miracles)

That is a tough statement to accept. After all, aren't we all so enlightened, we the folks who dabble in spirituality? Yet, I have learned the hard way that people, problems and life's acts enlighten me and the outcome is often different from what I would have expected going into the situation. Jesus said in John (5:30): "By myself I can do nothing; I judge only as I hear, and my judgment is just, for I seek not to please myself but Him who sent me." Yes, that is the Way.

Walking the Way is a blessing for it nudges me to be mySelf despite myself. Once you recognize the beauty of this fact you have pretty much made it. The Tao connects you with your potential every step of the Way. All you have to do is to show up in every situation and face everyone who crosses your path whether you like it or not. He who sent you will do the rest through you.

Clean Up Your Act

Sacrifice is a notion totally unknown to God.
(A Course in Miracles)

You hear often in the spiritual community that we have to abstain from lust, greed, competition, status, and what have you. Is that really true? You probably have areas in your life as well where a fire is bubbling below the surface and you feel that you have to negate something within in order to comply with our kosher spiritual notions, or have you?

Shadow work is the willingness to open the hood and having a look at the engine. If something inside feels abused by your notion of spirituality than you have to respect that voice even though the desire appears dark to you. When it comes to shadow work it turns out that you have two subconscious forces to deal with, the "holier than thou" voice that minds that you even dare to listen to your shadow, and the demonic side that encourages shadow work because it surmises that it can take you or a ride down the dark alley.

A Tao traveler faces everything that comes her way, no matter how kosher or dirty it appears. Dealing in dark symbols is always tough, and chances are you face turbulence in your life whenever you engage with them. The problem is you just don't know whether it is the "holier than thou" part of you that sabotages you or whether the Tao wants you to change direction. Typically it is both. Simply accept this rocky period. What else can you do, sweep the dust under the carpet? If life confronts you with these temptations they must be meaningful to you. The Tao only cares for your wholeness and peace of mind.   So be ready to get your hands dirty a little, but with the aim to clean up. The intent has to be a kosher one when you do shadow work, otherwise your demon will take you for a ride.

You don't have to sacrifice anything along the Tao. If you have a desire you want to express you will find a way to do it without undermining your spiritual journey.You only think you are missing something if you haven't quite connected with an authentic need. All your authentic needs will be satisfied along the Way. Perhaps you have to transform lust into sexual passion, greed into a creative outlets, competition into just having fun while playing and status into respect for what you do and who you are. Along the Way everything you do is authentic - this is your Way, your idiosyncratic journey. Along the Tao you can have it all.  Don't be afraid or ashamed of any of your desires; just let the Tao purify them for you and then run with them.

How it all Came About

Some of you may know the book "A Course in Miracles", a 700 page channeling exercise of Jesus' spirit. Whether you believe in channeling or not, the work is a philosophical and spiritual classic. I obviously don't know who Jesus truly was and what he really said, but if I had to project what he would say to us today, it would be the Course in Miracles indeed.

It all started in a psychology department with lots of frictions and tensions among the colleagues. One day the boss couldn't take it anymore and demanded "there must be another way!" A group was formed to improve relations and Helen Schucman volunteered to help out. This was the period when she started hearing voices; the first one said, " This is a Course in Miracles, please take notes."

Our spiritual community always claims that we can manifest Heaven on earth and they are of course right; this is indeed what you should aspire to do. Yet, please let it up to life - the Tao - to lead you there. There is still so much psychological baggage that you carry around, let life wash it away for you. So if life throws challenges at you, don't despair. Embrace them to the best of your abilities instead. Your problems are here to make a Moses out of you. Raise your staff, part the sea and let your soul siblings lead you to the land of honey and milk. You could never do that without them, so thank every problem and trouble-maker who comes your way for jump-starting you on your holy mission.

Perhaps you can take travel notes just like Helen Schucman did and as we do. When everything is said and done you will marvel at the apparent impossibility of your holy mission. Let your miracle inspire others to perform theirs so that we can all snowball into freedom together.

Waiting for Love

Peace will gently extend from deep inside yourself and will embrace your environment as well.

The memory of God comes to the quiet mind.

There is no time, no place, no state where God is absent.
(A Course in Miracles)

When she was little, she was always waiting for the mail. What exactly she was waiting for, she didn't know, but she knew it was important though. Perhaps someone would send her an important letter, so she kept on waiting day in, day out. Yes, occasionally she did get a few letters, but her happiness didn't last long. Soon she would be checking the mailbox for new arrivals. Perhaps she was happiest when several boys were courting her. She got love letters almost every day. However, after she got married these letters disappeared.  Nonetheless, she was still checking the mailbox every day.

 As time went by, no one was sending letters anymore.  Instead, email got popular.  She checked her e-mail box several times a day to make sure she didn’t miss anything. But most of the time  she was disappointed. There was so much junk that was sent to her. She didn't realize it then, but she was almost acting like a beggar looking for food. Why did she  have that craving? What exactly was her anxiety about? Was was she looking for?

 When Facebook came into her life, the situation was getting even worse.  Every hour, she checked out her account especially after she had posted some updates on her page.  Anxiously, she was checking to see if anyone had responded to her posts.  She was so occupied by the social media that she even skipped meals without even realizing. Sometimes she lost her sleep over checking her pages. One day a  friend asked her, why are you acting so restlessly? This was a breakthrough of sorts for her. No one had ever described her as restless. She was always known for being quiet and peaceful. But yes, all the evidence was pointing in this direction. She was craving love and attention. When this insight came to her she felt peaceful for the first time in a long while. That night she slept like a baby.

Perhaps this theme will resonate with you, either because you are addicted to social media as well, or just by recognizing this restlessness in other areas of your life. We have the same craving for success, for knowledge, for being considered attractive, for food, for sex, and so much more. Nothing you can ever do or get will ever satisfy this craving. The woman in our example was always surrounded by love, the love of her parents, her friends, her husband, her children; but their attention and love was just not quite enough; there must be more to life, is there? Well yes, there is. The ego substitutes our birthright for our divine connection with the craving for external pleasures. Peace and love is always at our disposal, but we look in the wrong places. Quiet down, recognize the restlessness inside of you and discover that incredible peace and love as you open the treasure chest deep inside of you. May peace be with you!

By Christian and Su Zhen

The Power of the Ego Versus the Power of God

I observed a strange curiosity in my bookshelf the other day. I saw how two books in red were standing on either side of the Course in Miracles which is in deep blue. I actually had sorted the books by size so the color coordination was nothing but a coincidence. Suddenly I observed that the title of both red books were about power. How ironic, I thought to myself, the Course in Miracles is about discovering the Kingdom of God when you say "no" to personal power. So these three books attracted each others like magnets, force and counter-force perfectly aligned.

There is something ironic about the color combination too. One of the two books has an interesting fact on the power of the color red (Ian Robertson's "The Winner Effect. How Power Affects Your Brain"). Based on observations from the 2004 Olympic Games: players with a red outfit won 62 percent of the time, while those with a blue outfit won 38 percent of the time. Red is the color of passion and aggression, while deep blue is the power of serenity. Well, in olympic games aggression definitely gets you results. But remember that these games were invented by us to measure the strength of ego. In "real" life, I would claim, the power of serenity, love and cooperation will get you much further. But don't take my word for it, give God's laws a try and see if you can repeat the miracles  that ACIM talks about. My hunch is you will be amazed.

The Vision of Love

When you love someone you have perceived him as he is, and this makes it possible for you to know him.
(A Course in Miracles)

At work I felt competitive with one colleague in particular which is actually quite unlike me; normally I manage to collaborate with pretty much everyone. So at times when I felt annoyed by that colleague in question, I use a little trick: I recall a conversation that both of us had when our children where much younger. He said that he was reading a story to his little boy and often felt so exhausted that he fell asleep in his son's toddler bed. I actually had a similar experience around that time. When our boy was little I could only prevent him from running around at night by falling asleep next to him. Somehow my sleep must have had a soothing influence on him; minutes later he was also gone.

So the mental imagine of this big man lying in his boy's bed made me always chuckle and all the ill-wishes were gone instantaneously no matter what. Perhaps you can use my little trick for your situation as well. Get to know everyone you interact with on a more personal level. Everyone has a story that you can resonate with. Know that whenever you don't experience love, there must be something that you are overlooking. Without love you perceive a distorted perspective of reality, so please do something about it. The vision of love is possible for everyone. Sometimes you  just have to dig a little deeper

Let the Tao Heal Your Pain

Every situation properly perceived becomes an opportunity to heal the Son of God.
(A Course in Miracles)

We all have a pain body. Who knows where exactly it came from and why it does to have to come to the surface when it does. Yet we all feel that something is slumbering inside of us that hurts. We may even have a pretty good feel for what trigger could bring it to the surface, and when it pops up, we witness an explosion helplessly. Yet after the thunderstorm, after we have cleaned up the broken China on the floor, everything miraculously returns back to normal.

A pain body can be healed.  A spiritual path is all about bringing what lies beneath to the surface. The Tao is working hard to get your sanity back. Your pain body may have played its part to launch you on your journey, may even have defined the person you have become, yet the Way will build on that and make you whole. As you connect with the Way you can suddenly see how life encourages you to drop the baggage of the past by the wayside. The Tao will also teach you how to stay always connected to the Way, and as you do, you will not accumulate new injuries in the process. So it is just a question of time before your pain body has shrunk into nothingness.

 Most of the psychological cuts that slumber hidden inside were caused by our ego. We seek comfort, love, recognition and the glory of the world.  Our ego wants us to be special.  We seek out the stuff and the people to prove to us that our island is bigger and more elevated than everyone else's; so we spend a career and lifetime to cement these differences. And as we do we break a lot of China without even realizing it. Of course, all this happens subconsciously. We rarely admit our quest to ourselves and consequently don't like the few who do very much. The Tao knows what we truly need. She knows that we are all one and that the cry for being special will always hurt us. But just learning this concept in a spiritual community doesn't help, we have to get this struggle out in the open. Only then are we just one step away from dropping it for good.

Little psychological cuts incurred in childhood may define who we become as a person. Our father on a bad day may have called us ugly and this curse burnt itself into our soul. We choose a career to compete with the best and the brightest to compensate for the fact that you can never be stunning like our friends. Our husband tells us how beautiful we are, yet,  he clearly must be lying. One little event, perhaps as innocent as finding a gray hair in the mirror, or not fitting into a tight jeans and this pain body gets activated again. Out comes the fury at work and a few poor guys  get caught in the cross-fire.

You may laugh at this story line but you know what, it is unfortunately very real. We all behave like little children as we know deep down inside that we don't experience the love that we deserve. Yet, we very much have the ability to step out of this childish movie plot and the Tao encourages us to do exactly that. Sometimes it is about catching ourselves when we set out again to conquer the world. Often  it is about catching all the negative mental loops that are running non-stop:  “you are ugly”, “you are stupid”, “you are a loser”, “no one loves you". Awareness of what is going on is step one In the healing process. Step two is to realize that life encourages you moment by moment to connect with a Force that is beyond us, yet part of us. It is as if a red threat appears on the floor with the message, "look here and lose your ego in the process". The Tao heals your pain body if you only let Her.

By Christian and Su Zhen

Embracing the Mission to Come Home

The spiritual community loves beating up on the ego, yet the question is who exactly does the beating; it is still the ego isn't it? Perhaps we can think of the ego just as the way how we perceive and interpret life. Surely we have a choice in that. We can run after the stuff that makes our heart beat faster, or we can look for the path that leads us home to our Source. If you make the Tao your mission statement, you will be shown sign after sign that connect you with the Way. Returning home to our Source becomes your mission statement instead. The further along you travel along the Way, the more synchronized your way of looking at the world becomes with the Tao. Operating environment and mission statement converge.

ego <-------------->  soul


operating                   mission
environment              statement


                          God

The question now is becomes how exactly do I connect with the Tao? Well, the working hypothesis is that there is a "right" way of living and a "right" way of perceiving things. You pretty much stumble along your path, pulled and pushed by the stuff that happens to you as well as what you think your so-called True Self wants you do. Well, it isn't really that hard. Life interacts with you. Your friends and family, and even your so-called enemy will be happy to show you the Way. All you have to do is to ask. When the ego - your operating environment - takes you away from God you will be unhappy without fail. The word "evil" is the verb  "live" spelled backwards. Do everything that is life-affirming and avoid the stuff that creates noise and distraction in your life and you will be Home before you know it. Figuring out which is which is really not that hard to do. But we need you to show up in real life. The Tao interacts with you in real life, if you escape from it you can block Her out for a while longer. No book, no blog and no guru can tell you how to live your life, only you can. But if you always put your best foot forward, the Tao will always find a way to connect with you and guide you Home. Following the Way is a child's play really, but you have to be willing to pull your weight.

Whenever you are in doubt about anything just use this little affirmation and She will gladly override the operating environment for you:

I am here to be truly helpful.
I am here to represent the Source.
I do not have to worry about what to say or do,
because the Source will direct me.
I am content to be whatever the Source wishes,
knowing the Source is with me.
I will be healed as I let the Source teach me to heal.
(A Course in Miracles)