Everyman's Journal 2011

(my fine art website)

(archived writings and poetry, circa 2002 to 2004)

(archived 2010 writings on the lessons of A Course in Miracles)

(archived entries of this years Everyman's Journal)

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Everyman's Journal 2011, # 76

December 6

God's Will is the true source of courage.

______________________

In this fully-integrated universe, nothing that happens in our lives is ever accidental. It really is that simple. Therefore everything that comes our way is both a teaching and a gift. Here is a brief report of recent times, as acknowledgement of God's goodness….

To create the context…a few weeks ago I received an unexpected financial windfall---a phone call offering another substantial (70+) institutional piano-tuning contract (scattered throughout rural northern New Mexico--to be done immediately after Thanksgiving so that all the pianos would be in good tune for Christmas programs). I accepted knowing it could mean dealing with the unpredictable NM winter weather, and therefore (in Yuma) I prepared for the probable two weeks of wintery car camping by digging out my longjohns, and my two down comforters to supplement my sleeping bag, etc.

I also called my Santa Fe, New Mexico-based friend Danny to let him know I would be coming so that we could continue our ongoing musical collaboration project--- I on piano, he on flute. As I did during my October NM visit, after I tune one of the grand pianos, I have been setting up a simple but very high quality sound recording system and then I just play the instrument for a while, digitally capturing it's just tuned freshness with my piano improvisations. Danny then takes these recordings and creates flute parts to add to them. Musically, we are both thrilled at the album we are co-creating, and in due time we believe the world will receive it also.

So that's my personal post-Thanksgiving context in a nutshell… I've been in New Mexico working hard on these two projects, and it has been very wintery and cold, and that is why there have not been any Journals of late. However, God does not 'respect' our busyness as any excuse to stop learning… oh no, it's actually the opposite… it is in our times of such busyness that the Divine often inserts special curriculum gems… just to see if we are really awake. (A friend recently called this 'being unwaveringin the truth'….).

One such gemlike learning moment occurred at a friends doorstep as I was arriving for a short visit. She lives in a city apartment with only street parking (which is an issue for everyone living there), and she doesn't know her next-door neighbors.

Having a history of living in process-oriented spiritual communities (and a strong preference to be well-related to others), my friend used the opportunity of my arrival happening at the same moment as her neighbors return from work to say a friendly hello to her neighbor. It turned out the neighbor was unfriendly to the friendly hello and I witnessed a complex series of reactions occur. The neighbor was increasingly irritated at the interruption and demanded her RIGHT to her privacy, her RIGHT to not 'have to' know her neighbors. For me (standing aside at a distance), the teaching was in the simple witnessing of the two egos at work, both increasingly committed to being RIGHT (or at least, NOT BEING WRONG…one by being dominate, one by being apologetic). A montage of insights downloaded, and I saw clearly the ludicrousness of the situation, everything in the confusing dispute being based on the personal claim to having an imagined RIGHT to this or that.

The fundamental insight? Without an ego, there is no such thing as a 'right'. Birds don't demand rights, neither do trees… Why would anyone even need a 'right' unless they existed 'in separation'? In that moment, I realized that 'surrendering our lives to God' is exactly the same as 'giving up the RIGHT to have 'right's'…. I mean, think about it… imagine coming into the Presence of God on His/Her Throne etc, and persisting in arguing with the Almighty that 'You' have 'Rights'. It's kind of tough to get at in words, but it's pretty simple viscerally. God's Love and 'our rights' are oxymorons. In God's Love there is absolutely no need for a 'right' (obviously because in Love, we are given everything… therefore we have no need to CLAIM anything)… And conversely, to live in a 'receiving everything surrender' to this infinite Love is impossible in any moment we become an ego in pursuit of a claim of a 'right'.

There's more but later will 'have to do', as morning approaches… just thought I'd get up early and share a bit :-). Oh, BTW, I have to acknowledge my own learning wasn't perfect… after a while, I tried to help out… that did not work so well either. Guess I still have an ego too, huh? Who woulda have ever guessed? :-)

Namaste,

David

***********************************

My partnership request.... Please consider yourself an important gateway this message is passing through on its way to others. Please do 'send it on'. Thank you.

************************************

Rev. David Seacord

Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag

(my fine art website)

(archived writings and poetry, circa 2002 to 2004)

(archived 2010 writings on the lessons of A Course in Miracles)

(archived entries of this years Everyman's Journal)

http://davidseacord.us1.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=306aba00e6959c604de750bcc&id=62a1ee7045

(info on The Love Declaration)

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Everyman's Journal 2011, #75

November 24, Thanksgiving Day

Leave no room for doubt in your mind.

Prem Rawat

______________________________________

That the quote above has been with me for most of my adult life through 'thick and thin'…(It's one of the original '5 commandments' that Guru Maharaji [aka Prem Rawat] taught us after the 'receiving Knowledge' initiation...) shows just how willing the Divine Goodness is/has been to keep being endlessly 'for us/for me'…. staying true to its knowing of me/you, never abandoning us/me even when it has been clear I/we have completely forgotten our essential and intimate relationship with it. As a result of its constancy, I have grown over time from a consciousness mostly concerned with my/itself and my/its imagined 'needs' into a man of self-knowing Goodness capable and willing (most of the time without too much resistance) to hear and follow the voice of the Good as it directs me moment to moment. Obviously in that moment to momentness, there are still occasional 'mistakes', and just as obviously, those mistakes are growth opportunities.

So just what, this Thanksgiving Day, is there to be grateful for? I suspect the Absolute Love teacher within me would ask it a bit differently--- like: Just what is there NOT to be grateful for? As Ammachi and many others have taught, 'Fame and shame and blame and gain (wealth) and loss are all the SAME'. They are all just 'more phenomena'. And inside that sameness… and the Zen 'seeing (of) all things equally', seen mindfully, rightly, there is nothing---no event of our lives-- to exclude from our 'Gratitudes List'. Anything we desire to exclude or continue resisting simply flags our remaining egoicness. And even that is something to be immediately grateful for, when our committed purpose is to walk the clear and holy path to selflessness.

And what is the most salient characteristic of such selflessness? Is it not the same as what the Divine Goodness has already repeatedly demonstrated to us… to simply (and longterm) never abandon staying true to the Truth no matter the current illusion? And to endlessly serve that Truth in each other by holding, unwaveringly, the faith and knowledge that we ARE (literally) each other, that we are placed in each others lives very intentionally, very specifically…. all for the purpose of assisting each other to fully remember our wholeness? My life convinces me this is the ground of our being, and the primary reason we journey together….

Therefore, in that spirit, I give my Godness and my Goodness my thanks for YOU and send and surround you with Peace.

May each of us live to our fullest this day, with no doubt of or within our onemindedness.

Namaste,

David

***********************************

My partnership request.... Please consider yourself an important gateway this message is passing through on its way to others. Please do 'send it on'. Thank you.

***********************************

Rev. David Seacord

Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag

(my fine art website)

(archived writings and poetry, circa 2002 to 2004)

(archived 2010 writings on the lessons of A Course in Miracles)

(archived entries of this years Everyman's Journal)

http://davidseacord.us1.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=306aba00e6959c604de750bcc&id=62a1ee7045

(info on The Love Declaration)

To subscribe, simply click on the code below to open the subscribe window.

Everyman's Journal 2011, #74

November 22

My only function is forgiveness. (from the ACIM Lessons)

______________________________________

In my inner life, the theme of forgiveness surrounds me these days, forming an egoic challenge similar to that of salmon attempting to swim upstream past a waterfall… not a small simple one jump easy waterfall, but a gushing torrent powerful seemingly impossible large and mighty waterfall… the kind that separates the truly totally committed who are willing to risk everything to succeed from the less than totally committed.

As an accomplishment, forgiving 'the hardcore impossible to forgive' is among our souls greatest triumphs. Each time it is done, it is the triumph of the purified heart transcending our habituated mind and emotions. I can see this clearly right now, for within me many emotions are surfacing from past suppressions to be healed. They all are made of memories of being deeply and personally wounded, or of the outrage I have felt at the unacceptable injustices of the world. As my spiritual growth curriculum is now presenting me with the truth of 'there are no accidents' (whose 'radical forgiveness' corollary is: 'since there are no accidents, there is actually nothing to forgive')… of course all unhealedness must be addressed, for anything unforgiven remains as a stop, a barrier, to continued purification.

In this milieu of accelerated growth opportunities we call 'present day life', it seems that (at least for me) nearly everything relates to this purification/forgiveness process. Last night I watched a movie named 'Joan of Arc', and uncovered that the pain of being burned at the stake was not forgiven yet, even after 500 years. At a recent social event we watched a movie called 'Thrive' which reviewed with undeniable accuracy the activities and suffering-creating impact of certain beings who place their love of great wealth and power above all else. Again, the unacceptableness of the injustices left me deeply aware of my own incomplete unhealedness.

Yet my knowing knows that the only answer is Love. And that to truly love I must also love my enemies (or as Echart Tolle has said, "What Jesus really meant when he said 'Love your enemies' is 'Have no enemies') . It is a tall and seemingly impossible order when my unhealedness is screaming for justice (which frankly means in 'an eye for an eye' fashion that I want them to suffer exactly as I believe I have). So like the salmon called to its upstream destiny, I do battle internally, in my heart, for the will and the courage to give up my anger, my hates, my opinions, my beliefs… 'my' anything and everything that is in the way of my commitment to my selflessness (understanding that only in selflessness can the world actually be forgiven).

I can see that this selflessness is both 'the great way' and 'the only way'. And that in its summation, life in incarnation comes down to the simple question of whether we are willing, at all times, to first, remember what is true, and then live it.

It is not at all so hard to have peak experiences and from them, see the truth… our Oneness. As millions of people are having these openings, that is relatively common among us these days. What is less common is the transformation of the ego into selfless being, for that usually involves rigorous and committed personal work… the work of searching out our personal cobwebs, of cleaning out our own inner house of it's closets of angers and hates and fears. That work is our real and true purpose here, and it is done by living from this moment to this moment without ever denying the perfection of the Oneness.

I admit that at times it is difficult to remember this, especially when the heart gets swallowed by feelings of personal pain. Yet I am here to suggest (essentially to myself, which of course, you are a part of) that such moments are God's gift to us also, for it is only in facing our unhealedness that we can remember the truth of our Oneness... and then practice the way to reenter the wholeness… by being finally willing to forgive 'the impossible to forgive'.

Namaste,

David

***********************************

My partnership request.... Please consider yourself an important gateway this message is passing through on its way to others. Please do 'send it on'. Thank you.

***********************************

Rev. David Seacord

Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag

(my fine art website)

(archived writings and poetry, circa 2002 to 2004)

(archived 2010 writings on the lessons of A Course in Miracles)

(archived entries of this years Everyman's Journal)

http://davidseacord.us1.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=306aba00e6959c604de750bcc&id=62a1ee7045

(info on The Love Declaration)

To subscribe, simply click on the code below to open the subscribe window.

Everyman's Journal 2011, #73

November 15

To fear or not to fear, that is the question…

________________________________

Each event in our lives offers many amazing opportunities to grow, to step forward into self-discovery, to look more deeply into the infinite introspective mirror and tell the truth about whatever we can now see. It is like this thing of being a spirit (or soul) inhabiting a body is purposefully designed to be the most exquisite game that the most intelligent intelligence--- the most supreme intelligence in fact--- could have possibly designed. And inside the design of the game is its self-extension, itsgrowth too. That growth is (I am seeing) propelled by our growth, my growth, your growth. So that in a very real way, everything we individually do to develop our own consciousness also has the effect of enlarging (and fulfilling) the consciousness of that which we call 'God'.

The Pathway to 'winning' the game of God-consciousness lies in perfecting our selflessness. There is no other place to stand in this universe where the karmic sword of our actions is not two-edged and where it will not cause suffering, not cut both ways…others, and ourselves also. But in becoming a selfless being, that possibility does exist… to become free of being cut, being wounded, or entering into any form of suffering. This is why the ancient Zen writing says: "Attachment (clinging) cannot be limited… even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment is to go astray…".

Yet because it is our own mind that grasps or clings to a belief, a concept, a tradition, a projection, a relationship, a desire…. anything… we therefore are the only ones with the power to ungrasp and release ourselves. Whenever we choose not to do that when life has led us with clarity to the portal of another such opportunity, the reason always lies in the fears still being harbored in our own mind.

Many years ago, I once heard a teacher say: "The beginning of mastery is always in the telling of the truth". I don't believe he was saying 'Don't ever, under any circumstances, lie about ANYTHING to another person'. There are too many circumstances that would result in increasing suffering needlessly for that to be that teachers communication intent. No, my experience has confirmed that it is to ourselves that we must not lie… and we must be very rigorous about this, lest we sink in awareness by choosing to pull over us the covers of self-deception.

I have personally done this enough in the past to know there is no reward there…. that it is much better to take a deep breath, pray for courage, and then face whatever demon we and 'the game' have co-created as our next challenge. Our greatest ally in this is our conscious clarity… that ability to look the challenge in the face and examine it for both the truth and the falseness that it contains. I mean, THAT is the whole game, in a nutshell… can I, can you... DISTINGUISH between what is true, and what is false AND STILL REMEMBER THAT ALL OF IT IS ONE. If we can (and we can when we are committed to practicing rigorous self-honesty) then we will find our hearts healed of all our past sufferings, we begin to live into the future with an increasing fearlessness and without worry, and in the present, we learn to quickly forgive ourselves our errors and missteps and clean them up, and then to return to the ever-present business of a conscious being: Teaching by our example that there is truly nothing to fear, that there is no Reality but God/Love/The One.

Namaste,

David

***********************************

My partnership request.... Please consider yourself an important gateway this message is passing through on its way to others. Please do 'send it on'. Thank you.

***********************************

Rev. David Seacord

Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag

(my fine art website)

(archived writings and poetry, circa 2002 to 2004)

(archived 2010 writings on the lessons of A Course in Miracles)

(archived entries of this years Everyman's Journal)

http://davidseacord.us1.list-manage1.com/subscribe?u=306aba00e6959c604de750bcc&id=62a1ee7045

(info on The Love Declaration)

To subscribe, simply click on the code below to open the subscribe window.

Everyman's Journal 2011, #72

November 10

Tomorrow is finally 11-11-11. Wherever we are, and whatever we are doing, let us join with all sentient sensitives to unify in our heart with each other, and know that we are one.

Let the boundary veils between the dimensions of spirit and matter lift, and let us receive into our lives a new knowledge… the knowledge that from this moment on, no one is a stranger, no one is outcast, no one is condemned. For as we know this to be true, the world cannot but begin to recognize it also and the institutions of mankind shall begin to reflect this.

All of us within incarnation at this time have a part in this great mission, and no part is insignificant. We are all in place exactly as is needed for these times. That there are no accidents in life is obvious when the truth is fully told. Therefore, let us arise and go forth in these days, welcoming in and allowing the pure spirit of love to guide our ways. In simply doing this, all dharmas are fulfilled.

Namaste,

David

***********************************

My partnership request.... Please consider yourself an important gateway this message is passing through on its way to others. Please do 'send it on'. Thank you.

***********************************

Rev. David Seacord

Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag

(my fine art website)

(archived writings and poetry, circa 2002 to 2004)

(archived 2010 writings on the lessons of A Course in Miracles)

(archived entries of this years Everyman's Journal)