Everyman's Journal 2011

Everyman's Journal 2011, #20

January 23

It is a universal law that we are of one essence, and given that, it is obvious to me that wherever that essence has been placed into denial, sooner or later we attract another opportunity to reestablish what is actually true.... in other words, to heal the past and share love again.

In my life, the last few days with my visiting friend Sarah have been that opportunity. And it has surprised us both that the 'friendship connection'--- once thought dead--- has been easily regained, as if all the turmoil and suffering of our romantic breakup had never happened. I believe this is a result of a particular discipline: the telling of the truth to each other. Of course, this is not necessarily easy, for we are required to look within deeply to find out exactly what is the truth for us each individually.

All personal love relationships contain elements of trading needs in them, and it is honest to know that openly. It's the complexity of the trades that produce confusion, particularly when driven by forces and needs within ourselves that we have not yet fully seen. For if we had fully seen them, we could have avoided a lot of the dramas of getting them met by just announcing 'what the deal is that will work for me' to the other at the time of 'contract signing'.

My assumed contract with Sarah was to provide her with emotional safety, while her assumed contract with me was to be my adventure mate. For far too many reasons to relate here, our years together were marred by continual fulfillment breakdowns of those expectations, and eventually we unchose each other. But God's purpose in bringing us together did not allow for a complete severing, and the reality of many long-distance phone conversations full of attempts to understand both what had happened and what was happening became our karma. In this way we have remained spiritually partnered.

Getting together for a few days has blessed us both, for it has allowed for the rediscovery that love is not a function of how things look, but rather it is a function of fully accepting and honoring how things actually are. In other words, by being deeply present with each other and honestly communicating, the truth heals all forms of the dream. And in that, the truth discovered is that we will never not love each other, and that we gave many years of our lives to supporting each others growth into becoming who we are being today was an absolutely essential part of our life's plan's.

Like me, Sarah has a ministry of words to accomplish, in the form of writing plays, movies scripts, and novels. And I am clear, as ACIM teaches, that no one but her can birth those gifts to this world, just as no one but me can paint my images. The life of the creative artist living in our times (or any time) is basically a life of finding the courage to expose ourselves intimately to the world, which can be a very scary thing to do. It is good to have close friends to share with on this journey. In telling me the stories of her New York City life, I can see that the law of attraction is working perfectly for her, placing the doorways she must walk through right in front of her again and again. The emotional safety I provide my friend Sarah is to simply reaffirm that her life is 'on track', and to continue to encourage her to have faith in herself in the face of her life's challenges. And the view of my life in Yuma that she was able to see and appreciate on this visit lets her know that I am perfectly situated to accomplish my true dharma by being here also.

The true picture is bigger than the personal, always. The divine Knower that guides our lives is like a weaver, working the warp and weft of the loom of existence with the threads of our individual lives. Most times those threads of life only cross and touch once, hence the millions of people that pass by us as nothing but background. But out of that gray scale existence there are those who appear to us in various degrees of color... an indication that there is a karmic work to do arriving. In responding to these karma completing opportunities, it is important to maintain the perspective of the impersonal, applying the skills of spiritual detachment even while entering the 'playing fields of relationship'.

In knowing each other as 'another myself', love manifests as appropriate compassion, allowing (as they say in Landmark) another to be exactly as they are, and exactly as they are not. Obviously, this means we chose to give up the 'I trade you' game, replacing it with 'I accept you'.

Namaste,

David

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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.

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Rev. David Seacord

Fine Art Painter / Sufi Cherag

david@davidseacord.com

www.davidseacord.com

(my fine art website)

www.davidseacord-everymansjournal.blogspot.com

(archived writings and poetry, circa 2002 to 2004)

www.davidseacord-acimcommentaries.blogspot.com

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

www.everymansjournal2011.blogspot.com

(archived entries of this years Everyman's Journal)