So, you wanna help me?

Myrtle Beach, SC

“Doing the will of God allows no time for disputing his plan.”  -  George MacDonald

“The only expenditure, and all its outworkings, for which God can be held to be responsible is that which he directs.”  -  Amy Carmichael

      I am learning that there are distinctly different modes of being helpful to my fellow man.  There are niceties, service and then there is following God’s will.

     We all perform niceties.  I define a nicety as doing something for someone else that they are fully capable of doing for themselves, but I am making a conscious decision to do it as an act of kindness.  This may be mowing someone’s yard when we know they are busy, taking care of their pets when they are away or any of thousands of others.  The thing with niceties is that if I have expectations of some payback or if I have the subconscious notion that somehow the person is going to be indebted to me or think I am a hero, the end result of having done it is that I feel worse than if I had never done it at all.  Niceties are great for building relationships, but they must be expectation free.

     Then there is being of service to others.  I define service as doing for someone else what they are incapable of doing for themselves.  Service may range from something as mundane as teaching someone how to garden to performing hospice and allowing them to die in their own home with dignity.  With service, I have developed expectations, but they are not anything like they used to be.  When I perform service for others, I always gain the benefit of clearing space in my own head and attaining perspectives that were previously out of reach to me.  So my expectation of service is that it will create a gap large enough in my thinking that I can hear the intuitive voice or that I will distance myself enough from my current circumstance that I will gain perspective.

     Although I am convinced that it is “God’s Will” in an overall sense that I perform both niceties and service, there are other times that I get the clear intuitive message to help a specific person.  For some reason I am usually reluctant when the situation presents itself to me as I already have an agenda going that I am convinced is “God’s Will.”  But every time I follow that prodding, God replaces whatever I thought I had with something much better.  Examples abound; here is a specific one.

     I had myself lined up to do a story on the airplane pilots who tow the advertisement banners along the coast.  I wanted some aerial photos of Myrtle Beach to go with a story, and although the planes fly out of my equipment’s range when they are towing, I could get some shots as we headed out and came back.

     I was lined up to fly with a fellow at ten am one morning.  That morning I got up and went to a meeting at a local church I had heard about.  At the meeting I met a fellow visiting from out of town who was there trying to help his mother out of a fix she was in.  It was clear I was supposed to take some time with the fellow and talk to him, but this meant losing my chance to go up in the plane.

     I reluctantly went ahead and spent the time with the fellow.  We walked on the beach and I listened to him for an hour or so, and was able to share a bit of experience I have had with similar situations.  At 9:30 the banner company guy called and said there was a problem with the plane and he wasn’t going up.  The fellow I was with caught on to the conversation, and asked me about it.  I explained it to him, and he said “My uncle flies helicopters out of here – right up the street.  Want to see if he can get you up?”  45 minutes later I am up in a helicopter getting the close up shots of the main drag that I wanted.

     Now, we can say this is coincidence, but when it happens every time and time after time at some point we exceed the mathematical bounds of what we call “coincidence.”  When God calls me to do something specific and I follow through, he gives me a much better outcome than what I thought I was missing out on.  So I guess I have developed the expectation that when I am called on to do something, God knows my needs better than I do and will more than take care of them.  Am I setting myself up for disappointment?  Well, I have not been disappointed yet, and that makes me even more eager to do God’s work.  Maybe, just maybe, expectations are not always a dangerous thing.

Today, may I be willing.

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Make it a great day !!

David

When running in circles is a good thing . . .

 "You cannot outgive God." - unknown

 "Skepticism is the beginning of faith."  -  Oscar Wilde

     A big revelation came to me a few years back when I was sitting in an intensive care unit with a critically injured friend.  I had been told he was not going to live through the night, so there I sat in a room utterly quiet but for the clicks and beeps of the large array of life support equipment.  In the middle of the night it dawned on me that at this stage of the game all this fellow had was what he had given to others.  It also struck me that he had not given very much.  So I resolved that from that point forward I we merely a steward of the things that came into my life and that from then on I would give freely of whatever is in my possession.  What I have found, time after time, is that you cannot out-give God.  

     Since that occasion, I have done much work to clear the noise out of my head so I can hear that intuitive voice and be of service in the ways that God wants me to.  I give a recent illustration of the circles of giving that result when we realize these things and take action on the intuitions we are given.

    I drove past a restaurant in the Outer Banks of North Carolina and had that intuitive feeling that I was supposed to stop there.  I turned around, drove back, went in and asked if I could use the Wifi. They gave me the password and let me use the end of the bar.  Before I was done writing that days article they closed, but told me they would leave on the Wifi and let me use the upper deck.  (Which overlooks the Atlantic Ocean on one side and the Croatan Sound on the other.)

     The next day I felt moved to do an article on what it take to run a restaurant in a summer vacation area, as the area I was in gets very little traffic besides the three summer months.  So I returned and interviewed the owners, which actually turned into a long conversation about how their spirituality has evolved, their relationship with God and all the things they are grateful for.

     In the process of this conversation a woman with a small child in her arms hesitantly approached us.  It turns out it was a waitress who was supposed to be coming in later that day for her first day on the job.  She said that she had a conflict with care for the child, and she would be fifteen minutes late, that she hated that but would it be ok?  The owners said it was fine, the woman looked relieved and left.

     Later, as I sat editing photos a couple visiting from Pennsylvania sat down beside me. The were upset because they had to return the next day and couldn't see the lighthouses because of the rain.  I asked them if they would like to see every lighthouse from Nags Head to Florida, and then showed them each one along with photos of the people who care for them and old stories about them.  They asked about my work, so I showed them what I am doing.  When they left the woman hugged me and gave me ten dollars.  "It isn't much," she said, "but I want you to have it."  I only had a couple of dollars and needed both cigarettes and gas, but as soon as she handed it to me I knew I was supposed to give the $10 to the new waitress.

    That evening I was interviewing a local vacation rental property business owner on the upper deck, and the new waitress asked if she could get us anything.  It was still raining and we were her only customers.  We got an iced tea, and after our meeting concluded I got up to go to another meeting I was attending.  It gave me the chance to give the new waitress the $10.

     Late that evening I returned to edit that days photos and write.  I sat up on the upper deck and as I got ready to start working, the woman who owns the restaurant brought me a huge plate of food, a pitcher of water and a greeting card. 

     On the inside of the card it says:  "Please use us as your "homebase" while here in the Outer Banks  - Rest and let us fill your water and cook for you."  Inside the card was a $100 bill.

    I want to make it clear that this story is not about money. I share this circumstance because it illustrates the bigger picture so clearly - when God asks us to give and we listen, we are repaid ten times over.  In this case because it is money it is easy to quantify the repayment. When we are following God's will, what is asked of us doesn't usually involve money.  We are asked to give kindness, an empathetic ear, understanding, solace, encouragement or more often assistance of one form or another, and were are given back the same many times over.   Usually, the circle doesn't close this quickly or apparently.  But the circle always closes.

    The important thing is that we follow the intuitive nudges with action and without using the occasion to put conditions on things or develop expectations. Then we watch the long term outcome of our decision with a discerning eye and and see if what others have told us about the spiritual path is true.  And for me, constant skeptic and previously staunch atheist, consistent demonstrations of that power at work over a long period of time have been the only path there could have been for me to attain the trust and faith I enjoy today.

Today, may I follow the nudges.

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Have an awesome day !!
David   

Where are you off to?

"Stay off the Buses !!"  -  Unknown

"If you want to find God, hang out in the space between your thoughts."  -  Alan Cohen

     A few weeks back I sat listening to a fellow talking about how he finds quiet within.  He envisions that he is sitting at a bus station at an oasis in the desert with buses coming and buses going.  (Buses represent trains of thought.)   He explained that a bus will come into the station and before he knows it he is ten miles down the road out in the middle of nowhere.  

     I have a friend that laughed about a train of thought that a pain in his knee that come on suddenly a while back.  He was walking across the kitchen and felt a sharp stabbing pain in his knee.  Between the kitchen table and the refrigerator, his thought process went from awareness of the pain to his uncle who had a knee go bad at about his age to the fact that his uncle died shortly thereafter to the notion that this all meant that he too was going to die soon.  You may think that example is extreme, but is it?

     On the road I find myself drifting and having to pull myself back all the time.  It can be as simple as trying to have a conversation with someone.  I find myself planning what I am going to ask or say next instead of really focusing on the person and the ideas they are trying to impart to me.  I can get stuck in the sand in the van and within five minutes have myself so worked up that I am doubting myself, doubting God and doubting that this life has any value.  

     I can get on whimsical buses too.  I can smell, see or hear something that reminds me of childhood circumstance, but after a few fond memories I am soon thinking about how I shouldn't have done this or should have done that - stuff 45 years ago !!  Meanwhile there are birds flitting about, flowers blooming, people interacting - a while world of opportunity that fades into obscurity while my neurons belch out sagas of negativity.

     It seems that every bus, regardless of what direction it seems to be starting off in, ends up taking us out into desolation - grandiosity, self pity, yearning desire, remorse, obsession - or any one of the other destinations that our heads take us to when we are not living in this moment.  The buses that run into the past seem to arrive at destinations like false pride or remorse.  Buses that run to future destinations seem to always end up in places with names like fantasy or anxiety.  

     Yeah, thinking can be of  value.  But have I ever had an original thought - one no one else has ever had?  When I look at my thoughts critically, I find that they are not the quests of abstraction that I fantasize they are.  Detached examination reveals that for the most part they are merely excursions into distraction.  For the most part, thinking is overrated.  I think.

     So, maybe - just maybe we can spend today sitting at the bus station without feeling the need to climb on any buses.  And when we realize that we have unwittingly climbed on one bus or another and find ourselves out in the middle of the wasteland, we don't have to try to analyze how or why we got on the bus.  We can just make the conscious decision to debark and get back to the only destination that is real - right here and right now.  And in the quietude of that space we just might find the clarity and the guidance we crave.

Today, may we be present.

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Carpe Diem !!
David

Who's got your goat?

       

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"Every time we are disturbed, no matter what the cause, there is something wrong with us.  If someone hurts us and we are sore, we are in the wrong also."  - William Wilson

"I refuse to give others rent-free space in my head."  Debbie DeJong

     A while back I stopped into a fish packing plant to take photos and gather information for an article.  I arrived shortly after daybreak - besides the owner and the manager, none of the other workers were there.  They had two boats to unload that day, and prospects were good for getting photos that accurately depicted what the work was all about.  About eight o'clock the workers arrived and started getting ready to unload the ship and pack the fish for shipment to auction.  Work soon commenced, and I was able to capture each step of the way.

     Within an hour it was clear that they were short handed.  Baskets of fish that needed packed in boxes were backing up, and I heard the owner ask a local crab fisherman if he felt like working in the packing house for a day.  The fisherman told him no way - his work was hard enough.  I asked if he wanted me to help, and with a relieved look he asked if I would start shoveling ice.

     There were over 7 tons of fish that had to make their way into big cardboard boxes, and I started shoveling a layer of ice into each empty box, then putting a layer of ice atop the fish after they went in, then packing down the ice and putting lids on the boxes.  We finished that ship about noon, and right on its heels another pulled up to the dock.  This one was finished about four pm - so I had shoveled ice steadily for at least six hours.

     About four thirty I sat down - a good bit worn out.  After a few minutes the ice delivery truck came and I walked over to get a few shots.  "We have work to do around here" said the owner.  "Haven't you gotten what pictures you need yet?  Its time to move down the road" he said to me.

     I was initially a bit surprised, but maintained my composure and merely replied that I just needed a few more shots.  I hung around for another five minutes or so, took a few photos of the delivery truck and went on my way.

     Now, I had not asked for money, and even though it is always in short supply on the road I felt more like I was just doing the right thing by helping than expecting to be compensated.  But as soon as he said that the thoughts started - I could have easily fired off my mouth and developed a long term resentment against this man.  And my resentment would not have hurt him a bit - he would have laughed about how he got over on me for some free labor and then booted me down the road.

     Yes, people do and say things that can get our goat - and we can feel fully justified in our resulting anger.  But we have choices.  I choose to believe that others are doing the best they can with what they have.  I believe we are spirits having a human experience - each with our own path.  Yes, our paths cross, but our journeys ultimately are solitary affairs.  And when someone "wrongs me" like this I can look at the underlying spiritual laws and feel empathy for them rather than anger.  You see, if I give freely, you cannot steal from me.  And even if you could, everything comes full circle like a boomerang and you will pay your own price for your deceit - whether you ever become aware of it or not.  On the other side of the coin, I find that I cannot outgive God, and when I give freely of myself I always receive more than I gave.

     And so I bear no grudge for this man, and I don't have any thoughts that I wish I hadn't helped him or hopes that somehow he is retaliated against.  I am free to move down the road, and in fact later that very evening a man asked me if I wanted some work repairing a dock.  He paid me well, in cash, and several times over the next few days people went out of their way to buy me meals with no prompting from me.  I am free, but if my experience from my days of spiritual sickness are any indicator, he is still convinced that he has to do unto others before they do to him.  I don't wish that on him - it is a lonely and miserable way to live.

      Each of us is capable of and responsible for maintaining our own peace of mind.  We each alone - as an individual and fully by ourselves - determine if we live in peace or chaos.  Let's do ourselves a favor and choose to live today in freedom.

Today, may I opt for peace.  

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What scares you the most?

Great Snowy Egret

 “Let your home be your mast – not your anchor.”  - Khalil Gibran

“To be content with little is difficult – to be content with much – impossible.”  -  Marie Von-Ebner

     A while back I was sitting at a picnic table listening to a fellow bemoan his circumstance.  He was going through a divorce and probably losing his job.  “I do everything for everyone else and I am going to end up homeless” he whined.  He finally realized that I was not all that sympathetic to his fear of this prospect, and after a moment’s pause it came to him.  He knew that I have been “homeless” for a year and a half now, and he knows I am more peaceful than I have ever been.  “Oh . .” was all he could manage to utter.

     I had a terrible time letting go of having a “place called home” when I started on this journey.  In fact, it took God numerous nudges and a final shove or two to get me to let go of the notion that I was somehow “inferior” or “inadequate” if I did not have an abode.  Where would I go – what would I do – how would I accomplish anything – on and on the negative thoughts came.

     But, as with most everything else on the spiritual path, I have found that the truth is usually the exact opposite of my fear-driven convictions.  Yes, at the material level there is some convenience as I no longer have the “pull” of a place that requires ongoing maintenance and attention, and there is some inconvenience as I have limited space for “stuff.” It is always difficult to find a shower, and my conditions are such that if I want or need some new item, I have to get rid of something of similar size. 

     But it seems the aspects I was most uncomfortable with to start with have become the very things I now cherish the most.  I no longer have someplace to “run and hide” when I don’t like the way things are going.  Even though I didn’t think I did that, I realize now I did.  When I don’t like something now, there is nowhere to “go.”  I am forced to be present where I am – even if I change locations I have to be “present” there, so I might as well just "be" here.  After all, where else is there for me to be?  I am "here" experiencing this fully because I am supposed to be where I am, and no matter where I "go" I will still be "here."  So, why not immerse myself in the current "here and now?"  The discomfort of the adjustment to this didn’t take that long, and the benefit has been that I am much more “present” wherever I am.  And the more capable I am of being immersed in life without distraction, the more meaningful each moment - and thus each day - and thus my life becomes.  I have found many other advantages too - I am much more free to spontaneously follow God's will, I have been to many beautiful and fascinating places I would not have otherwise visited, I have developed deep and lasting relationships with many folks I would not have met - the list goes on.  Perhaps the one I enjoy the most is that now rather than identifying myself as the resident of such-and-such a place, the entire world itself is now my "home."  
    

     A few months back  I was talking with some fellows from India who were opening a new hotel.  After an hour or so of my asking questions and taking photos, one of them looked intently at me and asked me "who are you?"  I knew that he was asking me to define myself, and so I used a term I had been called by a friend who spent many years in an eastern monastery.  I told him I am an “American Sadhu.”

     These fellows looked shocked for a minute, and then started falling over themselves to accommodate me.  They insisted I came to their house to eat and spend the night there.  They wanted to give me money and food for the road.  I found the sudden lavishing of attention confusing and uncomfortable, but I did my best to graciously accept the kindnesses they offered.

     I later related the story to my friend the monk, who laughed heartily.  It turns out that in the Hindu tradition, a Sadhu is one who has given up all things material in their search for spirituality.  Many Hindu’s believe that to be in the presence of a Sadhu is the closest they will be to God in this life.  That all is way over the top as it relates to my situation, but it just goes to show that the things we fear the most can in reality be our greatest blessings ever.

Today, may I fully be where I am.

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Make today a great one !!

David

     

Leaving claw marks?

A bird dropping a twig at Kure Beach, NC

“To carry a grudge is like being stung to death by one bee.”  -  William Walton

“To become aware of a single shortcoming in one’s self is more useful than to be aware of a thousand in someone else.”  -  Dalai Lama

    I recently encountered a situation that showed me that letting go is hard – no matter how much we have practiced it in the past.  Years back, someone went out of their way to wrong me in a most spiteful way, broadcasting a false story and dismantling my much of my life as they could.  At the time, I engaged counsel who helped me work through the situation.  There were numerous depositions, recorded phone conversations, financial records, various reports, photographs and ultimately court transcripts that not only exonerated me, they showed clearly that the other party had premeditated the situation.  This all added up to a box full of stuff that had been lying about for almost two decades now – all saved because I was sure that at some point in the future I would want to “prove my case” to others.

      In recent years I have worked hard to purify my heart, and not only forgiving this person but looking at my part in the situation has taken much effort over the last ten years.  Then, recently I came back across that box, and was faced with having to make a decision about what to do with it.  I could have given it to other parties who have never had any idea that there was "another side to the story," I could have continued to hang on to it, or I could choose to be rid of it.  Speaking with a couple of folks whose guidance I trust, I came to the conclusion that it needed to be thrown out, despite huge emotional and mental misgivings.  Every logical instinct railed against it – and I prayed for the strength to do it.  

     Circumstances presented themselves where I got to watch another person confront and begin to let go of something painful that happened long ago in their life, and it gave me just enough impetus to pitch all of it.  I thought I had long since forgiven this person, but I realized that I was hanging on to the "right to retaliate" - I had not completely let go.  And this added up to a grudge that I continued to carry, even if it was at a deeply repressed subconscious level.

     Yes, letting go is hard, and even though we trust the counsel of spiritual others and we logically know that holding on to resentments only poisons us, it is still easy to feel that somehow “my case is different.”  And so we cling - for years, decades - a lifetime, never realizing how much we ourselves are being harmed.  I realize I had justified years of lackluster performance and heavy drinking over that incident – and letting go of it means that I don’t have that particular “security blanket” of self-justification anymore.  I know from past experience that "letting go" often doesn't seem to bring relief right away - the feeling is more a gnawing pit in the stomach that makes it real tempting to delve into fear driven anger, self-pity and rationalizations.  But, eventually that pit just becomes a bit more space available for God to work through me.  But, in the meanwhile, it still feels “all wrong.”  In the past, how could I ever have believed that faith was for cowards?  The spiritual path is not for the faint of heart.  

Today, may I stay the course.

Have a great day.

David

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What will your legacy be?

     A recent trip to the World Golf Hall of Fame to gather information for an article was telling in many ways.  Golf is one of those things where, if you are going to play, you have “your butt hanging out in the wind” the whole time.  By that I mean you are not able to hide behind office walls while you do your work, your attitudes and emotions are on full display for all to see.  

     There have been many “greats” in the game of golf, and it was interesting to see what it is that we really admire when it comes to looking at people’s legacies.  Yes, there have been those golfers who are completely self centered – some of them fairly good at the game.  But after the television cameras have quit rolling and when the story was told, when the sum of their achievements stood side by side with their fellows they stand out as empty husks.

     On the other side of that coin are those who had more dimensions to their lives.  Those that were diplomats, those who worked to help those fellows, those that carried themselves with dignity and a measure of humility.  And it is those folks that the museum dedicated the most space to – by far.

     Beyond legacies though, great golfers all talk about the need to be able to “live in the current moment” if one is to succeed at the top levels of their game.  Bad breaks, lucky breaks, failure and success are all meaningless a few moments later.  All that matters is the moment at hand – the task to be performed this very minute.

     Yes, for the self-centered one there is the immediate gratification of adoring groupies, of financial rewards and of boot-licking opportunists.  But I invite you to visit this Hall of Fame and look from the perspective of the honor we pay folks after all the fanfare is done.  At the time I am sure that many of the acts that are most glorified here were shuttled off of the news pages entirely for the latest juicy news – the biggest controversy or the fattest paycheck.  But when it all comes out in the wash, we all know what is most valuable.  We just have trouble recognizing it at the time it is actually taking place.

Today, may I see things in context.

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David Emch

Are you lookin' at me?

Oklawaha River; Ocala National Forest, Florida

“When a man points a finger at someone else, he should remember that four of his fingers are pointing at himself.”  -  Louis Nizer

“It is when you lose sight of yourself that you lose yourself.  …The world to you should be a mirror to reflect to you your image…”  -  C. Joybell   

     I just completed a series of articles on a group of people who travel around the United States encamping in forests.  I learned much from the experience, but the reactions of people after the series was complete was telling.

     I received several hate emails from Rainbow folks claiming that I had stereotyped their friends and that I should remove my posts immediately.  Now, I have received hundreds of positive responses, but while I was exchanging comments with a couple of those who were claiming I didn’t have permission to be there or that I had taken photos improperly, I found myself getting quite defensive.  I was careful to not let it show, but it brings back up an old issue with me.  I000 people can praise my efforts, but if there is so much as one that criticizes I get defensive and hostile.  I have never really figured out why I do this except that I still have a good bit of egoic “people pleasing” that is just waiting for the proper circumstances for me to beat myself up.  As soon as I catch it I can just laugh the matter off and look at the substance of the folks complaints. 

      But the incident brings up a much deeper issue.  Most of us don’t like to have our photographs taken to start with, and we are terrified about having a “mirror held up to us” by someone who observes us from a neutral standpoint.  We will go to extremes to avoid having to look at how others see us – we might work ourselves to the bone to acquire material things that we think prove we are “worthy,” we might hide in offices and gated communities, we may find groups that share our weaknesses and entrench ourselves in them - the list goes on and on. 

     And why do we so fear the “mirror?”  After all, if we are doing the right things to the best of our ability we have nothing to fear.   Perhaps it all funnels down to that deepest of age-old fears – deep in our psyche we are terrified that we will be exposed as unworthy and abandoned by our fellows.  In this instance, it points out to me how hypocritical I can be.  The criticism of a couple would have me fly off the handle to protect “myself,” all the while scorning those that cannot stand looking at my observations of them.  We are fascinating creatures.  And one thing I know for sure – whatever I see in you – my brothers and sisters – I really see in myself.  You are merely a reflection – what I see in you is what I see in myself.

Today, may I know humility.

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David Emch

     

Do you really know what you are saying?

A couple married in a "Hippie Wedding" on Valentines Day.

NOTE

      I just finished a couple of weeks in extraordinary circumstances - I will return to the "instincts" series at a later date. Also, if you are not reading the daily articles that accompany these writings, please visit www.captureamerica.co and sign up for them.  David

“Do not judge a man before you have walked a mile in his moccasins.”  -  Indian proverb

“There is a principle which . . . cannot fail but to keep man in everlasting ignorance - that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”  -  Herbert Spencer

     I recently encountered two situations I have not encountered before.  One was working as a cabinet repairman in a “projects” – a government subsidized apartment complex.  I spent a week in people’s apartments – in their kitchens – quietly observing their lives.  The other was attending a gathering of “The Rainbow Family,” an event where a couple of thousand “hippies” gathered in a national forest for two weeks.  I camped in the forest with the hippies and quietly observed their lives as well.

    I could have come out of either situation convinced that I had found exactly what I expected to.  After all, aren’t black folks that live in projects nothing but lazy drug addicts?  Aren’t hippies that live in the woods nothing but filthy drug addicts too?  Yes, I could have found that exact type of person at either place – and I did find a few.  But they were in the vast minority.  But the worse thing that I found was those folks outside the groups – those on the periphery of these people who told completely false and often sensational tales as though they were fact.  And I consequently found myself under attack for defending what I knew to be the truth.

     In both places a majority of people were trying to find a place in life – trying to feel as though they mattered and were loved.  In spite of knowing they are branded by society, for the most part these folks put out effort to help their neighbors – more of an effort than average and an extraordinary effort in many cases.

     Yes, I still have many pre-conceived notions about groups of people that I have spent zero time around.  I don’t know how to rid myself of this except by forcing myself to spend time with them.  And when I put out this effort I am faced with some sadness, but I am blessed with a richness of experience that far out-weighs any of the shared pain I might feel.

     The lesson to me is simple.  I am never going to have a solid basis to speak upon unless I have at least walked at least a few steps alongside another – although a mile in his moccasins would be preferable.  I hope that I can rid myself of many of my preconceived notions – but it is hard with the constant bombardment of propaganda we get from media and others.  But, today, just today, I can pause and think before I make a statement that I do not have the experience to make.  Maybe I can realize that when I make such false statements it is just me trying to build myself up by tearing someone else down.  But on the other hand, just maybe, if I try hard, I may be able to spend enough time with my fellow man to reach the place that I love, rather than fear, that which I do not know.  And may God grant me the self-control to keep my mouth shut the rest of the time.

Today, may I be open.

EMAIL me if you like, DONATE if you can and READ TODAY"S ARTICLE if you have time, but what ever you do, be sure to have a great Wednesday !!

David Emch

Happy Wednesday

David

Instincts and Sin intro

Seabrook Island; SC

“Creation gave us instincts for a purpose.  Without them we wouldn’t be complete human beings.”  -  Bill Wilson

“So these desires, for the sex relation, for material and emotional security, and for companionship – are perfectly necessary and right, and surely God-given.”  -  Bill Wilson

     I grew up being taken to church – my parents had belonged to a very strict denomination when I was young and later switched to another – both of the Judeo-Christian bent.  Perhaps I didn’t hear what others heard, but I heard that I was a sinner.  There was evil in me that wanted to compete with the good in me – thus there were parts of me that I would be better off having exorcised.  When as a boy I began to mature sexually there was no frank discussion on the topic.  All I could comprehend from what I heard at church was that this urge was evil.  “Sex education” at school was a joke – spent primarily on the abstract of reproduction organs and the like.  As a young male the drive was strong and so at some point I just wrote myself off as “evil.” 

    But there was science that was at odds with the teachings of the church – one group said that the earth was only a few thousand years old while the other showed clearly that many millions of years had shaped this cold blue rock we float about on.  Science had hard answers to the things I observed around me - answers that matched the reality that I observed.

     So, at some point I discarded the notion of religion entirely – and along with it any ideas of “spirituality.”  But the hard-wiring of my childhood brain remained in place, and for many things I felt a deep sense of guilt for what I was and shame for what I was not.  And at some point my interpretation of Science - atheistic or agnostic at best - failed me too.

     The two quotes above came from a fellow named Bill Wilson, written back in the 1930’s.  His approach to spirituality taught that ALL of our instincts are right and true, it is just in the practice of them that we get misaligned.  He taught that all of them can be lumped into four basic categories, and if we are out of whack in one area it will affect the others negatively.  He taught that most every serious emotional problem derives from a misalignment of these instincts.  He was clear that if we are ever to know a faith that really works on a moment to moment basis we must bring these instincts into alignment and reconcile our past behavior regarding them.

     I would like to take the next several days to explore this concept, and compare it to the “sin-righteousness” concept that I was given as a youth.  This may take an open mind for some, and for others this may be old-hat.  Tomorrow we will start with the first instinct and what he argues is the most powerful – the sexual.

Today, may I be open minded.

EMAIL me if you like, DONATE if you can, READ TODAY’S ARTICLE if you have time, but whatever you do be sure to Have an Awesome Wednesday !!

David

Is life giving you a bad shake?

“This too shall pass.”  -  Unknown

“Fulfill me, make me happy, make me feel safe, tell me who I am.  The world cannot give you these things, and when you no longer have such expectations, all self-created suffering comes to an end.”  -  Eckhart Tolle

     One of my first mentors had a genius for saying things that would get under my skin.  One of the things that bothered me was his use of the phrase “This too shall pass.”  Something “good” would happen and upon sharing it with him he would stoically say:  “This too shall pass.”  Something “bad” would happen and I was looking for solutions.  “This too shall pass” he would say.  Quite frankly I got sick of hearing it, and I was angered because I didn’t think he was empathetic enough.  When things are good shouldn’t I revel in them so as to enjoy them to the fullest?  And surely when things are bad a grave and somber demeanor is best if it is a solution we are after.  Maybe this attitude would bring me some comfort during “bad” times, and surely this attitude would decrease my ability to enjoy the “good” times.  Besides, if I turn myself into an emotionless drone, what is the use of living?

     Of course I was missing the whole point.  When I confuse my current circumstances with my identity I subject both my contentment and self worth to the whims of an ever changing world.  Things that make me “happy” I both clutch and grasp at or I overindulge in, thus assuring that any “happiness” they will not linger for long.  And things that make me “sad” I resist and fight, thus insuring that they will linger.  As Tolle says, “What we resist persists, what we fight grows stronger.”  Through such actions my attitude and my sense of self-worth are totally dependent upon the tides of “fate,” something over which I have not a bit of control.  And because I have thus made myself vulnerable to things I cannot change I have given up my freedom of choice as it relates to my own emotions.

     As with every other spiritual principle, putting this into practice yields the opposite result to what logic would dictate.  Realizing that everything that arises will also pass is the first step toward detaching our identity from circumstances.  When we stop staking our identity on the outcome of situations we are free to observe them in perspective.  This perspective brings a GREATER appreciation for the “good” things and relieves much of the anxiety and fear over the “bad” things we face.  And when we have given up on these expectations of the world, we begin to find the path we are here to follow.

Today, may I live in reality.

EMAIL me if you like, DONATE if you can, READ TODAY’S ARTICLE if you have time, but whatever you do be sure to Have a Great Tuesday !!

David Emch