Realizing God's Will Is Oneness

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The Purpose of Meditation

When we meditate, sitting in silence, it seems we first go to an awareness of different “parts” of our mind.  We do not know if these parts are the whole.  We surrender the meaning of anything in the mind, any experience or sensation or thought to Holy Spirit.  Holy Spirit knows the way to begin experiencing more of the mind.

We often know when we come to a “part” of the mind we haven’t experienced before.  We just recognize this.  And yet the mind is not in parts; there is only the one mind which is not divided.  We only think it is divided, and while we are still in this thinking, we see the mind as divided into parts that we can come to know.

All these “parts” form the whole.  When we surrender to Holy Spirit, we are surrendering to the Inner Teacher who can show us the way to experience our whole mind.  He is of the whole mind and only He knows the way for us to begin assembling “parts” of the mind into one undivided experience.  This is the way in which Holy Spirit is healing the mind.  He is showing us there are not any divisions; He is healing seeming divisions by slowly showing us oneness.

At first we don’t recognize, perhaps, the subtle changes taking place.  We may recognize that new areas of our mind are coming into awareness or focus, but we may not see how this totally integrates with what we already have experienced.  Yet Holy Spirit is expanding awareness in a methodical way that is just right for us.  There is a healing plan for the mind that we are not aware of, but it works.  As we surrender it all to Holy Spirit, trusting in His healing plan, we surrender the healing of our mind to Him.

Each experience, sensation and awareness we should surrender in silence to Him, without comment or judgment.  He takes us through the maze with complete care and gentleness, and opens the awareness of the whole mind to us.  We have no way to judge this journey for we do not know the way.

Any fear about surrendering is the ego judgment and comment that its part would be lost.  The ego fears that its part would no longer be special, divided and the major focus of our awareness.  This fear is false, an illusion only.  It’s just a voice of the part of the mind that we have become most accustomed to listening to.  That is all.  There is no harm or danger in not listening to this ridiculous voice.  The mind can no more be divided than God can be divided.  There can be no harm in wholeness.  One can simply hear the voice of fear, but not listen, for it has no meaning.

We find wholeness in listening instead to the Voice for God, the Holy Spirit.  He asks for willingness to surrender to His Voice.  His Voice is true.  As we surrender to Him and let Him guide the way, He will show that there is no harm in a united mind.  As we become more aware of the united mind, we see the ridiculous idea of parts and any “voice” that parts are indeed better and desired.  There is no such voice in reality.  One “part” of our mind made up this idea to make its ‘‘territory” supreme, special, separated from the rest.  This cannot be, and in fact isn’t.

In meditation, in silence, the whole mind asserts itself again.  That is why one meditates.  There is no other way to come to recognize the whole mind at work.  One must give over to the Holy Spirit to accomplish this awareness.  We do not recognize how we came to think we separated the mind into parts and so we cannot recognize the way back to whole awareness alone.  We need the help of Holy Spirit and He gives it freely as we listen in silence to what He offers.

© 2004, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Barbara Kraetsch.

A Better Answer For The World

There is a certain simplicity in life that comes from following the guidance of Holy Spirit in all things, and not worrying about anything.  It is a letting go of struggling to find solutions to any worldly problems.  It is letting go of analyzing data and brainstorming for creative solutions, ideas that are talked about in numerous books on the market today, such as looking at habits of successful people.  There is only one habit that leads to a successful life and that is listening to inner guidance without fail.

When I was in the practice of law, I had to research endlessly cases and precedents, and how issues were resolved in the past.  Then I had to build arguments for resolving the matter at hand in accordance with past judgments.  Of course, there are many judgments with many complicating factors and sorting through all these complications for just the right data to support my case was an ongoing job for each client matter.  Creative arguments then had to be invented to stretch the law to fit the circumstances at hand, so that past resolutions could be used to resolve this case in line with them.  We could be inventive, but rarely does a judge want to go out on a limb deciding a case.  The judge wants precedent to rely on, a way to apply the past to the present.  This does make for a sense of contuinity in the law, a sense of predictibility that we all take comfort in at times.  But is predictibililty a value to hang onto at all cost?

This scenario of analyzing the past to determine the future couldn’t be more unlike how I use my time today.  In my ministry work, and in my daily living, I turn to just the one answer that is fresh in every moment.  I practice mindfulness in which I give every circumstance, event and issue over to the Holy Spirit for His guidance.  As I go to Him for solutions of what would be truly helpful in every moment, I let go of defining issues, researching, analyzing, and trying to find solutions from the past to guide my present decision.  I let Holy Spirit set my course of action as I remember that He has the answers that work best.  These answers have nothing to do with my past judgments.  These answers have everything to do with my present peace and joy.

When I let go of applying the past onto the present and future, I let go perpetuating bad dreams of fear and anxiety about outcomes because I am worrying about what appears to be best from ego worldly standards.  I have no way of knowing what the best outcome is, but Holy Spirit does.  I am aware that this means that I trust Holy Spirit more than I trust man-made laws that keep the status quo in place.  I am aware that not everyone can say this with conviction because they feel uncertain what the worldly outcome might be if Holy Spirit is in charge.  They might feel such guidance is good for spiritual matters, but what about the “real world” of law, business, medicine, education, government, and the list goes on.  What about these areas of life?  Could we trust Holy Spirit to guide us even in these?  Whose guidance would we listen to anyway, if they conflict?

These questions are just of the ego mind which would perpetuate the status quo of chaos, confusion, and a seemingly endless array of problems for which there appear to be no good solutions.  Of course, Holy Spirit is there to guide us in all matters as to where we are to go and what we are to do to be truly helpful.  It does take a certain amount of courage and conviction to admit that, just maybe, one doesn’t have the answer and doesn’t know where to find it in the ego world, and then ask for guidance and follow it with trust that the answer is helpful not only to the person asking, but also to the world.  There are many people who quietly live this way but don’t mention it out loud for fear that they will be ridiculed by strident ego voices around them.  If more people could have the courage to ask others to join with them in peacefully asking for answers, the world would be a more peaceful place.

This doesn’t mean that people have to leave their jobs and take up ministry or some other spiritual career.  Everyone who asks with willingness to hear will receive answers right where they are to be truly helpful, in whatever line of work they find themselves.  It is recognizing that answers will not always repeat in some way the past, but will go beyond the past to a new dynamic in which there are no winners and losers, but only winners.  It is recognizing that the only way to be peaceful is to be peaceful, the only way to be trusting is to trust, and the only way to be listening to a better way is to listen.  Sometimes the best answers are not that complicated.  Holy Spirit always simplifies and makes things clear.  It is a matter of trust.  Do we trust the past because we have always done things a certain way and we value that way?  Or do we trust Holy Spirit to show us a fresh picture of reality that glows with newness as we see holy and eternal values for the first time in a different way?  Do we trust that we are given this picture to share with the world so that all may come to see differently?

We live in times that remind us that the ego voice knows only mistrust, condemnation, confusion and attack as the way to resolve problems.  Many are stuck in old ways of believing and relating to each other as camps of thinking divided and never to unite.  Some of us know there is a better way, and furthermore, we ask to see and hear this better way.  When we get the answer, and we always get the answer, let us share it for the betterment of the world.  Let us share unafraid that we felt inspired by a power greater than our worldly selves that there is a better way to live.  Let us share peacefully from the place of peace within ourselves that the future can be joyful because there are better answers and we can know these answers.  The only answer is acknowledging the everyone is a child of God and every child of God is worthy and deserving of peace.  I trust that if we ask, Holy Spirit will answer in a way we can understand and share.  This is what I practice now.  Won’t you practice this with me?  Together we can open the world to let go of past judgments and simply be at peace.

© 2004, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
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Posted by Rev. Barbara Kraetsch.

Trusting Outcomes with Holy Spirit

This past Saturday was the third anniversary of September 11th.  I felt guided to hold a morning of peaceful reflection and sharing on the experience of God at a nearby church where I co-facilitate some groups.  The pastor, although not participating, was supportive.  I sent invitations to all the other churches in the city using this church’s stationary which the pastor supplied.  Everyone I talked to about this idea seemed to think it was good on this day to focus on peace instead of victims and violence.  As it turns out, only two people showed up, and these were my co-facilitator at a Wednesday morning meditation group and a member of the group. 

The three of us has a beautiful peaceful morning.  At the end I thanked the persons present for coming and told them that it would not have been so long ago that I would have considered the morning a complete failure because the church was empty of human bodies.  I told them that I did not consider the morning a failure at all.  I had done as I was asked.  I put the idea out there.  I had to let go of results as measured by the ego standards.  For the persons present that morning, it was a wonderful Heaven experience.  We all agreed on that. 

However as I was driving home and later that day, I was a little puzzled.  Why was I asked to do something that seemingly people were not interested in?  I simply had no answers.  The next day during my regular prayer time, I was reminded that during one of the ministry courses, I experienced a meditation in which I was given the opportunity to look through two windows into the universe.  One window looked into the past, and the other looked into the future.  There were bouquets of white roses of varying sizes beside each window so that I could tell one window from the other.  It was the Inner Teacher who offered me this opportunity if I wanted it.  I said no to both windows.  I told the Inner Teacher that I would trust Holy Spirit about the past and the future; I would stay in the present with Him.

As I am reminded of this again now, I see how often I want to re-do the past because I live in regret.  If I had known how a circumstance or event would turn out, I might have chosen differently.  That thought brings me to not knowing the future, not knowing in advance how things will turn out - giving up control - because, of course, if I knew I would plan differently.  Both past and future are different sides of one coin, the ego thought system.  They are intertwined.  One is not better than the other.  Knowing the future is not better than knowing the past.  Neither takes me out of the illusion of time.  Only the present can.

When I first experienced this meditation four years ago, I felt so happy and trustful of the Inner Teacher.  I declined the use of time to my advantage from the ego perspective, and gave the use of time to Holy Spirit.  And yet, as He uses it, I simply do not understand what He is doing at times.  As I look from the ego perspective, the split mind, I just can’t understand.  As I open to the healed perspective in the right mind, there seems to be something, some understanding just beyond my grasp.  No matter how I try to still my mind and listen, I just don’t seem to quite get it.

I guess that is where trust comes in.  There are so many circumstances and events lately in my life where I have practiced following the guidance I felt, but to what end?  Certainly not one the ego liked, I’ll say that.  I have trusted, but I have to practice even more trust in Holy Spirit’s use of time.  I said I would forgo focusing on the past and future, but my ego mind wants to grab them back.  The ego wants certain outcomes and control over them, and yet this brings fear as well as fear of the unknown.  Where is the answer?  I wish to hear it loud and clear, as they say.

All I hear is, “Let go!  Let go!”  If I let it all go, where am I?  So many opportunities come up that the ego part of my mind really doesn’t want to do, and yet I do want to do them if I know the outcome is happy - happy by ego standards.  Yet, the Course says the outcome is always happy by spiritual standards.  The outcome is always Atonement.  Each step of trust leads there.  Each time I let go of past and future outcomes and trust Holy Spirit in the now moment, I am stepping toward true happiness, true joy, true peace, not the false sense of satisfaction with the ego.  There is no outcome which pleases the ego mind for more than a minute.  Why should I bother to look at future events as if a guarantee of a certain result brought peace?  And could I know what that could be in the big picture, in the long run?  What I wanted as a result a few years ago would not be the result I would want today.  That brings me back to trusting Holy Spirit.

And so today, I look at the windows to the past and future and affirm again that I give them to Holy Spirit.  I will not try to review outcomes.  I will not be curious or think them important.  I give the use of time and space to Holy Spirit and trust that He uses them wisely for healing, mine and others, all in one plan of healing.  Everything interwoven into one plan in ways I could not possibly understand, no matter how hard I try.  Today I relieve myself of the burden of trying.  I cannot understand and I accept I cannot understand.  I don’t know the wisdom of past and future outcomes.  I give this all to Holy Spirit who does understand history and possibilities and weaves them into a web of His own design that captures me and brings me home to the experience of Heaven.

In this moment, I can trust my life and my journey to Him.  I walk past the windows and turn to Holy Spirit.  In return He gives me peace of mind.  He gives me His assurance that all is well.  He gives me assurance that He understands the Mind of God, even if I don’t, and that He acts for me for my best interest always.  If I leave all outcomes in His capable hands, He will not fail me and He will not fail the world.  There is a happy rainbow, a happy ending, and I can have it right now if I want, if I but trust Him in everything.  Today, I can recognize that I have no meaning for anything and I can happily accept that statement without judgment.  I don’t understand, and that’s OK, because I can trust.

© 2004, Pathways of Light. https://www.pathwaysoflight.org
You may freely share copies of this with your friends, provided this notice is included.

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Posted by Rev. Barbara Kraetsch.

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