625.  Past

Principles

Systems


Underlying order

This is not written in stone.  When we see what appears to be a miracle, or a great healing, is it?  I don't think that God breaks any rules.  In the physical world he uses physics.  In the spiritual world he uses metaphysics, or spiritual physics.  When the two are crossed it is beyond our comprehension, but laws are still obeyed.  Perhaps some laws appear to be suspended, but beneath there still must be an underlying order.

551.

Principles

Systems and understanding

Your depth and breath

So you think you have the whole truth in a nutshell and your steel mind has wrapped around it.  Not so, not so.  You are traveling too fast to see anything that clearly.  Maybe your life is going from 'L' to 'P.' You might know there is a 'Q' or an 'S' but you have not seen them directly.  Your experience is from 'L' to 'P.'  Even then you are not static or stationary enough to solidify what you see.  You can report and get an idea or even make a sketch and maybe develop that, but a totally lock tight system is not for you to have.  You are a traveler in a shifting landscape observing only what your eye can see.  You know there is an entire alphabet somewhere, and you know something designed it, but between that and what you can observe and experience will always put a ceiling on the breathe and depth of your comprehension.

431.  Past

Principles

Systems, patterns and understanding

More on Structure

If you’re too structured you’ll end up focused on money and practicalities and efficiency and this will leave you dry.  You might build your structure around a real inspiration and realization, even a breakthrough.  It seemed the right thing to do, the right foundation, the right decision.  However, the structure and activities that follow are not the same as the inspiration itself.  It eventually goes stale, becomes routine and you wonder what went wrong.  The vision was good, how could the offshoots go bad?  Wasn’t this the right way to go about things?  And then to escape you run to the television, the computer, phoning people, activities, socializing, and on and on.  But you are not content because you feel something is wrong.
 
Well, you can’t drop everything.  Give yourself space to look at it all objectively.  One can work within the structure, but not be so attached to it.  Perhaps approach it with a more playful look and see attitude.  This will relieve the pressure. Your structure should be a vehicle, not an end.  You’ll forget, but then you’ll remember.  Try to have enough courage to hold onto this attitude.

514.  Past

Principles

Systems, patterns and understanding


Shaking it up

At some points in life, one needs to be a little bad to live.  You need a little spice, sexiness, and teasing in life.  Doing so shows you what is out there so you don’t feel trapped.  The natural instincts of life are rekindled Maybe we are even reminded what to fight for.   When suppressed, life becomes mechanical and dry.  Rules and regulations take over and we become a cog in the wheel.   Something has to shake it up to remind us we are alive.

468.  Past


Systems

All too young  

He sounded all too young with this talk.  A direct cause and effect, action and then reaction relationship in life is not so discernible.  For a time it might seem so.  But there are underlying vectors, unknown forces that also are at work.  In life “if you do this than that will happen” is not always the case.  Lessons are not always so clear or apparent.  As with an earthquake, millions of dormant unknowns contribute to one outburst.

A better, longer lasting approach is to hold off on wanting immediate answers, and to wait for the mystery of it all to gradually unfold.

(By the way, after some immediate success, five years down the road the young man hurt his back, was broke and looking for any available work.) 

211.  Past

Past


Three time frames

There is a time frame to my past, although it is not written in stone.  It seemed for about 20 years until age 38 I was searching for truth, answers, and sense.

At around 38, when everything was bleak and I wasn't doing well, a couple of things occurred.  Waking up at 3 am in need, I appealed to a God, for a confirmation that there was a God and that if I was meant to live, survive, I needed help.

Secondly, I tried meditating in a form similar to the way the ancient Hebrews did.  I had often meditated before, and it was useful and helpful, but never received deep answers. During this meditation I did.  All seemed dark and helpless when suddenly a point of light appeared.   I observed that when I was in this light my anguish wasn't there. I knew I had to hold onto and stay in this light.  Truly, the light was separated from the dark and when I was in the light I was not in the dark.

For another 20 or so years this meditation was part of the fabric of my life.  Now, after the first 20 years of searching and then the next 20 years of meditating, a new phase is emerging. My early life, before these 40 years, is reappearing.  It is not fully clear.  Perhaps there is a full circle being completed.  I am coming back to my roots, my basic makeup for a final look.  The perspective and experience from this last 40 years is the added ingredient.  Perhaps I have finished the phase of moving forward, and cleaning out the past is the next step.

199.  Past

Principles


Systems, patterns, understanding


Space and inefficiency


Any system taken to a logical conclusion becomes too rigid and cracks.  There has to be some space in between the rules, some air, room for error, even inefficiency.  If a system is too tight it falls apart.  The problem is caused by man's nature which is to divide and subdivide, until every square inch is codified, categorized, and lately digitized.  This comes from our need to expand our power, and our need for control over this world and beyond, and in theological lingo, our need to be a God.  On whatever level you take this, it is our flaw.  That is why space, and inefficiency, sometimes created by lethargy, can be a positive.  Why?  Because it curbs this drive towards a perfect rigid system.

197.  Past




Principles


Systems, patterns, understanding

(Please note the following writing is not biographical.)

Different approaches


Say you were brought up in a very liberal environment.  Down the road you found holes and inconsistencies with your first beliefs.  So you do an about face and transition into a neoconservative.  This second belief also falls short.  So you dig in and become a “true” conservative.  Ah, you have arrived.  Belief three seems to be it.  But questions arise.  How far back should one go to conserve things?  How conservative should government be?  Should we become involved in this war or not is another question.  What is a righteous war?  Should our society be connected, at least tangentially, with the Judeo Christian traditions?  You begin to lean strongly towards government having minimal influence upon institutions, religious and secular ones.  So you evolve to your fourth belief, libertarian, and that is what you become.

Down the road, located far from you, your mom becomes ill.  Your parents don’t have long term care insurance and your 84 year old dad is too old to do all the work.  Full time care costs $15 per hour and your mom doesn’t sleep and needs help around the clock.  This is too much.  If you followed the libertarian paradigm your parents would have to go through their savings and then move in with you or you with them, until they pass away.  You might have to appeal to charity or live minimally until they perish.  It is not wise for a good libertarian, if not wealthy, to live far from their parents, but you didn’t know this when young.  So you compromise, become a good liberal in this instance, have your parents gift their money to you and then qualify for government assistance.  Your first belief came in handy.

The moral of this story is that each belief system was found wanting. Each was incomplete and did not have all the answers.

The best perspective is that for a time one or two approaches might apply, but that doesn’t mean you have to fully embrace them.  You have become cautious.  You have seen, with time, the credibility of many beliefs while realizing they all fall short. You realize for each situation a different approach might apply.  

 

162.


Systems, Patterns and Understanding

Temporary helpers

It's not so much about finding the right philosophy, or approach, or discipline.  They all vary and are not complete.  As you live you run across their paths and use them, and they work to some degree, but not entirely.  They can disappoint.

What's needed is patience with all of them.  You almost have to see their shortcomings and realize they're bound to have them.  You have to temper your disappointment with them with patience and acceptance.   They are not forever or written in stone, they are just temporary helpers.

143.

Principles

Systems and patterns

Certain energies


Have you ever noticed how on some days a certain energy is in the atmosphere?  It could be the way the light hits the landscape, or maybe an electrical current in the air, or from various gravitational pulls.  Sometimes its the first thing you see, other times you see it reflected in people's behavior, reflected in their driving or on their faces.  Each time the energy is unique, having its own 'angle.'  It is neither good nor bad, but just is.  It's as if a certain note has been struck.

On such days our awareness grows.  You are witness to complex systems and patterns that are beyond what we know.  We can observe and watch but it is wise not to interfere.  Larger things are taking place and it is best to step back.