The hidden things in life

Writing here raises some questions, like who reads this and since I only know a fraction of the answer of this, then who do I write for?

It can be self, and even the manifest ego of same, but it could also be to just pick a topic and "go for it"! To reveal more of self or not, is a very good question too. There is risk in this, but also inherent honesty.

But where is the truth in any given situation? I find I sometimes get to it by blundering into situations, where, as they say "angels would fear to tread".

And on reflection often I reckon I've a good bunch of very pretty guardian angels that literally facilitate "exiting" from these situations in a reasonably elegant manner with little damage to self.

The price I pay shines through though as an increasing willingness to take emotional and even spiritual risks, and thus the only constant is change, along with an ever growing sense of wonder and humility - because I know so little about not very much!

If I could photograph my angels I fancy their demeanour would be as portrayed in this dreamy photo. And who is to say these two souls are not angels. I simply assume they're not, but doubt creeps in because I'm sure I never expected this result on pressing the shutter. It could be a camera never lies...


The problem or inconsistency surely arises often when we function from the ego - when we fail to discern the nature of reality...


Or it can be all about context too! We assume here the leaf landed after the ice formed, but what if we'd never experienced an autumn or a winter...


And then there is history. We may not be at a crossroads, but simply out early on the dawn of a winter's day...

For myself I'll often take in a comment such as made recently by my friend Bob McKerrow "..somehow, I don't think the Crusades are over", and inadvertently file it in my subconscious.

And on that occasion my contextualisation was in relation to trouble spots of the world.

But on more recently examining something seemingly unrelated on the home front, namely research on prayer ministry organisations in New Zealand, I unexpectedly learnt from yet another learned and unrelated source, ".. prayer ministry!!!! That's where the crusades do come from".

Google itself says it fails to index deep knowledge, so you won't find that sort of comment idly surfing the web.

Thus quietly as if by stealth medieval thinking pervades through generations, ingraining intolerance under the guise of compassion, to be present right at my back door!

Now I can't prove or disprove the above, and I may stir up a hornet's nest and ruffle the feathers of some of my readers as I shine light on what it seems many would prefer darkness presides over. But I'm "over it" - yet another type of injustice, because primairily a little more research revealed, again from a professional, that psychotherapy techniques based on medieval concepts actually cause more problems than they solve in rehab. institutions.

Yet, I believe prayer does work, and far from wishing to be negative about the above I offer an alternative: a proven 10-15 step programme type of prayer:

God grant me the courage to change the things I can..
the serenity to accept the things I cannot..
and the wisdom to know the difference.

Alcoholics Anonymous etc. mantra

It seems we need an honesty in application like AA employs, based on knowing the origination of an organisation or action or teaching. It is not enough to be well meaning.

From an AA web site:

1] We admitted we were powerless over alcohol - that our lives had become unmanageable.
2] Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
3] Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.
4] Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.
5] Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.
6] Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.
7] Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.
8] Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.
9] Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.
10] Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.
11] Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.
12] Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

... I love it as it has such a high vibration and lightness about it, and has been so successful it's now employed as a technique to aid the cure of every addiction or dependency malaise under the sun [gambling being one of the toughest].

More on the Twelve-Step Program set of guiding principles that has worked for millions of people >>

So how often do we fail to see the wood for the trees...


And are we all emotionally available? If we're not we're not only limiting our possibilities, but can cause untold grief totally unaware we are doing so, clinically or otherwise!

Mea Culpa - I have at times in my life been emotionally unavailable!

Ignorance is never an excuse either, and to counteract it we need constant vigilance, for this is the cornerstone of freedom.

So don't take up arms, but observe self and find discernment that can be trusted residing within. It takes reflection and work. For me, a life's work.
...often helped by standing alone facing the winds of the world...

Independence from Social Programming

Safeguards against being programmed by society are:

1] emotional detachment in which all information is viewed as provisional, 2] awareness that ordinary mentalization is unable to discern perception from essence, 3] knowing that the wolf in sheep's clothing often hides beneath sheep's clothing. This suspension of belief is the practical application of the basic dictum to "wear the world like a light garment" is a mode of attention that nonetheless still allows spontaneous interaction and function in society.

Reality, Spirituality and Modern Man
David R. Hawkins.