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Wednesday's Group. Many thanks to Amanda witchybeast@hotmail.com for her presenatation last Wednesday, the topic was about faith, belief and trust in one's own process. I hope that you enjoy these words as much as I did. Any comments or feedback would be greatly welcomed. Do not believe in anything, simply because you have heard it. Do not believe in traditions because they have been handed down for many generations. Do not believe in anything because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is found written in your religious books. Do not believe in anything merely on the authority of your teachers and elders. But after observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of all, then accept it and live up to it. Buddha Anguttara Nikaya Rabindranath Tagore, an Indian poet, said, “Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark.” It is a knowing within, that in any moment of darkness, light is on the way. No-one can oblige you to have this faith which, like love, cannot be forced. When you force love, you create resistance and even hate. Trying to compel faith leads most often to doubt and disbelief. If you are not ready, no amount of forcing will allow you to see the light in the midst of your darkness. But if you are ready, you will know faith regardless of what may appear to you. When I stay in the energy of co-operation, harmony, peace and flow, I am always connected to this force that I call Spirit or Higher Power. When I notice that I have allowed my thoughts to stray from this one creative power, I invite love to replace the illusion of the problem. The old Irish proverb that I like and says this so well, “Fear knocked at the door, faith answered, and no one was there.” Bringing faith to nullify doubt is a way of taking charge of your life, not only by eradicating fears, but also by knowing that you have access to a higher creative force any time you need assistance. You don’t need the approval or acceptance of anyone. It is not necessary for you to debate with others about the presence of this universal spiritual source of all life. You are not in a contest of any kind. It is yours. I always feel that my own faith and spiritual practice is a very private matter and I also know that any attempts to sway others or argue about the relative merits of my own faith in a higher spiritual power is not only a waste of time, but it takes me away from spirit and into the world of ego. Here are three things that I have done and continue to do when applying faith to doubt. I MEDITATE. It is through meditation that I can realize conscious contact with spirit and banish doubt. I do it all through the day, I do it walking, washing dishes, in the shower and sitting in total silence. Spirit is wherever I am. Omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient. Always here in my present moment. Like zero in maths, can never be divided. The equivalent of this indivisible oneness in my personal life experience is silence. You cant divide silence in half because there is only one, indivisible silence. Meditating and practicing this silence on a daily basis allows me to know spirit rather than knowing about spirit. This experience, attained by silencing my mind brings me a degree of faith that remains unshaken and untouched by doubts or fears of anyone, including myself. I TRUST IN THE UNKNOWN. As incarnate physical beings we tend to rely on our senses to determine what is real. If we cant see, touch, taste, feel, or smell it, then we tend to believe it must not exist. Faith involves going beyond the senses to make spiritual conciousness the place we trust, even though it is a frequency that so fast that it transcends the capacities of our five senses, I AFFIRM MY FAITH NOT MY DOUBT. I think. write and say affirmations that things will work out and things will improve. I know that I am not alone and I have faith that all is for the good. I give no energy to “bad” or problems because I do know that all is in divine order. A member of our Trowbridge Focus Group, Paul Worthen paul.worthen@tiscali.co.uk has very kindly sent in some poems and words that you might find helpful, inspirational or just fun to read. I hope that you enjoy them as much as I did. I have decided to leave 'The Desiderata' in as I think that it is inspiring and the words resonate very strongly with what is currently going on in this troubled world.
The common myth is that the Desiderata poem was found in a Baltimore church in 1692 and is centuries old, of unknown origin. Desiderata was in fact written around 1920 (although some say as early as 1906), and certainly copyrighted in 1927, by lawyer Max Ehrmann (1872-1945) based in Terre Haute, Indiana. The Desiderata myth began after Reverend Frederick Kates reproduced the Desiderata poem in a collection of inspirational works for his congregation in 1959 on church notepaper, headed: 'The Old St Paul's Church, Baltimore, AD 1692' (the year the church was founded). Copies of the Desiderata page were circulated among friends, and the myth grew, accelerated particularly when a copy of the erroneously attributed Desiderata was found at the bedside of deceased Democratic politician Aidlai Stevenson in 1965.
Whatever the history of Desiderata, the Ehrmann's prose is inspirational, and offers a simple positive credo for life. Desiderata
Go Placidly amid the Noise & Haste & remember what Peace there may be in silence. As far as possible without surrender be on good terms with all persons. Speak your truth quietly & clearly; and listen to others, even the dull & ignorant, they too have their story. Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexations to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain & bitter; for always there will be greater & lesser persons than yourself. Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time. Exercise caution in business affairs; for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. Be Yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither, be cynical about Love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is perennial as the grass. Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue & loneliness. Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees & the stars; you have a right to be here. And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore, be at Peace with God, whatever you conceive him to be, and whatever your labours & aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep Peace with your Soul. With all its sham, drudgery & broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be careful. Strive to be happy.
The rules for living. 1. YOU WILL RECEIVE A BODY. 2. YOU WILL LEARN LESSONS. You may like it or hate it, but it will be You are enrolled in a full time, informal yours for the entire period this time school called life. Each day in the school around. you will be presented with opportunities to learn what you most need to know. The lessons presented are most often completely different from those you think you need. 3. THERE ARE NO MISTAKES, 4. A LESSON IS REPEATED UNTIL ONLY LESSONS. IT IS LEARNED. Growth is a process of trial and error A lesson will be presented to you in various and experimentation. You can learn much forms until you have learned it. When you have from failure as you can from success learned it (as evidenced by a change in your attitude and ultimately, your behaviour) then you can go on to your next lesson. 5. LEARNING LESSONS DOES NOT 6. ‘THERE’ IS NO BETTER THAN END. ‘HERE’ There is no age of life that does not contain When your ‘there’ has become a ‘here’ its lessons. If you are still alive, that means you will simply discover another ‘there’ there are still additional lessons to be learned that will, again, look better than your ‘here’ 7. OTHERS ARE MERELY MIRRORS 8. WHAT YOU MAKE OF YOUR LIFE OF YOU. IS UP TO YOU. You cannot love or hate something about You have all the tools and resources you need another person unless it reflects to you What you create with them is up to you. Remember something you love or hate about yourself. that through desire, goal setting and right effort you When tempted to criticize others, ask you can have anything you want, but not everything yourself what behaviour of yours they are mirroring to you. you want. Persistence is the key ingredient for success. 9. THE ANSWERS LIE INSIDE YOU 10. YOU WILL FORGET ALL THIS. The answers of all life’s questions lie You will forget all of the above rules unless within you. All you need to do is ask, you regularly practice some means of staying look, listen and trust. focused and grounded in the present. Your ego will continually try to trick you into blaming your past or becoming anxious about your future. Thus will you will lose contact with the present and become asleep to the lessons and realities of life. |
