THINGS HAPPEN

You couldn't get a blog out of me if you had a word crowbar. I am way too preoccupied with my physical condition.

On top of all the other issues I have been dealing with, I got one of my famous, mattress ain't working for me, back pains. After 30+ years my old mattress gave out. I ordered a new one, that didn't work, now this one is going the same way. I ordered a new one. Will arrive Saturday. The first pain was yesterday Morning. I took a chance and slept in my bed last Night. I shouldn't have.

At least I am getting a full refund.

At this point, Friday is iffy.

Love and Peace,  Gregg

SORRY

I was getting a very late start preparing to write my blog, when the door pops open and we have a surprise visit from two of my precious children, Noah and Naomi.

It turned out to be a long, wonderful visit. We are greatly blessed.

I will be here Wednesday.

Love and Peace,  Gregg

PERCEPTION AND ILLUSION

The beauty exploding out my studio window is beyond belief, the lushness, the intense green. I wish I was a poet. One drawback: I glance at my indoor/outdoor thermometer, Outside 88.9, Inside 74.5. I never particular liked using air conditioning, but in this house and in my present condition, I am very grateful for it.

I am much better psychologically since I recognized that I needed to quit perseverating on the future, in one aspect of my life, in which I have no control anyway. I have more to do, but just recognizing the situation helps immensely. I hope to share more about this in the future.

So many of us are able to keep our spirits high, smile laugh and enjoy life. It is quite amazing when we can pull up another shade and see nothing but chaos. If we pull up another shade we see clearly that those in charge are stark raving lunatics. Does it occur to us that we don't need to pull up those shades?

Ah............... Perception and Illusion.

It was taught by ancient philosophers that every thing we think of as solid was energy held in form by our perception. Our thoughts shaped energy into form. Modern science [quantum physics] appears to agree.

Many of us on our various spiritual paths have accepted this as true.

It just takes a little assessment of our own lives to realize our darkness increases when we focus on it.

If we create reality with our perception, the solution is simple and elegant. Only hold in our mind what we want to see. Let us help ourselves by raising the shades on the windows that bless us with golden light.

I know all the difficulties that arise after making the intent. The forces for separation are powerful indeed. We have a Loving Universe behind us. We cannot fail.

I wish I could put names on those ancient Greek philosophers. I think I read the whole Mentor series on philosophy, mostly while standing guard duty in the Air Force. That was 64 or 65 yeas ago. I didn't think I would ever be writing a blog and want to remember.

More and more people are choosing not to look into the darkness. When we choose to look only at the light we become beacons and aid everyone. We are changing the world.

And so goes The Awakening!

Happy Friday everyone! Celebrate the light!

Love and Peace, Gregg

SURRENDER

Someone who read my last two blogs maybe thinking, “I wonder how the old Fart is.” Well the old Fart is rumbling through life, one day at a time, I think I am making slow, very slow progress.

One of my readers blessed me with the comment, “I hope you find your surrender.” I have done this before in my life where I need to give up a bit of paranoia or idea of the future before I will again experience peace. I can be staring it right in the face and not do what I need to do. Or I can misinterpret it as something other than surrender. I know what it is, and it is not a situation I want to write about today.

One of the great gifts of the last hundred years is the Serenity prayer popularized by AA. It has been chopped and abbreviated but the message is always solid. I didn't know which version that floated through my mind was the original, so I looked it up. None of them were.

I was surprised it was written by Reinhold Niebuhr.

It goes: “God give me grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and wisdom to distinguish the one from the other.”

I never get over the power of that prayer. World peace would descend upon Earth overnight if everyone could hold it in their minds for a few minutes and feel the depths of its meaning.

It is easier to learn to surrender if you know, to what. Ram Dass makes it sound so easy. He can picture his spiritual teacher, the Maharaj-ji and peace descends. I am convinced we can all do this. All religions have some figure or essence that creates a path to surrender. In Christianity it is Jesus.

It is so awful to hold a little fear of the future in our mind that blocks the immersion of the present, where all love, joy and peace reside.

The methods for staying in the present are simple, perhaps I should write a blog on the subject, I learn from repeated failure. But in the end, “We all need a little help from our friends.”

Love and Peace, Gregg

MALADY II

I have been sitting at my computer, sometimes asleep, struggling with what I should write about. I pretty much decided to say, no blog explain Wednesday, I changed my mind and decided to explain now.

It is the malady. The doctor said I was down a whole gram of iron. We explored the possibilities. There was no evidence of internal bleeding. No evidence of infection. We didn't discuss vampires.

He went over everything. He said we could do some body scanning right now or add iron to my vitamin regimen and check back in a month. He suggested I take my iron with orange juice every Morning.

The weakness that is expressed in my cardiovascular and neuromuscular systems are bad enough. It is my state of mind that is the worse problem. I am flooded with negative thoughts and fantasies. One would think they would be of my upcoming death or the possible return of my cancer, oh no it is garbage. I sometimes worry about how I hurt somebodies feelings fifty years ago. Something that was resolved and I had forgiven myself for, I had a few of those.

A few weeks ago I could close my eyes, empty my mind and seek a place where I could bask in the golden light of our Creators Mind. Oh, how I miss that.

Most of the negativity rides on fantasies that enter my mind quietly. For some reason I don't catch them as I used too. I have relatively good moments when I am sitting comfortably in my chair and I am able to keep my mind clear.

I have such an unshakeable belief that there are no accidents and every experience is for our learning and becoming closer to Oneness that I get some comfort.

I have great compassion for those who suffer with a problem like this, who feel only emptiness or futility when they seek a way out.

I am glad I chose to write. It helps

I know I am surrounded by Unconditional Love.

Love and Peace, Gregg

THE MALADY

207 PM and I have just began to put words up on the screen. I have been slow all Morning mostly from this malady that has had me in its grip for these last few weeks, but also from the heat. We are not used to it, up here in Minnesota land, we had a very cool Spring so far. Yesterday the heat roared in, I think our thermometer read 87F. It reads 86.9 at this moment. It may reach 90.

We could resort to air conditioning, but I hate to jump from furnace to A/C without a full windows open opportunity in between. My favorite time of the year is when we can have the windows all open and we can enjoy the fresh breeze. We haven't had a chance to experiment in this house; which windows give the best ventilation, which can be left open at night etc.? I left a window open last Night in my study and it blew some stuff around, no big deal.

I don't have a blog in me, at least if you are thinking of one with much up lifting. This malady seems to have wiped away the wall between emotionalism and physicality. My mood and thoughts seem to affect my shortness of breath, the difficulty I have getting out of chairs, whether I am wobbly or not walking, everything.

If I can be disciplined enough to keep negativity out of my mind it is not so bad, in fact I forget about it for awhile. Keeping the mind clear used to be a practice as in meditation. Now it is an ongoing, daily, life or death struggle.

Perhaps I am readying for the time when we will be able manifest our thoughts directly into form. Who knows?

In any case I can't lose. I can only learn to love more fully. I can only learn the deep significance of forgiveness, and I will especially learn how to keep negativity from my mind.

If you find yourself with some extra energy, I wouldn't mind you sending some my way. I like thoughts and prayers.

HAPPY FRIDAY!

Love and Peace, Gregg

ONENESS VERSUS SEPARATION

I still look at the Evening News. I know it is not a good idea for my consciousness, but I am so curious about how people explain things. I see an ongoing description of the darkness that has risen to the surface. The war is between those who would want the continuation of the darkness and those who seek love and peace. The media gets more attention selling their products when they promote the dark so it often slants in that direction. However, if you are a keen observer, you will see the emergence of the light.

Although, it is mainly just chaotic, one can sense a war going on. I can think of many ways of describing it, but for today I settle on “a war between Separation and Oneness”.

This is the basic ego struggle, I versus the rest. The ego hates Oneness, it leads to peace, love and joy. The ego wants you to feel alone locked up in your psychic castle surrounded by a moat. The ego has no power of its own, it gets its power from us whenever we fall for one of its whiles. The ego's power is the fear that it can engender. The base line: Love versus Fear, or it can be stated, Oneness versus Separation.

With observation and intent, love always wins. That's the good news. The not so good news is that the ego can drag us through the brambly bushes until we correctly observe and form our intent.

I don't know how the rest of you folks are doing in this regard. My ego has been creating an onslaught of negativity. It is very subtle and fortunately I am learning from it without the brambly bush experience.

An example: I spotted my neighbor walking outside and thoughts came to my mind about him that were petty and nonsense. About the second time I met him he said something my ego reacted to. My judgmental ears popped out of the side of my head and I began to look for confirmation of that first idea. I don't know what he said that triggered my ego. It was probably something so mild that on any other day I might not have noticed. We have to be very careful that one small, seemingly inconsequential judgement, doesn't grow. Once a judgement gets lodged in the mind we automatically look for more things to reinforce the original. I have forgiven myself for this and I am sure it is past. I greatly enjoy my neighbor and I love him.

I don't know if the war between Separation and Oneness is being manifest in the individual mind in all kinds of subtle ways or not. Those lucky enough to live in an Ashram maybe be free of this temptation, but I think not.

Well, we need to be observant to what our egos are up to and dismiss their thoughts as they arise.

The light is growing, a new world is emerging.

Have a great Wednesday!

Love and Peace, Gregg