OUR MINDS VI

 

Yes, Summer is here indeed. It is cool and gorgeous right now; it is supposed to get close to a 100 F tomorrow. I hope not. We have air conditioning as part of our ground source thermal system, but we don't like using it, and if it will get cool at night, we won't. We love having the house open to the outdoors.

Trying to keep our minds free from destructive thinking is not a simple thing. It is a simple concept, doing it however, isn't. When we focus on freeing our mind, our ego becomes alert to the idea, it may be losing its position, as controller. The ego will throw up all sorts of memories of past incidents, yours or others, that caused pain. It will try to inflame every little fear we have in our consciousness. We cannot do battle with our egos. We cannot take over our minds by force.

So, paradoxically, when we realize we need to free ourselves of negative thinking, we might set ourselves up for an influx of negative thought. When we keep our intent, to have only loving thoughts, we will pass through this period soon. We will discover that we don't need to pay attention to any negative thought. We are better off not dealing with them at all, except to let them drift away. We learn to just bring our mind back to love. We cannot do battle. We can end all war and we can begin with our mind.

The word surrender is used in spiritual literature. I think it may be poorly understood. It is not giving in. It is not giving up. It is realizing that fighting will not get you where you want to be. Imagine we are always surrounded by love, an energy we won't acknowledge; imagine acknowledging it and letting it envelope us. In the literature it is called surrendering to your higher self or God. The Buddhist have another word for it, that escapes me for the moment. I suspect most religions have a similar construct.

When we can separate ourselves from our own ego battles and thus everyone else's, we recognizes everyone is on their own path of discovery. We don't have to intervene in someone's path unless they request it. We become observers. Our greatest help is extending our love to all we meet. Seeing through a persons ego facade and seeing the loving being within can be the greatest gift we can give.

Once we remove ourselves from the ranks of combatants and become observers, we can see where we can be of greatest help.

As we look out on the world, via the various medias, we see endless conflict and division. It can be greatly amusing or disturbing, it is certainly a world of clowns. We don't have to add our minds to the fray. Know that all those we see, are learning at the pace they are at. We are all on the path of discovering, there is nothing but love. Some are going the wrong direction, they are learning the hard way. We have all done some learning the hard way. Many of our paths have gone through brambles and thorns. I know I have. It is no fun.

Let us be observers. Let our hearts be full of compassion. Let our minds be glowing with love. That is how we help.

Love and Peace, Gregg