PEACE BE WITH US

It is a little dreary outside. It is warmish though [53.6F]. It supposed to get to near 70 today, unusual for October. Yesterday, I saw a flock of Slate Colored Juncos, on the ground, right outside my window. They were pecking and scratching around; they seemed to be taunting me with, “Winter is coming, Winter is coming.” Well, we can't stop it. The Forecast are all over the map; but most of them hint at a cold snowy Winter. I mean colder and snowier than average. Cold and snow is our reality in Winter, here on the tundra.

We are going through a chaotic period. The dark forces are waning, but they are not giving up easy. Our minds are constantly confronted with the horror in the world. Can we have the faith that everything will turn out okay? Whether it is the murder and mayhem in Yemen or the injustice and attempted exploitation concerning Standing Rock; behind it is the Corporatocracy that supports the Empire. They won't be successful in either case, but I can't predict how long we will witness barbarity. I think it will be over sooner than later. Our consciousness does not support this continued kind of craziness. I don't believe public opinion will allow that pipe line to go through. It will take a little longer in Yemen, but I believe the support for this, US/Arabia instigated atrocity, has waned.

These are only two examples of conflicts that weigh on our consciousness; they are multiplied many times around the world. Unfortunately, as long as the main stream media is controlled by the dark, we mostly hear about the horror in the world. How can we help? How can we be informed without getting caught up in the negativity?

If we think of these conflicts, as between the light and the dark; how can we support the light without focusing on the dark? We know our minds are powerful creative forces; how can we give energy to a loving solution without giving energy to the fear that enhances the dark?

{I just knocked a wire basket, containing papers and a dictionary and other sundries, off the shelf, over my desk. The container, heavy with papers and the dictionary, crashed down knocking over a coffee carafe and a large glass of water. The dictionary hit the top of the desk and continued to the floor, managing to get its cover ripped off. I hurriedly obtained a towel from the kitchen and I believe I have most of the water mopped up.}

Is this a message that I am over my head, attempting to address this subject? It is difficult to talk about. I feel we cannot ignore the horrors in the world; yet, we need to avoid giving energy to the dark. The dark forces, that have been in domination for eons, use division and fear to maintain control. Their aim is to constantly force people to take sides, and expend their energy in the conflict rather than helping people 'see'. The last thing they want is a rise in consciousness; their power depends on people being afraid.

We need to understand what is going on. Can we observe and maintain some form of equanimity? We help most by focusing our love on the situation. If we can help physically [materially], then we express love that way; otherwise, we express love with our compassion and good wishes. We are sorely tempted to judge the evildoers, for we see they are clearly on the side of the dark. However, most of them, don't know it. They are caught up in the confusion and just think they are doing their jobs. All need our compassion and understanding and in the end our forgiveness.

The most healing and powerful love we have to give comes out of a peaceful state. Hopefully, this stage will not last. I believe there are many reasons to conclude, that love is brightly shining, in the dark corners of our group mind and we will soon step out into the light. We can maintain our equanimity during these last stages of the dark's grip.

Time is traveling so fast for me. It is hard to believe Friday is here already. Weeks go by like days, used to. Many folks are looking forward to Halloween parties this weekend. It is a great time for celebration! There is nothing like celebration to raise the consciousness.

Love and Peace, Gregg

THE MOMENT

 

It is a drizzly Morning, It has been raining lightly, but steadily, for the past twelve hours. We had ¾ of an inch the last time I looked at the gauge. I am having a slow Morning, I had to pry myself out of bed, I feel good and I am happy, but I am not bursting with energy; well not yet. Who knows, I may set out to conquer my world, yet. Well it is easier, to just give myself to the moment, and go with the flow. Life goes by in an unending script; we are both the writers and the actors. Much of the time, we forget, we are writers and producers of life, as well as the actors.

If we can stay in the moment, we will see, a future unfold, that is not corrupted by our past. All those little pains and hurts that we hang unto affect our thinking, hence our ongoing experience. Because of the past, we bring fears into the present, that help shape our future. We get lost, and think we are only the actors of our drama, not realizing we are writing, producing, and directing with all our fears, both little and big.

We have the Great Ones' words, plus many living masters, that assure us we can live in the moment without fear. Unless we have had the experience, of the absolute peace and quiet, of the mind divested of fear, we have a hard time accepting it. But think of it, we all have known that peace, even if it is severely time limited. We don't have to experience deep meditation to know it. When we are deeply involved in a project, creative or mundane, we can find ourselves focused only in the moment. Our hands may be busy, but our minds are at peace.

We can be focused in the present all the time. We can be at peace. No, I haven't done it, but, I am beginning to know how it works. We, usually, don't pay much attention to our minds, even though we experience, powerfully, what they wrought.

I can be sitting quietly, and realize, I am not particularly happy, perhaps mildly disgruntled; if I pay attention to my mind I will observe some negativity, a fear thought, maybe just a wisp, something that is affecting my state of being. If I choose to dig, rather than lift myself out of it, I well generally find I am holding onto a judgement, usually a self-judgement.

We can, generally, lift ourselves out of a funk. But, when we keep being revisited by the same flavor of negativity, it is time to dive deep and find out, what is the generator of those fear thoughts? It can be something deep in our past. Something that we did, or was done to us, and we haven't forgiven ourselves or the other. We will be able to look at it, examine it, forgive and release it. Whatever the event, bless it and thank it, for the opportunity to grow.

When we observe our minds, think of anything, that is not love, as fear. There are neutral thoughts, when we are thinking about building something, or trying to figure out a solution to a problem; but those idle thoughts, those wisps of thoughts, that float through the mind, at seeming rest, they are love or they are not. Those thoughts, that we are not aware of inviting, are rarely [if ever] neutral. Going with one of these so-called neutral thoughts often leads us down the path of negativity.

Another way of saying it, is don't entertain anything that disturbs the quietness of the mind. Loving thoughts will enhance and never disturb the quiet.

Through the eons of separation, our minds have become magnets for fear thoughts. Fear was disguised as protective. We have, only recently realized, that fear is always destructive. We are now involved with reversing this process. We have grown to the point, where we realize, there is no advantage to fear. Love is our default state, as it were, we have always been love. How we got seduced, away from love, as part of our separation, is a long story. I have written about it before, sometime I may revisit it.

As we awaken, the intensity of love, increases. It is becoming, easier and easier, to eschew fear for love. When we are able to release, all our fear thoughts, a whole new world will appear before our eyes. Just remember, there is only Love, nothing else is real.

Let us be in the moment. Let us be love.

Love and Peace, Gregg

A DAY IN OCTOBER

This is the time of year when most of us get up before Sunrise. I usually go to bed about 12:30 and get up around 7:30. Sunrise wasn't until 7:41 this Morning. It was light, but the Sun had not breached the horizon, when I came down stairs. I looked at the thermometer and it was 28F. When the Sun came up it was dazzlingly bright. What a glorious show! We get so used to these magnificent events, we may fail to notice them. I trudged through thick carpet, of varicolored maple leaves, on the way to the coop where the young chickens abide. As usual, they greeted the Morning with a great deal of energy and alacrity. They express everything wonderful about life, itself, as they roar out of their house in the Morning. I noted a skin of ice on the bird bath as I walked by, yes, the seasons are changing.

Naomi, Greg, Adam and Elijah arrived in the afternoon and spent the night. Greg barbecued the steaks on the grill, we had them with a marvelous salad and scalloped potatoes. We had a marvelous time, we spent some time outside around a fire. We celebrated well into the night.

Yes, I live in paradise! While awaiting our guests, on Saturday, I sat on our deck and just soaked in the immediate environment. It was an amazing afternoon; so beautiful, impossible to describe, unless one is a poet, which I am not. I could only note the amazing colors of the leaves; maples, oaks, elms, aspen etc, some are bright yellow, some orangish, some reddish, many hold on to their green. The big elm tree has only a few yellow leaves clinging to its branches. It is marvelous to observe how this giant trunk meets the ground and disappears in to the Earth.

When we moved here in 1975, this elm tree was probably about forty years old, perhaps a little older. There were very few trees in the yard, some aged box elders and Chinese elms. In the next ten years, the elms of most varieties, were succumbing to Dutch elm disease. We had rock elm, slippery, elm, and American elm, they were all dying. This American elm dominated our yard. The box elders were spectacular, but very old for box elders, and I knew they would have to be removed. I dug up ten sugar maples from the woods and planted them in the area of the elm, one of them, even under the drip line, I wanted to have trees when the elm died. Of course, the elm refused to die though most of the elms in the neighborhood did. So we have a mini-forest in part of the yard. The lawn doesn't do to well under those maples, but that is fine. The elm tree has come into its own, a giant tree at least eighty years old. It may have been spared by the zinc coated nails Jamie pounded in a ring around its trunk. Zinc is a fungicide and Dutch elm disease is fungal.

If I just pay attention to my own life, it is so fantastic! I live in incredible beauty. My life from day to day is filled with joy and peace. But then, like the rest of you, I have my mind. Oh, how a thought can destroy the image of paradise and open up the experience of hell. Is there any doubt that our minds create our experience? We can be in heaven at one moment and breathing sulfurous fumes the next.

As we learn to invite, only, loving thoughts into our minds, we continue to see reality, as a loving universe gives it to us and not the illusion of our fevered minds.

Talk about illusions of our fevered minds; I like to watch television in the evening, I keep the mute button pressed on the remote, I keep thinking that there might be something I want to hear about; there rarely is. This election cycle is the worst I have experienced. Is this the way the empire is going to die? I haven't heard one word, in any discussion, that dealt with the real problems of the world. Maybe, I missed it.

I can tell by talking to people, sometimes total strangers, that our consciousness is rising. Folks are seeing that the world, as described in the main stream media, is stark raving mad. Hey! Our local communities are pretty sane; a few nuts among the berries, but nothing as displayed in the MSM. Most people I meet are brimming with light. Their eyes are shining, they are friendly and loving. We have wonderful loving, open hearted, open minded, people in our community; doesn't everybody?

Yes! The old system is going to be swept away. We will be okay. We don't need an authority. We don't need people in big buildings to tell us what to do. We have Nature and the truth in our hearts to guide us. We will be fine. We will be more than fine. We will step into paradise.

Love and Peace, Gregg

BEING RIGHT

Another beautiful Morning on Planet Earth! I have to get my thoughts on paper [its not paper-is it] soon, as we have a social engagement. We need to leave home about 11:30 and I have some chores to do first.

I grew up in a family, that wasn't always intelligent, but they were usually intellectual. Being right was highly valued. Discussions could turn into debates; debates could turn into arguments; participants could reach a survival level readily.

It has been a gradual process freeing myself from this influence. I have a ways to go. The need to be right can be a deeply ingrained ego response. We may begin, just seeing the fallacy [we think of] in someone else's statement. The other person will feel your ego involvement [usually without awareness]. They will, perhaps, react a little too strongly to our perceived judgement. The discussion is loaded from the beginning, and it becomes an argument, often not acknowledged. The point will always be who is right. Never the content. The ego involvement may be subtle or blatant, but the struggle will always be for intellectual dominance, all else is lost.

Those of us, who grew up in families, where intellectual dominance was a theme, will be familiar with this trap. It is a horrible trap. One can find themselves arguing about something, they do not care about, in the least. Virtually any trivia can set us off and the subject of the argument is never what we think it is. It is always, who is right. Of course, both participants are wrong.

As usual, the solution is loving ourselves. When we love ourselves, we are not as readily seduced into thinking, being right, is important. It is when we are being self-critical, that we are most vulnerable to, needing to be, right.

Those of us who are susceptible, can guard against it, by tuning into our feelings, when it happens. There is always a point in time when, we know, we are more concerned with making our point, than truth. It is never too late to stop. We can always say, I lost my point. Which is true, because we were not arguing our point, in the first place. Realizing we made an error, we can listen to the other make their point, without comment. It really won't kill us. Nothing real is at stake.

The dilution of intimacy, and the separation, caused by this type of argument is extremely painful. It may seem to be out of our control; but it is, in very much, our control. The key factors in dealing with this problem are: awareness; forgiveness; and love.

We need to tune into our bodies; there are feelings that will always tell us when we are heading for hot water. We must have forgiveness, at the ready, for ourselves and the other. We must remind ourselves continually that we are loved and reside in a loving universe. When we love ourselves sufficiently, it will no longer happen.

I hear my beautiful wife doing my dishes, but I have other chore to do, before we go.

Happy Friday!

Love and Peace, Gregg

PERCEPTION

It is a gorgeous Autumnal Morning. I can't imagine it being more beautiful. If I ever have any doubt about the joy of being alive, all that I need to remember, is how those 8 week old chickens greet the day. They roar out of their coop and don't stop running until they get some distance away. They don't run as much as dance, a very fast step, and they stop momentarily to have a mock fight with a neighbor. Then they scratch and peck. They are in heaven and it is pure joy.

I had two dreams last night, one more dominate than the other. I was writing, or at least discussing perception at great length. I might dream something else for a while, but I would come back to the topic. I don't accept that dreams are guidance, but on the other hand I haven't had perception as my main topic for some time.

Sixty years ago, while on guard duty [Air Force], I read the Mentor series on philosophy. They were called pocket books in those days, now they are referred to as paperbacks. They were very handy for reading on guard duty, as they could be stuck in your pocket in a second, if someone was approaching that didn't appreciate you reading. I don't think reading was necessarily a violation, but we were supposed to be alert.

I remember one, and I think there were more, ancient greek philosophers, that postulated, that all reality was energy. Solid form only existed because our [five?] senses shaped them into form for our experience. They talked about, what we would, now, interpret, as wave length and frequency, and I think, it may have been the first use of the word atom.

According to these folks, everything is perception. We take energy and bring it into solid state with our minds. We have both, group and individual ideas, about what constitutes reality. Modern quantum physics creates speculation in this area.

I don't know 'truth' but I am comfortable, with the idea, that the universe is energy and we create our own reality. At a much more mundane level, we can see how important perception is in our lives. I could have had five people with me, doing this Morning's chores, and they would all see different things. One person may be preoccupied, with a relationship going sour, and they may miss the beauty of the Morning. Another may miss, the vibrancy of the young chickens, and only see potential dinners. Another may be troubled that, their new shoes are getting all wet in the dewy grass, and just want the experience to be over. Another might be, so entranced by the squirrel playing in the leaves, that they didn't notice the chickens. Another might be so annoyed and crabby that they didn't see anything but irritation. The variation of what people see is endless.

Is it hard to believe, then, what people experience, depends on what they are thinking and feeling at the time? We have all had, potentially positive experiences, ruined by a preoccupation, with a painful memory, or something else going on between our ears. Or likewise, we have had an extraordinary good time because of a great mood.

We go through life, with a collection of thoughts and feelings, that influence everything we see and experience. We don't see reality, as much as we see, the out picturing of our thoughts and feelings. Think of the myriad little thoughts and feelings we have about race, religion, nationality, sex, gender, looks, fat, thin, physical capability etc, etc. We have been programmed to 'see' according to somebody else's script. The script usually is about control.

I don't know, if there is a reality, or what it may look like, but I know we can't see until we give up all our little beliefs and prejudices about what it may look like.

It works for me to give up everything that is not love. I am a long way from being there [ask my wife]. [On second thought- don't ask her]. I don't want to spoil any illusion you may have of me.

I have the intent, to entertain, only what is love in my mind. I hope to live long enough to experience it.

Love and Peace, Gregg

JUDGEMENT

We are having a little spell of warm weather. It supposed to get into the high 60F today. It has been foggy, though, and somewhat dreary. It is getting brighter now, perhaps the Sun will come out.

I have been siting here, at the computer, seeing what will come to me, regarding the blog for today. It has been mostly pleasant, I have been practicing, keeping my mind in the present, no past thoughts, no thoughts of the future. I have been listening to conversations going on around me and participating somewhat.

I have been aware of how the slightest degree of judgement affects my consciousness and my body. When I was listening to a conversation, and if I made a judgement, about anything that was said, I felt what can only be described as pain. Pain might not be the right word. It is not really physical; but, it is something that separates me from the peace I was experiencing. I noticed someone else's emotionally laden judgement, was like a sharp electric bolt through me; that did feel physical. {Noah had his car stolen and the conversation centered around its recovery}

So there was a lot of emotion in the conversation, and my response may have been heightened.; but I have been aware that judgements, ours and other peoples, effect our consciousness. They can pass through our minds rather harmlessly, or they can lodge, and generate energy, that separates us from our peace, and colors our perception.

Our judgements, create wedges, between us, and in ourselves. Judgement keeps us from knowing who we are and certainly affects our perception of the other.

Many of us, dream of a world, where we can know our oneness with humanity. It begins with us. I have experienced the peace that comes with a quiet mind. I think we all have; judgements can be slight, just wavelets or they can be gales that wipe way peace and well being.

Judgements of others, sometimes disguise themselves as protective, we think we are defending ourselves from a possible injury, but we only succeed at isolating ourselves further from humanity, from Oneness. If we are One, we are One, any attack on another, is an attack upon ourselves.

This world invites the illusion of separation. The very fact that we are in separate bodies, that need care and seem vulnerable, accentuates our sense of being alone and separate. Why, we are having this experience, invites a whole different conversation. Perhaps, someday I will speculate about that. For now, we can practice seeing our Oneness. We can perceive everyone as love. We can know that, what we think we perceive, which is not love, is only the facade that each of us made to protect us from what we thought was dangerous.

I think many of us do not realize how much we judge. We try to avoid the big judgements of our neighbors, without being aware that our minds are often weighing and measuring everything. To be free of judgement is to be at peace. It feels like fresh air and it is an opening to love and joy.

Why are the most important tasks so simple, yet so difficult to do? It would seem so easy, to just stop judging. We can do it, little by little. We need to be ready with forgiveness, when we find ourselves judging. We are One. When we give up judging ourselves; we won't judge anybody.

Love and Peace, Gregg

IT IS SPRING!

I reluctantly got out of bed this Morning. I had a good sleep, I just wanted more. I have nothing keeping me from sleeping as long as I want. I don't let my young chickens out, to free range, until 8:30, yet I have a hard time staying in bed past 7:30. The day beckons and the urge to join it is strong. I usually get to bed around 12:30.

I saw a flock of Slate Colored Juncos last week and I have been seeing them everyday since. I have known these Juncos summer in the far North and Winter in this clime for years; yet, it wasn't until I worked at Anoka County Social Services [for the third time] that I had a colleague who told me that, when the Juncos arrive, it will snow within two weeks. She was a little older than me and therefore qualified to pass on the lore.

Well, that was at least 25 years ago, and I have had a heightened awareness, of the arrival of these birds, ever since. In the past 25 years this adage, has proved true, more than half the time. It may be only a few flakes or kernels of snow. It definitely is an ominous sign of Winter's approach.

The urge is to segue, into seeing this crazy election, as a harbinger of a chaotic Winter about to be visited on planet Earth. But is it Spring that is Coming? It seems to me we have been in a horrible Winter for decades: endless war; a troubled economy; growing poverty; strife of numerous kinds. I know the dark has to have a few last flings; but, after a short period of confusion, I am hoping to see the light dawn.

We are all creators and the only way the dark had, to use us, was by influencing our minds, to give over our power to them. They used fear to create division among us, pitting one group against another. We acquiesced, in one way or another, and gave them the energy they needed for their nefarious deeds. Everything is energy. All minds emit an equal amount of energy. That energy shades either positive or negative. War is impossible without the cooperation of peoples minds, wittingly or unwittingly.

Many folks have thought this through, many more folks have simply realized their life is much more pleasant when their happy, and to be happy, they must avoid preoccupation with negative thinking.

The more we love ourselves, the more self-esteem we have, and the less chance there is, that we let ourselves be pushed around by those who would use us. Those, who would use us, use fear, and all the negative emotions, that arise from fear e.g. anger. We need to observe the horror in the world, without holding onto our emotional reaction, lest we give the dark more power.

I think the majority of the people have opted for love. I think some have figured out how things work; others just can't imagine choosing anything else; it is just their nature to be loving. And I think, that is true of all of us, but it may be buried under layers of facade.

Some years ago, the light eclipsed the dark, and those in power began to lose their grip. This, temporarily, made things worse because the dark became desperate to maintain their dominance. The assault on the Middle East, and the attempt to control oil, was a symptom of their fear that they were going to lose their grasp. Their attempt at world domination has failed and the empire is collapsing.

We will be okay. We know how to take care of ourselves. We know how to love each other. We will get through this. Keep centered. Avoid the temptation to have dark thoughts. It will help to focus on what we are thankful for; no matter, how troubled we may be at a moment, we can always see things we are thankful for. I can look no further than my beautiful wife. I can look outside and be grateful for the marvelous trees, in their Fall color, the things I am thankful for are endless. How about you?

Let us celebrate life! Let us celebrate our every breath! We add to the great pool of love every time we smile, every time we laugh, lets keep the glow in our hearts.

Happy Friday!

Love and Peace, Gregg