Gazing in the Mirror

January 4 - The Freedom of Spirituality

Make your own Bible. Select and
collect all the words and sentences
that in all your readings have been
to you like the blast of a trumpet.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Real freedom means that man is
created in the image of perfection
and let alone and allowed to make
the discovery for himself.
~ Ernest Holmes

Most people have had some exposure to religion whether they accepted or rejected it. It is not the point of this essay to suggest that there is anything wrong with religion. In my Missouri Ozarks region, the churches are a local support channel for families. Many churches serve human well-being functions that are valuable and increasingly in some regions not being filled by government. Spirituality is a much more wide open concept than religion and less dogmatic. Spirituality does not take the place of religion and is more personal and individualized. I was raised in a very religious household, then I had rejected formal religion in my early twenties. There was yet a space that drew me into the spiritual aspects of being human.

With spirituality it really does not matter what pathway we chose because all of these philosophies tend to ultimately lead us "home" to the very Source of our beingness and we find that Source deep within our own self. I've heard that place called a variety of names – the stillness, the small voice, the 5th dimension, Source, Spirit, etc. At some point along the way in my own spiritual travels what It was called or even how It was defined mattered less and less. My constant connection to IT mattered most. While others can point towards the way, we must choose our own way with highly personalized methods. The method is never the critical issue. Arriving "home" is. And home is not even the destination or the ending point. That "home" is only a deeper opening into the mysteries of consciousness and existence.

In the Four Quartets T S Eliot said "We shall not cease from exploration / And the end of all our exploring / Will be to arrive where we started / And know the place for the first time." We go deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of infinity. Where we are is never wrong but what we discover encompasses, refines, redefines, expands and deepens our understandings. We are never constrained in our explorations. In truth spirituality has no rules, no codes, no penalties but it does have wide open freedom. Religion often includes a system of rewards and punishments. Spirituality does not with the exception of the natural laws of cause and effect that play out uniformly in all existence.

When we do find "home" in the game of Life it can feel very welcoming and very much like a non-judgmental and unconditional love full of infinite patience. We feel received into a boundless Love. We feel supported by something vast that we are truly part of rather than the flawed creature so many religions teach their members that they are. We feel supported by an abundant universe capable of supplying every need and often doing that so well that "need" isn't even noticed because it is so quickly filled. We choose and take and accept and we do no harm to anyone else nor the planet in doing so. And we understand that deeply, confidently and with certainty.

The wonder of this is that we are actually the ones that choose and decide what way we want to go. That is the freedom and we are assured that we cannot even choose wrongly. ALL serves – Source, wholeness, completeness. Metaphysics teaches a method of intentionally and consciously determining "how" we will individually "approach" the Infinite. Words actually do not describe this spirituality of personal choice and vast wholeness very well. We have responsibilities – what we think and choose to believe – this recognition of freedom rather than rules is still governed by natural laws that hold us responsible to some reasonable degree for what is delivered to us as outcomes.

Our thoughts and beliefs produce an energetic vibration that is part of the wholeness of existence. Our thoughts based in benevolent love send us down paths that walk among loving opportunities. If our thought/feeling vibrations are filled with hatred, anger, resentment then we can expect that these energies will send us down paths of calamity and misfortune. Like attracts like and the opposite is repelled. We can change the response of Life's unfolding toward us and we are always equally free to share gifts of love, joy and abundance wherever we choose. We are always quite naturally free. We are all spiritual beings but some people simply are not aware of that. Those that are aware of this can explore what being aware means within their own life experiences.

~ perspective

Simple guidelines from a wise man –
be impeccable with your word,
don't take anything personally,
don't make assumptions and always
do your best – thanks Don Miguel Ruiz.
The paradox is that becoming nothing
makes you everything.
To be solitary in one's choice is best,
not influenced by the loudest voice
or the biggest crowd nor by fear
of retribution.
I like the way I do not lose my self
even as I begin to apprehend infinity
and accept a larger and deeper reality
than I previously suspected.
I learn to communicate with the Divine
by speaking to and hearing the wisdom
built throughout the ages and finding
the unchanging truth at the core.

#beingness #consciousness #freedom #infinity #mystery #presence #religion #self #source #spirit