Articles by
Rev. Chad O'Shea

Hello! Try that on for size. What’s the quality of your responses to the ever changing flow of form and circumstances you call your “life?” Archaic and obsolete? Fresh and visionary? “How do I tell?” you ask, “What’s the criteria for determining?” Fair questions.

Ask yourself this. “Generally speaking, what do I typically feel about the quality of my earth life?”

Remember, there are no right or wrong answers. There is only the Truth of what Is . . . the Supreme Awareness that has the power to set us free, once discerned and acknowledged, from the mischief of a “set of obsolete responses” dominating and controlling the quality of our earth lives.

To help process that inquiry effectively, give yourself permission to “come apart for awhile,” right now, by focusing your attention on your breath and noticing as ten cycles of breathing complete their passage in and out.

Let your mind freely play with the following possibilities and notice what comes up as true for you. Once again, now, inquire, “Generally speaking, what do I typically feel about the quality of my earth life?” and then add “Is it my tendency to feel content or disappointed?”

Now, focusing on the breath again, sit quietly and notice what spontaneously comes up in response to the inquiry. When the question is resolved, acknowledge the answer, thank the Source of all Wisdom from which it came, and then proceed in a similar fashion to consider the balance of these states of being, always beginning with “Generally speaking, what do I typically feel about the quality of my earth life? Is it my tendency to feel (for example) “Happy or sad . . . Happy or sad . . . Happy or sad,” repeating the choices a number of times until they are firmly imprinted on the psychic process.

Select one of the alternatives from the following list and sit with it in the preceding fashion until the Truth for you is clearly revealed. Then select another inquiry and repeat the process until you have received a clear insight into each consideration.

Chances are most of you will discover that the majority of your dominant tendencies are grounded in the more enlightened realms of human possibility. You tend to feel peaceful, confident, worthy, loving, understanding, happy, enthusiastic, content and caring in most situations, with most people, most of the time. Congratulations. Enjoy the Grace. You deserve it.

Just don’t get lost in the fantasy that your whole stash of obsolete responses is history. Somewhat cooked we are. Totally cooked we are not. Welcome to finishing school. The key lies in the inevitable ambivalence we all experienced as we embraced the inquiry exercise.

Sure, “generally speaking” I’m a paragon of virtue . . . in “most” situations, with “most” people, “most” of the time. Hell, we all are, and let’s not knock it. It took us a lot of evolving to get to this point. Honor the work we’ve done in letting go of tons of obsolete responses, but let us not sit on our spiritual butts as if we’ve never heard Jesus invite us to “be ye perfect, as your Father in heaven is perfect.”

“Perfect!” That means showing up with our finest, most sacred lovingkindness for “all” people, in “all” situations, “all” the time. On the path of awakening “most” is an encouraging mile marker to put behind us. Let’s just not forget there’s miles to go on the trail of the Prodigal Child before we sleep in the sweet embrace of the Divine Mother’s perfect love.

To examine our lives in this way makes them worth living and is the first step toward living consciously rather than as a set of obsolete responses.

Said Thoreau about his stay at Walden, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

The unexamined life is a second hand life. It is so because it depends upon forces other than itself for meaning. Take those away and the meaning is lost. An examined life is meaningful because the process of examination itself grants meaning and dignity to the sum of our days. Surely that is all the meaning we have need of. A life dedicated to a quest for Truth draws meaning from itself and derives both dignity and fulfillment from its commitment to a deeper understanding of the true nature of things.

To free ourselves from the bondage of obsolete responses, we must ask if we will stay content with off-the-shelf-answers and one-size-fits-all truths, or provide our own. Charles Fillmore, co-founder of Unity, left no doubt as to where he stood on that topic. “There comes a time," he said, “in the life of every student of Truth where they must stand up and proclaim their Truth to be the Truth regardless of precedent or tradition.” Let’s hear it for “Poppa” Charlie.

Ralph Waldo Emerson encouraged us to "Trust thyself, every heart vibrates to that iron chord. Speak your Truth in words as hard as cannonballs and if that Truth changes tomorrow, speak tomorrow’s Truth in words as hard. Remember, God will not have His work made manifest by cowards!”

And what is the work that God would have us do? The work that demands we engage the adventure of life with a fresh vision and a fearless capacity for the new wine of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? It is the work of being about our Father’s business . . . the enterprise of bringing the healing touch of love to the marketplace of all life and not “most” of the time for “most” of the people, but “all” of the time for “all” of God’s creation . . . it is the sacred work of being perfect as our Father/Mother in heaven is perfect.

There’s no question that acquiring necessary, sustaining resources (like a job, schooling or a significant other) in today’s form-addicted climate requires at least a modest grasp of social/commercial correctness, fortified by a passing relationship with base-ten math and some capacity to speak, write and conjugate “Mericun.” (I have it on the highest authority from a renowned Native American intellectual/activist/ that English speak English, while we Americans speak a cobbled together synthesis of black/yellow/red/white soundbites called “Mericun.” Works for me.)

Jesus was certainly sensitive to the wisdom of humoring cultural expectations, including even the oppressive demands of the occupying Romans. “If they ask you to carry something a mile for them, carry it two,” He suggested. “If they strike you on the cheek, turn the other to them as well.” Wise counsel indeed, when the consequence of resisting was typically a one-way trip to the local crucifixion grounds. He knew it was really tough to embrace powerlessness, but He helped the people of His time keep their heads while remembering, “this too shall pass.”

With that kind of response to unenlightened authority, Jesus introduced a brand new criteria for determining whether or not a mind has been wasted. In the domain of the Jesus ethic, a mind has been truly wasted if it has not learned, for example, the spiritual art of non-resistance.

As it turned out, in terms of threats to his physical existence, his own people and the religious beliefs they embraced proved the most lethal. It was predictable. He was a spiritual revolutionary challenging the unawakened aspects of a religious theocracy. Entrenched, self-righteous authority is a load to move to the next level. Stop for a moment and consider how tough it is for you to peacefully allow another person a different point of view about something important to you.

Getting stuck in rigid, either/or mind-sets about ongoing reality is another common way to waste a mind. And minds wasted in that way often have enormous impact on other minds and lives if they are operating anywhere in a hierarchy that gives them some authority over other folks. I wonder how many moments of joy and peace have been wasted, for example, by blind adherence to totally unenlightened behavioral modification strategies like the currently popular “zero tolerance” approach to educational discipline? In that absurd exercise, fingernail clippers have become “weapons” and Alka-Seltzer and Midol are illegal “drugs.” Even ideologues can’t be that unenlightened . . . or can they? Oh well, kids, leave your “weapons” and your “drugs” at home for a while. As Jesus would counsel you, "render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s,” and rest easy in the certainty that “this too shall pass.”

The authority figures around Jesus were constantly trying to make him wrong. His sense of authentic spiritual inquiry and worship were so dramatically unique they threatened everybody in the upper echelons of the Hebrew religious hierarchy. So they “took counsel on how to kill him.” And they did. How’s that for “wasted minds” wasting a Mind. Conventional wisdom. Traditional values. Cultural glue... or the tyranny of minds wasted embracing an unenlightened legacy?

The fallout from challenging them, though, is generally swift, predictable and traumatic. Ask Jesus. We’ve all felt the sting of authorities’ displeasure. Our own personal crosses. The turned back of a former friend; the sinking feeling of a pink slip the week the rent is due; the rush of outrage as the voice on the phone tells us our fifth-grader is under arrest for bringing a “weapon” to school in her lunchbox; the pain and bitterness in a colleague’s voice as he struggles with the non-renewal of his contract because he “wasn’t teaching Unity.” Conventional wisdom. Traditional values. Unenlightened minds clinging to ancient ignorance with a fierce commitment to preserving it. Ever run into it? Sure you have. And you know that you challenge it at your peril.

Unless, of course, your rejection of Emily Post civility and corporate correctness has reached the gargantuan celebrity proportions of, say, a Howard Stern. “That,” as my Mom used to say, “is a horse of a different color.” I don’t know about you, but I’m not worth a damn at handling the hypocrisy of it. In fact, my hair has a tendency to turn fire red and I find myself spitting blue flame every time I hear about a kid getting kicked out of school or an adult losing a job for violating one of the sacred cows of social correctness while the aforementioned Howard has managed to parlay a daily broadcast of fart jokes, hookers expounding on fellatio, and comic references to his wife’s miscarriage into media godhood.

And what has that earned Howard? At this writing, Mr. Stern is currently enjoying the heady gratification of a number one movie; number one album; fastest selling book in Simon Schuster history; covers of Penthouse, Rolling Stone, Entertainment Weekly, Movieline, Time out New York, Los Angeles and TV Guide; major features in The New Yorker, Playboy, Vanity Fair, Esquire, Cosmopolitan, Time, Newsweek and Billboard; guest spots on Letterman, Dateline, Today (a two-parter) and World News Tonight, plus bonding time with Jay Leno, Geraldo, Maury Povich and Conan O’Brien. All those strokes of the secular domain for a daily broadcast to millions of listeners containing the kind of material that would earn any kid mentioning it in a classroom a significant vacation of the unscheduled kind.

Do I have any argument with Mr. Stern? Absolutely not! Howard is a very funny guy. He does a schtick that gives everyone a chance to check out there sense of humor and to remember that “the great way is not difficult for those who have no preferences.” Howard is harmless, except, perhaps, to the anal retentive. But if they have wasted their minds filling them with the gospel according to Amy Vanderbilt, they certainly deserve each other. Who knows, the encounter may just result in a crack in the cosmic egg of their impending awakening. No, I have no problem with Howard. He’s a nice boy who makes a lot of people laugh. Give him a hand...

But I do have a problem. That’s right, an unresolved preference that nags me to this moment and probably shall till they put the lily in my hand this time through. Forgive me, brother Jesus, but, so far, I just haven’t developed the spiritual muscle to keep my heart authentically open to those folks who beat other people up with their perverse interpretations of what you taught. Those religious folks who should know better who have wasted their minds diluting your precious Truth to the level of a merely social gospel that they can then turn around and beat folks up with. In Your name, they continue to perpetuate their unenlightened notions of good and evil and right and wrong. They influence other folks to waste their minds embracing attitudes of “zero tolerance,” devoid of your compassion and forgiveness, about anyone who doesn’t prescribe to their notions of social correctness as it relates to religious beliefs, sexual preferences, work ethics, language, freedom of choice, discipline, etc., etc.,

A mind is a terrible thing to waste. Father-Mother God, help me stop wasting mine on these episodes of frustration born out of my inability to practice with perfect fidelity our Master Jesus’ invitation to taste the sweet fruit of perfected forgiveness.

Thanks for listening . . .

“After seven years of kidney dialysis and related problems, my mother’s health took a turn for the worse. Her leg arteries had become occluded, and, unless she agreed to arterial surgery, she risked losing the use of her legs, possibly even the legs themselves. It was a risky procedure, but she reluctantly consented.

The results were not good. Although the surgeons were able to restore circulation to her legs, the operation triggered a number of systemic failures throughout her body. Her condition rapidly deteriorated, and she became unable to eat or digest, to turn herself in bed, or even to speak beyond a few whispered syllables. She was incontinent, nearly comatose.

Although her doctors told us that, with continued intravenous feeding and round-the-clock-care, she might survive for months, we all agreed that such an existence hardly constituted living. We decided to take her home from the hospital, keep her as comfortable as possible, and prepare for the end. The doctors warned us that, without the IV, she would die within a matter of days.

After a painful ambulance ride home and the difficult transfer of her bloated, wasted body into the bed, we sat numbly, braced for the end. About two hours passed, and my mother asked for some soup. Not only that, she wanted to eat it in the kitchen. She sat at the table, fed herself, and asked for more. Within three days, she was walking to the kitchen without assistance. Within three weeks, she was cooking the soup herself. And within three months, she was going to the hairdresser and telling jokes.

Now, almost two years later, and despite a few lingering problems with her feet and legs, my mother is not only fully recovered . . . she has undergone a remarkable change in outlook. Once a vain and proper woman, she now looks for substance beneath the outer shell. She laughs often, swears occasionally, and demonstrates daily her love for us.

When I asked her what she thought had made her recovery possible, she said, ‘When I got home and saw all of you, and all my beautiful things, and when I thought about my wonderful life here... I decided I didn’t want to leave.”

“I decided.” That simple. What a powerful and inspiring example of the healing power of our minds when they resonate with love and gratitude and child-like assurance. No fear, no doubt . . . simply “I decided.” And so we thank the story for inspiring us and reminding us that faith is the spiritual gift that empowers all healing at the subtle levels. But is that the only spiritual insight this remarkable example of miraculous physical transformation contained? I think not.

Perhaps a far more remarkable “healing” is spoken to in the story-tellers revelation that “my mother is not only fully recovered... she has undergone a remarkable change in outlook. Once a vain and proper woman, she now looks for substance beneath the outer shell. She laughs often, swears occasionally, and demonstrates daily her love for us.” Now that’s a healing!

From obsessive civility to “don’t worry, be happy” in one magical lifetime. Up close and personal confrontations with Dr. Death have that kind of accelerated transformational clout. The nitty-gritty of that sobering occasion for self-assessment never fails to clear up a lot of confusion about what’s truly important in this earth-walk we are taking together. Mother discovered that prim and proper aren’t nearly as satisfying as real and relevant. As she let go of her rigid commitment to Victorian protocol and Emily Post etiquette (her “vain and proper” image) she discovered the healing joy and lightheartedness to be found in an uncensored celebration of the gift of her life.

She laughed often, embraced the expletive, and never missed a chance to say, “I love you.” A living, breathing, laughing, loving Valentine. What a treat!

Sounds like a righteous recipe for health and happiness to me, as well as a not so subtle reminder that it might just be time for each of us to take a good hard look at the value system currently dictating the open or closed nature of our minds and hearts.

If we’ll look carefully at the forces (beliefs, attitudes, points of view) that condition our mental sense of things, we’ll begin to see how our cherished opinions, and the inner dialogue they inspire, color our thinking and create the nature of the emotional environment we live in from moment to moment.

The gift of Mother’s experience for each of us is an awareness that it’s not absolutely necessary to look physical death in the eye to initiate a transformative process of beneficial self-assessment. If your life seems to be an unfolding encounter with people that you tend to label with thoughts like wrong, rude, crude, inappropriate, thoughtless, abusive, liar, etc., etc., and events that you characterize as unfair, bad, the pits, sucks, a drag, ad infinitum, ad nauseum . . . you can bet the farm that you are operating from a point of view deeply in need of a major overhaul.

As long as we continue to pollute our feeling natures liking this and disliking that, judging, comparing, evaluating... as long as we stay stuck in a whirlwind of action and reaction... joy and lightheartedness are going to be in short supply.

So, let us choose, right now, before death knocks on our door, to engage ourselves in a process that will liberate us from the mischief of a mind playing with unenlightened values and perspectives. As we sharpen our awareness and learn to withhold agreement, emotional energy, and action from the unenlightened perspectives of the false witness mind, we create an increased sense of calm and equanimity that allows us to look more deeply into the Truth of our experience.

We gradually develop the capacity to ground ourselves in the reality of what is actually present in the moment rather than being lost in the false witness of our unenlightened interpretations projected onto pure Isness. The “son of a bitch who ripped me off and ruined my life” becomes “a child of God, lost in ignorance (“sin”), looking for some answers.” The “foul-mouthed barbarian shouting and screaming at me” in the clear light of Truth becomes “child of God, lost in the weeds, crying for love.”

This steady and precise awareness brings a profound sense of stability because it resists nothing. Each moment of our lives will be a study in equanimity because our practice is empowering us to be open to the full range of changing experience free of any attachment or aversion. The spiritual art and discipline of a meditative practice is one sure way of beginning to establish some dominion over the tyranny of a thoroughly conditioned mind insisting that everything life brings us be exactly this or exactly that.

And let us not forget that clear seeing is infinitely nurtured by a sense of humor. Once the Korean Zen master Soen-sa-nim was eating breakfast and reading the morning paper at his center in Providence, Rhode Island. A student at the Center, who had heard the master teach many times, “When you walk, just walk” and “When you eat, just eat” upset himself over the master’s action. How could he say that and then go ahead and eat and read at the same time? So he approached Soen-sa-nim and asked him to explain his apparent transgression. The master looked up from his paper and his meal, smiled, and replied, “When you eat and read, just eat and read!”

Remember, Beautiful Ones, your duty is to be . . . not to be this or that, just be, and while you’re at it . . . please be my Valentine.