"Misery Is Optional!"

Let’s kick-off this newsletter time together by affirming a willingness to consider the notion that every human being taking up space in time has been blessed by a profoundly compassionate gesture of Father/Mother God’s awesome love.

Specifically, let’s let our minds out to play with the kosmic insight that we owe the Creative Impulse a profound debt of gratitude for engraving on our souls an eternal invitation to remember that no matter what we find ourselves dealing with, within our hearts peace is possible.

I certainly can’t speak for you, but the first time someone ran that bit of radical reality by me it landed on a heart/mind that was no where near being ready to hear it, Can anybody out there give me an “A-men” to that?

Back in those days it seemed like my everyday experience was an unfolding drama of inevitable feast and famine. I saw my life as a crap-shoot run by a capricious, malevolent fate that would let me win one day and then rip me off the next with some dead-end situation loaded with disappointment, high anxiety and outrage. Snakeyes! Craps! Loser! Ever been there?

We’ve all had histories of facing dysfunctional situations in our families, at work, at school, even in our communities and between nations. Who among us hasn’t grappled with a long list of circumstances that, at the time, we simply didn’t have enough spiritual savvy to handle without turning them into a self-imposed legacy of shame, anger and, typically, a crucifying sense of inadequacy.

This being the case for a significant portion of us taking up space in time here on planet earth, it seems probable that what has attracted many of us to the common ground of our Unity experience is a mutual desire to find a way out of all this misery that’s optional.

Regards to that, rest easy! The word from the mountaintop is clear and unequivocal. Even in the most trying circumstances, the breath can come easy, the mind can stay clear and the heart can remain open, that is, the very moment we have mastered the spiritual art of resting easy in our divinity as the Father’s will unfolds around our humanity.

Consider Viktor Frankl’s experience in a concentration camp during WWII. He wrote, “We who lived in the concentration camps can remember those who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread . . . They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from us but the last of human freedoms . . . the freedom to choose our spirit in any circumstance.”

There you have it! We’ve all been blessed with it! It’s part of our divine inheritance from a wise and loving Father/Mother God . . . “the freedom to choose our spirit in any circumstance!” And that freedom evolves out of the enormous power inherent in any being who has committed to a diligent practice of the spiritual arts of mindfulness, forgiveness and compassion as way of life..

And, let us be sure we are not kidding ourselves about any of those virtues. Forgiveness and compassion are not sentimental or weak. Indeed, their consistent expression demands the utmost courage and integrity we can bring to our journey of awakening. Recognizing this inspired Meher Baba to write, “True love is not for the faint-hearted.”

For sure, it’s tough to remember our own basic goodness and the power of forgiveness and compassion out there on the street when it’s all going (as my Mom used to say) “to hell in a hand-cart.’ But rest easy in that as well. Deep remembering will reveal an innate wisdom that knows we are all sons and daughters of the One Creative Impulse. That we are all together in this as a planetary family. Did not Jesus invite us to pray to “Our Father?” Did not Buddha address us as “O Nobly Born,” in many of his teachings and writings?

In spite of all confusion and fear, take heart in the sure and steady knowledge that we all have evolved from an impeccable lineage that blesses each of us with a heart that knows what is just, loving and beautiful.

That being the case, I found the Jungian analyst, Robert Johnson’s, comments fascinating regarding the typical relationship an unawakened being has with their deepest natures. He wrote, “Curiously, people resist the noble aspects of their shadow more strenuously than they hide their dark sides. For them, it is more disrupting to find that you have a profound nobility of character than to find out that you are a bum!”

Bums no more! Just look at yourselves with deep integrity and you can’t fail to notice the infinite potential within you to be bring more compassion and forgiveness to the game of your life. “If it were not possible to free the heart from entanglement in greed, hate, and fear,” Buddha counseled, “I would not teach you to do so.” And, likewise, if it were not possible, Jesus would not have commanded us to “Love one another” with all the same consummate forgiving compassion He blesses us with to this very moment.

But forget that blessing for a heartbeat, forget the innate nobility of your humanity for a breath and spiritually uninformed thinking will be right there planting its seeds of fear. And wherever there’s fear you don’t have to look hard to find its handmaidens, anger, blame, conflict , shame and resentment.

And it’s not hard to tell who’s in charge in any moment of your life. Fear tightens our bodies, constricts our hearts, distracts our minds and steals our capacity to experience our basic nature, the joy and contentment of a mind unclouded by fear and longing.

To find ourselves stuck in an episode of fear and contraction is an invitation to relentlessly practice the spiritual art of mindful remembering . . . remembering not to give power to any kind of thinking that obscures our capacity to see ourselves or our world with a forgiving eye and a compassionate heart. All the Awakened Ones have counseled us to refuse passage through the gate of our agreement any kind of thinking that diminishes our innately noble spirit. Remember . . . God don’t make no junk!

In those moments of challenge take a deep breath and consider the wisdom of finding refuge in the wisdom of the Christ who counseled us to “forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do,’ or the Buddha’s invitation to “Live in joy, in love, even among those who hate. Live in joy, in health, even among the afflicted. Live in joy in peace, even among the troubled. Look within, be still. Free from fear and attachment, know the sweet joy of the way.”

It sounds so sweet, so simple and it’s absolutely legitimate from a spiritual perspective to say that in any moment we can learn to let go of hatred and fear. We can rest in peace, love and forgiveness. It is never too late or too early in the game to master the art of those sacred practices.

But we know better about that mastering game don’t we? I’m sure that if you’re reading this you’ve already discovered that to sustain love and forgiveness as your consistent life expression, we must develop practices that refine and strengthen the natural instinct for compassion and forgiveness that is our divine inheritance.

As Nelson Mandela observed, “It is not enough to know that love and forgiveness are possible. We have to find ways to bring them to life. The truth is we are not yet free. We have merely achieved the freedom to be free. We have a choice . . . let us choose wisely.” And be sure to . . .

Enjoy the Grace!
--Chad

© 2004 Rev. Chad O'Shea

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