Good day to you and blessings be upon you.
Love Love has always been central to the Judeo-Christian religious path. It shows up in the summary of Jewish law "You shall love the Lord your your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength; love your neighbour as yourself," in Jesus` "Love your enemies," and a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another", in St Paul`s "If I speak in tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal", in Augustines`s "Love and do what you will," even in the Beatles still current sentiment " All you need is love". But rarely does anyone really live by what it means.
One possibility, the golden rule, or, "Do as you would be done by", says nothing about what another person might want or need, and so is clearly not about love in its usual sense.
Vanstone defines love negatively, because you can say when love is absent, as not controlling being vulnerable and not being self sufficient.
Love can be defined as "Do not be that which stops other people being their real selves, or, more catchy, "Be so others can be".
Zen means stilling the mind through meditation. The experience of finding oneself through becoming able to see truly, that is to say without mistaking things that aren`t really you with yourself.
Here the word "zen" is being used to refer to the entailment's of Love: the stilling of one`s being by accepting the needs of other people to be more important than you own, and the focusing on becoming your real self by allowing your dependence's on people & things that aren`t you to be dissolved rather than followed.
There is not meant to be any specific relationship with Zen Buddhism, except insofar as Zen Christianity is to Christianity what Zen Buddhism is to Buddhism. Everything in Zen Christianity is to be justified as an interpretation of Christianity rather than because it may be seen in Zen Buddhism.
However it is clear that za zen, the meditation style used by zen buddhism, can be used in christianity, and is relevant here at least in spiritual progress.
heaven "Being in heaven" has to be defined as the most real state of being, and for us there can be no other meaning of "real" than being without dependence on things that aren`t us.
That that is possible must be a matter of faith. We have Jesus` example of someone believing absolutely that being human is not barrier to being in heaven. However, it is "the pearl of great price" to which everything else we might want is secondary.
Change we know we are not our real selves now because we know we sometimes do that which we really do not want to do & are sometimes dependant on things that are not really us. That's true for examples, of both high and low Self esteem - both are dependencies on what other people think of us.
Of course we are not alone in that to progress towards the ideal is necessarily mutual, complex and gradual, with some being able to drop a particular need as a trigger for others becoming able to drop one of theirs. I see people like Jesus as at the forefront of the ability to let go of their attatchments to things & other peoples` natures, in this case to the extent of physical death, which is why he and others like him have been central to real progress in human life.
Some people react to the need for inner change by trying to simplify their exterior lives to the minimum by joining monasteries etc. Nowadays there are many ways to lead one`s life that need for a particular individual for a specific set of tensions & motivations is best net by the variety of situations that ordinary life creates. Anyway, it is necessary to connect with the world in general so that the world in general changes as we change.
attonement At-one-ment; is about being at one with God. It also refers to what Jesus achieved by dying on the cross. The view here of what Jesus acheived is based on "Greater love hath no man than that he lay down his life for his friend" Loving someone entails wishing them to become who the truly are, which means helping them to believe that letting go of their unreal dependencies will lead to them being more real, even though those dependencies currently define reality for that person. In allowing himself to be put through physical death Jesus showed us the greatest possible faith in the actual source of reality.
from Sikhism
One universal Creator God. The name is Truth. Creative Being Personified. Fear. No Hatred. Image Of The Undying, Beyond Birth, Self-Existant By Gurus Grace.
*************************************************
Peace and love cannot depend on man and in saying that I shall also declare that today - which the birds are singing in at this moment - will be a great day for us.
My love to you who read this and to all beings. Peace and love, pass it on.
Your brother Peter
It will seem that life isn`t long enough for significant change. Many people go through it changing only right at the end, or perhaps on marriage or some other significant event, and many without apparently making any progress at all, though one can never entirely tell. Faith in our potential suggests reincarnation could be believed in as a way in which God gives us enough time, not only to change sufficiently but to do so within our own free will as our desires mature towards "storing up our treasure in heaven not on earth."
Sunday, 12 February 2012
It is 5.11am here in Luton on sunday. Its not saturday here.
Good day folks. My sons are fast asleep in bed. I say `fast`, but am not sure if what we don't realise we are saying when we use that word, is , not eating or drinking! What other meaning of `fast` could it mean? It cant be fast as in movement. Yet of course I know there may be one which is blindingly obvious to you and you are saying, " Peter, what a plonker you are." How could it be be blindingly obvious to you. Well I know that one. If you are playing blind mans buff in a farm yard and stumble into the manure heap, then its blindingly obvious where you are. That reminds me of a saying. "If life keeps dumping manure/shit on you, then try growing roses.
I got up this morning and cant locate my glasses. I believe that last night I took them to bed with a book to read and so they may be in the bedroom somewhere. As the boys are in there asleep I am unable to put the light on and have a good hunt.
The search for wisdom is a great challenge, to act on wisdom is an even greater challenge.
Charity may begin at home, but if it goes no further its no longer charity. Its clan loyalty.
If you cant swim, don't blame the water. P G Kimble
After borrowing and reading a book called Zen and Christianity, I looked up the subject on the Internet. Coming as I did to the place which rendered the following, at anweald .co.uk
Interestingly enough, the person who created this site - not unlike me - started off their religious life in I believe the Church of England, but dont quote me on that. I have no idea if like me, after exploring Buddism they ended up doing the full circle back to Christianity! For enlightened ones, we are all one and so its not that important if we tell others we are non believers, muslims, jews, jains, sun worshippers, or hindus. At the centre of all is the creative force of love, which was in existance before there were people to name it.
the end The point of life is to be made in heaven as individuals, as groups of individuals &in creation as a whole.
the start That we are "made in the image of God", which means "being in heaven", "uniting with God", "being yourself", "being whole", "being holy" all means the same thing, and that is meant to be realized here and now.
And that Jesus is our best example of a human being in heaven, though He cant be unique in that else theres no point in following Him!
the way increasing your ability to love - in the Christian sense of not being that which stops others being their real selves - is also a path towords being your own real self - in the zen sense that being your real self is not just being dependant on things that arent really you - which in turn is a pathe towards being in Heaven in the Christian sense.
Okay my brothers and sisters. Its 6.05 am and I am going to make myself a decaff coffee and then go back to bed for some prayer and meditation. As both boys anf me were sleeping on my double matress which is on a platform nearly five feet off the floor, I will not risk the possibility of waking them and shall go to there room. Buster sleeps on the bottom bunk of their bunkbed as they no longer use it and so I shall go to the top. You all have a good day. Go in peace and know you are loved. Your brother Peter
I got up this morning and cant locate my glasses. I believe that last night I took them to bed with a book to read and so they may be in the bedroom somewhere. As the boys are in there asleep I am unable to put the light on and have a good hunt.
The search for wisdom is a great challenge, to act on wisdom is an even greater challenge.
Charity may begin at home, but if it goes no further its no longer charity. Its clan loyalty.
If you cant swim, don't blame the water. P G Kimble
After borrowing and reading a book called Zen and Christianity, I looked up the subject on the Internet. Coming as I did to the place which rendered the following, at anweald .co.uk
the end The point of life is to be made in heaven as individuals, as groups of individuals &in creation as a whole.
the start That we are "made in the image of God", which means "being in heaven", "uniting with God", "being yourself", "being whole", "being holy" all means the same thing, and that is meant to be realized here and now.
And that Jesus is our best example of a human being in heaven, though He cant be unique in that else theres no point in following Him!
the way increasing your ability to love - in the Christian sense of not being that which stops others being their real selves - is also a path towords being your own real self - in the zen sense that being your real self is not just being dependant on things that arent really you - which in turn is a pathe towards being in Heaven in the Christian sense.
Okay my brothers and sisters. Its 6.05 am and I am going to make myself a decaff coffee and then go back to bed for some prayer and meditation. As both boys anf me were sleeping on my double matress which is on a platform nearly five feet off the floor, I will not risk the possibility of waking them and shall go to there room. Buster sleeps on the bottom bunk of their bunkbed as they no longer use it and so I shall go to the top. You all have a good day. Go in peace and know you are loved. Your brother Peter
Thursday, 9 February 2012
Good day my brothers and sisters. Its fish on Friday
Hope that you are well in the holistic sense, or are at least like me and are well under way getting there. It will be wonderful when the time comes with a smile and we can say, thank God, I have arrived.
Last night I went to a big AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meeting at Quaker House, here in Luton. My first impressions were, thank God for this organisation. As there were around a hundred or so people there, it had quite an impact on me. If we think of the number of people who accept that drinking is a problem and are trying, hopefully with success, to beat it; then how many are carrying on oblivious.
That's my problem, I should say our problem. As we are in this together; this world and period of time.
time keeps on changing into the future
I hear someone saying, `Its not my problem.` Well my friend, we can ignore stuff, but it doesn't make it go away. Everything is linked in one way or another. I remember about fifteen years or so ago, I went on holiday with a sister and our parents to Jersey, in the channel Islands. I got talking to a lady on the beach, who had a disabled child and his father had left them, or not. I cant remember that bit, yet funnily enough I am able to recall that she was topless. Strange what one can remember. Well not really when you understand memory and the brain! Which reminds me of something amazing. On the computer last night I saw an ape who's memory and recall could beat almost any human. It was given after training, just a fraction of a second - something like 1/6 of a second to remember, like eight numbers and it done wonderful. The numbers flashed on the screen so quick I couldn't take them in at all. Okay, I want to get back to the topless woman on the beach. This was probably within a year or so of my wife dying and me getting the brain injury. Anyway, she told me her name , I`d forget it and mention that this was because of my head-injury and could she tell me again. After a few times, she said, "Peter, where are we?" I replied that we were on the beach. "What are we sitting on, on the beach?" So now some fifteen years or so later, yep I can recall her name, Sandy Beach. NO, only joking. It was, or still is, Sandy. Oh yes on talking I found out that not only, like me, did she come from England. She came from Leighton Buzzard and knew who my cousin Andy Kimble was. Small world, we agreed.
Okay, now for anybody who is waiting for the Fish on Friday bit, its coming up after I make myself a coffee. Not perhaps a lovely cup of coffee, but at least a reasonable one! Decaf did someone inquire? Yes. I limit the caffiene to when I feel I need its effect/ability to stop me falling asleep. For instance before going to church. Joke lang. (do you notice the filipino word creeping in there and showing that a bit of my heart is pinoy!)
Its just coming up to 6.30am and a bird is singing in the day. Okay, that was a nice distraction.
FISH ON FRIDAY
I believe it was my sister vivienne who for a birthday or Christmas present, gave me the book Thomas a Kempis, The Inner Life. How good it is on helping me further my spiritual journey.
Took a break there to go over the park with Buster and the sled.
Am obviously back. So back to Thomas a Kempis.
CHAPTER 42
A Warning against Vain and Worldly Learning
CHRIST. My son, do not allow fair phrases and subtle sayings to beguile you;
for the Kingdom of God comes not by words, but by My power. Pay attention to My words, for
they fire the heart and lighten the understanding, foster contrition and bring all comfort. Never study in order to appear more wise and learned; study rather to overcome your besetting sins, for this will profit you more than will the grasp of intricate problems.
When you have read and mastered many subjects, always return to this fundamental truth: that I am He who teaches man knowledge, and who grants My children a clearer understanding than man can impart. He whom I teach will swiftly gain wisdom and advance far in the life of the spirit. But those who seek curious knowledge from men, and care nothing for My service, will discover only sorrow. In due time Christ will come, the Teacher of teachers and Lord of Angels. He will hear the lessons of all; that is, He will examine each man`s conscience. He will search jerusalem with lamps; the hidden things of darkness will be brought to light, and the tongues of controversy silenced.
I am God, who enable the humble-minded to understand more of the ways of the everlasting Truth in a single moment than ten years of study in the Scools. I teach in silence, without the clamour of controversy, without ambition for honours, without confusion of arguement. I teach men to despise earthly things, to find this present life burdensome, to seek eternal things, to shun honours, to endure injuries, to place all trust in Me, to desire nothing but Myself, and to love Me ardently above all things.
There was once a man who loved Me very dearly, who learned My divine secrets, and spoke eloquently of Me. He profited more by renouncing everything than by studying subtleties. For some I speak on everyday affairs; to others on particlar matters; to some I graciously reveal Myself in signs and symbols, while to those who are enlightened I reveal My mysteries.
A book has but a single voice, but is not equally profitable to all who read it. I alone am the Teacher of truth, the Searcher of man`s heart, the Discerner of his doings, and I give to each man as I judge right.
************************************
Well my brothers and sisters, thats it for now. I bid you a good day and a good weekend. Go in peace to serve others with loving hearts and restful minds. Your brother in Christ Jesus, Watchman Kimble
Last night I went to a big AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) meeting at Quaker House, here in Luton. My first impressions were, thank God for this organisation. As there were around a hundred or so people there, it had quite an impact on me. If we think of the number of people who accept that drinking is a problem and are trying, hopefully with success, to beat it; then how many are carrying on oblivious.
That's my problem, I should say our problem. As we are in this together; this world and period of time.
time keeps on changing into the future
I hear someone saying, `Its not my problem.` Well my friend, we can ignore stuff, but it doesn't make it go away. Everything is linked in one way or another. I remember about fifteen years or so ago, I went on holiday with a sister and our parents to Jersey, in the channel Islands. I got talking to a lady on the beach, who had a disabled child and his father had left them, or not. I cant remember that bit, yet funnily enough I am able to recall that she was topless. Strange what one can remember. Well not really when you understand memory and the brain! Which reminds me of something amazing. On the computer last night I saw an ape who's memory and recall could beat almost any human. It was given after training, just a fraction of a second - something like 1/6 of a second to remember, like eight numbers and it done wonderful. The numbers flashed on the screen so quick I couldn't take them in at all. Okay, I want to get back to the topless woman on the beach. This was probably within a year or so of my wife dying and me getting the brain injury. Anyway, she told me her name , I`d forget it and mention that this was because of my head-injury and could she tell me again. After a few times, she said, "Peter, where are we?" I replied that we were on the beach. "What are we sitting on, on the beach?" So now some fifteen years or so later, yep I can recall her name, Sandy Beach. NO, only joking. It was, or still is, Sandy. Oh yes on talking I found out that not only, like me, did she come from England. She came from Leighton Buzzard and knew who my cousin Andy Kimble was. Small world, we agreed.
Okay, now for anybody who is waiting for the Fish on Friday bit, its coming up after I make myself a coffee. Not perhaps a lovely cup of coffee, but at least a reasonable one! Decaf did someone inquire? Yes. I limit the caffiene to when I feel I need its effect/ability to stop me falling asleep. For instance before going to church. Joke lang. (do you notice the filipino word creeping in there and showing that a bit of my heart is pinoy!)
Its just coming up to 6.30am and a bird is singing in the day. Okay, that was a nice distraction.
FISH ON FRIDAY
I believe it was my sister vivienne who for a birthday or Christmas present, gave me the book Thomas a Kempis, The Inner Life. How good it is on helping me further my spiritual journey.
Took a break there to go over the park with Buster and the sled.
Am obviously back. So back to Thomas a Kempis.
CHAPTER 42
A Warning against Vain and Worldly Learning
CHRIST. My son, do not allow fair phrases and subtle sayings to beguile you;
for the Kingdom of God comes not by words, but by My power. Pay attention to My words, for
they fire the heart and lighten the understanding, foster contrition and bring all comfort. Never study in order to appear more wise and learned; study rather to overcome your besetting sins, for this will profit you more than will the grasp of intricate problems.
When you have read and mastered many subjects, always return to this fundamental truth: that I am He who teaches man knowledge, and who grants My children a clearer understanding than man can impart. He whom I teach will swiftly gain wisdom and advance far in the life of the spirit. But those who seek curious knowledge from men, and care nothing for My service, will discover only sorrow. In due time Christ will come, the Teacher of teachers and Lord of Angels. He will hear the lessons of all; that is, He will examine each man`s conscience. He will search jerusalem with lamps; the hidden things of darkness will be brought to light, and the tongues of controversy silenced.
I am God, who enable the humble-minded to understand more of the ways of the everlasting Truth in a single moment than ten years of study in the Scools. I teach in silence, without the clamour of controversy, without ambition for honours, without confusion of arguement. I teach men to despise earthly things, to find this present life burdensome, to seek eternal things, to shun honours, to endure injuries, to place all trust in Me, to desire nothing but Myself, and to love Me ardently above all things.
There was once a man who loved Me very dearly, who learned My divine secrets, and spoke eloquently of Me. He profited more by renouncing everything than by studying subtleties. For some I speak on everyday affairs; to others on particlar matters; to some I graciously reveal Myself in signs and symbols, while to those who are enlightened I reveal My mysteries.
A book has but a single voice, but is not equally profitable to all who read it. I alone am the Teacher of truth, the Searcher of man`s heart, the Discerner of his doings, and I give to each man as I judge right.
************************************
Well my brothers and sisters, thats it for now. I bid you a good day and a good weekend. Go in peace to serve others with loving hearts and restful minds. Your brother in Christ Jesus, Watchman Kimble
G L U E Lets stick together
God, its cold and not just outside. If I wasn't typing then my hands would be gloved, or in my pockets.
Loves not at all bothered by temperature, it just goes to where there is space for love!
Us. That is you, me and God of our understanding, are in this together. TOGETHER (operative word)
Everlasting time to start, is now. Now is the only moment we can surrender to change. Let go. Go.
*******************************************************
So the above isn't brilliant, but its my first attempt to put a word spelt with the word from capitals going downwards. maybe something better will come later when more brain cells have thawed from this big freeze. How I can miss being in the Philippines on a cold day like this!
Bye for now though and Oh yes, know that you are loved.
Your brother Peter.
ps. There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub. Elizabeth Kubler Ross (so guess where Im going now with a hot cup of decaf coffee!)
Loves not at all bothered by temperature, it just goes to where there is space for love!
Us. That is you, me and God of our understanding, are in this together. TOGETHER (operative word)
Everlasting time to start, is now. Now is the only moment we can surrender to change. Let go. Go.
*******************************************************
So the above isn't brilliant, but its my first attempt to put a word spelt with the word from capitals going downwards. maybe something better will come later when more brain cells have thawed from this big freeze. How I can miss being in the Philippines on a cold day like this!
Bye for now though and Oh yes, know that you are loved.
Your brother Peter.
ps. There is no need to go to India or anywhere else to find peace. You find that deep place of silence right in your room, your garden or even your bathtub. Elizabeth Kubler Ross (so guess where Im going now with a hot cup of decaf coffee!)
Wednesday, 8 February 2012
I think therefore I am. So thoughts can control feelings. Think LOVE FEEL LOVING.
Good day, as this is another cold day perhaps we who are in a cold climate can think, or have the belief that we are warm and we will be warm. Stupid! No. Ascetics with practise, like some monks in Tibet jump in an ice cold lake and then soaked in icy water, sit and meditate whilst their robes dry. They have control over the body to that extent. In India, holy men can stick needles through themselves without drawing blood.
Who are we and can we get stuck in a rut. Are some of us defined by what others say about us?
If we are not happy with ourselves, then we may see the unhappiness reflected around us. Our thoughts become our actions, which in turn can become habits. these habits are each moment they pass, become our past. So people and this often includes ourselves become stuck on the image they hold of each other. Because each moment in time brings changes to this world and our mind cannot adapt to all of these changes, we hold the past in our mind until circumstances force revaluation. When we free ourselves of the past, then we no longer depend on it to know who and where we are.
Part of me is now trying to stop defining each present moment in relationship with the past or any hopes for the future. I have to judge when crossing a busy road when to step across, but dont need to judge if anyone inside the car is good, bad, short or tall; its not relevant to my wanting to be on the other side of the road. When I judge, it is not an I seperate from the car, the earth, or the sun and moon. It is the I which is part of the great I Am.
O dear, back to now. The alarm has gone of and so I must shortly make my way the the clinic to have a blood test. Once we get to fifty yrs old they like to test our blood to look for risk of heart attack. I must go along with them, even though I am as fit as a fiddle. I will be back.
Your brother Peter.
Tuesday, 7 February 2012
The top photo is a page from my art therapy book. I am breaking free from negative habits.
I took the phota above whilst the camera was still working. Argus are very naughty for not just giving me a replacement. The photo above though; I like the fact that it is a colour shot, yet looks almost monocrome/black and white. Also the the stronger contrast between dark and light at the bottom third and the the more tones of grey at the top half.
My task for today - and you can choose it to be your also if you so wish - is to be mindful in everything which I do, with good thoughts, good words and good actions. May this day be a creative one for us all. Go in love my brothers and sisters.
My love to you. Yours, brother Peter
Sunday, 5 February 2012
Monday morning 05:45 am. Blessings be upon you. Om & Amen
Good day my brothers and sisters. Me and Buster my German Shepperd companion went over Popes meadow in the snow. I was wrapped up warm and walked around the field and then the woods. Busters shot around all over the place exited and enjoying himself thoroughly. Now of course we are back inside this warm abode.
One of the books that I am reading at the moment is ENTERING The CASTLE by Caroline Myss.
Bestselling author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Sacred contracts. I must thank her for a misconception which I must have held for as long as I can remember. She says that most people confuse humbleness with humility! Okay, yep , I hold my hands up to that one. Some of the Oxford English Dictionary definitions of humble include "low in rank [and] respect," The word humility - referring to the quality of being humble - is from the Latin humilis and humus, "earth," and is related to the Greek chton,"earthy," and chamai, "on the ground. "Humility does not mean that you hold yourself in low esteem or deny yourself respect, recognition, power, status, or accomplishments. Humility in the Castle is a virtue and you begin your quest for it on the ground floor of the First Mansion.
The truly humble person has little fear of what God will ask her or him because no task is too small or insignificant, demeaning or worthless. ( Like me praying when I pick litter up.) many of the great mystics were given wild and bizarre instructions during meditation. These orders were not meant to humiliate them, but to show that the extraordinary could not be attained through unconditional faith. They were living, breathing examples of unconditional faith. Many contemporary mystics who will never be famous have received equally challenging, even outlandish guidance that struck other people as foolish or risky. But their fearlessness and humility allowed them to follow through regardless of the social, financial, political, or personal consequences.
The Grace of Humility.
Grace (this reminds me that my late wife Tracy, bless her soul, used to say when she was nineteen, `Patiance is a virtue, virtue is a grace and Grace is a little girl with a dirty face!) has many qualities and many expressions, among them:compassion, wisdom, patience, vision, endurance, humor, joy, intuition, holy foolishness, resilience, forgiveness, hope, gratitude, exstasy, generosity, creativity, fearless bliss, and humility. Each quality of grace in turn has its own capacity to influence, heal, and affect change in your psyche and body. Humility, for example, allows you to recognize and acknowledge all the positive qualities of body, mind, and spirit in another person. Humility disarms the competitive voice that whispers to you, "There is not enough. What about you? You must be first. (and this reminds me of all the car and jeepney bumber (fender) stickers which one can see in the Philippines which say `God First`)Wrongly you may think the following: You must be first. You need more. You deserve the reward, the attention, the status, and the money far more than that other person does." No way. Thats your ego taking control of your mind. EGO edging God out. We dont deserve a thing. All is given to us as a gift. Gifts should be taken with humilty and be thanked for! Okay I get that now and hope that you do. We have to start in little ways being the change we want to see around us. Forgiveness for ourselves and others is a great start. We dont have to wait until we are dying on a cross to ask for forgiveness, as thats already been done. The door has been opened by The Saviour.
*********************************************
I believe silence is a skill with which if we cultivate and make it part of our ordinary response, then it will serve us in many ways. Firstly I am reminded of how often I have either regretted saying the first thing which came into my head! If it came into my head , then it must have come from outside and so it is not mine. This means it can be either claimed and used or ignored and discarded. When Tracy Killed herself and left me. Leaving me with a brain injury and my life devistated, it broke me. I chose to use that break in a positive way. There was a dark gap. A chasm. I could have said to myself, Peter you failure. Your beautiful wife killed herself to get away from you. Your parents died whilst you were young because they didnt love you. I chose to ignore those thoughts and associated feelings. Choosing to say to myself, Peter you are and amazing individual, who has to get things wrong at times to learn what is right. It is what you choose to love which defines you, not regretfull decisions and actions.
Yet like today, going out in the snow and leaving footprints where there was none, reminds I am treading a journey which is not really following anothers exactly and it is exciting. It is wonderfull and it is a privalage. Thank you all who are reading this for being here in the universe with me. Have a loving day. Your `humble` brother, Peter. (o yes, please dont let any type errors distract you!)
One of the books that I am reading at the moment is ENTERING The CASTLE by Caroline Myss.
Bestselling author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Sacred contracts. I must thank her for a misconception which I must have held for as long as I can remember. She says that most people confuse humbleness with humility! Okay, yep , I hold my hands up to that one. Some of the Oxford English Dictionary definitions of humble include "low in rank [and] respect," The word humility - referring to the quality of being humble - is from the Latin humilis and humus, "earth," and is related to the Greek chton,"earthy," and chamai, "on the ground. "Humility does not mean that you hold yourself in low esteem or deny yourself respect, recognition, power, status, or accomplishments. Humility in the Castle is a virtue and you begin your quest for it on the ground floor of the First Mansion.
The truly humble person has little fear of what God will ask her or him because no task is too small or insignificant, demeaning or worthless. ( Like me praying when I pick litter up.) many of the great mystics were given wild and bizarre instructions during meditation. These orders were not meant to humiliate them, but to show that the extraordinary could not be attained through unconditional faith. They were living, breathing examples of unconditional faith. Many contemporary mystics who will never be famous have received equally challenging, even outlandish guidance that struck other people as foolish or risky. But their fearlessness and humility allowed them to follow through regardless of the social, financial, political, or personal consequences.
The Grace of Humility.
Grace (this reminds me that my late wife Tracy, bless her soul, used to say when she was nineteen, `Patiance is a virtue, virtue is a grace and Grace is a little girl with a dirty face!) has many qualities and many expressions, among them:compassion, wisdom, patience, vision, endurance, humor, joy, intuition, holy foolishness, resilience, forgiveness, hope, gratitude, exstasy, generosity, creativity, fearless bliss, and humility. Each quality of grace in turn has its own capacity to influence, heal, and affect change in your psyche and body. Humility, for example, allows you to recognize and acknowledge all the positive qualities of body, mind, and spirit in another person. Humility disarms the competitive voice that whispers to you, "There is not enough. What about you? You must be first. (and this reminds me of all the car and jeepney bumber (fender) stickers which one can see in the Philippines which say `God First`)Wrongly you may think the following: You must be first. You need more. You deserve the reward, the attention, the status, and the money far more than that other person does." No way. Thats your ego taking control of your mind. EGO edging God out. We dont deserve a thing. All is given to us as a gift. Gifts should be taken with humilty and be thanked for! Okay I get that now and hope that you do. We have to start in little ways being the change we want to see around us. Forgiveness for ourselves and others is a great start. We dont have to wait until we are dying on a cross to ask for forgiveness, as thats already been done. The door has been opened by The Saviour.
*********************************************
I believe silence is a skill with which if we cultivate and make it part of our ordinary response, then it will serve us in many ways. Firstly I am reminded of how often I have either regretted saying the first thing which came into my head! If it came into my head , then it must have come from outside and so it is not mine. This means it can be either claimed and used or ignored and discarded. When Tracy Killed herself and left me. Leaving me with a brain injury and my life devistated, it broke me. I chose to use that break in a positive way. There was a dark gap. A chasm. I could have said to myself, Peter you failure. Your beautiful wife killed herself to get away from you. Your parents died whilst you were young because they didnt love you. I chose to ignore those thoughts and associated feelings. Choosing to say to myself, Peter you are and amazing individual, who has to get things wrong at times to learn what is right. It is what you choose to love which defines you, not regretfull decisions and actions.
Yet like today, going out in the snow and leaving footprints where there was none, reminds I am treading a journey which is not really following anothers exactly and it is exciting. It is wonderfull and it is a privalage. Thank you all who are reading this for being here in the universe with me. Have a loving day. Your `humble` brother, Peter. (o yes, please dont let any type errors distract you!)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)