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INTRINSIC HOPE

8/31/2019

Intrinsic hope lies within us and is not related to specific outcomes.

Hope is an orientation towards a livable future.

Hope is a direction of mind and spirit.

To have hope is to have the courage to know that whatever comes will be workable.

Extrinsic hope lies in something outside us, a specific outcome. This often disappoints.

Hope has often been given a bad rap. It is often confused with wishful thinking.

Yet if we don’t have hope what do we have? Bitterness and cynicism is about all that is left.

The writer of Hebrews explains hope and faith this way in Ch 11:1,3:

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen……..Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

Yes, the things hoped for are evidence of things not seen!

I take this to mean we live in universal energy that flows everywhere invisibly and intangibly, and that everything we see and sense arises out of this great ocean of energy—also known as the word of God.

Our hope is in this all sustaining energy that is always giving us just what our soul needs—not necessarily what we want.
Hope is vital to life.

My greatest hope is to find meaning in all that has happened; to know that nothing is ever wasted—not even a single tear.

I believe it is the dark times in life that brings forth the true meaning of events. It is as if the tears of our heartbreak fall into the earth of our soul and cause something new and beautiful to grow and become. And through these times we evolve spiritually.

I believe that everything lost in the outer returns to our soul causing greater depth of compassion and understanding to burst forth.

But when we hope for a specific outcome, we lose as often as we win. This leads to disappointment and despair. Fear accompanies this kind of hope.

If our hope is for the highest outcome and we are willing to give up the idea that we know what needs to happen, we build a faith that gives us something firm to stand on in the dark times.

Jesus gave us a parable about the wise man who builds his house on rock, rather than sand. Matt 7:24-27

Building on the shifting sands of the material world is dangerous, for everything formed changes constantly. That which is born will die.

Let us not place our faith in that which is formed for it will eventually disappoint. It is already on its way out.

Intrinsic hope is like that rock Jesus spoke of. Hope is where our future comes from.

So let us continue to hope. But not for a specific outcome.

Specifics are extrinsic—live in the outside world, the world of form. As opposed to intrinsic—within us.

Intrinsic hope points us toward the true, the good and the beautiful that is available to us.

Let us hope that the right thing that needs to happen will appear in due time. Let us hope and have faith in Universal Energy that knows how to become. This energy has been evolving the world for 14 and ½ billion years. What else has that kind of track record?

Let us trust Universal Energy to evolve.

And let us remember that hope doesn’t stand alone. It moves into the world by our actions.

If this subject interests you I strongly recommend the book INTRINSIC HOPE by Kate Davies, M.A., D. Phil.

It will give you great hope in meeting the difficulties of these troubled times.

In great hope,

Rev. Billie

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MEETING ANGER AND SHAME WITH COMPASSION

8/19/2019

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We all experience anger and shame from time to time. It is part of the human experience. What varies is how we respond to these painful emotions.

Do we layer more anger on top of our anger? Or shame ourselves for feeling this way?

Are we angry and ashamed that we are not more in control of ourselves—of life?

If so, we are just adding fuel to the fire.

Since emotions are part of the human journey, can we just be compassionate toward these negative feelings that hurt so much?

When we are hurting, we don’t need more hurt. We need love and kindness.

It costs nothing (except time and attention) to be compassionate towards ourselves in times of need—and we are in need when painful emotions are flowing through us!

My experience is that I must become aware of these emotions before I can choose compassion.

Awareness is golden. When we are aware we can work with whatever the situation may be, no matter how troublesome it is.

Compassion leads the way towards resolution and harmony.

Awareness helps us find meaning in life’s events, no matter how long that may take. Eventually things begin to make sense and we can see a larger picture. We can see how it all fits together.

Life begins to be viewed as a great tapestry, beautiful, layered and deeply textured. It has meaning and we experience peace.

Awareness stems from mindfulness.

Mindfulness helps us awaken from the dream that we are an existential self, alone, floating around in a sea, sometimes having good experiences and sometimes bad—at times feeling happy, but often feeling lost, confused and worried.

This dream has nightmarish qualities.

When the Buddha was asked who he was, he replied only, “I am awake.”

The Buddha had awakened from the dream of being a separate self.

When I experience myself apart and isolated from others, feeling angry, ashamed or lost, I am living a nightmare! I can awaken by remembering how interconnected everything is.

Quantum physics has shown that reality (what is) shows up both as a wave and a particle.

Each moment this is our truth. We are both the particle (independent), and the wave. Our “particleness” dissolves into the vast oneness of all that is.

But this is paradoxical. How can we be separate when the universal wave is constantly flowing through us, refreshing us and making all things new?

When we feel separate and forget the “waveness” of all life, we will have many ups and downs which easily cause anger, fear and shame.

All we need do is remember! Remember that we are just as much the wave as the particle. This brings us back into balance.

But it is compassion that helps us maintain this awareness.

It’s hard to be human. Humans often forget they are spiritual beings having a human experience. Believing we are separate puts us into a trance.

Awareness breaks the trance.

A skillful daily (and minute by minute) spiritual practice brings us back into a place of compassion and harmony. This is happiness. This is trust that Universal Energy is always flowing through us, guiding us into safe waters—no matter what it appears.

“You are not just a drop of water in the ocean.
You are the whole ocean.” Rumi

May we remember our wholeness.
May we live in ease and kindness.

Rev. Billie

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NEW BEGINNINGS

8/11/2019

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Sometimes we overlook opportunity by taking things for granted. Such as the breath.
Everyone breathes. It’s automatic as long as we are alive in this body—and thus it is easy to overlook the tremendous opportunity each breath brings us.
Actually every breath is a new beginning! Each breath opens new possibilities.
To take advantage of this natural phenomenon, a few times each day we need to pause as we breathe—take a moment to notice what our body and our mind are doing. By slowing down for this instant we have a better chance of choosing the next best thing to do.
Yes, every breath gives us the ability to choose once again.
If we consider what each breath is doing within us we will be absolutely amazed. Incredible activity is taking place in our body with each breath, causing the body to heal in so many, many ways, and allowing us to relax, releasing some stress.
Our bodies are always a whirl of new activity. Each breath allows and helps life to proceed.
The beauty and healing power of the all present Universal Energy that flows through each breath defies imagination. Neuroplasticity has documented a great deal of this, but there is much more that is unseen! Science can only know so much. What is invisible is yet more astounding.
Universal energy renews us, holds us and loves us. This energy has only one purpose—to help us evolve spiritually.
Let us take a moment right now to notice this very breath that is breathing us. It comes to us unbidden. We don’t have to do anything to receive it. But could we be a little appreciative for all it is doing for us? Could we give it our love and attention?
Breath and Spirit stem from the same root word, “spiritus: to breathe.” Breath is pure Spirit. And it fills us. Thus we also are pure Spirit.
We have a body. We have a mind. They do not belong to us. Nothing belongs to us. We enter this life with only a body and a mind that has been supplied. And we leave with nothing but the pure Essence that we are. This Spirit can never be taken from us.
We belong to a universe that breathes us and is so awesome we can’t even imagine all the beauty hidden within each being, including you and I—as well as the tiniest grain of sand.
Each of us glows with this hidden light.
So let us slow down and give thanks for this moment. The breath that flows into and out of us has created a whole new world—one in which we each have our own place. In this we are special—and not special because all beings have the same Creative Energy flowing through them.
This is our commonality. We are all brothers and sisters. We live in a universe filled with invisible Creative energy that is more real than anything we can see, touch, hear, taste or feel.
All this is for us. The breath we are receiving right now is both personal and impersonal. It is for us, specifically, no one else. Yet it connects us with everyone.
The Universe never lets us go. It holds us and causes us to continue rising on our Spiritual journey.
And the greatest opportunity is that we each create our own world—our own experience of living. Each breath gives us a chance to re-negotiate. We can stop for a moment, pause and reflect.
We can ask what is the next right thing to do? And do it.

In Awe,

Rev. Billie

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REALITY

8/6/2019

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“Reality thinks fairness is hilarious. Expectations too. And it thinks reasonableness is so cute it could pinch its little cheeks.”
Carolyn Hax

The above quote by Advice Columnist Carolyn Hax might tilt our worldview just a little. Do we think things should be fair? And by what standards do we measure fairness? And what are we expecting that seems perfectly reasonable and logical?

I am reminded of the epic story of the Biblical Job who was so distraught because bad things are happening to him when he has always led such an exemplary life. He was sure he had done everything right.

The story tells us that in time Job developed humility as he came to realize he didn’t really know how the world was run. He eventually understood there was a higher wisdom than his own that moved through all space and time. He surrendered his view of being a victim.

Job finally accepted the great truth that there is a universal energy that he was not on charge of. This Energy knew how to evolve. He understood that God knew and he didn’t. As he surrendered to this great Creative Energy all his losses were restored—plus more.

As we accept life just as it is and give up our expectations and opinions of how things should be, we too can come to realize a greater power than our own is always guiding us in ways we cannot comprehend.

We can feel safe in these all-loving hands (a metaphor for the invisible substance that always holds us). We are intrinsically connected to this power and cannot be lost.

It’s that “giving up” part that takes time, patience, wisdom and commitment.

We, like Job, can develop patience as we continue our dialogue with our Higher Power. By honestly stating our woes and listening to God’s voice (however it comes to us) we also begin to trust reality. We begin to feel our connection to universal energy. We sense that we live and move and have our being in it.

We accept that this is the way it is for now, and it could not be other than it is. And we remember that reality is always changing form and shape.

As we continue to pay attention to what our mind is doing we learn how much we want things our own way. We discover our biases, our blind spots, and our whining, demanding, angry and frightened child within us.

These are all voices within us. Can we patiently listen to each voice? Are we willing to be a caring, compassionate witness who doesn’t try to fix?

Through this process we begin to realize that nothing needs to be fixed. Reality can be trusted. And it has a lot more humor than we do.

A quote attributed to Voltaire says: “God is like a comedian playing to a house that won’t laugh.”

There is much to chuckle about when we honestly listen to our self-created dramas. We are creative. And we are the ones who have the power to let go.

It’s up to us when we will stop defending ourselves and give up the idea that we really know what is best and what needs to happen.

Let’s have a little humility. Universal Energy (or whatever we call God) has gotten us this far. We couldn’t have done it alone.
What’s not to trust?

In awe,
Rev. Billie

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