Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Living Within Spirit

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD:
 
7 - LIVING WITHIN SPIRIT

Regardless of our spiritual faith and religious beliefs, “being spiritual” ultimately requires us to live spiritually.  Regardless of how we conceptualize “God,” or “the Universe,” living spiritually ultimately requires us to think, speak, and act from a perspective greater than just our self.  Greater than the individual.  Greater than the normal human experience.  Letting go of being the all-important center of everything.
 
But how do we transform “living spiritually” from just words, an ideal, a goal, into an everyday way of truly being?  A being such that living spiritually does not just happen in special moments set aside for that purpose (e.g. weekly church or temple), but infuses in some manner everything we think/say/do.  Such that the line of separation between secular life and spiritual life blurs to become virtually indistinguishable, without separation.
 
It is not about continually screaming our spirituality at the top of our lungs for all within earshot to hear.  It is the opposite: a secure quietness that knows one’s spirituality in one’s own heart; there is no need for speech-making.  It is in the doing itself; there is no need for recognition and approbation for that doing.
 
Living spiritually means knowing and accepting many things.  It means “God” – whether “Spirit, Universe, Allah, Nature, Tao” or any other of the many names we may use or forms we may envision – is a constant and interactive presence in our life.
 
It means understanding that we are here in human form and existence to fulfill a mutual understanding we have with God for this life.  That we will live our life within the framework of God’s thinking and expectations.  That though we have “free will” to make our own choices about our actions, we always choose to make our thoughts and actions consistent with God’s thoughts and actions.
 
It means acknowledging that the outcome of our life is not solely the result of our own singular activity, but the collective actions of many brought to bear on our life.  That all that comes into our life reflects both the actions of others fulfilling their own life’s agreement with God, as well as God’s use of them for our greater benefit.  That remaining humble towards the limitations of our accomplishments is as important as celebrating the achievement of our accomplishments.
 
It means God, and Life, can be trusted, so we do not live intimidated by fear.  That God will provide what we need, which may or may not be what we perceive is needed; when we need it, which may or may not fit our timeline; in the form we truly need, which may or may not be the form we desire.  That we therefore give God time and space to contribute God’s part of what happens to us.
 
It means we have faith that all that happens to us carries a benefit inside of it, even if that benefit is not always obvious or disclosed at the time.  That we trust that – IF we are living within God –  regardless of the short-term effect, all things will be right for our highest good in the long-term.
 
It means when we are truly connected with God, then what we are doing now is exactly what we are supposed to be doing in this moment.
 
It means God honors us as we honor God.  That God and I are spiritually One.  Living spiritually means living as that One.
 
©  2015   Randy Bell                www.OurSpiritualWay.blogspot.com

Sunday, May 3, 2015

God And I Are One

OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD:
 
6 - GOD AND I ARE ONE

Have you ever watched a devoted couple speak such that either can complementarily complete the sentences of the other?  Where one can seemingly read the thoughts of the other?  Have you ever worked for a boss so closely, in such lockstep, on such a shared wavelength of goals and purpose, that other employees or customers readily accept your word as though coming directly from your boss (“my right-hand assistant”)?  Have you ever been part of a group, working on a shared endeavor, in which everyone worked in perfect synchronicity, each knowing what needed to be done and effortlessly moving together toward perfect completion – “the team” transcending the individual?

In each of these scenarios, each person is operating at a level far different from his/her normal functioning.  In tune.  Connected.  Multiple individuals extending and merging into one greater whole.  As all of the thousands of individual parts come together to create the single thing we call an automobile.  The many both separate and distinct now unified into one greater whole.

So it is with God.  Jesus famously said, “I and the Father are One.”  (John 10:30)  For many in the Christian faith, these words led to the idea of the Trinity: an attempt to clarify the relationship among God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  Three distinct entities, three separate roles, each equal to the other, all combined into – yet individual manifestations of – One.  This Trinitarian belief became central to the early Catholic faith, adopted as official Church dogma in the 4th Century CE.  A belief that later became a key litmus test of religious fidelity (and a basis for declaring one a heretic and invoking the persecution thereof).

Continuing into some later Protestant religions, “the Trinity” to this day gives explanation and comfort to many, anchoring their religious faith and understanding.  For non-Christian religions, some non-Trinitarian Christian denominations, and for some individuals, it brings more confusion than understanding, a discomfort with the concept and where its implications lead.  For these, is there an alternative way that Jesus’ words might be understood?

Perhaps by recognizing that the human being Jesus was One with God in a spiritual unification.  One in the melding of thinking, feeling, words and actions.  One in the understanding of the Universe and its higher workings and unique forms.  One whose vision was universal, seeing the big picture of Life and Humanity.  One who knows no separation from other beings, or from life that exists in any other forms.  One who knows their human Self, but is willing – and desirous – to lose that Self in spiritual union with God.  And so “The Father is in me, and I in the Father.”  (John 10:38)

As Jesus was in God, God was in Jesus.  A partnership going both ways, not in Being, but in Spirit.  A non-Trinitarian Jesus shows us that such a union with God is not reserved only to god-forms, but to human beings themselves.  Such union is available to each of us if we so desire it, if that desire is willing to sacrifice our ego of separation to our spirit of unification.  It is a desire we all have within us, but a desire to which few are willing to fully open and commit themselves.

And so my personal daily mantra: “God and I are One.  In all that I Think.  In all that I Say.  In all that I Do.”  Said over and over again, I remind myself of my true spiritual being, my true spiritual path.  These moments of divine sharing give peace and quiet confidence to life.  All in One.  God and I Are One.  Not God, but As God.  In perfect, unified Spirit.

©  2015   Randy Bell                            www.OurSpiritualWay.blogspot.com