The seeker's way blog

So much life

I'm sitting in an Einstein Bagel shop that happens to be connected to a Starbucks (this is truly where heaven and earth converge).

There's so much life here; from the people laughing, talking, reading, eating, thinking, considering what to do with their day, and/or reflecting on yesterday. Who knows.

Life throbs, flows, beckons, cajoles, hides and invites us deeper into this moment. I'm sitting on a chair that someone made (even if it was on assembly line). I'm drinking from a cup that has touched other hands before mine, hands that are important and signiciant. It's a cup that was created from the raw materials of the earth--an example of the Mystery and humankind collaborating. The design and the music calls me to appreciate, to smell, to see, to wonder, to be present.

So much life here.

Or, maybe we're just all drinking coffee.

the choice is mine--which will I see?

missing the present moment

I just posted a new posdcast. You can download it on iTunes by typing in my name "Dave Fleming" ---up will come my two podcasts. I'm not sure why the seeker's way got an explicit rating. Does anyone know how to change it?

you can also get to the podcast by going to www.theseekersway.libsyn.com

peace,

Beliefs that change (your thoughts)

I'm curious, as we think about beliefs--how they change and what the role of beliefs are, what beliefs have changed in your life? What was the process like as the beliefs were reshaped?

any takers?

Beliefs are not the point

We all have beliefs.

From religious or spiritual convictions to our belief in our children or our favorite sports team. Beliefs certainly do have a place in our lives; however beliefs are easily misused when they become all consuming or all important.

The value of beliefs increases when we view beliefs as doorways into discovery, rather than as barricades that end the search. A belief, if you will, opens a door that allows us to explore the mysteries and treasures beyond that door. In other words, the door has a role, but it is not the point.

Belief is not the point but the portal.

Consider these metaphors:

• Beliefs are like wormholes (beliefs open to other worlds)
• Shoots and Ladders

Think of the childhood game “Shoots And Ladders.” When you land on certain spaces (beliefs) you are then able to slide on to an entirely new place. This is a good view of beliefs. When we land on the space of a belief, we were not necessarily meant to live on that space our entire lives. Rather, the belief gives us the ability to (slide) move deeper (or even) beyond it.

• Booster rockets on the space shuttle (beliefs provide fuel to go somewhere, but the belief is not the “somewhere.”)

Again, beliefs are not the “end” but a “means” to explore.

The part of belief that is like the wormhole, the door, the space on Shoots and Ladders, or the booster rocket, is the part we’ll call a concept.

Concepts and conceptual beliefs (ideas I hold to) are important because they move me along—help me go somewhere in life. However, conceptual beliefs and ideas ARE NOT THE POINT. When ideas become the point, we can easily make our ideas godlike. And, ideas make bad gods.

Concepts (beliefs) boost me forward, but often lose energy as I grow. In other words, conceptual beliefs only have a certain shelf life. That is, unless I get stuck on a certain concept.

Example: When I was five, I thought God lived in my physical heart. Was that a “bad” belief? Not necessarily. It kept my curiosity for God alive. Do I still believe that? No, not unless we’re talking about quantum physics. ☺

Concepts come and go—but belief is more than concepts. Belief is a the exploration or mystery and life itself.

Stay tuned for more on this…

Conceiving Life

In the podcast for this week.... you can listen to it here, I explored this idea:

    We dull our lives by the way we conceive them.

This quote, from James Hillman's book, The Soul's Code, holds a tremendous insight for us. The way I view my life will determine how I live and move in the world. If I conceive my life as a series of tasks to be accomplished with death as the final task, that view may not generate much passion and energy for life. However, if I view my life as a mythical character who is living out a grand an important mission, it could change the very texture of my meaning and reality.

To conceive your greatness will change how you live and what you express in the world. I'm not talking here, when I use the word greatness, about ego inflation or pride. I'm talking about the divine spark in you that is waiting to be expressed. When we view our lives as robotic or one-dimensional, the spark cannot catch flame.

Aspiration: O divine mystery, today may I experience and express my greatness in ways that serve the world around me.

the seeker's way podcast

I'm now podcasting about the seeker's way. You can hear the podcast at:

www.theseekersway.libsyn.com

The podcast will soon be on iTunes and you will be able to subscribe to it from there.

Dave

Activate your intention

There is a vast ocean of potential below the surface of daily perception and activity. Though below the surface, it is connected and animates the surface of life Can you see? Can you feel the vibrations of an energy that rise out of this ocean and become your experience?

If you attend to this energy it will attend to you. The great seers, throughout history, have spoken in unison on this: pay attention to life, to the vast potential of life, and it becomes an ally. This unseen world awaits you--it beckons you to manifest it in compassionate and loving ways. It begins when you attend and then intend your mind and your creative essence toward this vast ocean.

In any given moment, millions of possibilities await you. Which will attract your attention? Which will attract your energy? Which will you manifest?

Quantum physics has revealed the power of intention. As we gently attend and intend to this potential, it becomes the raw materials of creation. We participate in this creative process and manifest a what was only possibility.

The choice is here for you today: create your day, manifest possibility, and you will change the world within you and around you.

Sacrcity and selfishness are related

I'm reading Eckhart Tolle's new book, A New Earth.

The book, in my estimation, is worth the price just for one particular idea found a little over halfway through.

In a section on abundance he wrote,

    "Whatever you think the world is withholding from you, you are withholding from the world. You are withholding it because deep down you think you are small and that you have nothing to give."
                                                                                                                                                            p. 190

This is similar to Gandhi's idea: "Become the change you desire to see in the world."

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The spaces in my life where I have scarcity, sure enough, are related to the areas where I'm not sharing--sharing the very dynamic I believe to be missing from my own life. Life does seem to respond to me the way I respond to it. If I share, life shares. If I hoard, life dries up. The karma, the sowing and reaping, here is startling but real.

Of course, I must also move as far away as possible from the mentality that thinks, "OK, I did something to bring what I'm missing into the world, now where's my reward for doing so." This may be more of a trap then total selfishness, because the good I did is attached to a very specific "something" I want.

What if we could give without worrying about how it will be returned. It will be returned, no doubt. But, how wonderful to be free from demanding it be returned a certain way by a certain time.

so... today give what you believe you are missing.

Dave

the good and dark side of expectation

In the Christian tradition, Advent is a time of expectation. Yet, expectation has a dark side as well. One that can thwart spiritual progress.

The good side of expectation is that it energizes our eyes to look for life and anticipate (and cooperate) with its emergence. To co-create with life, with the Divine, as it emerges. Expectation engages our whole being in the pursuit of life and love.

The dark side of expectation leads to excessive and unhealthy manipulation and control. When we turn expectation into expectationS than we are in danger of controlling outcomes and thwarting the very life we long to experience. The more expectations I lay onto the present moment, the more unlikely I am to experience the richness of that moment. My expectations have created a "must" that ends pliability, vision and receptivity.

As it says in the Bhagavad Gita

It is not those who lack energy or refrain from action, but those who work without expectation of reward who attain the goal of meditation. Theirs is true renunciation.

Therefore, Arjuna, you should understand that renunciation and performance of selfless service are the same. Those who cannot renounce attachment to the results of their work are far from the path.

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With meditation, as with all of life, the more expectations I place on the process, the less I experience the moment.

As we practice expectation, may it be free-er from expectations that taint the energy of anticipation.

dave

Talk about missing the point

This time of year is a reminder of the rhythm of life. This ridiculous fight about Christmas (or lack of it) in our society only further pushes us from understanding the cycle of this time of the year. A time that calls us to listen, anticipate, wonder and share. Instead, we fight, we gather lawyers and posture our arguments. People on both sides of the "debate" are acting like pre-adolescent children fighting over a swing on the playground. And, the media loves it.

Right wing Christians are so "panic-ed" by any human being that doesn't agree with them, that they have to assert an authority they don't possess. The left wing "enlightened" liberal is so anal about not allowing anything spiritual into the social spaces of our country that they look a lot like the right wing Christians they bemoan.

Both miss the point.

The very spirit Christians say they're protecting isn't evident in their own discourse and the liberal who is uptight about Christmas needs a good shot of "spirit."

The rhythm of this time of year reminds us to practice virtues we so easily forget:

Joy
Giving
Compassion
Awareness
Cheer
Anticipation
On I could go....

Instead, we fight over language, trees, and "wording."

we're missing the point...