Choose wisely

It occurred to me last night at a meeting, topic was acceptance, that given we are spiritual beings having a temporary human experience, we are to some degree two separate beings. Thus, we can behave in one of two ways, one from our human side which is our default position, or from our spiritual side which, for me, is much harder to do and is what the program teaches me. When difficult times confront us, I naturally try to deal with matters from my human side and ego gets in the way. If on the other hand, I can switch gears to my spiritual self, I  can accept the situation, be loving and kind towards all, forgive, harbor no resentments, do not judge others, etc. it’s like going off-road with my Jeep when the going gets tough so I put it in 4 wheel drive! If I learn how to live, or behave, as a spiritual being and set my ego (and humanness) aside I can handle difficult circumstances much better.

~ Clardy S.

On memory & the present

 Lately, when going through letters from many years ago, I was astonished what I seemed to have completely forgotten. And, I wondered whether I then had been aware of how I had been wanted and loved. Also, I was surprised how open and witty my former girlfriends had been. No wonder had I loved them!

As mysteriously as memory works, equally mysteriously is that I can only be in the present for all I am experiencing is happening right now. Most of my life I believed it almost impossible to be in the present. The moment was fleeting, the mind always anticipating what was to come. 

Yet all of a sudden, I seemed to see Einstein's saying – The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking – in a new light: Could it be that there is only the present and that the inventions of the mind (past, present, future), as useful as they might be for organising our daily lives, stand in the way of experiencing life as it is? 

It goes without saying that experiencing life as it is neither means that this feels good nor bad; it means that it feels incomprehensible, disturbing, and confusing. It seems best to not try to figure it out.

Whenever I put myself in a state of mind  that says: "This, right now, this is your life", I do realise and feel, for a moment or so, that it all feels strange, unreal and not to be grasped let alone understood –  but experienced. Differently put: What feels unreal is real.

Sargans, 27 September 2021