"Too Good to be True...?"

Y'know, it sounds almost too good to be true ... it sounds implausible ... it sounds like an affront to our rational minds.

We like complexities ... we enjoy conquering them, and congratulating ourselves on our cleverness ... and so that which is simple tends to offend us.

"Childishness!" we retort in our minds.

And yet, did Jesus not say that we enter the Kingdom as a child ...? And how IS a child? Inquisitive, curious, insatiabally hungry, free-from-mind-games, unencumbered by "logic," impulsive, guileless, trusting, receptive, open.

So, here's the simple, offensive-to-my-clever-mind notion that is dawning on me:

If we allow a shift in our understanding about God, it will bring about the ability to see life from a different perspective ... we will then see ourselves in a different way, and this will, as a result, bring about different results in our life-experiences.

Seeing God differently ---> seeing ourselves differently ---> experiencing life differently.

(Unless, of course, you're content with how it's been working for you, thus far...!)

I've heard, over and over, ad nauseam (& it does now incite nausea in me) "Well, we just can't know God - His ways are higher than ours, He's beyond comprehension ... we have to go by faith ... we're not *supposed* to know."

Oh really?

"It is given unto you to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God..." (Mt 13:11 -- that entire passage is well worth reading, with the Spirit)

What if we let God define Himself, and expose Himself, to us ... as He IS, rather than as we've been taught by other groping-in-the-dark humans?

What if we could then come to expect goodness to dominate in our lives, rather than conflict and lack? What if peace and serenity could become our natural state of being, rather than confusion and stress?

It seems that if we have the mistaken notion that we have to "make life work" we will experience inordinate stress and turmoil ... but if we see that there is a divine order continuously in operation in the universe (and within us!), then we need to only align with that reality, and allow it to manifest. If a thought appears in our heart, it will appear in our experiential reality.

HOW we see God is so very crucial -- but only for everything. ;)

Let's look at what scripture says about this ...

2 Samuel 22 -

"With the merciful, You will show yourself merciful, and with the upright you will show yourself upright. With the pure You will show Yourself pure. But with the judgmental and hardness of men's hearts, You will show Yourself unyielding."

Here we have One God, "appearing" as different entities -- dependent on what's in the heart of the observer...! We see only what we can see, depending on our current understanding... and that understanding is largely based on what other limited human beings have taught us. Why have we not gone to the Source? Why do we rely upon the ignorance of others?

If we are experiencing life according to our understanding, then it's critical that our understanding be corrected, to align with Truth. If I'm believing lies, and thus experience the results of those lies, how foolish for me to beg God to change the results...! Instead, my prayers can be for God to change my understanding -- and then the results will take care of themselves!

So - how to pray? Rather than wasting my time dictating to God, how *I* think He should fix whatever is going on (which my thinking, and collective mankind's thinking, has brought about in the first place!), I can pray that I will see only the Mind of God prevailing -- in any and every situation. For any and every person. For myself. We *have* the Mind of Christ ... why not use what we have?

It seems simplistic, perhaps (and thus an offense to our mind!), but it seems to me that every single challenge to mankind, ever "problem" we ever face, really comes down to this basic premise ... are we believing the Truth of the Mind of Christ, or are we believing the lies of our own egoic mind?

We can ask - "who said that?" We don't have to believe everything we think. We can question every single one of our thoughts, rather than blindly acting on them.

Are we not told to have our minds renewed? Are we not told to take every thought captive?

It seems to me that every negative situation we face, comes out of our belief that something other than God's eternal goodness is in operation. Thus, we are thinking of something OTHER than the goodness of God to be more powerful THAN God. Think on that.

Human life improves, and becomes Abundant Life, when our perspective of God improves.

It's that simple.

Religion, including Christianity, has taught us all manner of contradictions and fears ... as humans complicate simple truth. But we can go to our Source - to God - for

"As for you, the anointing which you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need for anyone to teach you; but as His anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you abide in Him." (1 Jn 2:27)

When I had the "safety and security" of religion ripped out from underneath me, and I was floundering, seemingly foundation-less, I had no choice but to throw myself on God -- to tell Him that I didn't really know Him, had only known of Him, through others ... that I needed to know Him, to understand Him, to experience Him, and to be led by Him. I needed Him to "start me over" ... to show me what's of man, and what's of God ... I could not settle for less than His Truth. This prayer was spontaneous -- no one taught it to me, no one led me, it came out of my depths ... like a hunger I couldn't deny.

Since then (this was just over five years ago), I have found uncanny and startling answers to my questions ... I have been led in quite non-traditional ways, that even come against the traditions of man ... expose` after expose` has unfolded in front of me, unsettling me, and yet compelling me forward. At every turn, God has *been there* to confirm the revelations and understandings with signs, affirmations, confirmations, and "proofs" that I could not have manufactured. He has been utterly lavish in His assurances! Above and beyond what I them thought I "deserved" for my many doubts (I now know that He was putting those doubts within me, so that I could question the traditions of man, so that they would fall to the ground and die, so that real Life could emerge from out of the ashes).

In this process of re-knowing, we will indeed be continuously challenged about that which we've previously learned. We will experience a conflict and struggle in this process ... we will feel pain (as the old dies, it hurts). Even while the Spirit is revealing His Truth, our old thoughts will fight to remain alive, and in operation in our minds.

But, with time and repetition, this transformation process becomes easier ... as it becomes familiar. We can learn to trust the process, and we can learn to see the Spirit operating IN the process.

Five years ago, I had to start with "I don't know what I know". It felt like a place of utter horror and extreme vulnerability, but I now know it was a place of raw humility. God unraveled and dismantled the carefully-woven-yet-confused-and-contrived fabric of my system of belief ... even directly dealing with the fear I had, that sought to keep that system in check! I had feared that in letting go of what I thought I knew (what I had been taught to believe), I was bringing the wrath of God upon myself. But then He showed me that this fear was the *very* thing He wanted to remove from my mind, as it was getting in the way of me seeing Him as He IS...! I honestly used to believe that there's a "special hell" for those who think of God as "too loving." How absurd that seems to me now that I've come to experience the love-heart of God!

I came to trust that He was leading my quest, that He was suggesting the questions, that He was drawing me to scrutinize what I believed. I trusted that He knew that I was coming to Him for Truth -- not for some personal gain, but to KNOW Him as He is. I trusted that this God who had created my body to filter and remove toxins, could also allow my mind to filter and remove erroneous beliefs in my thinking (for I have the Mind of Christ). The physical always reveals a deeper spiritual truth ...

I came to trust Him to do what He promised He'd do: to lead me into all truth.

It's a process ... and at times it seems excruciatingly slow, as there's much within me to dismantle. I've built "high places" of erroneous thinking, and I'm influenced by the erroneous collective consciousness of historic and contemporary humanity as well.

It is absolutely *critical* for us to know God as He is, and to understand how we are made in His image and likeness. There is NOTHING more important to study and understand ... to know and experience. There will be nothing more challenging to study, and yet nothing more rewarding to take on.

THIS is indeed the final frontier ... moving from darkness to Light, from lies to Truth. From ego to God.

Shalom, Dena

The Dance...!

Can't *not* share this one!

Last week I read "Jesus Unplugged" by Bert Gary -- he and are are seemingly on the same page in many ways, and I found his insights to be inordinately confirming of my own. I just adore this quote from his book:

Those who understand the Kingdom of Heaven know that it is here - among us, around us, and in us; those who see it are dancing, and those who do not are complaining about all the dancing.

Be-YOO-tiful...!

Yes, yes, yes!!! That describes both my own experience, and the reaction from those around me...!

And yet, I cannot help but to dance!

Shalom, Dena

"What Must I DO..?!?"

Jesus was asked, by the rich young ruler, "Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life." First, Jesus says that only God is good ... while not denying that He is good (therefore, He is God). Then, after going through the commandments (which the man claims he has kept throughout his life ... oh really...?), Jesus tells him there is one more thing he must "do" ... to sell all he has and give it to the poor. The man walks away, sad, unable to do that.

What if Jesus wasn't teaching that we have to *do* anything to enter the Kingdom, but that He was only meeting the man in the realm of his own doingness-understanding, and challenging him on it? Or do we seriously believe that rich folks cannot enter the kingdom? Or that we have to DO something, anything, to earn God's favor...? Wasn't the Law-experiment all about showing us that such an attempt was IMpossible? Isn't grace a message about beingness trumping doingness ...?

Why are we so hung up on requirement and achievement? I'd like to unpack that a bit:

If we do all the things we imagine we have to do, in order to make life work, in order to please God, something funny happens: we discover that none of it is necessary.

If we were to ask the happiest, most peaceful older folks we know, "what's your best advice on how to live life?" what might they say?

- "Disobey the rules."
- "Color outside the lines."
- "Don't be afraid."
- "Listen to your heart."
- "Don't let anyone tell you what to do"

(even as I type, I'm aware that the doctrine-of-requirement would tell me that I'm inciting rebellion...)

I'm beginning to believe that this is true: that at the end of my life, I will know that nothing I ever did mattered -- only who I have been while I have done it.

I also believe that this may be true: that no one has to do anything that they do not wish to do.

(as I type, I realize that for most folks this is both incredibly freeing, and incredibly frightening to contemplate...)

The fear goes like this, "If human beings were allowed to do only what they really desired to do, nothing that really needs to be done would get done." Most humans believe that if we aren't forced/coerced/manipulated/guilted/frightened into doing things, we wouldn't do what needs to be done to keep life going as it needs to go. Without the constraints and the restraints, we would run amok.

Quite a dire view of humanity, no?

But what if we discovered that human beings rise to the occasion? What if we discovered that in communities where there are no rules, no regulations, no requirements, there would still be plenty of people who would accomplish the things that need to be accomplished..?

What would it take for such a community to exist? What would need to change? What would change is not what's being done, but *why* it's being done. If we knew who we were ... how we are related to God, and to each other (rather than believing that we are separate from each other), we would choose to do what we do out of who we ARE. One. If we *really* knew that, we would love one another as we love ourselves. And that would be a radical departure from how we now live, under the belief of separation.

Within this belief of separation, we have imagined a God who demands perfection of us ... who requires that we approach Him in a certain way, with the required words, through required rituals. We believe that we must meet these requirements in order to appease this God, in order to win His approval, His love.

Having done that, ad nauseam, and discovering that it doesn't "work" ... we can begin to experience the indescribable joy of realizing that none of this is necessary...!

It begins to dawn on us that "rewards" can come to those who do not do what they're "supposed to do" (meet the requirements). The sun shines on all, the rain falls on all. Blessings can come to all. (Further, it really irks the snot out of those who "do all the right things" and experience "bad stuff" ... and yet perhaps it's only our perception, influenced by skewy judgment, that renders something "bad'... perhaps we need "eyes to see".)

Blessings are an outcome of life ... living in the blessing of a God who is, as His nature, Unconditional Love. So, too, we may come to realize, even while in this life, that the outcome of this life, what we call the after-life, is not a reward, but an outcome of the One who is Unconditional Love.

Perhaps then, if we can dare to grasp that, we will understand freedom ... for our true nature is freedom. Perhaps we will then no longer confuse love with requirement, for true love requires nothing.

True love requires nothing.

And in that understanding, we are truly free to choose to love God, and to love each other... fulfilling the Great Promise.

At least, that's how I'm seeing it these days ...

Shalom, Dena