Letting God Decide

You're trying to achieve something difficult. You give it your best shot, from planning through execution. But there comes a point where you can do no more. At this point we may say "let God decide". Provided you've given your best efforts this is no abdication of responsibility.
If your most desired outcome is the one that best fulfills your life purpose then it will happen. If it doesn't then you have no regrets, 'coz you did everything you could and God's decision was not this time.

Letting God decide can also work when faced with a difficult choice between different but equally attractive options. Give each the chance to develop. You may find that one path opens up while the other(s) close down, or the right choice becomes clearer in your mind. God has decided.

But letting God decide is no excuse for laziness or timidity. The gift of life is a precious one. We come with a particular purpose and the responsibility to pursue it as best we can. God doesn't help those that don't help themselves. Sitting back and waiting for an opportunity almost certainly guarantees it will never come.

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Soul Mate, Soul Group

The term soul mate is commonly used to describe one's perfect partner. Someone who is so uniquely right for us that it seems like we've known each other for eternity and agreed to meet on earth to share the experience of this life.

Each of us originates from the one great Spirit (aka God). We become individuated from the whole in order to incarnate and acquire experiential growth. But individuation is a process of many phases. Before we become truly individual we are first part of a distinct soul group. This group consists of many individuals and is kind of like our Spiritual family.

Before we agree to incarnate we already choose our purpose for that particular journey. We also make agreements with other members of our soul group who will incarnate at the same time on how we shall meet and interact. Not everyone we meet in this life is a member of our soul group, but it's a fair bet that those who play the most significant parts in our lives are.

That's not to say our fellow soul group members will be those most kind and helpful. Often we pre-agree to cause each other the most problems, because it is in adversity that we learn and grow most.

But of course, sometimes we do agree to help each other and share the journey as one. And this is what is meant by a soul mate.

Not everyone is blessed to have a soul mate in every incarnation, sometimes the lesson must be learned alone, sometimes our free will ensures we don't get together with our destined partner. But when we do we will surely know it, and should definitely appreciate having one so close to share our patheway with.

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The Paralysis of Fear

It is said that a rabbit caught in a car's headlights freezes with fear. Though it has time to move left or right its fear paralyzes it, freezing it in the danger zone. Aren't we all a bit like that rabbit?

Fear is natural and healthy. It should serve a useful purpose. It should trigger the fight or flight response, ie it should spur us into taking some appropriate action as a result of our fear.

But too often fear is our enemy. It blurs our thinking and prevents us from doing what we should.

We hear our job is being made redundant and become obsessed with thoughts of poverty. We develop and ache or pain and imagine it's some fatal condition.....

Instead we need to accept the situation that's causing us fear, analyze it, and do something about it.

If our job is made redundant, that's an opportunity to find a new job, meet new people, learn new skills etc. Perhaps a chance to re-train, or try self-employment. Perhaps we shall discover avenues we never knew existed. If we have an unsual ache or pain, get it checked. That way we find out what it is and most likely get it cured.

Fear should be like a warning bell that spurs us to action, not a dark cloud that destroys our ability to function.

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The problem of attachment

Speaking at Harvard University in 1988 the Dalai Lama said "Attachment is the origin, the root of suffering; hence it is the cause of suffering."

Attachment is what happens when we reach a situation that feels (relatively) comfortable. Life is basically hard, so when we find ourselves in a state when that hardship seems minimal we naturally want that state to continue.

The problem is that we're not born into this world to find eternal comfort, we come here to learn. If we can find happiness along the way, that's great. But if we try to hold onto it we are blocking our future progress.

The nature of existence is change. If change ceased to happen there would be no point in existence. Until we are able to let go we are doomed to misery and stagnation.

It may seem nice to hold on to what we have in the transience of the moment, but ultimately the gratifications of now are utterly meaningless aside from the lessons they may teach.

In the words of Kris Kristofferson's beautiful song, "Let's just be glad we had some time to spend together." Or as Tennyson put it, "'Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."

As one door closes, another opens. Let's enjoy the moment while it's here. But when its time comes to pass let's let it go gracefully, with gladness that we experienced it, and with an open heart and mind to receive the next stage of our adventure.

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Dangerous emotion

Human beings are endowed with the faculty of emotion. It is what makes us human. How we look down upon the person that seems to have no feeling.

But emotion can also weaken us. It competes with both our intellect (or reason) and our intuition.

Intellect stems from our logical capacity, it kicks in when we weigh up our options, rationally evaluating the pros and cons of each.

Intuition comes directly from our Spiritual side. It's (probably) our most valuable faculty as it bypasses artificial earthly concerns and reaches into the true essence of matters.

Emotion tends to get in the way, because it is concerned with momentary gratification while ignoring our true purpose.

The problem is that emotion and intuition both appear as feelings from within, so how can we distiguish the one from the other? Emotion is always geared to providing short-term comfort. As long as it's OK today never mind tomorrow. Intuition may seem irrational, even contrary to logical thought. Intuition is concerned with the big picture, not the ultimately irrelevant detail.

Emotion is a powerful thing that will seek to dominate all that you do. Don't let it. Be aware when it starts to drive things and take back control.

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What Will Be

Remember the song "que sera, sera, whatever will be, will be?" Its lyrics, and sentment, have stuck in my mind since I first heard it in childhood.

It would be a mistake to interpret the song as referring to a blind fate or random chance that governs our destiny. We all know without instinctively that we have free will. What it does mean is that we are subjected to fate like the winds affect the course of a sailing ship, even though a human agency is attempting to steer the ship.

We should attempt to set a course, ie decide what's improtant in life. We should then try to fulfill that course to the best of our ability. For if we don't try we have little chance of success, and any success that happens to arise from pure luck is ultimately of little satisfaction.

But once we've set our course, made our goals and plans, and done our best to realize them, then there is little point wasting energy worrying. Fate will ultimately decide the outcome. But fate is not blind. Though it may be difficult to impossible to understand at the time, there is always purpose in what happens.

So try your best, and allow what will be to be.

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Zen - Lessons for Life

Recently I was out on a dark, windy, rainy day, feeling pretty down and noticing the misery on the faces of those around. I happened to see a cat crossing the street and reflected that the cat didn't waste its energy on depression, nor for that matter elation. It just got on with its job of the moment, ie being a cat.

I was reminded of the merits of Zen, an ancient Spiritual philosophy, still much studied and valued today. Zen decries excessive theorization in favor of direct experience. DT Suzuki's "Zen and Japanese Culture" describes two key ways in which Zen influenced the Japanese Samurai warriors. Firstly, it "teaches us not to look back once a course has been decided on", and secondly "it treats life anddeath indifferenly".

Doesn't Zen, along with this paradoxically brutal but honorable warrior class, have much to teach us today?

Find out more about Zen

What is Zen?

Books

An Introduction to Zen Buddhism, D.T. Suzuki
Peace Is Every Step: The Path of Mindfulness in Everyday Life, Thich Nhat Hanh
The Miracle of Mindfulness, Thich Nhat
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, Shunryu Suzuki
Zen And the Art of Happiness, Chris Prentiss
The Way of Zen, Alan W. Watts

Not strictly about Zen, but undoubtedly a modern classic
Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values, Robert M. Pirsig

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Serendipity

Serendipity is the art of finding good fortune by accident. For example, you're on your way to a planned destination but make a wrong turning. Along the unplanned route you discover an excellent restaurant that you will frequent again and again.

Serendipity has played a major role in human invention, perhaps most notably in the discovery of penicillin. This powerful antibiotic was discovered when Alexander Fleming forgot to clean his culture dishes and noticed something which prevented bacteria from growing.

But serendipity isn't just luck, it's a faculty that can be cultivated.

Firstly, we need to allow room for the accidental by moving outside the habit of routine. Switch the auto-pilot off sometimes, take a different route to work, read a different newspaper, get your shopping in a different store, whatever...

Secondly, we have to actually be open to the "chance" discovery. Just as Fleming didn't simply wash his dirty culture dishes, so we need to be aware when something fortuitous raises its head.

If we're always cautious and never take risks, we won't have many accidents, but equally we're never likely to find the golden nugget that lies just off the beaten track.

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What is Healing?

Healing plays an important role in Spiritualism and the whole "New Age" movement in general. But what exactly is healing and why is it so important?

The classic image of healing is that of the healer placing his hands on the subject/patient and somehow channelling forces from beyond in order to alleviate their physical ailments. And indeed in many cases such healing has been shown to have remarkable results, whether through some form of positive energy being transmitted to the patient or the promotion of a positive attitude. Most likely a bit of both.

But relieving the bodily aches and pains of sufferers is only part of the story, though admittedly a significant one. As we look around the world we see hatred, violence and injustice a-plenty. It is in these areas too that healing is desparately needed to make the earthly experience of so many that little more pleasant and productive.

Healing isn't only the hands-on stuff, though long may that continue to bring comfort. It can take many forms, sending out thoughts (prayers), doing our little bit for others, serving as a model to others, or even simply offering a smile. All of these things are healing, and healing is something we should all be doing to whatever extent we are able.

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Enjoy the Moment

How often when we're having fun do we spoil it for ourselves by becoming aware that the moment cannot last? Or set ourselves up for disappointment by deluding ourselves the moment will last forever only to find it doesn't.

Everything is transient. Experience. Life. Even the planet we live on and the cosmos it exists in.

Is this reason to be permanently depressed? Of course not. The nature of existence is change. That is why the moment cannot last.

That doesn't mean you can't enjoy the moment. Savor it, milk it to the full. But in the realization that by nature it is fleeting and like all things shall in its time pass away.

Even our very essence shall one day cease to exist as a distinct entity. Not when our fragile body ceases to function, for what's within continues beyond that. But when we are eventually absorbed back into the great oneness or wholeness from which we originated. The moment that Buddhists call enlightenment.

Appreciate what you have, do not resent what you have not.

Learn to enjoy each moment. Not through the distorted notion of being able to possess it, but simply for what it is. Live it, enjoy it, and let it go. And be enriched for having the privilege of the experience.

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