Vol. 8 No. 6
BE PERFECT IN YOUR IMPERFECTION
Like so many spiritual undertakings, being perfect in your imperfection sounds contradictory but is not. If we think in the physical alone, then, yes, it is a contradictory statement. So, do what all the great teachers have taught and go beyond what you can see with your physical eyes, hear with your physical ears and feel with your physical hands. Go beyond into the realm of the spiritual and discover the truth of perfection.
The truth of perfection lies not in what we accomplish but in our effort. We have all been given free will. It makes no sense to be held accountable for what some other person has done out of their free will. Clearly, what we set out to accomplish may be derailed by someone else exercising their free will. You are not responsible if your friend receives a “D” in science unless you let him copy from your paper. Spiritually, it is no different. If we feel moved to reach out to someone and attempt to help them, we are not responsible if they turn away from our help. What we are responsible for is helping in the way which is most likely to sing to them and have a real effect in their spiritual journey. How do we know the proper approach, the right words, the right time? As always, the answer is to let the spirit flow through us. Become an instrument for the spirit to work here in this physical realm. That is why our physical bodies are important and we must care for them properly. They need to be ready and able to do what is asked.
We are never ordered to do something. On occasion the reality of what is coming is shielded from us to keep us from meddling or being frightened by seeing something before we have been properly prepared to do our part. This is radically different from being ordered. We are not ordered because we, too, have been given free will. We may choose to decline to do what has been asked of us. There is no punishment handed out as a result. The spirit simply moves to a new candidate and makes the request again. Why, then, should we do anything asked of us, for, many times, what is asked is difficult. Clearly, we accept the request out of a recognition that we are very blessed and want to be appreciative PLUS we have come to know that those difficult circumstances are beneficial to our spiritual growth and understanding.
We must also know when our assignment is over. For a more detailed discussion of when enough is enough, please refer to Sharing Vol. 8 No. 5.
Having accepted the assignment; resolving to do our best, out of appreciation and enlightened self-interest; and staying alert for the understanding of when we have completed our assignment, we have achieved true perfection. Living life rooted in the spirit instead of in the physical is so much more rewarding, we, as children of the light, try to continually shine so that others may join us in perfection. Sharing is what it is all about.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
The winter solstice celebration will be at Susan’s house on December 22 at 3:00 p.m. Remember, we will decorate a tree for the animals so bring your stuff.
THOUGHTS FROM TIL
Festival
In the trees of the square electric bulbs are hanging.
Workmen had hung them on the branches, all connected with thread.
When the evening came, a button was pushed somewhere.
And all at once the tiny mini-suns were radiating brightly.
For a moment disturbing the birds.
But they soon slept again.
Saw the event as a symbol.
When “pushing a button inside” –
Light and happiness are radiating from you.
But then – the birds start singing.
Dough
The flour, water and yeast are mixed.
Then the dough needs darkness, to rest and to rise.
After that is will go into the oven.
When it is cool – there will be bread!
I’ve insight into my problem.
Each is placed in a row.
When I digest them -
quietly they rest in the oven of Time.
When they are ready, they’ll be consumed.
Then, renewed, and fresh, I’ll continue my journey. December 15, 2002
Vol. 8 No. 5
WHEN IS IT ENOUGH?
In Chapter Forty-Six of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu tells us “…he who knows that enough is enough will always have enough”. Yes, this reflects great wisdom but gives us only the most meager pointers: “..no greater sin than desire .. no greater curse than discontent ...no greater misfortune than wanting something for oneself”. We, the readers, are left to apply this insight to our daily situations. We know when we have had enough to eat (usually), when we are wearing enough clothes, and when we have had enough sleep. Beyond that, the situation becomes much more murky. In our society many people believe that they need more money even though they have a home, food, clothing and transportation. It is our misfortune as human beings to tend to look at what others have and feel a lack rather than looking at what others do not have and feel blessed. Perhaps we have lost some of our assets to others (divorce, gambling, stock market, unre-paid loans, etc.). These things always tend to make us feel a loss. It is not true, but we have that feeling nonetheless. We forget that God will always provide what we need. This is, of course, not necessarily the same as what we want. Our wants are coloured by our beliefs and our human egos. Our needs are what we will require to do what God places before us.
In addition to physical things, we also need to be aware of our energies. When have we helped someone enough? Who is in charge of determining who and how much we should help? Obviously, the answer is God. As we move through life we have many opportunities to help others. Some of those are inappropriate objects of our help. When we help others out of duty or pity, we are placing ourselves above them and, in essence, saying that we do not believe they can take care of themselves and that WE who are wiser, smarter, stronger, and more resourceful, know what is best for them and will solve all their problems. In this case, enough is never reached. They, through their habitual neediness, or we, through our controlling egotism, never allow the cycle to stop. We become bound to each other in ways that are nearly impossible to untangle and we have no time or energy left to do God’s work.
On the other hand, when we help someone God puts in our path, often they are people whom we may never see again, people who have something to teach us, or people who can benefit spiritually from our presence. In this case, enough is left in the hands of God as our actions carry out his purposes. When you have completed your part of the “helping” you are allowed to move on to other services. There remain no spiritual ties to trip over or drag along with you. This is a far healthier approach to helping.
In the final analysis, finding the point where enough is enough is difficult because we as human beings are emotionally invested in much of what we do. Jesus told us to become “passers by”. Rid yourself of that emotional investment so you can better judge whether you are acting appropriately or inappropriately. Become a passer-by and know the freedom and joy of following the spirit rather than the misery of wallowing in the human. Practice allowing God to direct your path and provide for you.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
With many thanks to Oscar and Israel Hernandez and their family, we are enjoying our nifty new carpeting in the sanctuary and foyer. Additionally, the Grant to transform the bathroom for handicap access has arrived and the work will be started soon.
THOUGHTS FROM TIL
A SHORT WAY A CURL
Look at the sky. Next to suns and stars and planets -
Reflect it. You wrote me.
Sun or wind, A human.
clouds either hail – One of the millions.
Let it happen, without comments. You did not put a dot behind our names
Accepting what’s coming or leaving – So, we’re yet a part of You.
is leading straight to the Target You gave a pen to everybody.
It sounds so simple In principal we’re able to write – like You!
But the struggle with Ego makes it a hell. When children go to school to learn that art -
it’s scratching, spots and tears on the paper.
There I hope although,
Here and there, sometimes, a curl or a
beautiful line is to be seen.
Humanity – bravely exercise!
October 27, 2002
Vol. 8 No. 3
THE SCIENCE OF SPIRITUALITY
As humans we are adapted to an environment where everything has an opposite. We recognize this and call our environment “the dimension of the pairs of opposites”. It is easy to fall into a pattern of thinking that everything is black or white, good or bad, left or right, when reality is somewhere between the extremes. As a result, it is easiest, although not appropriate, for us to think of spirituality as opposite of science. It is a constant battle between those who wish to further one or the other. Remember the famous Scopes Monkey Trial where a school teacher was brought up on criminal charges for teaching the theory of evolution to his students. As ever, man was unable to resolve the conundrum. This is because we have misused the pairs of opposites.
Those humans who have sought to truly understand and develop spirituality have recognized that science is a great aid in the furtherance of one’s spiritual path. Rules are not needed. Rules have an uncomfortable way of becoming structured religious practice. Of course, religion is a barrier to a spiritual experience. So, how does science help our spirituality? By helping us guide ourselves through the process of learning how to exercise our spiritual selves properly while trapped in human bodies.
The best recent example of this was P. P. Quimby. Quimby was, by training, a clockmaker. Clearly, one whose focus would be how things work and how they work together. Yet, Quimby became one of the most highly regarded spiritual individuals of the modern era. He came to realize, through the scientific means of trial and error, that in the spiritual realm, as in the physical, actions have reactions. Through his constant efforts to go beyond, he has shown us that physical realm things are simply a physical manifestation of what has occurred in the spiritual. Our struggle as humans to fix or change things we consider “wrong” or people we consider “misguided” will be of little or no avail without the spiritual foundation. Putting the physical first is rather like pushing a string. For instance, if you have difficulty with another person, seeing them in your mind’s eye surrounded by unconditional love from God will change the way you relate to one another.
From remarkable people like Quimby, we, as less accomplished beings, can find suggestions and trail markers to help us with our journey. Do we want to become more like the person we were created to be? Do we want to live more spiritually oriented? Do we want to get closer to our personal God? Consider the advise of Lao Tsu in the 56th Chapter of the Tao Te Ching:
Keep your mouth closed.
Guard your senses.
Temper your sharpness.
Simplify your problems.
Mask your brightness.
Be at one with the dust of the earth.
This is primal union.
He who has achieved this state
Is unconcerned with friends and enemies,
With good and harm, with honor and disgrace.
This therefore is the highest state of man.
How each of us implements these guidelines depends on our own uniqueness as a human being, and the gifts which we have with which to manifest God through us.
THE MISSION
Recently we began to receive the non-resaleable clothes from the Domestic Violence Thrift Shop. People are currently cleaning out their closets and so we are getting sweaters, jackets and sweats, clothes which we will need come the cold weather. Last fall we were short on these items since we began operation in July. This year we will be able to help more folks in a better manner.
Don’t forget the summer solstice celebration at Susan’s house on Sunday, June 23, 2002, at 4 p.m.
THOUGHTS FROM TIL
TOO SIMPLE
Matter of fact, life is so simple.
Too simple to be understood.
On every day they’re throwing bags with adjectives.
Then, there are plenty of reasons to quarrel.
And that’s what they wish.
If they should recognize the earth to be their mother,
and care for her inhabitants as for themselves –
Nothing would be left to worry or to fight.
What should the earth look like then?!
Human behaviour makes our Mother sad and angry lately.
She slaps us round the ears with troubles and disasters.
Mother, give us insight, let us feel,
how unbelieveable great Your simpleness is!
TWO WORLDS
Trees are growing along the highway.
Huge, old giants.
Autumn coloured their leaves into gradiations of gold and yellow.
Here and there a rest of green.
Some leaves are fluttering down so softly.
Without a sound they’re playing their game in the air, . .
Pretending to be butterflies?
Waiting for the bus, I’m enjoying the beauty.
Cars are racing by.
When the traffic light is red – they stop.
A driver sometimes glances at the trees.
But never with his whole attention.
For when the light jumps on green – he has to drive.
The game of falling leaves and the racing of the cars –
How large is the distance between those worlds?
June 16, 2002
Vol. 6 No. 3
THE LAWS OF THE SPIRIT ON EARTH
The following are the basic building blocks for a spiritual foundation. All things spiritual are built upon them and checked against them. They can be used as guidelines to gauge how you are doing and where you are standing. Be especially mindful of number ten.
1. All are One and One is all.
2. Earth is our closest brother, listen to it and it will not lead you astray.
3. God’s breath flows throughout the world.
4. The eyes of your heart can see God if they choose.
5. Choose the journey to nothingness and there you will find all things.
6. Enter into God through the gate of the unseen and your feet will not stumble.
7. The light that shines through all things does not lose its way in the darkness.
8. Life is God and God is life.
9. Death comes from within if you live there.
10. There is much treasure beneath the surface of all things, God has made nothing as it seems.
11. If you seek to be attached to all things, you will have none.
12. If you see to be one with all things you will have all.
. . .So that it may be.
Apocrotes
MESSAGES
Trying to be like someone else, even a good model, only results in your becoming a carbon copy. Everybody wants you to send in the original.
Spiritual gifts can be polished and honed’ they cannot be seeded and grown.
THOUGHTS FROM TIL
TAO
Tao is not to be found in the North.
As less in the South.
It hasn’t a place, where it dwells.
But still . .
All what we hear . . .
All what we see . . .
All what we small . . .
All what we touch . . .
THAT is Tao.
Once it was said:
“The one who speaks about Tao, does not know Tao.
The one who knows Tao, doesn’t speak of It”.
The one who thinks of Tao . .
discovers, not a thousand thoughts can reach It.
But living one’s days in trust of Tao,
finds himself in the Heart of Tao.
THE TARGET
As long as understanding is the target –
Our grasping is in vain.
Not whatever mind is able to include,
all, what’s in “the vessel”.
When surrendering to life –
it’s streaming through us fluently.
Questions are solved in “to Be”.
Cold or hot – large either small –
It’s “to Be”, that exists.
How could the mind be still so stupid to imagine to be God?!
Only in Universal Love, we are identical.
REMINDER; ; THE SUMMER SOLSTICE CELEBRATION WILL BE ON JUNE 18TH.
June 11, 2000
Vol. 6 No. 2
JUDGING
The minute people are presented to us, we start to put them in categories by ancestry, hometown, nationality, gender, job, etc. Searching for knowledge is good, but categorizing is not. A wise person receives as he is given and does not run ahead and try to figure out why they are there or how they should work. A wise person is quiet, watchful, and does not make hasty conclusions. A wise person does not try to explain all things because many are unexplainable. A wise person accepts that things simply are and goes forward from that point.
Our roots are important but sometimes people get so caught up in their source that it is like living their whole life with their head in the ground looking for where the gift came from, and they never experience the beauty of the gift. It is much greater wisdom to stand in the present than it is to speculate on the future or grasp the past, for you may turn and see where you have been and you may turn and try to see where you are going; but the Truth is in today’s experience.
People speak of “the moment of truth”. It has been mistakenly applied to many situations. Each moment holds its own truth, if we are willing to receive it. When we search other directions, we will be empty-handed. Each moment is a gift. We can choose whether to unwrap it or pass it by; whether to take it out of the box and build upon it or throw it aside as trash; or we can choose to hold time still and not go forward, then we are trapped by the past. Only when we go with the current of life will we discover what truly living is. The joy of the moment is where ecstasy is found. Man has searched for that in many inappropriate ways. Instead of enjoying the simple pleasure and joys of life, men have searched for much grander things and always come up at a loss.
Contentment is choosing, moment by moment, to be one with that which surrounds you. Nature is very complex, but yet extremely simple to receive. From it come the keys to the true treasures of life. Nothing exists outside of God. All things are woven together in this tapestry to life. One thread is not more important than the other, nor less important. It is all one in its purpose and origin and its destiny.
When we are in the right balance and the right understanding, our lives can be a very beautiful thing. It is not due to what we see, but it is due to our attitude and what state we are in on the inside and our peace within ourselves.
This world searches for peace and happiness externally, but they are found within ourselves and within God, and the mesh between the two, because you cannot have one without the other. Once the partnership is firmly established, we are free to go forward and be as we are created to be and be one with God to the greatest extent of our beings, thus achieving our own, personal Holy Grail.
THOUGHTS FROM TIL
ALIKE
Throwing an A-Bomb and committing a simple act of compassion –
The source of both is alike.
Without energy not a breath can be breathed.
For mankind here the troubles arise.
Everything has to be labeled.
Either positive or negative.
A thing that can’t be named – that can’t exist!
That the characteristics can interchange is accepted,
but only as long as they are to be named.
Looking at the neutral source of all what exists –
might be a life-task to experience them all for what they really are?
FLOOR PRINT
The symbol of Yang – Yin –
Might that be the floor print of humanity?
If so – we’re all as well as black and as white!?
Extremes, but bound to build the circle.
When “white” is entering our daily life –
the doors are opened widely!
“Black” however . . .!
We hate it and try to escape!
But Fate is putting it on our plate in quantities so big –
we often break down.
Why do we judge?
Why do we label?
Resistance is in vain!
Why not accept and grow to be a spectator?!
Letting things go. . .
Then the extremes will solve into the circle,
then, only then, we’ll be free.
We’re longing for the moment urgently.
What is holding us back ???
April 16, 2000
Vol. 6 No. 1
TIMES PAST
True nobility comes not from the sire. True nobility comes from within the heart. From within comes the will to have truth, justice and light. From without comes circumstance and the hearth. Many a maid and many a man spark their eyes to be surrounded by wealth and plenty but yet true nobility is none of these. It is found in the courage to do without rather than the greed to stand out. The eyes of man go blind searching for that which glitters and fail to see that which is Truth.
True nobility is born through poverty of self and is inflamed through lack of lust. Only the heart that has been through the fire can pass the test.
True nobility has nothing to do with shining armor and all to do with humble trust. Until the outward is gone, the inward will never come forth. A dungeon is more fit for a noble than is a palace that’s fit for a king, for there the work of the heart is done. The one who is willing to be enslaved is the one who will arise and become true nobility.
True nobility is untouched by fettered chains, unleashed by the darkness, and polished by the pain. They will arise bright and shining, beaming and full of light, and will truly be free.
A MESSAGE
This message is one for the ages and sages to come, for one day life will not be as we now know it. It will flow as the river wide and will not be stopped. Much time and sweat has been spent trying to control and contain that which is uncontainable. Until man ceases to control his own destiny, the struggle will not end and true life will not begin, for the life flow is a powerful force that cannot and will not be contained or controlled, only experienced.
Many a man seeks to divert life for his own use. Many a man seeks to construct a better way to get down the river. Only when one seeks to become one with the flow can one truly live.
Be at one with the One from whom all life flows.
Makeda
THOUGHTS FROM TIL
AND STILL BUT JUST A SPECK OF DUST
World, you’re so enormous . . .
So endless wide . . .
An elusive mystery. . .
People sometimes think they know you.
Yes, even that they can exploit you!
When you have enough of it
You simply throw them off,
and just go on “to Be”.
Yet, you’re just a speck of dust in the Universe.
unfathomable mystery.
What’s possessing us to kick up such a row!?
Why that foolish bragging?
When it’s dawning for a moment,
that we’re as great as the Universe –
and yet but just a speck of dust –
Then we are, what we ARE,
part of the pulsating Life.
ASTONISHMENT
Life,
wondering, I’m looking at you.
You can use every crumb of material.
You’re making and breaking and rebuilding again!
Whenever you beat a human to pieces,
which like a worm, each becomes another form –
or . . .
lay rotting beside the road,
sometimes open, sometimes covered by some sand –
it leaves you cold.
Human, do not try to put in irons
what forever will be streaming.
Dare to be a drop of the sea!
Without form, you’re forming ages.
Intuidipity – the intuitive following of one’s serendipitous pattern.
February 20, 2000
Vol. 4 No. 2
THE JOURNEY
‘
The journey within is indefinite, infinite, and without end. The destination is no destination, but yet, it is a quest. A quest, that is spent many lifetimes to attain – no granter treasure is there to be found. The treasure is not the destination, but that which you pick up along the way, that leads us back to where we came from. All things lead there – every light, every shadow, every pit of darkness, every skinned knee, every tear shed . . . is but a stepping stone of the journey. No tree can be our guidepost, no lamp can light the way. Only from within, can the way be known.
The journey is from light to dark, and dark to light, with many shadows inbetween. As we travel, many a nudge and rerouting there will be as we attempt to arrive in our own way – each striving to see their future, but yet, not remembering their past. Perfect unity does not lie in the past, present, or future, but lies in the blending of all within you. Only when we are one, can be reach the depths that we are destined to reach.
In your journey your eyes must rest on what you were given and not dart about to and fro, looking for answers from other places, because everyone’s answers will be different, and yet, all answers are the same. Only when we reach the place where we can truly hear the voice within, can we truly be at peace with ourselves, and can the journey truly go forward.
Man looks at the journey as into darkness, but the spirit sees the journey as into light. One can go nowhere until the eyes both look in the same direction. Then the light can be found, and followed, and magnified, and the darkness will start melting away until light prevails.
The end of self is the beginning of the true journey. Only when we cease to choose and control, can we follow the path that we have been given. The journey without end, that began before time, that will end our searching, when we are no longer separate, and all is seen as one. No men, no women, no head, no toes, just one . . . at one with all things.
Life is a great adventure, if we can only see past ourselves.
Lessons learned, cannot be burned when they come from the heart. True wisdom is but jibberish in man’s eyes – but yet, the heart knows when it is spoken and yearns until it is so.
THOUGHTS FROM TIL
LEAVE IT ALONE?
The food that life is offering
has a bitter taste sometimes.
One doesn’t get a change throwing it into a dust bin.
To leave it alone. . . ?!
Just pretending to eat it . . !?
Life has eyes in the front as well as in the back!
Having swallowed it at last –
To my surprise discovering:
I needed it to grow!
TO BE QUIET
To listen to what never reached the ear . . .
The unknown, experienced never before . . .
The unknown, that way always and will be forever . . .
When we touch it sometimes, it feels trustful and caressing,
but unspeakably great and sacred as well.
No name can interpret it.
Still it feels nearer than our breath.
Might it be the core of our being?
May 24, 1998
Vol. 4 No. 1
IN GENERAL
Publication of “Sharing” continues to be toward the end of the priority list. The Church, however, is still going strong. For those of you who are distant from Texarkana, we are still here and sending our love to you.
THE DOOR
There is a door from one side to the other and through this Door one is free to come and go. This is a Door that is open to all but shown to few. It is a Door of great Treasure to those who find it.
It is a Door that is universal, that everyone has access to , but very few seek to find. When one seeks the Divine, all paths lead there. All the paths are different, all the doors and different, yet all the doors are the same. The lead to the same place.
When we can find our Door and go to the other side, that’s when we can find out who we are, from where we came, and where we are going.
The Doors are not like our doors that open and close. The Doors do not seek to keep any out – they are openings to invite you in.
The paths to the Doors are not straight or flat. You can’t see them but you know them from within. Only he who dies to self can find the Door and only he who is willing to be no more can go through the Door. Life as we know it is living death but life on the other side is eternal.
When we are willing to give up all things we are at the threshold. On the other side of the Door there is no division, no darkness, no death, no discouragement. Those things are for the ones that refuse true Life and the Truth that it brings.
The Door is like a separation. One half of us is physical and impure. The other half is spiritual. If we will give way to the spiritual and leave the physical behind, we can go in and out and get the gifts and strengths there that we need for our journey. We will be able to be in this world but not of this world.
It is the Door to Truth, Wisdom, Life, Light, things that do not fade or tarnish. All paths lead there is we will only follow.
When you enter the Door, you are no more, but you are more than you ever were. Then the wholeness and oneness is complete. You have been restored to that to which you are heir. You are filled with fullness – like water poured into water – they are water together – you absorb them and they you.
That place is within each of us if we would choose to go there. There you breathe light like we breathe air. You are It, you absorb It, you are at one with It.
No man can see it with his eyes or feel it with his hands; yet every man can know through his heart and his soul, the way.
I am the Truth, Light and Power unto all who come unto me and death to all who choose otherwise. Heed the words, hear the Wisdom, accept the Truth, live accordingly that which you have been given and you will find the Door that leads to true Life.
THOUGHTS FROM TIL
INSTEAD OF . . .
A fellow human taught me a lesson so new,
so immensely surprising.
I hardly dare to believe it.
But, innerly recognizing it,
was so unbelievably strong
I just have to accept it as true.
The words in which it was expressed?
“To surrender to ‘IT’ is not losing the battle
but winning the game.
Instead of fighting, fearing,
there is freedom in cooperation with life.
TWO SIDES
Light, I thank you for my weakness.
I thank you for my doubts.
Thanks for all in my life that is not You,
but on which I still hang the label “genuine”.
I build myself a world of illusions.
As long as I’m feeding that stuff with my breath –
it’ll stay active in multiples of a thousand.
Light, if I shouldn’t be free to create that world,
How could I ever experience YOU!
YOU, Light, Safeness, and Peace!
How could Light without Shadow help humanity to grow?!
March 24, 1998
Vol. 1 No. 3
IN GENERAL
As always, we are in need of contributions by hand or by mail (PO Box 471, Texarkana, Ar. 75504) Additionally, please feel free to suggest items for discussion with or without a position. The Editor apologizes for the substantial length of time since the last issue of SHARING (yes, January 21!) and will attempt (does not promise) to be more productive in the future.
CONSIDER WATCHFULNESS
It appears that as responsible, adult humans we must give some attention to watchfulness. There are three areas of our lives which seem to require watchfulness and the parallels are striking between them.
The most obvious is one that we pretty much take for granted. If our bodies are damaged, either by injury or dis-ease, with proper care they will heal. However, we cannot then assume that our bodies will forever after be healthy. We must give them proper sleep, nourishment, exercise, and be moderately careful around machinery. Most of this we do more or less automatically or with very little attention, but we must be watchful so that our bodies are here to support our inward journey.
The other two areas that seem to require watchfulness are the society in which we must live and our inward journey. Even for those of us whose goal is to become a hermit, we can be in difficulty if we are in the “fallout zone”. The society in which we live has had, does have and will have problems as long as anyone strives to impose their ideas about how to live on others – in other words, as long as people have fears which they view as the fault of another instead of realizing that nearly all fears are the result of the lack of inward growth. Can we cure these problems – not alone. But we can refuse to contribute to them and, each of us in our own way, can clean out the corner of the world in which we live. How do we refuse to contribute to these problems? But dealing with our own fears of “others” who are simply different than we. And, further by being informed so that our voice rings true and clear as we speak up for “others” and against the wrongs done to them. Being informed has been made difficult because the commercial media is owned and/or run by those whose only concern in life is to make another buck. They have no long term vision, do not care about our children’s world, so they feel free to pollute the environment, use poverty as a means of enslavement, sent us to war to protect their capital investment in other countries where they are usually not good citizens either, and the list goes on. But we can find publications of the so-called alternative press, and we can learn to ask hard questions. For instance, did you know that recently the Justice Department (same one as houses the FBI) came out with figures which show that contrary to the numbers we get from the FBI, that the crime rate in the U>S> has been flat since 1973? But it serves the purposes of the FBI to convince us that crime is steadily on the increase and that we are all in danger of being murdered in our beds. While they peddle fear, they promote laws which take from us our personal rights to be who we need to be. Our personal rights are disappearing rather like the minority groups in Hitler’s Germany. If no one is attacking the particular rights we hold dear, we don’t bother to speak up or support those who do. We may be too busy, too uninformed, just don’t care, or only one person. The first three are personal choices and the fourth is a copy out. We re part of “others” and if we truly believe that, then we have no choice but to do whatever we can to struggle with them or for them. If these problems are to be part of our society forever, then we must be watchful forever.
Perhaps most important of all, however, is the watchfulness we must have while we are attending to our inward journey. As all of your know, once you have thrown out all of your trash from your past you are then READY TO BEGIN. First wee have the watchfulness required to identify the old habits which we built up as a result of our trash. They must be systematically identified and not only must we not permit ourselves to engage in these old negative behaviors but we must replace them with new, positive habits for coping with our environment and those around us. As we progress on our inward journey, we are often in that portion of the cycle of progress which the most appropriate thing for us to do is rest. We are weary from working and learning and striving, and we rest while the fruits of our labors are implemented. During this time it is important to be watchful so our ship won’t drift too far sideways as we coast forward. Light reading, keeping-in-touch meditations and discussions with others on their journey will all help to keep your direction of movement mostly forward. As one in the midst of this experience of coasting, waiting for implementation of labor, thanks to all of your who have helped me keep my energy moving forward. Watchfulness seems easier with help.
THOUGHTS FROM TIL
THEREAFTER
What Life puts on your plate . .
Frankly has a bitter taste sometimes.
With an angry motion you push your plate aside!
Want to rise from the table.
Nicely play outside!
But whatever you try –
Your place has to be finished first!
Thereafter, you may be further.
THE ROPES
If I want to reach the target –
I’ve got to go the road.
Step by step.
Mile after mile.
So irritating slowly it goes.
The goal stays far away always.
Is it a mirage?
I’m asking myself: do I have to change?!
Is it the target of Life to be in the moment of NOW?
June 23, 1994
Vol. 1 No 2
IN GENERAL
Thanks for al the good feedback on the first issue of Sharing. We still need contributions so hand them in or mail them in and Share a flower from your path. Remember, although something may seem small or inconsequential to you, it may be important and on point for someone else. Think we should call this flower power?
WHAT’S IN THE NEWSPAPER
The following recently appeared in the New York Times. It is a previously unpublished letter, dated November 12, 1959, from the renown psychologist Carl G. Jung to Ruth Topping, a prominent social worker. She had asked him to explain a comment of his in a Chicago newspaper:
Among all my patients in the second half of life
. . .every one of them fell ill because he had lost what
the living religions of every age have given their
followers, and none of them has been really healed who
did not regain his religious outlook.
In her letter, Miss Topping wondered how Mr. Jung would define the phrase “religious outlook”.
By Carl G. Jung . . Zurich – When you study the mental history of the world, you see that people since times immemorial had a general teaching or doctrine about the wholeness of the world.
Originally and down to our days, they were considered to be holy traditions taught to the young people as a preparation for their future life.
This has been the case in primitive tribes as well as in highly differentiated civilizations. The teaching had always a “philosophical” and “ethical” aspect.
In our civilization this spiritual background has gone astray. Our Christian doctrine has lost its grip to an appalling extent, chiefly because people don’t understand it any more.
Thus one of the most important instinctual activities of our mind has lost its object. As they views deal with the world as a whole, they create also a wholeness of the individual, so much so, that for instance a primitive tribe loses its vitality when it is deprived of its specific religious outlook.
People are no more rooted in their world and lose their orientation. They just drift. That is very much our condition, too.
The need for a meaning of their lives remains unanswered, because the rational, biological goals are unable to express the irrational wholeness of human life. Thus life loses its meaning.
The problem itself cannot be settled by a few slogans. It demands concentrated attention, much mental work and, above all, patience, the rarest thing in our restless and crazy time.
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
How much more true in 1994 are Dr. Jung’s observations than they were even in 1959! Our society is more adrift than ever. We have, for the most part, come to believe that what we need we can get by taking it from someone else. Dr. Jung, I believe, would feel at home in our belief in our unity with one another and with all life. Yes, we have experienced the concentrated attention, mental work and need for patience. I believe that we will experience them much more before we can successfully begin to share our understanding with our fellows. Personally, I resolve again to keep growing, learning, stretching, working, trying to understand, yielding, beginning again and, most of all, exercising patience. Please join in as you see fit.
THOUGHTS FROM TIL
THE ROSEBUSH
The little rose bush looks so small, almost poor.
Yet, one of her buds is fully grown!
In the corner of the garden, the sun can caress her one hour only.
Today she unfolded her red velvet petals.
Radiating, she’s being a rose!
Without complaining, without questioning, her roots search for the food.
She built stems, and leave and buds and thorns.
The crown on her work is her scenting flower.
Does she herself think this way?
TO KNOW
To know . .
very, very deep inside . . .
“Our natural state is happiness”.
Pure, light, harmonious.
But the nightmare we are living in?
Those feelings must be efforts to escape from it!
Where did they take roots?
That longing for the light. . .
It’s present in every crumb of this earth.
Is THAT the staff that keeps us going?
January 21, 1994
Vol. 1 No. 1
IN GENERAL
This is the first issue of the newsletter for the Church of Truth of Texarkana. We have called it “Sharing” because that’s one way we have of helping each other with our Inner Journey. The other way we have to help is to care. All we can really give each other is unconditional love and information which has been of help to us. So, we begin “Sharing”.
Each issue will have some remarks from the editor and contributions from the membership and kindred souls. So anyone who wishes to contribute, send it in or hand it in.
The format and the scheduling of publication are not set. We may try several before finding one which we like. Your preferences are solicited. This is, after al, a publication intended for you.
EDITORIAL COMMENTS
The comment this issue is “Satan, get thee behind me”. This comment was one that I never put much store in since you can get some pretty nasty shoves from behind. However, it has recently occurred to me that we all must struggle with getting caught in what we think of as “reality”. You know, tables, chairs, buildings, clothes, even other people. They are not as important as our Inward Journey but because we can see them we automatically relate to and center on them.
We know, or at least are learning, that things exterior to us are simply manifestation of our attitudes. Do we think we are poor – then we will be. So what we really need to focus on is our attitudes – or, if you will, our minds. What lies behind our minds? Our spirit. Our spirit has unlimited potential. It is limited by our minds, that is why we try to sort out and exclude our erroneous beliefs – they are limitations on our potential.
The appropriate order of things, then, seems to be spirit first, minds second, physical things last. With this view if we center of physical things, we have made them superior to our mind and our spirit and, therefore, “gods” to us. As such we must follow them. If we see things and other people as “gods”, they are false “gods” and they must be a demon for us to conquer. So, saying “Satan, get thee behind me” is another way of saying, put your spirit first, remove the limitations of the mind, and physical things are left to follow behind as manifestations of our consciousness.
THOUGHTS FROM TIL.
I recently was privileged to meet a lady whose mind and spirit I admire greatly. She has great wisdom and a loving spirit of immense proportions. She kindly writes to me occasionally, and even more kindly includes some verse. Verse is her current method of communicating her understanding of the human condition to others. By her permission, some of her verse will be a regular feature of this newsletter. Her name is Matilda, to her friends, Til.
SHARING
Sea and clouds and the wind –
Pureness, beauty, joy, oneness –
The waves, the sun, and the clouds,
they are all in action,
full aware of their power.
And yet that unspeakable oneness!
I’m feeling like a speck of dust.
But the second I surrender –
I’m part of the game – sharing that oneness.
I CAN THINK WHAT I WILL
I can think what I will.
Do I think what I will?
Do I think specific or blank?
What or who is it, that’s thinking?
on the tag is written “I”.
Concerning planning daily life, it made an agreement.
A social working order proceeded from it.
A fraction of the “I” is needed only for that job.
“I”, are you a gate?
Can “I” know itself in other regions?
Thousands of questions are searching for answers.
“Rays of knowing” are blown through the keyhole.
I’m looking for the key since years.
January 7, 1994
