The excerpts below are taken from a Facebook discussion that might be of general interest. Rich Rose was the pastor of our church.
Rich Rose
"It is not enough to experience the divine or the transcendent; the experience must then be incarnated in our behavior towards others...the test of true spirituality is practical compassion." - Karen Armstrong
Barbara Pease
I find it easy to feel compassion for someone's suffering as long as I am not the target of their wrong doing. It is a great quote but without a manual on how to feel compassion for someone who is persecuting you or who has wronged you in someway, the quote will just remain a great quote and an ideal.
I have found that transcendent experiences of the divine show me the only way to end my suffering is to let God untangle all the knots in my soul with his own energy pouring up through all the channels of my soul to restore me to the being he created. It feels like an ethereal fluid of pure love, comfort and compassion.
Letting this happen is best done with a silent mind. Before anyone writes me off, many Hindus believe this and I think Buddhists also believe something like this. When a soul is fed up with all the false beliefs of finding the perfect friends to love, the perfect partner, the perfect family the soul is ready. When a soul at last knows nothing here will bring the perfect love and understanding sought, and under no pile of riches will love and happiness be found, then that soul is ready to return to God and end all sense of separation. It is at that point the kundalini energy is awakened and the purification (the untangling of the soul's knotted energy) begins.
I woke up this morning with so much energy flowing up through me, more than any time before. I just stayed in bed. God showed me all the tangles. There were many. I have a long way to go. Undoing some tangles seemed to exacerbate my coughing, so the whole thing is done gradually so I can physically remain in this world without too much physical suffering and also accept the new way I will become. Mind, body and spirit all affect each other. They are not separate. Undoing all the tangles I have put there with my perceptions, feelings and thoughts over the length of time I began my separation from God is essentially removing my personality, my earthly identity, everything I believe I am. This is not done lightly. God doesn't want to scare me half to death. We really believe in ourselves as we see ourselves.
Right now the tool I have to cope is to remember to love people without needing them. God told me that one: "Love them and need them not." I keep forgetting as I get caught up in the belief systems surrounding me. I have to keep reminding myself. In one frustrated prayer to Jesus I wanted to know what to do. I was so disappointed in people. I have to admit to being spoiled on God's steadfast, love, comfort, understanding and compassion. He told me to stay in God's love as I have been doing. That is what he said he did. That is how he survived. Although I don't feel his spirit was in tangles complicating his life. I know it is hard for me to stay centered. I have found praying, meditating, and being alone frequently to do this works. My physical illness has actually helped in that regard. I don't have God's understanding of each suffering soul, so I am flying blind. I just have to remember to not think or judge, and take my hurt feelings to God and bask in his love and nurturing and expect nothing from other people. If I forget myself and get caught up in the thinking of the world again I lose sight of God's love, put more tangles in my soul's channels and chakra, making myself miserable, reenforcing separation with even more tangled energy in my soul and creating more work for God to clean up my little thought messes. Writing this has helped me to refocus. Hopefully it can help someone else. I know this may look a little foreign, but it is not as foreign as one might think. God bless you all.
I find it easy to feel compassion for someone's suffering as long as I am not the target of their wrong doing. It is a great quote but without a manual on how to feel compassion for someone who is persecuting you or who has wronged you in someway, the quote will just remain a great quote and an ideal.
I have found that transcendent experiences of the divine show me the only way to end my suffering is to let God untangle all the knots in my soul with his own energy pouring up through all the channels of my soul to restore me to the being he created. It feels like an ethereal fluid of pure love, comfort and compassion.
Letting this happen is best done with a silent mind. Before anyone writes me off, many Hindus believe this and I think Buddhists also believe something like this. When a soul is fed up with all the false beliefs of finding the perfect friends to love, the perfect partner, the perfect family the soul is ready. When a soul at last knows nothing here will bring the perfect love and understanding sought, and under no pile of riches will love and happiness be found, then that soul is ready to return to God and end all sense of separation. It is at that point the kundalini energy is awakened and the purification (the untangling of the soul's knotted energy) begins.
I woke up this morning with so much energy flowing up through me, more than any time before. I just stayed in bed. God showed me all the tangles. There were many. I have a long way to go. Undoing some tangles seemed to exacerbate my coughing, so the whole thing is done gradually so I can physically remain in this world without too much physical suffering and also accept the new way I will become. Mind, body and spirit all affect each other. They are not separate. Undoing all the tangles I have put there with my perceptions, feelings and thoughts over the length of time I began my separation from God is essentially removing my personality, my earthly identity, everything I believe I am. This is not done lightly. God doesn't want to scare me half to death. We really believe in ourselves as we see ourselves.
Right now the tool I have to cope is to remember to love people without needing them. God told me that one: "Love them and need them not." I keep forgetting as I get caught up in the belief systems surrounding me. I have to keep reminding myself. In one frustrated prayer to Jesus I wanted to know what to do. I was so disappointed in people. I have to admit to being spoiled on God's steadfast, love, comfort, understanding and compassion. He told me to stay in God's love as I have been doing. That is what he said he did. That is how he survived. Although I don't feel his spirit was in tangles complicating his life. I know it is hard for me to stay centered. I have found praying, meditating, and being alone frequently to do this works. My physical illness has actually helped in that regard. I don't have God's understanding of each suffering soul, so I am flying blind. I just have to remember to not think or judge, and take my hurt feelings to God and bask in his love and nurturing and expect nothing from other people. If I forget myself and get caught up in the thinking of the world again I lose sight of God's love, put more tangles in my soul's channels and chakra, making myself miserable, reenforcing separation with even more tangled energy in my soul and creating more work for God to clean up my little thought messes. Writing this has helped me to refocus. Hopefully it can help someone else. I know this may look a little foreign, but it is not as foreign as one might think. God bless you all.
