Spiritual Solutions

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Happily, spirituality is usually very practical. So, it provides the answers, or at least, guides to the answers, to many of life's everyday problems and challenges. If you follow Love and compassion, you are clearly growing fast, and in the right direction!

But Love and overdependence are incompatible, and cannot long share the same "bed" in the mind. All they want to do is fight, conflict, and engage in other antilibran activities. So, you are especially wise to decide to rid your life, as much as possible, of the unhealthy "stickymind" dependence, and replace it with Love. Too much "Velcromind" diverts both energy and attention, and selfimprovement is postponed, or even neutralized.

Your decision to exist in only the "eternal now" is very spiritually refreshing, and can strengthen and empower you tremendously, to face anything with Power. That is enormously wise, so congratulations on an "inside job" well done!

People are often forced to cultivate a special and deep trust of friends. This is good, as trust is implicit in most, but not all, Love. Why is trust not enfolded in all Love? Because "Love" must be given to all, but it is unwise to give trust to all. The enlightened are not naive fools, and so, do not trust everybody. Unlike Love, trust is like respect:
Both must be earned.

You might be reading too much into Carol's [pseudonym] visit to another state. It is by no means certain that she is capable of true Love, which is unconditional. For that finest quality has been so often eclipsed. It is not, of course, that she cannot allow Love; but she refuses voluntarily and consciously to do so. She seems to live in "survival mode," as if under continuous assault, and that cannot be comfortable! Inside her head is not a nice place! The ultimate "punishment" or "reward" of this life is that we all must "come home" to living within our own minds! That can be the lovely "Garden of Eden" in the heart, or it can be hell!

Human beings are too complex to reduce complex interactions such as Love to mere "blood" or biology. If people try to do this, they end up with several distortions that twist the Love into something else, often something repellant, such as subtle selfishness.

So, upon returning to you, she did not abandon an idyllic "world of Love." For she has as many internal conflicts with her relatives as she does with you. It is her purpose to paint an idealistic ppicture of them in order to make you feel "less than," or guilty. Do not fall for this shallow ruse!

Yes, my friend, you must be careful that the ego does not abuse "self-anallysis" simply to create guilt. Guilt is an unproductive form of fear, and ego can always be recognized because it uses fear. Spirit can be recognized by the presence of cleansing, forgiving and selforgiving Love. So, abandon too much, or too microscopic, a selfanalysis. When you do your best, accept it, and even congratulate yourself. This is not to create arrogance, strengthening ego, but a boost in selfesteem, which is healthy and spiritual. For the Way of Love is not one of continuous selfdemand or humorless "grit your teeth and bear it." It is a path of gentle reminders, gentle improvements, and tender, Lovebased selfcorrections. So, relax and try to allow the Spirit of Love to take over in your heart. Do not demand too much of yourself. Just always do your honest best. For the Spirit lures us with rainbows and moonlight; it does not drive us with bull-whips!

Yes, we all have to carry around, like baggage, the lower or human nature, the part of our mind that is human. Still, it is healthy to bear in mind that this is not our "enemy," but our teacher; so, it is our friend, in the longrun.

Teaching and learning opportunities are always arising in our lives. If we can see them for the "exams" or "lessons" of the school of life, this will grant the detachment necessary to take and pass the tests. The cosmos does not demand that you explain, in detail, your every move or everythought. You do not "owe" this to anyone, unless your deep Mind directs otherwise. You are not a child, and your friend not a strict, controlling teacher demanding your latest "book report" on the biography of your life. You are not obligated by Love to "report" to anyone. Love obligates you to show only kindness and compassion.

At times, these can be expressed by words, whose quality can approach the artistic and poetic. But at times, Love can call upon us NOT to speak or write, or at least, not to over-write. The "kiss" principle applies here-- keep it super simple." So, always speak and write the words of Love, but leave room also for the silence of Love.

It is a great fantasy that words can solve any human problem, if clear, wise, loving, and gentle. But this is only a fine illusion; for words can also complexify an issue, leading to defensiveness on both sides, and to increased misunderstanding. Too often, the result is a "war of words," in which each participant thinks, "I can win this war." But in verbal warfare, as in the monstrous physical war, there are never any winners. The real winner is she who refuses to play this destructive game.

But writing out our thoughts can be very personally therapeutic. Writing a clear letter can also help, even if it is not sent. For it can lead to greater selfunderstanding, and that is spiritual progress.

Words are no longer "solutions" when they become the "problem." So, if words create rather than resist confusion, misunderstanding, or negative feelings, they are not the right tool. All human problems are simply not amenable to word-solutions. That is simply an ideal, not always a reality. So, there is an appropriate time for words, and one for silence.
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