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You don't mention any insuperable spiritual challenges, and that is wonderful! Your only karmic complexities at the moment seem to be in the area of materialism and money. The best advice that can be given here is carefully to inventory your life and find a place further to simplify.
It is recognized that you believe that you are already living in simplicity, but that is a relative term. Compared to some, your life is enormously complex, although, it is certain that, compared to others, it is relatively simple. Quite often, we complexify our lives without even realizing it. Complexity is such a "natural" part of life in the Western world that we barely notice it; it is often invisible, until you look for it with a magnifying glass.:)
The Love-bond that you are sharing with your family is a real treasure; please never do anything to weaken that supreme Love. To keep spirituality strong, and "front and center," we gather every two weeks with friends, specifically to discuss the important spiritual issues of life. Have you ever considered starting your own "Pneumarium-gathering" at your house? It might be worth serious consideration.
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Showing posts with label simplicity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label simplicity. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 01, 2008
Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Sermon on the Mount, Part XXIV and XXV of XL
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TEXT Continuing, with Matthew 6:16:
COMMENTARY: Jesus really wanted his listeners seriously to understand and remember his Message, and so, repeats it for emphasis.
The "scary" warning is here yet again repeated: If you receive a "human reward," you cancel any chances of receiving a divine reward. Let her who has ears to hear, hear this crucial warning! For many ministers, preachers, and religious leaders, accepting and welcoming fame, have rejected any chance of being rewarded cosmically! Their huge egos have spoiled everything for them.
TEXT:
COMMENTARY: Again, to underscore and highlight his important Message, Jesus refers to the interior "Father," who watches our lives "in secret." From only the "Father," in His role as "interior Judge," or "Observer," can genuine, lasting karmic rewards arise. For "Him," egotism is a slap in the face, an arrogant rejection. We cannot afford to give in to this low selfesteem, or we will ruin our chances of any "heavenly" reward (in the life to come).
The Sermon on the Mount, Part XXV of XL
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TEXT:
COMMENTARY: This is Jesus the simple, recommending a Way of simplicity so great that it is a terror to many in our materialistic culture. Applied literally, in this text, Jesus forbids unnecessary accumulations and luxurious acquisitions. This is the same message of the Buddha, who similarly forbade "clinging," "attachment," "grasping," and "craving" for the enlightened. (He said that the enlightened mind had no interest in these "spiritual diseases" and the baubles that accompany them.) The follower of the Way must drop all materialism. She must live in utter simplicity. Again, to be literal, the person of Love must not "store" material things "on earth."
TEXT:
COMMENTARY: Now, Jesus reveals the mystery as to why materialism is so dangerous: It can conquer the "heart," or emotional nature. People who are too obsessed with business often discover, to their utter heartbreak, that money and the incessant accumulations of materialism actually dull their emotions in relationship, friendship, and depth of feeling generally. For they have sold pieces of their Souls, and their only reward is the stinking "mud" of money. They have traded the "gold" of God, which is Love, for the dirt and mud of materialism.
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TEXT Continuing, with Matthew 6:16:
Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
COMMENTARY: Jesus really wanted his listeners seriously to understand and remember his Message, and so, repeats it for emphasis.
The "scary" warning is here yet again repeated: If you receive a "human reward," you cancel any chances of receiving a divine reward. Let her who has ears to hear, hear this crucial warning! For many ministers, preachers, and religious leaders, accepting and welcoming fame, have rejected any chance of being rewarded cosmically! Their huge egos have spoiled everything for them.
TEXT:
17. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by men but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
COMMENTARY: Again, to underscore and highlight his important Message, Jesus refers to the interior "Father," who watches our lives "in secret." From only the "Father," in His role as "interior Judge," or "Observer," can genuine, lasting karmic rewards arise. For "Him," egotism is a slap in the face, an arrogant rejection. We cannot afford to give in to this low selfesteem, or we will ruin our chances of any "heavenly" reward (in the life to come).
The Sermon on the Mount, Part XXV of XL
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TEXT:
19. "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, 20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal.
COMMENTARY: This is Jesus the simple, recommending a Way of simplicity so great that it is a terror to many in our materialistic culture. Applied literally, in this text, Jesus forbids unnecessary accumulations and luxurious acquisitions. This is the same message of the Buddha, who similarly forbade "clinging," "attachment," "grasping," and "craving" for the enlightened. (He said that the enlightened mind had no interest in these "spiritual diseases" and the baubles that accompany them.) The follower of the Way must drop all materialism. She must live in utter simplicity. Again, to be literal, the person of Love must not "store" material things "on earth."
TEXT:
21. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
COMMENTARY: Now, Jesus reveals the mystery as to why materialism is so dangerous: It can conquer the "heart," or emotional nature. People who are too obsessed with business often discover, to their utter heartbreak, that money and the incessant accumulations of materialism actually dull their emotions in relationship, friendship, and depth of feeling generally. For they have sold pieces of their Souls, and their only reward is the stinking "mud" of money. They have traded the "gold" of God, which is Love, for the dirt and mud of materialism.
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Monday, January 21, 2008
Friendship, Simplicity, and Materialism
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Living in simplicity is a standard principle of true spirituality. It is anti-greed, anti-grasping, anti-clinging, and represents great interior freedom to the person who drops her glue-like attachment to too many material things. We desperately need to replace "velcromind," which sticks to everything, with teflonmind, which sticks to nothing! And that hypervelcromind is certainly what has happened in this country: People have too much tv, too many celfones, too much music, too much cybertech, too much entertainment, too much sex, too many books, too many religions, and a spectrum and plethora of other hyperindulgences: Nothing the average American can think of is too good for her!
Thus, we have a hyperkinetic, super-busy society in which almost no one is truly happy, content, or satisfied. Tranquility or serenity is a very rare jewel. We are so "plugged into" material "stuff" that we do not allow time for even friendship-maintenance or "development. And that is a great tragedy, for friendship is the usual expression of God (Love) on this planet!:)
To make friendship-Love a priority is a great blessing! We need to invest more time in each other, in friendship, and much less in money-grubbing! For gold is a cold and lonely, even ugly, "replacement" for kind, compassionate friends.
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Living in simplicity is a standard principle of true spirituality. It is anti-greed, anti-grasping, anti-clinging, and represents great interior freedom to the person who drops her glue-like attachment to too many material things. We desperately need to replace "velcromind," which sticks to everything, with teflonmind, which sticks to nothing! And that hypervelcromind is certainly what has happened in this country: People have too much tv, too many celfones, too much music, too much cybertech, too much entertainment, too much sex, too many books, too many religions, and a spectrum and plethora of other hyperindulgences: Nothing the average American can think of is too good for her!
Thus, we have a hyperkinetic, super-busy society in which almost no one is truly happy, content, or satisfied. Tranquility or serenity is a very rare jewel. We are so "plugged into" material "stuff" that we do not allow time for even friendship-maintenance or "development. And that is a great tragedy, for friendship is the usual expression of God (Love) on this planet!:)
To make friendship-Love a priority is a great blessing! We need to invest more time in each other, in friendship, and much less in money-grubbing! For gold is a cold and lonely, even ugly, "replacement" for kind, compassionate friends.
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