The Real Jesus

It is very easy to see why and how one could be "turned off" by the presentations of Jesus in our culture. Yes, my friend, there is Jesus, and there is Jesus! I will have nothing to do with the Jesus of televangelism, which is part caricature, part clown, and part out-of-control, screaming preacher. I very much prefer the Jesus of history and spirituality-- the tranquil, compassionate, soft, tender, loving, and brilliantly wise teacher.

This Jesus does what he tells us to do-- truly loves his enemies. And that means only one truth: He has, recognizes, no "enemies." He is friends with all sentient beings. He radiates, overflows with, compassion. But he is balanced, and is also sharply intelligent. He is all here, all right now!

As you know, he is the perfect incarnation of the Christ-spirit-- a name for the God/Love-human interface. This lives actively in your heartmind and mine. So, this Jesus is relevant-- stunningly so-- to our every thought, word, and deed. When we embrace the world without negative judgments, when we accept reality as it is, on its own terms, as the Taoist mystics emphasize, we are firmly centered in reality ("truth"). So, any other approach becomes unrealistic, and the mystical Way the very apex or zenith of realism.

To communicate with this "interior Other," this "Beyond within," is never to walk alone. This Jesus is a universal man, a true intercultural mystic. Even the human Jesus of history was rejected by the religious Jews, and so, was not a religious Jew. And he was not a "Christian," for that word had not yet been invented. So, what was he? He was a man who was in Love with Love, and he defied all categories.

He is a platinum role-model. You can become a "Jesus-Christian" without ever becoming an orthodox "Christian." You can be this type of Christian without joining any organized church. And you can also detach from the detestable history of the "Christian" church. This is just one way within the Way, a true form of the mystical tradition. It is a pleasure to join you on this very high, nonreligious, spiritual path!

In the Flow, In the Zone

Re limits: Of course, we all have them, and in wide variety and abundance. The mystic seeks, as an often far ideal, to come into touch with a Mind that is limitless and illimitable, but that, of course, is only an ideal. And even when she momentarily succeeds, her human part (called "human or lower nature" in mysticism) soon reasserts itself, recreating boundaries and limits.

It is only for rare moments that even the mystic of many millennia can come in touch with that omnipotennt Mind that dwells deeply, very deeply, in her Unconscious. So, mystics are almost always "ordinary, everyday" people, despite their moments of true transcendence.

The best creative person, any really creative genius will tell you, allows the gift to appear. She does not force it, or see herself as its origin. The best painter "lets the painting paint itself," the best writer "lets the script write itself." So, the challenge of the mystic is to allow life to live itself, spontaneously and naturally, through her-- without interfering with its natural patterns. To do this, she tries, works hard, to get into a state of Flow, which is effortless cooperation with the One in the Unconscious. Mystics believe that, if we can stay "out of the way," what will manifest is the higher Nature, or Love.

It is not easy to learn to do this, to be in the "zone," and it takes much practice. But it does not stop at simply being in the Zone; the mystic must then learn to live actively out of that inner Space.

Expectation-Disappointment

The amount of disappointment that we feel, in any situation, is largely self-designed. How? Because we suffer only as much disappointment as we allow ourselves to expect.

If my expectation-level is one hundred-- very, very serious and invested heavily-- then, my disappointment will be also one hundred-- very agonizing and severe. But if I can cut back my expectations to a level of only fifty-- if I can teach myself to expect with a power of only half-- then I immediately cut in half my feelings of disappointment.

Even the best, or most spiritual, mind probably cannot cut expectation to zero. And that might not be even desirable. Certainly it is not realistic.

But, if we can, most of the time, with most people, under most circumstances, minimize our expectations of others, and of events, we can also minimize disappointment.

Example: If you ask a teen to do something, and you do not really expect her to do it, then, you feel no disappointment when the job is not done. This works with everybody.

The good news: With a little awareness and monitoring (mindfulness), we can voluntarily remind ourselves to form minimal expectations. Since expectation is the cause of disappointment, and we can control our expectation-formation, we can then regulate the level of disappointment in our lives.

This really does work. Just give it a try, and it will prove itself. The next time that you find yourself expecting certain results, from a condition, event, or person, try to ratchet down the expectation. Then, if it is successful, you can celebrate with as great an intensity and joy as you want. But, if the enterprise fails, you can cut way back on your pain.

This is a good example of practical applied spirituality. Try it, expecting nothing from yourself,and you will see very happy results.

Mental Stress

Much, if not most, of the suffering on our planet has been mental/psychological/emotional. These are sometimes due to brain-neurochemical imbalances, which are, of course, radically affected, even dominated, by changes in the physical body. They can be the result of nutrition, genetics, or other factors.

These impact upon the brain. It is the organ of thought's formulation and transmission, but it is not the origin of thought. Instead, thought originates in the nonmaterial mind, the self. For the self is a mind, not a body.

Most people have gone through that rollercoaster ride. It can be tough, and take you to an interior hellstate. Happily, meditation and/or Love can liberate you from that stress. Visits to these states of mind have all been considered a most valuable part of training in psychology, which cannot be obtained from mere booklearning. This donk went through a three-year stint of general, chronic depression. It has also passed through significant times of anxiety, including panic-attacks. (Some of this has been tied in with brain-nutrition, and some has had other causes, known and unknown.) Cases of social anxiety disorder have appeared, for example, as well. It is almost as if this life has been a psychological smorgasbord, containing every state from agony to ecstasy. Nothing can educate about mindstates as well, or as thoroughly, as having been submerged in them.

There have been no indications of psychotic breaks with reality, but all of the more minor mindstates have been experienced. So, if you would ever like to talk about feelings, please do not hesitate to give me a call, at 513-737-LOVE (5683).

Positivity-vow and Negativity

Many mystics take personal interior vows to fill their minds continually with as much Love, and to repel as much fear, as possible. This article describes this kind of vow. The intent of letters, including emails, is largely self-sharing. A part of good and lasting friendship is coming to know facts and histories of the friend. So, anything shared was not mentioned in order to change your style or content of writing, but simply, as self-expression.

If you want to mention painful, harmful, or negative events in your writings, that is fine. As a psychospiritual advisor and lifedesign consultant, indeed, much of what I hear every day-- from clients, students, and friends-- describes the negativities, hurdles, and obstacles of life.

These must be understood, explained, and analyzed before any progress towards recovery, or growth, is possible. My interior vow was a personal matter only. Its purpose was not to cut off "negativity" from others, but to make sure that, as you said, it does not take over the heartmind and dominate the personal life. One is most immediately responsible for those thoughts and ideas that come from within. It is these that, in the end, can make or break a person's happiness.

The attempt is to fill the whole heartmind with God, or Love, or its resulting joy, as often as possible. This does not mean that the enlightened want to create barriers to, or fences against, communication with others. Often, to aid another, or even to relate, one must share negative memories, thoughts, ideas, and events.

The mystic does nothandle negativity by a "head in the sand" avoidance or evasion. Instead, she carefully studies and analyzes the world, and her reactions to it, learning from everything. So, she must of necessity include much "negative" material in her mind.

But she does not let it take over, or establish a permanent home in her psyche. She refuses to cross the line into a negative consistent mindset, a masochistic relishing of negativity for its own sake. She does not continuously feed her mind with negativity, which is the sustenance of fear, Love's opposite. So, we must be careful never to see it as a "black and white," "all or nothing" situation. One cannot completely avoid negativity; but neither must she fill her mind with it daily or hourly.

The interior vow was not to feed the psyche a regular diet of fear and various negativities. And that is all. To live in the real world, and especially to aid others and the self to a healthy mindset, it is absolutely necessary to consider both the positive and negative events of life. So, please do not take the vow with extreme literalism, or as an expression of extremism. It was never designed to try to neutralize all negativity all the time. But, whenever possible, it was designed to re-mind of the necessity to fill the mind with Love, regularly and consistently.

Suffering and Growing

Life has, for so many, been a virtual study in suffering. The donkeys (bodies) have suffered through a number of critical and serious dysfunctions. The body is the instrument through which we often learn our most important lessons, including sympathy, empathy, compassion, and many other forms of tolerance, patience, and Love.

This is the "hard way" to learning. Earth is the notorious "school of hard knocks." But these events have created interior strength for countless millions. They have also tended to create, or to reinforce, interior detachment. They have also led to death, and the afterlife experience. So, they have taken away the fear of death. So, all in all, despite setbacks, they have had an overall positive effect.

The fastest, and surest, way to inteerior growth is suffering. The Buddha started an entire system of spiritual psychology (more that than religion), by asking the simple but complex question, "Why is there so much suffering (dukha), and is there anything that we can do about it?"

So, Buddhism emphasizes detachment from the material world, and emphasizes that happiness is a completely interior process, unrelated to "external" things and conditions. We are happiest only when we can realize that we have a great Source of joy within, and when we realize that It is independent of material "stuff."

Living with order in a chaotic world, and with reason in an unreasonable one, requires the adoption of good moral and ethical guidelines, which, in Buddhism, is called the "eightfold path." These include such items as "right speech, right action, right meditation," and others.

But beyond,far beyond, those practical suggestions is a very deep realization. It is this: Deep in "your" and "my" Unconscious is a Mind that is all wisdom, beauty, and deep tranquillity. Stillness, as in meditation, is the Way to cultivate our connections with, and realizations of, this deep Mind. This Mind is the true "Buddha," or "Christ."

Coming in touch with It, mastersages such as Jesus have altered the planet. But they, the mystics of history, were not content simply to touch It, or to realize that It existed. They wanted actually to embody It, to become It, in physical incarnation. Jesus was "God" precisely because he was the incarnation of Love, for "God is Love."

These masterteachers all taught that the Way to become enveloped within, absorbed by, this Supermind was Love. So, we call It the "Lovemind" or "Coremind."

The mystic's path is that of "surrender." This means that we stop trying to run our own lives, and instead, turn our lives over to perfect, stainless Love. Trying to run our own lives is analogous to an ant insisting that it run a cybernetwork. This is not something that we must, or can, do. Instead, it is a state of being that we must allow to happen. Again, this is where interior stillness or meditation comes in. For, with practice, meditation leads to a regular, steady state of "stillmind," a mind of vast tranquillity. While not "untouched" by the events of the world, the mystic does often "transcend" (rise above) them, and is not controlled by them.

Jesus said, "You cannot serve two masters." So, we find by experience that we cannot serve both the world and Love. In choosing to surrender to Love, we shatter the shackles that keep us bound always to the world. We get off its maddening rollercoaster, and find an equanimity or even, smoother, more stable plane of being. The crazy heights and depths tend to level off, preventing our plunging into depression or anxiety.

It would take a whole book fully to explain the Way. So, your deep and fine inquiry cannot be completely answered in a single small article such as this. But, happily, I have written books about the Way. If you would like to begin at the beginning, with an intro, I recommend the book called Falling in Love with Yourself: Love and the Inner Beloved. If you'd like a copy,just send your snailmail address to:
rmfrancis@juno.com.

We'd be more than happy to send you one.:)

Sending Pieces to the Uld

Thanks to all of you, my dear friends, for forwarding pieces, from time to time, to be included in the uld ("Universal Love Digest"). But there are some limitations about which you should be informed: We are not allowed by law to reprint material that is already copyrighted-- or, at least, not without written permission of the author(s). This applies to both printed (hardcopy) materials and to ematerials on the web or forwarded through email. This is silly for an ezine as small as the uld, but it is still the law, and we do not want to break it, for reasons of honor and conscience. Often, when we find an article that is irresistible, it can be completely rewritten, and then, used freely, as it has become our original piece and property. But as most people are not capable of this, we usually, unfortunately, do not use articles whose copyright is intact. But thanks very sincerely for thinking of the uld, and we hope that you will again think of us whenever you have any original ideas that are share-worthy.

As a brief reminder, we are seeking fairly short pieces (a few paragraphs) regarding spirituality, psychospiritual topics, personal spiritual experiences, reprinted emails, teachings, miscellaneous spiritual thoughts, and related materials. Please, no "channeled" material, no cult-propoganda, no belligerent or exclusive religion, and no politics.

Thanks very much, with Love,

Richard

Timeless Friendship and Positive Talk

We had a real gigablast this Christmas! Beautiful gifts from only a handful of the world's very best people! It made us remember quality over quantity, in matters of friendship and other varieties of Love. And it was a powerful reminder of those riches that last into eternity, and that are not tarnished by the passage of time. Like the enlightened soul, a Love-friendship is timeless!


Crises and catastrophes will make beings stronger, and teach important lessons about Love. When we were growing up, we remember old people always talking about disease and dysfunction, and so made an interior vow that this disharmony and negativity would never take over our communications with friends. It has been a good and happy decision!:)

Sports as Communication-substitute

Sports have never touched on anything important, in most cases. While, at times, it might seem as if sports bring people together, they do so at a very shallow distance. They have never deepened true, or deep, communications. It is impossible for a very spiritual mind to get excited about taking sides. She also cannot get into, or relate to, teams, players, or games.

Still, for far too many men, these have become a communications-substitute; as long as you are talking about sports (which is contentfree), you need not talk of subjects with substance, depth, and meaning.

Angermanagement

In handling anger, regular meditation is essential and indispensable. The technique recommended is "pervasive meditation." (It is also called "acognitive therapy.") Here is how it works:

You choose a phrase of four syllables. It should be positive and spiritually uplifting. Then, all through the day, you turn this phrase over and over in your mind like a mantra. (The phrase is called a "trm," or "thought-replacement mechanism.") Every moment that your mind is not actively involved, being used intellectually, you return to the trm. Whenever you have ten seconds, twenty seconds, one or two minutes-- any time at all-- you return your mind to the trm. If you do this consistently, anger-energy will vanish; it will be recycled into positive thoughts and actions.

There is a book about this technique, called Teflonmind. It is all about Lovebased detachment. If you'd like a copy, just send your snailmail address, and one will be sent to you.