There are days, and then there are days, and this is one of those; tired after a 32-hour trip to and from Bemidji and compelled to write no matter how I feel physically. We, Mom and I, had a great visit with family, an easy drive with some color along the way, and grateful for this extraordinary weather.
Do you ever think about, especially when life is very full, what it is that carries us along? Do we believe it is the hand of God? Do we have faith that partners in Spirit, guides and angels, lift us up when we our energy flags. Do we believe that we "get our second wind" from someplace inside of us, very self-reliant and self-sufficient? Or do we not think about it all;
just toughing it out in a gut-level reaction to life. Or do all of these beliefs inspire us, all at the same time, or in stages as we grow and become?
Reading my son's blog about church-going folks vs. atheists or agnostics, I realized I had something to say that I had never before put into words, and that inspires this:
I believe in Consciousness. I capitalize it because it is bigger than I can ever know while traveling in this human suit. And we like capitalizing things we don't understand, don't we?
I believe that Consciousness is One thing. Like a sea in which we all swim; each part knowing each other part and each playing an essential part of the Whole.
I believe that my task on the planet is to expand Consciousness. I believe that is the purpose of the human journey. One place I do that is in church, so I choose church family and structure to provide me an environment where I purposely expand Consciousness. I also believe that when we join with others the expansion has an exponential effect, and that does not require church. That can be achieved in church or meditation, discussion groups, or any place where people explore beliefs and experience communion in Mind.
Consciousness expansion occurs during my solitary meditations, conversations with all those in Spirit who fill my space, and exchanges with family, friends and clients. I could expand Consciousness sitting in a cave with no human contact, but I believe most of us are intended to form relationships, providing the means to learn ourselves, thus expanding Consciousness.
Mind and Consciousness are equally capitalized in my reference, because I believe them to be one and the same. Mind is not brain. Brain operates the body and produces logic. Mind is our collective Wisdom and includes the stored memory of the soul. This, I believe, includes all the personalities the soul has produced since the beginning of time.
Whatever our religious beliefs, if we join with others of like Mind, we probably capitalize the name of this Consciousness. We call the deity, God, Allah, El, etc.. Then we deify our Masters; Jesus, Mohamed, Buddha, etc., causing interesting theological discussions. And what of the Sacred in each of us? Can we not as easily consider each of us a sacred expression of the Source of Creation?
Watching a rerun of Law and Order last night, I heard the A.D.A. say, "Whatever gets you from here to there is OK with me." And that describes where I am. Consciousness includes all beliefs, all names, all rites, all paths. I was once told that the Twelve Tribes, created as the first generation of human beings, came from twelve different quadrants of the Cosmos and were all necessary to establish a dynamic of life that would serve that planet. Not only to serve, but all were essential to create a grid of Consciousness that would support and preserve Planet Earth.
Every religion, then, is essential to maintain the Whole. Every human being has purpose and holds a place in the Consciousness that is unique. So whether my children attend church is of no consequence to me. That we share a link in Consciousness and discuss our beliefs; that we expand consciousness even as we chat on the phone, all of that is precious to me. We are learning ourselves through one another, thus we are expanding Consciousness. Amen.
Until next time,
I am Phyllis, Still Becoming
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