Living Consciously July 13, 2009

Dear friends,

A sudden and torrential rain caused our parking lot to become a standing pool about 10 inches deep. An old drainage system simply could not handle that amount of water fast enough to keep it flowing. We had to call in the plumbers to pump it out. There are two spiritual analogies here. First, blocked energy that isn’t allowed to flow will eventually cause problems that may require expensive assistance to solve. Second, energy seeks its own level. Where there is a receptive container, energy will come to rest as potential for expression.

Why do some people seem to have all the luck? It seems as if Good cannot stay away from them. Are they unblocked in some way that opens up the channels of receptivity? Yes, one does not have to be a saint to receive, only available. Just as water seeks and finds its own level so do the energies of love and joy, peace and prosperity. They are sitting stagnant in most of us because we mistakenly think they will come from afar, like a sudden storm. No they bubble up from within, like a subterranean stream of inexhaustible power. We must be receptive to the impulse to express them.

We know what stored up anger will do to the body. We are aware that it must be displaced and not allowed to burst forth inappropriately. But what about love? What happens to the one who never makes use of the reservoir of love contained within their heart? How does that affect their immediate environment?

Peace is a state of awareness that awaits our discovery. It cannot be bought or sold and will not be created until we all feel it deeply and extend it as compassion and caring. Joy will burst forth from the center of us when we allow our natural self to express without fear of rejection.

Prosperity increases by means of circulation. Like a free flowing river with an invisible but endlessly giving source, it is a constant in the hands of a giver.

“That which we are looking for, we are looking with.”

Peace and blessings,

Rev Carol Carnes

Living Consciously July 14, 2009

Dear friends,

It is always inspiring to read of those great social revolutionaries who raised their voices and changed our world for the better; people such as Gandhi and King. They were the ones who had the most reason to be angry and to violently oppose the policies and attitudes which kept them in a lowly position socially and economically. Yet these two did not react in the expected way. They adopted non-violent resistance as their strategy and overarching tactic. Over time it became more than that. Peaceful resistance became a deep self realization. Both of these great men discovered the power of Love inside themselves and they were the first ones changed.

This is what defines the spiritual warrior. They are the first ones who benefit from their own soul searching. The very thing they abhor in others, they root out of themselves. The prejudices, the generalizations, the emotional reactions, the tendency to exclude, these are the inner states that must be addressed before a true change maker can emerge. Anyone can start a war. Waging peace is much trickier.

We do not have to be humanly perfect to create peace in our world. What is required is rigorous self assessment. None of us is going to be transformed without some honest appraisal of our ego-driven antics. The whole heart that is able to include the world in its love is real and intact and can become the driving force in our lives. Contrary to the false beliefs of many, we are the safest when we are the most loving.

Peace and Blessings,

Rev Carol Carnes