Soul Gymnasium

This morning, laying half awake in bed, I was asking God about the incredible number of lessons packed into this lifetime. I saw flash before my eyes the ancient Greek gymnasium with muscular men wrestling. Then I heard, "there is also another gymnasium, the gymnasium of the soul."

"You were chosen to come to earth to develop your soul as rigorously as some develop their bodies and strive to be champions. Your striving is to develop your soul."

I recalled tellling others lately that this is not the vacation planet, that we are to develop our spiritual muscle. This insight, or revelation, this morning puts another layer on that thought.

I saw a fantastic sight of millions of eternal souls struggling to lift mental and emotional weights. I saw some clueless as to what was going on, while others were at least somewhat aware and so strived all the more. I saw some resisting, and some doing their best. I saw a whole range of reactions to the soul gymnasium.

Then I saw the last two questions as we leave this place - Did you learn how to love unconditionally? Did you complete your purpose? The final exam.

Emerson Still Speaks

 Ralph Waldo Emerson, a sampling from his essay on Providence:

Life wastes itself whilst we are preparing to live...

The world is filled with the proverbs and acts and winkings of a base prudence, which is a devotion to matter, as if we possessed no other faculties than the palate, the nose, the touch, the eye and ear...

Call a spade a spade...

 Do what we can, summer will have its flies. If we walk in the woods we must feed mosquitoes. If we go a-fishing we must expect a wet coat...

 He that despiseth small things will perish by little and little...

Let him learn a prudence of a higher strain. Let him learn that everything in nature, even motes and feathers, go by law and not by luck, and that what he sows he reaps...  

Thus truth, frankness, courage, love, humility, and all the virtues range themselves on the side of prudence, or the art of securing a present well-being.

This amazing man of  the 1800's, has so much from which we can learn. He touches us with his writing, with his ability to reach us at a deep level with timeless wisdom. This is not my favorite of his essays, yet it speaks to me as if he sits in front of me speaking his wisdom.

Take the first quote above. As we mull it over in our minds, it reveals many facets. I think of the wasted moments of my life, moments waiting, putting off rather than living with gusto. I think of silly hesitations. I have learned to have less of these wasted moments, as I came to realize the finite nature of this trip to earth.

I urge you to explore these quotes, and open to his wisdom. Then I do hope you read his essays, maybe especially "Self Reliance" and "Oversoul" - and then on to the rest.

God bless you and keep you and cause His Face to shine upon you and give you peace.

Link to my talk January 12, 2-025

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRkC6xkCBr0&t=119s 

I invite you to view my talk on Turninng to Christ that I gave yesterday at the Temecula United Methodist Church. It is filled with some of my understandings as of now. If you enjoy my writing, I think you will find my talk inspiring.

Ralph Waldo Emerson's Genius

I n rereading Emerson's essays, I am once again struck by his genius, his clarity, and his unique vision. This morning I read his essay on Shakespeare. Here is a small excerpt.

 Shakspeare, Homer, Dante, Chaucer, saw the splendor of meaning that plays over the visible world; knew that a tree had another use than for apples, and corn another than for meal, and the ball of the earth, than for tillage and roads: that these things bore a second and finer harvest to the mind, being emblems of its thoughts, and conveying in all their natural history a certain mute commentary on human life. Shakspeare employed them as colors to compose his picture.

 This leads my mind many places. I go to Jesus' statement to not judge by appearances, but judge righteous judgement. It reminds me of Meister Eckhart saying that if we sufficiently studied a caterpillar, one would have sermons for a lifetime. It takes me to the many mystics who tell us God is everywhere, in everything. It takes me to physics that say all is energy, most, maybe all,  is empty space and just vastly speeding patterns of energy, quarks and beyond. It takes me the knowing that the most important things are invisible, from gravity to love. It takes me to the incredible distance we travel each day and the speed of our collective travels, from the rotation of our planet, to its orbit around our sun/star, to the orbit of our solar system in the Milky Way, and on and on.

Clearly not all Truth is obvious, and for the most part, most of us are rarely or never aware of what is really going on. I invite you to stretch your mind today, and think on these things with me.

How Do We Define Ourselves?

 It seems to me that often people define themselves by temporary, fleeting outer things.

Is who I am my poverty or my wealth? My infirmity or my health? My sex, my height, my job? My whatever, name what you will. Is my worth tied up by the status of my associates? Is agreeing with the current trends guaranteeing my acceptance? Does keeping busy show how important I am? Am I trying to impress others? Do I need and seek approval from others? If so, the you that is you is buried under a pike of meaninglessness.

Actually there is another way to define oneself. it requires different questions.

Am I true to myself? Do I know that I am part of a universe that is Divinely inspired? Do I know that everyone and everything is part of that? Do I treat all as sacred? Do I listen to my inner guidance? Am I at home in my own soul?

If we can say yes to the second set of questions, we are immune to control from the outside. Who we are is between God and us. We are free. 

Are You a Pioneer?

 It occurs to me this morning that some few people are mental pioneers, while the majority simply go along with the masses, or with their particular subset group. 

I was rereading Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay on "The American Scholar." He makes some very profound points in it. It stimulated some thoughts in me, proded by his thoughts, thoughts from two centuries ago. 

 There are those who simply regurgetate what others have written. They are not participating in life, gaining experience that puts action into their thinking. Actually being aware of our experiences, considering their meaning and teaching, putting new ideas into practice, makes us pioneers. We let go of ideas and behaviors that life shows us to be false or at least limited. Then we continually reinvent our relationship to ourselves and to life in general, and of course to the Divine.

Things change. He gives the example of the mulberry leaf turning into silk. We could also say, the catepillar turning into the butterfly. The seed turning into the tree. The ocean turning into the rain that waters the crops that turn into our food. And on and on.

I suggest, if you've not had a new experience, a new idea, a new action lately, you're not fully living. Risk being a pioneer. Step out into this new day, never lived before, and open to the great adventure and mystery of life.

2025!

It's officially a New Year all around our planet. May it be filled with many blessings for us all. May we awaken to our inner peace and come together to create peace on earth.

In some ways this is an artificial shift. It's a new year, never lived before, yet if we don't grow and awaken, it's another string of days where we simply continue how it's always been. We have 365 days within 2025 to choose new things, or to remain stagnant, to remain hypnotized by media, to remain in our biases, and to just get by.

We can also realize that each and every moment is a new moment, never lived before, open to new and good/great ideas and activities. We can look into the adventure of such a life and create ourselves anew, to be the person we deeply want to be.

I suggest we make a list of the noble goals our souls urge. How can we, for example, be more kind, more loving, more peaceful, more compassionate, more in tune with the Infinite? When 2026 begins, can we see ourselves more of the above? Imagine yourself there. Imagine what steps you need to take to get there. Imagine actually taking those steps. Let's become that version of ourselves. Let's go for it.

Oh Divine Presence, I turn to You this moment. Show me the way to be more fully in tune with You. Lead me to take the steps that lead to You. Wash away from me all unlike the pure being You created me to be. Dissolve my false ideas, my fears, my excuses, and grant me the courage to go forward in tune with You. This is the year of my awakening. I feel it. I accept it. I rejoice in it.