1 Thing You Can Do in this Season

Listen to the Angels

Fortunately, we know what they sound like.

We are informed of what they foretold–what they beckoned into being.

It may be a little difficult to accomplish since everything is so noisy. There is a maddening blending of complacency, nastiness and anger that threatens to generate a dreary spirit.

We just have to remember what the angels said:

“Glad Tidings.”

And what are these?

Purposely seeking to find good news.

“Great joy.”

Actually allowing ourselves to be affected by a good thing and expressing happiness over it.

“For everybody.”

It’s time to strike out against class and racial warfare, and dare to focus on one another’s noses, realizing how much we have in common.

“Peace on Earth.”

The best way to achieve this is to cease chasing the latest war, insisting it’s inevitable. Peace is not the absence of conflict—but rather, bypassing it to acquire serenity.

“Goodwill.”

When did it become more interesting to discover something wrong in one another than to untangle the pretzel of human life and retrieve some virtue?

It is time to listen to the angels.

There’s enough that’s devilish in humanity already–without us welcoming an indifferent approach to the Christmas miracle.

 

 

Doorways… March 12, 2013

(1,818)

Today my left knee hurts. I had plans for it, including a lovely walk in the park. Yet my knee is reluctant, if not rebellious to the concept, and truthfully, will  become very sore with me if I pursue present plans.

So now what?

I have outlined to you is the whole quandary of life.

We have ideas. We make plans. We probably even become enthusiastic about the prospects. Often we purchase things to enhance these desires.

Then the whole thing falls apart. We universally refer to this malady as “problems.”

For instance, I could tell you that I was planning to go for a walk in the park, but a “problem” has arisen because my knee hurts. Most of you would nod your heads in agreement, sympathetically aware that such trials and ttribulations are just a part of our existence and that we patiently need to trust talent, life, God or whatever comes to our minds, to pull us through these hassles and hindrances.

But let me ask a question. What if it isn’t that way at all? What if the only real “problem” with human life is complacency? What if God–who is much smarter than us, by the way–knows that the only way to progress the human spirit, is by digressing our tendency to settle in on one thing, determined to remain.

For if God and life were to leave us to our own devices, we would find the most comfortable corner of the room with a pillowy chair, and cozy up to the least challenging possibility surrounding us.

What’s wrong with that?

The second most dangerous condition in human beings, after complacency, is boredom. All sin is born out of some form of boredom.

So problems come along to move us through the path of life so we don’t have to deal with nearly as many disasters. They are similar to the little earthquakes that occur to release the pressure on the fault lines, inhibiting a larger, more destructive shaking.

So let’s stop calling them problems. They are doorways.

My knee hurts today because for the past forty-eight hours I have given it a real workout. Without the pain, I might overdo it and create more permanent damage instead of temporary discomfort which can be alleviated through a day of rest.

In other words, without pain, there is no healing. Without healing, there is no improvement in health. And without improvement in health, there is no sense of enthrallment with the continuation of life.

What if everything that happens to us is a doorway to get us from our bedroom and  into a more expansive living space? Is there any basis for this idea?

“All things work together to the good … ”

You ever hear those words? “All things work together to the good…”

Really? Does that mean my aggravated knee, if viewed as a doorway instead of a problem, is going to take me on a journey today, which if I do not resist, will generate a new goodness unforeseen?

My answer is yes. And if you don’t believe that, you might have a tendency to live a life of a ping-pong ball, struck by divine inspiration, only to be propelled across the table to a paddle of evil, which smacks you back down to earth.

I will not be pinged and I will not be ponged.

I will not fight my pain. My pain is necessary; my pain is revelatory. My pain is divine information that there is something good out there waiting for me if I will just refuse to become depressed by the change of plans and instead, propel myself through the doorway.

For after all, there are many adventures yet to be experienced, where we discover that life is more than just a walk through the park.

The producers of jonathots would humbly request a yearly subscription donation of $10 for this wonderful, inspirational opportunity

So What’s the Score? … February 26, 2012

(1436)

 

It’s impossible to initiate progress if you haven’t welcomed the ingredients and attitudes that produce growth. Growth, on the other hand, seems futile if it isn’t motivated by a revelation of intelligence. At least that’s the way I see it.

 

So what I’m going to give you today are ten elements that you can evaluate for yourself–and then be audacious enough to apply them to the world around you, giving each attribute a 0-10 score: 0 if you see none of it presently coming to be and 10 if you find that this particular idea is in full bloom.

 

Let’s start with intelligence. To contemplate if intelligence is truly being given an opportunity to do its good work, the first thing you have to consider is:

1. Stop complaining. Yes, it is virtually impossible to receive new information when you’re presently in rebellion to the circumstances and environment in which you have found yourself. Complaining is what stops the brain from receiving fresh insight and instead, forces us to fall back on attitudes which have proven to be insufficient. (Grade 0-10)

2. Start learning. All learning begins with considering instead of rejecting. If your beliefs are causing you to close out the entrance of knowledge that might expand your general intelligence, then your precepts are not really beliefs at all, but instead, a stone wall you’ve built around your brain. As you can also see, learning cannot begin until complaining stops. (Insert your grade, 0-10)

3. Be content but not complacent. Contentment is a rest stop on the road to discovery. Complacency is building a barn and storing up what we have so far, assuming it’s enough. We must be content, but turning that into a lack of activity is to stymie ourselves in an ignorance which eventually lends itself to stupidity. (0-10)

 

As you can see, the top score for intelligence would be 30.

 

Next is growth. The first area where we see the signs of growth is:

1. The appearance of wisdom. What is wisdom? Wisdom is knowledge that has been accepted as real, which we have begun to apply to our everyday lives. You can tell when someone is becoming wise when what they believe shows up in their actions. (0-10)

2. Stature. Stature is the cloak of blessing that falls upon us in both our physical and spiritual beings that confirms our message by exposing all hypocrisy and making our lives accessible to others instead of a huge mystery. All of us have to be honest–if something is truly helping us grow, that particular spurt of growth will show up in our entire beings, from head to toe. (0-10)

3. We suddenly find ourselves in favor with God and man. There is no real evidence of growth in the human family without the joining of heaven and earth. We know that we’re beginning to expand when that which is spiritual in our lives is not at war with that which we have discovered to be practical. Likewise, we stand back in awe when we discover that the practical things in life have always had spiritual implications. (0-10)

Once again, high score here–30. 

 

This leads us to the final category–progress. This one has four parts. How can we determine that the human race (which, by the way, includes us) is making progress:

1. Pure in heart. The more emotionally transparent we are willing to be with the world around us, the healthier we will feel and the more we will progress. Without this, we live a shadowy existence of lies, constantly in fear of being discovered for who we really are. (0-10)

2. Hungering and thirsting for spirituality. One of the main proofs of progress in the human family is an appetite for spiritual things that is not merely worship in the abstract, but applied in everyday choices. That is why I use “hunger and thirst”–basic human passions–for describing the quest for understanding our more eternal side. You will be able to tell when the world both around you and inside you is making progress when you see a legitimate appetite–hungering and thirsting for spiritual things. (0-10)

3. Renew the mind. We make progress as people when we never make up our minds. I know that in politics they call it “flip-flopping.” In religion they refer to it as heresy. But there is really no need to make up your mind–because the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof, and we all are in the process of having our brains renewed with data that is not yet programmed inside our processor.  That’s why I am very careful nowadays to preface my ideas with this phrase: “… from what I know …” I am aware that one of the true signs of progress is that my mind will be renewed. (Once again, keep up with your 0-10)

4. And finally, you can determine the true progress of a human life by a decision to move towards health. The debate should not be about whether cigarettes, alcohol and drugs are legal or permissible. When we finally start making progress, we will ask the question, “Does it make us healthier?” It’s what I’m going through in my life right now. I really don’t overeat anymore, but I once did, which built up fat supplies in my body which resist eviction. So I have to reconsider all of my eating styles to find the most healthy possibility. If I don’t, I won’t make progress. (0-10)

 

As you can see, the high score for intelligence is 30, likewise, growth is also 30 and progress is 40, giving us a grand total of 100. Add up your own score–and go ahead and do it for the world around you, if you so wish. I will do so myself, and also share with you–as humbly as I possibly can–where I feel our country is in the matters of intelligence, growth and progress, based upon these categories I shared with you today.

 

I will give you my I.G.P. number tomorrow and then we all can start moving towards the excellence we so require.

 

Happy tallying!

 

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Sitting One

 I died today. 

I didn’t expect it to happen.  Then again, I did—well, not really.

No, I certainly didn’t expect it.

I’ve had moments of clarity in my life.  Amazingly enough, many of them were in the midst of a dream. For a brief second I would know the meaning of life or the missing treatment to cure cancer.  And then as quickly as it popped into my mind it was gone. I really don’t recollect dying.  Just this unbelievable sense of clear headedness—like walking into a room newly painted and knowing by the odor and brightness that the color on the wall is so splattering new that you should be careful not to touch it for fear of smearing the design. The greatest revelation of all? 

Twenty-five miles in the sky time ceases to exist.

The planet Pluto takes two hundred and forty-eight years to circle the sun. It doesn’t give a damn. 

The day of my death was the day I became free of the only burden I really ever had.  TIME.

Useless.

Time is fussy.  Time is worry. 

Time is fear.  Time is the culprit causing human-types to recoil from pending generosity. 

There just was never enough time. 

Time would not allow it.  Remember—“if time permits …”

Why if time permits?  Why not if I permit?  Why not if I dream?  Why not if I want?  Why does time get to dictate to me my passage? 

It was time that robbed me of my soulful nature.    It was time that convinced me that my selfishness was needed. 

I didn’t die. The clock in me died, leaving spirit to tick on.  

So why don’t we see the farce of time?  Why do we allow ourselves to fall under the power of the cruel despot?  Yes, time is a relentless master—very little wage for much demand.

I died today. 

Actually … a piece of time named after me was cast away.