Fullness: Real … January 27, 2013

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Words come and go.

I remember when saying “groovy” really was groovy. Being declared “hip” was not a replacement for anything. And “far out” was actually the next-door neighbor to “cool.”

So if I can shake your memory to a time when the phrase “keep it real” was considered to be the groovy, hip, far-out, cool phrase of the day–I’m sorry to see that one go.

It wasn’t “BE real” or even “GET real,” but rather, doffed its tiny beanie of popularity to the fact that we have a job–to KEEP it real. It is really quite natural to do so if you understand all of your parts and instead of using them against one another, you form them into a team. After all, teaching human beings that we have a warring nature which is always trying to bring us down and keep us from our better selves may be the fad of the day, but it traps us in our inadequacies and fears instead of throwing us a rope to pull ourselves out of the pit of hell.

Let’s just take what we’ve learned over the past few days. (If you haven’t learned anything, let’s just take what I’ve said.) It begins with emotions–allowing ourselves to feel. We get the ball rolling by giving ourselves a permission slip to be touched by infirmities–both your own and others and admitting that we get tempted like everybody else. Is there anything more annoying than the wanker who always says, “I never feel that way…” or “Chocolate chip cookies? Ooh. They’re too sweet.” (Somehow or another, I think God just forgives us for silently plotting his death.) Everything begins with “feel.”

It is only then that we are prepared to kneel without being forced to do so or repeating what everybody is doing in a line at the altar. We kneel to worship. What do we worship? Spirit and truth. Candidly, there is much to consider spiritually which I will NEVER pursue because I just don’t find it of any earthly use. This may limit my after-life education, but I guess I don’t mind picking up a few extra classes in heaven, since I have all of eternity to complete my degree. Things that touch our soul should have spirit and truth. If they’re spiritual they’re going to be truthful; and if they’re truthful, you will find some spirituality in them.

So after we spend some time feeling and kneeling, we’re ready to move up to the penthouse, the human brain, and set in motion some healing. I don’t think I’m alone when I say that my upbringing, schooling and adolescence left behind some pretty huge mind-scars. I did get my mind blown several times–and not in a good way. I need some healing–or I will start thinking I know everything I need to know and cease to learn what will actually make me smarter and easier to get along with.

Unfortunately, as we discussed, our thinkers are not learning and our learners are not thinking. You get healed when you realize that the gray matter located in your cranium is not only supposed to think, pumping out what it knows, but also start learning what is being pumped out by what other people think.

What a great journey so far–we let ourselves feel instead of hiding behind bad moods, calling them “a poor night’s sleep.” We let ourselves kneel by taking spirit and truth into our lives as worship instead of grabbing off the fast food menu of religion with a crust of bread and a sip of wine. This allows us to renew our minds and gives that magnificent human computer the opportunity to think and learn, which heals us.

Then we’re ready to go out and deal with the world and DO AS: do the things we dream to do but perform them as if we were our own customer–give quality to our actions equivalent to our own standards. Then, instead of complaining about our lot, we deal with it. We realize that preparing is much more important than planning.

Having the right attitude when you show up makes it so much easier to change when your goals are rejected at the door. Suddenly we develop a reputation for being real. We start hearing folks say, “You’re just so real…” They tender stories us about individuals they know who are “so fake.” And all we’ve done to get this magnitude of appreciation is ask our little shift of workers, which show up at our human factory every day, to unite together in a common cause instead of pretending that each one of them owns the company.

• Feel
• Kneel
• Heal
• Deal
• And then, keep it real

You’ve reached the fullness.

There you go. Try it out and if it doesn’t work for you, realize that I’m just me. There is no money-back guarantee–because you didn’t give me any money. But if it does work, share it with somebody else and let’s see if we can’t free ourselves from the blandness that just seems to welcome insanity.

P.S.  Happy fourteenth birthday to my granddaughter, Isabella.

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

Do As: Heal … January 26, 2013

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6:52 P.M. last night–eight minutes until show time in Lake Worth, Florida. Above you see a shot of the stage, which I am about to enter. What do I know?

First, if you don’t mind, let’s look at what I don’t know:

1. I don’t know if anyone will be out there, in the audience. I mean, the event has been advertised. We tried to stimulate interest with an intriguing press release. But the slightest little thing can come along and keep people from showing up to ANYTHING–even free turkey sandwiches passed out on the street.
2. I don’t know whether these folks are going to like me or not. I am not famous, so they feel complete freedom to reject me at will. “Reject” is a little strong, but you get the idea.
3. The best thing I possess is who I am, free of lies.
4. And finally, I don’t know if everything is going to work. The presumption of the status of all things being tuned and ready has often left me embarrassed, with my pants down emotionally.

So what do I feel eight minutes before the show? Invigorated, excited, careful, curious and humble. And here are the two things I know:  first, I need to walk out there and do what I do as well as I possibly can, without offering lame reasons for why I am not ready. Secondly, in pursuing what I do, if I am intelligent, I will perform my duties and mission as if I were doing it for myself. Yes, I always look out at the audience, viewing a sea of faces which all resemble me. I am not about to give folks less than what I would require for myself.

That’s why it’s important that I begin the process with feel–understanding that if I am not touched by the infirmities of life, admitting that I am tempted like everybody else, I can become a first-class jerk with no heart for mankind, just spouting a bunch a rules and pretending that I’m God‘s hall monitor.

Once I have purified feeling, I am ready to worship in spirit and truth–to symbolically kneel before my gathered host, letting them know that I honor the heavens so much that I’m trying to build a branch office here on earth.

Whenever I am in front of an audience, it’s helpful to be prepared not only to think, but to learn from them. In the process, healing occurs. Sometimes the healing is in them; occasionally it’s in me. But if I insist that I am the thinker and they’re the learners, they will quickly be repelled by my approach and protect themselves from the onslaught of my domineering attitude.

I am inclined to DO AS–to deal with what is going to happen and use it to my advantage instead of recoiling in fear because some unknown factor has surprised me. Yes, I will tell you good folks a simple truth: preparing is better than planning. Yes, preparing your heart, spirit and mind to feel, kneel and heal is ten times more effective than thinking you have covered every eventuality and closed the doors of difficulty.

Right now the stage is empty. In a minute, it will be occupied by the human-flesh spaces known as Jonathan Richard Cring and Janet Clazzy. We owe it to ourselves and those we are about to meet to feel, kneel, heal and finally–deal with what is available.

Are we ready? Have we made a plan? More importantly, are we prepared to be ourselves without shame?

Deal–the process by which we arrive in life with a pure heart, a truthful spirit, a healed mind, without any hidden agenda to control but instead, are grateful just for the opportunity to be alive and breathing deeply.

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

Spirit and Truth: Kneel … January 24, 2013

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Somewhere deep in the woods, the paths of religion and spirituality cross-sect near an old oak tree. Well, perhaps not an oak tree, but I like the poetic music…

Normally, the pursuit of God and the acquisition of God are quite divergent paths. Much of what we choose to believe and follow in our worship is more cultural and traditional than it is actually heavenly or practical.

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that as long as we don’t pass it off as some sort of universal edict from the Almighty Creator. But I do believe that somewhere along the line, spirit and truth need to merge into the simplicity of hope which energizes our lifestyle and gives thrust to our efforts.

I think that crossroad occurs when we consider the words from the Lord’s Prayer: “thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” This is where spirit and truth unite to form a true faith for those who dare to believe.

Bluntly, there is nothing that is truly spiritual that isn’t also truthful. And there is nothing that is everlasting in truth that isn’t spiritual. So over the years, many things have been believed by religion which had to be cast aside when revelation of knowledge exposed that these contentions were erroneous–or sometimes completely flawed.

For instance, in our own country, slavery was condoned, promoted and authenticated in the scriptures by religion, which misused and misinterpreted ideas to “buy in” to the complexion of the day. Of course–not by everybody. There were those who were spiritual who understood that slavery was eternally a false institution and therefore had no spirit of God in it. They were right.

So my particular belief system is rather childlike. If I discover something that is true, I also know it’s spiritual. And if I uncover something that is truly spiritual, it’s not difficult to align it with the truth. So where do we begin? What is the ultimate crossroad between religion and spirituality, where we decide to build our personal church and kneel to worship?

I have three of them–the three “stones”  I use as a foundation for my faith in God:

1. NoOne is better than anyone else. I won’t go near any organization, political party or denomination that plays around with this principle or even debates whether there might be exceptions to it. it is non negotiable.

2. Free will is sacred. If you are still living in a theology which insists that “God has a wonderful plan for your life,” you are going to spend a lot of time sitting around waiting for God, who is on the other side of the room, waiting for you. No earthly mother or father would make a plan for their children and dangle it in front of them as a condition of receiving approval and love. Why do you think God would do that? The day you understand that God has a wonderful life for your plan, you will start moving out on your talents and succeeding, instead of waiting for Divine inspiration–which has already arrived.

3. Nothing can separate us from the love of God. You’ve got to be careful with this one–many religious organizations insist they believe it, until you happen to do something they disagree with, and then you find yourself suddenly shunned or separated. This means that even the sinful nature that may come across our paths is not able to separate the sinner from the mercy and tenderness of his heavenly Father. Don’t try it. When you are the one to tell one of God’s children that he or she is not part of the family because of their predilections or weaknesses, you will not only incur the frustration of the person you have shut out, but will also find yourself on the wrong end of discipline coming from your heavenly Father.

There you go. Those three ideas are enough to maintain an exciting, vibrant, spiritual, intellectual, romantic and jubilant life. You can feel free to toy with other traditions or suggestions, but be fully aware that if you decide to mess with what God has already put in place, you will end up on the wrong side of history.

Where religion and spirituality meet is called spirit and truth.

It is where we pursue God’s will being done here on earth as it is in heaven, and we realize that if it can’t be done here on earth, then we have to question whether it was God’s idea in the first place.

Too simple? Maybe so. But complication is when we lose our true belief and sacrifice it to error.

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