My Crooked Path

I have three reasons for creating and writing this blog. I am using it to make a map of my Path with Heart so that seemingly unrelated insights (pieces to a puzzle) can be seen in one place and possibly lead to epiphanies, or solved puzzles. Although completely unnecessary once knowledge becomes Wisdom, it could also be interesting to look back at my journey and relive some of the wonderful moments. Secondly, I have always been a teacher of something and hope that this "map" of my Path might help another to some day solve a "puzzle" and gain this universal Wisdom a little faster. Then lastly, I pray that some who are yet to Awaken, might find that spark within my writings that leads to their Awakening and subsequent Path with Heart. Now, after seventy-plus posts, I feel it is necessary to clarify something that most teachings from the Masters rarely do. Your Path with Heart will never be a straight line from Awakened to Enlightened to One with True Nature, Source, Self, God, et al. I write about the Way we are supposed to be so most of my posts are about being on my Path. This is the ideal and is what I have devoted my life to doing. It is not easy and requires complete dedication, however, the ever-increasing time I spend on It is absolutely the most worthwhile and rewarding time I could ever spend!

This topic came to mind a few days ago when I veered far from my calm Center in the Present to a state of Ego-stricken, raging anger. One thing common among All who are truly on their Path with Heart is Compassiom to the point of Empathy - our True Nature. With this in mind, I lost my balance when confronted by two fools protesting healthcare reform and depicting President Obama as Hitler, mustache and all. I had planned to ignore them and walk straight from my truck into the Post Office, get my mail, and then exit the same way. Plans work so well when morons stay out of your way but this was not one of those occasions. One of them came at me with a handful of something I did not want to see and I departed my Path with Heart at full warp speed! I was spitting fire the instant I felt his intention and said something about nuts, heads on poles in the town square, or something to that effect. Regrettably, a very old feeling came over me and for a moment, I was kind of hoping he would make a move. So much for Love and Compassion! Fortunately, he backed up much faster than he approached and his partner sat down the instant I looked through him. I got my mail but still let my Ego take charge as I started out the door. I was much nicer this time, though, and just said something about a waste of space or good air, or something like that. I left quickly but didn't really "leave" for quite some time. This is extremely rare for me and is always a great lesson in how to be a fool. I allowed my Ego to interfere with a perfectly beautiful day in paradise just like it did the first day it arose to consciousness in the mythological "Garden of Eden". The Ego has been the sole source of All bad and Evil, pain and suffering, and keeps us separated from our True Nature or Source to this day. However, Ego is not the focus of my post here but just the underlying cause.

I am writing this to make sure that everyone who reads my posts knows that although I have gained much Wisdom over the last thirty-some Awakened years, my Path with Heart is still crooked. It is far less crooked than most but far more crooked than many other devoted practitioners. The whole point that All of the great Sages throughout history were making in their various teachings of the "OneTruth" is to permantly remove yourself from the chaos of Karma by living without thought and completely in the mindful Present. To make it sound even simpler, just "Be"! That one word sums up All of the great teachings of Jesus, Lao-tse, Buddha, Krishnamurti, don Juan, et al. In fact, Jesus is referred to as the great "I Am" *! You must also be Compassionate and respectful to others and all living things but when you are living completely in the Present, there is no other way you can be. The reason it takes so many words to teach this is that getting to that state of impeccable Being is literally the most difficult thing in the universe. However, once you understand the mission (Awaken), you can begin to shrink your Ego, teach it to sit quietly "next to" you on the passenger's seat, and just observe the magificent view while our Source drives the bus of life. This is done through dedicated daily and lifelong practice of being in the Present through various types of meditation, mindful movements such as Tai Chi, or any number of similar paths. The more you are able to let go of this illusion of control by just Being in the Present, the easier and more natural it gets. It is these times in the Present that you are One of Mind, Body, and Spirit where only Altruistic Love, Compassion, Beauty and Joy beyond description, exist as One with your Infinite and Quantum True Nature. The other time is spent amongst the rat race of Ego-driven thought and illusion. This is when you leave your Path with Heart like I did that day at the Post Office. We All do it in an infinite variety of ways from committing mass murder to simply having a conscious thought interfere with the silence of the moment. Most of your time will be spent outside of the Present but over time, it will become less and less as long as you always stay mindful of your Path and continually correct your course by relaxing back into the Present. With continual practice and dedication, your Path with Heart, as mine, will become less crooked while the Magic of your infinitely Powerful and Loving True Nature envelopes you more and more in the ineffable Bliss and Comfort of our Source, our Home.

Namaste'

* God, who reveals his name as "I AM", reveals himself as the God who is always there, present to his people in order to save them.

"When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will realize that "I AM"."

~ Jesus

An abstraction in the mind of the Stateless State, of the Absolute, or the Supreme Reality, called Parabrahman. It is pure awareness, prior to thoughts, free from perceptions, associations, memories.

~ Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

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Flowing Through Karma

Living within the law of Karma can be a wonderful experience if one just accepts the obstacles in life and turns them into positive, albeit surprising, experiences. This is where attitude is truly everything! As we encounter these unexpected interruptions, we have a choice to make - do we allow our Egos to draw us into the negativity of anger and frustration because we lost "control" over our well-made plans or do we accept the fact that we are really not in control and then find the positive opportunities that this new situation offers? Well, the sage chooses the latter, understands that this departure is simply a natural occurrence on one's Path with Heart, and continues in this new direction with a curious smile. This is how one can "cheat" Karma and prevent creating a negative Cause or, preferably, pass through this situation as an observer do not create any Cause . This includes the all-important wisdom gained from understanding the enormous benefits that arise from "going with the Flow". This is always a choice that each of us has no matter what the circumstances are. So how about an example....

I am currently reaping the rewards from letting go of this illusion of control and allowing my Path with Heart to make an unexpected change of direction that now has me enjoying an extended visit with close friends (family) that have always occupied a very special place in my heart. There are very few, if any, more positive and pleasant situations to experience. So here I sit typing a post to my blog on a laptop computer - something I have never done before! Something simple yet just another example of a positive experience born from an event that most would perceive as misfortune. You see, while traveling to the college graduation celebration for my "niece", my vehicle lost power and forced me to pull off of the highway many miles from my destination. It had to be towed to a reputable repair facility over fifty miles from my destination on a Saturday night and obviously causing me to miss this very important event that I had so looked forward to attending for years. This started a series of unexpected interruptions to the plans of several other wonderful people and presented each one with a similar choice of whether to allow this surprise to ruin their evenings or to just accept it as part of their respective paths and change course with a smile and a sense of adventure. All I can say about their experiences is that each one of them greeted me with open arms, kindness, and a sincere concern for my welfare. Every moment was, and continues to be, a wonderful and very heart-warming experience. There is no doubt that they chose the way of the sage and therefore, something with the potential to anger and frustrate, became a positive and rewarding experience.

Although we do not have Free Will because Karma rules our Destiny, we do have a choice in how we deal with the "obstacles" in our lives. We can choose to relax, accept, and enjoy the positive within all such events or we can allow our Ego to beat us up in it's frivolous attempt to "control" the situation and add yet another negative Cause(s) to our Karma with the resulting adverse Effect(s) that must be faced down the road of life. I am far more wealthy and blessed by my choice. Which will you choose next time?

Namaste'