Thursday, September 18, 2008

Thank you Father

If you read my last post and read Walt's comment below it, you might have discovered something.
I know I did.
Someone once said (And I can't remember who it was right now) that to achieve happiness, you have to be able to be happy living in a mansion, or a cardboard box.
Maybe the key here is attachment. You get too attached to the outcome.
"I want a million dollars." Is that what it takes to make you happy?
Or can you be happy looking into the eyes of a baby, or a puppy, or a kitten?
"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" Matthew 16:26
I know I've mentioned this before, but Neville Goddard said the most effective prayer was "Thank you Father."
The Ho'oponopono "chant" is "I love you, I'm sorry, Please forgive me, Thank you."
I want or I need isn't anywhere in there is it?
Maybe just Thanking is the best way.
"I want a million dollars." okay, what if God wanted you to have a billion?
"I want a new car." What if God wanted you to have a new car with a chauffeur to drive you?
(Again I was raised in a Christian faith, I say "God" because it's comfortable to me. You say what ever name you wish. Actually I think God is too big to be given limiting names.)
Now the true test is to be able to say "Thank you Father." when life kicks you in the teeth.
Oh it will.
In the past year I have gone through the loss of my mother, a big car wreck, cancer and major surgery. I still have the effects of the twelve weeks of chemotherapy I went through. I can't feel my hands or feet.
Is it easy to say " Thank you Father" during and after all that?
No.
But do you just give up?
Or do you,as they say,"Let go and let God"?
Maybe the way we overcome our obstacles is to let go.
Very Zen-like huh?
Don't be obsessive, don't fixate.
Go about you regular life with a quiet "knowing" that the things you desire will come to pass.
Don't worry about the how.
And thank your creator for it.
Even when you don't see it.
Right now.

2 comments:

Walt said...

Sabre, you humble this wretched outlaw, indeed I am in tears, at this very moment. In life I have been, little more than an actor. I have tried to please everyone, to be both master, and servant to all. However, because I would not surrender completely to God, the end result was always the same, dissatisfaction and chaos. Many of us believe that the world is just a gift, and that God is living in some place far far away. What we fail to comprehend is that each and every one of us, are very much like a fetus living in the womb of the Creator. Thus all the things we experience, are holy, even down to the tiny photons, that light the universe, and the dust at our feet, is sacred. Sabre, I know not who you are, but God does, and you are loved. For it was only by the will of God, did I seek and find you. I will pray and give thanks for your healing. For we have a living God, and he wants you well, this much I know, coming from a family of faith healers.

Walt said...

One must remember that though God may show favor. He has no religion, or any need for our pagan myths.
For he is alone is God, Lord of all. So many lives have been lost, because we were too blind to see, that it is a sin to kill in God's name. No better example can I give than the words of Dr. Eastman,

Dr. Charles Alexander Eastman, Ohiyesa (Winner), Wahpeton Dakota (Eastern Woodland Sioux), 1858-1939.

THE GREAT MYSTERY
The original attitude of the American Indian toward the Eternal, the "Great Mystery" that surrounds and embraces us, was as simple as it was exalted. To him it was the supreme conception, bringing with it the fullest measure of joy and satisfaction possible in this life.

The worship of the "Great Mystery" was silent, solitary, free from all self-seeking. It was silent, because all speech is of necessity feeble and imperfect; therefore the souls of my ancestors ascended to G-d in wordless adoration. It was solitary, because they believed that He is nearer to us in solitude, and there were no priests authorized to come between a man and his Maker. None might exhort or confess or in any way meddle with the religious experience of another. Among us all men were created sons of G-d and stood erect, as conscious of their divinity. Our faith might not be formulated in creeds, nor forced upon any who were unwilling to receive it; hence there was no preaching, proselyting, nor persecution, neither were there any scoffers or atheists.

There were no temples or shrines among us save those of nature. Being a natural man, the Indian was intensely poetical. He would deem it sacrilege to build a house for Him who may be met face to face in the mysterious, shadowy aisles of the primeval forest, or on the sunlit bosom of virgin prairies, upon dizzy spires and pinnacles of naked rock, and yonder in the jeweled vault of the night sky! He who enrobes Himself in filmy veils of cloud, there on the rim of the visible world where our Great-Grandfather Sun kindles his evening camp-fire, He who rides upon the rigorous wind of the north, or breathes forth His spirit upon aromatic southern airs, whose war-canoe is launched upon majestic rivers and inland seas—He needs no lesser cathedral!

That solitary communion with the Unseen which was the highest expression of our religious life is partly described in the word bambeday, literally "mysterious feeling," which has been variously translated "fasting" and "dreaming." It may better be interpreted as "consciousness of the divine."

The first bambeday, or religious retreat, marked an epoch in the life of the youth, which may be compared to that of confirmation or conversion in Christian experience. Having first prepared himself by means of the purifying vapor-bath, and cast off as far as possible all human or fleshly influences, the young man sought out the noblest height, the most commanding summit in all the surrounding region. Knowing that G-d sets no value upon material things, he took with him no offerings or sacrifices other than symbolic objects, such as paints and tobacco. Wishing to appear before Him in all humility, he wore no clothing save his moccasins and breech-clout. At the solemn hour of sunrise or sunset he took up his position, overlooking the glories of earth and facing the "Great Mystery," and there he remained, naked, erect, silent, and motionless, exposed to the elements and forces of His arming, for a night and a day to two days and nights, but rarely longer. Sometimes he would chant a hymn without words, or offer the ceremonial "filled pipe." In this holy trance or ecstasy the Indian mystic found his highest happiness and the motive power of his existence.

When he returned to the camp, he must remain at a distance until he had again entered the vapor-bath and prepared himself for intercourse with his fellows. Of the vision or sign vouchsafed to him he did not speak, unless it had included some commission which must be publicly fulfilled. Sometimes an old man, standing upon the brink of eternity, might reveal to a chosen few the oracle of his long-past youth.

The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity. They forget, perhaps, that his religion forbade the accumulation of wealth and the enjoyment of luxury. To him, as to other single-minded men in every age and race, from Diogenes to the brothers of Saint Francis, from the Montanists to the Shakers, the love of possessions has appeared a snare, and the burdens of a complex society a source of needless peril and temptation. Furthermore, it was the rule of his life to share the fruits of his skill and success with his less fortunate brothers. Thus he kept his spirit free from the clog of pride, cupidity, or envy, and carried out, as he believed, the divine decree—a matter profoundly important to him.

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