Jesus' Lament

Don't call me your hero,
I am only a man.
Don't look for my miracles.
I just do what I can.
I'm nobody's savior,
I have no magic wand.
I can't raise up the dead
or walk on your pond.
I'm not your salvation.
I didn't die for your sin.
Don't think I'm more special
or by belief you will win
the keys to God's heaven
or the life of your soul.
My promise to mankind
was my personal goal.
I'm the son of creation,
of Divine Living Light
no more special than you
and with no more a right
to be showered with blessings
or guided by love,
for God dwells within all -
not somewhere above.
I'm not the first prophet
nor will I be the last.
We all live in the present,
not the future or past.
So open your eyes
look into your heart.
It's your own source of wisdom
where all Divinity starts;
where compassion begins
and where Grace knows no bounds
for it's in each one of you
where the Kingdom is found.

(c) 2/25/2007

A Poem Just for Fun

Man and Mouse

It is quite possible, if you contemplate

that man and mouse can cohabitate.

The things that man has called his walls

are the things the mouse has made his halls.

The man is active in the light of day.

In the dark of night the mouse will play.

What man may eat, the mouse will too;

crumbs left behind will certainly do.

So nature finds a balance thus

between all the mice and all of us.

I take this image of mouse and man

and apply it in whatever I can.

Each human living has a different view

of what is false and what is true;

and in defense he builds his house

with walls dividing man from mouse;

each one thinking the mouse is the other

and neither seeing each as his brother;

leaving each other his crumbs of life

and always poised at the edge of strife.

There are some who see this duality

and try to change reality

for both to live equally well –

within the same walls, the two may dwell.

In doing this, they come to find

that the differences are in their mind.

What one leaves behind, the other uses

in a give-and-take where neither loses.

Each contributing what he can

to the unity of mouse and man.

4/19/2008

The Acceptance of Acceptance

Today, many see that we are on the verge of a great awakening for humanity. We are emerging from darkness; we are awakening from slumber. But, this awakening has not always been easy and many of us continue to struggle with pain and discomfort time and time again until we wonder, “What are these energies? If they are enlightenment and greater Peace, Love, and Joy, why do I hurt? What do I fear? Why can’t I grasp them?”

These energies are the Acceptance of Acceptance.

This seems redundant. Acceptance is simply that – acceptance. What is there to not accept about acceptance? So, we grapple with doubt and confusion and the pain of it all over and over again, all the while wondering why we can’t experience the new energies – energies that aren’t new at all. They’re as old as the cosmos itself.

Acceptance is its own energy, distinct from the energy of human love or anger or happiness or any other human emotion that one experiences. To accept something, one must embrace it wholly and without reservation or it isn’t acceptance at all. It’s an “all or nothing” deal.

We’ve all experienced acceptance before. We’ve all had that flash of pure understanding and allowance for the expression of another individual or circumstance. We’ve come to fully embrace it even if for only a moment, and in that moment, we’ve opened the door to Divine Love and have let the energies of it flow. But, how many of us have paused in the middle of that flow of energy and said, “Wait a minute! I have my rights to protect, my honor to defend, my point to make.” Then, just as quickly and thoroughly, that energy of acceptance has seemed to disappear. It really hasn’t gone anywhere; you’ve merely stepped out of its flow.

Acceptance is an energy in which there is no doubt, confusion, justification, validation, compromise, value judgment, or limitation of any kind. It doesn’t require understanding it or pondering what’s right about it or getting it to “fit” in any manner into the pigeonholes of identification of our lives in any way. Acceptance is entire, whole, and complete or not at all. So, the instant you step into the energies of doubt or defense or non-acceptance of any kind, you step out of the flow of the energies of acceptance.

That’s when you react to perceptions of limitation. That’s when you experience pain. That’s when you experience any number of negative human emotions. But, always, regardless of what you experience, you have desire – desire to once again experience the core energy of Divine Love which powers the energy of Acceptance. So you waffle back and forth between, or in and out of pain/peace, anger/joy, doubt/surety, confusion/clarity, loss/gain, disorientation/ centeredness. You struggle with grasping something that is well within your reach – that you once held, and then let go.

You grapple with the voice of ego that says, “How can I prove to someone else how ‘right’ the feeling of acceptance is when all that can be seen is injustice? How can I explain to someone else how I feel when I can’t define it myself? How can I allow this situation to continue when I know it’s wrong? Why does this feeling of acceptance feel so secure when I have nothing solid to stand on? How can I convey how “right” acceptance is in this world of ‘zero tolerance’?” All that ego understands of acceptance is that it’s a form of surrender or giving up or fear of conflict. It is ego that wants to change things based on what it perceives as true or right or just. It is ego that wants to “fix” things when, in the spiritual realm, nothing “wrong” exists. It is ego that labels, defines, and judges.

You step in and out of the energies of acceptance and expend tremendous amounts of energy trying to grasp and hold that which cannot be held, defined or limited in any way and you wonder why the energies of acceptance are so tough to experience. Acceptance isn’t tough at all. It’s one of the easiest and most gentle and comfortable ways of being. It is our natural way of Being. The difficulty lies in the release of ego and all its false gifts, false promises, and false perceptions.

In today’s energies you are experiencing Acceptance. It is a flow of energy – not a stream unto itself, but more like a current of water through an ocean of other energies – warm, gently flowing, without “true” direction or purpose but meaningful nonetheless. You may be stepping in and out of this current and when you do, you can experience pain, confusion, doubt, a tendency to argue, disrupted sleep patterns, an indefinable sense of “dis”ease or discomfort. Take heart. You are learning to let go. You are learning to surrender.

This surrender is not rolling over and playing dead as in, “Surrender, Dorothy” (Wizard of Oz). Think of it as letting go as you’d redeem a ticket for admission to a show or a seat on an airline. Think of it as redeeming a coupon for a discount or to claim a prize. So, in simple terms, you can think of surrender as redemption…and the Grace of God is merciful.

And So It Is.

Ronnie
10/20/2007

The Power of I AM

One of ego's favorite catchphrases is “I told you so.”

“I told you it wouldn't work.”

“I told you, you'd fail.”

“I told you, you'd be sorry.”

“I told you it was pointless.”

The ego's sole reason for existence is to validate its existence and there is no better a way to do so than to make you invalidate your own power. How many of us feel guilty then feel guilty for feeling guilty? How many of us react negatively towards a person or event and then hate ourselves for our negativity?

One internal voice is telling us how we feel while another more subtle voice is telling us how wrong we are for our feelings. Which one is the voice of truth? Because they battle with each other in opposition, we assume that one must be right and the other wrong. On the one hand, we recognize our negative feeling as negativity and we know that pure spirit doesn't foster negativity. So we search our soul to weed out the seed of negativity. On the other hand, our feelings are the voice of our soul and it doesn't lie. So we dig ever deeper to try to understand the source of the negativity and we try to encourage its expression.

But, there remains the other voice quietly, or not so quietly, chiding us for feeling any negativity at all. So we listen to that voice because we know negativity doesn't foster spiritual growth. But, we question and doubt that subtle voice because it seeks to invalidate our feelings which we cannot deny.

We dig ever deeper and ever harder into our souls for the right voice, growing ever more confused and frustrated and desperate for an answer. And all the while, another voice, relentless in its persistence says, “I told you so...I told you that you'd never sort things out. I told you that you'd never understand spirituality. I told you that you'd fail because you're not good enough to catch on.”

Could it be that none of these voices are the voices of truth? All these voices have one thing in common. They seek to invalidate who you are. They seek to rob you of your empowerment of Being. They seek to keep you from knowing the only thing that ego never wants you to know: the power of I AM.

I AM is the most powerful statement you can make about yourself. Nothing can invalidate it. Any attempt by yourself or anyone else to invalidate the I AM of Being must first recognize and accept that it exists in order to invalidate it. Those who say “I don't believe in [fill in the blank] ” are, in essence, recognizing the existence of it to not believe in.

So, you take a deep breath and say “I AM” and you begin to feel empowered until you ask yourself, “What am I?” Once again, ego raises its voice and insists that you label your Beingness as something. The list is long, but whatever label you give yourself, there is an antithesis to it. Labels do nothing but define and limit growth. Even if we label something as “good,” we deny freedom to whatever we're labeling to express itself as anything greater or other than what we perceive as “good.” The same is true for any label we apply. When ego insists that we label ourselves, it is demanding that we limit ourselves.

How do we stop the seemingly endless cycle of feeling “bad” then feeling “bad” about feeling “bad?” Why do we choose to feel badly in the first place? Why do we choose misery (in the forms of anger, jealousy, hatred, remorse, bitterness, despair, resentment, etc.)? Why do we choose misery when it feels so miserable? If we're so anxious to rid ourselves of it, why can't we let go of it?

Perhaps it isn't the misery (in any of its forms) that we're attached to. We're simply attached to feeling, regardless of what the feeling is. We're attached to the dramas of our lives more than to the scripts themselves. Without a low, how can we experience a high? Without displeasure, how can we identify pleasure? Sadly, for so many, the drama of the misery is the only thing that makes them feel alive. When you remove everything that makes you feel alive, what remains?

There remains Peace, Love, and Joy. They're not emotions. They are the freedom to accept yourself in whatever manner you choose to express yourself; and full acceptance can only be done through forgiveness. Forgiveness is not excusing or justifying or validating your feelings. Forgiveness is simply feeling with Love what you once felt with pain. When you love yourself, you remove your self-imposed labels of limitation. You detach from your dramas of misery. You silence the voices of condemnation. You discover your own I AM of Being. Overcoming ego doesn't have to mean getting rid of it.

Overcoming ego can be recognizing it as your servant rather than your master.