UNIT 13
Turn the Other Cheek
The next time you are poised to judge or condemn another, pause a moment and let that person into your heart. Bless where you would condemn and be glad that you have not judged.
Feel the release that comes to you when you let another be free of your narrow perceptions.
When I told you to turn the other cheek, I instructed you to demonstrate to your brother that he could not hurt you. If he cannot hurt you, he cannot be guilty for his attack on you. And if he is not guilty, then he does not have to punish himself, nor do you have to punish him.
When you turn your cheek, you are not inviting your brother to hit you again. You are reminding him that there is no injury. You are telling him that you know that you cannot be unfairly treated.
You are demonstrating to him you know you are worthy and lovable in that moment. And knowing your worthiness, you cannot fail to see his.
The violations and trespasses of this world will end when you refuse to be a victim or a victimizer. Then you will step out of the circle of fear and all that you do and say will be filled with grace.
It seems that there are two worlds, but truly there is only one. Fear is but the lack of love. Scarcity is but the lack of abundance. Resentment is but the lack of gratitude.
Something cannot be lacking unless it was first present in abundance. Without presence, absence has no meaning.
This is like a children’s game of hide and seek. Someone has to hide first. Who will it be? Will it be you or me?
In truth, it matters not. When it is your turn, you will hide, and your brother will find you, as I found him. Everyone gets a turn to hide and everyone eventually is found.
The world of duality emanates from wholeness and to wholeness returns. What is joined separates and comes together again. This is a simple dance. It need not be fearful.
I invite you to enter the dance without taking yourself too seriously. None of you are professional dancers. But every one of you is capable of learning the steps.
True Reality
People who excel in the physical manifestation of their ideas learn to set realistic goals and to implement them in a flexible way, responding to the conditions at hand.
They try to swim with the current and not against it.
When conditions are right for something to happen, it will happen without great effort. When conditions are not right, even great effort will not succeed.
Moving with the flow of life requires a sensitivity to the conditions at hand. There are times to rest and retreat, and times to move energetically forward.
Knowing when to move and when not to move is a matter of common sense and intuition. Abstract thinking by itself cannot lead to true perception. It needs to be combined with emotional sensitivity.
Some people say that the inner reality determines the outer reality. Others say that the outer determines the inner. Both are true. The chicken wouldn’t be there without the egg nor the egg without the chicken.
Cause and effect are not linear and sequential. They manifest simultaneously. Not only does cause determine effect, but effect also determines cause. The chicken and the egg are simultaneous creations.
The true reality cannot be apprehended from a dualistic frame of reference. It includes both inner subjective reality and outer objective reality, as well as their mutual, spontaneous interplay.
The Dance of Life
If you want to understand the unconditional, look at the tree moving in the wind. The tree has deep roots and wide branches. It is fixed below, flexible above. It is a symbol of strength and surrender.
You can develop the same strength of character by moving flexibly with all the situations in your life. Stand tall and be rooted in the moment. Know your needs, but allow them to be met as life knows how.
Do not insist that your needs be met in a certain way. If you do, you will offer unnecessary resistance. The trunk of the tree snaps when it tries to stand against the wind.
Move with the wind. Your life is a dance. It is neither good nor bad. It is a movement, a continuum.
Your choice is a simple one. You can dance or not. Deciding not to dance will not remove you from the dance floor. The dance will continue, whether you accept it or not.
The dance will go on and you are part of it. There is a simple dignity in this. I encourage you to enjoy the simple grace of being alive.
II you are seeking a greater meaning in life, you will be disappointed. Beyond the dance, there is no meaning.
All conditions open to the unconditional. Simply be open and present, and you will fall into the arms of God. But resist even for a moment and you will get caught in a needless tangle of your own making.
Journaling Question
Have you learned to dance with life, or are you still resisting the flow?
When have you surrendered and let go? When you jumped into the river, did you sink or learn to swim?
UNIT 14
Living and Dying
into Truth
Your dignity lies in becoming fully human, fully receptive to your own needs and those of others.
Compassion comes not by cutting yourself off from the range of emotional experience, but by participating fully in it.
This world is both joyful and painful. It is a birthing place for the physical, emotional and mental bodies. Without pain, the mother would not expel the baby from the birth canal. And without the joy of the newborn life, the pain would have no meaning.
My experience here was no different than yours. I did not conquer pain. I surrendered to it. I did not overcome death. I went willingly through it.
I did not glorify the body, nor did I condemn it. I did not call this world heaven or hell, but I taught that both are of your own making.
I entered the dance of life as you have entered it, to grow in understanding and acceptance, to move from conditional love to the experience of love without conditions.
There is nothing that you have felt or experienced, dear brother and sister, that I have not tasted.
I know every desire and every fear, for I have lived through them all. And my release from them came through no special dispensation.
You see, I am no better dancer than you are. I simply offered my willingness to participate and to learn, and that is all that I ask of you.
Be willing. Participate. Feel everything. Open your arms to life and let your heart be touched. That is why you are here.
When the heart opens, it is filled with love. And its ability to give and receive is no longer based on anything external.
It gives without thought of return, and it receives, not for itself alone, but that others may experience the gift too.
The End of Separation
The laws of this world no longer limit the man or woman whose heart is open. And so miracles happen, not through any special activity, but merely as an extension of love itself.
Miracles do not come from linear, sequential thinking. They cannot be planned. One cannot learn to perform them or to receive them. Miracles come spontaneously to the heart that has opened and the mind that has surrendered its need to control or to know.
For the Mind of God is innocent and All-Giving. It cannot withhold its supply from you, for you are part of it. It recognizes you as a parent looking upon its child. It looks upon you with steadfast love and affection.
The unconditional love of God surrounds you at all times. No matter how far you may feel from God, you are but one thought away.
In this moment, you are either listening to the voice of God or you are needlessly enmeshed in your own psychodrama.
Journaling Questions
Have you had an experience in which you no longer felt separate from God or from your brother?
Can you feel that God’s love supports you and have you learned to let go and let God?
Have you learned that to give love is to receive it?