Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

A proverb...

2009-12-03T19:00:00.000-08:00

"So often activism is based on what we are against, what we don't like, what we don't want. And yet we manifest what we focus on. And so we are manifesting yet ever more of what we don't want, what we don't like, what we want to change.

So for me, activism is about a spiritual practice as a way of life. And I realized I didn't climb the tree because I was angry at the corporations and the government; I climbed the tree because when I fell in love with the redwoods, I fell in love with the world. So it is my feeling of 'connection' that drives me, instead of my anger and

feelings of being disconnected."

-Julia Butterfly Hill

Practice

2009-12-03T18:58:00.000-08:00

Practice is a journey one takes to reach a goal. Like any journey, there are pitfalls with which one should be mindful in order to insure the destination is reached. Practice is not harmful in itself, but if misused or implemented unwisely, it can create problems for the practitioner.

Practice will bring an increased flow of energy into the practitioner's life, which will accentuate positive and negative qualities. The practitioner must use this opportunity to clearly examine oneself for emotional weaknesses, rather than soar into emotional dramatization. One must apply the practice techniques and mental attention necessary to transmute negative emotion into energy available for spiritual realization.

A practitioner may use the increased flow of energy to become over-zealous, rigid in focus or impatient with one's own progress. The results that occur from a steady and thorough building process are more likely to endure than the results of work done hastily and incompletely. Common sense and a balanced attitude will safeguard the practitioner from these difficulties.

Another pitfall may be that the practitioner becomes so involved in his/her inner, subjective world that s/he tends to withdraw from physical reality. As it is the goal to have a well-rounded expression and participation, one should balance this tendency by translating one's inner experience, ideas and visions into an outer expression of creative projects and activities of service.

Common sense offsets over-zealousness, fanatacism or a rigid focus, which often results in unnecessary physical, mental and emotional strain. A sense of balance affords patience with the process of Becoming and the satisfaction of completing each step or rung of the ladder before going on to the next. With steadiness, a solid foundation is built over time.

Ghostwriter

2009-12-02T19:02:00.000-08:00

The writer is only alive insofar as he writes. One day the words will fall away and all that’s left will be experience. The thoughts that propel the idea, the motion, the action, will cease and the being will emerge.

We really are puppeteers. We come into the body and we watch the world unfold before us. Thoughts arise from the apparent “I” and move the body in one direction, create an external action, and we watch the chain of events. Come to the front, be the body, be the action, and there are no words to hit the paper, only results.