The paradox of humility is that we must love ourselves enough to hate the bad in ourselves. That is, we must embrace our own being and honor our life enough that we want to improve and to grow spiritually. The hard work necessary to realize our potential, and to attain contentment, we will only do for a self we love, even though at first we may seem not to deserve it. This change will prevent us from repeating our painful and regrettable mistakes.
Have you decided what you want to be when you grow up? Do you have in mind the kind of person you aspire to be? Is there an image of your perfected self that you cherish, no matter how difficult it may seem just now ever to attain it? Because how you characterize yourself is the true, fully realized you; all that remains is to rid ourselves of the things we are not. This is the true purpose of life. This is God’s will for us.
Thoughts arise in the subconscious, either by association with some inner memory or by the stimulus of the senses at the moment. The emotional tone of the subconscious gives character to the thought. If our subconscious mind is positive, optimistic, kind, the thoughts we entertain will be likewise. If we are fearful, regretful, angry, the texture of our thoughts — and the actions and expressions which follow them — will be poisonous to ourselves and our environment. Our ambition is to eliminate the negative in our subconscious minds.
The key is to maintain an openness, an awareness of the moment and of my surroundings. This is referred to as mindfulness. The unity of existence and infinite grace are there in the cup I sip from, the button I am fastening, the tying of my shoe. In that moment is all the grace and light I need; my difficulties only arise when I become distracted by things that are “outside” of my moment-to-moment awareness.
For us to live satisfying and purposeful lives it is necessary for us to train our minds; to choose our thoughts; to have our consciousness follow a planned path of constructive, positive, kind, and optimistic ideas. In order to get inspiration for those ideas we must find a teacher and a way to worship. The teacher will help us to understand what we worship: what is eternal and eternally good.
How can I truly believe?
If you believe in Truth — as opposed to believing only true things — then it is a small step to believing in God. Any absolute is simply a construct of the mind; if you believe that Love is an ideal that we can live by, you believe in God. God is that which is not subjective, but is evident in the nature of the universe from which we humans evolved, and into which we will one day evanesce.
God first. We are stubborn creatures, continually concerned with things, obstinate in our daily needs, blind in our own selfishness; and this is exactly what keeps the sunlight of the Spirit from reaching the interior soul, where the darkness of despair, fear and greed fester and grow. God first; true success is only this.
Try to experience consciousness itself as the pure gift of what it is… Free of thoughts, free from the narrative of yesterday or the plans for tomorrow, uncontaminated by fear of loss, free of neediness and of any limitation whatsoever. Pure mind. Consciousness is universal, and all who experience it do so universally. This is not only existence, it is awareness of existence. It is God acknowledging Itself.
It is ultimately a lonely road to spiritual awareness; finding God for each individual is a unique business. We start with the scriptures, thoughts, teachings, and traditions of the “elders,” of the saints, and of the institutions. We are guided by the words of Jesus Christ, as we are instructed by the Buddha perhaps. But Truth appears to each soul individually, reflecting his or her needs and desires and resulting in the transformation of each different person into an ever-perfecting version of God on earth.
The Kingdom of God is everywhere around us. Our spiritual life’s work is to see, feel, taste the reality of God in all we experience. This is a condition of being, a state of mind we achieve by daily conditioning through study, prayer and meditation.
Nick Hilton - Reflections 