Insisting that you know more than God/dess and that you are right about it. . .
Perpetually telling Life that it should be exactly as you think it should be is arrogance your demand that something should be different.
While we would never say that we do that, we do in fact exhibit it by our actions, thoughts, and will. By getting tense when things aren't to our liking we create patterns from the relentless repetition of rejecting the perfect life we have been given to discover the unconditional joy, love, and freedom that is our Self. We thereby veil that truth from ourselves.
One could say that we are supercilious [soo-per-sil-ee-uhs]
im·ma·ture; not yet ripe & im·per·ti·nent: not showing proper respect
One common way we display our arrogance is by trying to change other people. Even an intellectual debate is usually us saying, “This is how you should understand things.”
If we’re quiet and watch, we notice that we generally try to change people by telling them how things should be. This doesn’t mean we should never have a discussion, but as we grow spiritually we find less need for that kind of talk. Let’s be busy truly trying to understand life rather than telling others what their life should be. Within thefield of freedom, everything is possible — but what is that energy creating? Is it creating freedom or bondage? The true act of humility and simplicity is to love the people we say we love to hold them in our hearts.
Perhaps it is us who should be different. Share the Love, Skip the Rest.
It is amazing that we cannot allow ourselves to trust the same power that holds galaxies together to also handle our little lives. And what’ s worse, we have the arrogance to believe we can manage better on our own.
Why are we so afraid of surrendering to God?
What is it that we are really surrendering?
Control, tensions, fears, illusions, individuality — you know. . . our ego.
But why wouldn’t we want to surrender all of those since they are what keep us bound and unable to recognize our own Divine Consciousness.
Surrender is ultimately the stillness of will — which is beyond the mere acceptance of God’s will. It is the celebration of God’s will as it expresses itself through us.
The capacity to live in and from simplicity is fundamental to being able to free ourselves and to allow Divine Presence to reveal Itself. When we find the stillness of simplicity, we can feel the incredible Presence that lies within — always there, just waiting for us to tune in to It.
The choice to live in the utter simplicity of God’s love is the first thing we must bring to our spiritual endeavor — although it’s usually the last. Our practice is to get deeply in contact with that love and less connected with the mountain of obstacles we have built in front of ourselves, which we perceive as a barrier to living in Divinity.
Mahatma Gandhi was invited to be a key speaker and to preside over an important congress in London, attended by people hoping to bring freedom to India. Hundreds of dignitaries from around the world were present.
Many people (although none of those attending the event) volunteered to do the cooking. They entered the underground cellar and kitchen of the building early in the day so that everything might be ready to lay the table at 7.30 p.m., for the dinner before the discussions.
At about 2 p.m., a small, thin, wiry man with a pleasant face joined them in work and was making himself very useful. He volunteered to wash the plates and clean the vegetables and did so with such gusto and willingness that they were only too willing to give him the joy of his performance.
Hours rolled on, and there was no abatement in the work turned out by this man. Later in the afternoon, when the main organizer of the event turned up in the kitchen, everyone came to know that the unannounced worker was Mr. Gandhi, the great man of India, who was, in fact, the honored guest/speaker of the evening function.
It took their breath away to see this great man, of whom they had heard so much, and to witness his utter humility and willingness to share in the work needed. Their attempts to dissuade him from his services did not prevail, for he continued his work well into the evening when he helped them set the tables and the plates, and serve the dinner that he had helped prepare.
At long last, only after hours of strenuous work, did he consent to sit at the head of the table and preside over the function.
My life is my message. ~ Mahatma Gandhi
The capacity to live in simplicity is the fruit of truly recognizing, through direct experience, the incredible effulgence and magnificence of God’ s own intelligence, and allowing it to express itself in and as our life. We are letting God show Himself through the life He has given to us — a life of unbounded joy and freedom.
Living an extraordinary life can be defined as gaining access to the Divine Power within us — feeling and being aware of the Divine at all times, as the pulsation that gives us life.
We must focus on living the life God gave us instead of the one we are always trying to fabricate. We have an amazing capacity to romanticize, fantasize, and believe our life is somewhere else.
Are we going to live in the drama and suffering we create or in the simplicity and unconditional joy available to us? We must recognize how incredible life is, as it is. When we constantly choose to focus on an imaginary “better” life, we deny ourselves the ability to experience what is right in front of us.
Our life is here, right now, every single day. Don’t miss it!
Only one who is humble can receive God’s full grace.
We should be humble in thought, word, and action. In India, we can see the carpenter touching his chisel reverentially before starting work, or musicians bowing down to their instruments before playing them.
While performing any action, we must not allow the thought that “I am doing it” to arise. We must cultivate the awareness that we are able to act purely by the strength that God has lent us. We must regard giving as worship.
God is the Consciousness dwelling within all beings. The sun does not need candlelight. The ultimate state is that in which we are able to see all beings as one loving and serving them selflessly. We reach this state through simplicity and humility.
There is humility within us. It is our true nature. But we generally do not try to consciously awaken it.
But “don’t worry, be happy”. . .
If we are reluctant to behave humbly, the liberating forces unfolding within us will create the opportunity for us to do so.
If you are talking more than listening and receiving what your teachers are transmitting to you, if you are just arguing, then you will likely continue to wonder in the cycle of samsara.
The magnificent power that creates the infinite expansion of the universe exists within us, and manifests in our lives as the wishto grow. Rudi said, “The wish to grow is the most powerful force within a human being.” We focus on the simplicity of our wish, on the sweet desire to know that God dwells within us as our Self. Our spiritual work is to consciously deepen our wish and, equally important, to always keep it in sight. The capacity to tune back in to our wish when we have lost it and can’t connect to it is the true test of that wish and the true fortification of it within us. We are all either consciously choosing to grow or we are unconsciously choosing not to grow.
Growing spiritually only happens through our conscious wish, effort, and surrender to Grace.
The experience we are having in our life is a reflection of the place we make contact with inside. We use our wish to drill through more superficial levels of contact, and to continue focusing within until we meet a place of complete clarity. This is the power of the wish and the simplicity of that power.
Arrogance becomes Humility and Simplicity
Humility & Simplicity
After doing the meditation of change, tune in to the felt-sense & living essence of Humility and Simplicity
Make a note describing the resonance of the experience. Wordsmith it to make sure it is a clear and concise articulation of the moment.
Create a flash card to remind you to find, enter into, and establish yourself there, moment by moment. (You might even make a copy and post it on your refrigerator door!)
NOTE TO SELF — Humility and Simplicity