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Courageous Loving

Mark on 3-1-2016
In terms of the Seth Teaching, and I suppose other methods, it is all just theory until you actually do it, until you practice, practice, practice, as Seth suggests. And in this doing-ness, by the way, I am by no means an expert. I see myself as the messenger here, primarily. But I also acknowledge a responsibility to vet the material, to "trust but verify," another of Seth's postulates. Here I am attempting to draw attention to the elephant in the room with regards to spiritual practice.


You are the Practice
I am reminded of the story about the priest who comes across a man screaming at a homeless person to, "Get a job and stop sponging off the rest of us!" The priest asked the screamer if he couldn't show the fellow some Christian charity instead. The screamer said, "I AM a Christian, but I do not believe in charity."

Now, a more truthful reply might be, "I am a Christian, but I am not practicing currently. I am taking some time off to abuse this homeless guy." And so it goes...

Awakening
My point here, is that the search for Spirit and the finding of Spirit occurs in the moment. So the desire to reach Nirvana, Enlightenment and the White Light, as some sort of end state, is futile. All that matters is what we are doing NOW. In other words, if we are not Loving NOW, we are not practicing. If we are not Courageously creating our realities NOW, we are not practicing. If we are angry and afraid NOW, we are not practicing.

And so it follows, if we are not practicing NOW we are not Awakening NOW. Indeed, we may still be wrestling with the Ego/Intellect NOW over some innocuous notion that does not serve us in any way whatsoever, other than as a distraction from what truly matters.

Making the Metaphysical Physical
Seth puts it this way: "Through your self-created practices you are grounding the etheric; you are making the spiritual into the actual." And the metaphysical, etheric and spiritual energy that we are making physical through our practice is Loving Understanding and Courage. These altared states are the keys to the Awakened State, says Seth. Through our practices we are bringing Love down to Earth, Courageously, and without a hint of ego. Again, this is the theory ladies and gentlemen.

Courage
I can tell you honestly that courage is not my strong suit. It does not exactly come naturally to me, though it is something I am learning. I can say that it is a great deal more enjoyable than the fear and terror that we are force-fed daily in our culture. It can be, in fact, the antidote to this dis-information stream.

It just occurs to me now that this tendency of mine to divert my attention from matters of the utmost importance to the mundane matters of the ego, is similar to the tendency of governments and the media to distract all of us from important matters, by forcing us to focus on the trivial and the cheap entertainments of our popular society. You may quote me on that one.

Loving Understanding
I also honestly believe that Loving is not necessarily something that comes naturally to everyone. Particularly, the Loving Understanding that Seth talks about, is something that must be learned, cultivated and mastered. Yes, it is easy to love our friends and family and our lovers and our pets. But what about love of The Other in general terms? That takes practice, practice, practice....

Earth is the Crucible
Those of you who have read the books know that Seth has stated many times that the purpose of humans incarnating on Earth is to directly experience the Negative. That's what Earth is for, apparently: it is a proving ground for human consciousness to make Love out of anger and fear. The Third Dimension is a type of crucible, in which the Higher Consciousness of Love and Courage is forged out of the Negative Energies.

Making the Attempt
Of course we have to have a sense of humor about this, I think. As we struggle to improve ourselves, we can have fun along the way. Indeed, I believe that through invoking a state of Good Humor constantly in our practice of creating Medicine out of Poison, we can enjoy the Path intensely. It is very satisfying, and even fun, to at least occasionally succeed in Courageous Loving. Every effort, every redirection of will, each moment we are successful in creating Love rather than it's antagonists, is an accomplishment worthy of celebration. Talk to you later...