God's Sculpture Garden

I went for a lunchtime walk through a museum sculpture garden last week. It was a gorgeous day. 

(Aren’t all days gorgeous? I used to not be fond of rainy days and hot days. When I moved to Portland, Oregon, awhile back, I decided that I needed to fall in love with all weather. 

A reader of mine said to me a couple years back: “Mick, I really like your emails. A lot of it goes over my head, but I think I get the main point: be kind and compassionate to others and yourself.” I love that description. 

Shall we include all weather in our endeavor to be kind and compassionate? Yes.)

Back to the sculpture garden:

I looked at the first sculpture for a moment, then I turned my gaze to continue moving. I noticed leaf-shaped shadows on the stone path. I looked up and observed the large tree casting those shadows. I saw and heard kids talking during lunch a few steps up.

In literally every direction I looked and listened, I witnessed the beauty of the universe.

In every leaf. In every shadow. In every plant. In every sound. In the dust motes illuminated by the sun. In the sun’s light itself.

And the thought came to me, that while I walked that moment in the garden of sculptures made by humans, each moment of my life I’ve walked in God’s sculpture garden - the universe itself.

The deep beauty of humanity: our inner cares, our natural innocence, and the mean and cruel things we do to ourselves and others. Hunger for power, control, security, admiration, and wealth? They’re not only for the bad guys in stories. We each harbor them within our own hearts and actions.

Integrity, beauty, goodness, and holiness is the path of kindness, of compassion, of simplicity, of honesty, of gratitude. 

How am I cultivating kindness and compassion in my own life right now (outwardly and inwardly)? Perhaps there’s no other question I need ask, no other task as important.

Aren't children so quick to learn this lesson when we teach it to them? (“Truly I say to you, unless you change and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus in Matthew 18:3)

We walk, you and I, each moment of our lives through God’s sculpture garden. The spiritual life, as far as I've been able to discern so far, is the practice of being present to this truth.

The trees, birds, squirrels, grass, and clouds. The adults, children, strangers, friends, and family. No one is worthy of our judgment, resentment, and contempt, and everyone is worthy of our respect, compassion, and understanding. 

“Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear?” (Jesus in Mark 8:18.)

Much Love. ❤️

The Good, the Holy, and the Beautiful

Powerful passages I’ve read recently:

“Every loving thought you allow to be cultivated in the garden of your own mind extends the good, the holy, and the beautiful. Therefore, sing that song without ceasing.” The Way of the Heart

“The first way to develop presence is in living each day with great simplicity.” The Practice of the Presence of God

“An elephant will sooner fit into the swim trunks of a rat than God will fit into our notions of him.” The Song of the Bird

“The difference between reactive and responsive behavior is that reactive behavior adds fuel to the fire, whereas responsive behavior throws water on the flames.” The Presence Process

“True strength is being so open, so unshakable, that nothing disturbs your inner peace. If someone acts in a way that is hurtful or unkind, you can respond from clarity, not from defensiveness.” Wisdom Untethered (If you haven’t read Michael Singer’s work, start with Living Untethered.)

“We betray and disempower ourselves by inadvertently declaring we are enslaved by circumstances beyond our control.” The Presence Process

“Emotion is an opening to the heart. When we refuse an emotion, we are simply postponing life. Emotion is free of thought [and] of knowledge.” Let the Moon Be Free

“Every moment is as a doorway through which the good, the holy, and the beautiful can be expressed, as the cultivation of the consciousness through which the power to do so grows. Oh, beloved friends, those moments of your time are very precious! Do not look out upon the world thinking that it is just the same old world.” The Way of the Heart

Much Love. ❤️

The Sandbox of All Possibilities

“Know that you are merely a Child of God playing, without ceasing, in the sandbox of all possibilities called the Mind.” - The Way of the Heart

I’ve been reading an insightful and well-researched book about consciousness, and I’m wrapping up a chapter on conscious machines. Is it possible to create them? Is it even ethical to create them if we could? Is it ethical to destroy them?

We live in Eden. A planet thriving with life. It’s on the ocean floor, it’s on mountains, and it's everywhere in between. It even sprouts through our paved streets and sidewalks.

And we are surrounded by consciousness - in our neighbors, in our pets, in our friends, and in the birds of the sky. 

Daily we are giving to consciousness - our time, our thoughtfulness, our care. Daily we are destroying it - in our wars, in our selfishness, in our ignorance, and in our distraction.

And mostly, we’re simply ignoring it. Caught up in our own reactive thinking and feeling, mostly in some level of guardedness or defense. 

I look out and think I see a solid world with solid people, solid objects, and solid politics. 

I feel about those people and objects. I feel about those politics.

Our default, biological, inherited, and conditioned reaction is separation, distance, fear, disinterest. And it’s all impacted by the way I see the world. 

My seeing is largely created by my thinking. 

Before I open my eyes, what world do I expect to see? We mostly see the world we expect to see, one where we’re playing a life or death game to get ours, to keep ours, and my God to “make it.”

When I open my eyes, what world am I committed to seeing? One of pain, suffering, greed, hatred, destruction, struggle, and pessimism? Or one of peace, possibility, love, generosity, and optimism?

We don't perceive reality, we perceive our perspective of reality - our conscious and unconscious thinking.

What we perceive is communicated always. It's communicated in our feelings, it’s communicated in our personality, it’s communicated in our words and our choices. The world we perceive is communicated in our being. 

What world are you committed to seeing? It begins with your thinking.

I am committed to seeing a world that works for all life. A world where no one is worthy of my judgment or fear, and everyone is worthy of my Love, including all parts of myself. A world where all needs can be met, and perfect joy, perfect peace, and perfect love are available all, always.

Maybe there’s a world out there, or maybe I’m just in a simulated reality, a video game played by a “higher” being. Regardless, the infinite playground of the mind is available to me right now, and it’s up to me to choose what sorts of games I’ll play in that sandbox - we’re playing in it either way, whether we’re doing so intentionally or reactively.

So I commit to thinking less critically and more creatively. To thinking less analytically and more lovingly. To thinking less about the future and more about this moment - this perfect, beautiful, rare, and holy moment, a gift by Grace to this perfect, beautiful, rare, and holy life.

Much Love. ❤️