In Yoke

As I have perused many treatises regarding the Christ, it is obvious to me that Jesus teaching was centered on three core principles. As I have digested His message, I come back to the three pillars of Jesus' teaching. They are: Kenosis - (letting go, non-clinging) Abundance - ( “I have come that they might have life abundant”) Singleness - (oneness of heart) From Mark 12:28-31: “One of the religion scholars came up. Hearing the lively exchanges of question and answer and seeing how sharp Jesus was in his answers, he put in his question: "Which is most important of all the commandments?" Jesus said, "The first in importance is, 'Listen, Israel: The Lord your God is one; so love the Lord God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence and energy.' And here is the second: 'Love others as well as you love yourself.' There is no other commandment that ranks with these." Love the Lord your God with all your passion & prayer, inte...

The wine of life is oozing drop by drop, The leaves of life are falling one by one.   – Omar Khayyam Easwaran muses: Like leaves, we come into this life, are here for a few days, and then are gone. Nobody remembers us, and nobody misses us. As long as we believe that we are separate, we inevitably have to die. Our immortality is in the whole, which never dies. In living just for personal profit and pleasure, no matter under what philosophical name we may call it, our real personality withers away. It cannot be otherwise. When you become aware that you are not a leaf but the tree , something amazing happens in your life: you are able to act spontaneously, almost effortlessly, for the good of all. This is the proof of your awareness that you are the tree: everywhere it will motivate you, everywhere you will see what contribution you can make. You won’t have to deliberate the pros and cons. You won’t need a computer to provide you with a plan of action. You will kn...

A seeker once asked Bayazid: “Who is the true Prince?” “The man who cannot choose,” said Bayazid: “the man for whom God’s choice is the only possible choice.”   – Bayazid al-Bistami The Lord is extending the gift of Eternal Life, Abundant Life to each of us, but we do not reach out to take it because we are holding a few pennies in our hands. Have you seen infants in this dilemma? ... it happens at a particular stage of development, when they have learned to grasp but not quite mastered letting go. They have a rattle in one hand; you offer them a toothbrush, and for a while they just look back and forth at the toothbrush, then the rattle, then the toothbrush again. You can almost see the grey matter working: “I want that toothbrush, but how can I take it? My hand is already full.” Similarly, all of us look at the Lord’s gift of abundant life for a long while, asking “What is this? How do I know it’s real? Give it to me first; then I’ll let the pennies go.” The Lord patien...

"You are what you believe." -Anton Chekhov You are what the deep faith of your heart is. If you believe that money is going to make you happy, then you will go after money. If you believe that pleasure will make you happy, you will go after pleasure. Because, "as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," not as he thinketh  in his head.  There is a vast distance from the head to the heart.  In the Greek and Russian Orthodox traditions, they say that whatever  spiritual knowledge you have in your head must be brought down into your heart.  This takes many, many years. ~ Easwaran Do you know this? For such a long time, from the age of say 14 to the age of 48, I placed my true faith in money to give me joy...to cause me to be happy. I am just now spiritually knowing this fact. When I decided on a career, at age 17, I set a goal to become a banker. My heart was focused on that goal. Nothing else took precedence. I was a Christian, sure, because that is what my surround...

My heart is like a garden, or so says the Master, Jesus, in Luke 8:1-15. The parable of the sower gives evidence of the organic nature of the sowing of seeds, some of the seeds of the world, some of the evil one(perhaps these are the same), some of the word of God. As I continue to consider this mystical Word of God, the Logos, which is not just the scriptural word, but the living Word or the living, active Spirit of Christ in my life, it is quite intriguing how this truth continues to burrow into my consciousness. Before my heart is really ready to receive the seed of the Word, my heart garden needs cultivation. This occurs over a gradual period of time. I know that the weeds begin to be pulled and cut out through a constant application of the prayer of Jesus--"not my will but Thy will be done". Also, I am convicted that an application of the scriptures to my mind and into the soil of my heart-helps to cut out the sprouts of the 'bad' seeds. You know, the word of ...

It is no little wisdom for you to keep yourself in silence and in good peace when evil words are spoken to you, and to turn your heart to God and not to be troubled with the judgment of others. -Thomas a Kempis Most of us appreciate praise, but it is disastrous to become dependent on it. If we are going to allow our security to be bolstered up by the praise, appreciation, and applause of others, we are done for. I have heard about a well-known movie star who goes to sleep at night with a tape of recorded applause playing. This is going to make him more and more insecure.  Why should we get agitated if someone ignores us? There are, after all, advantages to being ignored. We can go anywhere in freedom. Nobody recognizes us - how good it is! In life, there are occasions when we are ignored and sometimes forgotten. That is the time for us to remind ourselves, "Why do I need anybody's attention?" This attitude can be cultivated skillfully.  Even those of us who are the most s...

In yoke with Christ--it is a big universal church, of seekers... This is from a girl I do not know, named Kelly Ramsey, who is from Las Vegas, NV and wrote this testimony while in Swaziland, Africa. I think she has happened upon a deep truth, and she knew that she had. Random Thoughts…Finding God in the silence We had a day of silence this week. I loved it. 24hours, no talking, no iPod, no distractions, just me and God. (Yes, Dad, no kidding, I did not talk for 24 hours ☺) While I was at Alabanza last month, I was blessed to be able to sit with the Lord, a lot. He started to speak to me in a new way, through very vivid spiritual visions and illumination of scripture. I am reading the Bible, and it is like I am reading it for the first time. During my inner-healing time with 'Dini' - the Holy Spirit re-wrote my life for me, I saw it not with eyes that see into what is seen, but with my heart that was focused on the unseen, the eternal! My eyes were opened to an intimacy with Jes...

Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. --Matthew 13:12 This is a strange paradox, a little-known secret. Jesus isn't speaking of worldly goods. He is speaking of a very rare kind of treasure: the more you draw on it, the more you will have. For instance...The more patient you are with people, the more patience you will have. The more generous you are today, the more generosity you will have tomorrow. The more love you give, the more loving you become. The principle can be stated in the plainest of terms: if you are selfish with your love, the scant security you cling to will be battered by life. But if you give of yourself freely, your security will be unshakable. Your joy will be limitless. You will always have more to give.--Eswaran I see this mystery at work in all sorts of ways as I seek to become more open to the mind of Christ, and allow the Spirit to guide the way my heart is listening. W...