I’ve noticed over the years that people sometimes get up to share with me and say something along the lines of, “I always have questions.” But let’s consider that your destiny spiritually is to come to a place where you have no questions. And if you do have questions—which most of us do—then it’s like, “I have a child,” or “I have a dog,” or “I have an itch on my head.” There’s nothing to apologize for. It’s really important to come to peace and to come to terms with your experience.
The way some people relate to themselves has denial and avoidance in it, so if they have a certain thought or feeling, their process is, “No, I don’t,” or “I shouldn’t,” or “I can’t. I’m ashamed of that.” Instead, you can just look at it, and sometimes there’s nothing else to do. It can be really fast: “Okay. Saw it. Fine. Next. Pass.”
The other way is something like, “Well, I thought I was past it,” or “I shouldn’t have it,” or “A spiritual person doesn’t have thoughts like that.” That “should” condition comes in and wants to alter your experience.
Let’s consider that the way God processes it is that whatever is in the creation, God acknowledges, accepts, and loves. Whatever is in the creation. That would mean all of what you are, all of what every person is. So if it’s Hitler, then God accepts and loves Hitler.
“Well,” you might say, “how could God love such a person? That person’s not even a person! They’re some kind of evil being.” But is that real, or is that some way of looking at it that’s not really seeing all that’s going on?
So, you say, “Okay. Fine. Hitler. But I can’t deal with Attila the Hun,” or “I can’t deal with Barry Bonds.” It doesn’t matter what it is that you take exception to. If you do, I would call that problematic for you because you’re creating an unnecessary difficulty for yourself.
Coming back to people who share with me, I experience that sometimes they have an underlying feeling or thought that’s like, “The way I am is not okay so I need to be something other than the way I am in order to stand up and share with you. So I don’t really have a question, but I’ll claim I have a question or pretend I have a question. I’ll just make one up.” And, of course, the reality is, “Okay.” You say, “You mean it’s even okay if I pretend and I’m not being honest?”
Yes, that’s okay, too. It doesn’t mean I participate in it or I like it or prefer it that way. I still don’t like anchovies. Some people do. What are we going to do about this? It would be problematic to have some rule that says everybody has to like anchovies and to eat at least ten a day—raw. I don’t know if I’d make it.
It could be the other way: Nobody can have anchovies, and they are put to death if they do. There have been such things on the planet where people make arbitrary rules according to whatever self-importance they’re expressing in the moment that’s allowed to manifest itself. Who allows it? God allows it. And that’s what’s important to understand about yourself and about all of the creation. God is allowing it. And God is allowing it in perfection.
I regularly find that my mind doesn’t know how to conceive that. So then I make room for realizing that it’s just one more condition that if I’m not careful, then I get caught in my mind, which wants to have a convenient way to relate to this. So I’m going to tell myself something different from what my experience is, and I’m going to start altering and creating a separate reality inside of myself that I believe. So I have beliefs and images, but the reality is I’m not actually like that. That creates a schism and a weakness. It’s a house divided that falls. It’s a person who is not living in their integrity so their power is compromised, their abilities are compromised, their happiness and their well-being are compromised.
Why can somebody be so potent as a negative creator, a destroyer? That’s what they’re using with their abilities, and in some way it’s being allowed. I don’t want to be part of that because for me and my house, we serve the Lord. What’s that about? It’s a place of love and joy and caring for whoever comes in. But it’s also a place that’s acting in accordance with what that is. We don’t hurt one another here. In my house we don’t hurt.
So we turn our differences towards caring, understanding, and cooperating. And maybe we spend all day doing that. If we don’t finish, tomorrow we pick it up where we left off. So we’re constantly working on getting along, making it better than it was when we woke up this morning.
The world has a way of unraveling this, so there’s a rate where it comes apart and a rate where we pick it up and put it back together again. And it comes apart, and we put it back together again. This thing is relentless, but you have what it takes inside of you to meet the challenge that the world presents and to overcome it.
At some point you’re done, but that’s on God’s terms. You might ask, “When do I finish this world?” and God says, “When you’re finished.” And that will be self-evident because you’re no longer here and you don’t come back. The short version of that is, “Love this day,” so that when you complete with it, when you let it go as you must (because, if nothing else, midnight comes around), be in love and freedom towards it, including towards yourself and the state you find yourself in.
Sometimes that’s like this: “Well, today just unraveled. Everything I had planned didn’t happen, and a lot of things that I didn’t want to happen happened instead.” What kind of day is that? It’s the day the Lord made. It’s a glorious day. It just took place in the way it took place, different from what you imagined. What does that tell you about your imagination? It’s not the authority of your life. It’s not the authority of the truth of God. But it may be a witness, so don’t throw it away; in fact, you can’t anyway.
Just look at what you imagine, what you envision. Then ask yourself, “What is this? Is this something I relate to as who I am and something that inspires me? Or is this something that discourages me and disappoints me, robs me of my enthusiasm?” Whatever those things are, just take a look. If it’s a position you’ve taken that’s off, not working, have the wit to let it go.
The result is going to be that more and more you’re at peace with yourself, and more and more as you’re at peace with yourself, you’re at peace with everyone else and everything else.
Baruch Bashan.