May 29, 2007
The Ultimate Authority
Using Our Own Minds

To a certain degree, we rely on other people’s accounts of reality to inform us of the nature of the universe. For example, we can’t all be molecular physicists, but we can benefit from taking their findings to heart. In the same way, we often look to teachers, various leaders, and gurus to tell us about the path to enlightenment and the nature of the realm of spirit. While this input from experts is undeniably valuable, our own sense of the truth is ultimately the most important piece in processing the information we take in from external sources. In the end, we are the authorities in our own lives, and we have the final say on whether something generally held as true is true for us.

We need only take a brief look at history to remember that the religious, scientific, and political establishments that ruled the day were all wrong about something at some point in time. This is the beauty of learning, experiencing, and evolving. While we sometimes wish we could just let someone else decide for us what is real and true, this is clearly not a viable option. The good news in all this is that we can confidently devote ourselves to making up our own minds about reality, taking everything that is handed to us as truth with a grain of salt.

This does not mean that we discount the information we receive from outside sources. It simply means that we are vigilant enough to question it before we decide whether or not we agree with it. All the information we receive is useful in the process of helping us make up our own minds. As we allow ourselves to sit with the things we learn, measuring them alongside our own inner sense of the truth and our own experiences, we find that making up our minds is a joyful process of integration that grows us into stronger, smarter, more engaged human beings.

What do you think?

Our Guru asked us yesterday at meditation to ask ourselves .. what the attributes of love are, how can I be more loving, and what does it mean to be more loving. This is my humble response. The attributes of Love Patience, compassion, acceptance, tolerance, I can be more loving by beginning with myself; I must forgive myself first before I can ever consider forgiving others. If I truly forgive myself and love myself there is nothing else that I need to do. Loving others will then be automatic. I will not see the so called flaws in others; I will only see a person who needs to be loved by me at this very moment. We all talk about the lack of peace in this world, and we think, I can not heal the whole world all by myself so why try. ….. But if I create peace and love in my world then the people around me will share in that peace that I have created. If then only one person follows the same pattern and create peace in their world, just imagine how quickly this will become an epidemic. We can create peace in this world if we believe that we can! It will not happen overnight but anything that is worth while takes time to create. I go back to what I said in the beginning that I must start with myself first, to create peace and love I need to be peaceful and loving. If I do not hold a grudge or be petty or be unkind, then I am acting in a loving way. If I treat others the way that I would like to be treated then I am acting in a loving way. If I show compassion, acceptance and tolerance then I am acting in a loving way. In Loving service to God and Guru