“I am an overcomer through Christ in me.”
It is in the observing and letting go that we become able to receive. We live life fully when we are able to let go of what we think we need in order to be happy and fulfilled. “Go with the flow,” as Eric Butterworth says is an intention to allow our minds to become clear so that we may be lifted by the swirling energies of Spirit. Whatever spiritual practice you engage in, unless you are present with it, you are going through the motions and not aware of the subtle healing energies restoring our form. It is interesting that we call it a spiritual practice, when in truth being present in any and every aspect of life is the practice. Like Brother Lawrence peeling potatoes, his awareness shifted into realizing the process within and surrounding all life is precious. Life calls us to transcend our thoughts and feelings, come to our senses and awaken to the interconnection so we can see ourselves as a part of that which moves in and through all form.
Roy Eugene Davis died last week. He was a great spiritual master who founded the Center for Spiritual Awareness in the northeast Georgia mountains. Dave and I went there for a four day retreat one year and as we drove, we got lost and pulled into a gas station where we asked a guy at the pump if he knew where the Center for Spiritual Awareness was. He said Center for what? We asked another who told us we missed the turn off for it four miles back.
The Center for Spiritual Awareness is a center of enlightenment based on the Kriya Yoga tradition; Mr. Davis was a disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda. He writes in Life without limitations, “so long as we falsely assume ourselves to be egocentric beings, we are in error and are under the spell of illusion.” This false assumption about the nature of our being is referred to as the initial error of the intellect. This basic assumption is what we all must release and realize we cannot be separate from Source. We are in all things whether or not we know where the Center is.
When Dave and I lived in Fort Myers we frequented a center that offered Buddhist meditation and Nick, the teacher would start the session explaining that becoming clear and present to life was only a matter of skill. He recommended that if you could keep your mind clear while following your breath for nine inhalations and exhalations then you were making progress. Why nine times? He said anyone can do three yet nine cycles of breath, you are on your way to taking dominion of your mind.
Overcoming the world as Jesus mentions is about taking back your power and authority and using your mind, heart and actions consciously, creatively, realizing all that we do affects all that we are, which is everyone present or not.
Blessings, Rev Janice
