By Sharon Ray
O Divine Giver of Life, may I become a true recipient of Your cosmic healing forces, and then may I join You in helping others wherever I can.
– Norman Paulsen
Charity, the selfless act of loving and caring for others, grows as we grow. Charity, as Norman Paulsen put it, “is the nurturing nature of Divine Spirit!”
Sometimes I lay in bed, so warm and comfortable that I pray, “Oh God, thank You for this grace; please multiply it around the world to all those who need it.” I imagine God creating many miracles of love, making those sleeping on cold hard floors feel as warm and comfortable as I am in my bed.
God takes our prayers seriously. We have to be watchful for the moments when we are given the chance to participate in their fulfillment. This happened for me the day I drove into a parking lot in town. On the corner I saw a woman in a wheelchair, clearly homeless, and sheltering herself as best she could from the relentless, cold wind. I normally don’t approach the homeless, having some kind of fearfulness about doing so, but this day I wanted to break that in myself with this woman.
Looking into her beautiful blue eyes, I found out her name is “Elizabeth”. We became friends. She shyly inquired of me, “Could I ask you for a favor? It’s so cold at night, and I know it’s a luxury, but could you go into Ross and find out how much their pillows cost?” As I went to my car to get my purse in anticipation that I might be able to find the things she so needed, an intense compassion filled my heart and tears filled my eyes. I asked in wonder, “God, what have you done to me?”
I found a pillow and comforter set in pink, for about twenty bucks. As I stood in line it suddenly dawned on me: God had given me a chance to fulfill my prayer directly! Spirit is giving me the opportunity to help Elizabeth to be as warm and comfortable as I am in my own bed. Wow!
The nurturing nature of Divine Spirit comes forward in us as God opens our hearts along our journey to the realization that God lives equally in all of us. We rejoice in giving, feeling that the needs of others are as important as our own. Not only this, but there is the joy of serving the Divine Beloved when we serve others—we now understand Jesus’ words, “That which you do unto the least of these, you do unto Me.” God is serving God, through each of us.
Oh Divine Spirit, open my heart to serve You in all people. Through acts of charity, may I become the instrument of Your very heart.
By Sharon Ray
“Temper, temper, temper!” These are the words we used on the playground, way back when, to tease other kids who were very angry. I used to think that the words “temper” and “anger” meant the same thing, but actually the word temper is the root of the word “temperance,” which is defined by Dictionary.com as “moderation or self-restraint in action, statement, etc.; self-control.” So, as kids, we were actually saying, “Get a hold of yourself!” The process of tempering steel or glass makes it stronger. How can we make our characters stronger so that we no longer overindulge in intense, negative emotions? How can we build the virtue of temperance within ourselves?
Sunburst teaches that “restraint” is one of the words that defines temperance. If we look at it, anger, like all other unpleasant emotions, arises from a thought. Enlisting a good dose of compassion and forgiveness towards the perceived cause of our woes, if we then restrain our thoughts by guiding them back to the present moment, we can put an end to much suffering since much of it is NOT arising from something that is happening NOW.
When we are “in the now,” we create a temperate climate within ourselves. We are not tortured by past resentments and regrets, or future worries and trepidations. This is what the Buddha called “mindfulness” (mind-full-ness). We literally give the mind something to be full of other than the past or future—we give it the present moment. The senses can help bring us there.
We ask ourselves, “What am I hearing right now? What sounds do I detect?” or, “What sights do I see? What taste is in my mouth?” The key is to be aware of these things, to let the mind be busy with what’s going on now, and to stop its wandering.
Another powerful practice to help establish ourselves in the present moment and to create and maintain a temperate climate within, is to become aware of our breath and to describe what it is we are doing right now: “Breathing, I am driving, and I know I am driving,” or, “Breathing, I’m typing, and I know I’m typing.” This can apply to emotions also: “Breathing, I feel angry, and I know that I feel angry,” or, “Breathing, I feel happy, and I know that I feel happy.” The key here is to be awake to what is happening now, and this helps things from running amuck and keeps us on track. The practice is to identify with our awareness, not with the experience we are aware of. We are identifying with the awareness that tells us we’re angry, and not with the anger.
The wandering mind does not only wander into wonderful fantasies and pleasurable memories, the wandering mind wanders also into all the dark and painful places. So, the remedy is to temper the mind’s wanderings, transforming it into a mind that’s awake, awake to life here and now. The most wonderful thing about this practice is that what is right here right now is God, I Am That I Am. In that name God has given Itself, every word is in present tense, and in the present moment we can make our minds full of sensing for the presence of the Divine.
Meditation is one-pointed concentration on keeping the mind right here right now, or on the present Presence of God. What an immeasurably helpful tool! When combined with devotion, one’s life becomes ceaselessly connected to the divine Source, always right here right now, always full of peace, wisdom, and compassion. “I am breathing, and walking; I am sensing the presence of God.” What a wonderful respite from overindulging on thoughts about the past and the future.
Norman Paulsen, Sunburst’s founder wrote,
“I enlist you, Temperance, to become the captain of my actions.
Yes, I call you forth from deep within my castle, riding on your mount of deliverance.
You, among all the twelve knights of virtue, strengthen my will to decline the beckoning allure of overindulgence.”
Dear God, help me to temper and transform my wandering mind into a mind that is stable and established in Your presence here and now. Thank You for this abundant life where beauty is everywhere to be found and I truly have all that I need. You are my great Mother, my great Father, and I always want to be right here where You are.
By Sharon Ray
Sunburst offers surrender as one of the words that describes humility—surrender to the Divine. Who among us has not had those moments of excruciating pain and frustration over an unwanted situation that seems like it simply will not change? Those are the moments in which we can pick up and develop surrender to the Divine, dropping the story, the struggle, the fight, our resistance. Finally, we can just relaxing into what is. With this surrender comes the grace of peace, finally peace. There is nothing more to do. The war is won because the battle has ceased. Often, such letting go is followed by moments of tremendous grace, as if our resistance was a lock on the floodgate to Union with God.
We are taught to fight, to struggle, and to win. There is a place for that in human development, but at some point in our spiritual walk we begin to develop surrender, saying to the Divine, “Thy will, and not mine, be done.”
In the book, Cosmic Consciousness, is a detailed account, in her own words, of a woman’s experience of Illumination as it took place in the late 1800’s. It came upon her after a time of inner discontent, pain, and ultimately, surrender. She writes of this period in her life just before Illumination, “Something in life had been missed which it seemed ought to be there; depths in my own nature which had never been sounded; heights I could see, which had not been reached. The chasm between what I was and what I needed to be was deep and wide, but as this same incompleteness was obvious in the lives of others, it was accepted as my share in the common lot.” At this point, C.M.C. fell into a long physical illness which brought about her ultimate surrender.
She reported, “I had come to see that my need was greater even than I had thought. The pain and tension deep in the core and center of my being was so great that I felt as might some creature which had outgrown its shell, and yet could not escape…. The great tide swept on uncaring, pitiless, and strength gone, every resource exhausted, nothing remained but submission. So I said: There must be a reason for it, a purpose in it, even if I cannot grasp it. The Power in whose hands I am may do with me as it will! Meantime, with every internal sense, I searched for that principle, whatever it was, which would hold me when I let go. At last, subdued, with a curious, growing strength in my weakness, I let go of myself!”
This letting go, this surrender of herself, opened the floodgates of grace and she wrote about the immediate improvement of her condition, and of a surprising happiness that she began to enjoy. She describes what happened in the evening of that same great day. She said, “Perfect rest and peace and joy were everywhere, and, more strange than all, there came to me a sense as of some serene, magnetic presence—grand and all pervading…. Presently what seemed to be a swift, oncoming tidal wave of splendor and glory ineffable came down upon me, and I felt myself being enveloped, swallowed up…. Now came a period of rapture so intense that the universe stood still, as if amazed at the unutterable majesty of the spectacle! Only one in all the infinite universe! The All-loving, the Perfect One! The Perfect Wisdom, Truth, love and purity! …Then came the relaxation, the happy tears, the murmured, rapturous expressions. I was safe; I was on the great highway, the upward road….”
So, let us lovers of God fight the good fight. If we one day, however, see that we are fighting a losing battle, let us put all needs—ours and the needs of others—in the hands of the Almighty, resting finally, as did C.M.C., in the Everlasting Arms: “It was as if surrounding and touching me closely on all sides were the softest, downiest pillows. Lean in what directions I might there they were. A pillow or pillows which fitted every tired spot…. It was ‘the everlasting arms’. I was anchored at last!”
Dear God, help me to anchor in the truth that You have created all world; You fill all worlds; and YOU are the Savior in all worlds. I put all needs and outcomes in Your hands. I am the humble and surrendered servant of Your will. Show me the way, and I will walk it with all my might, doing Your will in this world, loving You with all my strength, body and mind, and loving others as my very own Self. Amen.
By Sharon Ray
We have just stepped into the time of year when the sun is in the sign of Sagittarius. The strength of this sign is the virtue of humility. When trying to understand and more deeply embody this virtue, one can make use of defining its opposite: pride. Pride says, “I’m better than you,” whereas, humility gives a person the true vision that every single human being has equal value because God lives in every heart!
Humility dissolves the conditioning that has taught us, “My level of education makes me superior;” or, “My financial status makes me superior.” Don’t forget, “My good looks make me superior;” and possibly the most outrageous, “My deep spirituality makes me superior.”
But love doesn’t WANT to be higher. Love wants to be joined together as one, like two hands with fingers interlaced.
Love and humility cannot be separated. Permeated with humility, one feels love and respect for every other person (and creature), and feels the desire to serve and uplift them. Gone is the sense of high and low, “me” and “them.” Arising is the sense of “us” and “we,” and of caring about others as much as we care about ourselves.
Selfishness begins to fall away, being replaced by compassion. A tender and shocking transformation takes place and we begin to see and feel that our needs are not more important than the needs of the person next to us. We are equal. Humility cuts the chains that bind us to a self-centered life, setting us free on the wings of love.
Jesus was a great teacher of humility by his personal example. He washed the feet of his disciples and taught them that they should also wash one another’s feet. He was teaching us to serve one another with love, and not to consider status in this world.
Humility is harmlessness, “Ahimsa” in Sanskrit. Jesus taught the importance of harmlessness and revealed that what we do to one another, for good or ill, we also do to Spirit, because Spirit lives in each and every heart.
Beloved God, help me to develop true humility in myself, recognizing the equality of every human being. May I see You in all lifeforms. Fill my heart with Your love so that I may embrace every person in a spirit of respect and service, truly and deeply caring about their welfare equally with my own. May the way I live my life be pleasing to You.
by Sharon Ray
“We come to the profound realization that the true path to liberation is to let go of everything.” Jack Kornfield
As we grow and change and evolve it is natural that our needs and our environment should change and evolve along with us, otherwise we are like a rose trying to bloom in the desert of the past. Our life is a reflection of what we value and, as what we value transforms, so does our life transform: our environment, our friends, and our activities. Sometimes these changes require a decision be made that says, “This doesn’t fit me anymore; it doesn’t describe me. I’m going to let it go and replace it with something better, something higher.”
It very often requires courage to let go, to detach. In fact, Sunburst teaches that detachment is one of the important words describing the virtue of courage. One of its opposites is grasping.
It takes courage to go into battle, but it also takes courage to walk away from the battlefield when we are called to stop fighting. An example is to let go of a relationship or an activity that no longer serves you. We grasp, clutching onto the hope that someone else or something else will change. We hold onto key people, places, and things because we are attached (sometimes addicted), and feel that we need them, that we won’t be happy without them, even if we are miserable with them.
Detachment is key on the spiritual path. It is difficult to go far without it—like trying to reach the top of Mount Everest but forgetting your water or your oxygen, or like trying to sail into outer space without dropping your booster rockets. Detachment is the ability to let go of every person, place, or thing that holds us back from progressing along the way. There are activities and people that, although they bring some pleasure or comfort in the moment, it is more destructive than constructive to have them in our lives. How can we detach so that we can move over onto the fast track in our spiritual life? After all, letting go leaves a void.
Filling that void with devotion is key. When we develop a love for God and a passion for God Union, where God becomes our mother, father, lover and best friend, our all-in-all, then little else is needed. “Become a spiritual alcoholic!” Yogananda said. This passion for God gives us the courage to do what we must do to live a healthy, serviceable life on the fast track to God. Devotion, in its ultimate form, gives us the ability to let go of everything, even of the small self we perceive ourselves to be, cleaving at last solely to the act of loving God.
God please empower me to let go of everything and everyone that is holding me back on the path homeward. I only want to see Your face. I only want to be with You. Make me a courageous Warrior of Light, strong in Your service. I am Yours, forevermore.
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” ~Winston Churchill
