Tag: freedom

Call to Freedom

YouTube: Call to Freedom

Independence Day is a time when we celebrate our freedom as a nation and as individuals. Although everyone faces the occasional restrictive condition, and life in the land of the free is not without its challenges, it isn’t difficult to find many blessings to count living in a country like ours. The greatest oppression most of us face is the tyranny of our own thinking. Answering the call to freedom involves an examination of the internal dialogue that occupies our mind.

Jesus spoke of the truth that sets us free. He specifically named worry about the future and the fear of lack as two of the most debilitating conditions. The remedy he offered was the assurance that the Father knows our needs even before we pray for help. What does this mean? He was saying we need not live in constant worry and fear about the future or our material needs. We should focus instead on living each day, surrendering our worries and fears to the understanding that a greater good is now unfolding through every aspect of our experience.

The freedom you experience in your morning quiet time may evaporate in a cascade of worry by afternoon. Inner freedom requires presence of mind, a kind of mental and emotional situational awareness. Jesus talked about the foolish virgins who missed the wedding feast because they had no oil for their lamps. This is us, unprepared for an unanticipated challenge triggering a flareup of negative thought and emotion. We all succumb to negative surprises, but, like the ten wise virgins, our oil of mindfulness keeps us prepared. The moment we start our negative response, we catch it, and we say no to it.

We might attempt to achieve a state where we never worry or fear again. This is not realistic. The only time we can deal with the tyranny of our thinking is at this moment. Both the call to freedom and our answer to this call occur simultaneously. Freedom never stops calling and we never stop answering. The key is to be aware of how we are responding to this call.

Desire, Expression, Attraction

YouTube: Desire, Expression, Attraction

Much has been written about the so-called law of attraction. This usually involves techniques of setting one’s intention on a positive mental and emotional environment that will draw success and riches. On the other end of the scale, there are also spiritual disciplines that consider desire as a negative trap inside the maze of materiality. Expression, as we’ll consider it here, is often the piece that is overlooked.

Desire can be a two-edged sword, especially when it is disconnected from its spiritual source. In short, we desire more in life because our spiritual essence continually calls us to rise above restrictions we have accepted as normal to the human experience. At the root of all desire is our need for freedom. If we connect freedom with the acquisition of things, we may get the things but not the freedom. This is where expression comes into play.

Expression is the actual experience of the freedom we desire. Is it possible to experience freedom when there are material restrictions in place? This is the question we are challenged to answer. We are called to look beyond what we think of as material solutions to our desire for freedom, and we seek to experience freedom itself. We turn from material appearances and release attachment to specific outcomes until we express internally the freedom we desire. This inner experience and expression of freedom is the governing influence of the law of attraction.

We do not invoke the law of attraction. Like gravity, this law never ceases to operate. We work with gravity by achieving balance, setting objects of value in places they will not fall and break, and by putting aerodynamic wings on our airplanes for lift. We do not invoke the law of gravity; we cooperate. Likewise, we become internally that which will reflect externally as the types of conditions we desire. Freedom within attracts conditions of freedom without.

Desire should not be suppressed; it should be understood. At the root of all desire is the soul seeking greater expression. As we let the light of the soul shine, the natural law of attraction becomes our friend.     

The Attracting and Dissolving Action of Love

YouTube: The Attracting and Dissolving Action of Love

“Love draws to us that which is for our highest good and dissolves that which is not.”

J Douglas Bottorff

Week two in our Advent series addresses the spiritual resource of love. When we think of the attractive and dissolving action of love, it is good to put this idea into a specific perspective. Let’s think of love as we would think of the phenomenon known as sympathetic resonance. Let’s say we have a guitar sitting passively on a stand. On our synthesizer keyboard, we hold a sustaining A note. Soon the A string on the guitar will begin to vibrate. The notes above and below will remain passive.

When we make this statement, we are not really drawing or dissolving anything. All strings are still on the guitar. What we are affirming is a frequency, a level of expectation that enables us to see and experience the truth of our statement, and to tune in to the evidence that this is truly happening. If we say to this mountain, be cast into the sea, and do not doubt in our heart that this is so, we are establishing a specific frequency that prompts us to see the outworking in our life. This outworking may look different than we expect, which is why it is important to think of it as love in action. We are striking the A note, and we are setting the A string in motion.

Let’s change the metaphor a bit. You have a circumstance in your life that seems discordant. All the strings vibrate at once, a situation like that of an orchestra tuning before the performance. Affirming that love draws to you that which is for your highest good and dissolves that which is not is a way of silencing the chaos and beginning the performance.

We’re not rubbing a magic lamp. We are focusing on the truth of how love operates. We are becoming conscious that the greater good is now unfolding, while that which may be blocking this greater good (most likely some attitude) is now dissolving.