Well, I had my own little 'kicking'/'cat lady' (read dog man) kind of experience this morning. Having woken up to a beautifully serene and calm moment before rising for the day, I put the headphones in to listen to an audio book and take the dog for a morning walk.
At one point in the walk, I guided Herbie towards the side of the path to let a Family go by. Clearly they were walking their Daughter to her first day back at School. As I started to walk away, above my audio book I could hear someone shouting from behind. It was the Dad, shouting at me. He wasn't pleased!
'Are you going to just leave your Dog's shit there?' I turned around and he repeated the question, a bit louder...
I genuinely had not realised the dog had managed to take a dump in the short time I'd been guiding him to the side of the path. My immediate reaction was ' this guys got it wrong'. But as I walked back to him, I could tell. I was wrong.
So, I did the reasonable thing, I ignored the guys angry rant, calmly apologised, held out my hand as a means of calming the situation (he refused to accept an apology). I took out a poo bag from my back pocket, picked it up, thanked the guy for telling me.
I was gutted. I made a mistake. But the guy was intent on judging me to the extent he took a picture of me as he angrily walked away. I called out 'Have a good day bud', my tone might have been half sarcastic...
My normal reaction would be to be angry with the guy, angry with myself. Angry for him talking to me like that, angry for ruining my beautifully peaceful morning. Angry for being in confrontation. Angry that the guy took a picture of me. Angry that the guy doesn't know who the hell I am and clearly has gone away with a picture of some lazy scumbag who never cleans up after his dog. Angry at being angry. And immediately after, I guess I was.
But, I get it. Maybe normally I would dwell on it, get angry, get fearful of consequences, let it ruin my day. But actually, the lad was right. I'd have been disgusted if that happened in front of me. I would like to think I would have been a bit more measured in my response. I'd like to think I might have given the guy the benefit of the doubt, especially if he'd apologised and picked up the mess. I certainly wouldn't have felt the need to take a picture of the guy.
But also, maybe my response was what he needed. Maybe he was expecting an argument. Maybe he was expecting some kind of confrontation. Maybe a more calm and measured response was what he and I needed. Maybe I needed, in this peaceful moment, to be a bit more present...
Thank you for sharing this story Martin! It is so so hard to be in a challenging situation like that and just allow it to unfold as the Holy Spirit wills - I always want to be the good guy or the better guy or the healthy guy. But the truth is, I do not truly know what is needed in any moment. Being still and quiet and minimizing harm feels right but mostly it's about stepping back and getting out of the way. Even the aftermath - the story we tell later - belongs to the spirit and not the embodied self. Sometimes when I frame it that way I feel trapped - like it's such a narrow path! Who could possibly walk it?! And yet the work is to just be present, do the best I can, and let the spiritual chips fall where they fall, which they always do anyway. Thank you again for sharing - I'm glad you and Herbie had a good walk - and trust that all the parties (including those of us reading) are learning exactly what we need to learn!
Thank you for being here and sharing the path with us.
What intrigues me is the possible connection (or my perceived connection) between a deep internal experience (spiritual, peaceful, holy, whatever that is or you'd like to call it) and an increased chance of a material "response", in some form. Often, but not always this seems to be in the form of a 'negative' experience, or, more longer term a pre cursor to a period of depression or feeling low.
My beautiful and peaceful, pre walk, experience this morning was established around a morning meditation on letting thoughts and experience go, and allowing love to guide me and experience to flow through me. I've just started my second round of daily lessons (day 10 My thoughts do not mean anything)
Having spent some time in this peaceful, beautiful place, my morning walk routine was very different to how it would normally be. I'm pretty certain I was guided in a roundabout way for this particular experience to occur at a particular point in time. All indeed a story, but also a learning.
My fearful mind has come back to the experience throughout the day. 'What am I going to do if I bump into him again' 'What's he going to do with that photo he took and what kind of story is he going to weave around it'. As you say, the spiritual chips are going to fall wherever they are going to fall. I've been left with a feeling that it was a 'significant' experience. Whatever the case, I can fall back on 'My thoughts around this experience do not mean anything!
Well, from the strict perspective of the couse, with its emphasis on dualism, the body or material perspective is not related at all to the interior spiritual insight. The sense that it is IS the separation.
But I think your sense that the connection is "perceived" is pretty intuitive - so long as separation appears real to us, then the perceived connections will continue to matter and the Holy Spirit will use them to guide us to ever deeper insights, eventually cashing out in an acceptance of the mind and a gentle letting go of the body altogether.
So giving attention to the life appearing to us - and the way the outer reflects the inner and vice-versa - is good practice.
And, of course, we don't have to buy the course's dualistic premise. We are free to learn its an error!!
We all make mistakes... especially years ago, early in our spiritual journey or before we discovered it. It is for forgiveness - and forgiveness means forgetting. I do find sometimes the experiences continue to replay in my mind.... so I go through my forgiveness process once again.... and again! Eventually, they are forgotten. Thank-you God!
Your writing today resonated deeply within me. My relationship sphere is not limited to my human brothers and sisters but contain all living things, which helps me feel connected. At the same time those relationships condense to our shared essence of Love, natural and simple. You said it so well and I will carry those words with me....thank you.
You're welcome, April. Thank you for reading and being here. That interconnectedness with all living things - making us part of the family of life, which is both one and many, is a joy to behold and remember ourselves in 🙏🙏
Words are inadequate - thank you Sean for walking the earth with me at this time. Your 'remembering' and sharing your wisdom always touches me deeply and reminds me what to do next.
Your reasoning never ceases to educate me in my path going forward. Yesterday's lesson was 137, When I am healed, I am not healed alone. I thought it wise to go through the lessons a second time (because we all WANT to surmount the mountain sooner than later, I guess), anyway, I've saved everything you've written since I "found" you. Thank you, Sean.
You're welcome, Kim - I'm glad we share this path. And thank you for reminding me of 137 - it is such a beautiful example of our interconnectedness when it comes to healing. Truly we are in this together!
Thank you Sean. And yes, we have all felt the frustration of the ancient one looking for her cat when we are doing somerhing "important". And so we learn, or we don't. That yes, we are all in this together. In fact, we are eacb other, in all our sorrows and our joys. Thank you!
Sean, I so enjoyed this post. I affectionately dubbed it "Come for the cat; stay for salvation."
For the past year I have been going deeper on special vs. holy relationships in the Course.
First, I agree that the Course is about relationship. There are times on a spiritual path when we may choose to check out for a while and spend time alone, but, for me, the fullness of that time alone with God is only realized when we return to our brothers and sisters, extending love and helping others remember what we truly are together.
Judgment causes so much delay on the path. Had you stayed in a remorseful state about your response to the woman, you might have missed the wonderful lesson it has been. Every time you enter into a relationship, there is that holy "ping" and you remember anew how we are to show up for one another. That woman truly was a wonderful teacher whether she knew it or not.
Dear Sean, what a deep story and this touches on things that have been going on in my own life as well. Now why does this synchronicity not surprise me? This week I was writing, in a commentary to the members of my ACIM study group, very honestly about a friend of mine that passed away 8 years ago, but who still gives me such deep lessons today about my own ego traps. Much the same way as that old lady gave you valuable lessons about yourself and relationships. This is so meaningful and the wonderful old lady gave you a miracle actually because now this story is given to all of us as well. What a gift! Thanks so much Sean 🙏🏻🥰 Love, Valentine
You're welcome, Valentine. Thank you for sharing. Synchronicity is a great joy! And yes - that old woman was very much a miracle-worker, a teacher given to soften my stubbornness and self-centeredness. I am deeply grateful to her. Thank you again for sharing the path - we are in this together.
This relationship experience, is something only beginning to come into my awareness. Oh how I want that awareness to remain. Thank you Sean love to you today
You're welcome, Rebecca. Thank you for being here and for sharing. One of the lovely aspects of "God takes the last step" - so central to ACIM - is that I can let go of the timing of awakening. It's in God's hands. So my job is to just be as open and willing as possible - I want to prepare myself for God - be ready for God. We are always exactly where we need to be in the moment in order to learn how to lean away from fear into Love. Truly it is a gift.
I read this piece this morning and felt very moved by it. Then I got into my busy day -- and throughout it I felt a sense of peace. I mentioned to two family members, "Do you feel this peace today?" -- and they looked at me and smiled. Anyway, thank you for helping me find this peace. Many blessings.
Reading your post I had the loveliest experience of "immediate" being so immediate its the same as "inseparable" two words for the same thing ... thank you so much for your sharing
This is the whole of it, thank you (and thanks to my dog): It's true that I wish I could go back and replay that scene. But the truth is, that scene appeared and reappeared - and still appears and reappears - in every relationship I can find: there is a cry for love, and there is a response to that cry. Sometime I’m the crier and sometimes the responder. My ACIM practice is to let my cry and my response be “immediate, clear and natural.”
Well, I had my own little 'kicking'/'cat lady' (read dog man) kind of experience this morning. Having woken up to a beautifully serene and calm moment before rising for the day, I put the headphones in to listen to an audio book and take the dog for a morning walk.
At one point in the walk, I guided Herbie towards the side of the path to let a Family go by. Clearly they were walking their Daughter to her first day back at School. As I started to walk away, above my audio book I could hear someone shouting from behind. It was the Dad, shouting at me. He wasn't pleased!
'Are you going to just leave your Dog's shit there?' I turned around and he repeated the question, a bit louder...
I genuinely had not realised the dog had managed to take a dump in the short time I'd been guiding him to the side of the path. My immediate reaction was ' this guys got it wrong'. But as I walked back to him, I could tell. I was wrong.
So, I did the reasonable thing, I ignored the guys angry rant, calmly apologised, held out my hand as a means of calming the situation (he refused to accept an apology). I took out a poo bag from my back pocket, picked it up, thanked the guy for telling me.
I was gutted. I made a mistake. But the guy was intent on judging me to the extent he took a picture of me as he angrily walked away. I called out 'Have a good day bud', my tone might have been half sarcastic...
My normal reaction would be to be angry with the guy, angry with myself. Angry for him talking to me like that, angry for ruining my beautifully peaceful morning. Angry for being in confrontation. Angry that the guy took a picture of me. Angry that the guy doesn't know who the hell I am and clearly has gone away with a picture of some lazy scumbag who never cleans up after his dog. Angry at being angry. And immediately after, I guess I was.
But, I get it. Maybe normally I would dwell on it, get angry, get fearful of consequences, let it ruin my day. But actually, the lad was right. I'd have been disgusted if that happened in front of me. I would like to think I would have been a bit more measured in my response. I'd like to think I might have given the guy the benefit of the doubt, especially if he'd apologised and picked up the mess. I certainly wouldn't have felt the need to take a picture of the guy.
But also, maybe my response was what he needed. Maybe he was expecting an argument. Maybe he was expecting some kind of confrontation. Maybe a more calm and measured response was what he and I needed. Maybe I needed, in this peaceful moment, to be a bit more present...
Thank you for sharing this story Martin! It is so so hard to be in a challenging situation like that and just allow it to unfold as the Holy Spirit wills - I always want to be the good guy or the better guy or the healthy guy. But the truth is, I do not truly know what is needed in any moment. Being still and quiet and minimizing harm feels right but mostly it's about stepping back and getting out of the way. Even the aftermath - the story we tell later - belongs to the spirit and not the embodied self. Sometimes when I frame it that way I feel trapped - like it's such a narrow path! Who could possibly walk it?! And yet the work is to just be present, do the best I can, and let the spiritual chips fall where they fall, which they always do anyway. Thank you again for sharing - I'm glad you and Herbie had a good walk - and trust that all the parties (including those of us reading) are learning exactly what we need to learn!
Thank you for being here and sharing the path with us.
~ Sean
What intrigues me is the possible connection (or my perceived connection) between a deep internal experience (spiritual, peaceful, holy, whatever that is or you'd like to call it) and an increased chance of a material "response", in some form. Often, but not always this seems to be in the form of a 'negative' experience, or, more longer term a pre cursor to a period of depression or feeling low.
My beautiful and peaceful, pre walk, experience this morning was established around a morning meditation on letting thoughts and experience go, and allowing love to guide me and experience to flow through me. I've just started my second round of daily lessons (day 10 My thoughts do not mean anything)
Having spent some time in this peaceful, beautiful place, my morning walk routine was very different to how it would normally be. I'm pretty certain I was guided in a roundabout way for this particular experience to occur at a particular point in time. All indeed a story, but also a learning.
My fearful mind has come back to the experience throughout the day. 'What am I going to do if I bump into him again' 'What's he going to do with that photo he took and what kind of story is he going to weave around it'. As you say, the spiritual chips are going to fall wherever they are going to fall. I've been left with a feeling that it was a 'significant' experience. Whatever the case, I can fall back on 'My thoughts around this experience do not mean anything!
Well, from the strict perspective of the couse, with its emphasis on dualism, the body or material perspective is not related at all to the interior spiritual insight. The sense that it is IS the separation.
But I think your sense that the connection is "perceived" is pretty intuitive - so long as separation appears real to us, then the perceived connections will continue to matter and the Holy Spirit will use them to guide us to ever deeper insights, eventually cashing out in an acceptance of the mind and a gentle letting go of the body altogether.
So giving attention to the life appearing to us - and the way the outer reflects the inner and vice-versa - is good practice.
And, of course, we don't have to buy the course's dualistic premise. We are free to learn its an error!!
We all make mistakes... especially years ago, early in our spiritual journey or before we discovered it. It is for forgiveness - and forgiveness means forgetting. I do find sometimes the experiences continue to replay in my mind.... so I go through my forgiveness process once again.... and again! Eventually, they are forgotten. Thank-you God!
Thank you for sharing and being here, Robyn. God's mercy is a gift indeed 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Your writing today resonated deeply within me. My relationship sphere is not limited to my human brothers and sisters but contain all living things, which helps me feel connected. At the same time those relationships condense to our shared essence of Love, natural and simple. You said it so well and I will carry those words with me....thank you.
You're welcome, April. Thank you for reading and being here. That interconnectedness with all living things - making us part of the family of life, which is both one and many, is a joy to behold and remember ourselves in 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Words are inadequate - thank you Sean for walking the earth with me at this time. Your 'remembering' and sharing your wisdom always touches me deeply and reminds me what to do next.
You're welcome, Sandra. I'm grateful too 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Your reasoning never ceases to educate me in my path going forward. Yesterday's lesson was 137, When I am healed, I am not healed alone. I thought it wise to go through the lessons a second time (because we all WANT to surmount the mountain sooner than later, I guess), anyway, I've saved everything you've written since I "found" you. Thank you, Sean.
You're welcome, Kim - I'm glad we share this path. And thank you for reminding me of 137 - it is such a beautiful example of our interconnectedness when it comes to healing. Truly we are in this together!
~ Sean
Thank you Sean. And yes, we have all felt the frustration of the ancient one looking for her cat when we are doing somerhing "important". And so we learn, or we don't. That yes, we are all in this together. In fact, we are eacb other, in all our sorrows and our joys. Thank you!
🙏🙏
I loved reading this today Sean, you have a beautiful way of writing and expressing the truth of Love ❤️
Thanks for the kind words, Suzy - we are mirrors unto one another - I'm glad that we share this path 🙏🙏
~ Sean
A reason, a season, a lesson, or a blessing. Never a mistake. Wonderful read.
🙏🙏
Sean, I so enjoyed this post. I affectionately dubbed it "Come for the cat; stay for salvation."
For the past year I have been going deeper on special vs. holy relationships in the Course.
First, I agree that the Course is about relationship. There are times on a spiritual path when we may choose to check out for a while and spend time alone, but, for me, the fullness of that time alone with God is only realized when we return to our brothers and sisters, extending love and helping others remember what we truly are together.
Judgment causes so much delay on the path. Had you stayed in a remorseful state about your response to the woman, you might have missed the wonderful lesson it has been. Every time you enter into a relationship, there is that holy "ping" and you remember anew how we are to show up for one another. That woman truly was a wonderful teacher whether she knew it or not.
Thank you for another wonderful post.
Thank you Margaret 🙏🙏
~ Sean
Dear Sean, what a deep story and this touches on things that have been going on in my own life as well. Now why does this synchronicity not surprise me? This week I was writing, in a commentary to the members of my ACIM study group, very honestly about a friend of mine that passed away 8 years ago, but who still gives me such deep lessons today about my own ego traps. Much the same way as that old lady gave you valuable lessons about yourself and relationships. This is so meaningful and the wonderful old lady gave you a miracle actually because now this story is given to all of us as well. What a gift! Thanks so much Sean 🙏🏻🥰 Love, Valentine
You're welcome, Valentine. Thank you for sharing. Synchronicity is a great joy! And yes - that old woman was very much a miracle-worker, a teacher given to soften my stubbornness and self-centeredness. I am deeply grateful to her. Thank you again for sharing the path - we are in this together.
~ Sean
Absolutely Sean, it does feel that way! 🤗
This relationship experience, is something only beginning to come into my awareness. Oh how I want that awareness to remain. Thank you Sean love to you today
You're welcome, Rebecca. Thank you for being here and for sharing. One of the lovely aspects of "God takes the last step" - so central to ACIM - is that I can let go of the timing of awakening. It's in God's hands. So my job is to just be as open and willing as possible - I want to prepare myself for God - be ready for God. We are always exactly where we need to be in the moment in order to learn how to lean away from fear into Love. Truly it is a gift.
~ Sean
Dear Sean,
I read this piece this morning and felt very moved by it. Then I got into my busy day -- and throughout it I felt a sense of peace. I mentioned to two family members, "Do you feel this peace today?" -- and they looked at me and smiled. Anyway, thank you for helping me find this peace. Many blessings.
You're welcome, Margaret. I'm glad it was helpful. Thank you for reading and being here.
~ Sean
Reading your post I had the loveliest experience of "immediate" being so immediate its the same as "inseparable" two words for the same thing ... thank you so much for your sharing
Yes exactly! You're welcome, Amanda - thank you for being here.
~ Sean
I burst out laughing when you introduced us to the cat. Thank you.
You're welcome! :)
~ Sean
The one relationship, that idea, that truth has really made a difference for me. I’m glad to be give the opportunity to “choose again”
To everyone I offer happy dream
Thanks Sean
Thanks for being here, Mike . . . yes, the one relationship is very liberating - thank you for seeing it with me. I'm very grateful 🙏
~ Sean
This is the whole of it, thank you (and thanks to my dog): It's true that I wish I could go back and replay that scene. But the truth is, that scene appeared and reappeared - and still appears and reappears - in every relationship I can find: there is a cry for love, and there is a response to that cry. Sometime I’m the crier and sometimes the responder. My ACIM practice is to let my cry and my response be “immediate, clear and natural.”
Thanks are ALWAYS due to dogs :) Thank you for being here, Susan 🙏🙏
~ Sean