LIVING OUR VALUES - RETURNING TO THE ROOTS Roots are hidden foundations, our support, our anchor when life hands us challenges and sometimes metaphorically pulls the carpet of the known and existential foundations from under our feet. The roots are the hidden foundations that, when life brings us to our knees or crossroads, it makes us either fall forward or stand up and take it step by step forward but never falling backwards. No matter how new or old and no matter how beautifully built and how many glitter and glamour it may be covered up with, all buildings require a solid foundation, if they are to remain standing. We all have invisible foundations too. Our bodies, our words and actions - the visible structures of our lives - have a subtle energy at the roots. Until we have examine the roots of our lives and the roots of human existence, we cannot begin to understand and change ourselves. To know ourselves truly we must return to the roots and the seeds of our lives. Our thoughts are our seeds. Our thoughts spring from our soul - that point of non-material energy that is eternal in form and identity. Our soul is the foundation of our consciousness. Just as the seed of a tree holds its images deep within, the soul holds within it the image of our personality, which we manifest through putting our thoughts into words and into actions. Dear friends, the soul in its essence is pure; it is our personalities that are broken. When we embark on a spiritual path to return to our original roots of purity of intention, living our purpose and to be a vessel of love, peace and transformation, we experience this original goodness and purity in our beings. When we experience this precious energy, we shift in consciousness and become love, peace and transformation from the center of our hearts and beings it creates a shift that leads to new insights, which give us confidence and hope for renewal. This is known as enlightenment, awakening or illumination of the self and is a magical place to love, live and lead from. When we return to our roots we also return to live the language of the soul, which is the energy of love, truth, peace and joy. Truth is our power and strength. Strength gives us an inner store of resources, which keeps us mentally, emotionally and spiritually healthy. Contentment is a great strength,which becomes part of who we are when we return to our roots when we live simply and honestly. Being content simply means that we have overcome useless desires and attachments - those things we cannot take with us when we die one day and our soul go back to the Divine. There is a simple truth that says that you can discern a persons truth from his/her level of contentment. Dear friends, how content are you at a root-level in your life? To develop inner strength we need honesty, which is different from truth. Many people wants to do the work of happiness, contentment and truth but never do the inner work of honesty first to go deep down to the roots to discover the weeds of untruths in their lives. Without doing the inner work of honesty the foundation will be brittle and unsustainable in our lives and in society. Living honestly means we practice truth in our daily lives and not just when it is convenient to suit our circumstances. Without honesty our illusions and ego rule us and the the greater our illusions and ego, the weaker we become over time in our truth, which is evident of the violence, war, crimes and corruption in the society we live in today and in our personal lives even though on the surface may looks so nicely sorted out. What an illusion of just existing and not living truth! Honesty focuses our attention on ourselves instead of others. If we are not honest, we do not use the knowledge we have to become wisdom and we do not look inside ourselves to find what needs to be changed. Where there is honesty, there is no laziness, no procrastination, no fear nor dependence. Laziness and fear make us attached to what is known and comfortable and where our ways of thinking are convenient and formula driven and not innovative, reflective or contemplative. Living from such a space we lack a deep desire to really change and the courage to face what needs to be faced to change. We lack the commitment to inner truth to enable our consciousness to rise to what is noble because it is addicted to our own familiar routines and our own little worlds of safety and inner control. That is being dead while living a live of just existing! Fear is only a lack of understanding and comes from being dependent. Sometimes we are simply just afraid of the unfamiliar but when we are honest with ourselves, we are willing to change because our security does not come from conditioning or societys norms; it comes from deep within ourselves. When we have truth coming from healthy roots in our lives, we know we cannot lose; we can only learn. The more we depend on our formula driven patterns of thinking, a specific person or a particular role, the greater is of our fear of loss. Security crested by dependence, is illusion especially in the day and age wherein we live today where there is very truth and loyalty where money is involved and very little job security. The reality is that anything external to ourselves can, at any time, be taken away from us. What will you do if you lose your health, your family,my our income, your wealth, your social place in society? What will your anchor be if you have nothing and nobody apart from yourself? If your anchor is not from within, linked to the divine, you will suffer and may give up or go into helplessness, depression, victimhood or even decide that this life is not for you. Dependence does not create a healthy relationship in our lives - it creates servitude. Another person or the many things we attach ourselves to cannot fulfill us absolutely. Dear friends, a relationship based on dependence has no truth in it, which is why we experience fear and discontentment. We overact and imagine the worst, and our troubles are exaggerated and thus manifested as a reality in our lives due to the force of energy we feed it. When we have inner strength and a solid foundation build on healthy roots, we keep things in perspective and can handle them more effectively no matter life hands to us. Always remember that laziness, procrastination, fear and dependence use the same vocabulary: I cannot, I dont know where, I dont understand, if only, if and when, maybe, sometimes, it is not me, why me?, tomorrow or next week - words we use to excuse ourselves or to post phone things or to rationalize things. This attitudes does not give us strength - it takes strength away from. Inner strength usually brings external power and the ability to bring thoughts into positive action. This power is never rough, forceful or based on domination but gentle and firm while not trampling over the feelings of other. It is Steward Leadership in action! It is powerful in its clarity of intentions, principles and boundaries. It is an inner power that is build on knowing who we are, who our Source is and the language of truth. Dear friends, dont fool yourself by the glitter and glamour that we have covered our brittle foundations with. Below that, it is still what it is: brittle foundations with shallow roots. No wonder people ask why they are repeating the same lesson over and over and many times just in a different form or intensity. We never go to the roots of the lessons nor the roots of our lives to uncover the seeds of the weeds and to pull them out with courage and commitment to ensure the health of the plant or the tree (ourselves and society). My dear friends, I have had some lessons many times over and over and I have asked many of the questions that may come up in you who have gone through tough tests and challenges in your life. Dont be fooled by the surface of the physical experiences. Acknowledge and observe it and go deeper to see what is happening on a spiritual level and what opportunity there is for personal transformation. Have the courage to go to the roots of the weeds and see what weeds are bringing up these experienced, face it and then pull them out. Any pain is as painful as the illusion may seem or as worthwhile as the truth may reveal...
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 01:38:23 +0000