"As long as you live, keep learning how to
live." (Seneca)
Discernment is achieved by constantly learning
how to live by constantly learning how to love.
*
Journey's End:
All roads lead back to God... but all roads
are not the same nor do individuals travel along the roads in the same
way. Whether we realize it or not, all of us are seekers after truth
and each will come to truth in the way that is best for them.
Discernment is the art of having learned what love is and what it is
not.
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Love's Labor:
As we go through our many incarnations, we
explore love in all its aspects so that we can develop discernment
and understand what it means to love like God. Loving like God means
loving another for all that they are - the good and the bad - and
standing back to allow them to have their own experience.
*
Life's Lessons:
If we want to say to others "do this, don't do
that because..." it will make us feel better but it does not help the
person as much as we think. For when we are gone and we can no longer
steer loved ones through the pitfalls of life, we have left them ill
equipped to handle life on their own without us.
*
Soul's Learning:
It is much harder to stand back and to watch
loved ones stumble and fall, knowing that they must learn the lessons
of life as we have done... by true experience. Each soul must learn to
stand on their own and to develop their discernment the only way they
can - through success and failure, tragedy and triumph, mistakes, and
miracles. Think of how much love God has for all His children to stand
back and watch everyone make their own way through life.
*
True Empowerment:
One of the greatest acts of love we can do
for another is to show them how to be complete within themselves. As
the old adage goes: "Catch a fish for a person and you feed them for a
day but teach them to fish and you feed them for a lifetime." When we
empower others to fully enjoy their birthright as Divine Beings, we
pass on the flame of love others gave to us when they brought us into
our own power. One of the most powerful ways we can pass our love to
others is to help them to develop their own abilities of discernment.
"Discipline is founded upon liberty. Discipline
must necessarily be active." (Maria Montessori)
Discipline is the art of doing what you have to,
especially when you do not want to.
*
Ultimate Test:
If the Earth can with a warning label it would
be this: "Do not enter here unless you
are prepared to triumph over adversity".
Ironically, this is why most people come to the Earth: so that they
can see how they will measure up to its ultimate tests of discipline.
Yes: people come here to learn discipline.
*
Drill & Drill:
Yet discipline is a virtue that must be drilled
into people because humans in their natural state are slothful or lazy.
If you doubt this, just look around to see how many labor saving devices
there are. Cars save us from driving/moving, washers and dryers save us
from laundering, microwaves save us from cooking, and so on. They "save
us" time so that we can do other things, including being lazy.
*
Laziness:
When you think about it, the central problem of
human existence in the physical world is laziness and the only way to
overcome it is discipline.
Consider these Disciplines:
If not for the pleasures of sex, people
would not make the effort to procreate - it would be too much trouble.
If not for the need to eat and to shelter our bodies, we would not be
motivated to work - it would be too much trouble. In the process of
meeting our basic needs, we must learn some discipline even if it is
as little as applying for welfare. You get the idea!
*
Success=Discipline:
As we go through many past lives, we soon
see that success in any area of life is directly linked to our
discipline in pursuing it.
Consider NO Discipline:
Try running a winning army without the
discipline of academic and field training. Try running a prosperous
business without employee policies to enforce the disciplines of daily
attendance and the minimum achievement of work objectives. Try developing
spiritual discernment without discipline and see how soon the
"Dark Night of Soul"
will stop you. Do any of those things as you
will soon see how necessary the development of discipline is.
So if you are feeling lazy, try out some discipline:
it is good for the soul.
"Discretion is the better part of valor."
(Shakespeare)
Discretion is the art of living life by only
doing what is true, necessary, and kind each and every day.
Discretion is making the choice one thought, one word, and one deed
to do and be love.
*
True:
Discretion requires honesty and integrity.
Honesty is the bedrock of life while deceit is its' quicksand: all
lies are eventually uncovered and the truth will come out. Integrity
creates ease and flow in living while duplicity creates difficulty
and disorder: all this creates is bad karma. Honesty and integrity
both flow from discrimination in the positive sense: the ability and
awareness to choose between what is and what is not like love. When
you are solidly grounded in truth, your "bad karma" will be transmuted
into dharma, the joyful way of loving service.
*
Necessary:
Discretion requires diplomacy and wisdom,
especially when it comes to deciding when it is necessary for you
to speak and act. This means you should think carefully before you
speak. Listen closely to what others say with their words and to
what they mean by their actions. This means you should be certain
(as much as you can be) before you act. Act only when you can create
a positive outcome for the highest good of all concerned. This
means you should act only where you have power or authority and
"mind your own business" where you do not. This means you should
forgive yourself when your results have not measured up to your
intentions or expectations... and do the same for others.
*
Kind:
Discretion requires love and kindness. Love
is caring that is quiet, patient, and joyful. This means you should
allow others to express themselves without inhibiting them. If what
they have said or done is not like love, show them ways to be and do
what is like love. Kindness is caring that is helpful, supportive,
and practical. This means you should allow others to make mistakes
without criticism or condemnation. If they have erred, help them to
make amends with whatever time or resources you can spare. If what
they have said or done is not kind, show them by your example what
it is like to act with tolerance, compassion, and forgiveness.
*
Choice:
Discretion requires mindfulness that every
thought, word, and deed is a choice. Practicing discretion becomes
choosing love one thought, one word, and one deed at a time. Although
this is easier said than done, with time, practice, and focus,
discretion can be developed… and great karma right along with it.
"By annihilating the desires, you annihilate the
passions of the mind. Everyone without passions has within them no
principle of action nor motive to act." (C. Adrien)
Detachment is the art of letting the will of God
("Thy Will") become your own ("my will").
*
Detachment:
This is the desireless state Eastern religions
believe is Nirvana: the key to leaving this world behind us. Until we
connect with our perfection, we get drawn back into this world by the
attachments which imperfections create. So, because you are here, you
automatically have attachments that brought you here.
*
Next Stop:
To leave Earth, learn detachment. Detachment is
the art of letting the will of God ("Thy Will") become your own ("my
will"). For if the ultimate goal is to become a CoWorker with God,
that implies complete acceptance of and surrender to His Will.
Accepting God's Will is only possible when one detaches from their
own finite expectations to participate in the infinite manifestation
of the Divine Plan.
*
Personal Mastery:
When a Soul has mastered the "four D's" -
discernment, discipline, discretion, and detachment - it then that
one realizes they are spirit having a human experience and
not a human being having a spiritual experience.
*
No Illusions:
Reincarnation works to strip them of false
illusions so that they can see the perfection of their own creation
by God ("Self Realization") and how they have served/serve/will serve
the Divine Plan ("God Realization").
*
We Are They:
The evolved Soul knows that there is no "we" and
"they", no "friend" and "foe". There are only Divine sparks of God all
connected together yet separate, serving God and knowing His love. And
"We" are "they".
*
True Awareness:
Eventually you will have lived enough lives to
know that you have been here before. Then you will come to the place of
really knowing that each way of life contains within it a unique and
special gift of experience. In this way, you gradually develop the 360°
viewpoint on life that is necessary for you to become a fully realized
CoWorker with God in the unfolding majesty of His Creation.
"When we long for life without difficulties,
remind us that clear, sparkling diamonds are made from coal put under
pressure." (Peter Marshall)
There IS a purpose behind life's
hardships-adversities.
*
Real Life Tests:
Before we came into this life, we agreed to our
experiences (the people we will meet, the events we will experience, and
the situations we will encounter). The main reasons we agree to our
experiences is to make us a stronger and more resourceful individual.
Unfortunately, suffering tragedy-hardship is highly transformative (much
more so than experiencing pleasure). As the philosopher Nietzsche said,
"What does not kill us makes us stronger."
*
Tough Situations:
The Earth is a tough schoolhouse. There are
endless lessons: "man versus God" (when parents lose children, when
children lose parents, when one spouse loses another, etc), "man versus
man" (when one divorces, kills, rapes, robs, or commits crime against
another, etc), "man versus nature" (when there is earthquake, tsunami,
fire, flood, animal attacks, plant poisoning, pandemic, etc), "man
versus machines" (when there are accidents with automobiles, tools,
heavy equipment, etc), and "man versus self" (mental/emotional
illnesses, etc).
*
Adapt/Adjust:
When we are put under pressure with these tough
situations, we have no choice but to adapt and adjust to the situation.
When we lose loved ones, we must learn to live without them. When we are
harmed by others, we must learn to heal the wounds. When we suffer from
natural disaster or are injured by tools and machines, we must piece up
the pieces of our broken lives. When we are broken in body and mind, we
must seek healing, health, and wholeness.
*
Transformation:
The whole of all our life experiences is to
develop our spiritual muscles and to grow in love, joy, and awareness.
When we emerge from our "real life tests", we will be stronger because
we have been transformed by these tough experiences. The stronger we
get, the closer we become to being our Higher and Better Self and then
to being a fully realized CoWorker with God.
You're Dancin' With the Reaper
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