Anti-mother Sunday

Did that get your attention? Sucker! You fell into my trap. I bet you thought I should not be so crass as to speak out against mothers. Aren't I supposed to be some sweetness and light spiritual blogger?

OK, so let's move on, now that you are awake.

Here is some stuff I read in the text for A Course in Miracles this morning (14.III):

• Peace abides in every mind that quietly accepts the plan God set for its Atonement, relinquishing its own. You know not of salvation, for you do not understand it. make no decisions about what it is or where it lies, but ask the Holy Spirit everything, and leave all decisions to His gentle counsel.
• The Holy Spirit knows that all salvation is escape from guilt. You have no other "enemy", and against this strange distortion of the purity of the Son of God the Holy Spirit is your only Friend.
• Let Him, therefore, by the only Guide...Forget Him not and He will make every decision for you, for your salvation and the peace of God in you.

For those who have not studied ACIM, I will mention that the Son of God is all of us, not just Jesus. The Son of God is wholly innocent and pure; and that we could feel guilty is the strange distortion mentioned above. And I suppose I should mention that in ACIM, Atonement does not mean payment for guilt but the undoing of what is not and never was true. If you want to know why I don't engage in spiritual conversations anymore, it is because the Holy Spirit is my only Friend, the one whose language I speak. I don't know anyone else who speaks ACIM language.

The marathon I am going in on may 30th in Canada is the National Capital Marathon, NCM. I got my hotel and airplane tickets and entered the race in January. With only 3 weeks left, a countdown has begun. For me it is sort of an internal countdown. I feel like I am counting down to more than a marathon, but to an end of one way of life and the start of another. I feel like I am drinking the dregs of one life while planting the seeds of another; but I must complete the tasks of this life before the next can start.

Whatever, I feel a call to continue my efforts to focus on spirit. I am letting go of the ego delusion and accepting spirit as the only reality.

This morning, I ordered a new Nordic-Trac Pro skier. I used to have one of these before I went to the monastery and had many enjoyable hours of aerobics without impact on it. I have wanted to get one more piece of exercise equipment for over a month, but couldn't bear the thought of having an elliptical as they are so big. Only yesterday, my memory dredged up the Nordic-trak memory. It is evidence of a growing change in my fitness activities.

It may look like I am giving up running. But I have a theory that ultra-marathons are built on endurance and fitness for many hours, not just running. So I am gearing up for that. As well, I read bits of the ACIM text while I am on my machines because I have written out over a hundred index cards. I exercise more than once a day, often in the extreme early morning. I want to complete my own personal ultra events in the privacy of my apartment.

I read several chapters of the Quran last night. I am very impressed with the translation I have. It may not please an Arabic speaker, but it is a sincere attempt to share a holy text with people who can't read the original. I have read several translations of the Bible and I studied it almost exclusively for 20 years. I have read Christian texts not included in the Bible. Recently I have also read the Bhagavad Gita (I never can spell it right) and the Upanishads (Hindu), and a few Sutras (Buddhism). Of everything I have read, the Bible is the least inspiring. Between ACIM and the Bible, relatively speaking on an enlightenment scale, the Quran rests as a true call to God.

Being a solitary, without social or familial bondage, I am free to follow the Holy Spirit exclusively. Devoting my life to God alone is the heart of any pre-religious-ized spiritual text. All holy men and women have found this immutable Presence and surrendered entirely to it. Essentially, the Tao and the Ohm are fundamental existential expressions for That Presence which is the only reality.

I want to make something unusual out of my life; not extraordinary but nevertheless strange. It is not to be bought. It is not to be a promotion. It is to be conjured or created out of thin air.

At one time, I thought success at business would bring such a life. Then I thought Harley Davidson or the Church would bring it. Then I thought meditation alone could trick the planets into sending it. As I rest in the quiet of my life, I realize that I am able to know I exist totally in The Presence.

Now I know I will run; but not on a road. I will run in light.