Yearning and growth

Yearning can be a very powerful experience.  Both yielding to yearning and resisting yearning can be uncomfortable.  That we yearn does not mean we must have, or do, that for which we yearn.  The prudent response to yearning is not to let it control us or overwhelm us.  It is not to let it compel us to any action we may think will make the discomfort of yearning go away.  Indeed, allowing yearning to determine our actions, let alone to eclipse our responsibility for our choices of action, can be like rewarding bad behavior: yielding to yearning often produces more yearning.

Yearning, as master, can cause much trouble, suffering, and regret.

The prudent response to yearning is to discover what it reveals that requires our attention.  It is a call of the spirit within each of us to consciousness.

Like temptation, which reveals our values, yearning reveals our wishes and our needs - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

Yearning, as teacher, leads us to learning and provides energy for the journey of Life.  It is a doorway to growth and, as such, welcome.

April 25, 2021

People are complex.  Each of us is complex – unique in our experience, particularly in our intuitions and in our dreams.  Our conscious selves are complex, but our whole selves are vastly more so.  Each of us is like a suite of six best, most intimate friends living together.  First, besides the conscious self, there is the autonomic nervous system, which keeps to itself but can’t be ignored because it keeps the lights on and the refrigerator stocked: it sustains Life – and can override the other roommates’ wishes.

More directly contributing to the conscious self’s perceptions and growth are four other roommates: the unconscious mind, memory, creativity, and that part of a holy Spirit – which may be no more and no less than Love – which is within every human being.  These four best, most intimate friends guide us, through our intuition and dreams, to healing, peace, and growth.

Whether and how we seek, pay attention to, apply, and share that guidance is our God-given right – and responsibility.

April 4, 2021

Who wants to have a vicarious relationship with the Holy Spirit?

I dare say no one does.

Everyone who seeks a relationship with the Holy Spirit naturally seeks their own, direct relationship.

To seek the Holy Spirit is inherently a private and personal endeavor.  To seek together, in this meeting or elsewhere, is to admit that we are seeking; that we do not know, or we seek to know more.  This morning I see an analogy in archaeology: one can dig alone and surely learn – including learning where digging is not productive.  But to dig as a team is more likely to be motivating, fun, and, by sharing techniques and findings, productive and fulfilling.  So it is here in Quaker Meeting: as each of us seeks to deepen their own relationship with the Holy Spirit, we gain support, we enjoy giving support, and we have more fun, learn more and are more deeply moved by seeking together.