Acts that proceed from your calm center
are always more effective than
acts that proceed from your
fear, guilt or anger.
~Alan Cohen~
As we enter the first week of June, we are hopefully celebrating the warm weather, leafing trees, flowers and plants that have come to help us awaken to the wonders of Life. This season of soul is that of restoration transformation and enlightenment for new ways of being and becoming. This all appears as we overcome the separation we may have experienced from difficult winters and failed springs. This season of soul invites us to engage the many opportunities we have for a new creation that's within us and flowing through us. Restoration is a product of the season!
Restoration is a means of getting back to the original blessing of what's been diminished or lost. We've all experienced separation that's disconnected us from what we love. We've also experienced failure and disappointment in small and large ways. We've lost our tempers, our joys, our civility, our stability, our possessions and even our faith. These separations and failures, however, can be opportunities for transformation and enlightenment. They can help us awaken to a transformative process of forgiveness, love and reconciliation when we choose to do so.
Retribution on the other hand is a reward and punishment strategy. It's connected to the original separation that comes from an either/or mindset. It's a judgement that distinguishes right from wrong depending on who's doing the judging. It uses the strategy of repression and oppression on oneself and others. The process here is punishment, judgement, blame, fragmentation and condemnation when we choose not to listen to the inner promptings of a higher level of Being. There's no healing and reconciliation here; just crime, judgement and punishment.
Guilt, fear and anger are on the lower end of the map of the scale of consciousness - see David R. Hawkins M.D., Ph.D. - “Power vs. Force” - They register at a level of 30, 100 and 150 while grace, forgiveness, love and reconciliation register at a level of 250, 350 and 500 on a scale of 0 to 700. The difference here is stark and contrasting. When we use retribution on ourselves and others, we create alienation, disconnection, fear and aggression. When we use restoration, we create trust, acceptance and lovingness. Awakening to this awareness inspires us to seek higher ground.
As I woke up to the news today, I felt a heaviness, a disorientation and sadness. As is my custom, I opened my journal and began writing. "The trees rest gently in the stillness of the morning without a breeze to tease. The birds sing to greet the day while fires burn in the city streets and mothers mourn the loss of their children. Welcome to another season of soul filled with darkness and light." These words brought me to the above quote by Alan Cohen that speaks of a calm center within each of us that waits patiently to be accessed in love rather than proceeding into fear, guilt and anger.
It's our choice to proceed in thought, word and action either with retribution or restoration. It's a choice we make not only for our selves but for everyone and everything we see, hear, taste, touch, smell, know and don't know. Thoughts create things and they're filled with affirmation and condemnation, restoration and retribution, separation and unity, fear and love, despair and joy. The choice is ours every moment of every day and, in discovering this inner awareness, we can awaken to the inner soul that prompts us to consciously live the way of love, joy and peace!
Ponder how the experience of retribution might help you follow the restorative way. Give attention to your thoughts, words, and actions that flow from each.
Focus on the calm center in the depths of your Being. Cultivate this garden and enter into it daily for the next seven days. Breathe in the fragrance of the flowers, the humus of the soil, the songs of the birds. Awaken to the wonder that lives here and let it inform you.
As you notice your thoughts today, become aware of the retribution and the restoration that shows up. Become aware of the negative and positive energies they generate. Become aware of the differences and how your thoughts, words and deeds respond. Become aware of this season or soul that wants to guide you into the wonder of Love.
Blessings,
F. W. Rick Meyers+