We seek out a spiritual path for many personal reasons…to initiate change, experience peace of mind, become enlightened or discover our true purpose. I sum up these individual reasons under the singular category of a thirst for inner liberation…a yearning to be free from the tyranny of painful memories and messages wrapped in fear, limitation, inadequacy and insecurity.
Springtime and its accompanying celebrations of Lent, Passover, Good Friday and Easter are all windows of opportunity for ‘practicing the presence’ of God in conscious ways which invoke a greater idea to evolve in our lives. A mere few weeks ago, I stare out of my office and onto bare trees and barren flower bushes. Today the trees are fully adorned with their lush green leaves and the flowering buds are starting their emergence into brilliant, new aliveness. “For everything there is a season”…and this is the one where nature awakens in glorious bloom and rich diversity from its time of stasis. Equally, it is a season for us to awaken to a new dimensional expression of our infinite potential. With us, it is a choice…do I awaken or stay asleep?
I write this on the 23rd day of Lent and from Charles Fillmore’s book, “Keep a True Lent,” the study idea for the day is: The Idea! Yes, on Ash Wednesday, this nice Jewish, Religious Scientist decided to follow the practices suggested in Fillmore’s book as an impetus for spiritual growth and progressive unfoldment. I realized quite a while ago, that if I wasn’t constantly challenging and committing myself to a new course of studies and disciplines, I would quite humanly and naturally slip into the ‘status quo’ and I would fall asleep to expanded possibilities. This course of study dovetails on the 36th day, with the start of Passover..sometimes referred to as the “Season of Our Freedom.” Historically, Passover marks the Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt. Metaphorically, it speaks to our movement toward wholeness. It is about experiencing an interior shift from being enslaved and preoccupied with materiality and the human nature of life, to a new sense of perception that glimpses a life well lived in conscious awareness of and reliance upon Universal Harmony, Unity and Goodness. In other words, a life lived from the inside out, so that thoughts, feelings, choices and actions are spontaneous evolutions of an awareness of oneness with the Power and Presence of God.
And…the season continues to unspool in cycles. My inner ‘exodus’ from that which binds, into that which liberates, may create a time of ‘crucifixion.’ Not unlike the Christ, it is my time to cast off the ego’s garments of domination, manipulation, control and self-absorption. I decide to drop that aspect of my consciousness in exchange for picking up and moving into the embodiment of who and what I truly Am: God’s means to fulfill Its own idea of Itself through and by means of me. Which brings us to the ‘good news,’ to what follows the crucifying times and to what arises as the Resurrected Self we’ve always essentially been. Yes, it’s Easter and it’s the dawning of a bright and fresh new day, which becomes to us whatever we believe it to be. So, let us believe…
I Am the liberated Soul of Life Itself, revealing Its delight by experiencing Itself through and by means of me. I give thanks for where I’ve been, for outgrowing who I erroneously thought I was and for awakening to my evolutionary Self of unlimited creativity, love, intelligence, joy, peace and wholeness. I rise and shine in celebration and victorious triumph as who I Am and shall forever be…Perfect God, Perfect Self, Perfect Being, Perfect God in action. I celebrate all occasions by gratefully remembering…God Is, I Am, All Are…I Am, and that’s the way it really is!
Love and blessings galore,
Dr. Sue Rubin
* REMINDER: To explore more ideas on this topic, as they personally relate to your life, e-mail me at: revsue@verizon.net.