Our Swinging Approach To Life
There is no other activity that contributes more to the negativity and suffering that a person experiences in this life than the inexplicable rush to swing like a pendulum through life. Opting to let the tides of opinion and emotion push you in one direction and then another, you quickly become oblivious to the movement. Even your heart conforms to the pace of this madness until it becomes the constant rhythm of your life.
Mindlessly allowing the world out there to punch your buttons pushes you into a reactive state, which is when your ego takes over.
Mindlessly allowing the world out there to punch your buttons pushes you into a reactive state, which is when your ego takes over.
You forget your true purpose, and I'm not just talking about your grand purpose. I'm speaking about the purpose of any activity in which you are involved. You lose sight of the positive aim of the activity. It becomes all about your winning the battle that you have unwittingly ignited within yourself. The energy you invest no longer has anything to do with the goals of the activity or organization to which you supposedly committed yourself.
The psychological pendulum becomes very apparent in organizations like churches. Because regular businesses involve salaried people, there are incentives to curb the swing of the pendulum by the employees. However, in volunteer organizations, it is a bit different. In churches in particular, there is an expectation by many that it is a place where the purpose is for them to be spiritually fed. Giving back through tithes or working on committees is not always seen as being part of the giving and receiving that is a natural part of the Universe. Instead, it is viewed as an offering with strings attached, and those strings are usually connected on one end to the egos of those individuals. Some use their strings to demand that others get in line behind their agendas or to dictate the use of the offerings. Some even go so far as to try and hold a church hostage during times of crisis, such as the transition to a new minister, by denying their financial support and/or attendance unless those in charge buckle under to their personal desires.
Actions such as these are opportunities. They are opportunities for the individuals to learn the lesson being offered by Spirit so that they can break down self-sorting buffers, the filters through which they are living their lives. These actions are also opportunities for the church itself to gather and target the positive energy in the church toward the spiritual growth of the church. The church body must recognize that it is just as important to be willing to let go of those in the church body who are acting like a cancer and let God direct the church to a higher place as it is when an individual is directed to focus on their oneness with God and let go of the belief that a cancer is in charge of their life.
As long as we try to fashion our lives around the swing of the pendulum, it is unlikely that we will ever experience the peace and harmony of expressing at our highest potential, whether we are talking about an individual or a church. We must allow the reactions of our lives to lessen because they weaken us. We must come to center and respond from that stillness, which will, in turn, flow into positive action, which strengthens us, giving us confidence and mastery over the purpose that lies before us.
The psychological pendulum becomes very apparent in organizations like churches. Because regular businesses involve salaried people, there are incentives to curb the swing of the pendulum by the employees. However, in volunteer organizations, it is a bit different. In churches in particular, there is an expectation by many that it is a place where the purpose is for them to be spiritually fed. Giving back through tithes or working on committees is not always seen as being part of the giving and receiving that is a natural part of the Universe. Instead, it is viewed as an offering with strings attached, and those strings are usually connected on one end to the egos of those individuals. Some use their strings to demand that others get in line behind their agendas or to dictate the use of the offerings. Some even go so far as to try and hold a church hostage during times of crisis, such as the transition to a new minister, by denying their financial support and/or attendance unless those in charge buckle under to their personal desires.
Actions such as these are opportunities. They are opportunities for the individuals to learn the lesson being offered by Spirit so that they can break down self-sorting buffers, the filters through which they are living their lives. These actions are also opportunities for the church itself to gather and target the positive energy in the church toward the spiritual growth of the church. The church body must recognize that it is just as important to be willing to let go of those in the church body who are acting like a cancer and let God direct the church to a higher place as it is when an individual is directed to focus on their oneness with God and let go of the belief that a cancer is in charge of their life.
As long as we try to fashion our lives around the swing of the pendulum, it is unlikely that we will ever experience the peace and harmony of expressing at our highest potential, whether we are talking about an individual or a church. We must allow the reactions of our lives to lessen because they weaken us. We must come to center and respond from that stillness, which will, in turn, flow into positive action, which strengthens us, giving us confidence and mastery over the purpose that lies before us.
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