Jim Palmer's Blog, page 40

The train you don’t want to ride

Imagine yourself being in a lovely and peaceful meadow, with a train full of thoughts and feelings and desires rolling by in the distance . . . Normally, as this train approaches you tend to become fascinated, drawn in some significant way, and you hop on board and get carried away . . . lost in thought.

But consider another possibility. Mindfulness allows you to see the train coming but have the presence of mind . . . to stay in the meadow! And whenever you get swept along by the train, as soon as you notice that, whoosh, you return immediately to the peaceful meadow, to the refuge of mindfulness.

It’s a simple and real as tomorrow’s sunrise

“Have you ever noticed that when you become fully present and alive to a sunrise – when everything else fades away and you just get lost in the rapture and enchantment of it – it becomes a doorway into something transcendent? Suddenly you are touching an unnamable peace and beauty. An indescribable feeling of freedom fills you, and a deep-seated contentedness washes through you like rain. Feelings of connectedness warmly radiate through every molecule of your being.

Your experience of that sunset points to the way things really are – peace, beauty, freedom, contentment, and connectedness. You have had these deep feelings before in the simplest moments. The deep feelings you felt in those moments were pointing you toward what is most real about this world and your life.

The sunrise happens every morning, with or without you, as well as that transcendent and unnameable reality it points to. There is nothing preventing you from enjoying it. You see it or you don’t, either way it is there. You can’t stop it, you can’t achieve it. It just is.”

Jim Palmer, Notes from (Over) the Edge

It’s today. Now what?

Inhabit your true Self today. See things as they truly are. See people as they really are. Be mindful of the suffering of those around you. Do what will aid the liberation of others today. Seek to do no harm. Be an expression of loving-kindness, compassion, and goodness. Do not look at others through eyes of judgment. See every person as your mother or father, son or daughter, sister or daughter. Honor your highest truth today. Be kind and compassionate with yourself. When you get off track, simply be aware and return to the life that is unfolding before you in that moment. Don’t complicate it. Respond to each situation today as it requires. Don’t become embroiled in drama. Realize that you are undisturbed, at peace, and full of joy in your true self.

Who says we can’t change that?

I hate you. You hate me.

We hate them. They hate us.

Aren’t we tired yet?

Support the We Believe Project here.

Below is the We Believe Declaration to change our national discourse, sentiments, and actions about the power of religious, spiritual, and philosophical diversity for good.

We believe…

Every person can fully embrace and follow their religious tradition, spiritual interests, or philosophical views without creating division, destruction, hostility, or hatred.

Every person can find a rationale and motivation within their religious tradition, spiritual interests, or philosophical views to be an instrument of goodness, peace, love, and compassion in the world, and affirm the inherent, equal, and unconditional worth of every human being.

Every person has the right to follow their own inner guidance in choosing their own religious, spiritual, or philosophical views and practices.

Every person can participate in a process of personal growth, self-actualization, and fulfillment of one’s highest beliefs and aspirations, and encourage the same for others.

Every person benefits when each of us follows our own unique inspiration for building a world that works for everyone.

All of us have something valuable to learn from each other, and that the future of our world rests in our willingness to work, play, live, grow, and be… together.

There is no “us” and “them”

There is no “us” and “them.” Whatever your religion, philosophy, color, ethnicity, language, or socio-economic class, we are all fundamentally the same. We all share basic needs for food, shelter, safety, and love. We all desire happiness and avoid suffering. Each of us has hopes, worries, dreams, and fears. Each of us wants the best for our family and loved ones. We all experience pain when we suffer loss, and joy when we achieve what we seek. Each of us share the same image, likeness, and being of God. Remember this as you walk the everyday paths of life. Don’t be fooled by the differences you notice on the surface. Look deeper, and see yourself in the other, and the other as yourself.

(photo by Darla Winn)

Breaking rules is good

7 Religious Rules to Consider Breaking:

Rule #1: Don’t cultivate friendships with people of different religions or spirituality.

Rule #2: Mistrust what you most deeply feel.



Rule #3: Limit your experience of God to the people, places and programs associated with institutional church.

Rule #4: Never question the underlying premises you’ve been taught about God.

Rule #5: Believe you need to be rescued from yourself and cured from your own badness.

Rule #6: Resign yourself to the idea that the big payoff happens after you die.

Rule #7: Make it about having correct theology rather than being love in the world.

Announcing a 21 Day Cohort Group

I’m passing along the information about a 21 Day Cohort Group I am facilitating. The details are below.

Notes from (Over) the Edge: 21 Day Cohort Group

Purpose:



To experience personal transformation through vigorous conversation, spiritual direction, and daily practice. The group experience builds off the content and themes from Notes from (Over) the Edge. Each group member should have read, is reading, or will be reading the book during the 21 day journey.

Process:

1. Jim will have a 60-minute spiritual direction call (phone or Skype) with each member before the 21 Day journey begins. The purpose of the call is to help each member personalize the 21 Day experience to where they are in their own spiritual journey and desires for growth and transformation.

2. There will also be an initial group cohort call for group members to get to know each other, and share their personal focus for the 21 day experience.

3. Jim will continue to have a weekly one-on-one spiritual direction call (phone or Skype) with each group member.

4. There will be a dedicated and private FB group page established for group postings and conversation.

5. Each member will be paired up with a cohort partner for additional conversation, sharing, support, and encouragement during the 21 days.

6. During the 21 days, each group member will receive a daily “Tap on the Shoulder” audio recording by Jim – a daily meditation/reflection, offering a spiritual context for that day of the journey.

Specifics:

The 21 Day Cohort includes: 4 60-minute spiritual direction calls with Jim; 1 group call; 21 audio meditation recordings by Jim; a dedicated and private Facebook group page; cohort partners. The total cost for the 21 Day Cohort Group is $250. The group is limited to six people. After the group of six people is established, the initial spiritual direction call with Jim and the group call will be scheduled, and the 21 days will begin after the completion of those calls. If you are interested in participating in the group, you can FB message me or email me at: nobody.jimpalmer@gmail.com

Your habit energy runs the show until…

The truth of who you are, and the truth of all things does not come and go or grow and fade based on your effort. These cannot be earned, gained, or attained. And yet, we need a practice by which to remember them, and walk in their reality. What is your practice today or this week? Of course it will differ from person to person. Each of us is unique. What is helpful for one may not be for another. It only matters that you have a practice that is useful for you.

There are a array of practices associated with all religions. In Christianity, the Sermon on the Mount, and particularly the Beatitudes, can offer guidance in terms of a daily practice. The same is true of the Noble Eightfold Path in Buddhism. There are many different meditative practices, and ways of mindfulness one can consider for their daily use.

One reason why have a daily practice is useful is because our lives are often dictated by a default habit energy. We habitually see ourselves and the world a certain way, and we respond and act accordingly. The mental paradigms, maps, and scripts that are driving our lives are not based in truth. Hence, a daily practice is an action to be mindful of the truth, and to re-condition yourself by it.

I discuss the above much more comprehensively in Notes from (Over) the Edge. I also broke down the content of the book in tiny sections so the content could be used as a daily practice. Consider getting a copy of the book, but don’t just “read it” – build a daily practice or mindfulness around what speaks to your spirit as truth.

Myth # 12: Jesus organized a church

“Often to their dismay, Jesus’s close friends found that he would not stay in one place long enough for them to consolidate interests and central beliefs or take steps to organize a movement. Jesus always moved on. In fact, one time his three closest friends had a revelation on a mountainside, and wanted to build some kind of structure or monument to capture and display the glory of Jesus. But Jesus, the incurable itinerant, would have none of it. As J.R.R. Tolkien wrote, “Not all who wander are lost.”

Jesus freely taught those whose hearts were open. Some of them followed Jesus and took up the truth he taught, and lived it for themselves. But it’s doubtful that Jesus ever took any steps to organize the church by ordaining twelve apostles, which is more closely aligned with the Old Testament tradition of the twelve tribes. Jesus was not involved in organizing the Christian church as the “new Israel,” an idea the Christian establishment fashioned after Jesus’s death. The whole notion of Jesus beginning a new hierarchy ruled by the chair of Saint Peter is a grave distortion of the whole character, life, and teaching of Jesus. Jesus’s central message was about the Kingdom of God, not the kingdom of men.”

- Jim Palmer, Notes from (Over) the Edge

A rationale for changing everything

What’s in it for us to build a world that works for everyone? Is it really worth our time and effort? Here are some considerations:

1. When we take up a way of being in the world such as love, compassion, and human solidarity, and we express these in tangible ways, we are consciously expanding our true Self or inner being in and through being human, which is why we are here. Conversely, acts of hatred, greed, division, and selfishness are denying our true inner being and we grow sick.

2. By replacing hatred, division, greed, and injustice with values that are more befitting our true Self and inner being, we are stretching toward experiencing all the possibilities of what this world and life could be for all of us together. It is likely that we are only scratching the surface on what our human reality could be because all the other stuff is getting in the way.

3. Being committed to building a world that works for everyone honors the deepest truth about ourselves and all things, which is the interconnected and interrelated nature of reality. When we act independently with indifference toward other humans or living things we are perpetuating the disease that is making us all sick.

(Photo by Darla Winn)