RANTS FROM OBLIVION

A couple of weeks ago My sister in law Eileen and I were having, as we often do when we get together, a conversation regarding spiritual thoughts. The conversation basically concerned fear and it's paralyzing effect in relation to the effectiveness of prayer. The point I was trying to communicate, and these are from my humble beliefs and understandings bestowed thru grace, was how to pray effectively without invoking the scornful admonition of Jim Morrison's phrase, "You CANNOT petition the Lord with prayer!" (in fact, I read an interesting comment this morning on exactly the same concept where it was referred to as "preying on the Lord")
The understanding I've found was that fear interferes with healing and that only by putting yourself in a place where you know and feel yourself as being absorbed in God's totality, and THEN subsequently including the person you are praying for in that feeling/understanding/knowing universal reality, is the power of prayer positively engaged. These are difficult concepts to put into words and it was only after I left to go home did a couple of ways to explain this come to mind, which prompted the following email note to Eileen.


"By the way I really enjoyed our conversation at Terry's. Made me come away with a couple of understandings I had never seen before. Its so good to have someone to share these deeper realities with and to put them into words.
The big thing I saw as I was driving home was this: (I hope I can do this justice)

I realized that the question you asked about "personal" identity namely, do I believe that we carry our identity after life, was the spark.

Again, as we were saying Saturday, basically if you can feel (and KNOW) yourself as an integral hummin, buzzin, piece of the universe, there is a power which that establishes in your heart. When you can feel that what your are is totally one with the Complete Picture of all energy/love, then you realize that your personal identity - your Eileen-ness is so small in comparison to the vastness of eternal energy, that identity is truly inconsequential. THAT's when you "transcend your ego". You have no need for your "self" - you are inextricably connected to a much larger power source.
Its almost a "team" concept. As an example: when you look at a bucket of paint, you see the contents as many individual drops of paint. Well when a wall is painted, the individual drops actually form a "polymer" - all the particles combine in the paint and literally form one unit - a wall of paint.
To tie it back in: in terms of identity, it would be like a drop of paint insisting on maintaining itself as an individual drop. And it would insist on that because it doesn't have the capacity to see that it is already a part of the unity of the whole. And at the same time is asking who am I? How do I find what I am made of. And then by insisting on maintaining it's "drop-ness" it's missing out on the fact that it's already part of the much greater whole.
The interesting thing is that we already are part of that whole - always have been and always will be - we're all part of God - the wall - only much grander. And by being afraid to let go of our "drop-ness" we miss out on Feeling and Knowing the power of being part of the much greater picture. Even though we are already.
Its a sad concept, in a way, to cast off the identity of ourselves - we're so invested in developing that thru our lives. But the more we feel the power of being a part of God, the less significance the shell of who we are takes on.
So, no Eileen, I dont believe that our identity follows us thru eternity. Its a temporary beautiful opportunity to experience mortal life, but the beauty of the spirit is something we were before we attained our senses (And to edit/add as I post this blog, I believe we are NOW) and the beauty of the spirit is something I believe we'll be experiencing after we leave this corporal state. Of course, as you're in the process of a vibrant and moving life, these concepts are completely antithetical to the mind. Its as we face the reality of the future that embracing these feelings bring joy and comfort.
Luvya Eileen
God Bless,
Doc"

Another idea which I wanted to include in the email to Eileen, was a different take on the concept of the energy surrounding us. People consist of molecules of energy which are incapable of being seen by the human eye on a molecule by molecule basis. In the same way, the air which exists between us although consisting of the same basic molecular makeup, cannot be seen. These molecules are all essentially the same energy and I personally believe IS God. There is no differentiation between the air and objects and man - we are all composed of the same energy and I feel that this understanding is the foundation for which we can all KNOW that we are ONE. In the same way as a fish is incapable of understanding that the reality surrounding it is water, we are awash in our own inconceivable membrane. It seems to me it makes it simpler to understand being One with what God is.