The Path to Peace is through Non Judgment

Conflict is everywhere we turn in our world. Some of it comes in the form of cultures which have been fighting each other for a millennia or two. Other conflicts are between one race and another. Other conflicts are between socio-economic strata. And some are closer to home between family members and neighbors. No matter how big the conflict is, many of the parties involved, as well as the wider audience of observers, speak of wanting peace. The sides might even ask for cease fires or curfews or self-determined restraint to stop the conflict. Many of these solutions are merely short-term because although the conflict or violence needs to be resolved, what truly needs to be resolved is what is causing the conflict which is the underlying judgment of each other.  If we had less judgment for each other, we would have less conflict.

 

I am not saying we have to agree with other people’s positions or actions. I definitely believe we all need to stand in the truth of who we are and in our “self-evident” and “unalienable rights”. But if we could seek to understand the others’ position, seek to understand what fears cause them to take action, seek to understand what they believe their limitations are and why they feel the need to lash out or act out, we might start to see these others as who they are; Parents, children, loved ones, human beings with whom we have at our hearts the same spark of universal energy and universal love that they have. No one, no matter whether you agree with them or not, is not made up of the same universal energy that you are. No one, no matter whether you are in conflict with them or not, is not made up of the same universal energy that makes up the Milky Way. No one, whether you believe it or not, is not made up of the Divine Energy that runs through every blade of grass, every molecule of air or star dust, that also runs through you.

 

Please don’t think I am being naïve regarding the strife we see or that I am advocating wearing rose colored glasses or blinders. It is through non judgment that we start to see the similarities between us instead of the differences. Through non judgment, we see how we can pull together for the greater good with the mosaic of different ideas and strengths. It is through non judgment that we help to raise the frequency of the situation even when others may not want to pull together for the greater good.

   

Seeing the issues and discerning what is the right course of action for each of us is different than judging the people or the situation. The old saying about hate begetting more hate applies to judgment, too. Judgment only attracts more judgment. Judgment does not attract understanding. What we need now is more non judgment, more understanding and more discernment for the actions that will actually help a situation instead of inflaming it.

 

We need to seek understanding and non-judgment of ourselves and within ourselves. The more we heal ourselves of the racism, the sexism, the discrimination based on religion or economic status, the self-hatred and loathing that we may feel in places we don’t want to recognize within ourselves, the more we will be non-judgmental and loving to those who are struggling with the same issues but might be out picturing them in different ways than we are.

 

Peace is attainable, but at its heart is non judgment.

Scuba Diving with Archangel Michael

As dive buddies go, Archangel Michael is a pretty cool buddy to have!  

I was in my 40’s before I learned to scuba dive. My husband, Pat, was 11 when he first learned to dive. I could use the excuse that I was raised mostly in Kansas and therefore scuba diving wasn’t the first sporting activity on our list of weekend recreation! Whereas Pat was raised in Florida where spring, gulf and ocean diving is common place. Finally, at the ripe old age of 43, I was guided in meditation that it was time to learn to dive, not so much for the joy of diving, which of course, would be the result of learning to scuba dive, but in order to get over the fear of diving.  

I have written in other blog posts some of the things I have learned diving, but I never told the story of Scuba Diving with Archangel Michael! 

Unbeknownst to me, I was very frightened of breathing underwater. The fear was raised in me even prior to the sessions in the pool with full gear. Just reading the book and sitting in the classroom sessions was making me nervous. It doesn’t help that the classroom work, which is very necessary, is all about how not to harm yourself under water either by running out of air, getting too much nitrogen in your body, not breathing consistently enough so that your lungs over expand with the change in air pressure in the lungs or coming up from depth to quickly and over expanding your lungs. These are all just in the beginners’ course instructions. They were frightening enough to not even mention the more advanced “fears” of getting snagged on something and not being able to free yourself or getting so loopy mentally at depth due to nitrogen narcosis that you start to make unwise decisions that you haven’t encountered since your partying days in college.  

The stress of taking the class was starting to affect me physically. But, I had heard it was the highest plan to get over these fears and take the class, so I did.  

Now comes the pool work. We were learning how to use our gear properly in a regular swimming pool. I am short, but even I could stand in the four foot water and know there was no way I could drown. But, drowning was all I could think about. I continued to work energetically to clear and heal the memories of drowning in prior lives and the reason I had drowned in those lives. It was helping and I knew intuitively and intellectually that recognizing these fears and clearing them would be the only way to get over them. But I was still nervous. 

Then comes the weekend of the open water dive, which means you are in a lake, quarry, ocean or sea, where you will demonstrate certain skills like being able to take off your mask under water and then put it back on, clear the water and continue the dive. You do the same taking the regulator out of your mouth and recover from that situation to simulate if someone accidentally kicks the regulator out of your mouth. Again, all of these skills are to prepare you to not be surprised or frightened by anything going amiss.    

I learned to dive in Northern Virginia where the open water dive was in a quarry that had 10 feet visibility. The conditions were not conducive to someone who is already fearful becoming less fearful. Not being able to see underwater only further increases the isolationism of the fear. Unless you scuba dive with Archangel Michael!  

My instructor’s name was Mike. If finally dawned on me to look at him and imagine that he was Archangel Michael. I would be lying to you if I said that I had a miraculous transformation that day because of feeling the legions of guardian angels diving with me, but it did help to abate my fears and slowed my panic breathing down to a much more reasonable rate. I was able to perform all the skills necessary to complete the course and even performed an “extra” one. I had been so nervous that I bit through one of the little pieces on the mouth piece of the regulator while I was at depth. This was right before we were supposed to practice the skill of “running out of air and having to ascend but not ascend too quickly” due to the over expansion of the lungs upon ascension. I had to decide…hmmm floating piece of plastic in my mouth as I ascend while breathing out or take the piece out at depth and purge the mouth piece of the water. Prudence called for taking the piece out at depth. I did that and all was good. 

I know having the comfort of knowing Archangel Michael was with me really helped me learn to scuba dive.

My husband and I have a scuba dive trip coming up soon. I was talking with Archangel Michael to see if He wanted to go! He said He was more than happy to go scuba diving with me, but that I didn’t need Him anymore. I am confident enough with Who I AM, that I would be just fine and totally enjoy the trip whether He was with me or not. So, instead of relying on Archangel Michael for my comfort and protection, I will simply thank Him for all His help in the past and raise a glass of Australian wine to Him and to my instructor, Mike. Thanks, Mike and Michael. Namaste. 

 

Spoiler Alert!

Recently, I have watched two Sci-Fi movies where the protagonists’ memories are erased presumably for their own protection and so they wouldn’t worry about the ugliness that came as part of a global war or catastrophe. The two movies are the 2005 Michael Bay movie called The Island staring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson and the 2013 movie Oblivion starring Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman. The premise for both of the movies is that as long as you don’t question any of the thoughts that are encroaching on your dreams or your internal musings and just continue to live your life the way you believe you have always lived it, then you will get the reward of moving to a utopia of some sort.

Spoiler Alert – I am going to discuss some more of the plots so if you haven’t watched these yet…you know the drill!

In both the films, the societal structure the leading men find themselves in is very rigid and, although it manifests in different ways, are somewhat plentiful as long as you stay within the rules of the society.  The problem for both the leading men is that they start to remember things that would not be in their current reality. At a certain point neither are willing to take it on faith that the rules they are currently living by are the only possibilities for them. They are starting to remember who they truly are.

Both of these movies, while entertaining, are wonderful “seed plantings” for humanity to start to question the reality it finds itself in. Some people call this an awakening or that the veil between the “known” and “unknown” is becoming thinner. The Matrix series also had this as a theme, allowing us to explore the ideas of what if what we see in the outer world is the illusion and what we feel and understand on the inner world is our true reality.

There will be plenty of people who say that these films are just good story telling and interesting plot lines with the associated twists for the characters in order to sell tickets and DVDs. True. But what if, like good literature, we explore the ideas for ourselves and determine what is our own Truth? You don’t even need to take the exploration as far as I would – providing more fuel for my beliefs that we are all in a grand experiment. All I need to do is awaken from the illusion that I find myself in and follow my internal compass to rise above the experiences of limitations based on beliefs in retaliation and power over others. I want to use my internal wisdom to lift myself and hold the space for others to lift themselves out of the veil of uncertainty, shame, unworthiness and the false belief that we are separate from others and separate from The Divine.

For those for whom these ideas are a bridge too far, perhaps you might look to see where in your life you are acting like a clone of all those around you. Where are you not asking enough questions when you see the glitches in the program or when everything around you simply doesn’t reflect the truth you know to be inside you. This investigation might have you questioning the status quo and “same old same old” to come up with a better way forward, maybe even a more evolved way forward for you. Shake up the standard operating procedure to break out of the illusion of your melancholy or mediocrity. Break out of the illusion that it is ok to live in limitation now, because there is a promise of a utopia in the future. Raise your expectations now to open to the possibilities that the utopia isn’t in the future. Start to believe that you are capable of reaching the utopia of love for yourself and love for our fellow humans now. Don’t wait for a far off distant heaven, start to make steps to bring heaven here on earth now. Be willing to explore your internal world in order to bring more love and light to it and in turn to your outer experiences as well.

The real spoiler alert is that you don’t have to wait until the end of the movie to find the truth of who you are. You have known the plot twist and the character arc for you from the beginning of time. Recognize it. Own it. Remember Who You Are.

 

STANDING IN THE LIGHT® Classes in Fort Collins and Louisville, CO in July

Hi All,


Martha and I are teaching STANDING IN THE LIGHT® Classes in Fort Collins and Louisville, CO in July. For more information, check out our website at http://iamstandinginthelight.com/classes/ or email me at lori@iamstandinginthelight.com or Martha at Martha@iamstandinginthelight.com


Namaste.

STANDING IN THE LIGHT® Classes in Media, PA in November 2014

Hi All,


I will be teaching STANDING IN THE LIGHT® Level 1 Classes in Media, PA in November 2014. Parts 1 and 2 are on Nov 8 and 9. Parts 3 and 4 are on Nov 15 and 16. Want more information? Check out our website at http://www.iamstandinginthelight.com/classes/ or email me at lori@iamstandinginthelight.com


Namaste.

"Meet Lori" Video

Hi All,


I have posted a video on YouTube to describe me and The STANDING IN THE LIGHT^® Classes and Retreats. Here is the link! Namaste. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePn_CzJILKQ&lc=z13evf0bnkbawtsmf22ofxfi0uixtrwwt04

My First Silent Retreat

Many of you know that I went on my first “silent retreat” over the Memorial Day weekend. The goal was to not speak, read, listen to radio or music nor watch TV. We were in retreat at Benet Hill Monastery near Colorado Springs. Everything we needed was within walking distance and we were on a meal plan provided by the Sisters. This helped to keep the outside stimuli and the need to “think” to a minimum.  The goal was to just BE.

Before I went, I was telling one of my long-time friends about it on a phone call. Before he could say anything, I said, “Are you laughing?” He said, “from deep in my belly!” And then, a new person who I just met said, “but you are so outgoing and gregarious.” This just made me laugh. I know that I have neither the inclination nor is it my path to take a vow of silence at this particular time in this particular life. But, I would like to share with you what I experienced in my 60 hours of silence.

We used a guided meditation to set the tone for the 60 hours. This meditation, channeled and narrated by Marsha Hankins, helped us connect to the larger parts of ourselves, to mother earth and the cosmos. By leaving this meditation in silence and not breaking it up with any other outside stimuli besides the sound of the hail that was coming down was quite powerful. I could focus on experiencing the feeling of being connected and one with everything around me in the physical world that is perceived by the 5 human senses. I could, also, focus on experiencing the feeling of being connected and one to everything around me in the metaphysical world that is perceived by the sensations and waves in me and the sense of knowingness that is lost in the overload of the 5 human senses. This was staggeringly profound, and I was only 1 hour into the silence.

I am not sure I ever mastered the “monkey mind” which is part of the goal of being in silence. The idea about being in the silence long enough is that you don’t feel the need to entertain yourself in your own thoughts. Instead, you simply allow yourself to experience the “now”. I found myself still discussing scenarios with myself. Discussing conversations that I had in the past and why they were appropriate or how I could have handled them better. Or discussing different ways I could say things that I knew I was going to need to say when I was “back in the real world”. These are all “judgment based” and I realized I was judging myself; judging myself for things I did in the past or judging “what if I don’t get it correct” in the future. A whole lot of judging going on!

Finally, what I found the most surprising was the simple yet acute joy that I found when I was walking around the monastery grounds. It was a rainy weekend and it was still cool at the altitude of 6000 feet. Never being cold but enjoying the coolness was a slice of heaven. Walking the Labyrinth at least twice a day and reminding myself of the innocence and breathtaking aspects of our shared reality that can include peace and relaxation if we allow it. I found myself trying to determine how I would be able to add in some of the aspects of the silence into my everyday life even as the 24 hour news cycle and access to the internet tempts me to fill every moment of every day with someone else’s thoughts and someone else’s experiences. I am setting my intention to claim a little bit of every day for the silence in nature, the silence in the cosmos and the silence within me. This will surely be how and when I find the God/Goddess Within.