The Heart of a Mouse

Fear plays a big role in our lives.

Without it we don’t know who we are and with it we only imagine who we are. We have become disconnected to what is truly meaningful in our life. Our fears have become the totality of our lifetime in this world through the constant effort of trying to dodge the bullets of what we imagine to be dangerous or undesirable.

Words can no longer teach us, which is why meditation and learning to intone to the vibrations of Love are so deeply important. In meditation we are constantly dropping our emotionality, our fears. This is very difficult for most of us because our DNA and genetics are fighters and they do not want to be ignored.

It is difficult for us to believe we are our own worst “evil.” But it is the fact of our living. We are the source of our own pain and sorrows by choosing to live emotionally connected to our fears. As long as we feed our emotions with gratification of any kind, self-righteousness being the most powerful form of emotionality, we will suffer from the side effects that become the sum and total of all of our fears.

An Authentic spiritual practice is no picnic per se. We must remain constantly aware of what is going on within…with no lapse in our inward attentions. We must be willing to live in a constant form of meditation at all times, which means we are always observing and we understand that in observation there is no need to judge or even think. The observation alone is enough.

When we live from insecurity and pride, we create the “fears” that we will live by, which will determine our fate in this world. Worry and fear create a way of thinking that is unhealthy for the body and inhibits spiritual life. Genetics and DNA live in the convolution of the human heart that merely wants to live to avoid what it feels is unpleasant. Every time we act upon an emotion to feel our seeming escape from other emotions that are fearful we weaken our posture in meditation.

In emotion, we are trying to get something. In Love, we ARE something. Something far beyond our human fears. This is the profound difference in living.

To realize the Authentic we must surrender our will for the sake of a willingness for whatever comes, even if it is our human heart’s greatest fear.

This understanding sustains the Love that is our Authentic nature.

Practice your Authentic and allow it to heal your entire life with energies that guide you beyond your human fear, which is mere illusion!

At the ritual meal, one takes a few grains of the Buddha rice and puts them on the end of a spatula to offer to all evil spirits for their satisfaction. The servers come by and take the few grains off the spatula, offering them to a plant or animal and thus returning them to the life cycle. This is a way to consciously acknowledge evil spirits or the Shadow, to feed them the best food, yet not to feed them too much.

Later in the day, if one comes across the evil spirits, one can say, “I already fed you. I don’t need to feed you again.”

In the Buddhist tradition, it’s believed that there is a realm of hungry ghosts with huge appetites and throats the size of a needle. So, they are never satisfied, like the Shadow with its ravenous appetite. By feeding it in small, regular amounts, the shadow doesn’t need to take on a devouring attitude.

We know we can’t eliminate the realm of hungry ghosts…they exist. So we have to take care of them. Then, the effort of their grumbling will be less. So it is with the Shadow.

A perfect metaphor for how to live with the fears of the human heart.

The human heart nullifies everything that is meaningful in order to sustain itself in our attentions as being all important. Hence, we miss what is truly important and essential to our life.

When generosity, forgiveness and mercy become the most important aspects of our lifetime, Love takes over. Then any seeming sacrifice we must make in order to sustain our life in Love becomes an honor and a blessing.

What is a responsible person who is living in an Authentic spiritual practice to do with all of this?
How are we to deal with our fear of change?

SIMPLICITY – Live in the flow of everything that is kind. Be quick to remove your attentions away from vengeance and pride of retaliation. Just let people be as they are and allow them to have their opinions without trying to change them. Change yourself. Walk away from conflict as much as you can. Give yourself over to a greater energy than the ego’s desires.

FORGIVENESS – Be as deeply forgiving as you can be about every little thing that enters into your daily living. If someone is driving like a selfish idiot, as so many do, try to understand that they are before you for the purpose of building your tolerance. To put aside the contempt for those who have little or no common sense is to build compassion and mercy.

MERCY – This has the greatest power over the fear of change. Mercy is the grace of the Authentic LOVE that lives within every event we are involved in. It is the most important aspect of our living. Our lives mean nothing if we have not attained to mercy as a way of life.

GENEROSITY – In this time of great fear and insecurity, the word generosity has become a four-letter word. We fear that we don’t have enough money to be generous, but there are all sorts of ways to be generous. When we are open to this state of Love we find ourselves doing generous acts without even knowing it. There is great power in being both merciful and generous synonymously.

If you can remember these simple teachings throughout the course of your day, you will find yourself living a very important lifetime. Change is inevitable in this world. It is up to each of us to decide how we will change. Everything is moving and living to come to a place where change can occur.

Let Love be your change.