Fresh Thinking, Inspiration, and Vision on the Process of Spiritual Transformation

It has been said that one of the simplest acts of leadership is to clearly offer love and support to another person. A metaphor for that is to offer them a clear glass of water. In the world of spiritual pursuits, a person may come to the conclusion that all that is needed is love. There are songs written about that! What I have discovered is that love without truth doesn’t quench a person’s thirst. And truth without love can bludgeon a person. Truth without love can end up being more about information or judgment. I have had numerous occasions where I have been bludgeoned by someone’s opinions or judgments. They believed what they said was the truth because they had deep feeling about the issue. How do we sort out the expression of love and truth in the midst of our experience and our feelings? I believe the first step is to be honest that there is work to do to get clear in your expression.

I’m not dismissing critical thinking, and I’m not dismissing people having their view. But how interested are you in bringing your view as a clear glass of water? It is necessary to have a place to go when you aren’t clear, a place where you could feel what’s going on for you, see it, and clean it up before it is spoken in a conversation or typed words. This could be done with someone not involved in the situation. Or perhaps by being clear up front—“I want to say something and I don’t do this very well. I think it’s important and I might trip over my own words. Can I share this with you, even though I may be stumbling?”

I sometimes write e-mails that initially are accompanied by a feeling of anger. I’m sure nobody else has that experience… I’m sure many people have written things and then decided not to send them. I’m also interested in writing them and reviewing them to get them as clean as possible, because the communication may be important, but the anger may result in the communication not working. Have you found that to be true? All those e-mails do is to deliver the anger, and then the opportunity is gone.

So I will often write them and then run them by somebody who is a lot nicer than I am, and ask, “Would you read this and see if I made my point?” And they may say, “Oh, no—don’t do it, don’t do it! Did you want to start a battle?” At times I feel like the anger is the most important thing, and not the message. I’ll feel better if I let it out, but what kind of blessing will I have extended? What kind of field will be left for me, in which I can create? What I haven’t given is a clear glass of water. A clear glass of water may have correction in it, but it’s still clear. It’s still connected to the highest thing and the most loving thing I know. It is not just the truth; it is the truth of love.

We’ve been speaking about “pathological self-concern.” I love the honesty of that phrase, because when I write those e-mails that are really angry, they’re filled with pathological self-concern. They’re filled with me feeling better about telling someone off than the creative opportunity in front of me. The idea is to get beyond my self-concern to what’s at issue, what’s God’s interest, what’s the highest interest, what’s the greatest blessing? How is it that I can serve with you? It’s not easy to serve with someone who’s angry at you, or someone who’s just upset that things didn’t go the way they wanted. Why would anyone want to do that?

There are creative ways to be actively concerned about our communication. I know people who deliberately review things after an event, asking the question “How did that go?” Did we get where we wanted to go? Did we do the best we could? What did we miss?

With people who are awakening spiritually around the world, we are interested in doing something together in a clear and blessed way, a conscious way. If that is our interest personally, we are choosing to be part of a select group of people—people who bring spiritual awakening to the world. We are interested in paying attention to what we perceive individually and what we perceive together. How do your vision and my vision make each other’s vision clearer, make our blessing more powerful, and make the magic more possible? There are times when we are in a dark place, and we can’t find a clear way out. There’s a lot of power and leverage in those times, because there are very few people who will continue to say yes when they feel like that. Who else will ask for help to be clear and loving? Your loving and truthful voice hasn’t gone anywhere. It is always present. We can assist each other to see and hear clearly, to remember our true voice.

There are ill spirits that may try to convince you otherwise. At those times it is important to increase your exposure to the healthy ones. Surround yourself with the select group of friends who care about quenching your thirst and the thirst of this world with a generous drink of love and truth.