Sukoshi Rice
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What I learned in Church this morning OR the trouble with New Age thinking.

5/6/2012

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This morning I went to church, which you know from the title, to hear an old friend give what Unity calls the Message, what we used to call the Sermon.  He told a story about a woman who nearly caused him to have an accident by pulling in front of him so he had to jam on his brakes or hit her or go off the road.  It got him upset enough that he followed her and when she got out of her car, told her he had to jam on his brakes to avoid hitting her.  Her response?  "Thank you."
His message was that he had wanted to make her feel guilty, that he was angry (and therefore by New Age definition, at fault) and that she "refused to buy in to it."
I was thinking as I drove along after Church, wouldn't it be nice, or appropriate, if she had said, "I'm sorry I was careless and thank you for telling me.  It's a good reminder for me to be more careful and pay attention when I'm driving."  She wouldn't have to say ALL that, but something, anything to indicate she was hearing that she was a danger on the road.
So I called my friend and told him what I thought, that it would have been lovely if perhaps she had taken responsibility ("I'm sorry...") instead of allowing him to take all the responsibility by thanking him, presumably for braking instead of hitting her.  After I finished the call, I came upon my first accident, a typical fender bender type collision where someone had slowed down to turn and the driver behind was paying attention to something other than driving.  Cars were already lining up behind them and my lane seemed for a minute or two, to drive more carefully.
Let me interject right here that yes, I was on a cell phone.  In my defense, his number is in my phone so I didn't have to search, and I kept my eyes on the road and there was, when I placed the call, almost no one else there.  But yeah, driving and talking can be dangerous and I try not to do it at all when I am in trafficky areas or especially in cities.  So I was talking, but also watching and no one was in front of me right then.
Then someone was tailgating me.  Not badly enough to make me nervous, like when one of those giant SUVs is hovering over the bumper of my little Honda, but definitely in a hurry, even though there was visible traffic ahead.  Finally they passed me, rushed along to the next group of vehicles and ran a motorcycle off the road, either hitting them outright or just crowding them down an embankment.
In New Age theology, being judgmental is among the worst errors we can commit.  There's a line between being judgmental, which feels gratuitous, and being responsible and aware of other people.  I don't have much personal judgment about the person who caused the accident, but I do know they were dangerous to other people on the road, which they proved.  I called 911 and reported it.  That was the most responsible (responding to the needs of the situation) I could be at the moment.
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Connection to the Divine

3/24/2012

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I am a lifelong seeker of connection with the Divine. Whether I am singing or cooking, meditating or doing a session with a client, it is the inner feeling I am going for.  That is the intended purpose of everything I do, appearances often to the contrary.  Today I had a direct experience of what that means, through a TAT session I was giving myself about being successful.
What I got very clearly was the difference between an experience of that Connection, and talking about it.  I was thinking specifically about teachers who profess to connect us to our inner self  without themselves being established in that connection.
Our world is full of words and snake oil sellers.  There are so many people in the realm of "spiritual teachers" who have the right clothes, the right look, the right organic food and the right words, but when I am around them,  I feel like screaming and running out the door.  
Integrity is about walking our talk, not just talking it.  It has taken me many years to learn to trust what I feel inside, in spite of what I am being told.  Some teachers are genuine, and others just have words, words, words to draw us in to their own emptiness.  In the presence of a genuine teacher, I feel a quiet inside, a recognition of our connection.  When there are too many words, or the words and the vibrations don't fit, I get downright antsy and can't wait to get out.  It's when the teacher is saying, "Look at me.  I am the teacher."  Instead of "Let me learn from you, too."  There is such humility in a great teacher, because they know their Power comes the Divine, not from their own efforts.  
How do I do my best as a teacher?  I have worked hard and studied for just short of 50 years, from the time as a teen I first started learning about nutrition.  I have studied the body through food, vitamins, supplements, massage, yoga, Reiki and TAT, plus being a vegetarian and a mom and travelling all over the world.  And yet, when I teach,  all that is just information unless I can make it relevant and inspirational, unless I can touch you with my own experience, unless we feel a connection.  I mostly know about being a teacher from being a student.
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    I am a lifelong seeker of connection with the Divine through music, food, art, meditation, healing work, love, travel and people.  My search has taken me around the world to my current home in the mountains of GA.   Everything I do is part of this Divine Life.  On a good day, I am aware of it, and grateful.

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