An open field

By teaching “Do not judge”, the great teachers are saying that you cannot start seeing or understanding anything if you start with “no.” You have to start with a “yes” of basic acceptance, which means not too quickly labeling, analyzing, or categorizing things as in or out, good or bad, up or down. You have to leave the field open, a field in which God and grace can move.

Ego leads with “no” whereas soul leads with “yes.” The ego seems to strengthen itself by constriction, by being against things; and it feels loss or fear when it opens up. “No” always comes easier than “yes,” and a deep, conscious “yes” is the work of freedom and grace. The soul lives by expansion instead of constriction. Spiritual teachers want you to live by positive action, an open field, and studied understanding, and not by resistance, knee-jerk reactions, or defensiveness, and so they always say something like “Do not judge,” as judging is merely a control mechanism.

Richard Rohr,  The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics

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10 Concepts of Success

How do we specify success? Webster’s thesaurus specifies success as” the achievement of favor, riches, or reputation.” I think we would certainly acknowledge that Webster’s definition is fairly exact in regard to just how we have a look at individuals that we watch to be “effective”. I want to broaden your point on this idea…

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Trust the real

The tragic sense of life is ironically not tragic at all, at least in the Big Picture. We are merely joining the great parade of humanity that has walked ahead of us and will follow after us.  The tragic sense of life is not unbelief, pessimism, fatalism, or cynicism.  It is just ultimate and humiliating realism, for which some reason demands a lot of forgiveness of almost everything.  Faith is simply to trust the real….  This is perhaps our major stumbling stone, the price we must pay to keep the human heart from closing down and to keep the soul open for something more.

Richard Rohr, Falling Upward: a Spirituality for the Two Halves of Life

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The mental health and wellness of refugees

When evacuees first arrive in Australia they’re not surprisingly soothed to be fairly safe. Significant trauma– from their past as well as the day-to-day stress and anxieties of their lives below– can create real disturbance to their well-being. Top 5 scientist in residence Belinda Liddell teams up with us to discuss her study right into…

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