For Sunday September 29th, 2019

Hello to everyone, no kindness is ever wasted however small it may be. Even the effect of a simple honest smile, given once, lives on within who is smiled at. 

Imagine for a moment a straight line running from now into the distant future. Now imagine another line starting from exact the same place but angled just a tiny bit, only a fraction of a degree. In the years of our lives the final outcome of those two lines can be far, far apart. 

That's what a simple honest smile can do over the course of a lifetime. You don't know until the end how much change you've actually made with it. 

May we sit this Sunday for the smiles we give and share, for laughter which may come, and for the tender lives we touch in loving ways. 

Thank you, 

Richard

For Sunday September 22nd, 2019

Hello to everyone, weather intensity is increasing around the globe and lava has erupted in urban areas of Hawaii. Is this only a scientific phenomenon or is Gaia trying to scratch an itch?

The phrase 'minimum level of spiritual glue' refers to the lowest amount of human compassion required to keep the planet operating smoothly. If we see Earth as a living thing, capable of experiencing a degree of irritation; and we see human compassion as a healing force – then we have a responsibility in this world.
Prior generations may have described this concept as 'punishment or reward from God' but a more enlightened view carries less victimship and more of a call to action. 

May we sit this evening for the value of honest, heart-felt compassion.  May we see the lost souls of the world as brothers and sisters. May we be the Light we were born to be. 

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday September 15th, 2019

Hello everyone, a sebaceous cyst can be growing beneath the surface of skin without causing discomfort. It can grow quite large before some discomfort is noticed. It's when the cyst begins spewing it's contents that it really gets attention. Ironically, this messiness is an essential piece of the healing process.

A similar healing process may be at work in our society today. We are seeing a lot of messy, disgusting spew-age as old angers, frustrations, and biases are brought to the surface and being exposed. 

Our job is to acknowledge the expression and be the anti-biotic. We won't be able to 'Pollyanna' our way out of this. It will take work as our own angers, frustrations, and biases are triggered. Again, we must acknowledge the process and apply the anti-biotic of self-honesty and spiritual growth. 

May we sit tonight for the strength and courage to face others gracefully. May we face our own shortcomings gracefully. May Grace be attained and endure.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday September 8th, 2019

Hello to everyone, Confucius said:
If your plan is for 1 year, plant rice.
If your plan is for 10 years, plant trees.
If your plan is for 100 years – educate children.

To look at this in spiritual terms we must look deeper and deeper into what spirituality actually is. We may well know that the standard 'church' model of God being a punisher is insufficient. And, that's it's all to easy to become fascinated with the 'gee-whiz' of psychic phenomena. In truth, the closer you move toward pure spirituality the closer you are to loving unconditionally. This is what we must bring to all we touch.

May we sit this evening to set aside the myriad distractions of life. May quietness come to us. May love grow.

Namaste`,

Richard

For Sunday September 1st, 2019

Hello everyone, it is possible to love a spiritually lost perpetrator of dis-ease, someone who lives in a state of fear and anger. It's even possible to love someone if they have hurt you personally. Doing so is an essential step toward unconditional love, loving outwardly to others. 

And, it's essential to do the same for ourselves.

The self-honesty which brings an awareness of our own internal difficulties is also an invitation to love others despite their human frailties. The forgiveness we wish for ourselves can be extended from us to all others.

May we sit this evening for our own forgiveness. May we extend it to all of humanity. May we begin to touch upon Unconditional Love.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday August 25th, 2019

Hello to all, the Dalai Lama tells us that our enemies are our greatest teachers because they show us the places where we are less than loving. We do not have to agree with nor approve of their words and actions, but an understanding of Oneness propels us to view them spiritually. 

In this way we can pray for them. In this way we can see them as part of the entirety. In the way of 'the last shall be first and the first shall be last' we can see them equally. 

Thank you,

Richard

For Sunday August 11th, 2019

Hello everyone, a belief in the use of external power and an imagined sense of superiority are a dangerous combination. It can lead a lost soul to commit horrid crimes against their fellow human beings. On the other hand, one of the guidelines for discerning the depth of spirituality in a life is how satisfied and content the person is.

How we view horrid crimes tells us something about ourselves. Does our initial anger and outrage dissolve into prayers for the victims, quite naturally, but also for the lost souls who perpetrate such things?

The biblical phrase 'the first shall be last and the last shall be first' can be seen to indicate that in the realms outside of time everyone will return 'home' in the same moment.

May we sit this Sunday for the perspective that we're all in this together, that whatever happens to a single person also happens to all humanity, that whatever is expressed by a single person also comes from all of humanity. Ho'oponopono.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday August 4th, 2019

Hello to everyone, self-awareness is a difficult and often painful path. Our inner conflicts can be embarrassing to discover, to uncover, and to share. One way of avoiding this inner and seemingly torment filled route is to follow some image of authority, by relinquishing our necessary and challenging inner work to follow preset rules we trade true happiness for temporary comfort.

But authority creates power which corrupts the leader and blinds the follower. It leads us away from the matter of our inner issues and gives a balm which fades over time.

May we sit this Sunday for the courage to dig in. May we see ourselves clearly and lovingly. May such love fully 'be' on this Earth.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday July 28th, 2019

Hello to everyone, many generations ago a Chinese sage named Chaung Chou dreamed he was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes fully a butterfly. He was conscious only of his happiness as a butterfly, unaware that he was Chou. After awakening there he was, fully himself again. At that point he did not know whether he was then a man who had dreamed he was a butterfly, or whether he was then a butterfly dreaming of being a man.

In this life we often find it difficult to understand the thinking and opinions of other people. Yet here is anecdotal evidence of fully becoming a completely different species. Perhaps this indicates the level of connection which actually exists in the our world, but we typically fail to attain.

May we sit this evening with awareness of a grand underlying connection. May we see how we block ourselves in, holding ourselves away from each other. May we open ourselves to the foundation of our universe.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday July 21st, 2019

Hello everyone, 'the overview effect' is NASA's name to describe the cognitive awareness change that many astronauts have experienced. 

"It is the experience of seeing firsthand the reality of the Earth in space, which is immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life, "hanging in the void", shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. From space, national boundaries vanish, the conflicts that divide people become less important, and the need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect this "pale blue dot" becomes both obvious and imperative."

"It's hard to explain how amazing and magical this experience is. First of all, there's the astounding beauty and diversity of the planet itself, scrolling across your view at what appears to be a smooth, stately pace... I'm happy to report that no amount of prior study or training can fully prepare anybody for the awe and wonder this inspires." ~Kathryn D, NASA Astronaut (cited in Robinson et al., 2013, p.81)

"The thing that really surprised me was that it [Earth] projected an air of fragility. And why, I don't know. I don't know to this day. I had a feeling it's tiny, it's shiny, it's beautiful, it's home, and it's fragile."
— Michael Collins, Apollo 11

"If somebody'd said before the flight, 'Are you going to get carried away looking at the earth from the moon?' I would have say [sic], 'No, no way.' But yet when I first looked back at the Earth, standing on the moon, I cried." ~Alan Shepard, NASA Astronaut (cited in Nardo, 2014, p. 46)

Let us sit this Sunday for the beauty we all can experience when we are open.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday July 14th, 2019

Hello to everyone, the truth of unconditional love lives within us – we have covered it over with self-based biases, judgements, and attachments – but it is the unmistakable core of our being.

Returning to that core is essential, the Earth and humanity depend upon it.

May we sit this evening for even a glimpse of our cores. May we share the good we find. May we be a benefit to all by our very existence.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday June 7th, 2019

Hello to all, Loreena McKennitt's version of the ancient song Bonny Portmore is a cry for ecological wisdom.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hleg0nrh4x8
It tells of the selling off of all the trees on the 'bonny' isle of Portmore to England's shipping industry, and the deep sadness of that choice. 

As we can see in our own time, the headlong rush toward money and commerce can have irreversible effects.

May we sit for wisdom on Sunday night. May we find the strength and the courage to act with compassion. May the greater 'we' learn this lesson well.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday June 30th, 2019

Hello everyone, in this time of social and political discord it is well to maintain a greater perspective. All trees are different yet they work together to feed and protect each other, because nature is based on cooperation.

The essentials of life are the same all over; food, shelter, love, respect. To withhold these is to deny a natural order. 

May we sit this evening for the inner Light which illuminates our steps. May we have the courage to follow. May our choices be our blessings to the world.

Thank you all,

Richard