Letters from Grenada

(My son and his friend the fisherman.)

Regret for the things we did can be tempered by time; it is regret for the things we did not do that is inconsolable.

I do not quite know how to describe how I am feeling this evening. Irritated is part of it. Sad is another. But mostly I’m just sick and tired of people and their inability to just shut up already. It’s like standing on the pitcher’s mound during an Indiana hailstorm.

I plan to soothe myself by sharing with you this wonderful book I read last week. I will also gaze at my adorable boy while he sleeps. A moment ago he stood up in his crib, rousing himself from a seemingly sound sleep. He stood in the corner and rested his head on the edge, trying to stay awake, but his eyes never stopped blinking and he never stopped smiling his sleepy smile. After a couple of minutes he gave up, softly drifting down. Now it’s almost like I don’t need the book . . .

Anatomy of the Spirit was written by Carolyn Myss, PhD and first published in 1996. The back of the book reads:

Anatomy of the Spirit takes the interconnectedness of mind, body and spirit even further than ever before. Based on fifteen years of research into energy medicine, it shows that we can be responsible not only for our health but for our healing. In this breakthrough book, Dr. Caroline Myss, who is herself able to diagnose illness by intuitive means, sets a unique program specifically designed to promote spontaneous physical, emotional and spiritual healing. Here she explores the links between spiritual and emotional stresses and the specific illnesses these create in different parts of the human energy system.

Anatomy of the Spirit also [...] synthesizes the ancient wisdom of three spiritual traditions — the Hindu chakras, the Christian sacraments and the Kabbalah’s Tree of Life.

Al of it is good, but the following section blew my mind:

THE CONSEQUENCES OF FEAR

The most costly energy consequences come from acting out of fear. Even when choices lead us to what we desire, they generally also produce unwanted side effects. These surprises teach us that choosing from fear transgresses our trust in Divine guidance. We all do live, at least periodically, within the illusion that we are in charge of our lives. We seek money and social status in order to have greater power of choice and so that we do not have to follow the choices others make for us. The idea that consciousness requires surrendering personal will to Divine will stands in direct conflict with all that we have come to consider the measure of an empowered person.

Thus, we may repeat the cycle of the fear-surprise-fear-surprise, until we reach a point of player in which we say: You choose, and I’ll follow. Once we release this prayer, guidance may enter our lives, along with endless acts of synchronicity and coincidence — Divine “interference” at its best.

[...]

BETWEEN THE HEAD AND THE HEART

Mental energy powers the external world, while heart energy powers our personal domains. For centuries our culture has thought that emotional energy weakens our ability to make quick and necessary decisions, and that mental energy is virtually useless in the emotional domain, as noted in the old saying that reason can win no war against a heartfelt choice. For centuries this separation was acceptable.

If mind and heart are not communicating clearly with each other, one will dominate the other. When our minds are in the lead, we suffer emotionally because we turn emotional data into an enemy. We seek to control all situations and relationships and maintain authority over emotions. When our hearts are in the lead, we ten to maintain the illusion that all is well. Whether the mind is in the lead or the heart, will is motivated by fear and the futile goal of control, not by a sense of internal security.

Shiver.

Posted on June 13th, 2007 under Grenada • Tags: quotations, random. •  Print This Post •  Email This Post • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback