7/1/1999
Practicing Harmlessness
Let us itemize the qualities of the disciple we have presented so far:
(1) Soul contact
(2) Holding the mind steady in the light
(3) Detachment when necessary.
(4) The ability to either send or receive
(5) Reflection – contemplation
(6) Talent.
(7) The power to initiate
(8) The ability to create and sense a point of tension.
(9) Willingness to sacrifice
(10) Discernment
(11) Perseverance
(12) Inclusiveness
(13) Harmlessness
(14) Sensitivity
I believe we left off on harmlessness which needs to be summarized. This is an interesting one to bring up at this time as it seems to some that we have had harmfulness bouncing back and forth in this group.
We need to look at the basic guiding key here which was given by Dave:
“The key to following the harmless path is having the ability to discern whether or not a particular act/invention/teaching will benefit more people in the long run than it harms.”
Now let us look at our current situation in relation to this. We had a potential conflict point arise. Were we correct in responding to it or should we pretend that disharmony does not exist and ignore it, hoping it will go away?
What we have to do is follow Dave’s advice here. We must do our best to peer into the future and see the results of our decisions and then follow the path least harmful.
Many are deceived into thinking that the avoidance of conflict is the least harmful path, but this is often not the case. This avoidance of conflict in individual lives often causes a suppression of emotion and such suppression often results in depletion of energy and life-threatening disease. Sometimes such suppression will result in eventual emotional explosion where the guy walks into a MacDonald’s and shoots everyone in sight.
The people who knew him will say something like: “I can’t believe he did that. He was such a nice quiet guy.”
He was quiet all right, quietly festering his negative emotions.
A person has to use judgment and not pick at straws. Some of you have noticed there have been a number of challenging comments in the past that I have ignored. In these cases I have judged this to be the harmless path, but when an important issue surfaces that is likely to come up again and again the best time to put all feelings, facts and discussions on the table is the present.
As it is if we do not take a stand on teaching the importance of union in singing the Song it would not be long before a dozen group members would be promoting a dozen different versions to the point that new members would be confused as to what version they are supposed to say and have no idea about the potential union possible.
When conflict does arise there are several rules of engagement in following the harmless path.
(1) No name-calling or intentional insulting
(2) No matter how rough the waters are, look upon the opposing person’s soul and see the Christ within, worthy of your love and understanding.
(3) The person you are in conflict with may feel you have a grudge against him so as soon as your views are presented give an increase of love to show that you hold no grievance.
(4) In the midst of the conflict try and find points of agreement and positive things to say about the person in question
(5) Make sure nothing disturbs your inner piece and only allow yourself to hold good feelings toward all involved. This is only accomplished through the making of a definite decision.
It takes a lot of wisdom to follow the harmless path because many actions we can take that seem to be beneficial can be harmful. Then there are others that seem to be harmful that are the harmless path in the long run.
For instance, it would seem to be a good thing to do all you can to enlighten everyone you can, but there are many people who are not ready for higher truth and it would be harmful to them to bring them into it before they are ready. This is why the working through free will is so important.
I have to admit my favorite quote from the group comes from Marylin:
“If doing NO harm turns me into a wimp, then so be it.”
Then she almost topped this by saying:
“I have also recently found that by blessing the porno Spam, it has become less all by itself.”
I had to chuckle at the image of Marylin blessing porno Spam.
Sometimes you have to make an aggressive or gutsy move to follow the harmless path, but then there are many other times you will look like a wimp and have to take some ribbing for it. When this occurs we will all need Marylin’s attitude and say: “What the hell, if I look like a wimp, so be it.”
Examples:
(1) Your friends are all passing around a harmful, but stimulating drug. You feel it will be harmful to your body so you refuse and look like a wimp.
(2) You bump into a guy who insults your mother. You decide to smile at him and be on your way. Your friends really think you have wimped out here.
(3) Your spouse/lover calls you a bastard and you do not throw an insult back, but try and show love instead. Now even he/she calls you a wimp.
The group has said some great things about this subject. Allow me to quote:
It gets a bit tricky deciding what is harmful. A person might say that someone who mugged them, harmed them. This is true in some ways. But it might not be true in the sense that such an event might actually be just what that person needed as a way of balancing his/her own violent behavior toward others in a past life (a bit like Elizabeth with her MS).
Now let us contemplate quality number 15 – trust
Question: What are the areas where the disciple needs to demonstrate his trustworthiness as far as the inner teachers are concerned?
How much should he trust others?
Copyright by J J Dewey
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