Good Morning Garden

Change is the law of the universe. Without change, the world would not merely remain in a static state, but it would soon become stale and stagnant. Without change there would be no progress, for change is the essence of betterment. It is obvious that to do anything in a new and better way there must be a change.

Many people look upon change with dread and foreboding. But for those on the spiritual path, for those who believe in God and the power of prayer, change is a fuller expression of life.

When a problem or condition arises in your life that indicates a change, rely upon God, and realize that it is not so much that a door has closed on a chapter of your life, but rather that a door has opened on new and more interesting things.

Behold, I make all things new (Revelation 2:15)

How often would we change if we were not forced to do things differently? And, if we never changed, how would we get better or progress to higher levels of spirituality or consciousness? The answers are not much and we wouldn’t. In fact, not only is change required, but so are the challenges that make us change, grow and progress.

Springing forward,
Z gardener

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Next comes the silver. This stands for greed of money or money’s worth, for material objects that can be bought, and even for riches themselves. Or it may be that the offender is not interested in riches themselves but in their ability to give him a position of honor in the eyes of the world. He wants to be considered important and to have adulation or applause. Often he wants to be a leader, not because he has a message to give but to be important. He is the victim of egotism. Now this is a base and ignoble sin; an insurmountable barrier across the spiritual path.

For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows (1 Timothy 6:10).

It has been said that pride, vanity and ego are the gateways through which many of us pass on the way to more serious sins. Greed for money, power or adulation are sins that appear in our lives when we allow ourselves to pass through the portal of self. Self-righteousness, self-pity, self-recrimination and self-centeredness are insurmountable barriers to our relationship with God.

Freed,
Z gardener

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GOLD

We know that the spiritual consciousness which we are all engaged in building is spoken of in the Bible as the Temple of Solomon. The name Solomon means peaceful, and symbolizes wisdom. This is logical, for peace of mind is the foundation of all spiritual building, the hallmark of understanding.

The Bible states that five things were to be found around the temple; For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks (1 Kings 10:22).

This is the Scriptural manner of telling us that there are five principal temptations that may come to the soul that is striving to build the spiritual temple. The particular form that each temptation takes will vary according to the temperament and circumstances of the subject, but in principle will be the same.

First comes the gold, and this stands for desire for personal power over other people, the desire to regulate their lives, to make them toe the line, our line, naturally, and even to make use of them. Many people on the spiritual path have given way to this temptation. They must dominate other people’s souls. They tell themselves that it is done for the good of the victims, of course, but it is really a craving for personal power and glorification. It is not an ignoble sin like that connected with the silver, but for that very reason it is far more dangerous, far-reaching, and enduring.

The thing that gold symbolizes when rightly understood is the omnipresence of God; and of course religious tyranny is a denial of this. You should do all you can to help, to enlighten, and to inspire others, as far as your own understanding will permit, but you must never try to dictate their convictions; or to hold to your own opinions. Religious tyranny is poisonous to the victims; but it is absolutely mortal to the tyrant.

The next few Good Morning Garden messages will delve into the harmful temptations that all of us face each day. Some temptations arise from good intentions gone bad, while others are the result of pain avoidance and some emerge form overtly wrong intent. The thing to remember is that all of them close the gates to our gardens and open the door to separation from God, denial of God or even rejection of God. They are all dangerous and represent direct threats to our relationship with God, others and our own souls.

Springing into the garden,
Z gardener

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Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you (Matthew 5:10-12).

In view of what we know about the teaching of Jesus, that the will of God for us is harmony, peace, and joy, and that these things are to be attained by cultivating right thoughts, or “righteousness,” this is a very startling statement . Jesus tells us again and again that it is our Father’s good pleasure to give us the Kingdom, and that the way in which we are to receive it is by cultivating serenity, or peace of soul. He says that the peacemakers who do this, praying in “meekness” shall inherit the earth, have their mourning turned into joy, and that, in fact, whatever they shall ask the Father in the manner of this teaching, that will He do. Yet here we are told that it is blessed to be persecuted as the result of our “righteousness” for by this means we shall triumph; that it is cause for rejoicing and gladness to be riviled and accused; and that the prophets and Illumined Ones suffered these things too.

All this is indeed very startling, and it is perfectly correct. However, persecution only becomes an occasion for rejoicing when we are deeply aware of our real nature, our true immortality, and know that the suffering of our bodies can be trascended and even transmuted by our state of consciousness. Persecution can be for us a blessed condition when we realize that in such moments we are really advancing; be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life (Revelation 2:10) is a promise that may become a reality right here on this earth.

While we all wish to avoid suffering and persecution, take a moment to think back on times when we suffered or were mistreated for doing the right thing. In this writer’s experience, those are the times when the most spiritual growth occurred. As much as God longs for us to have abundant joy, the fact is that crisis is most often the agent of change.

In gratitude and thankfulness for our crosses,
Z gardener

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Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27).

This true, interior soul-peace was known to the mystics as serenity, and they are never tired of telling us that serenity is the grand passport to the Presence of God; the sea as smooth as glass that is round about the Great White Throne. This is not to say that one cannot tackle even the most serious difficulties by prayer without having any serenity at all. But before you can make any true spiritual progress you must achieve serenity; and it is that fundamental tranquility of soul that Jesus refers to by the word peace; the peace that passes all human understanding.

The Peacemakers are those who bring about this peace in their own souls; they surmount limitation and become actually, not merely potentially, the children of God. This condition of mind is the objective at which Jesus aims.

Of course, to be a peacemaker in the usual sense of composing the quarrels of other people is an excellent thing; but, as all practical people know, an excessively difficult role to fill. But once you understand the power of prayer, you will be able to heal many quarrels in the true way; probably without speaking at all. The silent thought of the All-Power of Love and Wisdom will cause trouble to melt away almost imperceptibly. You will become a peacemaker.

As within; so without. When our soul and spirit are at peace, then our universe is at peace. Peace in the spiritual sense is not the absence of conflict. Nor is it the absence of pain, sadness, challenges or injustice. It is a state of mind and spirit in which we overcome all life’s negative’s, including death itself. But how, one may ask, can I be at peace when my life and the world are in turmoil. The answer is that without God, we can’t.

Z gardener

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Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23).

Most people, and learned people especially, have all kinds of knowledge that does not in the least affect or improve their practical lives. Doctors know all about hygiene, but often live in an unhealthy way, notwithstanding; and philosophers, who are acquainted with the accumulated wisdom of the ages, and assent to most of it, continue to do foolish and stupid things in their own personal lives. Now, knowledge such as this is only opinion, or head knowledge, as some people call it. It has to become heart knowledge, or to be incorporated into the subconscious, before it can really change one. The modern psychologists in their efforts to “re-educate the subconscious” have the right idea, though they have not yet discovered the true method of doing so, which is by single-minded prayer, or the Practice of the Presence of God.

Jesus, of course, thoroughly understood all this, and that is why he stresses the fact that we have to be pure in heart.

How many times have we said to ourselves, “I know I should/shouldn’t do this or that, but I can’t make myself act accordingly”? The reason for this is that we are trying to do,or not do,something that is not in truly in our hearts. Every human faces the same problem in one way or another. Most of us know how hard it is to change our fundamental behavior as adults. And on our own, without God, it is nearly impossible. For instance, many smokers find themselves unable to quit until the doctor tells them they are going to die if they don’t. Some are unable or unwilling to stop even then. Those who do stop after a doctors warning have experienced a change in their subconscious that manifested itself in changed behavior.

Walking with God,
Z gardener

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…for they shall see God.

In this wonderful Beautitude we are told exactly how this supreme task is to be accomplished and who they are who shall do it. They are the pure in heart. Purity, in its full and complete sense, is recognizing God alone as the only real Cause, and the only real Power in existence. It is what is called elsewhere in the Sermon “the single eye.”

Note that Jesus speaks of the pure in heart. The word heart in the Bible usually means that part of man’s mentality that modern psychology knows under the name of the ‘subconscious mind.’ This is exceedingly important because it is not sufficient for us to accept the Truth with the conscious mind only. At that stage it is still a mere opinion. It is not until it is accepted by the subconscious mind, and thus assimilated into the whole mentality, that it can make any difference in one’s character or life.

…as he thinketh in his heart, so is he (Proverbs 23:7).

Now this is another seminal message regarding our relationship with God. We must believe that God is the true cause of everything and that the only real power resides with God; no ifs, ands or buts. When we do fully accept these truths, then our “single eye” is opened and all of God’s wisdom and power can then be seen and accessed by humans. Those who do not believe, do not see. They have separated themselves from God and condemen themselves to live in the world of their making instead of the Eden God created for us.

Seeking the face of God,
Z gardener

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Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God (Matthew 5:8).

This is one of those wonderful gnomic sayings in which the Bible is so rich. It is a summing up in a few words of a whole philosophy of religion.

Let us begin by considering what the promise in this Beatitude is. It is nothing less than to see God. To “see” in the sense referred to here, signifies spiritual perception, and spiritual perception is just that capacity to apprehend the true nature of Being that we all so sadly lack.

We live in God’s world, but we do not in the least know it as it is. Heaven, lies all about us, but because we are lacking in spiritual perception, we are unable to recognize it, to experience it, and, therefore, so far as we are concerned, we may be said to be shut out of Heaven.

We are very much in the position of a color-blind man in a beautiful flower garden. All around him are glorious colors; but he sees only blacks, whites, and grays. If we suppose him to be also devoid of the sense of smell, we shall see what a very small part of the glory of the garden exists for him. Yet it is all there, if he could but sense it.

Our task is to surmount these limitations as rapidly as may be, until we reach the point where we can know things as they really are—experience Heaven as it really is. That is what is meant by “seeing God.” To see God is to apprehend Truth as it really is, and this is infinite freedom and perfect bliss.

Today’s message inspired the Good Morning Garden’s premise; that God gave us an Eden (heaven on earth) in which to live, and that we are the only thing that can keep us from living there. The garden God created for us is not free from the world’s problems; it simply frees us from them. We see this world and are able to live in it when our eyes have been opened by our hearts. That is, when we have accepted God’s truth, believe in God’s truth and submit our will to God’s will. It is then that we become pure in heart.

Seeking a purer heart,
Z gardener

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Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled (Matthew 5:6).

Righteousness is another of the key words of the Bible, one of those keys that the reader must have in his possession if he is to get at the true meaning of the book. Like earth and meek and comfort, it is used in a special and definite sense. Righteousness means not merely right conduct, but right thinking. In the Sermon on the Mount, every clause reiterates the truth that outer things are but consequences. As within, so without.

When people awaken to a knowledge of these truths, they naturally begin to apply them in their own lives. Realizing at last the vital importance of “righteousness” they begin immediately to try to put their house in order. The principle involved is simple, but unfortunately the exemplifying of it is anything but easy. Now, why should this be so? The answer lies in the potency of habit; and habits of thinking are at once the most subtle and the most difficult to break.

Perhaps failure to achieve righteousness is the failure of half-heartedness; you long but not too deeply. Your hunger and thirst do not rise from a sense of total need. Have a mental stocktaking or a review of your life. It could not happen that a wholehearted search for truth and righteousness, if persevered in, should not be crowned with success. God is not mocked, nor does He mock His children.

Although righteousness begins within, it must manifest itself without. In other words, we must long and hunger for righteousness so deeply that we are willing to change not only our minds, but also our habits and actions. Now this is so difficult that we are unable to accomplish it alone. However, with God’s help we can and will overcome our self-centered habits and desires in order to achieve righteousness.

In hunger,
Z gardener

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