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How Do You Feel?

July 22, 2008 by zgardener

           Really there are only two feelings that a human being can have, namely love and fear. It is generally supposed that the kinds of feeling we may have are legion, but this is an illusion. All other feelings, so-called, will turn out upon analysis to be either love or fear.

 
What about anger? Well, anger is really but fear in disguise. In chemistry we occasionally find the same substance occurring under completely different appearances. For example, black lead is exactly the same substance chemically as a diamond, different as they look. They are said to be allotropic forms of carbon. In the same way, anger, hatred, jealousy, criticism, egotism, are but allotropic forms of fear.
 
Joy, interest, the feeling of success and accomplishment, the appreciation of art, are allotropic forms of love. The great difference between the two feelings is that love is always creative, and fear is always destructive. It is for us to decide which of these two feelings shall hold sway in our lives.
 
God is love; and he that dwelleth in God, and God in Him (1 John 4:16).

R. Buckminster Fuller said that love is the metaphysical equivalent of gravity and that fear is the equivalent of radiant energy. Gravity organizes, brings order and creates, while radiant energy is chaotic, random and destructive. In love we are attuned to all the forces that nurture, build and live; while with fear we are attuned to the force that destroys, tears apart and dies. Which way do we want our lives to be? How do we want to feel?

Feeling love,
Z Gardener

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Nonresistance

July 21, 2008 by zgardener

            When you fight a thing you antagonize it and it hits back. The harder you fight it the harder it hits. When you give your attention to anything, you are building that thing into your consciousness, for good or evil.

 
When you are faced with some negative condition, withdraw your attention from it by building the opposite into your subconscious. Then the undesirable thing falls away like an overripe fruit.
 
Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things (Philippians 4:8).

Is it surprising that God instructs us to focus on the positive things and to eliminate undesirable thought from our minds. Even human wisdom is full of the same advice. “Keep on the sunny side…Chin up…look on the bright side…if you don’t have something good to say…” and a thousand other sayings all reflect this universal truth. Listen to the wise advice of God and man. It’s this simple. Do not dwell on evil, but replace it with good. Then you will be free from it.

Sunny side up,
Z Gardener

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The Triumph of Love

July 17, 2008 by zgardener

 

            Read Matthew 5:43-47.

 
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven…(Matthew 5:44-45).
 
Right reaction is the supreme art of life, and Jesus compressed the secret of that art into a sentence when he said: Resist not evil. A correct understanding of this commandment will regenerate your body, liberate your soul, and remake your life.
 
Love is God and is therefore absolutely all-powerful. Meeting hatred with Love is the perfect method of self-defense in all circumstances. It renders you absolutely invulnerable to any kind of attack.
 
If you receive bad news, if you are unhappy in your work, or in your home, feel out mentally for the Presence of divine Spirit, all around you; affirm its actuality; and claim that God has dominion over all conditions, and you will soon be free.
 
And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God loves his brother also (1 John 4:21).

The old sports truism says the best defense is a good offense. That also applies in our spiritual life but in a totally different meaning. If we surround ourselves with outflowing love, we become invulnerable to negativity. If we build our consciousness around God’s dominion over everything we experienece, we become masters of all around us. If we live according to God’s will, we become liberated from all fear, doubt and anxiety. Let’s go on the offense today by innoculating ourselves with love.

Vaccinated for life,
Z Gardener

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Mandate for Perfection

July 16, 2008 by zgardener

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48).
How wonderful to know that, through God, perfection is available to us here below. How, we may ask, do we ever hope to achieve that perfection while living in the “real world”? The answer is to first believe it and then start today to seek it. You see, the “real world” is not real or fixed in its nature. It is a function of our perception and actions. “It” meaning the outer world will not magically be changed one morning when we awake and find all “its” temptations, woes and hurts have suddenly disappeared. “It” will be changed as we act daily on the firmly held belief that that God intends for us to live in perfect harmony and peace. It will change second by second, day by day, year by year as we live into this reality. So, let us now – at this very moment – rise up and declare that we will live this day in the Eden God created for us instead of the “real world” that we have created for ourselves.

Welcome to the Garden,
Z Gardener

 

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He Used To Demonstrate

July 16, 2008 by zgardener

 

            People often say that when they first came to the knowledge of truth it seemed that miracles happened almost every day. Negative conditions of long standing disappeared. Then, they say, sort of slump seemed to set in, since which they have never been able to do so well.

 
Now why should this be the case? The explanation is that what demonstrates is an expansion of consciousness. With an expansion of consciousness our conditions must improve. When people first learn of the omnipresence of God, they experience such an expansion. Then the tendency is to rest upon the first knowledge acquired, and to make their early realization serve over and over again. This will not do. It is only today’s realization that will demonstrate, never yesterday’s or last year’s.
 
God is not the God of the dead, but of the living (Matthew 22:32).

This day let us expand our consciousness and live afresh in a new world that exists only for today. Then expect a miracle.

In expectation,
Z Gardener

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An Advanced Class

July 14, 2008 by zgardener

            Many people would like to attend what they call an advanced class in metaphysics; but what could an advanced course include that would not be in the ordinary lessons?

 
The usual metaphysical classes teach that God is the only power, and that evil is insubstantial; that we form our own destiny by our thoughts and our beliefs; that conditions do not matter when we pray; that time and space and matter are human illusions; that there is a solution to every problem; that man is the child of God, and God is perfect good; that Jesus Christ is the one who taught the full truth about God, and actually demonstrated it.
 
Once the student has obtained a correct intellectual comprehension of these facts, and digested them—at least partially—the only thing that remains for him is to develop his understanding by demonstrating them in practice.
 
So we see that the real advanced course is the one we give ourselves by demonstrating over the practical problems of everyday life.
 
Faith without works is dead (James 2:20).

Good Morning,

Today, let us all live as children full of awe and wonder, wrapped in our Father’s love and quickened by his consciousness. If we see our world through the eyes of a child, it will be a place of magic, mystery and hope.

From one child to another,

In awe,
Z Gardener

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Reciprocal Judgment

July 11, 2008 by zgardener

Read Matthew 7:1-5.
 
These few verses consist of only about one hundred words, and yet it is hardly too much to say that at their simple face value they comprise the most staggering document ever presented to mankind. In these five verses we are told more about the nature of man and the meaning of life, and the importance of conduct, and the art of living, and the secret of happiness and success, and the way out of trouble, and the approach of God, and the emancipation of the soul, and the salvation of the world, than all the philosophers and the theologians and the savants put together have told us—for it explains the Great Law. “Burn the rest of the books, for it is all in this one,” would hold in reference to those words.
 
People are very apt to think, especially when they are strongly tempted, that they can probably escape the clutches of authority in some other way. If, however, they understood that the law of retribution is a cosmic law, impersonal and unchanging as the law of gravity, they would think twice before they treated other people unjustly. The law of gravity is never off duty, and no one would ever dream of trying to evade it, or coax it, or bribe it, or intimidate it. People accept it as being inevitable and shape their conduct accordingly—and the law of retribution is even as the law of gravity.
 
You may like or dislike the law, and if you wish, you may try to ignore it; but you cannot deny that Jesus Christ taught it, and in the most direct and emphatic way when he said:
 
Judge not, that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged (Matthew 7:1-2).

If we are to be treated fairly, lovingly and leniently by the world, all we must do is treat the world that way. We are the masters of our own judgement.

In kindness,
Z Gardener

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Dissipating Evil

July 10, 2008 by zgardener

            If somebody comes into the room at home, or into the office or shop, looking as if he meant to make trouble, just try switching your attention straight to the Divine, instead of squaring up aggressively to meet the difficulty or shrinking away to avoid it, according to your temperament. You will be amused and gratified to see the anger fade from the subject’s face (which will mean that it has faded from his heart too) and quite a different expression take its place.

 
I have myself seen several cases where men, and on two occasions, children, were actually fighting, and upon a spectator’s “turning the cheek” the strife ceased like magic. Animals respond even more easily to this treatment than do human beings. I have seen two instances where dogs were fighting savagely and all efforts to separate them had failed, when the realization of the Presence of God’s love in all His creatures restored peace. In one case it took several minutes’ work; in the other it was practically instantaneous.
 
Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:21).

There are many ways to do this but one of the best is to bring God into the equation by referencing his name. a simple phrase such as “now we are all God’s children” or “my faith instructs me to treat you with respect and love” or  even the over marketed  “what would Jesus have us do to resolve this?”.  But to bring God into the formula we must first bring him into our thoughts. When facing hostility think God.

In peace,
Z Gardener

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Resist Not Evil

July 9, 2008 by zgardener

 

            Read Matthew 5:38-42.

 
But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil…(Matthew 5:39).
 
Jesus is a revolutionary teacher. He turns the world upside down for those who accept his teaching. When once you have accepted the Jesus Christ message, all values change radically.
 
The old law was that whatever man did to man, he should himself be made to suffer by way of punishment. If he put out another man’s eye, his own was put out by the officers of justice; if he killed, he was killed.
 
The desire to “get even,” to get one’s own back, to level things up somehow or other, when we have been hurt or have suffered injustice, or witnessed things of which we did not approve, will remain with us until the time when we definitely take ourselves in hand and destroy it. “Revenge,” said Bacon, “is a kind of wild justice.”
 
Now Jesus reverses this and says that when someone injures you, you are to forgive him. No matter what the provocation may be, and no matter how many times it is repeated, you are to loose him and let him go, for thus only can you be freed yourself.

We are the ones who are bound by our failure to forgive those who hurt us. Let go and let God even all scores and be freed from the heavy yoke of anger. Remember, his “yoke is easy and the burden is light”.

Freed,
Z Gardener

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Disciplined Speech

July 8, 2008 by zgardener

            Read Matthew 5:33-37.

 
Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths.
 
But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, Nay; for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil (Matthew 5:33,37).
 
Swear not at all, is one of the cardinal points in the teaching of Jesus. It means, briefly, that you are not to mortgage your future conduct in advance; to seek to fix your conduct or your belief for tomorrow while it is yet today. Rather you are constantly to keep yourself an open channel for the pouring out of the Holy Spirit into manifestation through you.
 
Of course, Jesus does not mean that you are not to enter into ordinary business engagements. Nor does he mean that the ordinary oath administered in a court of law is inadmissible. These things are matters of legal convenience. The Sermon on the Mount is a treatise on the spiritual life, for the spiritual life controls all the rest.

If we are open to God each day and not fixed in our desires and understandings, he will reveal to us our best path for each day. While it may create comfort and security to map out our future in great detail, if it blocks us from God’s daily direction, that comfort will come at the price of our ultimate arrival.

On the path,
Z Gardener

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