shine-center

Where to Start?

shinecentervt@gmail.com (Ben Phipps) — Wed, 09 Oct 2024 03:23:12 GMT

With coffee, always coffee.

In the “About” section I wrote - It has been said that there is one Truth spoken in many different ways. Whether spiritualist, scientist, atheist, “religionist” or another “ist”, I know that if we set seeking Truth as our goal, we may use different language, but will end up in a similar place....

Seeking Truth is a good place to start.

The purpose of this blog is to inspire people to think differently about the world and go deep within and seek Truth, so we can live in freedom, free from inner conflict and free to be who we are, in peace and love.

My starting point

God or whatever term you want to use for this universal force or as Joel Goldsmith calls the Infinite Invisible is All Powerful, All Knowing, All Present and All Loving. I start this as the basis of my seeking for one simple reason – If God is not these things, then I’m not interested because how could you have a God that is not these things? But I also recognize that when I start here, it leads me to questioning, has the world done a poor job of presenting or explaining God?

What is Truth? Not your everyday material world truth such as is it true that you are reading this? But Truth with a capital “T” that is not of this world. I start with, can it change? Truth is that which cannot change.

Go deep within – Words can only take us so far. This Truth is in the “journey beyond words”. According to A Course In Miracles (ACIM) “Truth is eternal, unalterable, and unambiguous. It is beyond time and process, and can only be known, not learned or believed.” But do not take ACIM’s word for it, we must each experience it for ourselves.

May you enjoy the journey.

Love Reflections VII

shinecentervt@gmail.com (Ben Phipps) — Tue, 08 Oct 2024 03:02:26 GMT

Part VII. Love is Our Salvation

(Continued as part of the Love Reflections series based on a prompt. I recommend starting with Part I .)

I recently heard that by 2040 Artificial Intelligence will make it hard to tell between what is real and what is fabricated. And I’ve heard AI experts say the next 5 to 15 years will be a great disruption and struggle for the world, and hopefully (they say) we come out better on the other side. If we establish in us a foundation that only love is real, we will.

Love is our salvation - We tend to look outside ourselves to money, career, another person, social status, “our” knowing and “our” fixing to save us. But it is the love in us, not the love of this world, but our connection with this love that has no agenda, no guilt and is our natural inheritance that saves us. And we can’t have both, just like we can’t have two lovers, we must pick one, the ever-changing love of this world which looks to satisfy our ego and appears to ease our pain but doesn’t, or the love of all, of light. Quiet, changeless, patient, kind, easy and freeing love.

Since the pandemic ended, the pain in the world has only gotten worse. The world will try “worldly” fixes which are but temporary solutions at best, but this love that “the world does not giveth…and passeth understanding.” is all we need, and all we have, quite frankly, to truly cure the pain in the world.

The good news: No matter how off track we get; we can always choose again - To no longer focus on the things of the material world to “Seek ye first the kingdom of God”. How long will we allow the ego to win? Are we willing to go on this “journey without distance” and let this Light, this Love, God bring us out of pain, out of the “horrible pit, out of the miry clay” Psalm 40 mentions. And when this happens, when we win, and love as God loves, we will sing a new song, but the question remains, how long?

When we allow this Love to just be, allow God to be God and lift us up, we can say to everyone without motive……

Freedom I give to you

Peace I give to you

Joy I give to you

My love I give to you not as the world giveth, a love that passeth understanding.

The world wins, we sing a new song.

Recommended song that came up during this reflection: “40” by U2.

This ends my current reflections on the prompt. Additional reflections on love came up since I finished this, but I will add them later as separate pieces.

Love Reflections VI

shinecentervt@gmail.com (Ben Phipps) — Mon, 07 Oct 2024 01:59:54 GMT

Part VI. Resistance to Love

(Continued as part of Love Reflections series based on a prompt. I recommend starting with Part I .)

Earlier ( Part I ) I mentioned the goal of A Course In Miracles (ACIM) was “.... removing the blocks to the awareness of love's presence, which is your natural inheritance”. What makes it hard to experience this love? ACIM says we have an authorship problem – we want to be the authors of our lives. Instead of God in control, we want to be. Instead of us being made in God’s image, we want to make God and everyone into our image. The good news is the blocks don’t really exist (Yes, but try telling that to my ego).

In the Infinite Way, Joel Goldsmith tells the story of Marconi, inventor of wireless radio. When Marconi was asked how as a young engineer, he was so confident he would be the one to invent wireless communication given that so many more experienced people were working on it, he said that the people that were working on wireless were trying to solve the problem of resistance (how it would deal with physical structures, other obstructions, space, etc.) while He already knew there was no resistance.

I would like to think if we asked a mystic or enlightened person how they are able to have this connection or conscious union with God when so many people in the world are trying, they would say something similar such as, “Most people are trying to solve some form of resistance that they think keeps them separate from God, like sin, judgment, guilt, attachment, pray right, not knowing who they are or other worldly problems they need to fix, while I already knew there is no resistance to God. God is here now and there is no resistance. Like the seeming physical obstacles to wireless communication, it is an illusion” (My Mythical Mystic).

Love is constantly expressed, but are we picking it up or is the connection broken? People can feel it even when they may not recognize or put a finger on it. The good news: This connection allows us to make a difference without even realizing it - Just like people can feel your underlying contempt (remember the MLK Jr quote in Part II ?), they can feel your underlying love.

May we end the resistance to this love, connect and allow this natural and freeing love to flow through us..

Next reflection: Love is …… (the last in this series…for now)

Love Reflections V

shinecentervt@gmail.com (Ben Phipps) — Sat, 05 Oct 2024 12:07:38 GMT

Part V. Love is Easy

(Continued as part of Love Reflections series based on a prompt. I recommend starting with Part I .)

I’m just as surprised as you, this is what came up. How is it easy? I’m asking too. Easy because it is our natural inheritance. Easy because at the end of the day, Love just is. It has no agenda; it gives freely and is freedom. There is no conflict because love just is. No matter how much we may try; we can’t make love or God something it is not.

There is no striving, or anxious energy toward this love. As Jesus said on the Sermon on the Mount, “Take no thought”, let go of my attachment to my ideas of love or to my need to “fix” my judgements, my grievances, my guilt, my self-hatred and let God be God and let love escape. I need do nothing, but go deep within and seek Truth, seek ye first the kingdom of God. First, not after I fix this or that in my life, but first.

Why do we seem to make it so hard? As I finished typing this question, the Go-Go’s song “Head Over Heels”, came on and it pretty much sums it up. Our world is head over heels-out of control, and we have forgotten who we are.

We make love hard when we surround it with everything else, grievances, judgment etc. And just like when we’re trying to fix the world, we can get caught in the trap that we have to do something, try harder to love, etc. We are a society of control freaks, but there is no controlling or forcing our way to this love.

The good news is that no matter how off track we get and feel like we’re on the crazy train, we can always get back on track and jump on the peace and love trains.

Recommended songs that came up during this reflection: “Head over Heels” by the Go-Go’s, Crazy Train by Ozzy Osbourne, Peace Train by Yusuf/Cat Stevens and Love Train by the O’Jays.

Next reflection: Resistance to Love

Love Reflections IV

shinecentervt@gmail.com (Ben Phipps) — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 16:24:44 GMT

Part IV. Love is Changeless

(Continued as part of Love Reflections series based on a prompt. I recommend starting with Part I .)

Where’s love?

One of the characteristics of eternal truth is that it cannot change. God is love, God is truth. Love is truth. If it can change, then we are talking about something in the material world. People sometimes look at all the problems of the world and ask, “where’s God or Love?”, but like we do in the material world, we are looking for love in all the wrong places. Love is “HERE”, now and always but we keep looking in the “here”. We say in the material world, we are blinded by love, but more correctly we are blind to love. And we will be until we see the illusory nature of the material world. Then we can help this love to escape from this cloud that covers and imprisons it.

So, as this world seems to move further and further towards rock bottom let us remember this love is always within us HERE and NOW. It is the light, and the enthusiasm Churchill mentioned (part I). This will give us faith and hope.

Recommended songs that came up during this reflection: “Where’s the Love” by the Black Eyed Peas. Les Misérables-Epilogue, Finale Approx 5:50-7minute mark.

Next reflection: Love is ……

Love Reflections III

shinecentervt@gmail.com (Ben Phipps) — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 22:36:05 GMT

Part III. Love is Serious

(Continued as part of Love Reflections series based on a prompt. I recommend starting with Part I .)

I am a seeker, but if you ask me if I am a serious seeker, I will have to admit I have been too casual. When will I see something as not more important than this, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God”, love? I hold hope and faith because I did have a period when I was more serious than I have been the last 15 years, and I experienced the difference. No matter how much praying and wanting of peace and love, I know it will not happen until I take peace and love seriously and give it the deep attention it requires.

I can easily get distracted. No matter how well intended a distraction may be, it is another trap that shows the insidiousness of the ego: The ego/darkness wants us to spend our time fixing this world (sounds good, doesn’t it?), while the lightness is waiting for us to overcome this world and come home like the prodigal child. Jesus lived in this world but was not of this world, he overcame the world. When we’re trying to fix things, we are distracted in the world of judgment and grievances and guilt, etc. (Note: This doesn’t mean not to take care of things that need immediate fixing or attention, this is about staying in that place or a lifetime of working on the “fixing” without realizing it never ends and the solution is beyond this.)

The pull of this world is strong, so we have to be stronger, and I know for me, to think I can do it without doing the spiritual work or going to the spiritual gym would be a mistake. This is not like physically getting in shape where we may try harder and do more, instead it is “Be still and know”. And what we’ll find is that in overcoming this world instead of trying to fix it, the world will self-correct.

Next reflection: Love is ……

Love Reflections II

shinecentervt@gmail.com (Ben Phipps) — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 01:29:10 GMT

Part II. Love is Freedom

(Continued from Part I of Love Reflections. Please start there.)

Earlier in the 13 ^th chapter of 1 Corinthians Paul said “love is patient, love is kind”…and I would add, love is freedom. One of the greatest gifts to give another is accepting them as they are and giving them the space to be themselves. This is love (unconditional acceptance). This is freedom. This is the love God shows because God knows who we are.

Paul also said “love does not boast, it is not proud…..” and implied in Corinthians, but to make it very clear, I would add love does not judge another, love does not try to make people and God in their human image. This is the trap for nicest or most well intended people, but the ego thrives on judgment and its related elements of opinions and expectations and hidden behind these are contempt. We can fall into thinking, someone(anyone), an acquaintance, friend, partner, spouse, child or even groups of people are not doing what "my" image (which is made up of a my opinions, my expectations, my beliefs, etc.) says they should be doing for me.

How do I not judge?

It helps me to keep in mind and know that when I judge, I’m really judging myself. It also helps me to remember that the ego thrives on judgment, and the last thing I want to do is feed the ego. I don’t think I can stop judging without understanding the illusory nature of the world I think I see. It is understanding God’s kingdom is not here, it is HERE. It is looking at a person and instead of seeing a body, I see a child of God. Instead of seeing a world of separated bodies, I see oneness. Am I willing to see things differently? Am I willing to see without my physical eyes? (Note: This does not mean we are required to be friends with someone, spend time, or like their actions or that they shouldn’t go to prison.)

Am I willing to give up the world I created with all my image making for the world God created?

I can’t know and experience this love as long as I believe in something that is not there, that my physical eyes are showing me.

Can I see their actions and their personality and know that is not who they are?

Hidden behind judgment and opinions lies contempt. What I notice about contempt is most of the time we don’t realize it is there. It is good to look within and see where this may exist in us. As Martin Luther King Jr. said, "You have very little morally persuasive power with people who can feel your underlying contempt."

Marianne Williamson in her book “A Return to Love” wrote, “A Course in Miracles says we think we are going to understand people in order to figure out whether or not they’re worthy of our love, but actually until we love them, we can never understand them. What is not loved is not understood. We hold ourselves separate from people and wait for them to earn our love, but people deserve our love because of what God created them to be.”

This reminds me of another saying I’ve heard over the years. “The second I try to define you; I do not know you.”

Take a moment to think of who you may have been holding prisoner with your judgments, opinions, expectations, and image making?

Give someone the gift of freedom today. It will free you; for when you enslave someone, you are really enslaving yourself, for what you give, you will receive. Give freedom!

Recommended song that came up during this reflection: “Life Uncommon” by Jewel.

Next reflection - Love is .......... .

Love Reflections

shinecentervt@gmail.com (Ben Phipps) — Tue, 01 Oct 2024 19:26:22 GMT

Part I. Love is Natural

(Below is my writing based on a randomly selected prompt, a passage from scripture and one from the Morovian

book of prayer which those participating are asked to reflect on these passages and write less than a page for people in the church

to read during lent. It was tough to keep it to one page and I kept reflecting and new thoughts came, so here is my revised and

expanded version of my reflection which has been broken up into several posts….)

And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

1 Corinthians 13:13

Where divine affection lives
there the Lord his blessing gives;
there his will on earth is done;
there his heav'n is half begun.
Great example from above,
teach us all like you to love. (670)

Dear God, whatever we as a world are doing is not working. We talk about peace and love, yet it still evades us. I would prefer it if we didn’t have to hit rock bottom, to change, but I know that it may be the only way the world changes. Thank you, God, for providing us all the help we need, may we use it. Amen.

So, feeling this downward spiral the world is on, I pulled out my trusty survival guide from my mind and there in the section “How to Survive Rock Bottom: Love as God loves .” This sounded familiar to me so then I looked for another book from my youth, Radicalism 101 - and there it was: Love as God loves . And then I pulled out another book from ages ago - The True Progressive and there it was again: Love as God loves .

After all, Jesus, Martin Luther King Jr. Gandhi, Bob Marley and others pushing peace and love were some of the most radical and progressive people of their time.

How to rock the world, how to transform the world, how to make the world a better place – Love as God loves.

But what is this love?

Is this love similar to God’s peace Jesus and Paul spoke about in John 14:27 and Phillipians 4:7?

“My peace I give unto you: but not as the world giveth…” – “a peace that passeth understanding.” I believe Jesus and Paul could just as easily say the same about love.

My love I give to you, but not as the world giveth… a love that passeth understanding.

This is not the everyday love of the material world that is conditional, can change over time, and is limited by judgment and expectations. I am or we, if you would like to join in on this discovery, are seeking something that passeth understanding but can be experienced. Not to be believed but to be experienced.

What is this love the world does not give nor understand?

Reflection I. Love is natural

In the introduction to A Course In Miracles (ACIM) it states, “The course does not aim at teaching the meaning of love, for that is beyond what can be taught. It does aim, however, at removing the blocks to the awareness of love’s presence, which is your natural inheritance.” So here is a clue, it is our natural inheritance as a child of God which means we have it already and if we don’t have this love, then something unnatural is occurring. (Is this why this world feels so unnatural?)

And what are these blocks that hide this naturally occurring love from us? Grievances, judgment, “my” opinions, “my” expectations, “my” perceptions, guilt, victimhood, attachment, loneliness, neediness and self-hatred to begin with, that form a cloud around the inner spirit, that keeps one from knowing one’s self.

But why do we allow this cloud to form?

The ego, darkness. The cloud forms because the ego or darkness or some would call the devil is insidious, it will never just announce itself to you and say, “I’m darkness and here to destroy you”. If it did, we would address it. Instead, it will convince us it is here to protect and comfort us.

It wants us to think that these thoughts of grievance, judgment, etc are natural and then we live in the comfort of fear and safety. The ego is using the guise of safety to find comfort in our fears, and if the ego does its job right, we actually become more afraid of the light than darkness. Yet, true safety lies in this love the world does not give nor understand.

When we live in this comfort of our fears, the ego wins, when we live with grievances and judgment, the ego wins, but in the loud noise of the ego, it is the quiet call of light we hear that keeps us going. As the saying goes, “God is quiet for there is no conflict in him”.

Go to the quiet, deep within. This love is not in the noise of the world.

Winston Churchill said “Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm”. I would tweak the quote to “Successful living is the ability to go from failure to failure, tragedy to tragedy, disappointment to disappointment, station to station without losing your enthusiasm.” It is this enthusiasm that stays through tough periods that is the light, the love that "passeth understanding".

The good news: This love is naturally occurring, there is no need to acquire it, earn it or being “worthy” of it. It is your natural inheritance.

Recommended song that came up during this reflection: “Closer to Fine” by the Indigo Girls. (I originally wrote this piece using quotes of song lyrics in the writing, but that is not easy to do in a published writing, so I’m recommending the song whose lyrics came up during this reflection.)

Next reflection: Love is Freedom