I've been on a trip to Colorado and back to pick up my father who will spend 3 months of the winter with us this year. It was a long drive and I did not make any posts during that time. But having now returned, I am going to share some observations on the world around us and their spiritual impact. I'm going to cover one negative observation and one positive one that I believe is, in the end, its antidote.
Let's start with the downside. "Discontent" seems to be rampant with people I encounter around me in life right now. It's a quality I am quite familiar with. However, I don't believe that we fully understand how dangerous this "pet emotion" is. Anger, resentment, fear, are all pretty straight forward. There is no denying them. They stand out for all to see - even ourselves. But, discontent is insidious. Like termites it seems hidden from view, eating away at the structure from the inside, and only becomes apparent when inner supports are half gone and things start to collapse.
Discontent isn't all bad. In fact it can have a positive affect upon our lives if it is converted into the commitment to change for the better. But like "guilt", it is helpful for only a few seconds -- the time it takes to make the commitment to do better. Then it needs to be released.
I see around me, people who are trying to control things that they cannot control and in most cases, shouldn't. Their failure fuels a deep discontent that eats away at them. I see others discontent with their lives and unable to escape. Many are discontent with the people around them, because surely they must be the cause of this inner knawing. And of course, we are discontent with government, the state of the economy, the opportunities offered us, the stupid people who disagree with us, and even the weather. For some, this coaleses into a discontent with God. Surely He is not the loving father/mother that we've described him/her to be.
Discontent is an acceptable game to play when things are sunny and some new shift in the currents of life will eventually lift us out of our morass. But it is downright dangerous when the world as a whole is facing the heavy pressures that are part and parcel of a transformation into higher human consciousness. Since we are likely to be part of this historic shift in human consciousness for the rest of our short lives (by human history standards), maybe we better get a little better control of our discontent - something that we do have in our power to control.
Right now, discontent is epidemic in human consciousness and it is trashing institutions that for generations have given us stability. It is trashing individual lives. Just as positive prayer has the possibility to spark miracles, discontent is a form of prayer that has the power to destroy everything in its path. The world needs those of us who can turn away from the strong human current of discontent and etch an alternate path of "seeing the Light" that will eventually balance this slide down the hill. It takes an act of will to turn away from the negative sucking action that many events draw out of us -- an act of will to surrender to the Christ Spirit.
Sunday I told the story of my trip back through a snowstorm and then a rain - no sunlight for 8 days. At the beginning of the hard part, I realized that this didn't need to be my trip. This was an opportunity that the Christ Spirit brought together. I'd tried personally to make this happen for many years without any results. So, it wasn't up to me to force a good outcome to all the challenges that were coming my way. I just needed to do whatever was in front of me - be willing to do whatever life required rather than flail my hands in the air over the difficulties - and turn it over to the Christ Spirit. I'm just the go-for. I began declaring "This is your trip, Christ Spirit!" And that declaration alone seemed to give me great relief. And at the worst points, in spite of the difficulty, things worked out. Spirit truly was in charge. I still had to do hard things. But Spirit would show itself when things seemed most threatening.
Arriving back home and noticing all the discontent, I realize that the auto trip was just the primer. Now it's time to keep affirming, "This is your trip, Christ Spirit!" I encourage you to join me. And I believe the world needs each of you to join this endeavor. Surrender to the Christ Spirit, is the quickest path through the difficulties of the transition in world consciousness that we are fielding right now. And it certainly is the most powerful antidote for that insidious disease of discontent. "Christ Spirit, this is your trip!" Can you feel the soothing relief already flowing?
