Don't Look at the Coffee

Phil 4:8 is a commonly quoted verse but I think the real power of the message is often missed. In the KJV, the verse is: "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." Typically, this verse is used to illustrate the more commonly held maxim, "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil," because the emphasis in the exegesis is usually put on the things upon which our thoughts should rest and the wisdom that is brought out of these statements is the wisdom of silence in the absence of anything good to say. However, there is a much deeper wisdom resident here; and it is aptly illustrated daily by servers bringing a single cup of coffee to the table.

Unless you are completely bereft of worldly experience, you have had the opportunity to serve someone a cup of coffee by bringing it to them; this is often done by transporting it on a tray but, if in a more casual surrounding like a home, it may just be carried as a simple cup and saucer or just a mug. In any event, if the cup is almost full, there is the threat of spilling the coffee when walking with it. This threat can be minimized by either of two strategies: the first strategy is to put a teaspoon in the cup and this retards the swishing liquid from building a wavelike momentum and splashing over the sides of the cup because the teaspoon breaks up the movement of the coffee in the cup; the other strategy is to simply not look at the cup while you're walking. This is an amazing phenomenon. If you look at the coffee while carrying it, you are very likely to splash and spill it or to walk very awkwardly. Yet, if you do not look at the cup and keep your eyes on where you are going, intent on the destination, then even a brisk walk will not disturb the coffee. Somehow, your body knows how to keep that perfectly balanced provided you do not think about it.

Of course, you really are thinking about it because that is why you are carrying it; but you are not thinking about it at a level of specificity that demands your focused attention. You have taken your attention to a remove that, although the vista of that view includes the coffee, it's not about the coffee. This is similar to the principle of picking out a spot on the horizon and traveling toward it instead of picking a spot a few hundred yards away in an effort to travel in a straight line. By placing our attention at increasing levels of generality, we allow the world's natural harmony to appear. This may seem incredible to anyone already in the throes of day to day living and whose main activity is "putting out fires," but, back to the coffee, who causes the spill? The fact that one can walk briskly and not spill the coffee demonstrates that it's not the coffee that does the spilling, it's the one who is carrying. This principle may seem like sheer insanity if applied to, say, social, national, or even international situations, but the fact remains that coffee is spilled by the carrier, not by the coffee. So, tense situations in families, cities, nations and within the world, are caused by individuals who are "looking at the coffee," i.e., they have focused their attention on something specific and have not gone to a sufficient remove of generality.

There may be some who doubt that taking one's mind off a problematic situation is enough to reveal the underlying harmony as I have suggested, but it is only because they have not achieved the most general perspective, the consciousness shared by all creation, the "I AM" consciousness. What is decreed in the "I AM" consciousness, is. Replicate this consciousness by knowing and feeling the truth of your decree; for instance, "'I AM' the harmony of my home." Or, "'I AM' the Peace of the earth." Know this! Feel it as having already been accomplished!

The verse immediately preceding this passage says: "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." This promise of peace is not the creation of peace, it's the disclosure of it; the peace of the world is already there in the same way that the stillness of the coffee is already there. We are the disruptors; and we disrupt by our thoughts and feelings focused at a level of specificity that is non-inclusive of the world. We do not need to do anything, in the sense of adding anything to the world, in order to manifest peace; we need only take our attention to a greater remove--a remove that is all inclusive. And this is precisely what is advocated in verse 8; the true, the honest, the just, the pure, the lovely, and the constructive have universal approval and, as such, are at a level of generality to allow the peace already present in the world to reveal itself.

Beloved one, think on these things.

The Snow

Let me share this most precious gift of mine with you. I love the snow. I love the quiet muffled sounds it makes when tumbling down upon itself. And in a crisp clear evening when e'en the moon itself is bundled with a scarf I love to stand out in the snow and watch my breath ascend. I love the quiet of those nights; the solitary crunch of crusted snow with every step I take. I love the radiant moonlight setting all the field of snow aglow and I between the moon above and its reflection here below. I love to pack the snow into a ball or let it cushion playful fall; to skate while snow is falling still, for me, is such a happy thrill as well as sledding down a long, steep hill; I love the snow. I love the fact that it is white, it blinds by day and soothes by night; but, oh, to me, so great a sight; yes, I do love the snow. The faultless plain of pure, clean white just seems to turn the world aright and soften every mortal plight, this loving blanket, snow. Oh come and bring your cooling cause to still the anger, cover flaws. Rest on eyelids and on tongues; on pavements, parks, and ladders' rungs. Beneath we might be green or brown; we might be city, burg, or town; we might be valley, plain or hill but under snow, we're quiet, still. Yes, come and let your cooling sense repay hot temper recompense; and let your frigid blanket hold the fits of rage 'til they get cold. Thou liquid light in frozen white; Thou dust of Love sent from above, forgiving and forgetting all, embrace us whether great or small and let us always strive to be the picture of your purity.

Love Hosts Its Own

It was early in the afternoon when they finally arrived at the mountain ledge they had seen from the cabin. It was right at the treeline and the sweet fragrance of spruce and pine encouraged them to take in deep draughts of air. The ground was still a bit rocky so they held hands as they walked through the stand of evergreens into which they had climbed; they had not gone a hundred paces when they saw laid out before them a grassy mountain meadow, clear and green and sunny. On its edge they could hear a stream and the mountain itself leaped straightaway up to the sky. What a protected hollow they had found; the majestic pines behind them and the grand mountain before them and to the sides made this a perfectly protected little spot...a kind of hideaway that was not at all visible from below. They entered and felt the sun warm upon their faces as a light breeze tousled their hair and the crisp sound of the mountain stream from which they had drunk earlier gurgled at the meadow's edge. The grass was deep and deep green and seemed to billow as they walked; the sky was the deepest blue with large fluffy white clouds sauntering along.
"Let's lie down and look up at the clouds."
"Ok...I was just thinking that..."

Shape after shape passed overhead as each enjoined the other to see the shape that they noticed; laughter ensued and then drowsiness. For a brief time they just rested on that meadow with the sun as sentinel and breeze as fragrant lullaby; the worries of the day, the week, and the lifetime floated gently away with the clouds and they fell into a deep and dreamless sleep where every tiny cell of their body released its care and found itself awash in Light.

One of the many blessings summertime brings is the ever lengthening days; and the softer light of early evening brought a cooler air that soon awakened and revived them for the walk back down to the cabin. Later that night, with a fire roaring in the fireplace and sated appetites, they escaped again to those brief moments in nature's serene silence and repose, falling asleep in each others arms, cradled by the Love that came to them there as they slept upon its lawn, while high up in that mountain meadow, a preternatural glow illumined small white flowers blooming just where they had lain.