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.