The Path to Clarity

Yesterday, being a most beautiful 70+ degree day, I decided to load up my lap top and cell phone to do business outside at Audubon State Park, just across the Ohio River in Henderson, KY. Audubon has always been one of my favorite places.

As soon as I arrived, AT&T decided that their mobile network would go dead. This pissed me off, and I quickly spiraled into a negative quagmire. I did what work I could do sitting in my car when the beauty that surrounded me finally broke through my mental walls. I thought, perhaps I'm here not to work, but to meditate on the lesson that was mine to find if I dared. That is when I discovered in my brief case a booklet I picked up several weeks earlier that caught my attention at my massage therapy office published by Ananda Worldwide titled, Clarity: Spiritual Teachings and Practices for Everyday Living.

Ananda Church of Self-Realization is based in Nevada City, CA with communities mostly centered on the West Coast, Italy and India. They honor God in the form of Jesus Christ, Buddha, Moses, Mohammed, Krishna and Nature, which points us toward the one Highway of Self-realization. Now that's Unity through Diversity! A few gems, which I meditated on:

1. Reawakening the Divine Forces: The divine forces are leaving this planet because we give them no attention. Just as a spring goes dry if it isn't regularly flushed out and used, so also does the flow of the Divine in nature close down if we ignore it. It's like a person to whom you don't give appreciation; gradually he stops giving. In our relationship with nature, as with people, there has to be reciprocity.

2. Imitate Christ: Quoting St. Tomas a Kempis from The Imitation of Christ, "Always be ready for battle if you wish for victory; you cannot win the crown of patience without a struggle; if you refuse to struggle, you refuse the crown. Banish discouragement from your heart as best you can, and if trouble comes, never let it depress or hinder you for long. At the least, bear it bravely if you cannot bear it cheerfully.

3. Negative Attitudes Push God Away: To persevere on the spiritual path, it's also important not to fall into the trap of pushing God away by projecting your own negative attitudes on to Him. God doesn't have negative qualities. In Him there is only pure light, love and joy. If, however, we don't try to attune our consciousness to His will, our awareness of those qualities begins to fade. The shadows become deeper when we turn away from the light.

After reading and meditating on the above I started my path to clarity through the woods of Audubon State Park. I came upon the Stone Shelter where I designed the scenes for my first music video in 1983. I reawakened the creativity in me.

Finally I reached my goal, Wilderness Lake, as it reflected the color of fall upon its surface. I prayed that I would reflect the Divine colors and energy given to me. I also shared a moment of gratitude to the Divine for interrupting my schedule for His so that a moment of Spiritual Clarity could erase the shadows from my soul!

Sir Hook the Claric of Warrick