What's Happening in the World and What Can I Do?

 

 

 

What’s Happening in the World 

and What Can I Do?

 

Everyone seems traumatized by world events these days. Literally traumatized: they spend a lot of time and energy chewing on, obsessing about what’s happening, talking about it with friends. They feel compelled to try to understand it, make sense of it, come to some kind of terms with it, find a way to feel less out of control and less bewildered and overwhelmed, find a way to deal with their own grief and pain about it, find out whether there even is any way to live a normal, happy life when so many others cannot do that.

Here are some touch-points that might be helpful. These are not offered as simplistic solutions that do not do justice to either the complexity of the world or the suffering in it. These are offered as doorways you might choose to step through to get an expanded perspective. They are touchstones, and if they are not useful for you, don't use them. They are simply perspectives you might not have entertained before, on what's happening in the world.

 

First, understand the nature of trauma: we are hardwired to create repeats of the event to try to make it turn out differently this time, and/or this time to experience an adequate capacity to deal with it and come out un-traumatized this time. If we know that is driving us, we can already feel more at peace and in control. If you feel the need, there are plenty of programs to help people heal from trauma.

 

Second, there is this context we can ask our own soul to show us, so that we absolutely know the truth and reality of it: that everyone who is suffering has chosen that experience. Their embodiment is part of their soul, and the soul has chosen. The soul is eternal, and is a portion of the infinite eternal Soul that creates everything all the time. For that soul, all experience is equally valuable for the purpose of knowing ourselves as portions of the Creator and expanding the universe through our creating. And its experience includes our own experiences of feeling horrified at the suffering and taking actions to eliminate it.

We generally don’t know this truth and reality. In fact it seems quite false and quite callous toward those who suffer. We can intend. and ask our own soul to help us to know this ultimate choicefulness, and that will be revealed. I speak from personal experience. Until it is revealed, however, it seems to be ridiculous, obviously false, and cruel toward those who suffer. It is often erroneously interpreted as "You are suffering because you deserve it."

This perspective does not, cannot, and is not intended to, diminish in any way the naturalness and rightness of horrified reactions to suffering. The heartbreak we feel is part of what is real and natural. Many of us respond instinctively to make the suffering stop and prevent it from recurring. That is part of the fail-safe built into the world, as mentioned below.

I can't seem to avoid hearing about horrifying actions happening in the world, and my best way of coping is to take each specific and turn it around into its opposite, that I do want, and offer that as a prayer, a declaration, an affirmation. Example: "All people are safe in their homes and as they live their lives." I believe that turning around what we see helps fulfill the purpose of anything we don't want, which is to stimulate and direct our creative powers.

I draw comfort in my heartbreak from knowing that I and others are being evoked into greater creativity, compassion, and contribution. We are being drawn into greater community, love, and action.

Third, there is also this context for what is happening in the world that we can know is true and real: that suffering is eventually self-eliminating. In our essence, as living creatures, we want thriving life, not suffering. This means that ultimately our world will emerge from her pretense of being less than a portion of the infinite and eternal, and all suffering will cease, because all suffering is caused by and possible only within that pretense, that illusion. The fail-safe is built into the system. Our world is based on a pretense, a voluntary forgetting of who we are. It is an unstable situation, and requires much effort to maintain. Therefore, eventually, because there is the built-in fail-safe to end the pretense, the world will return to the truth and the reality of who she is—and we as parts of her will also--and suffering will then become impossible.

This context generates another helpful perspective. In my own trust and knowing that there is a bigger picture going on, for this planet, I know all happenings are part of that bigger picture which is the shift out of the pretense of separation, the pretense that, as mentioned above, is the source of all experience of suffering. The self-limiting nature of that pretense means that the planet, and all of us, are headed toward a brighter, happier future and everything we see around us is happening in that context.

 

Fourth, until then, each of us faces the questions: How can I cope, and what is mine to do in this world? This whole essay addresses “how can I cope?” Discovering “what is mine to do” is super-important, as it allows us to actually embody and radiate the truth and the reality that will help bring an end to suffering. The briefest guide to knowing, in each moment, what is yours to do, is use your feelings, especially your heart, to sense what would bring you the most, deepest, highest joy, and that’s what’s your best contribution to removing suffering from the world. We uplift the world when we uplift ourselves, as we and the world are inter-being, inseparable.

 

Fifth, to do what is ours to do, we must allow others the same. Some are called to action. Some are called to destroy. Some are called to build. Some are called to be unconditional peace/love/joy and radiate that out, which uplifts everyone. To accomplish the return to the truth and reality of who we are, we must allow everyone to do their part even if we can’t see how it helps.

I find hope on days I feel hopeless, from knowing that for every bit of suffering that comes to my attention, there are an even greater number of acts of loving kindness and the building of the specifics of a more wonderful world that do not come to my attention. This I know with certainty.

 

The sixth context is the realization that each of us is not alone, though it feels that way sometimes. There are millions and millions of living creatures on earth, including fellow humans, who are on the same path of being dedicated to being helpful and being uplifting. Some are on that path consciously, others are not conscious but being helpful and uplifting anyway. So if we want to reach out to others for morale-boosting and support, we will find them. 

 

A seventh possibly helpful touchstone for coping with what's happening in the world is a little aphorism that had a big impact on my life: Suffering about suffering does not decrease the amount of suffering in the world. Compassion does.

 

Finally I am helped in coping by using my attention to create more of what I want, not more of what I don't want. Some of us are among those not called to keep up with the news. We do not define a "responsible citizen" as necessarily including conscientiously following the (bad) "news"  and "knowing what's going on" in detail. Attention is creative, especially when combined with emotion, so we can use it wisely. Using it wisely is extremely helpful in coping with what's happening in the world.

 

Having all that fully present in our awareness as we move through this current world could help us and the world. May this little essay serve its purpose of being helpful, by fostering such awareness.

 

Here are two of my other blogposts related to this:

https://exploringsecondandthirdtier.blogspot.com/2022/05/ruminations-on-peace.html 

https://divinelightchurch.blogspot.com/2008/12/peace-on-earth-details.html 

In the interest of the purpose of this blogpost, some of our church theology has been simplified, but not to the point of falsifying. 

 

By Rev. Alia Aurami, Ph.D., Head Minister, Amplifying Divine Light in All Church

"Amplifying Divine Light in All" is a completely independent church fostering empowerment of people to co-create loving, thriving God-realized lives, and wellbeing for everyone, on a clean, peaceful Earth.

 

Our main religious purpose and mission is to amplify the Divine Light in everyone. When you read this article, you will agree or disagree with its various points, and then you will know more about what is true for you. Knowing more of your own Truth amplifies your Divine Light. Thus providing/presenting this article is one way for us to accomplish our purpose and mission. 

 

This article and our providing/presenting it are therefore a central and essential part of our exercise and practice of our religion. 

 

None of the contents herein are claimed as absolute truth. They represent one possible perspective which might prove useful for you. All results from using anything written in this blog are solely your own responsibility, which you assume by reading.

All rights reserved under the Common Law. This means please respect our creatorship.

Image by Anja from Pixabay

 

Book Blessing and Activation

 

   Rev. Alia’s Book Publication

    Blessing, Birth, and Activation

 

This can be adapted for any creation you are putting out into the world.

This is intended to be spoken out loud just before hitting the PUBLISH button or other comparable moment, such as a book launch gathering.

This can be done retroactively with any book already published.

 

 

Why not add ideas or suggest new wordings, by making a comment on this document?

Make and use your own version of this, to fit your own spiritual beliefs.

First below is a version to be spoken by the author. Below that is a version with pronouns changed in case the blessing is spoken by someone else at a book launch gathering. 

Offered under Creative Commons License as a ministry of Amplifying Divine Light in All Church. 

 Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA

 

 

I start by acknowledging with awe, reverence, and worship, the Source of all that is, the Infinite Creative Power which constantly makes everything that happens, happen, and which is always and ongoingly the substance and aliveness we all are. I acknowledge and accept my rightful portion of that Infinite Creative Power through which, as which, this book has come into being.

 

I acknowledge with reverent gratitude all that has happened and all the Beings involved, in bringing this book into existence and into the world:

 

·       All my ancestors, and all the lineages of the thinkers represented in the book

·       All who made it possible for all those lives to touch mine and thus to flow through me into the book

·       All those who inspired and supported me in my creation process

·       All of the help, guidance, and support from my invisible guides, teachers, healers, all of the higher-dimensional team in which this embodiment is a member

·       All who made possible the publishing of this book and those involved in helping it find its way into the world

 

I acknowledge with gratitude and humble appreciation myself, and all the choices that I made which enabled me to reach this point of publishing this book: all the perseverance, all the loving motivation to benefit others, all the self-acknowledgement and self-love necessary to deal with hurdles and with challenges.

 

I acknowledge with the most profound gratitude, all who will use this book to enhance their own work toward a better world, and all who will share it with others and help more people discover it as useful to their work for a better world.

 

I hereby imbue this book with its own sacred conscious-identity morphic field/Beingness/selfhood and its own sacred flowing purpose for the evolution and upliftment of all aspects and inhabitants of this planet. May it be guided and energized by all loving Beings in at least these ways:

 

·       May everyone into whose life-space this book comes—in any way to any degree—experience upliftment, support, encouragement, inspiration, and added strength, wisdom, and knowledge available for making their contributions to a more wonderful world.

 

·       And may those who encounter this book be inspired to bring it to the attention of anyone they know who might benefit from it, and be guided to bring it to the attention even of people they don’t yet know who might benefit from it.

 

May the generosity of spirit (and its manifested activity) of all the above Beings return to them/us/me a thousand-fold and more, in every good way, including money, so we may glow more brightly in turn upon other nodes in Indra’s Net.

 

And so it is.

 

 

By Rev. Alia Aurami, Head Minister, Amplifying Divine Light in All Church

December 16, 2021

If you feel moved to gift in the Church's gift economy, to support and enable continuing ministries, send via Paypal to divinelightchurch@gmail.com, or write for other methods. We tithe to others building a more wonderful world.

 

We start by acknowledging with awe, reverence, and worship, the Source of all that is, the Infinite Creative Power which constantly makes everything that happens, happen, and which is always and ongoingly the substance and aliveness we all are. We each acknowledge and accept our rightful portion of that Infinite Creative Power through which, as [author's name], this book has come into being.

 

We acknowledge with reverent gratitude all that has happened and all the Beings involved, in bringing this book into existence and into the world:

 

·       All her ancestors, and all the lineages of the thinkers represented in the book

·       All who made it possible for all those lives to touch hers and thus to flow through her into the book

·       All those who inspired and supported her in her creation process

·       All of the help, guidance, and support from her invisible guides, teachers, healers, all of the higher-dimensional team in which her embodiment is a member

·       All who made possible the publishing of this book and those involved in helping it find its way into the world

 

We acknowledge with gratitude and humble appreciation [author name] herself, and all the choices that she made which enabled her to reach this point of publishing/launching this book: all the perseverance, all the loving motivation to benefit others, all the self-acknowledgement and self-love necessary to deal with hurdles and with challenges.

 

We acknowledge with the most profound gratitude, all who will use this book to enhance their own work toward a better world, and all who will share it with others and help more people discover it as useful to their work for a better world.

 

We hereby imbue this book with its own sacred conscious-identity morphic field/Beingness/selfhood and its own sacred flowing purpose for the evolution and upliftment of all aspects and inhabitants of this planet. May it be guided and energized by all loving Beings in at least these ways:

 

·       May everyone into whose life-space this book comes—in any way to any degree—experience upliftment, support, encouragement, inspiration, and added strength, wisdom, and knowledge available for making their contributions to a more wonderful world.

 

·       And may those who encounter this book be inspired to bring it to the attention of anyone they know who might benefit from it, and be guided to bring it to the attention even of people they don’t yet know who might benefit from it.

 

May the generosity of spirit (and its manifested activity) of all the above Beings return to them/us a thousand-fold and more, in every good way, including money, so we may glow more brightly in turn upon other nodes in Indra’s Net.

 

And so it is.

 

By Rev. Alia Aurami, Head Minister, Amplifying Divine Light in All Church

December 16, 2021

If you feel moved to gift in the Church's gift economy, to support and enable continuing ministries, send via Paypal to divinelightchurch@gmail.com, or write for other methods. We tithe to others building a more wonderful world.

 

 

 

 

A New Key to PTSD and Forgiveness?

 A New Key to PTSD and Forgiveness?

In listening to Thomas Hübl and Diane Poole Heller discuss trauma in a webinar on April 13, 2022, I got the answer to one of my longtime questions about my own life. It wasn’t anything they said; the insight popped in from the field of related inquiry they generated. (The course they are offering is https://healingbrokenconnections.com/)

 

Trauma, and the human neurological ongoing, repeating, and damaging loop that it sets up, happens to humans, individually and collectively, far more often than most people realize, I believe. It really doesn’t take much to set up a trauma response that lasts and lasts, whether it’s minor or major. (I regard that as one of the few “design flaws” Nature made in humans!)

 

So here’s a new key, and it’s related also to self-forgiveness: I have been requiring that the original event be never-done. That it never happened. I believe PTSD is an attempt at this. We replay the original scenario, or as close to it as life will allow us to get, and do our best to have it turn out differently this time—which of course it never does. But even if it did, that would not wipe out the original happening.

 

So a key is coming to terms with the fact that it DID happen. Reframing it, re-contextualizing it (expanding the context) so the actual nature of what happened is changed. That’s a terrific way out of the loop, I now feel.

 

What does that mean? Let’s look at an analogous situation. A man slices open someone’s belly with a knife. How did you imagine that, and what was your response? What context did you give it, what story did you make up?

 

Now what if you could see the context as a surgeon operating to save the person’s life? Does that reframe actually shift your neurological and biochemical response to the happening? I think it can.

 

I am not very familiar with new sophisticated and effective approaches to PTSD by retraining the brain, but I am betting this “seeing the happening in a different light” is part of it.

 

For myself, I’ve been unable to forgive myself for some harms I caused, because I’ve been in such resistance to the fact they happened. I’ve been demanding that I find a way to make the happening never have happened. As that is impossible, healing is impossible.

 

So giving up that demand, and seeking alternative approaches to dealing with the fact that it did happen, is required on path to healing, I now see. And if the trauma response is as common as I think, and often mild and subtle but still draining and damaging, this insight could actually benefit a lot of people!

 

And no, platitudes like “We all make mistakes, just accept being human, you were doing the best you could at the time” have NOT worked so far (for me) as reframes. They don’t address the neurological need to make it never have happened.  Some people try to make it never have happened by making the memory less accessible through alcohol or other drugs or addictions. Very understandable, but the collateral damage is great. I’m now suggesting this new approach. I don’t offer a way to make it as if it never happened. That’s the demand impossible to fulfill. I am suggesting to find a way to give up the hard-wired neurological demand for it to have never happened, and then proceed with healing methods.

 

That’s my next step. Can you introspect and find this demand in yourself? Can you feel it blocking forgiveness, or self-forgiveness? Can you feel how it locks up and drains energy in a demand impossible to fulfill?

 

Let me know how you free yourself from it!

 

This is not mental health advice; it is sharing something I’ve realized. You are responsible for what you do with this. Consult a certified expert in PTSD treatment if you have it.

 

By Rev. Alia Aurami, Ph.D., Head Minister, Amplifying Divine Light in All Church

"Amplifying Divine Light in All" is a completely independent church fostering empowerment of people to co-create loving, thriving God-realized lives, and wellbeing for everyone, on a clean, peaceful Earth.

Our main religious purpose and mission is to amplify the Divine Light in everyone. When you read this article, you will agree or disagree with its various points, and then you will know more about what is true for you. Knowing more of your own Truth amplifies your Divine Light. Thus providing/presenting this article is one way for us to accomplish our purpose and mission. 

This article and our providing/presenting it are therefore a central and essential part of our exercise and practice of our religion. 

None of the contents herein are claimed as absolute truth. They represent one possible perspective which might prove useful for you. All results from using anything written in this blog are solely your own responsibility, which you assume by reading.

All rights reserved under the Common Law. This means please respect our creatorship.

 

What Do "Sacred" and "Divine" Mean?

What Do “Sacred” and “Divine” Mean?

 

Part One: Personal Inquiry into the Concepts

 

Inquiring

 

It is good to begin to live in the inquiry around each concept.

 

“Living in the inquiry” means maybe once a day asking a question inside, such as any of questions suggested below, and being still and quiet and waiting at least a few minutes for some answer or insight to pop into awareness. If nothing comes, then going about one’s day but staying open.

 

And it also means asking the question now and then at random times, and being alert to answers or insights that pop in at random times.

 

What you do with what “comes” from inquiry, can vary. Any or all of those can be useful; see what you are called to do. You could be

• writing it down
• acting in a new way
• teaching it to others
• taking the new sense or response back into further inquiry
  
• simply letting your consciousness absorb it into your being, without any mental effort.

 

Contemplating

 

There is also a useful approach called spiritual contemplation, which is even simpler than inquiry, and suitable for single concepts like this. Simply be quiet for a time, and keep repeating the word to yourself, gently, every so often, and see what arises in you as you gently keep your attention on the word. I recommend doing that in addition to the more elaborate process of inquiry using questions.

 

Sample Inquiry Questions about Personal Conceptual Meaning 

 

Here are some inquiry questions using the concept of “sacred” as an example, but please also use all these questions around the concept of “divine.”

 

What does this concept of “sacred” mean to me conceptually? 

Is it an important concept to me personally? Why or why not?

What is the significance of this concept in my life?

Why do I think or believe or feel it is an important concept for others to be aware of? 

What are the meanings I think others have of it? 

Is it truth, or is it a belief, when I say something is sacred or divine? How do I decide that? 

Is it honest for me when I apply the word to something? 

How do I know or decide what is sacred and what is not sacred? 

What do I mentally regard as sacred? 

What is not sacred, for me and/or for others?? Why is it not sacred, for me and/or for others? What does sacredness depend on, for me or them? 

How has my understanding of this concept changed over time? 

What is the leading edge of this concept in my own evolution of it or personal journey with it?

 What are my deepest personal questions I am living with, about this concept?

Sample Inquiry Questions about Religious and Spiritual Significance of the Concepts

 What do I think is or should be the role of the concepts of sacred and divine in any church's theology or religion? How would or do they express in its actions, its ministries? 

Are the concepts of sacred and divine important in my own spirituality or religion? If so, how, and if not, why not? In other words, what role does each concept play in my personal religion or spirituality?

 

Part 2: Experiences

 

For each concept, you might ask yourself questions like these, and make notes. 

 

What does it mean to me experientially? 

What do I feel experientially as sacred? What are those feelings, and how do I experience them in my body? 

How might others experience something as sacred? On what basis do I say that? What have I seen or known of others’ experiences of sacred?

 How has my deepest experiential sense and “getting” of this concept changed over time based on my experiences of it in life? 

What is the leading edge of this concept as I experience it in my own personal journey with it?

What are my deepest personal questions about my experiences related to this concept? 

Do I have any resistance to this concept, or am I uncomfortable about it in any way, or am I aware of some shadow aspects of me triggered by it in some way? 

What role does the experience related to each concept play in my personal religious experiences or spiritual experiences?

How does this concept show up for me in my inner experience? What meaning does it have for me there?

How does this concept show up for me in my behavior and how others see my actions? What meaning does it have for me there?

How does this concept show up for me in my experiences and actions as a social being, in culture? What meaning does it have for me there?

 How does this concept show up for me in my interactions with social systems? What meaning does it have for me there?

 

Which of the questions suggested above are alive for you around each concept? What questions not mentioned above, are alive for you around each concept?

 

This blogpost is part of a four-part series exploring these concepts. The others are What Does "Divine" Mean?, What is Theology? and What is Religion?

Questions and comments welcome below!

By Rev. Alia Aurami, Ph.D., Head Minister, Amplifying Divine Light in All Church

"Amplifying Divine Light in All" is a completely independent church fostering empowerment of people to co-create loving, thriving God-realized lives, and wellbeing for everyone, on a clean, peaceful Earth.

Our main religious purpose and mission is to amplify the Divine Light in everyone. When you read this article, you will agree or disagree with its various points, and then you will know more about what is true for you. Knowing more of your own Truth amplifies your Divine Light. Thus providing/presenting this article is one way for us to accomplish our purpose and mission. 

This article and our providing/presenting it are therefore a central and essential part of our exercise and practice of our religion. 

None of the contents herein are claimed as absolute truth. They represent one possible perspective which might prove useful for you. All results from using anything written in this blog are solely your own responsibility, which you assume by reading.

All rights reserved under the Common Law. This means please respect our creatorship.