I'm Having A Vision

An engineer who was unemployed for a long time decided to open a medical clinic. He puts a sign outside the clinic: "We guarantee a cure for your ailment for $500 or we'll pay you $1,000, if we fail."

A local doctor thinks this is a good opportunity to earn $1,000 and goes to his clinic.

Doctor: "I have lost my sense of taste." Engineer: "Nurse, please bring the medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in the patient's mouth." Doctor: "This is Gasoline!" Engineer: "Congratulations! You've got your taste back. That will be $500."

After a couple of days, the doctor is still annoyed and decides to go back to recover his money.

Doctor: "I have lost my memory, I cannot remember anything." Engineer: "Nurse, please bring the medicine from box 22 and put 3 drops in the patient's mouth." Doctor: "But that is Gasoline!" Engineer: "Congratulations! You've got your memory back. That will be $500."  The Doctor leaves angrily.

Several days later, he returns, more determined than ever to make his money back, and says, "My eyesight has become weak."

Engineer: "Well, I don't have any medicine for this. Take this $1,000," passing the doctor 5 $100 bills.

Doctor: "But this is $500..." Engineer: "Congratulations! You've got your vision back! That will be $500."

Today, I want to talk about vision. Not what we see, as much as what we see with. And not the eye, the cornea, lens, optic nerve, iris apparatus, but the inner eye – the mind's eye, where we see the formless behind the form, the meaning behind the meaning, know of the essence of creation that is behind and within the substance that is created, the mystery behind the focus or the belief behind the perception...the Spirit behind it all.

When an organization or person creates a vision statement for their company or life, it claims what it is we want to be as an organization, community, or person. The create a statement that is a guide, an aspiration, what is the ultimate becoming. It is something you envision will happen. It may start in the imagination, it is something to look forward to, and it usually is visualized until it becomes a fact.

But it can also be something bolder, stronger, more concrete; it can be an envisage of what is to be. An envisage is an idea based on evidence or a strong belief. So what you see as the vision statement for New Thought Spiritual Center isn't really a vision statement as much as an envisage. It is a statement, based on evidence or strong belief, of what is to be; possibly in future, but most definitely in the present, as well. Present in the mind and consciousness, in the heart and gut.

A rock pile ceases to be a rock pile the moment a single man contemplates it, bearing within him the image of a cathedral.

                                                                          ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery

The rock pile is the infinite possibilities available to each one of us on this planet, at this time, for this life. The cathedral to be built, well, you get to decide what that is. You get to vision it, then envisage it.

The complete vision statement for New Thought Spiritual Center is:

To vibrate at the speed of the Divine with love always being the answer and optimizing our greatest Self by being a clear, luminous and dynamic force for Good

Let's break it down. What is the speed of the Divine? 

Well it starts in heart. Uses the heart-mind, the heart-brain as its birth, its foundation, its initial power. In this place, with this power, as the foundation of the envisage, it removes delay and removes fear and makes the unknown be gone.  It is a knowing, a faith, a perspective, a belief, an act of being-ness; of consciously and intentionally connecting with Source. When doing this and being this and living through this intentional and conscious connection with Source, we step into the road of traveling at the speed of the Divine.

Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be.

                                                                     ~William Shakespeare

When living at the speed of the Divine we don't have to wonder what we may be, because we are on the path of the being. We don't have to know how, because we are in the know that the Law does the how and we can thus take confident and bold action. Living and being at the speed of the Divine is the key, through spiritual practice (prayer, meditation, contemplation, etc.), to traveling on the right track at the right time to the right place with the right people for your best life.

The second part begs the question:  How is Love always the answer? We answer with the synonyms and antonyms of what love looks like.

Gratitude is love!
                               ...chiding and blaming are not

Compassion is love!
                               ...indifference and passivity are not

Listening is love!
                               ...having to be right or ignoring others are not

Instinct (what we know in our gut, constructive thoughts) is love!
                                ...destructive or lack-filled thoughts are not

Living fully is love!
                             ...existing without wonderment or not staying open-at-the-top are not

Having boundaries is love! Yes, it is. Love being the answer doesn't mean you allow to be walked over or live as a wallflower or walk around wearing rose-colored glasses or blinders. When the bad and ugly (attitudes and actions, not looks or appearance) are present, love is the answer by knowing and by wishing someones highest and farthest.....highest of good for them and farthest away from you.


Lastly, how do we optimize our greatest self by being a clear, luminous and dynamic force for Good? 

Simply put, clarity and specificity of purpose is optimizing, vibrating at the speed of the divine is full of luminosity, taking bold and present action is a dynamic force, and if it betters your life, while harming no other and its prosperity is shared, it is Good.

Last weekend was the yearly Wesak celebration. It commemorates the birth, enlightenment and death of Gautama Siddhartha, the Buddha. It is named for the month of May and celebrated on the full moon (in Taurus), when the Buddha's mother is said to have given birth to him in a garden in the Himalayan foothills while en route to her parents' home (sound familiar?) over 2450 years ago. It is a time for all to have a re-commitment to practice his teachings. It is also a time to remind ourselves of the life we envisage for ourselves.

A Buddhist tale describes....

One afternoon, some people saw an old woman looking for something outside of her hut. “What’s going on? What are you looking for?” the people would ask her. “I lost a needle,” she said. All of the people present started to look for the needle with the old woman.

After some time, someone commented: “The street is very long and a needle is very small, why don’t you tell us exactly where you dropped it?” “Inside of my house,” said the old woman.

“Have you gone mad? If you dropped the needle inside of your house, why are you looking for it out here?” the people asked her. “Because there’s sunlight out here, but there’s none inside my house,” she said matter-of-factly.

Too many times, we seek for things on the outside that are actually found on the inside. A vision is not something we see on the outside, it is an idea in our minds, hearts and guts that we see as our inevitable future, but in the present. When we see that idea in this form, it becomes manifest, as the Universe can take this precise, concise, specific idea easily and powerfully to task, coming up with the how and demonstrating that idea into our experience.

What's your vision?  What do you see in your mind's eye for your life?

Start with vibrating at the speed of the Divine with love always being the answer and then optimizing your greatest Self by being a clear, luminous and dynamic force for Good.

In that way, you envisage your idea, so the vision blocks are set in Truth and built to specs, lasting for as long as it serves you and the next one comes in "sight."

Let me leave you with this blessing. You may have heard it at the end of a Yoga class:

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

Lokah Samastah Sukhino Bhavantu

May all beings everywhere be free and happy.

And may all the world know love and peace.

Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti

Peace in my body, Peace in my mind, Peace always surrounding me

Peace, Peace, Peace

Affirmation:

I Vibrate At The Speed Of The Divine with Love always being the answer to any situation.

I optimize my greatest Self by being a clear, luminous and dynamic force for Good in every part of my life. It is this clear vision which propels me to take bold, massive action and bring my desires, dreams, revelations and requirements to form.