Spiritual Persistence Point to Ponder of the Day

“If one has a sense of abundance, then sufficiency seems like enough. If one has no, or a limited, sense of abundance, then sufficiency will always feel like scarcity. That’s the answer to how the Venetians live… and why the rest of Italy thinks they are lazy because they are not striving, because when you have enough, you don’t need to strive. Live and strive have the same ending, but not the same start. To truly live, one must begin with a sense of sufficiency and abundance. All else is trying to catch up. Watch strangers in any city. They run for buses and boats as if it is the last one. But those who know understand there’ll be another in a short time. Same in life.

“Their families–and I don’t just mean mom and dad–are always there for them. Who they are is respected, and no one career choice is better than another. If the simplest position has the same life support as the wealthiest, then the difference is only personal, not social. So more ordinary wine gets drunk than fancy vintages, but everyone gets a good glass. And no one has a private life, but all lives are respected. Not acceptable is disrespect, which includes thievery and violence… and tourists (German tourists) who are too private and not enough public. So ponder that. I ask you a question: Which do you want, more money than you need or more time to enjoy life.” (7/13/2001 – O#52)

–Rikkity

http://www.spiritualpersistence.com

“This is about spiritual connecting in ways you cannot even imagine… aaa… ooo… ayeee… don’t do it with bungee. The natural drive of all spirit is connection, not differentiation. So no matter how we manifest, we strive to connect, and the best connection is always spiritually nourishing… aaa. And here it doesn’t matter our assumed natures, so it is spirit with spirit and forget things like man, woman… grrrr… and beast… rrr. All your perversions don’t mean squat here… unless you want to squat. But seriously, connecting should be what sex is about. You connect to enrich your spirit, not just to have bambinos…. grrrr… or puppies. So, even when physical, it is good to think about it this way… or not, and just fool around. Relationships in spirit, without possession and time, are soooo much easier. If it’s deep, then who cares if it is one time or many, since time is not a measure. But if you get preggers here, you have little blue and pink spirettos. <joke>

“Spirit does not beget spirit like matter begets matter, but spirit enriches spirit–a concept for which physical language has no words. Gotta get here to find out. But many who sense they remember from spirit, try to make it in physical terms. But being a monk is not the same, sorry guys. It is not about giving up anything. Enhancement is not about transfer, but about sharing, in which 1 + 1 = 1. Never more, never less, but not the same 1. Always a unity that adds to 1, but not the same 1, yet all unities are equal. Ponder that. Sandy lost his shirt on that game, but he won a shirt on the same games. So he lost 1, won 1, has 1, but they are not the same. But each is 1. (Using my dog as an instructional aid.) So that’s that for now. I’m off to have my wanton connection.” (6/8/2001 – V#63)

–Rikkity

http://www.spiritualpersistence.com

“Here’s something to ponder: In an infinite reality, there is much more waiting to happen than what you know has already happened. But you won’t get any if you insist on focusing on the already. Got to give it up to get it. Remember, you have to pour the flour into the mix and never have it as flour again if you want a cake. Make it yellow with yummy icing.

“Ok, pith for tonight: Want to keep your flour, then forget the promise of cake. But in getting cake, you get your flour, too. You can have your cake and eat it, too. Hmmm… it is never gone. You remember it more fondly than you would flour… and who you ate it with… and how you left it out in the rain. But to make things of greater complexity, you have to mix in. A resource–if it be gold or jewels or spirit–is not worth anything if it just sits alone. It has to mix in in commerce or jewelry or spiritual complexity. I have said enough.” (5/30/2001 – V#62)

–Rikkity

http://www.spiritualpersistence.com

“So, what to talk about… hmmm… self-centeredness. People who are truly creative do not ask ‘What’s this mean for me.’ They do not use themselves as a primary field of focus, but look to larger realities. They see something and ask not ‘What does this mean for me,’ but ‘How does this connect beyond me.’ And in terms of loss, this means that they no longer frame things in terms of either the one dead nor themselves… or even their elves. When they have recovered both their sense of self and their abiding connection to what was and the other, then both those points of reference fade before larger realities. Such truly creative persons do not need to look back and establish themselves or others, but look ahead to suggesting visionary possibilities without any worry about realisation. It’s in the vision, not the manifestation. And that’s the Best of the Moo for today.” (5/25/2001 – G#54)

–Rikkity

http://www.spiritualpersistence.com

“About the stages of bereavement. Be sure to talk about them with an interchangeability of words like steps, phases, moods, so it is not seen as rigid. And as the actor said on the termite-ridden stage, ‘It’s just a stage I’m going through.’ For there are no rigid markers of the boundaries between moods and steps. And often, peeps will have one foot on one step and the other foot on another. They will not often be wholly in one stage until they get about halfway along it. And each step may evoke issues from other substeps, and some steps are trickier than others, and trickier for some than others. And the merengue is very tricky for Sandy. It’s harder to do a 6-beat with 4 paws. Waltzes are out of the question. Some are steps harder than others be.

“And remember, it is harder for a one-legged person to be on multiple steps–which is to say, that the complexity of a person will also be a determinant in their ability to creatively deal with the necessary dissonance of the process. But that dissonance at some level must be felt, acknowledged, and lived through to meaning; for it is the very seeming dissonance of life and death, of being and nonbeing, of having and losing, that we confront. There can be no process of dealing with those dissonances of existence that does not hold ambiguity and dissonance in its own understanding. And with that, I say blech. Hey, live long and prosper.” (“About the stages of bereavement. Be sure to talk about them with an interchangeability of words like steps, phases, moods, so it is not seen as rigid. And as the actor said on the termite-ridden stage, ‘It’s just a stage I’m going through.’ For there are no rigid markers of the boundaries between moods and steps. And often, peeps will have one foot on one step and the other foot on another. They will not often be wholly in one stage until they get about halfway along it. And each step may evoke issues from other substeps, and some steps are trickier than others, and trickier for some than others. And the merengue is very tricky for Sandy. It’s harder to do a 6-beat with 4 paws. Waltzes are out of the question. Some are steps harder than others be.

“And remember, it is harder for a one-legged person to be on multiple steps–which is to say, that the complexity of a person will also be a determinant in their ability to creatively deal with the necessary dissonance of the process. But that dissonance at some level must be felt, acknowledged, and lived through to meaning; for it is the very seeming dissonance of life and death, of being and nonbeing, of having and losing, that we confront. There can be no process of dealing with those dissonances of existence that does not hold ambiguity and dissonance in its own understanding. And with that, I say blech. Hey, live long and prosper.” (5/23/2001 – G#53)

–Rikkity

http://www.spiritualpersistence.com

“It never rains here, but the flowers grow just the same. But maybe that’s because they’re watered in other ways… ARF… no, Sandy, not that way. But about flowers and rain: So many people think you need showers to get flowers when all you need is 1-800-CALLFLOWERS… no. But what about cacti and lichen. And kudzu need lots of rain, but spring creeper does not. And if you plant your rows exactly 4 inches… no, stop, go away Martha.

“Not all life is nurtured and nourished in the same way. So, too, for spirits. For some, death is like a drought of meaning, and for others it is like a passage to Eden. The big mistake many make is to assume that what waters some, waters all. And the worst are the platitudes… remember them, Jo Hackney and the Platitudes… everyone singing to the same beat, dancing to the same step, while each must–like Thoreau–listen for the drumbeat within and from afar. Why is this so. Because we have created–and I don’t mean us personally–a culture and, yes, a cult, of perfection. So everyone wants to grieve right, not well. And therein lies the difference. No wrongs in this game, babes, just not meaningful. You can’t do it wrong and you can’t do it right, but you can do it only if you do it.

“Until the 4 stages are seen as empty rooms awaiting living fulfillment, they are nothing. Like a banquet room marked Gala, until the crowds come it is only an idea, and when the crowds come it is only a possibility, but when the crowds cheer and cheer in hundreds of voices, it is a reality. Let the party begin.” (5/21/2001 – G#52)

–Rikkity

http://www.spiritualpersistence.com

Please feel free to email me (Elissa) with any comments or insights. You can find me at: ebb@spiritualpersistence.com.

“Unlearn and forget. Many people try to forget, but don’t unlearn. Forgetting is not the same as undoing the patterns of learning. So peeps try to forget, but the learning is still there, so they act on it. How do you unlearn. You can’t just put yourself in a disk drive and hit Erase. You can only unlearn by replacement. No gaps, just a new building block, because what you had learned is embedded in a web of being. Take out a piece andplop. But change a piece, and a whole web changes with it. Are you with it. Same with everything.

“Mundane example: If you decide to quit eating meat, you’ll die if all you is eating is the other stuff you had with the meat… unless, of course, you ate surf and turf. But why is it that we know this about physical stuff, and not about spiritual stuff. Don’t take away, but give when you want to change others. Put the replacement in place first, then you can more easily unlearn.” (3/8/2001 – Y#54)

–Rikkity

http://www.spiritualpersistence.com

I would love to hear your comments on this one. From my perspective, it’s about change. Lots of people seem to want it when they want it and become impatient if it doesn’t happen quickly. But here’s the problem with that as I see it: The patterns of thought and behavior that we are familiar with are the ones we will fall back on when things seem unstable. That’s a fact, and it happens even when we “know” that those patterns are not healthy and we have learned new and better ones. Until the new and better ones are established, the old will always seem more compelling, simply because they are known and familiar and comfortable. So, that makes a critical part of the change process about integrating and including the new patterns into the old ones, so that you can let go of the old ones and something else will be there in their place. Replace first. If you try to take away first, you will find yourself right back where you started. Change is a long, slow, incremental process if it is to be lasting.

“It is nearly everyone’s problem. How do you hold these 2 things in mind at the same time: an infinite spiritual reality and a finite physical one, and not separate the two. How do you transcend dualism, and still acknowledge the 2 separate ways of being. And the answer is: If you knew that, you wouldn’t be asking this question because… ta-da… you would be not here. It is not a question to be solved and stay as you are, because physical existence would cease to be what it is. You could not transcend the question and its inherent dualism, and still be here. Dumb, but so of this level. The question puts us here, but if we knew the answer, we would no longer put the question. And on that hangs all. Question is ok, but no answer we could get here is it. And when we have the answer, we can no longer ask that question, for it will no longer make sense as a question. That’s a definition of a quantum shift. And I think that’s enough.” (3/7/2001 – V#61)

–Rikkity

http://www.spiritualpersistence.com

So, here we are back again after a brief hiatus. My intention is to post a Point to Ponder occasionally, rather than every day as I had been doing before. My reasoning goes like this: It takes time to digest what we offer, and one a day could begin to feel like indigestion. End of reasoning If you disagree, please let me know. You can always email me at this address: ebb at spiritualpersistence.com.

“It’s like this: When I said that a cell of energy could include more than a person, and that each party to the cell would figure in the equation, often by balancing, I was speaking of two types of shared cells. One is a pre-entity connection, which is not severed by that crap called death… a new title for a book, The Crap Called Death. And the other is the connection of choice–quite contrary to any entityness… or entiquity. So in that case, when the physical connection is gone, so is the sharing of the cell.

“Now this gets complicated, because out of sight may be out of mind but it’s not out of spirit. So if you leave a connection of choice, but they is… ooops… are still around in this material energy plane, then there is still a connection. Which brings up a side topic. Lots of people have connections of choice, not entiquity, and then the connection ceases à la ‘Dear John.’ But then, years later they find themselves thinking of John or running into John or hearing about him, and they start thinking the connection was deeper than realised. ‘Wow,’ they say, ‘I guess John and I were really meant for each other and didn’t know it. We must be disconnected soulmates.’ But noooo, it’s just that John is still physical and in this material energy plane. Now, if you were to run into John and he was already dead, then I think thinking about the other level of connection would be apropos. Get it. And also, many peeps are not even really connected to material parents.

“Two types of connection: physical and spiritual, and one persists and one does not beyond physical existence. So, not everyone who loses a connection feels loss… and not everyone who loses a connection feels eels. In fact, few do and I don’t want to meet them. Don’t shake their hands, they’d try to slip out of it anyway. If you’re spiritually connected, you don’t lose it. If you’re not, the connection ends with physical death, but not the end of the seeming relationship. Hey, death got to change something, but it isn’t the spiritual stuff.” (3/7/2001 – V#60)

–Rikkity

http://www.spiritualpersistence.com

We have not been posting Points to Ponder for awhile. Frankly, it’s because we didn’t hear from any of you that you want us to continue. However, strangely enough this blog is still listed as #17 on the Kindle blogs in the category of Religion & Spirituality! That comes as a surprise! Please, if you want us to continue, let me know by emailing me at ebb at spiritualpersistence dot com (I write it out that way to avoid spammers. Please translate it into the usual email address format.

We are all experiencing a time of tumult and turmoil. No matter what your spiritual perspective, you have probably felt that the times are uncertain and unstable. As in any time of chaos, it’s sometimes hard to know where to turn. Do you cling to the past that seems secure and predictable, or do you focus on the future in spite of your inability to see it clearly? Do you retreat into a smaller circle of friends and community, or do you widen your horizons? Do you plan your days around the small yet satisfying tasks of life, or do you take steps toward a larger, more inclusive vision? Perhaps you haven’t put your feelings into words in quite that way, but you recognize that those are the types of choices we face these days.

If the above rings true to you, you will find meaning in what Rikkity and her friends have communicated to us. And, just in case you’re still not sure who Rikkity is, she is our daughter in spirit. She died in 1995, and has been communicating with us ever since. Whether or not you accept the reality of spirit communication, she’s been doing it, and we’ve been listening, transcribing, posting, and spreading the word And whether or not you accept the reality of spirit communication is not what we’re concerned with. We are not in this for money, fame, glory, or to get on Oprah or any other such TV shows. We do what we do because we believe that it’s sorely needed in these times, which have the potential to be transformative. We want to be part of that transformation, and we think that Rikkity’s Points to Ponder point (no pun intended) us in the direction of a transformation that is positive and fulfilling beyond what this world has yet to know. As she says, it is “already, but not yet.”

So, that’s my spiel for now. Let me know your thoughts. I’d be happy to hear them.

Elissa