The Kindness of Strangers

The Kindness of Strangers 

By Rev. Dr. John R. Mabry

Posted on February 20, 2024

Explore these thoughts on receiving spiritual care from someone of a different faith — and giving it.

We live in a multireligious, multicultural society. This is a treasure, but it often comes with challenges. When hardship and crisis strike we are rightly grateful for the kind souls who rush in to care for us—especially those who offer spiritual and emotional care, such as hospital and hospice chaplains, spiritual counselors, funeral directors, or even the caring person in the checkout line who reaches out when we are in a vulnerable moment. Increasingly in our culture, however, those kind people practice faith traditions that are very different from our own. How can we receive the grace they offer in the spirit that they intend? And when we are the ones helping, how can we be of greatest service to folks whose faith is different from ours?

If you are the one being cared for, it is important to remember that you and your caregiver are both human, and have the same human needs, feelings, aspirations, and struggles. No matter how different your spiritual paths might be, simple kindness and compassion are a universal meeting point.

If your caregiver is a professional, you can trust that he or she has been well prepared for ministry, and is a person of significant spiritual maturity. Most likely, there is nothing you are going through that he or she has not seen before.

Even though the metaphors and stories of religious traditions are very different, the process of spiritual growth and the spiritual practices employed by spiritual traditions are remarkably similar. A question like “What happens when you pray about that?” is valid regardless of whether the speaker (or the hearer) is Hindu, Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or Native American!

Your caregiver may also surprise you with his or her knowledge of your tradition. Caregivers are often used to working with people of diverse cultures and traditions, and are often well informed about many of them. Most importantly, remember that no matter how exotic your caregiver appears to be, he or she cares about you, respects you and your spiritual path, and wants to help.

If you are a professional caregiver or just a compassionate person who has an opportunity to give comfort in a difficult moment, remember that a person in need—no matter what his or her faith tradition—has the same needs as you do. Grieving people need comfort, and frightened people need encouragement. You will not be able to use the sources of spiritual wisdom (such as liturgy or scripture) that you would with someone of your own faith, but kind words, caring presence, and reassuring touch are universal.

Remember to be humble about the truth claims of your own faith—what we don’t know is always far greater than what we do know. And while our own tradition is rightly precious to us, it is not the only way to walk a spiritual path. “Different” doesn’t mean “wrong.” We must always be diligent not to fall into the trap of privileging what is dear to us.

Please remember that trying to convert or invalidate the faith of someone who is in a vulnerable place is a betrayal of trust. For professionals, it is malpractice. Even if your personal theology emphasizes conversion, remember that as a professional caregiver, you hold a position of public trust. Do not betray it.

There is no harm in praying silently in whatever way feels natural. But when praying aloud, make sure to use neutral language, or (better yet) use the prayer forms and language favored by the tradition of the person you are caring for.

People don’t need “fixing,” they don’t need suggestions or answers. What they need most is a compassionate ear and the loving presence of another human being. Keep in mind that the Divine does the healing work in any difficult situation, not us. The most effective caregivers are those who know how to get out of the way and allow the Divine to do the work. The best way to do this is to be as aware of the Divine presence as you are of the person you are caring for.

John R Mabry

• https://www.spiritualityhealth.com/articles/2015/02/20/kindness-strangers

Mother Earth’s Treasure

Mother Earth’s Treasure

by Quan Yin 

Channel: Natalie Glasson

Posted on June 30, 2023 

 

Original Source: Sacred School of OmNa 
https://www.omna.org/

 

 

Greetings, beloved Beings of Light, I am Lady Quan Yin. It is an honour to be in your presence. I enjoy the exchange of energy and light between us. I share with you the vibrations of peace, tranquillity and love. I invite you to receive the energies that I share knowing that this will draw me closer into your energy field, to be of service in your ascension pathway, and the integration of your soul and the Creator more fully with your current embodiment upon the Earth.  

In this moment, I Lady Quan Yin, wish to share with you information about Mother Earth’s treasure. It is so often as a spiritual being on an ascension pathway, that you direct your attention to the inner planes, to the Universe of the Creator, downloading light, love and truth. You also direct your attention into your being, into your heart centre, into your essence and your truth within you. Both these practices serve you well. They bring higher vibrations of truth into your being allowing you to embodiment them and to express them into your reality and to other beings upon the earth.

Another focus during your ascension process is often to ground yourself into Mother Earth, to support you in experiencing balance, being more centred and more present in your reality or your ascension process. However, there is a need to acknowledge that in the same way the Universe of the Creator holds treasures of light, activations, downloads, boosts of energy and wisdom, so does Mother Earth. We could recognise Mother Earth as an equal to the Universe of the Creator. When we begin to change our perspective, around Mother Earth, we begin to recognise that Mother Earth is generous, bountiful and holds numerous blessings, light activations, boosts, awakening, and wisdom for every being to receive and embody. We begin to recognise that as a physical being you have been placed upon the earth and while it is important to connect with the inner planes and within your being, there is a very important relationship that requires to be nurtured and explored thoroughly. This relationship is with Mother Earth.

Yes, you can continue to ground yourself into Mother Earth, she will continue to support you in the same way as she has always done. However, she has so much more to give and to share with you. She can assist your ascension process, she can increase the light vibration within your being, she can share wisdom, knowledge, and truth that maybe you have not recognised before. She can support you in navigating through the earthly reality in harmony with yourself and in harmony with Mother Earth, the true nature and essence of Mother Earth.

Take a moment to imagine or contemplate all the blessings that Mother Earth has to share with you and how maybe you have been ignoring these or maybe you have not been aware that they are available for you to accept. Mother Earth’s wisdom, light and knowledge is not only about the Earth, and the nature kingdoms, she has great knowledge about the transitions of ascension, about the Universe of the Creator as well. She has knowledge about healing and transformation. Sometimes it is easier to connect with Mother Earth and to receive her blessings, her treasures, her activations and wisdom because she is physical, and you are physical. This makes the interaction, the relationship and the communication between you easier because your experiences are similar and essentially, you are not trying to connect with a different dimension within the Universe of the Creator, because you are connected to the dimensions of Mother Earth already. Everything is available and waiting to unfold.

I, Lady Quan Yin, wish to offer to you a very simple practice in order to connect more fully with Mother Earth.

Simply allow yourself to feel, sense or to acknowledge the floor, the earth, the ground beneath you.

On your next inhalation, breathe in deeply. On your exhalation, breathe down to your feet and even out through your feet. Inhale deeply, exhale down to your feet and out through your feet knowing that you are connecting with Mother Earth. Allow yourself to experience this until you feel, sense, acknowledge or simply know there is a response from Mother Earth.

Then you may say something in your own words asking to enhance your relationship with Mother Earth and to receive the blessings, the light activations the wisdom of Mother Earth.  

After you have created your intention, inhale breathing up from the ground from Mother Earth up through your feet, your legs into your entire body all the way up to your head. As you inhale in one breath and exhale, simply allowing the energy to settle within you, achieve this practice until you feel, sense, acknowledge or know the energy of Mother Earth is with you.

Allow yourself to enter into your heart space, as if you are sitting with Mother Earth, and be aware or conscious of the energies she has provided, or any light or wisdom she wishes you to understand.  

You can have a conversation with Mother Earth if you wish. She is present to be of service but also to be a companion. As you begin to open yourself up to Mother Earth realising the treasures of ascension that she holds, so, you will experience your ascension process accelerating in a greater understanding of your own existence upon the earth.

My love is with you always. I am Quan Yin, I thank you

Natalie Glasson

• https://www.omna.org/

Video: https://youtu.be/LF0vGsMQKcc

Audio: https://omna-shop.s3.eu-west-2.amazonaws.com/2023+Weekly+Messages+/Mother+Earth's+Treasure+by+Quan+Yin+-+Natalie+Glasson.mp3

Experiencing a State of Knowing

Experiencing a State of Knowing

By Kenneth Schmitt

Posted on April 18, 2023

Our subconscious mind has a strong connection with our heart-consciousness. When we come into alignment with our heart-consciousness, we also do so with our subconscious. As our conscious servant in every moment, its treasure is ours to claim in alignment with our heart.  Our subconscious directs our body consciousness to express the vibratory qualities of our predominant thoughts and feelings through the cells of our body. Our subconscious doesn’t understand us, since it has only deductive reasoning, but it records our vibrations and radiates our personal energy signature within and all around us, attracting resonating vibratory patterns. 

When we align with negativity or positivity, it is reflected back to us as a symbolic message that is either stressful or enjoyable, and in some way we experience it. It may be of a different form than we imagined, but it has the same feeling. Since we can direct our emotions and thoughts, we can direct the polarity and frequency of our own vibrations. We can begin by learning to just be present without focus, until called upon. In its anxiety, our ego-consciousness keeps streaming scenarios through our awareness. We can just let them pass without our interest and alignment. Eventually, when we begin to follow our inner guidance in the consciousness of our heart, we can have inner silence. This this is when our subconscious pays attention to our direction and brings us into alignment with our deeper Self, while calming our ego-consciousness, which becomes an observer.

As we understand thought, our subconscious does not think. It is aware of our mental and emotional energetics and knows how we feel about ourselves always. We imprint our subconscious with our vibrations, expressing our creative energy through the cells of our body as well as in the electromagnetic plasma around us. 

Not needing thought, our process of knowing happens in our awareness and realization. In the dualistic world of humanity, we have restricted ourselves to limited awareness and realization. There are many techniques that we can use in learning to be our present awareness. Free of internal chatter and drama, we can have clear perception and knowing. The feelings that come with inner knowing are gratitude and joy, expanding into great understanding. By aligning ourselves with these energies, we open our awareness to our inner knowing. Once we recognize what it is, it can be indelible in our awareness. We can become free to be our true, infinite Selves, while transforming our human lives into experiences of gratitude, joy, compassion, abundance, freedom and whatever we truly want for ourselves and all of humanity.

Kenneth Schmitt 

• https://www.consciousexpansion.org/blog

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