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At birth, everyone is issued a set of circumstances with which to work. It goes with the territory of being human. As we move through life, we often experience a kind of "taking issue" with those circumstances, and that often has to do with some form of vengeance. We want to take control of a situation because, in our perception, it's out of control. So in order to "take issue," we have to have a reference point that says, "This is not what it should be." It is easy to come to that conclusion about the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, and to have varying points of view about the war against terrorism. Your ways of responding to world events today have roots early in your life, the issues that come forward reflections of conditions in which you grew up. This is where you begin to have experiences that you determine shouldn't be the way they are, which is a negative attitude, but not the reality. The reality is that things are what they are, and that all conditions can serve as a process toward peace. When we take issue, we often enter into "againstness" with our issues of peace. It really means there's an opposition occurring. At first, it usually appears that the opposition is outside ourselves, such as when parents say, "No, don't do that," "That's not right," "Get your hands off that!" or "Leave that alone!" As we get older, forms of opposition present themselves by way of situations, personalities, cultural norms, etc. Those forms appear to tell us, "This won’t work," "That won’t do," or "You’re not good enough." When you encounter those forms, there is a choice point. It's not necessarily conscious, but it is a choice you make by your responses, by the way you perceive and then respond to what you consider to be an opposition. One choice is to let the opposition win, take over, or exercise control upon you. You might define people who are forceful as the opposition; you might define them as enemies or as somehow separate from yourself, whether they are the Taliban, terrorists, or people who cut you off on the freeway. Opposition can also be looked upon as authority, or as the authority figures in your life. Another approach to opposition is to go into retreat, taking on a reticence and looking upon your life as not being correct or not right, at least for one situation. The reticence may be because you found that when you oppose, the result is a physical action like a hit or a smack, something that was not to your liking or that you took as rejection. You may then decide that it's better to withhold than to exercise your expression, and you may be reserved or reticent because free, open expression appears to be an invitation to opposition. If what you do with the entire process is withhold your expression and close off your openness to life, that becomes an attitude that registers not just consciously, but very much unconsciously as a way to approach life. You start approaching life cautiously, with reticence, because you're not going to enter in and take the risk of the opposition. When you do that, you imprison what was born through you into the world as an exercise of the ultimate source of all creation. Each person is an issuing forth of God's consciousness. That's the real "issue," the one that was placed with each one of us as our life force. That's the energy of who we are, which sustains us in spite of all the opposition we perceive or whatever we have registered as a rejection or a negative reflection of us, which has lots of forms. If you respond positively to what you perceive as opposition, then your life force is enhanced and strengthened. If the opposition has any substance, then it has life-force energy in it that you can utilize to learn and grow, so what appear to be obstacles and setbacks are actually opportunities for upliftment, learning, and growth. If you positively confront each issue, you actually take on the life force in the opposition. However, if you register a negative attitude (expressed through fears, judgments, closing down, and reacting negatively to the opposition), then you don’t allow yourself to take in the power of life being issued to you in each and every situation and circumstance. There's nothing in the world against you when you no longer take issue. Peace is present. In any process, you have a choice: you can take issue, or you can "take on" the issue — not as a fight, but as an opportunity to lift and be lifted. If you look through the eyes of peace, you don't see enemies or opposition. To take on an issue this way is a life-giving, life-affirming process. When you know that, you embrace everything that life presents to you. That is peace. Peace has no opposition. Peace has no enemy. I'd like us to come into a place where the only issues in our lives are those we seek for good. Peace is here, it's present, and it's available now without limit. I'd like us to be peaceful toward all, regardless of who they are or what has happened. I'd like us all to experience world peace together. The blessing that I would ask for each of us is a blessing of peace, that our hearts, consciousnesses, and minds be filled with peace, so our nature becomes entirely peaceful. Let us dedicate ourselves to peace within ourselves, that wherever we go, we bring peace and learn to find peace in all things, gathering in the fellowship of peace. Let us all issue ourselves forth in peace, as we support and love one another through this time of war and change, so that we can help create a world of blessings. John Morton, D.S.S., is author of The Blessings Already Are. Join John, along with New York Times #1 best-selling author John-Roger, on January 11 for a workshop, "How to Live a Rewarding Inner Spiritual Life in Today’s World of Constant Change and Adversity," at Discover U, 2150 N. 107th Street, Suite B52, 6:30-8:30 p.m., $35. To register, call (206) 365-0400. |
Since September
11, my life and work, like many people’s, have been filled
with outreach, adjustments in everyday living and travel, and
a lot of reflection on the world we now live in. I have heard
people say that the world has changed forever, and in many respects
that is true. When I look beneath the surface, however, I see
that the essential issues of life are the same. One way to look
at the game of life is that it is all about issues, process,
and peace.