My Soul had Placed Squarely Before Me....

Do you ever wonder if you have a purpose in life?  Have you ever, especially during the dark days, asked yourself why am I even here?  Perhaps it is something as simple as learning to handle your emotions.   It seems emotions are a very earthly type of thing. 
From this blogs oft quoted WALKING BETWEEN THE WORLDS by Gregg Braden:  “If you believe that each and every experience drawn to you, without exception, is your opportunity to demonstrate your mastery of life”... and from YOUR SOUL’S GIFT:  The Healing Power of the Life you Planned.”  by Robert Schwartz:  “In other incarnations I have been unable to achieve emotional independence, and these lives, too, played a role in my soul’s decision to choose my mother.  What is ‘emotional independence’?  When I put that question to Spirit, I was told that it means looking to oneself as the primary source of one’s well being.”  YOUR SOUL’S GIFT is Mr. Schwartz’s newest book and speaks so much to healing our lives by facing the beliefs and fears that confront us daily.   Another quote from that book:  “Again, my soul had placed squarely before me an issue in need of healing.”  Looking at the issues and the emotions in our lives, often, as in fact, our emotions are the issues, we can see what is in need of healing. 
 

Practice Makes Mastery...

What is the secret to Mastery?  Practice...
This applies to anything you want to get good at.  If you want to master a sport, you practice.  If you want to be a great artist you practice.  If you want to get good at prayer...  Yes you have to practice.  Meditation, cooking, loving, compassion... practice.  If you want to talk to God, listen to God, you have to practice.  Anything worth doing is worth taking the time to practice.  If you want change in your life you will need to practice the change you wish to make. 

Compassion is an Awareness...

The path to Spiritual Mastery and the evolution of mankind from a violent race to a peaceful, powerful, evolved humankind must include compassion and unconditional love.  And, in fact, unconditional love and compassion go hand in hand.  The  definition of unconditional love is contained within the words themselves; loving without condition.
Compassion is a little harder to get a handle on.  Compassion is viewing, observing an individual/group without the viewer’s individual bias coloring the observation.  It is knowing that behind the appearance, action, and being of any individual is a body and mind and a lifetime of programming that has placed them where they are at that moment.  Those individuals include ourselves.  Recognizing that our programming places us where we are, giving us reasons for who and what we are as well as what we do is not easy.   We must recognize first the need for compassion and then overcome our own programming and our own biases.
Two quotes from WALKING BETWEEN THE WORLDS:  The Science of Compassion.
by Gregg Braden.
From the dedication:  “It is you who will anchor a new wisdom rooted in compassion, laying the foundation for those with the courage to follow.  It is you who are asked to remember love, compassion and trust while living in a world that has hated, judged and feared.”
and from the preface:  “Compassion is an awareness that you become, rather than something that you do on occasion.”

Take a Step into Your Future...

You may not aspire to spiritual mastery, whatever that might mean to you but do you know you can vastly improve your life by adopting some of the characteristics of mastery.  Some of these characteristics make a lot of sense just by themselves.  Some may not have occurred to you.  Masters are sensitive to beauty in all forms.  Masters are egoless and do not direct attention to themselves.  They have respect for Nature and all of its members.  Unconditional love is a characteristic of masters.  They radiate true wisdom.  A Master will not instill fear.  They are universal and non-sectarian.  The true Master is the embodiment of compassion.   Read and contemplate this list.  Look in a mirror.  Does any of it fit?  Spiritual mastery might fit you very well.   Don’t be afraid to take a step into your future...

Mastery...

What do the great spiritual masters all have in common?
Unconditional Love
They do not take things personally
They see the Divine in everyone and everything
They know how to handle fear
They do not judge

Is spiritual mastery something we can strive for?
Is it something we should strive for?
It certainly is something to pay attention too.