Copyright © 1999 by Sandra Faye,
All rights reserved
When
I owned/operated a sandwich shop in an office complex, I didn’t expect great
friendships with hungry folks who stopped in for lunch. But, then, I met Sandra
Faye, who helped me concoct relatively healthful meals from the limited
offerings of a Cuban sandwich shop. A more competent chef now has that sandwich
shop, but I’m still fortunate to have Sandra’s friendship. Director of
rehabilitation at Magdovitz Chiropractic Clinic in Brandon, Florida, where she
practices her natural healing talents, Sandra is also a speaker and teacher on
various topics of interest, which I hope she will share with us again. Welcome,
Sandra, to our ongoing quest to keep our feet dry and our hearts full of noble
thoughts, and thanks for your insights. - Mike
The
universe is not an inert, material mass of purposeless substance, it is
pulsating with vitality and driven by divine intention. There is a benevolent
power nourishing the universe, and us, and we can learn to cooperate with it.
When we do, the universe meets our every need in the most appropriate ways.
I can
remember walking in the woods in Georgia several years ago, reflecting upon the
activities taking place around the world. I began to feel a little anxiety about
having money to care for a family member and myself. As I glanced up into the
beautiful green trees and powerful mountain tops, I heard an inner voice speak
to me with such compassion and understanding. It said something to the effect
of, don't you see abundance all around in this grand land you are walking upon?
I thought, oh, yes.
Then I heard, as you see millions of leaves and
blades of grass mixed with glorious flowers of many colors, so is it with your
life. Life is not something to be lived with fear of limitation, for this is a
universe of abundance and you are a child of this universe. Go forth in great
abundance in all that you do and be thankful daily for what you receive.
There are two aspects of the universe to be
understood. The seeming material aspect is a manifestation of a primal
substance, the fine essence of all of nature. If we look into matter, atoms are
observed. Within atoms are electric forces which emerge from a field of finer
cosmic forces with origins in their cause, which we call consciousness. So the
world in which we live is not solid; it is mostly space in which cosmic forces
manifest as the various forms perceived through our five senses. The world is
"real" in that it is a manifestation of cosmic forces, but it is not
permanent as it currently appears. It is constantly changing. It is not an
illusion, but may seem to be illusory when we accept it at face value without
looking behind the veil to the inner, the subjective, side of nature.
The universe will meet our every need, when we
learn to let it. If needs have not been fully met in the past, it is because of
some inability on our part to flow with the rhythms of Nature. I have
experienced this several times in my life and I can share this as an absolute
truth.
Experiences of the past tend to be reproduced if
our attitude, understanding, and behavior have not changed. Our future
circumstances will tend to be like present ones if our outlook does not change.
Of course, we are blessed somehow at times, and we receive great blessings in
spite of what we do or do not do. But it is not useful for us merely to wish for
constructive changes if we are not willing to help ourselves by being
self-responsible for our attitudes and behaviors. Wishing and big dreams help,
but it is very beneficial to learn to live consciously in full, cooperative
participation with universal processes.
~ ~ ~
This is Mike here. I suggested to Sandra that
some appropriate links for her article might be some that we’ve already seen,
to show the beauty of the universe. Here, you can find NASA’s photographs of
the far reaches of the universe:
www.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/index.html
For live images from the far reaches of the
earth, Antarctica, to be specific:
http://bat.phys.unsw.edu.au/%7Eaasto
To continue your spiritual quest on the Internet,
you have a wide range of religious traditions to choose from.
The Bible:
http://www.hti.umich.edu/relig/rsv/
The Dhammapada, a summary of original Buddhist
teachings:
http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Pagoda/2541/Dhmpada.htm
Scripture study in Judaism:
http://aishdas.org/hamakor/main.htm
Hinduism’s Bhagavad-Gita
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/5294/indexhome.html
Islam’s sacred text, the Qu’ran or Koran:
http://www.orst.edu/groups/msa/quran/search.html