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Welcome to OneLife Ministries. This site is designed to lead you prayerfully into a heart experience of Divine Presence, Who is Love. I hope persons of varied wisdom paths will find inspiration here.
Blessings,
Brian Kenneth Wilcox
MDiv, MFT, PhD
Interspiritual Teacher, Author
You are invited to join Brian at his fellowship group on Facebook – Inspirations for Living – Love, Joy, Peace.
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Enter this sanctuary time by settling down, becoming quiet, and breathing deeply. Remind yourself you are in the Presence of Love. This place you are entering, within, is the inner Temple, where you are One with Spirit. You may wish to use a mantra, or prayer phrase, follow the breathing in-and-out, or witness the rising and falling of all around you as the manifestation of universal-Life. Enjoy these moments of quietly settling and come out when you are ready.
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The Presence of the Divine is everywhere, inside and outside you. This is not in buildings made of wood and stone. Divide a piece of wood, I am there; lift a stone, you will find me.
*Gospel of Thomas.
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A monk was meditating in the desert, and a beggar came up to him. The beggar said: "I need food.” The monk, having almost reached perfect harmony with the Divine, ignored him. Insisted the beggar, “I need to eat, sir.” Frustrated, the monk, keeping eyes closed, said, “Go into town and ask someone else. Can't you see you're bothering me? I'm on the verge of being fully one with the Divine.” The beggar said loudly, “Look!” Startled, the monk turned in anger, ready to upbraid the beggar. The beggar appeared as an angel, which he truly was. The angel spoke, “What a pity, you almost made it.” The angel left the monk alone.
*Adapted from Paulo Coelho. At www.spiritual-short-stories.com .
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Being a jail Chaplain, I get to meet Christ in disguise at work. If I were a Buddhist, I could say Buddha in disguise. Whoever your spiritual Guide is, He or She is everywhere in disguise.
Where is my Friend in disguise? One place is the jail. That is my church. The inmates are Christ to me. I am Christ to them. When I sit with one of them, I am sitting with Christ, and he or she is sitting with Christ. And the Holy Spirit is the Love joining us, moving between us. The Father-Mother of us all rejoices at this Loving.
Again, Buddhism for an example – Where is the Buddha? If the Buddha is our essence, one with us, the Buddha is you and me. The Buddha is clearly seen in moments of compassionate feeling and exchange. This connection is Love Loving. This is Christ. This is the Buddha.
So, which is more important? That I meditate to become One with Love by going inward? That I live in an open-awareness, receptive to the One I meet in my daily living? Each is equally important.
Yet, spiritual practice in private and in small group sharing helps prepare me to see the Christ, the Buddha, Krishna, Love, Grace … wherever I go. By going inward to connect with the Spirit, I am aligned with the True Self I am with all others, to see and share in Kindness and Compassion with them.
Our Teacher is not there to be idolized. The Guide is there to help awaken us to the Grace of our common Source. We are not to attach to any Teacher. The Teacher reminds us to see within and outside the Grace the Teacher embodies for us.
Who are What do you see as your spiritual Guide, Teacher? How does your devotion to that One facilitate your opening to serve the world in compassion? Recall one time that you recently experienced the Presence of Grace in sharing with another person?
©Brian Wilcox, and OneLife Ministries. 04/18/2010
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*OneLife Ministries is a ministry of Brian Kenneth Wilcox, SW Florida. Brian lives a vowed life, as an Associate of Greenbough House of Prayer.
*Brian welcomes responses to his writings at briankwilcox@yahoo.com . Also, Brian is on Facebook: search Brian Kenneth Wilcox.
*You can order his book An Ache for Union from major booksellers.
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