Human | Bonnie Barnard - Part 3

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The Spiritual Lineage of Martin Luther King, Jr.

You and I live in a time where we have set aside one day to contemplate a man’s life and teachings who brought forth a movement of cultural change through non-violence in our country. Today is that day. As I jumped out of bed this morning thinking about Dr. King, right along side his image was that of his mentor/friend Gandhi. This is the first time I saw the two coupled in my mind. I typically see King as an inspirational road warrior behind a pulpit resonating solid words of Truth surrounded by thousands. This is the first time I saw him in my mind with his mentor. It got me thinking about his spiritual lineage and about my own. Each one of us has our own unique spiritual lineage made up of teachers who walked the path before us making the way possible and much easier for us to take the next step. These past three weeks I have been reading Yogananda’s and Gangaji’s work. In both cases; these two Eastern...

Is This REALLY Urgent?

“We have to talk NOW.” “Can you call me this afternoon, this can’t wait?” “We need a decision right away.” “You’ll miss this window of opportunity if you don’t act now.” “I can’t go any further without your input.” I lay in bed with pneumonia as the phone rings and each caller at the end of the phone has what they consider to be an urgent situation that then is to become my urgency. As my energetic capacity is slight, my ability to assess the true emergent is keen. Not one of the panicked “must do, must have or must act now” was REALLY urgent. I watched the callers acting from this crescendoed peak energy of the now or never. Finding this curious, I have been observing and inquiring into this energy pattern for several months. This is what I’ve come to know: We are trained into this idea of a short window in most part by artificial deadlines imposed by corporate marketing strategies. The idea of urgent is...

I Will Love What I Love … And Social Media

I have the Witness within me that observes and the Synthesizer within that makes sense and organizes themes from what has been witnessed. This week was an odd one for me. Sunday I spoke at Lake Havasu Center for Spiritual Living on “For God so loved the World.” I shared my inner turmoil with updating a long held cultural idea that Jesus died to save my sins and God let it happen because I was so loved. Two earlier posts speak to this false understanding unfurling (Super Bowl and a Lot More is in the Air and Love with an Adult Understanding). I came to appreciate many of the cultural perils and tragedies that have come through this linked belief. Linking love, suffering, and death is inaccurate at best and can be harmful in our collective shared thought pool. Immediately after the talk a woman in her sixties approached me to say it was the best talk she had ever heard. I get feedback like this often; a shared...

Fortifying Body and Mind in the Midst of the Flu

Six days ago I sat on my living room couch making a list of what I intended to accomplish the next day; part of my daily routine. One breath was stable and even followed by a lubricated swallow. The next breath shifted and my throat was dry, raw, and sore; no lead up, a full-on, high speed, fever-induced flu. For just shy of a week I have been living in pajamas moving between my bed and the couch and toggling between television, computer, silence, and a book. I launch into body-vacation (aka flu) mode. 1. When my body isn’t feeling well, I notice how well I AM. Throughout the day I connect with my Inner Spirit that is happy and doing calisthenics. I allow myself to be nurtured by the Inner/Outer Spirit regardless of how my body feels. 2. I treat my body like a child and love it up!!! If it requires rest; I give myself rest. If it desires entertainment, I turn on a movie. I bathe regularly, drink lots...

Looking at Self Esteem from a Different Angle

Sunday’s sermon I gave was less a talk about the idea of God and more an experience of connecting directly with The Presence. The congregation’s response was lively and hugs were generously flowing as I left the building. In the direct heat of a 100 degree plus morning I was met by an older, stunningly beautiful woman standing next to my car in tears. “I have prayed for thirty years”, she said, “to meet you.” She continued saying she had actively prayed for three decades to see the vitality of God in someone’s eyes and today was the day and my eyes were the eyes. Flattered and humbled simultaneously, I listened to her story. Partway through it she said, “like everyone else, I have problems with self esteem.” I have taken to seeing the world and listening to people talk much like reading a good college textbook. I begin to see and hear some things as though nuggets of wisdom and insight are flying off the page requiring a...

Dining with The Human Story

Last night Chef Linda demonstrated, with the assistance of dinner party guests, how to make simple, easy, vegan meals. My friend Michael invited me along and before showing up several serendipitous moments would occur. My home is being renovated so I’m staying with a friend. While on the couch, twenty four hours prior to this dinner, with laptops on each of our laps, she reads me a vegan recipe from an e-newsletter. I ask her to forward it to me and I begin reading about the vegan chef at which point I announce “I want to meet this woman.” She would be Linda Chef, our party’s instructor. I then opened a Meet Up announcement for a spiritual group in town and saw a Hindu monk who goes by the name ‘Swami.’ He too would be at this seven person dinner. Six of us sat around a wooden dinner table with Chef Linda and a small demo table in front of us. As she prepared a dish, one of us would join her and...