Reflect: Share something from the lesson that blew your mind, or even just gave you a new perspective.

The concept that opened my mind in this lesson is that most of our “prayers’ are requests for God to change His mind about our circumstances–which is both egoistic and impossible. The Creator is the force of Good that does Good, which means what happens to us is a bestowal of the Creator’s Goodness. It is our perspective that needs to change. I mused about the internality and externality of the Soul–that what I want to perceive as “other” is actually also me.

I feel very much in those two environments or worlds at the same time now- the spiritual one and the corporeal one. And the more I learn about connection and prayer and the upper force, the more I feel or sense how different they both are. It’s  a big change in my perspective to actually feel those differences and it challenges my perception and concepts. It’s challenging, too, to give both its place and not muddle it up…especially now, when it’s all still new and undeveloped, but still so strong.

In a way, in terms of spirituality, all of this is mindblowing, and so beautiful, but to think of working in a group also challenges my need to trust. After all, it’s all about humans, and while maybe nothing is coincidental and even conflicts are great to learn, I feel a bit insecure about what working in a spiritual group will be like.

I also appreciated how we must have a positive kind of envy, which is one that appreciates the greatness of the friend because I also the love the friend. And we can measure our progress by how much we can maintain this attitude toward our friends without succumbing to negative jealousy.

Seeing the friends as greater than myself is so crucial because that is the only way I can receive from them. How can you receive from someone when you think you’re better than them?

I learned that absorbing other peoples desires and feelings is the quickest way to elevate my prayer.

I learned how big my ego is and how “smart” it is at coating my intentions, desires and pretty much everything in a sauce that sounds and feels so… holy, but is yet another way to fulfill my desire to receive.

I learned prayer, because I asked for it, I asked to be changed and was eventually overrun by pain and put in a place to decide: faith above reason, thanks to the Good that does Good, or lost within reason and ego? The hardest thing was to give thanks in the midst of that sheer pain, but LOVE was there, holding my hands and I HAD to stop fighting and open my eyes to what I was blessed enough to See in front of me.

Thank you all!