Around the Year with Emmet Fox - 7 September 2010
12-Step Recovered Alkie
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2010
Location: West Bloomfield, MI
Posts: 5,797
Around the Year with Emmet Fox - 7 September 2010
Don't be a grave robber. Let corpses alone. In due course mature disposes of such remains, if they are left undisturbed. Every time you dig up an old grievance or an old mistake by rehearsing it in your mind or, still worse, by telling someone else about it, you are simply ripping open a grave - and you know what you may expect to fine.
Live the present. Prepare intelligently for the future - and let the past alone. This is what Jesus meant when he said, ...let the dead bury their dead (Matthew 8:22)
Make a law for yourself today that you are not going to touch mentally any negative thing that has happened up to the present moment - and keep that law. Life is too precious for grave robbing. The past is past - liquidate it. If a negative memory comes into your mind, cremate it with the right thought (the fire of Love) and forget it.
Live the present. Prepare intelligently for the future - and let the past alone. This is what Jesus meant when he said, ...let the dead bury their dead (Matthew 8:22)
Make a law for yourself today that you are not going to touch mentally any negative thing that has happened up to the present moment - and keep that law. Life is too precious for grave robbing. The past is past - liquidate it. If a negative memory comes into your mind, cremate it with the right thought (the fire of Love) and forget it.
12-Step Recovered Alkie
Thread Starter
Join Date: May 2010
Location: West Bloomfield, MI
Posts: 5,797
I hear ya Mark. Emmet's writings have led to a LOT of confusion for me. A lot of his stuff has taken me 3+ years to understand.....lol......some of it is still lost on me.
To me anyway, what he's referring to is (in AA lingo) what we make our higher power.
In Sermon, Emmet talks a lot about constantly going to God, always relying upon God, turning our thoughts only to God, using prayer to "treat" problems in life, being able to do things most of us would consider "miracles" if we TRULY had faith.......etc. In our ordinary everyday lives we tend to run into problems, we then focus on the problem, hunt for solutions, attempt to solve the problem, consult others, dig into the problem deeper, get more ppl involved....etc etc etc. According to Emmet, (IMO) in doing this we are making the "problem" our HP. We're giving it strength by focusing our attention on it AND we're ignoring God in the meantime - a double-whammy.
Usually "by telling someone else about it" we tend to exaggerate the problem and make it out to be worse than it really is - which gives more "power" to the problem and takes our eye further off of God. Also, in sharing our "problems" with others we're apt to put a damper on their day to a degree and potentially drag them down with us (I'm sure none of us alkies has ever done that........lol). To go further, I know when I'm "sharing my problems" a lot of the time my TRUE intentions are to invoke pity from the person I'm telling. or to use my plight as some sort of leverage against them, or to "get" them to give something to me that I want without having to ask for it directly. I could go on but you catch my drift... sometimes we're sharing for noble reasons (need help, need advice, etc etc) but Emmet (I believe) is talking about some of the less noble reasons we "share."
And finally..... all through Sermon Emmet writes about how live is meant to be full of love, tolerance, acceptance, devotion to God, helping our neighbors, being kind always, and so on. If we're truly doing that, what good is there to come from digging up the pains of our past (even stuff that just happened moments ago)? If our true "duty" on earth is to love God with all our hearts and treat our neighbor as we would like to be treated, then there need not be any requirement for sadness, anger, or resentments. Think about the tables you've been too where someone pukes alllllllllll their "issues" on the table. Everyone else feels like crap and Emmet talks a lot about metaphysical laws - for example "You reap what you sow." If your days are full of reliving pains of the past then those pains will become your entire life. All of this is unnecessary, of course, if we would only turn our attention to God, focus on Him, and do His will (as opposed to focusing on ourselves, reliving the past, growing our resentments, and walking around miserable).
His challenge at the end is a good one........and it's tougher than it seems. Try to go a day and not give any power to anything negative (fear, anger, frustration, remorse, confusion, guilt, etc) and, as soon as one crops up, turn your attention instantly to God. Focus on Him instead of the problem and "realize" that God can and will do anything that needs doing.
It's heavy stuff....really deep.....but really cool when you get into the groove.
To me anyway, what he's referring to is (in AA lingo) what we make our higher power.
In Sermon, Emmet talks a lot about constantly going to God, always relying upon God, turning our thoughts only to God, using prayer to "treat" problems in life, being able to do things most of us would consider "miracles" if we TRULY had faith.......etc. In our ordinary everyday lives we tend to run into problems, we then focus on the problem, hunt for solutions, attempt to solve the problem, consult others, dig into the problem deeper, get more ppl involved....etc etc etc. According to Emmet, (IMO) in doing this we are making the "problem" our HP. We're giving it strength by focusing our attention on it AND we're ignoring God in the meantime - a double-whammy.
Usually "by telling someone else about it" we tend to exaggerate the problem and make it out to be worse than it really is - which gives more "power" to the problem and takes our eye further off of God. Also, in sharing our "problems" with others we're apt to put a damper on their day to a degree and potentially drag them down with us (I'm sure none of us alkies has ever done that........lol). To go further, I know when I'm "sharing my problems" a lot of the time my TRUE intentions are to invoke pity from the person I'm telling. or to use my plight as some sort of leverage against them, or to "get" them to give something to me that I want without having to ask for it directly. I could go on but you catch my drift... sometimes we're sharing for noble reasons (need help, need advice, etc etc) but Emmet (I believe) is talking about some of the less noble reasons we "share."
And finally..... all through Sermon Emmet writes about how live is meant to be full of love, tolerance, acceptance, devotion to God, helping our neighbors, being kind always, and so on. If we're truly doing that, what good is there to come from digging up the pains of our past (even stuff that just happened moments ago)? If our true "duty" on earth is to love God with all our hearts and treat our neighbor as we would like to be treated, then there need not be any requirement for sadness, anger, or resentments. Think about the tables you've been too where someone pukes alllllllllll their "issues" on the table. Everyone else feels like crap and Emmet talks a lot about metaphysical laws - for example "You reap what you sow." If your days are full of reliving pains of the past then those pains will become your entire life. All of this is unnecessary, of course, if we would only turn our attention to God, focus on Him, and do His will (as opposed to focusing on ourselves, reliving the past, growing our resentments, and walking around miserable).
His challenge at the end is a good one........and it's tougher than it seems. Try to go a day and not give any power to anything negative (fear, anger, frustration, remorse, confusion, guilt, etc) and, as soon as one crops up, turn your attention instantly to God. Focus on Him instead of the problem and "realize" that God can and will do anything that needs doing.
It's heavy stuff....really deep.....but really cool when you get into the groove.
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