2004-07-11-When Turning The Other Cheek
SE Idaho #90
Contents
• 1 Heading
o 1.1 Topic: When Turning The Other Cheek
o 1.2 Group: SE Idaho TeaM
• 2 Facilitators
o 2.1 Teacher: Minearsia, Daniel, Lorenzo
o 2.2 TR: Bob D., Simeon
• 3 Session
o 3.1 Opening
o 3.2 Lesson
o 3.3 Dialogue
o 3.4 Closing
Topic: When Turning The Other Cheek
Group: SE Idaho TeaM
Facilitators
Teacher: Minearsia, Daniel, Lorenzo
TR: Bob D., Simeon
Session
Opening
Opening prayer by Lorenzo (Bob S.) This is Lorenzo, friends let us pray. To our Great Father, First Source and Center, whose universe we inhabit, we turn our grateful hearts to You with feelings of thanks for all You have done for us, Your children. Though we are just beginning to glimpse the greatness of Your plan, we already stand in awe of its almighty power. Be with us tonight as each of us seeks to grow into the likeness of You and that personality You have given us, toward that day when we will each stand before You. Amen
Lesson
DANIEL (Bob D.): Greetings to you, I am Daniel. It is my pleasure to be with you, engaging you in higher thought; seeking to understand you even as you seek to understand my words and the meanings behind them. This time is a growth time, and you have been here for a while now. You have been spreading your wings trying to gain perspective in the wake of fluctuations in your group, the loss of a good friend in your present companionship and the subsequent searching for meaning and expanding your perceptions to encompass the different reality and the manifold possibilities inherent therein. All of this has provided a wonderful platform for growth, individually and as a group.
I look forward to your continued exploration. I encourage your personal participation, both in our group setting and in your personal stillness time and in your journaling, to the extent that you undertake such endeavors. With all of this uncertainty still on the horizon, the possibilities for great experiences in incorporating sonship/daughtership with our Creator, the potential for building trends toward Light and Life is high. Although the planetary realization of such a state may be millennia away, your personal journey toward this recognition is filled with ever-present opportunities for increasing comprehension of the parental nature of your relationship to God and your recognition of the sibling-hood of all creatures.
And the path of progress that is characterized by a continued learning and experiencing, so that your personality will find increasing manifestation and your personality in combination with all other personalities may find increasing unity and blending of purpose and potential. In this I am thrilled that you have been so studious as to work through the uncertain scenario’s and to apply yourselves to the lesson and opportunities you have in your daily lives At this time I will step back and allow another to speak. I will remain present if there are questions following.
MINEARSIA (Bob S.): Greetings friends, I am Minearsia, your instructor in residence here tonight to follow up to my assignment given sometime earlier in which each of you were asked to examine those situations in your own life where turning the other cheek was part of the experience. I would like now to have each of you, who wish, to respond to your reaction to the assignment, what you feel you have learned or gained from this experience. And anything else you feel germane to the assignment. Who would like to begin?
Dialogue
LaReen: I personally felt almost a relief that I don’t have to stand up and defend. I just loved the analogy of “turn the other cheek” that it stops here.
MINEARSIA: Thank you LaReen for your response. Yes, there is comfort in the response of turning the other cheek. Your experience has been the experience of many others whose lives I have interacted with. That is a common response. Do you wish to pursue that any further this evening?
LaReen: I can’t explain in words, it’s just a lighter-easier way to go… catching myself before I internalize… having to stand up for myself or do battle so to speak… catching myself and saying its okay to let it go, and looking at the other person as if putting myself in their shoes… everyone has a story, everyone has a background.
MINEARSIA: Yes, understood. You’re perception of looking at the situation from another perspective is evidence of great wisdom. I commend you for that and hope that behavior will continue to be part of your life’s experience. Who else would like to react to the assignment?
Bob D.: A thought that came to mind was a saying: “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference”. That is the thing I have pondered in my mind in dealing with turning the other cheek, is knowing the difference between which is right in any situation. If you can’t change the situation the best response may be no response. If you can provide a positive, if you recognize there is an opportunity, then you almost have an obligation, whether you follow through on it or not, to try to uplift the situation. I have had to deal with that and I think trying to understand that is difficult; obviously there are times when it is very tempting to just ignore and just let something go rather than dealing with it. I recognized that in me just this last week. I couldn’t tell whether I was just letting it go because I didn’t have the energy to deal with it or letting it go because… you just perceive, no matter how you take it, that it’s going to manifest into a conflict scenario. The best insight I’ve gotten out of this lesson series and discussions is that Serenity Prayer.
MINEARSIA: Thank you Bob for your reaction. Yes, the wisdom to know what to do in a given situation is the key at your level of spiritual maturity; here I speak to all of you in general. It is most difficult for you to have the wisdom necessary in all cases to deal positively with a conflict situations. In such cases the right thing to do is nothing. As you mature and become more experienced, potential positive ideas will begin to fill your experience section of your brain and your fount of ideas will grow. Until that time one must be honest in a given situation, and if you lack something wise to say then the correct response is to say nothing. A very interesting ! idea Bob, thank you. Pat, I believe you are next.
Pat: What has just been said is somewhat like what I have experienced in a situation that happened a few years ago. It was a family situation; I won’t go into a lot of detail, however I was upset and concerned about a relationship, and when confronted I did not turn the other cheek and say nothing. Eventually, everything was smoothed over, apologies had taken place, but I still harbored feelings. That resentment I had talked about a couple of weeks ago was still in my mind. When you brought up this lesson a few weeks ago I immediately thought about this situation. I thought about it for several days and with much help, I’m sure, came to a better understanding of the other person’s reasons and reactions. It became clear to me that I was the one in the wrong and had I been able to turn the other cheek the situation would not have escalated. Now with this new understanding I feel better and have gained respect for this other person’s view and for the reactions they took. It has been a real growth experience for me to be able to see I was wrong, in my view. I thank you Minearsia for the lesson.
MINEARSIA: And thank you for your response to my query. The admission of ones mistakes can be positive, as you have been told. Making mistakes allows one to grow. Had God wanted you all to be perfect, He would have created you that way. You’ve heard that said before. It turns out making mistakes is often a better way or a more efficient way of growing than making the correct decision. I suspect many of you have had that experience. God doesn’t want you to look upon mistakes as a failure. He expects you to diligently pursue your decisions when they fail and make the appropriate adjustments in your thinking and your behavior. It is regrettable that your society is not more open to these kinds of ideas. But they will come. Your society also is very young and immature. Thank you, Pat, for your comments. I believe they will be helpful to other members in this group and beyond. Well, Carol or Kenneth, do either of you have any reactions you would care to share with us tonight. You may of course pass.
Ken: Thank you… pass. (Many group comments and joyful jousting.)
Carol: I think the thing for me the lessons have brought turning the other cheek to the conscious level. Whether I just bumble along in a coma or in the subconscious or what, it kind of has brought it to the forefront so that I think about it much more and I try to respond in a more positive and hopefully a better way.
MINEARSIA: Thank you Carol for your succinct and thoughtful response. Kenneth? (more group comments and laughing)
Ken: I tried, I tried. I have reflected somewhat back on my past, my past behavior, the way I have treated people and things, and I’m not happy with what I have seen. Thank you for this correcting time that I am now looking at this and seeing the changes that I have been making within myself, my thought process, my relationships, and try to take the positive aspect, to see the other individuals, situations, and come up with a method by which I can grow and develop spiritually. I concurred with my wife, I concur with Carol, LaReen and Bob in everything said this evening. I’m trying; I’m working on it. I thank you for bringing this issue forward. We have spent sever! al hours discussing this. I believe I’m beginning to see the fruits of my labor and your labor. Thank you Minearsia. Thank you all.
MINEARSIA: Thank you Kenneth and yes thank you all for work in and on this assignment. I will now allow Bob to react to my question.
Bob S.: For once Bob doesn’t have much to say. I have not been as diligent as I would hope to have been in this assignment. I think, hopefully, I will pursue it a bit further. What I have noticed is I have over the past few weeks had a lot of youthful experiences bubble up. I assume that is part of this process, being assisted by someone who has access to my memory banks, and I have been reliving a lot of those youthful, miserable, experiences that we all live through and survive. I have been trying to look at them now, from a more mature perspective and try to make sense out of them. That has been good, I’ve grown some with that, I think. Thanks to whoever has been helping me.
MINEARSIA: And thank you Bob. Are there other experiences that some of you may have had triggered in memory through the comments of others this evening that you think might be helpful to our discussion tonight?
LaReen: I kind of have a question. I understand that through adversity we grow, I understand that completely. I call that bless-ons and lessons. But… when do we get a break, is what I want to know? (group laughing and comments)
MINEARSIA: A very good question but one that is going to have to wait. At your level of faith building it is not wise for us to give you too many answers, such as those regarding the future, but thank you my dear anyway.
Closing
MINEARSIA It has been a most fruitful evening in my judgement my friends. Your responses were of quality and judged by my associates to have potentially positive effect on others in your group, which is always a plus for us. Are there final comments before we close tonight’s session. Very well let us stand for closing prayer.
DANIEL: Prayer: Dear Father, I am here with my friends who seek knowledge of Your will; who wish to understand the Cosmos and the innumerable questions that arise in such an exploration. We put this all before You and ask that you bring insight and understanding, that you give strength, such that all of us, all of Your children everywhere, can face whatever lies in their path. For we know that whatever trials and challenges they face, You are right there within us, with us, in those trials and challenges guiding us toward the highest responsive behavior. We open to the descending of Your peace this evening. Amen.
