I COOPERATION- Rainbow Moonstone 2

I have often wondered

why Cayce chose COOPERATION

for his first chapter

in his SEARCH FOR GOD books

but having worked with

so many different groups

over the years

I now know why cooperation

had to be first.

Growing up in the southeastern united states

my culture and education

taught me competition.

Good group work comes from

a sense of tribe or family

where one learns to respect

and honor another's truth.

The rainbow moonstone

I selected for this card

expresses feminine energy.

It allows men and women to be

in a receptive state

and balances yin and yang

and brings harmony.

Using Mark Thurston's

EXPERIMENTS IN A
SEARCH FOR GOD

as my jumping off place

I rethought and reworded

his experiments for

the COOPERATION chapter

and came up with:

1-1 What I am thinking

is actually creating my life.

At the end of each day

how will I review

my thought patterns?

Am I willing to journal

those I feel

are especially constructive

or helpful

and without a sense of self-condemnation

record those I feel

are not consistent

with my ideals?

This one has the feel of being

a tricky double-edged sword

for me.

While it is easy for me

to put myself in

the other's shoes/moccasins

and learn to imagine

an infinite number of possibilities

for why s/he is thinking

the way they are

it is difficult for me

to look at my own thoughts

in a nonjudgemantal way.

I learn alot about myself

when I take time to journal

both my constructive, helpful

thought patterns

and the ones that aren't very helpful

and may even be destructive.

1-2 Am I willing to learn to be sensitive

to where others are in consciousness?

Without compromising my own ideals

am I willing to speak to others

in their own language?

Can I show concern for the problems

and questions they have

in their own minds

(not so much the questions

I think they ought to be concerned about)?

Am I willing to journal the experiences

in which I am able to be helpful

to someone

by meeting that individual

at his/her own level?

How can I simply be

a good listener?

Asking questions to bring out

another's truth

instead of always rushing in

to tell my own story?

How can I be best supporting

actress/actor?

1-3 What is a habit pattern

that is especially characteristic

of my own limited ego self?

I, Susan, pray each day that

my real self wakes up

and grows

so I can let loose

of my involvement

with the patterns

that keep me limited.

How can I cultivate

an attitude of openness

to Divine/Holy healing

for each limiting part

of my life?

At the end of each day

am I willing to journal

any situations during the day

where I experienced

losing any particular

limited sense of myself?

Okay, maybe you're like

my husband Steve

and you don't want to

journal anything.

Then I think it is important

that you find at least one person

(or better yet,

because you'll have more input

and support- a small group)

to witness your encounters

with your own limited ego-self.

Sharing with that person

/those people

opens windows and doors

and expands your horizons.

They can share their own experiences

in dealing with their own limited egos.

It can nurture and nourish

your own growth

to hear their failures and successes.

Sometimes it's hard to see

our own limitations

but trusted friends

can point out directions

we might be interested in

exploring.

Journaling or sharing with others

helps make us accountable

for actually looking at the ways

we limit ourselves.

If I am stuck in limitation

it may help me

to see other possibilities.

1-4 How can I relate to others

with kindness?

I, (Susan), focus on speaking kindly

(fill in your own name

to make this up close and personal)

I journal those instances where

I am able to replace an impulse

to speak harshly or thoughtlessly

with kind words.

I journal as well,

without a sense of self-condemnation

those instances where

greater kindness than I expressed

would have been helpful.

There are THOSE sticky icky WORDS

again: without a sense of self-condemnation.

I am taking my power back;

removing the pen from St. Peter's hand

@ the pearly gates of heaven

and using it to simply tally up

when I do

and when I don't

speak kindly.

If I journal I can plainly see

when it is easy

for me to speak kindly.

Are there particular people

I find it difficult

to speak kind words to?

Are there certain situatiuons

where it is hard for me

to speak kindly?

Identifying these people

and situations

can help me make changes

remembering the Highest Truth

that the only person I can change

is me

and by changing me

I send out a ripple effect

like tossing a rock into water

that eventually affects

my whole world.

1-5 What new response-ability

can I take for helping

some other person?

Being mindful

not to try to make decisions

for that person

or do things for her/him

that s/he needs to be doing.

Can I take on

a sense of respons-ability

for loving and caring

for/about that person,

even if it may be a burden

(time-wise

energy-wise

/otherwise)?

If I am not going to be

Ms/Mr Fix It

what new ways can I find to help

other people around me?

1-6 What characteristic or ability

do I feel I have

(like playing music

/listening to others)

that is often able

to serve as a channel

for the expression of

my spiritual ideal?

How can I be sensitive

to those who may

lack this particular

characteristic or ability

and find ways of sharing

this strength

with them?

1-7 As preparation

for the period of silence

in my meditation

let me take about a minute

to recreate in my imagination

some way I have seen

love or harmony manifested

(either by myself

or by another person).

1-8 What kind of world would I like

to come into for my next incarnation?

What are some ways I would like to be

helping to build one quality

of the futuristic world

I imagine right now

even though it may not show fruits

in this lifetime?

How can I work on manifesting

those things I can be doing right now

to make the world a better place

for my children and grandchildren

and the generations to come

or even myself in my next

incarnation?

~~~

Between myself

as a conscious, physical being

and the superconscious awareness

of the oneness of all life

there exists my subconscious

or my collection of

my habitual habits of response:

my karma.

Some of the habit patterns

I have built up

are constructive

and consistent with the divine:

/good karma.

However, a lot of my subconcious

memory patterns

are limiting

and self-centered

(like my tendency to play

Poor Pitiful Pearl

Woe is me!

and feel sorry for myself

or any tendency to hold resentments.)

One of the most difficult of all patterns

is the one that says:

"I'm really pretty satisfied

with the way things are

and I don't want to risk change."

My ego clutches onto

this law of inertia

because it knows

if I am in contact

with the divine regularly

I will experience

dramatic changes

in my personality

and life direction.

My old habitual self

will have to die

in order for

my new spiritual self

to be born.

My old, habitual self

can throw up

very resistant barriers

to keep me from losing

my little self

in my big Self

/the Divine.

I COOPERATION- Rainbow Moonstone

How can I express

the Creative Force

within me

in such a way

that my thinking and doing

brings hope

peace

and understanding

into the lives of others

so they may become

channels of blessings?