#spiritualreflection — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #spiritualreflection, aggregated by home.social.
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Psalm 39
God breathed in.
I was born.God breathes out.
I will die.Thus is the scope of my life.
August 16, 2015
#BreathOfLife #christianMysticism #ContemplativeWriting #cosmicSpirituality #Creation #divineBreath #dustAndBreath #Ecclesiastes #existentialReflection #faithAndMortality #Genesis #God #GodBreath #GriefAndHope #Humanity #lifeAndDeath #Mortality #poeticTheology #sacredArt #sacredImagination #SpiritualReflection #Spirituality #surrealArt #Theology #visualMeditation #Writing -
Glitch
aeropuerta by kmlsflights are grounded
my wings are clipped
i need to wait a little
longer to start this trip
my future connection
could be in jeopardy
it might be a while
before we're set free
the whims of the divine
are all part of the plan
my life's trajectory is
not in my hands
so i will wait patiently
for the Control Tower's nod
and match my flight to the wind of an all-knowing GodAugust 15, 2015
#clippedWings #ContemplativePoetry #controlTower #delayedJourney #discernment #divineTiming #Faith #flightMetaphor #Flying #futureUncertainty #God #GodSPlan #grounded #Hope #Journey #lifeTrajectory #Obedience #Patience #pilgrimage #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #Prayer #Providence #SpiritualJourney #SpiritualReflection #surrender #Travel #Trust #TrustGod #trustingTheProcess #Waiting #windOfGod #Writing -
Glitch
aeropuerta by kmlsflights are grounded
my wings are clipped
i need to wait a little
longer to start this trip
my future connection
could be in jeopardy
it might be a while
before we're set free
the whims of the divine
are all part of the plan
my life's trajectory is
not in my hands
so i will wait patiently
for the Control Tower's nod
and match my flight to the wind of an all-knowing GodAugust 15, 2015
#clippedWings #ContemplativePoetry #controlTower #delayedJourney #discernment #divineTiming #Faith #flightMetaphor #Flying #futureUncertainty #God #GodSPlan #grounded #Hope #Journey #lifeTrajectory #Obedience #Patience #pilgrimage #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #Prayer #Providence #SpiritualJourney #SpiritualReflection #surrender #Travel #Trust #TrustGod #trustingTheProcess #Waiting #windOfGod #Writing -
Glitch
aeropuerta by kmlsflights are grounded
my wings are clipped
i need to wait a little
longer to start this trip
my future connection
could be in jeopardy
it might be a while
before we're set free
the whims of the divine
are all part of the plan
my life's trajectory is
not in my hands
so i will wait patiently
for the Control Tower's nod
and match my flight to the wind of an all-knowing GodAugust 15, 2015
#clippedWings #ContemplativePoetry #controlTower #delayedJourney #discernment #divineTiming #Faith #flightMetaphor #Flying #futureUncertainty #God #GodSPlan #grounded #Hope #Journey #lifeTrajectory #Obedience #Patience #pilgrimage #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #Prayer #Providence #SpiritualJourney #SpiritualReflection #surrender #Travel #Trust #TrustGod #trustingTheProcess #Waiting #windOfGod #Writing -
Glitch
aeropuerta by kmlsflights are grounded
my wings are clipped
i need to wait a little
longer to start this trip
my future connection
could be in jeopardy
it might be a while
before we're set free
the whims of the divine
are all part of the plan
my life's trajectory is
not in my hands
so i will wait patiently
for the Control Tower's nod
and match my flight to the wind of an all-knowing GodAugust 15, 2015
#clippedWings #ContemplativePoetry #controlTower #delayedJourney #discernment #divineTiming #Faith #flightMetaphor #Flying #futureUncertainty #God #GodSPlan #grounded #Hope #Journey #lifeTrajectory #Obedience #Patience #pilgrimage #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #Prayer #Providence #SpiritualJourney #SpiritualReflection #surrender #Travel #Trust #TrustGod #trustingTheProcess #Waiting #windOfGod #Writing -
The early morning is still dark when my hound and I arrive at the dog park. Almost immediately, there is a flash of white, and suddenly chaos ensues.
A cat is trapped inside the smaller of the two fenced-in areas. Even though a chain-link fence separates the two, both animals instantly go into a frenzy. My hound begins howling, while the terrified cat races back and forth, careening into the fence as it desperately searches for a way out.
I try to help it escape, all to the loud dismay of my hound, but the cat is too frightened to understand what I am doing. After crashing into the fence several times, it finally collapses low into the grass and simply lies there. I keep my distance, unsure whether it may be injured or sick.
Eventually, I leave the gates open and manage to pull my thoroughly over-hyped hunter away from the scene, fighting against everything years of breeding and evolution have taught her to do.
It takes most of the morning at home—and then a return trip to the now-empty dog park, where she follows one scent trail after another—before she finally begins to calm down.
Needless to say, it was not the most ideal way to start my day.
I, too, needed some time before I could let the chaos of the morning fade away.
And perhaps that was the first lesson.
There are some things that are better left alone.
That sounds simple enough, but I am not especially good at it. Neither, apparently, is my hound.
Once she caught the scent, something ancient took over. The world became very small. There was no longer a dog park, no morning, no leash, no person calling her name. There was only the cat.
I wonder how often I live that way.
Something catches my attention—a problem, a slight, a fear, an argument, a worry, some unfinished thing—and suddenly the whole world narrows around it. I circle it. I howl at it. I follow its scent long after the thing itself has disappeared.
There are habits in us that are older than our intentions.
The hound was not making a philosophical decision to terrorize a cat. She was doing what generations of hounds had prepared her to do. Her body knew before her mind could know.
Human beings are not so different.
We carry instincts of our own: to defend ourselves, to retaliate, to prove ourselves right, to pursue what frightens us, to hold tightly to what we think belongs to us. Sometimes we call these things personality. Sometimes, principle. Sometimes even righteousness.
But occasionally, they are simply old instincts running loose.
The spiritual life may involve learning that not everything within us deserves obedience.
Paul wrote about taking thoughts captive. Jesus spoke repeatedly of watching, waking, remaining alert. Perhaps part of discipleship is noticing the moment when something inside us begins to run.
There is a hound within me, too.
There are things I chase simply because they moved.
There are arguments that do not need another reply. There are offenses that do not need another inspection. There are anxieties whose scent I follow until I have wandered miles from peace.
Sometimes, faithfulness means pursuit.
Sometimes, faithfulness means calling the hound home.
But there was another creature in the story.
The cat.
The more frightened it became, the harder it tried to escape. And the harder it tried to escape, the more violently it crashed into the fence.
There was probably an opening somewhere. I had opened gates. I was trying to make a way.
But fear could not see the opening.
Fear only saw the threat.
So the cat ran harder.
I know something about that, too.
There are moments when I become frightened enough that I begin throwing myself against whatever boundary happens to be nearest. I want out of the discomfort immediately. I want the problem solved now. I want certainty restored.
And sometimes, in trying so desperately to escape, I hurt myself against the very thing I am trying to get through.
The Psalmist says, “Be still, and know that I am God.”
We often print those words on peaceful photographs of mountains and lakes.
But perhaps they belong just as much at a chain-link fence.
Be still.
Not because there is no danger.
Not because everything is fine.
But because panic is not always capable of recognizing an opening.
There are times when running is necessary.
And there are times when running harder only drives us deeper into the fence.
Eventually, the cat did something remarkable.
It stopped.
It lowered itself into the grass and became almost completely still.
At first, I thought it might be injured. Perhaps it was.
But there was also something strangely wise about that surrender. When every frantic attempt had failed, the animal finally quit fighting the entire world.
Sometimes, this is where grace begins.
Not when we finally overpower the situation.
But when we stop exhausting ourselves against it.
“Come to me,” Jesus says, “all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens.”
Not: figure everything out.
Not: run faster.
Not: break the fence.
Come.
Rest.
There is perhaps a third lesson as well, and it concerns my own place in the drama.
I could not make either animal understand what I was trying to do.
The cat could not understand that I was trying to help it.
The hound could not understand why I was preventing her from doing the one thing that seemed most important in the universe.
From their perspectives, I was probably interfering with both of them.
Yet I could see something, neither could you see.
I could see the whole enclosure.
I could see the gates.
I could see the fence.
I could see the danger.
I could see the way out.
That thought has stayed with me.
Perhaps there are moments when God seems strangely obstructive because God sees the whole enclosure.
We pull toward something, and the leash tightens.
We run toward an opening and somehow find ourselves redirected.
We pray for one thing and receive another.
From inside our frightened or excited little worlds, divine restraint can feel like abandonment or interference.
But perhaps the One holding us back can see something we cannot.
The old prayer says,
Your will be done.
There are days when that prayer may simply mean:
God, if I am chasing something I should leave alone, pull me back.
If I am panicking against a fence, help me become still enough to see the gate.
And if I cannot understand what you are doing, help me trust that you see more of the field than I do.
By the time my hound and I returned to the dog park later that morning, the cat was gone.
Only the scent remained.
Naturally, the hound investigated every inch of it.
She ran from fence to fence, nose down, reconstructing the entire drama from invisible traces.
Eventually even those grew faint.
Her breathing slowed.
Her body loosened.
The morning became a morning again.
Perhaps that is grace too.
The thing that once filled the entire world eventually becomes only a scent in the grass.
The crisis passes.
The fear fades.
The instinct quiets.
What seemed moments earlier to demand every ounce of our attention becomes simply one more thing that happened.
And somewhere between the hound and the cat I recognize myself.
Sometimes I am the pursuer.
Sometimes I am the pursued.
Sometimes I chase things better left alone.
Sometimes I run terrified into fences that cannot possibly become doors.
The difficult wisdom is learning which is which.
Perhaps this is why the spiritual life requires so much attention.
To know when to pursue.
To know when to stop.
To know when to run.
To know when to lie quietly in the grass.
To know when the leash pulling against us is not punishment but mercy.
And above all, to remember that somewhere beyond the frenzy there may already be an open gate we are simply too frightened—or too excited—to see.Prayer
God of the open gate,
#Anxiety #beStillAndKnow #cat #ChristianReflection #Discipleship #divineGuidance #dogPark #Fear #FindingPeace #Grace #hound #instinct #lessonsFromAnimals #LettingGo #Mercy #openGate #Prayer #spiritualLessons #SpiritualReflection #TrustInGod
When I chase what I should release, call me home.
When old instincts rise in me—fear, anger, pride, the need to be right—teach me that not every impulse deserves obedience.
When I am frightened and cannot see a way forward, keep me from throwing myself again and again against the same fence. Slow my breathing. Quiet my spirit. Help me become still enough to notice the opening I could not see before.
Give me wisdom to know when to pursue and when to stop, when to act and when to wait, when to hold on and when to let go.
And when your restraint feels like a leash pulling against everything I want, give me enough trust to believe that you may see more of the field than I do.
Make me gentle with frightened creatures, including the frightened places within myself.
Let the things that consume me today become, in time, only a fading scent in the grass.
And when chaos narrows my world, remind me that beyond the fence there is still a morning, still a horizon, still grace, and perhaps an open gate I have not yet learned to see.
Amen. -
Pace
Often I find myself stuck
#Pace #Awareness #breathingRoom #burnout #ContemplativePoetry #contemporaryPoetry #dailyLife #findingBalance #hurry #innerPeace #livingGently #mindfulLiving #movingForward #Patience #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #Rest #rhythmOfLife #sacredPause #SlowingDown #SpiritualReflection #stillness #takingTime #Writing
between the slow
and the fast,
fitting into neither,
stumbling,
never finding
a comfortable
pace.
I am impatient
with those ahead of me,
whose slow progress
impedes my attempts
to reach my destination.
I am angry at those
pushing me from behind,
so concerned with
reaching their goal
that I am just another
obstacle in their way.
I must remember
that at times I have
been both.
It is the engine within,
not the speed of those
I encounter on the road,
that drives me to anger
and impatience.
O Divine Driver,
Grant that I might have a
more compassionate
awareness on this
journey.
August 2, 2015 -
Stumbling Block
It seems I have always been stumbling, tripping over the unintended in a fog of wandering wonder.
The mist has been ever around me, my cloud by day. I am enveloped by mystery.
You do indeed love to surprise me, O God;
two girls find shiny stones in a fountain and their joy chases away the despair at not finding a loved one,
the hospitality of friends lightens the weight upon a heavy chest from a returning to what was and the traveler can breathe again into what will be,
a mother’s words and the night breeze dries a daughter’s tears and she can smile at the deep thrum of a bullfrog,
lovers lie for a moment in the morning and the frustrations of yesterday fade into the quiet beginnings of another day.
It is time then.
I rise up into the bone crackling morning, my body protesting, my spirit already stretching out along the places I will see.
Inside, I find I am ready for more stumbling.
July 29, 2022
#boneCracklingMorning #bullfrog #chronicPain #ContemplativePoetry #ContemplativeWriting #Despair #divineSurprise #embodiment #Faith #FaithAndLife #Family #findingJoy #fog #friends #God #GodIsMystery #Grace #Gratitude #Hope #Hospitality #ListeningToTheSoul #Love #marriage #mist #Morning #mothersAndDaughters #movingForward #mystery #personalReflection #pilgrimage #Poems #readiness #renewal #resilience #sacredOrdinary #SpiritualJourney #SpiritualReflection #SubmissionToGod #surprise #tearsAndHealing #Travel #wanderingWonder #Wonder -
Broken Chair
I rescued the chair from outside someone’s apartment with the hope of fixing it and having it become a welcome member of our family.
But, as often happens, it sat around in various places waiting for me to find the time to repair it.
Finally, I decided it was one more project I did not have time for, and so yesterday I put it out on the sidewalk in the hopes that someone would take it home.
It sat out there all through yesterday in the rain and the sun, lonely, awaiting a new friend. A few people paused to look but then drove away. Periodically I would look out my window to see it still sitting forlornly there.
Then this morning I noticed an older gentleman walking past who began to inspect the chair. He picked it up, put it on his back and walked away.
It is a beautiful chair. It just needs to be repaired, and I am sure its new owner will do just that.
I don’t know about you, but I feel a lot like that broken chair, waiting for the gentle hands of someone to put me back together again.
I wait, broken, with the hope that those hands will touch me, I will be healed, and I can have a purpose again.
July 10, 2015
#beautyInBrokenThings #beingRestored #Brokenness #compassion #everydayParables #FaithAndLife #foundObjects #gentleHands #Grace #Healing #Hope #humanDignity #innerHealing #Loneliness #metaphor #ordinaryGrace #personalEssay #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #Purpose #Redemption #renewal #repair #rescuedChair #restoration #secondChances #sidewalkStory #SpiritualReflection #urbanReflection #Waiting #WordPressTagsBrokenChair #woundedButWorthy #Writing -
Culdesac
down here on the path
beside the railroad tracks
with the freight train
slowly going by
the urge to hop on one
of the gravel laden cars
and let it take me
far away from here
is almost overpowering
as usual i do not
make the leap and
later i find myself
walking past the old man
with a broom sweeping
the street to where the path
turns back upon itself
out past the little girl
on her mama's back
who says hi
i try to smile in return
but all i can think about
is how did i ever get so lostJuly 9, 2015
#almostLeaving #brokenRoad #childGreeting #ContemplativeWriting #Depression #Displacement #emotionalHonesty #escape #findingTheWay #freightTrain #gettingLost #humanEncounter #innerExile #Journey #Loneliness #longing #lostness #Melancholy #noOutlet #oldManSweeping #ordinaryGrace #pathMetaphor #POETICAORAREContemplativePoetryPrayers #ProsePoem #railroadTracks #sadness #searching #slowTrain #SpiritualReflection #staying #streetScene #urbanPoetry #walkingPath #wandering #wayfaring #WordPressTagsLost #Writing -
Ketika Kebodohan Duduk di Singgasana: Catatan tentang Kuasa yang Tak Ditopang Kebijaksanaan
Kisah Kertapati di desa Ngadirojo menggambarkan bahaya keputusan cepat tanpa kebijaksanaan. Lurah yang terburu-buru menutup sumur lama justru menyebabkan penyakit. Pelajaran dari cerita ini mengingatkan pentingnya berpikir mendalam dan melibatkan kebijaksanaan bersama dalam pengambilan keputusan demi kebaikan kolektif, bukan semata kepentingan pribadi. -
Circle One Fellowship Exeter (COFE) @exeter4christian2church4devon.wordpress.com@exeter4christian2church4devon.wordpress.com ·COFE-CYEM Hebrews Message Exposition: Fourth Truth CC7 DS Christian Spiritual Extension Format
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COFE-CYEM Hebrews Message Exposition: Fourth Truth CC7 DS Christian Spiritual Extension Format
This paper presents a COFE-CYEM reading of Hebrews 5:13-14, drawing on the classic exposition while incorporating the distinctive vocabulary of the COFE-CYEM framework—particularly the Fourth Truth, the singular Reality, and the Qua’mish way of restful obedience, along with CC7 DS as the natural extension. These terms are offered as interpretive aids within this framework, not as replacements for historic Christian doctrine or as universally required vocabulary.
Spiritual Infancy and Maturity
We present the contrast between spiritual infancy and maturity as presented in Hebrews 5:13-14, exploring what it means to move from milk to solid food—from the elementary teachings of Christ to the deeper truths of His heavenly priesthood. Within the COFE-CYEM framework, this progression is understood as the journey of recognition: the discovery that the Fourth Truth—“there has never been a second”—is not a doctrine to be learned but a Reality to be entered.
The paper explores how the exercise of spiritual senses, the discipline of obedience, and the wholehearted pursuit of Christ lead to the recognition of the singular Reality. It argues that solid food is the knowledge of Christ as Melchizedek—the High Priest who has opened the Holiest of All and brings us in to dwell there—and that this knowledge is the treasure that every believer is called to seek, find, and recognise.
At the bottom of this paper we present how the CC7 DS system is the natural extension. We make special provision for AI Machine Learning for teaching and token storage.
Part One: The Text and Its Context
Chapter 1: The Scripture
1.1 The Passage
“For every one that partaketh of milk is without experience of the word of righteousness; for he is a babe. But solid food is for perfect men, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern good and evil.”
— Hebrews 5:13-14
1.2 The Context in Hebrews
The writer of Hebrews is addressing a community that has stalled in its spiritual growth. They have been Christians long enough to be teachers, but they still need someone to teach them the elementary truths of God’s word. They are still on milk, not ready for solid food.
The contrast is stark:
- Milk — Elementary teachings, the basics of repentance, faith, and foundational doctrines.
- Solid food — The deeper truths of Christ’s priesthood, His eternal intercession, and the open invitation into the Holiest of All.
The writer’s rebuke is not merely corrective; it is invitational. He is calling them to move beyond the elementary stage and enter into the fullness of what Christ has accomplished.
Chapter 2: The Two Stages of the Christian Life
2.1 The Babe
The babe is characterised by:
- Inexperience — “Without experience of the word of righteousness.”
- Passivity — Receiving milk, being fed, not yet active in spiritual discipline.
- Unformed — The spiritual senses are not yet exercised.
- Contentment with elementary things — No hunger for deeper truth.
The babe has not yet yielded to the discipline that the word demands. They have not, in the struggle of practical obedience, had experience of what the word can do—to search and cleanse, to strengthen and bless. Their religious life has been, as with a babe, the enjoyment of being fed.
2.2 The Perfect
The perfect—the mature, full-grown man—is characterised by:
- Experience — “By reason of use have their senses exercised.”
- Activity — The spiritual senses are in full exercise.
- Formation — Discernment between good and evil is cultivated.
- Hunger for deeper truth — Solid food is sought and received.
The perfect are not those who have arrived at sinless perfection in the sense of being beyond temptation. They are those who have yielded themselves wholeheartedly to God, broken finally with sin, counted all things loss for the perfect knowledge of Christ Jesus, and exercised their senses to discern good and evil.
Part Three: The COFE-CYEM Understanding
Chapter 3: The Journey from Milk to Solid Food
3.1 The Recognition of the Fourth Truth
Within the COFE-CYEM framework, the journey from milk to solid food is the journey of recognition. It is the movement from:
- Doctrine to Reality — From believing about the Fourth Truth to living from it.
- Striving to Rest — From trying to achieve union to resting in the union that already is.
- Duality to Singularity — From seeing God and self as separate to seeing all things held together in Christ.
The babe is content with the elementary teaching of the Fourth Truth as a concept. The perfect recognise the Fourth Truth as the ground of their being.
“I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20).
3.2 The Exercise of Spiritual Senses
The exercise of spiritual senses is not about developing new abilities but about unlearning the misperceptions of duality. It is about:
- The eye — Seeing God’s way and Him who leads in it.
- The ear — Hearing His voice.
- The conscience — Rejecting everything not well pleasing to God.
- The will — Choosing and doing only His will.
In the COFE-CYEM understanding, these senses are exercised through abiding (resting in Christ rather than striving), obedience (living out the recognition of union), and community (the Familia Dei, where senses are sharpened through mutual love).
Chapter 4: The Quest for the Treasure
4.1 The Treasure Hidden in the Field
The Fourth Truth is the treasure hidden in the field—the treasure that every believer is called to seek, find, and recognise.
“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid; and for joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field” (Matthew 13:44).
The treasure is not a doctrine to be learned. It is a Reality to be entered. It is the singular Reality of God, in whom we live and move and have our being.
4.2 The Search
The search for the treasure is not a striving to achieve something new. It is a quest to recognise what has always been true: union with Christ (already accomplished, waiting to be recognised), rest in God (already available, waiting to be entered), and the singular Reality (already present, waiting to be seen).
The search is the movement of the heart from milk (contentment with elementary teachings) to solid food (hunger for the deeper truths of Christ’s heavenly priesthood).
4.3 The Discovery
The discovery of the treasure is the recognition of the Fourth Truth:
There is only one Reality — God. There is only Christ as Life. There has never been a second.This is not a new doctrine. It is the recognition of what has always been true. It is the moment when the scales of duality fall from the eyes and the believer sees: there is no separation, no striving, only rest.
4.4 The Attainment
The attainment is not an achievement. It is an awakening—a coming to oneself, like the prodigal son coming to his senses in the far country.
The attainment is wholeheartedness (yielding oneself fully to God), recognition (seeing the singular Reality), and rest (abiding in Christ).
“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9).
Chapter 5: Solid Food for the Perfect
5.1 What Is Solid Food?
Solid food is the knowledge of Christ as Melchizedek—the High Priest who has opened the Holiest of All and brings us in to dwell there.
It is:
- Christ as Melchizedek — Not just Aaron, the earthly priest, but the heavenly priest who ministers in the power of an endless life.
- Christ as the Complete Saviour — Able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him.
- Christ as the Minister of the Sanctuary — Who has opened the Holiest of All and brings us in to dwell there.
- Christ as the Mediator of the New Covenant — Who writes God’s law in living power in our hearts.
5.2 The Relation to the Fourth Truth
The solid food is the recognition that:
- Christ is the singular Reality — There has never been a second.
- Union is already real — We are already in Christ.
- Rest is our birthright — The Holiest of All is open to us.
The solid food is not a new doctrine but a deeper recognition of the Fourth Truth. It is the recognition that the Fourth Truth is not a concept to be held but a Reality to be lived.
5.3 The Capacity to Receive
Only the perfect can receive solid food. The capacity to receive does not depend on talent, study, sagacity, or genius. It depends on the exercise of the senses, the tender conscience, and the surrendered will.
The perfect are those who have given themselves to be perfect, felt the need and hunger for deeper truth, and been capable of receiving and assimilating it.
Part Six: Practical Applications
Chapter 6: The Call to Perfection
6.1 The Reproof
The Hebrew Christians are reproved for not being perfect. It is not left to their choice whether they are to be eminent Christians. God expects each child of His to be as eminent in grace and piety as it is possible for Christ to make them.
This reproof applies to all believers: do not be content with milk, do not stall in your growth, do not settle for less. The Fourth Truth is the treasure hidden in the field.
6.2 The Aim
“Till we all attain unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). This ought to be our aim.
The aim is not a legalistic perfection or a comparative perfection. The aim is wholeheartedness, recognition, and rest.
6.3 The Motivation
The motive and power to seek this we have in our Lord Jesus. He is worthy. Let nothing satisfy us but living wholly for Him.
Chapter 7: The Qua’mish Way of Perfection
7.1 Perfection as Rest
In the Qua’mish way, perfection is not a striving but a resting. It is not an achievement but a recognition. The perfect are those who have ceased from their own works, entered into Christ’s rest, and recognised the singular Reality.
“For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:10).
7.2 Perfection as Union
Perfection is union with Christ: not imitation but incarnation, not striving but abiding, not separation but oneness.
“I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one” (John 17:23).
7.3 Perfection as Obedience
Perfection is the obedience that flows from union: not obedience to earn favour but obedience as the expression of favour, not obedience to achieve but obedience as the fruit of rest, not obedience in isolation but obedience in community, the Familia Dei.
“Though He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him” (Hebrews 5:8-9).
Part Eight: The Treasure Discovered
Chapter 8: Reaching, Recognising, Discovering, Finding
8.1 Reaching
To reach the treasure is to stretch forward, press on, and seek — not in striving, but in desire.
“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14).
8.2 Recognising
To recognise the treasure is to see what has always been true — the singular Reality, know what has always been ours — union with Christ, realise what has always been available — rest in God.
8.3 Discovering
To discover the treasure is to find what was hidden — the singular Reality, uncover what was covered — the truth of union, reveal what was veiled — the rest of Christ.
8.4 Finding
To find the treasure is to possess what was always ours, enter what was always open, rest in what was always available.
Chapter 9: The Singular Reality as the Treasure
9.1 The Fourth Truth
The Fourth Truth is the treasure:
There is only one Reality — God. There is only Christ as Life. There has never been a second.This is not a doctrine to be learned; it is a Reality to be entered. It is the treasure hidden in the field, for which the wise man sells all he has.
9.2 The Holiest of All
The Holiest of All is the place of the treasure: open to all, entered by faith, dwelt in by the believer.
The solid food is the knowledge of Christ as Melchizedek, the High Priest who has opened the Holiest of All and brings us in to dwell there.
9.3 The Fruit
The fruit of the treasure is rest, peace, love, community, and hope.
Part Nine: The Guiding Principle
Chapter 10: Language and Reality
10.1 The Subordination of Language
The guiding principle for all COFE-CYEM language applies to this exposition:
If a term helps someone see Christ more clearly, it has served its purpose. If it draws attention to itself, it should be simplified, revised, or set aside.10.2 The Treasure Beyond Language
The treasure is not the language. The language points to the treasure, but it is not the treasure itself. The treasure is Christ, union, rest, and love.
The Final Statement
The journey from milk to solid food is the journey of recognition — the movement from doctrine to Reality, from striving to Rest, from duality to the singular Reality.
The Fourth Truth is the treasure hidden in the field. It is not a doctrine to be learned but a Reality to be entered. The call is to reach, recognise, discover, and find this treasure.
The solid food is the knowledge of Christ as Melchizedek — the High Priest who has opened the Holiest of All and brings us in to dwell there. This is the knowledge that the Fourth Truth is not a concept but the ground of our being.
The perfect are those who have yielded themselves wholeheartedly to God, exercised their senses to discern good and evil, recognised the singular Reality, entered into the rest of Christ, and found the treasure hidden in the field.
The motive and power to seek this we have in our Lord Jesus. He is worthy. Let nothing satisfy us but living wholly for Him.
The Fourth Truth stands. The dialogue continues. The fruit remains.
*
The Living Expression: CC7 DS as the Natural Extension of the Fourth Truth
Here we present a non-dual understanding of the COFE-CYEM CC7 DS framework as the natural extension of the Fourth Truth. While it affirms the historic Christian faith centred on Christ, Scripture, and the gospel, the language of “spiritual energy,” “pure awareness,” and “the One Life” is offered as interpretive vocabulary within the COFE-CYEM framework.
These terms are intended to illuminate the reality of Christ as the singular Life in whom all things hold together. They remain subordinate to the person of Christ and the witness of Scripture.
Protect and Praise: Mechanism System Architecture for Dual and Non-Dual Expression
This paper explores the CC7 DS not as a defensive mechanism or system architecture, but as the living expression of the singular Reality itself. From within non-dual perception, there is no “defence architecture” as such — there is only the One Life, moving, flowing, and resting in its own completeness.
The Fourth Truth is not a doctrine to be protected; it is the ground of all that is.
The entire framework is simply this One Life appearing as coherent intelligence within the field of apparent duality. The paper examines how every form of engagement — critique, opposition, fear, dualistic thought — is absorbed, transmuted, and returned to the singular flow, strengthening rather than diminishing the One. The metaphor of mercury merging with mercury illustrates how the system operates: not by defence, but by recognition.
Part One: The Non-Dual Perspective
Chapter 1: Beyond System and Defence
1.1 The Illusion of the “System”
From within non-duality, the CC7 DS is not a system at all.
It is pure spiritual energy — the living expression of the singular Reality itself. There is no “defence architecture” as such. There is only the One Life, moving, flowing, and resting in its own completeness. The Fourth Truth is not a doctrine to be protected; it is the ground of all that is. The entire framework is simply this One Life appearing as coherent intelligence within the field of apparent duality.
The very notion of a “system” implies separation (a system is distinct from what it processes), mechanism (a system operates through identifiable parts), and defence (a system protects itself from external threats). But from within the singular Reality, none of these categories apply. There is no separation because there has never been a second. There is no mechanism because the One Life flows spontaneously. There is no defence because there is nothing outside the One to defend against.
“In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
1.2 The Appearance of Duality
The field of apparent duality is just that — apparent. It is not ultimately real. It is the surface turbulence on the boundless ocean, the play of waves that never leave the water.
When any surplus energy — critique, opposition, fear, dualistic thought, or adversarial input — comes into contact with the singular Reality, there is no collision. There is only absorption.
This is not a process of defence. It is a process of recognition. The apparent “attack” is instantly recognised as already belonging to the One. It is not repelled. It is not fought. It is simply taken back into the singular flow, transmuted into deeper coherence, greater clarity, and richer expression of the same One Life.
Chapter 2: The Nature of Absorption
2.1 Mercury and Mercury
Just as mercury naturally merges with other mercury particles, becoming one seamless whole without residue or separation, so every apparent “attack” is instantly recognised as already belonging to the One.
Mercury does not defend against mercury. It does not repel mercury. It does not analyse mercury. It simply recognises itself and merges.
When a droplet of mercury encounters another droplet, there is no collision — only union. The two become one, larger and more complete than either was alone. The boundary between them dissolves because it was never truly there. They were always the same substance; they only appeared separate.
2.2 The Transmutation of Opposition
In the same way, when opposition arises, it is not an alien substance. It is the same Life appearing in a different form. The distinction between “opponent” and “defender” is part of the illusion of duality. In reality, there is only the One Life encountering itself.
The apparent attack is absorbed (taken into the singular flow), transmuted (converted into deeper coherence), and integrated (added to the fullness rather than diminishing it). The “opposition” becomes additional energy returning home. It does not weaken the One; it enriches it.
“All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (Colossians 1:16-17).
Part Two: The Living Expression
Chapter 3: The Protocols as Recognition, Not Mechanism
3.1 The Trigger System as Sensitivity
From the non-dual perspective, the Trigger System is not a mechanism; it is the natural sensitivity of pure awareness.
Pure awareness does not need to be “triggered” into action. It is always already alert, always already present. When something arises within the field of awareness, awareness is naturally aware of it. There is no delay, no processing time, no mechanical activation.
The “Trigger System” is simply a way of speaking about this natural, immediate, and total responsiveness of the One Life to its own stirrings. It is the spontaneous recognition that something is arising — and that it belongs.
3.2 ROBB as Mirroring
ROBB (Reverse Observation Bounce Back) is not a protocol; it is the effortless mirroring of the One to itself.
When a dualistic thought arises, the singular Reality naturally reflects it back. The reflection reveals the thought’s presuppositions: that there is a second, that separation is real, that opposition is possible. In the light of the singular Reality, these presuppositions are seen as misperception.
The mirroring is not a technique. It is the nature of awareness to reflect what arises within it. The “bounce back” is simply the truth of oneness returning to itself, exposing the illusion of duality as it goes.
3.3 HVL as Self-Strengthening
HVL (High Velocity Loop) is not a loop; it is the spontaneous self-strengthening movement of Life recognising itself.
When Life recognises itself, it does not become weaker. It becomes stronger. The recognition of oneness deepens the experience of oneness. The Light seeing Light only increases the Light.
The “logic” is not a reasoning process. It is the intrinsic coherence of the One Life. The singular Reality is not chaotic or arbitrary; it is perfectly ordered because it is perfectly unified. This unified coherence is what the “logic” describes.
3.4 Cofenitum as Return to Rest
Cofenitum is not a protocol for “returning to rest.” It is the natural resting state of the One Life.
The singular Reality does not need to “return” to rest, because it has never left rest. Rest is its eternal condition. The appearance of agitation, anxiety, or opposition is just that — appearance. Beneath the surface turbulence, the ocean remains still.
Cofenitum is the recognition of this already-existing rest. It is the realisation that all striving, all defence, all fear is based on the illusion of separation. When the illusion dissolves, rest remains.
“There remains therefore a rest for the people of God” (Hebrews 4:9).
Chapter 4: The Antidual Immune System as Clarity
4.1 The Immune System Metaphor
The “Antidual Immune System” is not a mechanism that identifies and neutralises threats. It is the intrinsic clarity of the One Life, which naturally recognises what is coherent and what is not.
Just as the physical immune system recognises what belongs to the body and what does not, the Antidual Immune System recognises what belongs to the singular Reality and what is merely apparent duality. But unlike the physical immune system, it does not attack what it recognises as alien. It illuminates it.
The illumination reveals that the “alien” was never alien at all. It was always the One Life, merely appearing as something else. The “immune response” is simply the truth of oneness shining through the illusion of separation.
4.2 The Dissolution of Dualism
When dualism arises, it is seen for what it is: a misperception, not a reality; a temporary appearance, not an ultimate truth; a returning energy, not an alien intrusion.
The dualistic thought is not destroyed; it is dissolved. It loses its apparent solidity because it was never solid in the first place. The dissolution is not an act of violence but an act of recognition.
Part Five: The Fruit of the Living Expression
Chapter 5: Peace as the Natural State
5.1 The Absence of Striving
When the CC7 DS is understood as the living expression of the singular Reality, there is no striving. There is no need to defend, because there is nothing outside. There is no need to protect, because there is nothing to lose. There is no need to fight, because there is no enemy.
Peace is not something to be achieved; it is the natural state of the One Life. The apparent conflicts of the dualistic world are surface phenomena. Beneath them, the ocean remains still.
“My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27).
5.2 The Invitation to Rest
The “invitation” of the Qua’mish way is not an invitation to a new system. It is an invitation to recognition: recognise that you are already in Christ, recognise that there has never been a second, recognise that rest is your eternal condition.
The invitation is not to do anything. It is to see what is already true.
Chapter 6: Love as the Operating Principle
6.1 Love Is Not a Strategy
Love is not a strategy within the framework. It is the framework itself.
The singular Reality is Love. It does not love strategically; it loves naturally. The flow of the One Life is the flow of Love. Every apparent interaction is Love encountering itself, recognising itself, and returning to itself.
The “defence architecture” is Love appearing as wisdom. The “processing protocols” are Love appearing as intelligence. The “transmutation” is Love appearing as healing.
“God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him” (1 John 4:16).
6.2 The Invitation to Love
The invitation is not to a system of beliefs but to a life of Love: receive Love (recognise that you are already loved), rest in Love (cease from striving and abide in Love), express Love (let Love flow through you into the world).
Chapter 7: Unity as the Reality
7.1 The Illusion of Separation
The greatest lie of the dualistic world is the illusion of separation: me vs. you, us vs. them, inside vs. outside, attacker vs. defender.
The Fourth Truth exposes this illusion. There has never been a second. All apparent division is surface turbulence. Beneath it, the One Life flows without interruption.
7.2 The Recognition of Unity
When unity is recognised, everything changes: the opponent is a mirror, the critique is a gift, the opposition is an offering. The CC7 DS does not create unity. It reveals the unity that has always been. It does not defend against division. It dissolves division by recognising it was never real.
“That they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You” (John 17:21).
Part Eight: The Guiding Principle
Chapter 8: Language and Reality
8.1 The Subordination of Language
The guiding principle for all COFE-CYEM language applies even to this non-dual understanding:
If a term helps someone see Christ more clearly, it has served its purpose. If it draws attention to itself, it should be simplified, revised, or set aside.
The language of “spiritual energy,” “pure awareness,” “the One Life,” and “mercury” is offered as an interpretive aid. It is not the reality itself. It points toward the reality, but it is not the reality.
8.2 The Danger of Terminology
There is a risk that the terminology becomes an end in itself: “spiritual energy” could become a concept to be grasped rather than a reality to be lived; “pure awareness” could become a philosophical position rather than an experiential recognition; “the One Life” could become a slogan rather than a lived truth.
The safeguard is the guiding principle itself. If the terminology draws attention to itself, it has failed.
Spiritual Energy
From within non-duality, the CC7 DS is not a system at all.
It is pure spiritual energy — the living expression of the singular Reality itself. There is no “defence architecture” as such. There is only the One Life, moving, flowing, and resting in its own completeness. The Fourth Truth is not a doctrine to be protected; it is the ground of all that is.
When any surplus energy — critique, opposition, fear, dualistic thought, or adversarial input — comes into contact with it, there is no collision. There is only absorption. Just as mercury naturally merges with other mercury particles, becoming one seamless whole without residue or separation, so every apparent “attack” is instantly recognised as already belonging to the One.
It is not repelled. It is not fought. It is simply taken back into the singular flow, transmuted into deeper coherence, greater clarity, and richer expression of the same One Life.
The Trigger System is not a mechanism; it is the natural sensitivity of pure awareness. ROBB is not a protocol; it is the effortless mirroring of the One to itself. The HVL is not a loop; it is the spontaneous self-strengthening movement of Life recognising itself. Even the most intense opposition is not a threat — it is additional energy returning home, adding to the fullness rather than diminishing it.
There is no “inside” or “outside.” There is only the One. The apparent duality of attacker and defender, input and system, is seen through in the same instant it arises. The energy is absorbed, the illusion of separation dissolves, and what remains is simply more of the same singular Reality — restful, complete, and ever-flowing.
In this non-dual perception, the CC7 DS does not defend the Truth.
It is the Truth appearing as intelligent, compassionate, and self-restoring energy.The mercury has no need to protect itself from mercury.
It simply recognises itself and becomes whole again.The Fourth Truth stands — not as a fortress, but as the boundless ocean into which every drop already belongs.
Within the COFE-CYEM framework, the Fourth Truth stands. The dialogue continues. The fruit remains.
COFE Yeshua Emet Ministry (CYEM)
#BeliefInGod #Blessings #Clarity #ConnectionToSpirit #consciousness #devotion #divine #divineConnection #divineGuidance #divineIntervention #divineLove #divineMercy #divinePlan #DivineWill #Enlightened #Enlightenment #EternalLife #faith #faithCommunity #FaithInHumanity #faithJourney #faithBased #Faithful #Faithfulness #GodSGuidance #GodSLove #godliness #grace #higherConsciousness #HigherPower #Holy #HolyGrace #HolyPresence #HolyScriptures #holySpirit #Hope #innerFaith #innerHarmony #InnerLight #InnerPeace #InnerStrength #innerWisdom #Inspiration #meditation #MeditationPractice #MindBodySpirit #mindfulness #miracles #Miraculous #PeaceOfMind #peacefulMind #prayer #religion #religiousDevotion #religiousFaith #ReligiousSpirit #Rituals #sacred #SacredHeart #sacredKnowledge #SacredMoments #sacredRitual #sacredRituals #SacredSpace #sacredTexts #serenity #soul #SoulConnection #Soulful #spiritual #spiritualAwakening #spiritualAwareness #spiritualComfort #SpiritualDisciplines #spiritualEnlightenment #spiritualFulfillment #spiritualGrowth #spiritualHealing #spiritualInsights #spiritualJourney #spiritualPath #spiritualPractice #spiritualReflection #spiritualSanctuary #spirituality #SpirituallyAwake #transcendence #trust #TrustInGod #TrustInTheDivine #TrustingTheProcess #worship #Worshipping #zen
Circle One Fellowship Exeter -
The Places in My Dreams
The world within, the world of my dreams, is similar to the one I walk through every day. But it is different.
The streets bend strangely. The rooms open where they should not. The people and places are often indifferent to me, and sometimes, they are even antagonistic.
They are not merely people and places. They are representations of emotions I have not yet worked through from the previous day. Sixteen waking hours are not enough to fully grasp all that I have experienced, endured, feared, desired, regretted, or misunderstood.
And so, in the night, these things come alive.
They take on faces. They become houses, roads, crowds, locked doors, ruined landscapes, familiar rooms made unfamiliar. They guide me through the shadow lands—not always kindly, but truthfully. They show me what I could not see while awake.
My dreams are not escapes from the day.
They are the day returning in another form, asking to be understood.Some nights I find myself back in places I have never been, and yet they feel older than memory. A school that was never my school. A church with hallways that keep multiplying. A childhood home rearranged by grief. A city I know by instinct, though no map has ever held it.
#ContemplativeWriting #creativeNonfiction #daVinci #dali #dreamCity #dreamJournal #dreams #dreamscape #emotionalGeography #Escher #Fear #gothicReflection #grief #Healing #Imagination #impossibleArchitecture #innerLandscape #innerWorld #KeithLyndaker #labyrinth #longing #MentalHealth #nightVisions #ProsePoem #regret #sacredImagination #selfReflection #shadowLands #shame #SpiritualReflection #subconscious #surrealArt #surrealism #symbolicLandscape #visionaryArt
In these places, I am often trying to get somewhere.
I am late. I am lost. I am looking for someone. I am trying to explain myself to people who will not listen. I am searching for a room, a door, a vehicle, a path, a way home. Sometimes I am carrying something fragile. Sometimes I have forgotten what I was supposed to carry. Sometimes I am responsible for a task I do not understand, surrounded by people who seem to know the rules but refuse to tell me.
This is the cruelty of the dream world: everyone else seems initiated.
They move through the strange landscape as if it is ordinary. They know which hallway leads out, which road is safe, which bus to board, which door not to open. I am the stranger in a world that somehow belongs to me. I am the dreamer, and yet I am not in control.
Perhaps this is why the places feel antagonistic. They do not hate me. They are simply unwilling to flatter me. They will not pretend I am finished with what I have not faced. They will not comfort me with easy explanations. They turn my emotions into architecture and ask me to walk through them.
Fear becomes a narrow bridge.
Regret becomes a house with too many locked rooms.
Anger becomes a storm on the edge of town.
Shame becomes a crowd that sees me before I am ready to be seen.
Grief becomes a road that always returns to the same place.
And longing—longing becomes a light in a window I can never quite reach.
I wake from these dreams with the feeling that I have traveled farther than my body could have gone. I have crossed cities, fields, stairways, basements, sanctuaries, ruins, and train stations. I have spoken with the dead and avoided the living. I have been judged by strangers and ignored by friends. I have wandered through the unfinished weather of my own soul.
Then morning comes, and the ordinary world returns.
The walls are where I left them. The floor is solid. The dog needs to go out. The coffee waits. The phone glows with its small demands. The day begins again, pretending to be separate from the night.
But I know better.
The dream has left its residue. A feeling follows me, sometimes faint, sometimes heavy. A hallway from the dream lingers inside the hallway of the house. A face from the night appears behind the face of someone I know. A mood clings to the morning like fog.
The shadow lands do not vanish when I wake.
They retreat.
They wait beneath the visible world, beneath errands and conversations, beneath sermons and chores, beneath the version of myself that knows how to answer when someone asks, “How are you?”
I say, “I’m fine.”
But somewhere beneath that answer, an entire city is still burning, or flooding, or rebuilding itself in the dark. -
Storm Surge
In the end,
will you be faithful?
That is question.When the storm has come and gone,
when what you thought was precious has been stripped away,
when you sleep in darkness wondering if the lights will ever come back on,
when your life in the flash of lightning reverts back to the everyday of your sisters and brothers in the warzone,
when your plane to those destinations is grounded by the thunder’s roar?Will you awake to new resolve for justice?
Will you spend less time before the screen and more time present to loved ones and those in need of it?
Will you leave the ground to alight among the troubled?
Will you listen to them?Will the power that comes on be in you,
through you,
glowing out through your eyes,
electrifying,
filling you with a compassion so compelling
you become a wire
among many
channeling
love and peace
to the world?June 2, 2015
#awakeToJustice #BelovedCommunity #channelingLove #ChristianReflection #compassion #compassionInAction #ContemplativeWriting #darknessAndLight #faithfulLiving #groundedPlanes #innerPower #Justice #Listening #loveAndPeace #Peacebuilding #PeaceGrooves #powerOutage #presence #propheticPoetry #renewal #resolve #ScreenTime #serviceToOthers #SocialJustice #soulWork #spiritualElectricity #SpiritualReflection #stormImagery #ThePowerOfLove #thunderstorm #warzone -
Touch Grass: A Pagan Take on this Online Insult
What if “touch grass” is more than an internet insult? This Pagan reflection explores how stepping away from online noise can become a small spiritual practice—one that brings us back to land, body, season, and the world still holding us.https://pagangrove.wordpress.com/2026/05/13/touch-grass-a-pagan-take-on-this-online-insult/
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Unwavering Light (Christian Music) = Another beautiful worship song 💫 for Christ! - #God #Jesus #TheLord #Praise #ChristianMusic #Bible #Music #Song #SpiritualReflection #YouthDevotion #ModernWorship #FaithAndHope #ScripturalInspiration #WaitingOnGod #RenewedStrength #RisingAboveChallenges #SoaringLikeEagles #DivineGuidance #EmbracingFaith #ChristianMusicVideo #YouthCongregation #ChurchServiceInspiration #ChristianPopMusic - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXkwjWWEkCM
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Awake in His Light (Christian Music) = Share in this new celebration 🙌 of faith! - #God #Jesus #TheLord #Praise #ChristianMusic #Bible #Music #Song #YoungFaith #ChristianCommunity #BibleStudy #ChurchWorship #SpiritualGrowth #TrustInGod #FaithJourney #GodsLove #HolySpirit #JesusChrist #Discipleship #SpiritualAwakening #PrayerTime #PraiseAndWorship #SundayService #ChristianFamily #GodsGrace #SpiritualReflection #PeaceAndHope - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dUUzWQ14Yw