Month

Word of the Month for July 2018: UNITY

Jacqueline Valdez

 

Unity

The Virtue is Unity and the Saboteur is Divisiveness

Unity is the sum of all of its parts.

 

Red, white and blue Unity Bars

Yield: Endless amount of joy

These bars are perfect for everyday interactions or they are a wonderful surprise for summer protests and family get togethers. Easy to make and a joy to eat.

Ingredients 

1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter  (We prefer Diversity farms brand)

1 cup (8 ounces) sweetener ( we prefer Love brand)

1 teaspoon Patience extract  (a little goes a very long way)

2 Large eggs or replace with Confidence

1 cup (4 1/2 ounces) unbleached, whole grain, all-purpose Acceptance

1/4 teaspoon Balance

1/4 teaspoon Friendship

1/2 cup (2 ounces) fresh or frozen blueberries

1/2 cup (2 ounces) fresh or frozen raspberries

1/2 cup (2 ounces) fresh or frozen blackberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch square pan with Gratitude, line with Inclusiveness paper, and grease the Inclusion with Gratitude.

Melt the Diversity and Love together. Add the Patience and let the mixture cool to lukewarm. Mix in the Confidence, one dose at a time, so as not to overcrowd. Stir in the Acceptance, Balance, and Friendship. Mix until combined, (Don’t over mix or you risk enmeshment! ) then gently fold in the berries.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. Set on a rack to cool completely.

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Word of the Month: Purity

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PURITY

 

Virtue is Purity

Saboteur is Contamination

A pure heart is strong and kind.

 

Purity of heart reflects purity in character, much like the source of water determines the quality of life. If water is polluted, all who drink the water are prone to contamination. It is difficult to know if water is contaminated merely by looking at it, so we have developed research to test the water. Likewise, it can be difficult to know the quality of the results of our actions without self inquiry. Self inquiry is a deep investigation of our motives in life. The Yogi’s teach us that our emotions determine our intentions, and our intentions can be unknown to us, just like the microbes that are unseen in our drinking water. It seems that our thoughts and actions are only as pure as the emotional intentions behind them.

Whenever we’re in a disagreement it is normal to feel that the other person doesn’t have clear motives. It’s normal to feel we do, of course. Normal and natural aren’t always the same thing. Normal just means that “most people do it this way.” Normalcy can be bad for us. It’s normal to be stressed out, but it isn’t natural. What’s natural is good for us, what’s normal doesn’t have to be good for us. It may be normal to have bad drinking water, but it certainly isn’t natural. Natural spring water is clear and good tasting. It nourishes us and keeps us clean from the inside out. Normal city water with all its runoff from daily life isn’t good for us. Therefore, we have to treat it, to make it as good as natural water.

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Word of the Month: Love

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LOVE

Virtue is  Love

Saboteur is Desire

Love is the answer to everything.

 

Love is the reason for everything, and so, we wonder why we have pain in the world. We say, there can’t be a God, because the evidence of pain makes that true. But pain is the source of compassion. It is the reason we are able to experience healing. Love is healing, it is also the process. Love comforts pain, it laughs when the lost is found. Love weeps for those who seem forgotten, it awakens and renews. Love’s life partner is pain. The two are entwined throughout eternity. Pain knows love and teaches us to never let go of love. Pain reminds us that we have taken one step too far away from the warmth of the light of love, and stepped into the shadow, where pain resides.

Love is always hidden in plain sight. It’s always there. When your heart is taut and hard because of someone’s words, love is present and well hidden. When you feel you must teach them how it feels, and you hurt those who have hurt you, your heart will remind you that love was always present, but you forgot to choose it. Choosing love saves, choosing pain delays. The pleasure of love is always a choice away.

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Word of the Month: Freedom

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FREEDOM

Virtue is Freedom

Saboteur is Confinement

Discipline leads to freedom

 

The truth sets us free from what? Is your love free from expectations and conditions? How does discipline lead us to freedom?

 When I read that the word free is derived from an Indo-European root meaning to love I began to ponder on the relationship between love, truth and freedom. I began to see that giving love without expectations and conditions requires a very disciplined heart and mind. Perhaps truth is another word for love. We seem to be truly free when we experience the absence of fear and hate.

Spirituality is the experience of love. It is the journey of knowing that love is inherent in all things, that love is our true nature. Love is the antidote to everything that confines us because the nature of love is to expand, not to contract. An expanded consciousness opens our hearts and minds to create solutions to poverty, ignorance and disease. Love is the medicine that frees us from disease. Love is the education that frees us from ignorance. Love is the food that frees us from starvation. Love is the wealth that frees us from poverty in the world and of the spirit. Love expands our consciousness so that these ideas flow freely from one another allowing us to lead healthier, happier lives. Love frees us to experience tolerance and mercy.

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