October 15, 2023

This Sunday my focus is on cultivating a peaceful heart. A peaceful heart can free us to find the lightness of life that I encouraged last Sunday, but it can also give us strength and stability to navigate life's times of turbulence. As more details and graphic images of the attack on Israel emerge and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza escalates, world response pours forth, new battle lines are drawn, and another war begins. For those who mourn or frantically await news of family and friends, for those who have nowhere to go and must find their way through an urban battlefield, a peaceful heart realistically is out of reach for now. And this is not the only war this October of 2023, nor the only violent conflict.

Where I sit this weekend, the weather is fantastic, the afternoon is quiet--full of daily activity--not silent...quiet. It's not that big of stretch to find inner peace, because the day itself is peaceful. Or is my day peaceful, because of inner peace?--or is the division false, and peace, simply is. One morning this week, I had to unexpectedly run an early errand for family. When I returned, my street parking space had been overtaken by a huge moving van and I had to find another spot down the street. A hijacked spot is a huge issue in L.A. County. When I found a place to park, I let go and took a moment to reel in my annoyance. I know what it is to face a move, the way my neighbor must be facing now. I know how hard movers work and calculate to efficiently arrange things--it's their job, their work. The weather was great. I also knew the longer walk was really better for me. It was absurd to be annoyed; I recovered my peace. I then went back to my morning task of trying to get phone help for a highly inconvenient wifi failure that the day before had cost me an entire day of frustration. The phone line kept cutting out. Each time I called back, I had to go through a Robot gate keeper, punch in all the numbers, listen to more "options", wait to talk to a real person, only have the phone line suddenly cut off, leaving me to go through the same fruitless action again. Ah, but the next day, I actually was able to resolve--not the whole issue--but to put in place a stop-gap measure. Once again, that meant letting go of really petty judgements, conflicts and annoyances to find the heart of Peace that sustains.

My point here is that the magnitude and horror of war puts our personal conflicts and anger in perspective. Peace in my world always begins with me. You may personally feel an inner directive to actively respond, to publicly or privately participate in national and global efforts of any scope in unfolding world events. Listen to the directives of your mind and heart. Yet Peace as a Spiritual practice, blossoms as we give way to a Peace that heals the daily forms of conflict, anger, fear and frustration right here and now. This means Peace (and forgiveness) with our family, our neighbors, our community, our borders, our environment, and from that foundation, our world. In prayer, that Peace expands. Whatever degree of a peaceful heart we nurture adds to the consciousness of the whole world. Welcome today as your day of Peace. (Susan Nettleton).

Some poetic reflections:

https://www.dorothyhunt.org/peace-is-this-moment

https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/.../InTime/index.html

https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/.../Donotspeaka/index.html

https://poets.org/poem/imagining-my-neighbor

October 8, 2023

This week I urge you to be lighter of heart. I barely had time to reflect on this message, when news hit of war in Gaza, bringing more division, fear, anger and sorrow, that seems an inevitable part of 21st century life. Yet, on deeper reflection, today remains a good day to cultivate a lighter spirit. We need spaces and times of lightness, as the days gradually grow shorter and the nights darker. October can bring the slanted golden light of Autumn. When golden light meets a vibrant blue sky the world is magical and mystical and well...delightful. Don't let the heaviness of the human struggle take away the wonder of life. This Sunday is a day to pull away from mental/emotional struggle and disturbing events that overload your circuits. As best you can, release or suspend the ominous burden of war in prayer that includes prayer for those who are called to represent us (on all sides) in securing the greater good. A lighter heart brings renewal and renewal brings new strength. When we release global events to God, to Our Higher Power, to an Intelligent Universe, we also throw off any traces of shadowy malaise in our hearts.

In my second year of college, I took 2 literature courses that blew open the narrow frames of my childhood and the campus scenes of the 70's. The first was a class on existentialism, and the second Marjory McCorcadale's class in transcendental literature. My first assignment in Transcendentalism was returned with a note from the professor that said, "I fear the malaise of everyday life has you in its clutches!". The grade was written, "Sadly, 'A'". Her notes shocked me. Having spent the previous semester absorbed in Existential literature, I assumed life was 'absurd', despair or rebellion the only intelligent recourse. I chewed on here notes, while we read and wrote on Emerson and Thoreau. But it was Walt Whitman, writing of his sheer love of humanity and "everyday life" as the very expression of God, that freed me. Life became wondrous and the summer that followed brought my first spiritual awakening,

Malaise is an interesting word, originating from the French (along with many Existentialists). It can be a kind of prodromal feeling that illness is setting in, or that you are right on the cusp of a cold or flu or other virus, but it also can be applied to rather lifeless emotions and general unease. Merriam-Webster's online dictionary offers this definition: "A recipe: combine a handful of the blahs, a pinch of the blues, and maybe a soupçon of ennui, season generously with 'under the weather,' and voila, you’ve got yourself the stew of sinking sensations known as malaise."

Time to shake it off before it pulls you too low! Yes there are weighty issues to be reckoned with, in the world, in American society and in our own lives, but we need lightness, too. That's really what the 50th annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is about this week, as well as fall festivals across America, and even early preparations for Halloween. Try adding a touch of play or even whimsy to the week ahead. If you are in Albuquerque, at least look out your window. There maybe a balloon (or 10 or 100) floating by... perhaps mysteriously announcing your spiritual breakthrough! If you are elsewhere, let life's magic find you. (Susan Nettleton)

For a touch of lightness:

https://jmolin.com/2008/10/avocado-by-gary-snyder/

https://poets.org/poem/watermelons?page=1

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/.../faith-is-fine...

https://poemsontheunderground.org/a-glass-of-water

October 1, 2023

This is an excerpt of this morning's talk: In the World, Of the World and For the World. This topic arose as we all processed recent global catastrophes and threats of climate change over this summer of 2023. On one hand, processing these events even as spectators, becomes overwhelming, but in another way, disaster fatigue sets in and we can't react. Yet, the underlying issue of climate change, linked to weather disasters is pressing on everyone, I thought, how can I approach this spiritually, and the phrase that pressed on me was "be in the world but not of the world", coming out of the New Testament. I have used that quote in talks and classes, but what pressed on me in September was NO-- this is about being IN the world and OF the world and, FOR the world.

Our concern this morning is the world of planet earth, our globe. We are far more sophisticated when it comes to our capacity to consider a global process than previous generations. The turning point in collective consciousness was technology that allowed that first picture, the blue marble, taken in 1972, 21,000 miles from earth, by the crew of Apollo 17 on the way to the Moon. No one on this planet had ever seen such a photo of the Earth until then. (Now we have a entire field of astrophotography.) So when I say "IN the World", this is the world. Yet, it is not so easy to absorb what that means in terms of a changing Earth. For some, the Blue Marble spurred tales and technological dreams of escaping a dying planet to find a new home somewhere else, when we've trashed this one. Most of us though, continue to breakdown the meaning of world, into smaller bits that impact us directly: Our locality, our weather, our community, friends, family--Our health--Our spirituality as our interior world....

A spiritual perspective on the world, often assumes cultural values of accumulation, as well as the struggles or desire for personal power and status. Realistically, we are OF that world, we are born into it and our world's beliefs, rules, behaviors, social order shape us. Even if we are raised outside of cultural values, we have to learn to navigate the world of culture all around us. We are stuck in it and shaped in it in ways we don't always realize, including our ideas about the planet, and our own mortality. The things and people of the world are subject to mortality, sooner or later we go, and apparently earth will go too, in time, although we really can't grasp the 1-1.5 billion years that science offers as the projected continued life of our planet. In the face of impermanence, people find comfort in "NOT being of the world," belonging "elsewhere", defined in varying ways.

Yet, we are IN the world, OF the world; the world supports us. What are we doing FOR the world? This is not just about social consciousness, nor activism in the sense of a cause; it may mean that for some, but not for every one. Doing for the world is most likely to have real meaning when you have come to grips with being FOR the world. Being FOR the world is a commitment to showing up and caring. Ultimately it is about embracing life. Here. On Earth. (Susan Nettleton)

Poems from this morning:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51862/gods-world

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/.../the-world-is-too...

September 26, 2023

Announcement to all!

Hillside will hold a Zoom Service, Sunday, October 1, 2023

with Dr. Susan Nettleton

Topic: In the World, Of the World, and For the World

Time: October 1, 2023 11:00 AM Mountain Time

10:00 AM Pacific Time

If you are not on our email list for Zoom service and would like to

attend, please email us at Hillsideew@aol.com or through the contact pageon our website: hillsidesource.com or message us on Facebook with your email address!

September 24, 2023

For info on our Oct. 1 Sunday Zoom Service with Dr. Susan Nettleton visit hillsidesource.com

Welcome to Autumn 2023! Seasonal shifts bring their own movement and energy and that shift often means welcomed change. But, change can be disruptive as well. As I reflected on this Sunday's post, I suddenly realized I had mixed up the dates for last Sunday's post. I wrote on forgiveness and amends, mistakenly naming last Sunday as Yom Kippur 2023--I was a week ahead! Tonight at sundown, 2023 Yom Kippur begins. With a dose of my own self-forgiveness, I now point you to an extended space of forgiveness and atonement/amends to carry us into fall.

The mistake made me aware of another aspect of inner equilibrium and optimism--our capacity to wait. Patience, as well as forgiveness, is easier when you hold positive expectations of an unfolding Good. In New Thought practice, we have the idea of Divine Timing. Divine Timing isn't the same as our demand for Now, or our practice of being here Now (although the practice of pulling our thoughts and emotions back to what is presently in front us at this moment, is a corollary, a companion to the practice of patience). Divine Timing is the outworking of Good. That outworking enfolds the many factors of events, people, relationships, emotions, ideas, expectations...to sum it up, factors of consciousness...that unfold over and through our sense of time.

We can experience timeless happenings and sudden, seemingly instantaneous, events that change our lives, yet most of life blossoms over time. The rhythm of 'a year' and changing of seasons mark time. When we risk nurturing a quiet trust in the Spiritual Good of Life, and a quiet trust in our own capacity to affirm the Highest and Best for ourselves and others, we relax into Divine Timing. The struggle and the rewards of positive patience are beautifully reflected in Jack Correu's latest Little Shack of Insight blog post at hillsidesource. com. I want to share it with you this morning. Consider the mystery of Divine Timing unfolding in your life, bringing you the gift your heart reaches.toward. (Susan Nettleton)

The Little Shack Hears Fall, by Jack Correu. "The little shack has been in hibernation all summer, the hottest I have ever been through. The temperature here has reached 109 degrees at the highest--103,104,105 consistently--for the past three months! Extreme drought has had most tree leaves brown or dead. The wildlife has suffered immensely. But NOW!, the first hint of fall with rain and cooler weather. Before summer hit, I had received a Cochlear implant. Throughout this extreme heat, I was adjusting to the new device. I can now hear the changes. I hear the rain, the birds, the wind; sounds I haven't heard in decades! Nature is whispering to us her Love. She is whispering: "Be with me now, smell my scent, drink my waters, and tell me you understand my cycles and Love me as your partner. Her truth is intoxicating. From the Little Shack: Embrace it All!"

'Let these words fly through time

to someone coming

you know who you are...

This Love has nibbled on your ear,

whispering secrets

That doesn't make sense

to anyone else'

- RUMI

September 17, 2023

Sunday night begins Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in Judaism. This is the Day of Atonement, a day of fasting and asking God's forgiveness dating back to the time of Moses. Those who participate in the Atonement process, are encouraged to turn away from all worldly pursuits to focus solely on their relationship to God in sincere repentance for moral and spiritual trespass. Atonement means doing something that undoes or makes up for wrongdoing by repairing what harm may have been done, or compensating through some substitute conscious activity of good. Many religions have rituals and ways of atonement as an aspect of seeking and finding forgiveness and making amends. Ultimately, these rituals show our recognition that as human beings, we all make mistakes and those mistakes can contribute to the dissatisfaction and hardship of our lives and the lives of others. We make mistakes. We regret. But we do not have to stay in that space of suffering.

This month, I have been exploring achieving inner equilibrium through an optimistic attitude or mindset. Optimism that genuinely brings equilibrium does not mean we ignore or gloss over our mistakes, our trespasses, and harm we may have done to ourselves or others, intentionally or unintentionally, real or imagined. Rather, our optimism expands to include human error and the power of forgiveness and making amends. Optimism affirms the dignity of ourselves and others; mistakes can be overcome. We can find humility, without humiliation. And we can offer that to others as well, by accepting their atonement.

Today, tonight, tomorrow are all potent times for self forgiveness. Self forgiveness, forgiving others, even forgiving God as we struggle to understand this world, are all interwoven with a deep acceptance that we too are forgiven. We emerge renewed. Luke 6:37,"Forgive and you shall be forgiven." Begin with yourself. (Susan Nettleton). For poetry click the links below:

https://yourmindfultribe.org/.../forget-about...

http://ayapasuprep.weebly.com/.../pp14_-_adrienne_rich...

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/.../happiness-56d21cb4b54e9

September 10, 2023

In this month's exploration of inner equilibrium and an optimistic attitude, I came across a short piece that I had written over thirty years ago on fear:

"Today, we can make a choice to give up any fear of life and fear of the world around us. We can dare to stop believing that the world is a dangerous place. We can affirm our Oneness with Life and its underlying harmony. We can learn to rest in simple assurance that Life takes care of Life, and therefore, we are cared for; we are Loved. We let that great Truth be the healing of every worry, every anxiety, every fear. We are at Peace, because Life is One."

A few days ago, I was mulling over the relevance of this piece in the light (or dark) of the world of 2023. Can I truly offer you such a view point this September? Even after my morning affirmation, when I turned to the business of an unfolding busy day, I felt a gap between the uneasiness of these times and the peace that underlies positive expectations. I pulled together my breakfast and coffee, then realized I hadn't yet seen what the weather was bringing. I opened the blinds to morning sunlight and a clear blue sky that engulfed everything in a bright flood of freshness! The shift in perspective was staggering--I stood fixated at the sink window, watching the green leaves of a tree just inches away, dance over the glass. Here was my morning affirmation made real: This day is New. "As the sun makes it new, day by day, make it new. Yet again, make it new."

Revelation, sudden or gradual, is beyond our thinking structure. In other words, revelation is not thinking; it is a leap beyond the limits of our thoughts, expectations, affirmations, analyses, into understanding or 'seeing'. As the spiritual adage puts it, "Enlightenment is an accident, but spiritual practice makes us accident prone." Fear is part of the body's natural protective response to danger. Yet, fearful thinking and rehearsal of that thinking, pushes us further and further away from what is in front of us and our capacity to consider each new situation in its actual context. A mind that is open to more than one perspective and anticipates positive, creative solutions is not focused on fear, nor on yesterday's outlook.

An optimistic nature (and outlook) seizes the newness of the day--you don't know what the future holds, why not expect the Good, today. (Susan Nettleton)

For Poetry, follow the links. https://wordsfortheyear.com/.../the-cure-by-ginger-andrews/

https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate...

https://poets.org/poem/once-world-was-perfect

September 3, 2023

Tomorrow is Labor Day in America. This is a holiday legislated in 1894 to recognize the essential role of workers in the fabric of our society and the struggles they have faced to gain dignity, fair wages, benefits and protection. Those conflicts continued to resurface, as new technology shifted the expectations of society and work roles in the late 19th century and throughout the 20th. In 2023, the rapidly expanding role of Artificial Intelligence and the increasing hazards of climate change bring renewed struggles to American workers. The concept of "work" continues to evolve.

There are countless aspects to the idea and meaning of work. In the early formation of psychiatry, Freud wrote, “Love and work are the cornerstones of our humanness, ” thereby establishing the significance of productive work in the human psyche. Work is one of the ways that we maintain inner equilibrium. Yet, work conflicts have the power to disrupt our emotional balance. Culturally, work is connected to social identity. Work can mean birth to something new--work as a creative process (we use the "labor" to describe childbirth). And both Eastern and Western religious traditions have the concept of "work is worship". Spirituality is not just a matter of ideas, emotions and belief, but ultimately means action in congruence with those beliefs.

Once, while driving through a busy shopping area with my spiritual teacher U.G, a young woman--maybe still in her teens--stepped off the curb. midway through a street with no crosswalk or light, in a hurried attempt to cross through the traffic. U.G. (with the window rolled up) spoke to her with sharp concern, "Don't do that girlie. You still have to contribute your share!" Rationality told me she could not possibly have heard him, but she immediately pulled back and waited. We drove on, but his phrase was reverberating in me: "You still have to contribute your share." Share of what? Contribute to Who/What? Different possibilities floated through my mind. Finally I was left with the clarity that whatever "Life" is, we each as unique individuals, play a part in the Whole of Creation. Work is participation and contribution.

Tomorrow is your holiday in the larger field of workers and labor in 2023. Enjoy it. Today, is ripe for reflection: Your life--as it is--is your contribution. (Susan Nettleton)

Poetic thoughts on Work: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/browse...

https://allpoetry.com/.../14373945-To-be-of-use-by-Marge...

https://www.awakin.org/v2/read/view.php?tid=2438

https://poets.org/poem/work-4

August 27, 2023

This August, I have been reflecting on inner equilibrium as we move through climate challenges, and social/political events. Inner equilibrium is another way of visualizing emotional balance. The body has it's physical balance mechanisms that involve our senses in coordination with our muscles and skeleton. It also has a highly complex chemical balance that involves the coordination of multiple organs, glands, and nerve pathways. Emotions can be both a product of and a cause of physical and chemical imbalance. The body is singularly magnificent in its complexity. As we become aware of our individual body in the greater context of a changing ecosystem,--an awareness that we are a part of a larger field of planetary life--balance takes on another dimension. Planetary life is an aspect of the still larger solar system, and then galaxy, and then cosmos. If we think of just ourselves maintaining inner equilibrium, we have a very limited view, unless we consider (in the background) this equilibrium as a spiritual process. We are certainly not in charge of cosmic balance. We do our part and trust the larger Reality.

Today though, I encourage you to consider maintaining emotional equilibrium in a time of change with an attitude of optimism. Optimism is not an emotion as such, but rather a mental assumption or belief that, as I put it: "Things have a way of working out ". By "things" I mean life situations, and by "working out" I mean working out well, of benefit to you and those around you, your slice of Life, that ultimately includes the Whole. It is an expectation of Good. For me that implies the underlying, unfolding, spiritual reality that we can turn toward--or actually that leads us to that which is Highest and Best--as active participants in Life. And there is a link between psychological optimism and spiritual optimism.

While some people are simply born optimistic (less than 30%), optimism can be acquired. Psychologist Martin Seligman coined the phrase "learned optimism" in response to his own research on "learned helplessness", sparking a new theory that optimism could also be cultivated and learned. His model included shifting thoughts of blame and helplessness in adversity to an attitude of understanding and competency, with positive expectations of resolution. Over 30 years of research demonstrates that optimism can be developed and that it offers substantial health benefits, emotionally, mentally and physically. It also correlates with success in achieving goals and adapting when we do not.

Learned optimism isn't just about surface level affirmations, nor glossing over our fear, frustration, anger or disappointments. It is about exercising our choice to examine habitual reactions of self blame as well as blaming others, acknowledge those reactions, and widen our perspectives, ultimately choosing to reaffirm ourselves, others, and life in general. It's not about life always going "our way". Or life going back to the way things used to be. It's about responding to events with the confidence to face challenges, regroup, and develop plans, trusting your adaptability. Moving with changes, adapting to new information, and allowing those around us to exercise their choices are all aspects of optimism, and aspects of an unfolding Good. In future posts, I'll come back to optimism and it's link to inner equilibrium. For today, take some time to consider a fresh optimistic view of a particular challenge in your life right now. Remember, your life extends to the Cosmos. Things are working out. (Susan Nettleton)

For optimistic poetry, follow the links: https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate...

https://wordsfortheyear.com/.../morning-poem-by-mary-oliver/ http://www.ellawheelerwilcox.org/poems/poptimi4.htm

August 20, 2023

As I write this post for Sunday, (now only Saturday), I am waiting. This summer's posts have circled around ways to find Peace in a time of extreme heat, climate change and political battles. By turning our attention away from the sensational and often violent stories that fill the news, we can explore spiritual practices that ground us in inner equilibrium through a different kind of fulfillment. I have urged you to explore your capacity for gentleness and consider prayer as participation in a process of ongoing Creation. Now, here in Southern California, we wait for a storm's arrival--the remnants of Hurricane Hillary--that space of the unknown, currently filled with interviews, dire predictions, and warnings of destruction.

Waiting, the space of in-between, is a powerful factor in human experience. Philosopher Alan Watts wrote of the trap of Western cultural conditioning that continually postpones the joy of life by a focus on goals and stages of achievement. In a sense, we are always waiting for life to begin some day...after I graduate...after I get that dream job...when I meet my soul mate, after we have children...when I am financially free...when I recover from this illness...when I retire. Watts' point was that life is not a destination; it's a journey and a dance--all of Life. Life is the experience of living, including the buildup, the storm, and it's aftermath, it's changes and it's surprises, and the new routes it opens. Holding that perspective, it's all a marvel, even the times perceived as failure and loss.

On the other hand, waiting is some times the defining quality of a moment, the interval of time when events and circumstances, beyond our conscious participation and control are being formed, unseen. I remember a spiritual gathering in Europe where a young woman, several months pregnant with her first child flew from India with her husband to meet with our mutual spiritual teacher, U.G. Krishnamurti. She was having some frightening symptoms and many had discouraged her to travel, but she felt the trip was important for her child's future, and took the risk. During a group discussion, she described what she was going through, and asked one of the doctors there for his opinion. I was shocked when he bluntly gave her a dire summary of how her pregnancy would end, concluding she most likely was losing the baby and quite likely would die herself. Everyone became quiet, processing his ominous speech. U.G. was silent. I personally thought it unconscionable to predict such an outcome in a public setting, with no other medical exam or data. In the silence she looked at me, and said, "Susan, you are a doctor, you have been quiet, what do you think?" Rather than fight the other doctor, or give my biased reassurances also without an exam or tests, I told her, as gently as I could, the difficult truth: "You have to wait."

That was about 18 years ago and her daughter is now a lovely young woman, following her own path. In Hermann Hesse's story of Siddhartha (Buddha), during a changing phase of life, Siddhartha seeks employment. His potential boss, in a kind of interview, asks him, "What can you do?" Siddhartha states his main qualifications: "I can think, I can wait, I can fast." Here is solid competency--a being who can reason, formulate plans, and problem solve. One who also has the patience to let things unfold and reveal what is needed, by waiting. And one who can manage himself, his appetites and emotions, who is not ruled by hunger for more than is given.

You today may not be waiting on a weather storm, but likely Sunday morning can often bring a sense of waiting. Yet, within the waiting, life is moving. This is a day to greet it. Where is it leading you now? (Susan Nettleton)

For poetry: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/.../i-am-waiting...

https://allpoetry.com/The-Wait (Rilke

https://allpoetry.com/.../15379873-Everything-is-waiting...

August 13, 2023

Today's post is an excerpt from this morning's Zoom talk: Prayer as Creation. ( In a week or two the talk will be on the website hillsidesource.com audio files, found in the Resources section.)

This morning we are looking at Prayer as Creation. A few weeks ago, I felt I wanted to bring us back to prayer, as a response to the summer's heat crises and the flooding, along with the recent huge cultural shift to rapid escalation of AI development and use. What finally settled in me, is an awareness of prayer as Creation. As there are many forms of religion and spiritual practices; prayer is defined and practiced in many different forms... The simplest common definition is addressing God, asking for what you feel you need. A more expansive definition is communication with God, an exchange--question/answer, perhaps discussion or imagined discussion. The 17th century mystic, St. Theresa of Avila defined it as “an intimate friendship, a frequent conversation held alone with the Beloved”. But in the context of this talk--Prayer as Creation--although our prayer life may involve either or all of these, I am getting at something more. And though affirmative prayer, practiced in New Thought, aims to create one's own solution to a need or circumstance, it often falls short of Prayer as Creation Itself, missing our depth of participation in Spiritual Creation, the ongoing activity that sustains life by bringing new and renewed forms and situations into manifestation.

To get a handle on this we can look at ideas about the movement of prayer... a more overarching idea of prayer that circles from God to humans, and humans back to God. Prayer originates with God who "implants" the desire within the person for the object of prayer, for the reason to pray, and the need, the longing, the want, leads to prayer, ignites the prayer. Unexpected agitation (the movement of the waters of the unconscious) can provoke the need for prayer. Even in Liturgical prayer, the origin is perceived as coming through Divine revelation. In Indigenous cultures, some Being brought the prayer or the chant or it was given through visions or dreams. The Divine brings the way of prayer, but also creates the need. The need forms the prayer that reaches for connection and healing or fulfillment.

Are all prayers from God, or just some? In other words, an idea arises in you, wanting something other than what is Divine will. Having learned to ask or petition, or having learned affirmative prayer, you pray for, beg for, or claim over and over that which is not given. Or maybe you do bring it forth, but it backfires. One can argue that these are refining experiences.

Someone who is sincere in their attempt at surrender to a larger Good, learns from failed prayer. It is a process. If spiritually you are in surrender mode, the essence of difficulty leads to deeper understanding. You go deeper for solutions, and begin to change your course. There are further depths to this--prayer and stillness (receiving the call to prayer is not necessarily conscious, rather it is absorption.) Surrender can mean not consciously knowing. So there is a point where you trust communion and exchange beyond words.

Can we make a mistake? Emmett Fox wrote, that sincerity and the will to good count. Even if you misinterpreted or get the inner pull muddled, you will be ok.

For some of this mornings poetry follow the links: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/.../the-work-of-happiness

https://thewomenstable.org/.../uploads/2021/11/3_2_2021.pd

August 6, 2023

Today, I invite you to a day of gentleness. With the harshness of this summer's heat and the harshness of the political scene and news that constantly aims for the jarring and the sensational, a day of gentleness can bring relief. The place to begin, of course, is our own immediate environment, outer and inner. Disengaging from the "shouting" sounds/scenes of the day, we can choose to spend at least some portion of the day in exploring the gentler side of who we are. For me, that begins with a reminder of inner quiet. The place you find yourself may not actually be quiet at all, but it is possible to turn down your inner volume, including agitation, to find a calming moment for your thoughts, as well as physical and emotional tension.

Gentleness springs from an inner calm that does not need to control life. Whether life around you is expressing as people or other creatures, nature in placid or turbulent forms, or as the use of the mechanic/technological world, if we are calm, we move with a lighter touch, a softer voice. Gentleness, in turn, brings calm. When we over-ride irritation and frustration, to meet life with care and appreciation, we are calmer, even with our own mistakes. Often a pressured and abrasive, or critical attitude, springs from our underlying (and perhaps unconscious) will to oversee all outcomes--have things turn out our way; have people respond and act according to our standards and our longings. Gentleness is care, not control.

Steven Mitchells's translation of Psalm 131, points to this connection between will, calm and gentleness, beginning with: "My mind is not noisy with desires, Lord..." and ends with "My soul is as peaceful as a child, sleeping in its mother's arms." {Stephen Mitchell, A Book of Psalms, Selected & Adapted from the Hebrew, HarperCollins Publishers, 1993".} Explore your capacity for gentleness. Discover how your own gentle nature can open doors that lead (in the words of T.S. Elliot) "Into another intensity... a further union, a deeper communion." And a calmer life. (Susan Nettleton)

For the Biblical Psalm 131 NIV (Steven Mitchell's trans. is not available online) https://www.bible.com/bible/111/PSA.131.niv

For T.S. Elliot's stanzas: https://fishfly.wordpress.com/.../the-last-stanza-of.../

For Larry Morris: https://hillsidesource.com/the-gentle-way-is-best https://hillsidesource.com/.../2018/6/26/spiritual-warrior

August 1, 2023

Announcement to all!

Hillside will hold a Zoom Service, Sunday, August 13, 2023

with Dr. Susan Nettleton

Topic: Prayer as Creation

Time: August 13, 2023 11:00 AM Mountain Time

10:00 AM Pacific Time

If you are not on our email list for Zoom service and would like to

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July 30, 2023

Today as July is ending, despite the continued sweltering days, I am reflecting on a new wave of gratitude. In past years, mid summer was associated with ease and the time to venture out and explore, but July 2023 is now alarmingly named globally as the hottest month in recorded history. It has not been an easy, nor carefree few weeks. But in reflection, I had several experiences in this heat that filled me with both gratitude and awe. Perhaps the extreme heat, along with all it's dire warnings and interpretations can be met with a broader range of possibilities through the kind of gratitude that inspires the human heart to creative adaptation and discovery.

On a recent trip through Arizona, I entered the Mohave desert at dawn to avoid the summer's predicted 122 degree heat. I traveled and returned through the bland, hazy commercial areas of the 2 entry points on I-40 (Needles and Barstow). That highway stretch is at first just emptiness. Then, it unexpectedly opens to this vast beauty of mountains in shades of reds, pinks, grays, blues, purples, greens, all brushed with tones of brown earth and sand. Each mile brings a new perspective; each curve in the road can expose yet another fantastic boulder or rock tower or hoodoo. The distant mountains shimmer and a mystical haze streaks across their base in shifting tones of wondrous beauty. There was no way to stop, since the car was pursued by the coming heat, but still, I drank it all in. And I was grateful to feel the mystery of life again, to see this stretch of nature's magic again that has been a landmark of my spiritual path. The drive itself becomes a reflection of that journey: Marked at either end by the two towns of worldly material needs and pursuits, the road spectacularly opens to this marvel of ancient beauty and silent depth, that in an hour or two, dissolves again into the world of people, place and things. This is the living, evolving earth.

My next wave of gratitude came while on I-210, headed to the eye doctor to pick up my contact lenses. There was a typical L.A. sudden slow down with cars and trucks quickly maneuvering for a lane advantage, while we all dealt with the heat! When traffic reached the stop and go, stop and go level, I looked across lanes and saw truck after truck after truck, all sizes and brands, and I was suddenly flooded with the realization of how much our lives are dependent on deliveries and the men and women that navigate the highways, the deserts, the weather with all it's changes--not just the heat--in our urban maze of transportation. Through out the Pandemic, throughout storms, upheavals, shortages, these people-- drivers and stockers, manufacturers and growers--delivered what they could. This was another kind of gratitude, gratitude for the human factor: for stamina, determination, creativity, bravery and care.

There have been other events this month--family stories of the coming generation, already at sincere, imaginative work and design for new technology and breakthrough concepts for meeting the challenges of the 21st century. As in any process, we can grumble and despair and blame, or we can positively participate and contribute gratitude for the Good that is here and the Good, even now, on it's way. (Susan Nettleton)

"When the image of the tree and the image in my heart meet, it's enough." Larry Morris

For more poetic gratitude: https://poetrying.wordpress.com/.../today-i-was-so-happy.../

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/.../when-the-sun-return

https://thevalueofsparrows.wordpress.com › 2015 › 07 › 29 › poetry-that-day-by-denise-levertov

July 23, 2023

Today caps another week of global extreme heat. Warnings, news, and interpretations of the sustained heat now saturate the internet. As in the early weeks of the Pandemic, people across the globe are struggling to process new danger and come to grips with changing realities. Although the issue of climate change is far from new, a growing awareness of the seriousness of extended extreme heat cracks the shell of denial. For many, rising temperatures are met with rising fear. While fear is a natural reaction to threat and in it's own way protective, it is essential to move beyond fear to discover what is required of us to not just survive, but thrive. This heat wave will pass; the impact will linger. Life, as we have collectively experienced it, is shifting.

In the early phases of the pandemic, there was confusion and fear, rapidly followed by all sorts of theories and conflicting strategies. Group identifications spawned conspiracies, as well as anger and denial, looking for someone (including opposing forces) to blame. While pandemics had existed historically, the Covid-19 virus was an extraordinary threat--unknown, deadly, and confounding. Today, we have powerful vaccines, effective medication and treatment protocols. Unquestionably, the solutions that emerged involved global effort and massive scientific exchange, along with the heroic efforts of key essential workers that sustained social order and care during lock-downs of the world's great cities. Those scientific discoveries, made in response to this initially baffling virus, have now initiated new healing possibilities and treatments in other diseases as well.

My point here is that while we (once again) face a vast range of ideas, opinions, and predictions, there is much about the dramatically changing weather that is unknown. Yes, compared to the arrival of Covid-19, there is already a degree of accumulated scientific climate research and data, and yes, there are technologies that are being developed, and policies that are being drafted. But it is wise, and I think essential, to realize that as we struggle to adapt, we are actually struggling with the unknown and emerging new norms, yet to be established. Together, globally, we are reaching to bring forth the new.

Spirituality itself at its deepest core is a plunge into the unknown. It is this willingness to enter the unknown that takes us beyond the dead past of a prescribed path to a living discovery that is Now. Life's patterns shift and we with them. That is what living is. (Susan Nettleton).

For poetry and the unknown process:

https://poetry-chaikhana.com/.../PoemWaitsat/index.html

https://poetry-chaikhana.com/.../WhenIfoundth/index.html

https://poets.org/poem/not-ideas-about-thing-thing-itself

July 16, 2023

In a week marked by both extreme heat and devastating rainfall across the globe, it seems to me a good Sunday to write about comfort. Not the kind of comfort that promotes complacency, but the comfort that allows self care and gives space for emotional stability. Soothing comfort aids resiliency and strengthens our capacity for positive action in a changing world. What or who brings you comfort?

Learning to self soothe begins when we are babies and continues as we encounter more and more of life's complexities. But an important part of self-soothing is being aware of our external comforts, as well as our inner ways of easing the stress of life. Environment is an aspect of this and environmental research shows that in general, both subjective and biological factors shape our comfort. Our sense of comfort, for example in heat exposure, involves our biologic response to temperature, as well as our personal psychological perspective on what is comfortable. With extreme heat, the physiologic takes over and psychologically we need to be aware of and accept the body's limits. This is why local public health departments strive to educate and warn citizens about extreme temperature changes. It is not just our ideas that contribute to stressors. Each human body has parameters that form consistent, scientifically measurable, collective responses. But our minds add flavor and meaning to that and can modulate, if not regulate, the overall impact. Taking comfort is not a superficial fix; it is an aspect of healing and repair.

Religious scholar Evelyn Underhill wrote, “We mostly spend [our lives] conjugating three verbs: to Want, to Have, and to Do. Craving, clutching, and fussing, on the material, political, social, emotional, intellectual—even on the religious—plane, we are kept in perpetual unrest: forgetting that none of these verbs have any ultimate significance, except so far as they are transcended by and included in, the fundamental verb, to Be: and that Being—not wanting, having, and doing—is the essence of a spiritual life.” What brings comfort to our sense of Being? In Buddhism, the root of suffering is the demand for permanence; comfort comes through the understanding that life is change. It may seem strange to see comfort in impermanence, but whatever may be the situation that disturbs you, "this too shall pass." Hinduism as a complex religious culture with the concepts of karma and maya (the veil that creates illusion, obscuring the real), through multiple deaths and rebirths, offers the comfort of a larger life in the trials of any given lifetime. Islam, Judaism and Christianity offer in different forms, assurances of God's Grace. In all religions, or in our personal practice, ritual, prayer and community offer spiritual comfort.

Yet, there is also the unique Being and personal experience of each of us. As I write, I hear a bird faintly through closed windows. The sound is incredibly sweet. It reminds me despite the frightening heat and storms, there is a sweetness to Nature. The grand myth of Noah's arc and the flood comes to mind. The dove returns, the waters recede, and the rainbow appears as God's promise..."while the earth remains, seed time and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." So I have moved from my insulated typing to a faint recognition of beauty as birdsong, and the unspoken mystery behind the world of nature; from individual comfort to an archetypal image of dove and rainbow, with deepening assurance, that although everything changes, and human beings are far from perfect, life is resilient, and from my perspective, beneficent.

Let this day lead you to a new awareness of what brings you comfort and eases your way.

For poetic play on comfort: https://wordsfortheyear.com/.../oatmeal-by-galway-kinnell/ and https://allpoetry.com/Ode-to-My-Socks

July 9, 2023

As we move deeper into July, there's a strange mix of bursts of activity, sour news, worrisome weather, and a pressure to finish what must be finished before life accelerates in the fall.

That had become the feel of Southern California as the July 4th holiday passed, and I chewed over ideas for today's post. Then last night I saw something that swept away such thoughts. I had to make a late evening shopping run at the end of a very long, busy day, and as I turned the corner onto the main boulevard leading home, I saw in the darkening row of buildings, a lit marquis from one of the churches along the road. Usually, the large churches in the neighborhood fill their signs with sermon titles, dates and times of service, and names of the speakers, but this sign glowed white with only 1 word in black--4 letters--which immediately flooded me with peace. It simply said, "REST".

Even now, with more to-do lists in front of me, I have to smile at the irony of the power of that sign. I have been in ministry for 39 years and when Hillside built it's first church in the Heights in Albuquerque (1986), we too installed a marquis, and I took on the job of putting up the weekly Sunday notice. Like most ministers we strove to have attention catching titles. (Probably the most audacious was Larry Morris' "Bullet Train to Nirvana".) By contrast, I now appreciate the impact of simply announcing "REST". But what flooded through me at the stop light was the clarity of the spiritual meaning. This is not a call to just resting the body, or the mind, or seeing that you get a good night's sleep. This is a call to awareness that all things, ALL things, rest in the unfathomable Cosmic Order. ALL things, rest in God. As St. Augustine wrote, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in Thee.”

So spiritual rest is stopping the struggle, including the struggle to be our "best self" in order to simply be and trust the larger field of God. Often that feels like a reaching, and an intuitive stirring, that is both longing and peace. It becomes a resting in acceptance, and the deepening assurance of Good. With that rest, we learn to trust the promptings of our own hearts, still 'resting' while fully participating in life as who, what and where we are. Let today bring you spiritual rest. (Susan Nettleton)

For poetry follow the links: https://allpoetry.com/Moments-Indulgence

https://www.seedsofsilence.org.uk/pax---dh-lawrence.html

https://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/.../RestBeTaken/index.html

from Larry Morris, https://hillsidesource.com/destiny-poem

July 2, 2023

July in America bursts onto the calendar with the energy of July 4--American Independence Day! For the 4th, Independence is virtually synonymous with Freedom, signifying the power of a newly formed country--fighting for independence from colonial rule--to structure its own government and set its own laws, based on new values that emerged from early settlers and ongoing revolutionary war.

On a more personal level, our individual sense of freedom evolves through our life experience. Freedom is tied to unfolding skill and growing independence, as we encounter and adapt to the responsibilities and demands of life. Freedom is an aspect of learning as well as self-mastery, skill, and creativity (arriving at our own unique ways of being). I recently watched my grandchildren in a preschool setting. The routine of the day was structured circle time: listening to the teacher, following the discussion, answering questions, etc., interspersed with periods of self-chosen activities, free to wander and explore project stations, play with peers, roam the playground, or move through rooms in expanding independence and the joy of freedom that held safety. This is a simplified model of our personal self discovering a freedom that includes social responsibilities, work, relationships, rules and procedures and limits, with areas of life that are "free time", which we personally define in varying ways. Ideally, community and/or society provide some structured "safety" that allows the time and space to explore new ways of being. We have not fulfilled the ideal, but rather its shape changes with each succeeding generation.

When we look at freedom from a spiritual perspective, we have the concept of free will: that is, a choice to follow a particular spiritual path, or turn away from a spiritual connection altogether. Turning away from spirituality can mean a range of things from dark despair to an existential freedom through affirmation of the human being and it's self-contained potential. A spiritual path on the other hand, opens possibilities of freedom beyond personal limitation and human struggle. Yet, beyond that is a dawning awareness that self-will is ultimately illusion, because there is no independent self. Freedom is awakening from separation. You are the world. You are the Beyond-the-World. You are Freedom. (Susan Nettleton)

For a sampling of insights on freedom from hillsidesource.com, follow the links:

https://hillsidesource.com/daily-thoughts/2018/6/24/freedom

https://hillsidesource.com/affirmation-prayer-for-freedom...

https://hillsidesource.com/.../little-shack-chooses-freedom

https://hillsidesource.com/freedom-and-god

(click the red circle over the page to view article through Issuu.com)

June 25, 2023

With the summer solstice last Wednesday, we officially entered summer on the longest day of the year in the Northern hemisphere. It's worth a moment of reflection on the wonder of the Earth as a whole, carrying both winter and summer simultaneously. It is our tilt that creates our seasons and those seasons in turn shape cultural variations. Yet we remain (and struggle to comprehend) one world.

As Earth spins on its tilted axis, it wobbles and cycles through variations in the axis. It is postulated that this is an aspect of a natural balancing system that responds to shifts and movement of various forms of mass across and within the planet. Shifts in mass cause deviations in the tilt, and change in the tilt affects climate. This month, the scientific journal Nature published an article describing how human water depletion from underground reservoirs is changing Earth's tilt. This research adds yet another dimension to global understanding of human activity and climate change. As disturbing as it sometimes seems, such research is essential in pinpointing human practices that must adapt and evolve to sustain the balance within an ecosystem that includes human activity.

In another science announcement this month, Frontiers in Public Health published a large study looking at the psychological impact of attending any type of live sporting event. The study showed that being a spectator improves well-being (life satisfaction and the feeling that life is worthwhile) and decreases loneliness. Past research has already demonstrated that higher life satisfaction brings greater physical health, improved aging, and lower death rates. While other studies have shown the benefits of actively playing sports, this one is for the cheering crowd, the audience, the fans--whether they go to the local little league game, or Dodger Stadium, or brave international World Championships--the social atmosphere and sense of belonging, the participation in the play of life, lifts the human spirit and our physical well-being.

Sunday is not the time to stress over the tilt of the planet, but rather, spiritually observe the tilt within yourself. Spirituality is the center from which the activity of life flows with your unique balancing system. Does that balance require more turning inward, or in the zest of summer, reaches to cheer life forward? Replenish what is drained dry; move the weight on your shoulders to a better location. Maybe the world really does mirror your consciousness and awaits your joy. (Susan Nettleton)

For baseball: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/.../analysis-of-baseball

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/.../first-girls-in...

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/.../57870/were-human-beings

For the spectator: https://gladdestthing.com/poems/a-singing-voice

June 18, 2023

Today is Father's Day in America, the complement to the older Mother's Day--a time to acknowledge the fathers, dads, stepfathers, grandfathers, and father figures in our lives. The motivating force in the organization of the first Father's Day (1910) is attributed to Sonora Smart Dodd in Spokane, who was raised by a widower with 14 children. It's easy to see why she saw the need to expand the idea of parental honor beyond Mother! Out of her experience, Father's Day recognizes such "fatherly" qualities as strength, guidance and provision of sustenance, shelter and protection. With our modern capacity to explore many different points of view from history and varying cultures across the globe, our sense of father can expand beyond our personal experience with our own fathers. This capacity is really a form of education that moves us beyond the process of growing up and childhood exposure to different kinds of family systems and different 'father' personalities from our own neighborhood and extended family circle. For those who are raised in Christianity, the idea of Father takes on the added dimension of God as the Heavenly Father. The implications and meaning of a Father God tend to be colored, at least subconsciously, by our own family experience. This is all to show the possibility of the wide range of ideas about fathers and what it means to be a father, let alone a 'good' father.

Still human nature tends to be heuristic, that is we simplify what seems too complex (and often emotionally challenging), in order to make our judgements and choices manageable for us. We create 'rules of thumb', short cuts in our thinking and decision-making process. This means we boil down the complexity of what kind of father, or man, is to be honored and in what way, to simplistic, manageable ideas. Our personal and/or collective ideas become the archetypal father.

Our archetypal judgement is usually interwoven with what is seen as a universal concept, but few people really take the time to sort through their personal layers, to have a realistic view of the bias they carry. Psychotherapist Carl Jung, theorized that archetypes are linked to primordial images and patterns found throughout literature and across cultures, creating a sense that these are indeed universal concepts, or even universal truths. But my post today is centered on your self-reflection and your truth. This Sunday offers an opportunity to step outside your rehearsed assumptions and familiar reflections, and instead turn to interior listening.

The 21st century presents us with ideas beyond our usual heuristics. We all carry (male and female) aspects within ourselves that rise to the archetypal Father role, as well as the Mother archetype. Are those roles really limited in the ways the short cuts suggest? Enter into Father's Day (or not) in whatever way you are socially inclined. But also take the time to discover the richer texture of your own inner life, the way you personally offer strength and guidance, the ways you sustain and protect life around you, beyond the scope of Father's Day. You too have fathered life. (Susan Nettleton)

For poems on Fatherhood follow the links: https://world.350.org/.../The-Peace-of-Wild-Things-by...

https://exceptindreams.livejournal.com/64857.html

https://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/index.php%3Fdate...