Get real and give it to God (audio)

I’m in the park, and I do my spiritual transformation work as I teach about it.

About authenticity--a letter

(from 1/14/03)

____, I want to recognize and thank you for your authenticity and honesty, especially at the beginning of your presentation. I believe honesty, or authenticity, is one of the keys to spiritual growth. Without it, we deceive ourselves and others. You acknowledged your fears and feelings, and then you put your trust in us, and in God, enough to share it with us. This created the seed and open space for an authentic dialogue with the audience. You then recognized and acknowledged the limitation of your ego, and called on God to help, basically. If we can't be honest with where we are at, in our ego strivings, in our pain, in our fears and weakness, how can we ever recognize our utter need for God, and call on Him with all our heart? We must be honest with ourselves, and see how we have been acting in our ego strength for ego purposes, and then we must recognize the utter limitation of this striving. Then we become convicted that God is the only way. If we don't recognize and dismantle our selfish ego patterns, we can't fully embody our spiritual realization.

And if we can't acknowledge this publicly, how can we convey these truths to others? It would be mere words. If others can't see in us a heartfelt acknowledgment of our utter dependency on God, and a heartfelt awareness of the utter futility of ego and worldly strivings and attachments, we will never have a chance to show His Greatness and the Truth of His Word. And if we can't bring the Power of God into our lives and hearts, and allow His Spirit to transform and transmute us, how can we transmit His spirit to others? People are yearning for methods to truly embody spiritual realization, so the words penetrate through, and dissolve the old, useless patterns which we have acquired from this lamentably defective society. The fire and flame of the Spirit, embodied in the hearts and minds of believers will win the hearts of the people.

Although mere words can plant seeds, without spiritual people, alive with the flame of God's love and wisdom, we will never reach great numbers. And without the unity that this spiritual power can bring, we will not succeed. And authenticity is a beginning, a way to see into the truth of our selves, our lives, how we have been living. We can then see clearly our imperfections, and how we are not living according to the ideal. This way we are humble and honest, and we can humbly call on the Holy Spirit, and ask to be transformed into new creatures, dedicated to God, and on the Path of Truth! But this takes courage, discipline, faith, openness, humility, love, patience, consecrated souls, living examples, and what is very important: safe spaces and environments to do this work! Let's pray that for now, we can create this space in our hearts and minds, and that we can bring this work into the training institutes, study circles, devotional meetings and children's classes, and make these meetings safe places to explore our transformation!

It is sad that we are taught in this society that it is wrong to feel any weakness, suffering, or pain. And it is sad that we are expected to display to others an image of perfection, however false it is. This perfection is based on this society's standards of worldly success, material happiness, aggressive fearlessness, and attainment of the American dream. And in religious communities, displays of spiritual distinction and excellence, sinlessness and purity is expected of us, regardless of their falsity and the fact that they are facades generated by our ego fears and desires. Let's pray that in our Baha'i meetings we are able to convey not the perfection of a false image, a worldly image of perfection, but that we can clear away the fabricated images, and present to ourselves and to each other the true image of the perfection of the Blessed Beauty Baha'u'llah! Praise God!!

Sincerely in His service,
Bob Charnes

Path of authentic transformation--a letter

(letter to friend, 'path of authentic transformation'):

____, it's very difficult to go through deep spiritual transformation, whereby the conditioned personality, with its attachments to this world and its comforts, is surrendered to God for the sake of the His Beauty and Cause. But Truth is truth, there is no way around it. A big problem comes when this fire of God's love breaks through the veils of the outer personality and the new birth emerges, one is surrounded by people who are still operating from the conditioned personality, and the society is designed for this very worldly method of operation. And it is quite difficult when one cannot find any support in one's spiritual community to do the intense and painful work of self-surrender and trust in God on the level of absolute sincerity and honesty. This work brings a break down of the old self and a building up of a new configuration of individual spiritual substance which is always a mystery since it is in the Hands of God at all moments.

Anyway, I don't know if this makes sense to you, or if you experience any of this, but I am always looking for people to really get serious about the work of true spiritual transformation. I know this isn't what most Baha'is talk about, but I believe it is important, and I'd like to discuss it with you if you want to. Although if you need to stay focused on administration, and cannot be open to explore the inner mysteries of the self dissolving into the divine, as an actual real-time experience, then it is best not to discuss further. I have found intense resistance from people to the idea of actual in-the-moment transformation, whereby the self interfaces with the Holy Spirit, and the veils of self are rent asunder, and a transmutation takes place. Some people think this is something that you should only possibly experience alone, and never with other people. With people, the thought is to remain heavily defended and operate only from the shell of the person. It seems people don't know how to act with others if they are touched by God in a deep way. The resistance is due to the fact that the self-personality is the person's whole identity, and there is dread to be without it, to actually trust God for real, and have Him recreate us each moment. People think it can't be done, that one can't live like that. But this is what Baha'u'llah asks of us. And he never said that we should only experience transformation when we are alone.

If more people begin living by God's grace such that the person actually changes, then we can work together to change the world, and make it a world which will fit the new configurations which will emerge. It is called evolution, and it will happen, whether we do it, or somebody else does it! We need to learn how to be open to experience God with others as well as alone. We need to feel safe to do this.We need to learn to communicate with others while we are allowing God to enter into our hearts, while we are not defending our ego territory. We need to learn to relate not from our worldly personalities, but from a letting go of our defense structure. This will bring fear and it will expose our worldly attachments. But if we never go through this fear, if we never allow an honest look at ourselves, if we never face our fears, insecurities, needs for love, we will never grow individually or as a community.

Inside, don't we all want love and unity? Don't we all want to let down our walls, and feel love? But we are afraid of getting hurt. As children we got hurt, so we built walls and conformed to the standards of society so we would get approval and security from parents, peers, and others. We went to school, got jobs, got married, got all the security and approval, and now we are stuck in worldly shells, and the soul is dead. It is all an imitation now, an idealized self-image, but the connection to the living Truth is gone. We are relating to each other from behind veils of self, too afraid to say what we really feel inside, too afraid to admit our wants and needs, too afraid we'll get hurt like we did as kids. So we keep conforming, and most people don't even know they are living an artificial life. You have to deny truth in order to really live like that. The truth would be too painful. Too many years have gone into building up the false self. Only the most disastrous of calamities can break down the falsity of most people.

Okay, ____, by now, you might think I'm too critical, and this is where many people leave me alone. But there are millions of people who see things this way, there are so many books about it, it is just that Baha'is are so afraid to admit these things, because the facade will collapse. But don't we want the real thing? Don't we want to show the world real people, who are truly struggling to manifest God's love through inner transformation, instead of just a focusing on administration? How long should we wait? Now is the time to trust in God and join together for real, as a true community, and serve each other from a deep place of honesty. The spiritual bonds must grow in an environment of honesty and humility. We have so much work to do! I feel the work can start in small groups at first. We can talk more if you want. I have many more letters about this.

Bob

Cultivating authentic spirituality--a letter

Hey, ____! It's Bob, here--the one who talked to you about authentic spirituality at the Convention! I woke up this morning with a strange energy. I felt energy to connect with people, because connecting and spreading the spirit I must do! But what do I have to share? That is a mystery to most people...but of course we are much more than what we do and seem. But when and where can we develop and utilize what we are but what we don't see? Can't spiritual growth and transformation occur at a more rapid pace with the support of a group setting? I feel it is almost necessary. That's why we are asked to have devotions, children's classes and Institutes. But we are so caught in individualistic and materialisitc models of growth. I believe that in less materialistic and more communal societies, there exist elements and understandings of spiritual unity which we in the US need to learn. We are desperate to learn and implement these understandings, but most of us don't know we need it! We are feeding ourselves with poison, but don't know we are diseased. Those of us who see, can help ourselves and help others. I know you see, and are helping others. Service exists in many different forms. I need to help others. This email is both an expression of service, and a plea for help. Don't we all need each other? And we all have something to give. So I am just being authentic here!

There is a language of the heart, of intuition, of love, which is beyond concepts and words, and I know you are in tune with it. This is the mystery door which leads to the sea of treasure which is currently being withheld from many Baha'is. In this treasure, we find connectedness and intimacy with all people. We find acceptance and love. We find emotion and passion. We find helpfulness, openness, and even humility. When these treasures are burnished with the Spirit of the Word of God, shiny, new and pure treasures are revealed to our eyes, minds and hearts, which hold immense value and healing capacity. These special pure treasures can be reached by those who are pure in heart and who have the courage and faith to travel through the door of detachment from this world. There is sanctification, purification, and trials through this door, and on this path. The attachments to this world are seen as illusion, and befitting only those who desire them. The pearls of the Spiritual Kingdom are revealed through the fire of purification, and can only be reached through longing, fervent devotion and yearning. These gems of divine mysteries are more valuable, much more precious that any earthly treasure. These gems and qualities of the heart and spirit, which exist in the spirit, possess the power to heal the peoples of the world, and to set aglow the hearts of men and women, in such wise that many of them will fling away this world, and join with us in celebrating this Love, and spreading the savors of the Blessed Beauty far and wide, with passion and zeal!

I know this sounds preachy, but it is all really how I feel--it is from my heart and soul, not just my head! What do I do with all this zeal and love for God? I feel like a mystic wanderer. I know I need some structure--a channel to express this love and wisdom. I am giving it all to God, since He gave it to me. I know who I am, and I dedicate it all to God. But I still feel my human needs--I am not always detached and pure! I need help from others, and I need to help others. But it seems I traveled so far in certain directions of consciousness, there is no one there to direct me, but God. And I have accepted that. The worst part is that it seems no one is ready to receive the gifts that I have to offer, unless I can offer it in a way which causes them to realize that they need it! And I am not so good at packaging things in a way which is appealing to others, unless it happens to be in my heart at the time. I can't market myself, so to speak. And I believe we should work with others to spread the fragrances of our gifts and our service, anyway. It's just that my gifts and talents are elusive to many, there is presently no environment to cultivate them, and I believe they are rare and unusual, but valuable, nonetheless. (There are schools and apprenticeships for accountants, doctors, engineers, landscapers, etc., but nothing for new age mystic psychologist/free-improv musicians!) I believe we need to help create and carve out new roles in society--uh, the new world/society, based on authentic and spiritual identities, instead of having people conform to and fit into existing molds which suppress the true self, and suffocate the soul. Oh, the youth would benefit tremendously! Isn't this the core of the issue for them?

I believe there are many people with gifts and talents which are not recognized and appreciated by most people, and in this society, there are no means to develop, cultivate and nurture many human qualities which are crucial to the healthy functioning of any society. These people fall by the wayside, become labeled as mentally ill, take medication or drugs, become angry, bitter, isolated. If we could only nurture these gems in a spiritual environment, with love, acceptance, openness, humility, and the Words and Spirit of God, we would reap great benefits for the Cause of God and humanity! My mission is simple. I want to utilize my gifts and talents, and help others to do the same, in an environment of love, openness, humility and spirituality! Some arts and music would be great!

My dream is to have an Arts and Healing Center. But first I wanted to have an Institute for Healing and Transformation, which would be like a workshop setting. But even an informal support group would be fine. It seems in this fast-paced culture, we need to set aside a prescribed time and place to meet and focus on God and spiritual growth, and to detach from this world. And this is what the UHJ is asking us to do. They are asking us to design and hold Institutes, devotions, social and economic development projects, etc. Soon, we will see more calamities and entry by troops, and these new institutions will be the refuge. So why not get real, get spiritual, and...well, I guess--start sharing? I know it is a lot, but I felt inspired to write to you.

Baha'i Love,

Bob Charnes