Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: Effort and Grace, April 16, 2023, live on Baba Zoom

We have some informal chat after every arti, the "post-arti party"! But once a week, Jeff Wolverton joins us for some serious mining of the spiritual depths. Join us for conversation, more readings, songs, quotes - you never know what treasures will be uncovered!

Topic: Delving into Effort and Grace

Dear folks of Baba,

This Sunday we will again explore Darwin Shaw’s book, Effort and Grace, which is an in-depth inquiry into the inner life with Baba. It describes one of the major approaches to Baba by one who was devoted to Him for over 70 years, which culminated in a glorious intimacy with Him. Darwin was always so encouraging and optimistic in what we can do to open up to Baba’s immediate loving presence. He asserts that many of the blocks to this intimacy can be removed by our efforts and by inviting Baba’s ongoing intervention and grace.

We left off on page 27 with the section, “Dispelling Veils” in the chapter, Dissolving our Veils. In working to dispel the veils over his consciousness, Darwin was very proactive. He attended to every thought and emotion that appeared in his awareness. He would talk about being extremely alert (but relaxed) to the faintest tremor of anger in us, the first sinking of fear, or the moment the "wanting machine”(his term) starts up in us. That is, picking up the first signs of emotions and desires with our awareness before they flow downstream, so to speak, and are picked up and greatly complicated by the mind and emotions, by thoughts and other desires. As soon as the mind and emotion enter the picture, we are thrown into the illusory world of time and space. But when picked up at an early stage, these first tremors can be given inwardly and energetically to Baba where He dissolves them or countered by our better angels, the divinely human qualities within us. A stain can be removed much easier if done immediately. By making these efforts, we are not victims of any and every impulse that enters us. I have found this over my life to be immensely helpful in maintaining an inner harmony.

I am reminded of this Cherokee teaching story:

An elderly Cherokee man was teaching his grandchildren about life. He said to them: “A fight is going on inside of me; it is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf is fear, anger, envy, sorrow, regret, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego. The other wolf is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.

The same fight is going on inside of you and inside of every other person, too.”

They thought about it for a minute and then one child asked his grandfather, “which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee replied, “the one you feed.”

Each session evokes invaluable discussion that does not require having attended the previous sessions; each section stands alone and provides a window into the inner life of the lover/Beloved relationship and is virtually independent, like facets of one diamond—Baba.

For those who do not have a copy of the book, below is an attachment for following along:

https://issuu.com/ompoint/docs/shaw_effort_grace

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