Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: Effort and Grace, March 12, 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 and for the next two Sundays 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.

This Sunday we continue with the chapter, Our Master’s Loving Help, beginning on page 14. Darwin explores the work of maintaining our inner connection with Baba as the means of gradually freeing ourselves from our attachment to the drama of the world and all its binding opposites. Darwin delves into how to rise to the level of the spirit in our love for Baba and become a compassionate onlooker of this world. As always, he is very encouraging and hopeful that this loving state with Baba is ever-present within us, always within our reach, and in the later chapters, he explores our many resistances to such an intimacy.

I once asked Darwin, “What is the biggest mistake the Baba lovers are making?” He replied with empathy, “They think of themselves as small and they remain small. Think big! Think outside even the conventional spiritual box.” The unspeakable awaits us.

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.

Everyone is invited to ask questions and share examples from their own inner life. We left off on page 12, and we will begin with the section on “The Master’s Loving Help.” Over the next chapters, Darwin makes an intensive exploration into the many illusions we buy into, not realizing how they prevent us from enjoying the precious intimacy that Baba is waiting to share with us.

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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