Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: Effort and Grace, May 1, 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.

This month we had five Sundays, and I mistakenly thought we would be having one of our topic discussions this Sunday, but instead our session is on Effort and Grace. We left off on page 35. And we are finishing up with the chapter on Purifying Our Hearts and then beginning on the chapter, Changing Our Values, where Darwin introduces the subject of sublimating our lower impulses in favor of higher values: anger is transmuted into patience and tolerance, greed and wanting are sublimated into the spirit of generosity, lust and desires are transmuted into longing and purity, jealousy into an appreciation of others, bindings into inner freedom. In taking a reading of our interior, we are able to avert certain impulses and negative emotions and move toward aligning ourselves with our better angels (the divinely-human qualities deep within us that flow directly from Baba). We surrender our limited life and move toward the unlimitedness of Baba’s being.

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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