Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: Effort and Grace, May 14, 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.

In our last session we finished up with the chapter on Purifying Our Hearts and began the one on Changing Our Values on page 38. In this chapter, Darwin introduces the concept of the “inner barometer” as a way of describing how we can observe our interior mental and emotional climate. Are what we are doing and the choices we are making in our life creating clearer skies within or are we clouding over our awareness and making it more difficult to discern the light? Darwin used to say we need to create more inner space, some room within to be able to see where the light is entering our consciousness and proceed in that direction, to rely on our intrinsic insight and intuition that Baba is gradually awakening rather than being pulled into our cloudy sanskaric currents. It is a very pro-active approach to our inner life by which we can anticipate impulses in us that are binding and join inner currents that are flowing toward freedom. Baba has said, "A new line in the divine picture is sketched only when some individual takes life forcefully in his hands, breaks up the old patterns and insists on creating something new by his own inner vision.” We don’t have to be passive victims of our emotions, thoughts and desires.

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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