Late Night Chat with Jeff Wolverton: Eradicating worry, Sep 17, 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: Eradicating Worry

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 the chapter, Eradicating Worry on page 84, Darwin tackles the whole complex struggle to eliminate worry from our consciousness. Baba says there are few things that rob our psyche of energy more than worry. In most cases, because worry isn’t often experienced as something of serious and tangible consequences, it is seen as something relatively harmless, a nagging bother, but it surreptitiously drains our vitality during the course of the day. I was always amazed at how worry seemed to be absent from Darwin’s consciousness; he had a supreme trust and faith in Baba that I was unable to achieve myself. It was something to behold. He would quote Baba, “Don’t worry. Let Me do the worrying. I enjoy working things out.” In the difficult situations in his life, Darwin always honored Baba’s wish to work things out Himself. He had the humility to ask for Baba’s help, not to stand in the way and try to do it all himself.

Eradicating worry is one of the last hurdles to be crossed in gaining control of the mind. It requires several attainments, among them: not to make so much of the outer events of life so that they become secondary compared to the inner life; to become more profoundly aware of the deluding power of imagination. Mark Twain, the American humorist, once said, “I’ve been through many trials and tribulations in this life, and most of them never happened!” In addition, we must strive to unfailingly hold our mind accountable for its misleading assertions, otherwise our worrisome mental patterns will only continue. As long as worry preoccupies our mind, the ego takes center stage and our focus on Baba is pushed to the background. But when Baba is in the foreground, when we return to Him again and again in thought, worries automatically dissolve in His loving presence.

What are some of the methods you use to overcome worry? When you have trouble controlling worrisome thoughts, do you have ways of giving this fearful emotion to Baba? When the imaginary worry about some situation is over, do you say to your mind, “You said I should have been worried about this situation and it turned out everything worked out fine.” Can you look back on your life to all the adverse and disagreeable things you thought would happen and see that it was all worry for naught. Have you experienced Baba’s actual intervention in rescuing you from a seemingly impossible situation? How deep is your faith that Baba is truly there to help?

Whatever you do, though, don’t worry about worrying. I once asked Meherjee Karkaria, one of Baba’s intimate mandali, what method he had for overcoming worry. He gestured with his hands circling around his head, as if besieged by thoughts, “Around Baba, I was always worrying!”

Doug Ross, a Baba lover from the San Francisco Bay Area, has made an audio recording of the entire book, Effort and Grace, which you can access and listen to, even as you go for walks or when you’re driving to work. A precious gift from him. This is his email address until I know the link: Douglas Ross DC He will assist you with the link.

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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