by John Stephenson of Aloha Mystics

In the past decade and a half, we have been conditioned to accept instant gratification as the norm. We no longer send letters or cards through the mail; we email. We no longer browse through bookstores; we order online, and we no longer share photo albums over coffee in our dens; we post way too many pictures on social media. Perhaps it’s time to develop a little more patience.

A passage from the book of James has been coming into my mind quite often, so perhaps it’s something to contemplate. It goes like this: “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Many of us would like to go back to that simpler time, where the temptations of the world seemed manageable and our spiritual practice fit in neatly with our everyday life of family, friends and work. Now it seems that those activities are being controlled by a pandemic and depending on where we live, the response to that appearance can seem oppressive. We are frustrated that it all hasn’t gone away. What happened to instantaneous healing?

Well, let’s look at that.

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The mystical realm exists in the now. Time and space are the classical models defining the world in which we live, the world of birth and death, of action and reaction. The quantum model presents a world of undivided wholeness, a hidden régime of reality in which everything is interconnected. Both models define life as we know it. The quantum model aligns more closely the spiritual idea of now, where patience can have her perfect work. It is a realm that cannot be dominated by the mind but can be accessed through humility. In our humility we realize that this world is perfect, and that perfection exists in eternity. It is at once in the moment and forever. This consciousness of perfection exists simultaneously with the reactionary world of cause and effect, and we become aware of inner perfection if we have the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

To paraphrase the Prophet Isaiah, speaking from illumined consciousness, he said that when we enter this world and bloody our hands to benefit ourselves alone, we are hidden from the eyes of God. But when we cleanse ourselves, when we cease to enter the battle taking place in time and space, when we judge righteous judgment, which means seeing the Christ in friends and enemy alike, when we relieve the oppressed and plead for the widow, we enter a new reason – a new rationale. Now, though our sins be as scarlet, they are as white as snow. This must be our attitude to let patience have her perfect work; to enter the world of now and live out from the consciousness of brotherly love.

The practical effect of this reasoning is liberty. It frees us from reacting to the dictates of those working earnestly to free the world from the pandemic, even if they are trying to solve the problem from the level of the problem. We can participate in their protocols with the knowledge that right now perfection is. We need not resist. We can know that at this moment the implicate order, the underlying reality of Truth, is waiting to become explicate. This is another way of saying “the word made flesh.” It is the responsibility of every individual on the spiritual path to bring into their awareness the presence of God. That only takes place in the now. It is realized in the deep silence of My Peace. It is up to those with eyes to see and ears to hear to bring the unseen into expression and have the patience to let omniscience unfold to meet the need of the moment.

How are you practicing patience?