Decide On Joy

Coping With Chaos

• Jim Covault

Share episode
Jim:

Hello and welcome to decide on Joy, a podcast coming to you from Harmony Spiritual Center in Fort Worth, Texas. My name is Jim Alt

Pjae:

and my name is Reverend Dr. PJ Stanley. And welcome, so glad to have you here.

Jim:

And today we're talking about out coping with chaos. Mm. And why you might ask, because it, this may not be a universal feeling, I, I'm. But for a lot of people it feels like right now, the universe is filled with a lot of chaotic energy. Yeah. Not just in politics but in all sorts of areas. Yeah. And so it, it is a question, how do you cope with that without, without being dragged down by Yeah. Kinda surrendering to it or, or, or depressed by it. Mm-hmm. Or, or. Crazy anxious about it. Yeah.

Pjae:

Exactly.

Jim:

And what, what does new thought offer on that front?

Pjae:

I, and that's really, and I'm, I'm, I'm glad you put it in that perspective or that, in stating in that, like, what does new thought think about it? And I don't know, in all of my studies and years in new thought, whether that was something we specifically talked about. Mm-hmm. But I can cobble together what I believe is what we do. Number one is that we we're, we're, we're, the, the number one thing that we talk about is, is constantly being connected to that which is greater than yourself. So. So we don't have to concern ourselves necessarily with what is going on and chaotic around us. Let's just, and I'm gonna bring it back down to say, family, because we all have family or some family resemblance. Some, some, some group that we're connected to. And there could be chaos within a person, a particular person in that group that you may want to help or be a part of or love or help them through. But it's not necessarily something that you can do anything about. And so you, you don't. Jump into the chaos with them. You look from where you are, and this is what I believe is it keeps me at peace. I, I, I think peace is a high, is a high value. What keeps me at peace is looking at what is going on the best that I can, from my point of view, is the only way you can look at something and say, okay, that is fairly chaotic. What is mine to do about that? What is mine to do? Do I jump in? And just bringing it back to family? I can ask, can I help you with this? I might have some suggestions about it. They may or may not be interested. There are friends that I have and associates that I have that we don't believe the same thing. Not necessarily even about our spirituality, but just about a number of things, how family comes together, how whatever it is, we may not believe the same thing, so I can't offer any suggestions. They can't offer me any as well, but that doesn't mean I need to jump into. What I feel is their chaotic ramblings about it that doesn't help, doesn't help them. It doesn't help me, and it keeps you off the path you're supposed to be on and doing what it is that you actually feel is yours to do. So that's one thing.

Jim:

Yeah. On a larger scale though, sometimes it's things that are going on that you feel are. A threat. You know, it's not just, oh, that's a family member having a difficult time. Sure. But this is coming after me kinda feeling. Yes. And of course that's fear based. So it's, well, there are somes about how do Yes. Yes. And, and. People's opinions about what those things are might be wildly different. I mean, yes. I'm, I'm dancing delicately around this because part of Harmony Spiritual Center's policy is we do not ever discuss politics and so Right, right.

Pjae:

We don't

Jim:

avoiding that. Right. We have within the membership peer people at. Both extremes Yes. Of the current political spectrum. Yes. Which sometimes seems there are only extremes in the current political spectrum. And, and just the fact that it's okay for people on either side to totally savage people on the other side. Online or in debates or whatever. Right. Call them idiots and morons and fools and

Pjae:

Yes.

Jim:

Bad people and everything else. Yes. And just the fact that that's okay. That's part of the chaotic energy. That Right. That's, that's troubling. You know, that's meanness seems to be,

Pjae:

yeah. It feels, it feels like it's the, it's the, and, and then again, not slamming any particular group, but you know, we just had this whole thing in this country about just cowboy up, you know, and just go ahead and take whatever it is that you want to do or what you think is yours to have or whatever. That. Idea comes from. But the thing, the thing is, this is, again, it just, it's back to, because you aren't, you can't do anything about what everyone else is doing. But what you can do is do what is yours to do. And if there's something that is yours to do, there are other people who wanna do the same thing. And so you surround yourself the best you can with people who want to be kind. I'm not going to, I, I remove myself. I'm not gonna change anyone else's mind. So I simply remove myself from people who don't want to be kind, who simply think that cutting people off on the freeway or talking bad about a particular group. That's, that's not, that's not okay, and it's never been okay. And it might be a bigger population that thinks it's okay than not. At this point. Everything swings, everything has its rise and fall. And. You have a right to choose as to what you're going to do and what you're gonna believe and what you're going to stand for. And again, back to what we talked about and always talk about what values do you have? What, what, what, who, who do you say you are, and when is it that you wanna stand up and say something and get involved in groups of people that are saying something that is, that you feel is okay to say in terms of. What you value. So for me, it's, it's kindness, it's love. It's seeing that other people have a right to say what they're gonna say. I also have that right to say what I'm gonna say, and you're not gonna shout me down. I. You can try, but I won't allow it and won't allow it. Not, not by continue to shout you down, but turning it away and, and going elsewhere to speak and be who I am. There's room for that. So, you know, we don't have to buy into the ca, we don't have to be a, we don't have to accept that. What is chaotic? Out there is necessarily means it's what our life needs to be about. Part of not being chaotic or not accepting that is saying, I'm going to take peace with me. I'm gonna find it'cause it's there.

Jim:

Right.

Pjae:

And be determined to do that.

Jim:

And I know some sources would. Say, think about something else. If you're having a bad thought about that, think about something else. I don't think that actually works, and I don't. That's

Pjae:

in denial. That's denial. What I think, I think

Jim:

it's what seems to work better for me is yes, you say, okay, I acknowledge that thought. Yes, I acknowledge that fear or whatever, but it isn't me. I'm not, I don't have to be, wedded to it. We don't,

Pjae:

we don't, we have so many examples in our society at large, the world at large, where people wanted to rule over some other group say that they were better than some other group. And for temporarily, that's what it looked like. But those people stood up and said like, no, no. That's not okay with me. And to what degree you're willing to stand, to what degree you're willing to take a stand is an individual decision. No one can say what that is. Only you can, which I, I know I sound like a broken record, but to me it's the most important thing for you to actually know what matters to you and what you will stand up for. And and what you say, you know what, yeah. I don't believe in that, but I don't need to make a big noise about it'cause it's not important enough. And sometimes it is important enough to take a stand and go, no, I don't agree with that. That's not how the whole world is. This is how my world is and this is how I'm going to live it.

Jim:

Right. You, you certainly can. I mean, as you said, you can align yourself in whatever way with, with groups that are doing something Yes. About it, for instance. Okay. I guess this is slightly political, but climate change, I know some people say that doesn't exist. Sure. But sort of in the face of evidence. Mm-hmm. But but say whether it exists or not, right? That's not the point. Say that it is a concern of yours, then there are organizations that you can support. There are things you can do to Exactly contribute to that. Yes. Which can help to, I think, alleviate the. Anxiety?

Pjae:

I think so. I think, I think, I think that's part of our anxiety. When, when you get it is, oh, oh, oh. What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?

Jim:

And the feeling that there's nothing you can do.

Pjae:

Yes.

Jim:

I mean that

Pjae:

yeah,

Jim:

of course is something that. Dancing around this, but some That's okay. Some forces want you to feel that you can't do anything about it. Correct?

Pjae:

Correct. Correct.

Jim:

That opposition is futile. And so

Pjae:

our history has shown us that opposition is not futile.

Jim:

Yeah.

Pjae:

The human history has shown us that yeah, opposition is not futile. It may take a while. Yes. And there may be a lot of loss or hurt or any number of things, but. That's what, that's what life is about is saying yes and no. When it's time for you to say yes and no,

Jim:

and a perfect example of opposition not being futile is the very people who are currently in power politically in the us. Were the opposition. Yes. And it was not futile there. Exactly. Now they're there. Exactly. Not exactly correct. Yes, exactly. Correct.

Pjae:

So it's never as much as whoever seems to be I don't wanna say the word in charge, but whoever seems to be talking the loud or whoever actually is talking the loudest, they're just talking loud doesn't mean that the, the lower voices aren't being spoken. And aren't being heard by one another. And those rumblings continue to, to, to have an impact. So whatever your rumble is, do that rumble.

Jim:

Yeah.

Pjae:

Speak up. Say what, what you're about, what, when it, where it matters to you.

Jim:

And another thing that I think can help with the anxiety side of it is because that, that. Largely tends to be fear of what may be coming. Yes. But if you can manage to stay in the present moment I love that

Pjae:

you said that. Yes. I love that you said that.'cause the past, well, the, we can learn from the past. The future's not here. The present is where the activity is. The present, whether it's you taking a calming breath for you in particular, whether it's you saying, this is what I desire, this is what my heart is asking, my mind is asking, whatever it is, and so it, it, it, it sounds like I don't know, cliche or whatever, but it isn't for you to ask yourself seriously. What is mine to do? Sometimes it is nothing. Sometimes it is just to stand, just to, just to stand in your own presence and know that what, what you believe and what you know is actually true. And you can stand there and hold that energy of truth and light. And one of the, I think, I think it was, it could have been MLK, I'm not sure, but but yeah, it is the, that's where I read it. But truth crushed to the ground still gonna rise. It gets crushed to the ground, but it's still going to rise.'cause truth rise, sunlight, bleaches. You know, so we we bring things to the light. Bring it to the light. Yeah.

Jim:

Okay. We can, we can stop there. So yes, yes. Bring it to the light. Bring it to the light. Perhaps it will

Pjae:

Yes.

Jim:

Be changed. And in any case that that energy that everyone is feeling at the moment will eventually shift.

Pjae:

It always does. It has. If you look back over the, I think that's part of what gives me, and we want to close this down, but just why, that's part of what gives me hope is knowing that things change. They, they just, they don't stay the same. And you look around the world over history and over time people are hearty. We are hearty, we're energetic. We, we, we can dream, we can change. One, a small group can change so much. So, and we know this, so you know, you just. Keep the faith. Yes. Keep your faith. Yes.

Jim:

Change. We tend not to like change, you know, that's a Yes. A problem that practically everyone has. I mean, sometimes we do if it's changed that we were promoting, but yes. But yes. Often we resist change, whatever it may be. We, we

Pjae:

do.'cause we get comfortable with what we know. Yeah, of course. Course. You know, we just get comfortable, you know, that's again, human nature. That's okay. Yeah. Well, we don't want anybody disrupting our

Jim:

comfort. Yes. But yeah, stay in the present moments just to hear. And yeah.

Pjae:

Be here now.

Jim:

Yes. Yes. And we will see you next time. Yeah. Be there now. Thanks. Be there then. Yes. Yes. Thanks for being here.