Happy Father's Day!

.

Happy Father’s Day!

First I must bow down to and give honor to my dad William Samuel Stokes Naylor; he was a great man and everything in the world to me. My father was my role-model, my hero, my best friend, my teacher, and the greatest dad in the world. My dad taught me unconditional love, not only through what he said, but most importantly the way that he lived his life for me and everyone else to see. He loved my mother fully and unconditionally and showed me how to love unconditionally as well. In great part I am the man I am today because of my dad. Dad, I appreciate life and all of the positive and not so positive things in life, because you taught me to appreciate everything equally. Dad, I think about you all of the time and I Love You with my entire being; Goddess/God, thank you for blessing with my Dad.

To be a father does not always mean you are biologically connected with a child. Being a father is based on the intimate connection an older male has with a younger male or female. It may be rare but surely possible that a male who is younger but more mature than another could be a father figure to that individual. So in essence fatherhood is defined by the relationship a man has with another person and by the state of integrity displayed. Oh, one last thing; a good father makes mis-takes from time to time; fatherhood is not held to a state of perfection and all-knowing. My father was quick to tell me he did not know something, he was also quick to tell me when he realized he was in error. Since I have defined who is a father according to my beliefs, I now want to say; “Happy Father’s Day” to all of the fathers on this day that is designated to honor us.

A good father knows that he does not know everything. He also understands that he can learn from his children as well as his wife and everyone else he comes in contact with. A real father does not get caught up in ego trips; because as Wayne Dyer teaches, ego is the error of Edging God Out; God is the divinity, the supreme knowledge that is known by many names. God is the Spirit that dwells within our spirit. The ultimate refection of Father is found in the ultimate union of Spirit, I refer to that union as Mother/Father Goddess/God. Within the sacred union of Goddess/God is both the feminine and masculine examples of Spiritual Parenting. One way for both the mother and father to get the direction needed to be a good parent is to ask Goddess/God to direct us in parenting our precious children. Here is one for you; no matter the age of your children, once a parent always a parent. I remember my mother telling me one day when I thought I was grown; “You will always be my baby.” Parenting is a lifelong duty; the only things that change are the age and the recognition that the child is no longer in the elementary stages of childhood.

To father a child one must fully embrace the sacred principle of respect towards everyone. First a father respects Spirit, then a father respects himself, next the father respects his wife (the mother), finally the father respects his child and everyone else. The signpost that points to a truly mature conscious father is one who is emotionally free. What defines an emotionally free father? An emotionally free father is one who is conscious enough to show the varied array of emotions that make up being a man and father. To be emotionally free is to be comfortable with openly showing the emotions of sadness and joy in their wide array of expressions. That means that a father does not have any problems allowing his children seeing him cry when he is experiencing sorrow, just as he is not ashamed of allowing his children seeing him expressing joy. The biggest impression my father made on me was how he taught me to be free in expressing the full spectrum of emotions we all have. He taught me that being a real man meant being able to freely cry when that emotion was present. My dad taught me the opposite of what many fathers teach, they teach that a man is not supposed to cry. A true man is free to express whatever emotion arises; that is not only being a man, that is being an honest man, and also being transparent as we all should be; thank you so much dad for that and all of the other precious lessons you taught me. So, to all of the fathers that think that being a father means teaching your son to be strong by not showing his true emotions, especially the emotion of crying; try rethinking and fine tune that aspect of fathering.

Remember this; no matter what our age we are still learning new things, and in the process of correcting faulty concepts. The mark of a good father is being quick to correct an error, even if it happens to be an error of many years or even many decades. The important thing is not the length of the error; it is the correction of the error. Fathers Love freely, openly, and most importantly a true father Loves Unconditionally.

A mature father recognizes that he is both the teacher and the student!

Baba-Kundi Ma`at-Shambhala

(Spiritwalker)

June 17, 2012