Love after Love

Love after Love

The time will come when,
with elation,
you will greet yourself arriving at your own door,
in your own mirror,
and each will smile at the other’s welcome,
and say, sit here.
Eat.

You will love again the stranger who was your self.
Give wine.
Give bread.
Give back your heart to itself,
to the stranger who has loved you all your life,
whom you ignored for another,
who knows you by heart.

Take down the love letters from the bookshelf,
the photographs,
the desperate notes,
peel your own image from the mirror.
Sit.
Feast on your life.

~ Derek Walcott ~
Sea Grapes

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Spiritual Progress and a Cathar Calling

Spiritual Progress and a Cathar Calling
May 6, 2014

I haven’t written for a while as I was waiting for the inspiration to pop up. Today, May 6, 2014, seems like a good day to share some of my progress; some of it comes from walking my own path and reflecting; some of it from contacting people who have information about my soul path.

This post is in fact partly an update of the account I produced last August under the title My Hero’s Journey.

There has been interesting information communicated to me last month as I did work on the Divine Feminine as part of a virtual class with a small spiritual organization. As I understood back then, when I started learning about the Divine Feminine, I was about to return to the conscious phase of my hero’s journey and enjoy what Joseph Campbell calls the “Gift of the Goddess.” Throughout the class, I was part of a pod, or discussion group, under the tutelage of the Celtic goddess Ceridwen. Things were interesting for a couple of weeks, we shared a lot of insights about astrology and the divine feminine, which dwells in every one of us, and then my interest started to dwindle; drastically. I had started to transcribe The Mother, from Sri Aurobindo, which was part of our reading assignment, but didn’t go any further than chapter one of this small book. It felt very organic, or synchronistic if you will that, at the same time I was taking the class, I had an exchange with my friend Gary, the astrologist whom I mentioned in my Hero’s Journey post. His take on my studying the divine feminine was to the point, well aligned with what I am pursuing. Here is an excerpt of what he shared with me.

Your work on the Divine Feminine sounds very interesting. It accords very well with the placement of Mars in Virgo in your chart in its own house of the 8th; this being in trine aspect to the Ascendant, Saturn and Jupiter. To me, this implies the requirement of developing an enhanced appreciation of the ‘goddess archetype’ and the various gifts she offers. As well as the Hercules and Hippolyta myth, it also accords well with the myth of Isis and Horus, or Mary and Jesus, whereby one gives birth to the spiritual principle within. In your case this is occurring through the expression of courage and heroism towards spiritual transformation due to the location of Mars, and also the Moon, in conjunction to Pluto in the 8th house. Working with the goddess principles is favored further by the placement of Venus in Cancer in the 6th house, in trine aspect to Neptune in Scorpio in the 9th house, which suggests a capacity towards penetrating Maya (or the ‘veil of the goddess’) with the assistance of subjective pursuits such as dreams and meditation.

I don’t know if I penetrated any veil at the time but, based on Joseph Campbell diagram (which I am repositioning below), the spiritual warrior is then supposed to reenter the conscious world and share his or her gift with it. What could this gift be in my case? And what did I learn from the goddess in the end?

The hero's journey

These questions are somehow still open and yet, something quite unusual happened to me, which was definitely a spiritual gift. I was offered in mid-April a soul reading by a person (her name is Judith Kusel http://www.judith-kusel.com) who lives in South Africa. As synchronicity and spiritual complicity would have it, I met her through one of her writings one day, totally unexpectedly, and signed up to follow her blog. The next day, I received a note inviting me to check her biography and services. And the next thing I knew, I had signed up for a soul reading—a Diamond soul reading. There was so much fluidity in what I did and how I did it that it was obviously made to happen.

The most important life episode that Judith highlightened is one that I experienced as a Cathar in early 13th century France. My name then was Raimond de Péreille and I was present during the last few days of what could be considered the extermination of the last of the Cathars. This took place on March 16, 1244, in the form of a pyre which was built and lit on by the armies of the French king, supported by the Pope, interestingly named Innocent III. Over 200 hundred Cathars perished that day, purified that they were a few days earlier in a ceremony called Consolamentum. It appears that I wasn’t one of those who perished in the fire and that I clandestinely escaped, in due time, to accomplish what was then my mission.

cathar Montsegur

I still have a lot to learn about those Christian Cathars and reading The Cathar Prophecy by Mark J.T. Griffin provided a lot of background information, although the author doesn’t seem to know what exactly happened to Sir Raimond de Péreille. It is up to me to find out and put all the pieces of the puzzle together, going back way, way before Cathar time.

In fact, what became clear to me is the connection between the Cathar faith and the history and life of Mary Magdalene after she left Israel, moving to France and landing near Massilia (Marseille nowadays), pregnant that she was then with their (Yeshua and she) third child. Montségur, the castle that became the last resort of the Cathars, is situated near Carcassonne in southern France; Rennes-le-Chateau, a small village whose name is strongly associated with Mary Magdalene and the hero of Mark J.T. Griffin’s book—a Templar of the Order of St. John of Malta, by the name of Arnaud de Blanchfort—being some 30 miles or so east of Montségur. I could feel or intuit the connection between these different times and people while reading the book. It is now up to me to find about the missing links, which will take me in the first place into the reading of another book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, by Michael Baigent, Richard Leigh and Henry Lincoln. Or will it be, Crusade against the Grail by Otto Rahn?

I did not sense the protective presence of Mary Magdalene over the Cathars by chance or accident and I feel a true connection to her. While exploring what my coach called my “inner sanctuaries” in October of 2011, I came across Mary Magdalene in the second sanctuary, that of Ancestral Memory.

Here is what I wrote in my notes after my session with Lev on October 4, 2011:

Sanctuary of Ancestral Memory
Mary Magdalene comes to mind as she moves from Israel to the south of France. She is wearing a white robe. The symbol in this sanctuary is a dove; a white dove.

mary-magdalene-by-perugio

I learned since that Mary Magdalene is indeed associated with a white dove; I also remember seeing white linen floating in the wind, as if on a cloth line, in that sanctuary of Ancestral Memory. Again this is not something that came from outside my psyche while reading a fictitious book, but rather from some deep connection I had been nurturing all along and that made ‘its way up’ with the assistance of Lev.

Where is this going to take me? I certainly do not know at this early time, but my spelunker’s gear is on! Please stay tune, my friends, and feel free to share any information that you would deem helpful to me.

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The Seven Essene Mirrors – a workshop by Gregg Braden

Bonjour Folks,

I am back again with a piece that I watched this week—I watched it twice in its entirety over the course of two days. It is long (two hours and five minutes) but worth every minute of our time. In this video, which combines Gregg’s explanation of the Seven Mirrors as well as a live workshop with participants (thanks go to them as well for being willing to get filmed), Gregg Braden details the Seven Mirrors that the Essenes use to explain relationships and how we function in this world.

The two most powerful mirrors to me are the second one (Mirror of that which is judged) and the fifth one (Mirror of “Father”/”Mother). I won’t spend much time commenting about the second one, which confirmed much about what I sensed, but would like to give a bit more info about the fifth one, which still puzzles me.

The Mirror of “Father”/”Mother” refers to our relationship with the Feminine and Masculine side of the Creatrix/Creator—whatever our spiritual beliefs are. Gregg said that our parents show us the fifth mirror during the course of our passage with them and that it represents our relationship with the Sacred and will tell us why we lived our lives the way we did. In other words, the way we see (and judge) our parents is a mirror about the expectations, perceptions or beliefs we have about our most sacred relationship with the Heavenly Father and Heavenly Mother.

In the workshop, before explaining the meaning of the Mirror, Gregg asked participants to list one positive characteristic about each of their parents and one negative. This represents, again, how we see the Creatrix/Creator.

As for my parents, the words that came to mind are “emotionally withdrawn” and “simple and gentle” for my father, who passed; and “self-centered” and “loving in her own way” for my mother, who is still alive. For whatever reason, a veil of some sort is preventing me at this very moment to put two and two together and see how “emotionally withdrawn” influenced(es) my perception of the Creator, and how “self-centered” colors of my perception of the Divine Mother—especially now that I am attending a virtual eight-week class entitled “Embodying the Divine Feminine.”

I know there will be a time when this veil will be lifted, and this may be soon…who knows?

You will find below the summary slide that Gregg offered, which lists the Seven Mirrors along with a last segment on Compassion. You will also find the time when the different mirrors are addressed, in case you would like to go back to the video and watch pieces of it.

Happy veil lifting, folks!

Every experience is a blessing

Gregg Braden

The Seven Essene Mirrors

Published on May 6, 2012

From the perspective of the ancient Essenes, every human on the earth is an initiate in the Mystery School that we call Life. Whether they are conscious of it or not, every human will experience in the presence of others mirrors of themselves in that moment. If we have the wisdom to recognize those mirrors, we may accelerate the evolution of emotion and understanding.

What the Essenes said was that, in order for us to know and master ourselves in this world, we will see one or some combination of mirrored patterns in others. The seven mirrors are progressively more and more subtle. Back in the ’70s, we heard about the first mirror of who you are in the moment. The notion was that if you find yourself around individuals who are angry or dishonest, they are showing you your dishonesty or anger. Sometimes the mirrors would apply, but sometimes they wouldn’t. We had discovered the first mirror but had yet to see the other mirrors, such as the second mirror, which reflects what we judge in the moment.

This is tremendously powerful and very subtle. The ancient Essenes had a very sophisticated understanding of interpersonal human relationships and the role of emotion in those relationships. It’s the role of emotion that we have carefully sifted out of our Western experience up until very recently. Now, as we go back into these texts, we see that it is emotion that proves the power and, when coupled with logic, true magic and miracles occur.

The Seven Essene Mysteries of Self

You’ll find the summary slide (what I listed below) at 13’49 and 38’26

• Mystery of the First Mirror: Mirror of the Moment (1’15)
• Mystery of the Second Mirror: Mirror of that which is judged (2’05)
• Mystery of the Third Mirror: Mirror of that which is (20’55)
o Lost
o Given away
o Taken away
• Mystery of the Fourth Mirror: Mirror of “Most Forgotten Love” (23’05)
• Mystery of the Fifth Mirror: Mirror of “Father/Mother” (48’10)
• Mystery of the Sixth Mirror: Mirror of Your Quest into Darkness (1’14’47)
• Mystery of Seventh Mirror: Mirror of Self Perception (1’38’40)
• Conclusion (1’51’05)
• Compassion (1:52’27)
• Compassion may be defined as:
o Thought without attachment to the outcome
o Feeling without distortion
o Emotion without charge

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Are you ready?

Hello Folks,

Below is an excerpt from Patricia Liles’s Astrological notes in regards to today’s New Moon. It spoke to me deeply, to the point I want to share it wide and clear.

April of 2014 may turn out to be an extremely powerful month; are you ready?

Happy New Moon to all of you!

your work

“We have crossed the threshold of Equinox and begin anew at every level. Entering the realm of Aries is embarking on the hero’s journey of finding our Selves. In the first sign of the zodiac ruled by the fire, desire and heat of the red planet Mars, we seek our individual identity and long to differentiate into the great ‘I AM’. In these times of intense evolvement of conscious awareness and expansion of our interaction with the invisible worlds, the hero’s/heroine’s journey is the Spiritual Warrior’s quest to find their own divine nature within. It’s an individual path; we learn to be with the Self; we come to our own self-love and realization that we are the sons and daughters of Spirit. We are the love, intelligence, beauty, abundance, creativity and vitality that Spirit is. It takes the yearning, innocence, boldness and headstrong independence of a cardinal, fire sign like Aries to fuel such a powerful journey.”

Life on Fire

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We are the Temple of I AM!

Hello Folks,

A few months ago, on October 16 to be precise, I transcribed a Third Eye chakra meditation where the author, Master Djwhal Khul, mentioned the following sentence, “As a great One once taught his disciples, “I AM the Way, the Truth and the Light.””

Nothing clicked at the time although the words Light, Way and Truth are meaningful to me. A few days ago, the post below suddenly dropped on my lap, so to speak, from I-don’t-know-where-it-came-from. This was very mystical, to say the least, and a few more dots got connected, meaningfully so.

Please enjoy Nancy B. Detweiler’s article entitled, “JESUS did not mean He is the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

JESUS DID NOT MEAN HE IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH & THE LIFE
Nancy B. Detweiler, M.Ed., M.Div.

ascended master jesus

Ascended Master Jesus

Understanding what Jesus meant by the I AM sayings[i] is extremely important because it changes the way we view ourselves in relationship to God.[ii]

We must keep in mind that all sacred texts available to Earth humans were written by people residing on the 3rd dimensional plane of duality. In addition, what we know as the Bible today has been translated numerous times from Aramaic, Hebrew, Greek, and Latin into our national languages, such as English, French, etc. As all translators know, words in one language often do not have an equivalent word in another language. For that reason, much of the original meaning can be lost in translation. In addition, the meanings of words change as time passes. The belief system of the translators also influences the choice of words they use in their translation.

As a result, the Bible contains numerous contradictions. Still many Christians are taught that the Bible is the infallible Word of God and is literally true. Christians are often taught to “stay in the Word,” meaning not to explore outside sources for answers to their questions about God and life. “Don’t ask questions or you will lose your faith” is a frequent admonition given by religious leaders. The reproof itself is an acknowledgement of uncertainty within a very shaky faith. We do not know what we do not know and for many, this is a frightening fact.

This strong tendency to stay in the box created by religious leaders, creeds, and denominations has resulted in Christians closing their minds to anything new relating to their own spiritual nature. Christians have feared to explore, to intuit Truth for themselves, and to go against the status que. In order to remain one of the many, we stifle our true feelings, our questions about life, our innate urge to explore and find Truth for ourselves. We even read Jesus’ encouragement to “seek and ye shall find” and “the truth will set you free” as if he meant seek only in the Bible and the truth you find there will set you free. Christians forget that the New Testament did not exist during Jesus’ lifetime. Any suggestions in the New Testament that we “stay in the Word” or “not change the Word” relate to the Old Testament because that was the only scripture known to the New Testament writers.

Near the end of the 19th century and into the 20th, teachers of advanced spiritual maturity began to incarnate to guide Earth humans in exploring metaphysical or hidden wisdom teachings regarding the Truth about God, our world, and ourselves. Sadly, the churches rejected these teachings as pagan, heretical, and New Age. What the church really meant is that the hidden wisdom did not conform with orthodox creeds/beliefs. It feared its adherents would ask questions and lose interest in orthodoxy. Teachers like Ernest Holmes (Science of Mind), Helen Blavatsky (Theosophy), and Charles Fillmore (Unity) were and are called leaders of cults—words used in a derogatory manner representing the condemnation of many religious authorities even though the teachings of these men and women have added greatly to Earth humans’ understanding of themselves and the laws by which the universe operates.

A.D.K. Luk was among the first to publish the teachings of Earth’s Ascended Masters, such as Ascended Master Kuthumi (formerly incarnated as Pythagoras, then later as St Francis of Assisi), who worked through Helen Blavatsky to form the Theosophical Society. Ascended Master El Morya (formerly incarnated as Abraham) worked through Mark & Elizabeth Claire Prophet to create Summit University Press for the purpose of teaching and publishing the Ascended Masters’ teachings. Ascended Master St. Germain (formerly incarnated as the Prophet Samuel and later as Joseph, father of Jesus) worked through America’s Founding Fathers to create a nation based on brotherhood and freedom for all. I could go on and on with examples of how Earth’s Ascended Masters have assisted their unascended brothers and sisters on this planet as we travel the spiritual path to our own ascension.[iii]

Yet the churches have not possessed or encouraged the development of “eyes to see and ears to hear these hidden wisdom teachings. This brings us back to the importance of understanding the meaning of the I AM sayings.

Reading the Gospel of John in accordance with Christian teachings, most do not question what they read. The I AM sayings are found in this gospel, along with repeated statements by Jesus that should alert the reader to delve deeper. Jesus never proclaimed himself as “The Way, the Truth, and the Life.”

He did repeatedly shift the attention from himself to the Father within. “The Son can do nothing on his own, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise.” John 5:19 “I can do nothing on my own.” John 5:30 “My teaching is not mine but his who sent me.” John 7:16 “The one who sent me is true, and I declare to the world what I have heard from him.” John 8:26 “I do nothing on my own, but I speak these things as the Father instructed me.” John 8:28b

Not only did Jesus deflect attention from himself to the Father, he taught us: “I declare what I have seen in the Father’s presence; as for you, you should do what you have heard from the Father.” John 8:38 “I do not seek my own glory…. If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father who glorifies me.” John 8:50 “The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.” John 14:10

Jesus again speaks to us “the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these.” John 14:12 Jesus expected us to follow his example, NOT worship him. Christianity teaches that “Jesus did it all.” As a result, we make no effort to do the works that Jesus did and, in fact, exceed his works. Christians are taught, instead, to love Jesus as Lord & Savior. Self-realization is considered “New Age.” Holistic growth—body, emotions, mind, and spirit—is not a part of Christian teachings. Self-help books are often off-limits. Yet, in John 15, Jesus states, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower… I am the vine, you are the branches.” John 15:1,5 Anyone who has seen a grapevine knows that the main vein is composed of the same substances as the branches—Jesus and all of humanity possess the same potential. We are to learn to do all the works Jesus did and more. With the Father as vinegrower, Jesus as the vein, and humanity as the branches, we are All One.

“Then Jesus cried aloud: ‘Whoever believes in me believes not in me, but in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.” John 12:44
Jesus, the man, fully recognized that God dwelled within him, just as God dwells within each of us. Jesus allowed God to speak through him—what we call channeling in today’s world.

One of the Ascended Masters’ teachings concerns the I AM PRESENCE within each of us. When Christian religious leaders heard of the 20th century I AM PRESENCE movement, they pronounced it “New Age” and not in accordance with Christian teachings. Because religious leaders have ignored the hidden wisdom teachings, they are unaware of the ever-expanding cycles of time. New Age simply means the beginning of a new 2000 years cycle, just as the 21st century indicates the beginning of a new 100 years cycle and the New Year signifies the beginning of a new one year cycle. Whether or not we set out to do so, we end up learning something new during each year and during each century; we are and will be learning much that is new in this New Age of Aquarius.

One of the major lessons will concern who we truly are, as indicated in Elizabeth Claire Prophet’s Divine Self Chart.[iv]

divine self

The top figure radiating light outward to the world is the I AM PRESENCE indwelling each of us.

Jesus taught the Kingdom of God is within you. Christianity has taught God as separate from us; we have personified God into our image and set him on a throne in heaven. This personified God is a vengeful, angry God that demanded a blood sacrifice in order to appease his threats to punish us in an eternal hell of fire. Sadly, in our personification, we have created an image of God that is far less than any of us can imagine being. Which of us would require the blood sacrifice of one of our children so we, as parents, could bring ourselves to forgive another of our children?

Exodus 3 instructs us as to what Jesus meant when he said, “I AM the way, the truth, and the Life.”

“Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law … he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush…. When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ … I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob…. So come, I will send you to Pharoah to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt….’ But Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your ancestors has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name? what shall I say to them?’ God said to Moses, ‘I AM WHO I AM.’ He said further, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’”

The Hebrew word horeb means desert or solitude. Metaphysically, Horeb symbolizes a high place in conscious union with the divine. In order to contact the Divine, we must enter the solitude of our heart and inner mind where dwells the I AM PRESENCE.[v]

When Jesus spoke the I AM sayings, he was using the name of God, I AM. I AM is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, not Jesus. Moses was sent by I AM to the Israelites in Egypt; Jesus was sent by I AM to the Israelites in Palestine.[vi]

In order for us to learn to do all the works that Jesus did, we must go to our inner Mount Horeb and become One with our I AM PRESENCE. We are not separate from God; God indwells each of us. I AM is the bread of life, the light of the world, the gate, and the resurrection and the life.

We are the Temple of I AM! Through Jesus and through us, I AM is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

JESUS DID NOT MEAN HE IS THE WAY, THE TRUTH, & THE LIFE

________________________________________
[i] What are the I AM sayings: “I AM the bread of life.” John 6:35 “I AM the light of the world. John 8:12 “I AM the gate.” John 10:7 “I AM the resurrection and the life.” John 11:25 “I AM the way, and the truth, and the life.” John14:6
[ii] Throughout this article I will use the term GOD to refer to the SOURCE OF ALL THAT IS.
[iii] You may read about the Ascended Masters at: http://www.pathwaytoascension.com/teachings/index.html
[iv] You may listen to Elizabeth Claire Prophet explain the Divine Self Chart here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yfjqgiS5wQU&feature=channel_page
[v] Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, page 284.
[vi] Metaphysically, the Israelites represent those who seek God, not simply one ethnic group. According to Charles Fillmore, in his Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, the Israelites represent those who endeavor to follow the inner leading of the divine law. (Page 305)

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Getting There—David Wagoner

This poem spoke to me very deeply.

Are we home yet and, as our son would say, “Where are we going?”

Enjoy!

Getting There — David Wagoner

You take a final step and, look, suddenly
You’re there. You’ve arrived
At the one place all your drudgery was aimed for:
This common ground
Where you stretch out, pressing your cheek to sandstone.

What did you want
To be? You’ll remember soon. You feel like tinder
Under a burning glass,
A luminous point of change. The sky is pulsing
Against the cracked horizon,
Holding it firm till the arrival of stars
In time with your heartbeats.
Like wind etching rock, you’ve made a lasting impression
On the self you were
By having come all this way through all this welter
Under your own power,
Though your traces on a map would make an unpromising
Meandering lifeline.

What have you learned so far? You’ll find out later,
Telling it haltingly
Like a dream, that lost traveler’s dream
Under the last hill
Where through the night you’ll take your time out of mind
To unburden yourself
Of elements along elementary paths
By the break of morning.

You’ve earned this worn-down, hard, incredible sight
Called Here and Now.
Now, what you make of it means everything,
Means starting over:
The life in your hands is neither here nor there
But getting there,
So you’re standing again and breathing, beginning another
Journey without regret
Forever, being your own unpeaceable kingdom,
The end of endings.

~ David Wagoner ~

(In Broken Country)

laugh

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Connecting the Dots and Shining the Light

Connecting the Dots and Shining the Light

February 26

 

 

Hello Folks,

 

I am back in touch after a long interruption due to yet another trip to South-East Asia. It was a very “fruitful and delicate trip” (so to speak, and for many reasons that go beyond the scope of this post) and it was the second trip we took to this area in 15 months. I had written a ‘report’ of my first trip (October 2012), which was punctuated by a visit to France to see my recovering mother. I then had a very strong feeling of “maternal Love” submerging me as the Singapore Airlines plane approached Paris early that morning. In hindsight, this period of 15 months between our two trips, October 2012 and January 2014, turned out to be a period of “great birthing.”

 

At this point, it is difficult to clearly explain to the reader what happened to me a week ago as I reread the notes that I took during our previous trip. It is a fact that I didn’t realize what was going on during this “birthing period” and suddenly, as I reread my notes a week ago, the light shone through. Suddenly, there was clarity, and there was Light—light shed upon this feeling of Love that has been growing in me (there was a large portion about maternal love in my October 2012 document as, ditto, I then traveled from South-East Asia to France to visit my mother who was recovering from a broken hip and other ailments). This growing feeling of Love and its accompanying hormonal changes, as it was later explained to me, were enhanced by the presence and needs of our son. He allows me to nurture and cultivate something very precious, deep down in me, in relation to my mission to ‘bring Love’ to the world and I am very grateful for his presence and ‘high liveliness.’

 

purity

During this period, “things” happened and I had many unanswered questions that I kept close to my heart. These occurrences of the past 15 months started to make sense as I reconnected to my call for “inner child work” that I mentioned in my October 2012 document, but which had been ‘obscured’ all this time: this feeling of Love growing within, a friend’s inner child call on July 19 in Colorado and my seeing her in a cocoon of Love the next day, the resurgence, qualifying and let go of my ‘dark night of the soul’ which took place over 21 years ago, the fact that my hormone levels have gone up and down last year (testosterone was down, significantly, and prolactin, produced by the pituitary gland, and responsible for lactation in women, was up, slightly above normal) and so many other details that suddenly shone differently. Even my work with a dear friend in France will be affected by this crystal realization.

 

The best way I can describe how I felt is through metaphors. Two come to mind.

 

The first one is about decorations and garlands. As a child, imagine you help your parents decorate whatever area of the house with little lights. It looks very colorful to you (every light has a different color) and you look forward to the day when all these little lights will take life, thanks to an energy called electricity. You wait a long time and wonder why is it that your parents are taking so long to ‘do the trick.’ There must be a reason, a reason that escapes you. You even come to a point when you feel discouraged, and go on to play with other parts of your imagination—the little lights carefully stored in a corner of your psyche. And then, when you expect it the least, the light goes on all over the lights and it feels like MAGIC. There is no other word, and there is no other feeling, WONDER. You now know, and you bear the responsibility of lighting the area you worked so hard at. Thankfully, your hard work paid off, very beautifully.

 

The second metaphor is simpler. It is a rope bridge that I kept building and suddenly, after so much weaving and stretching left and right, I find myself on the other side. More than a feeling of relief at having safely arrived on the other side, I experience a feeling that “life can finally go on” and I don’t look back. Perhaps the precipice was too deep, perhaps the past is no longer meaningful, and there is a bit of both as I witness some old relationships lose meaning. Not that the friendships are gone, but the friends no longer call, or the desire to reach out to them is no longer there. They belong to another world, one that sits on the other side of what I call ‘the precipice.’ They were beautiful and alive at some point; they simply lost their juice and their appeal.

 

I cannot end this communication without relating an experience that was nothing short of extraordinary. It took place two days ago as I went to the nearby train station with our son, attending to one of his favorite activities: train watching; knowing there are slow trains, those that stop, and fast trains, those that don’t.

 

For whatever reason, I was consistently agitated that day, and it was very noticeable; the way I drove in the morning or the way I cut people short, on foot or on the road. Something was meant to happen. On the way out of the station, I have to admit that I deliberately took the wrong way out in the parking lot, in order to save time, and that I didn’t fully stop at the stop sign connecting us back to main road. A gentle man witnessed the scenes and he was quick to stop us. I had to explain our son what had just happened, and why those blue and red lights kept flashing behind his back. I mentioned to him the gentle man’s work and duty to protect us, and the fact that I had not been a good river. It took an eternity for the gentle man to return with a little piece of paper. He was extremely cordial and the adventure ended on a sweet note; we were only 5 minutes from home and our son told his Papa to “be careful!”

 

That evening, during my meditation time, I visualized the gentle man’s inner child, at the age of possibly 6 or 7, and sent him Love and Gratitude for what had happened. In retrospect, he certainly protected the two of us, as well as other drivers and passersby. What I didn’t expect is what I felt the next morning: a deep feeling of Love for this person. Never had something of this intensity happened to me, and I was very grateful for my ability to connect across the waves with someone I barely know.

 

Even more beautiful was the gentle man’s writing on the little piece of paper he left with us. I couldn’t see what he had written that evening, as it was too dark, and looked at it this afternoon. The single offence he mentioned gently reads: Obstructing passage to other drivers…

spirit awakening

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Before He Makes Each One by Rainer Maria Rilke

Before He Makes Each One by Rainer Maria Rilke

Before He Makes Each One

Before he makes each one
of us, God speaks.

Then, without speaking,
he takes each one
out of the darkness.

And these are the cloudy
words God speaks
before each of us begins:

“You have been sent out
by your senses. Go
to the farthest edge
of desire, and give me
clothing: burn like a great
fire so that the stretched-out
shadows of the things
of the world cover
me completely.
Let everything happen
to you: beauty and terror.
You must just go–
no feeling is the farthest
you can go. Don’t let
yourself be separated
from me. The country
called life is close.
By its seriousness,
you will know it.
Give me your hand.”

~ Rainer Maria Rilke ~

(Translated by Annie Boutelle, Metamorphoses Fall 2001)

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Your Awakening is Imminent!

Hello Folks,

I usually don’t post long messages from other authors as posts on the main page of Nurturing the Gift of Seeking, but this one struck a chord as I watch the snow falling upon the land. It is beautiful out here, in fact in here, within our deepest Self, and the peaceful whiteness that now envelops us gives it a special cachet!

Enjoy!

Your awakening from the illusion, from the unreality in which you have apparently been immersed for eons is imminent!

January 20, 2014 by John Smallman

There is only the ONE!  You all know that, even if many of you have trouble accessing that knowledge, that deep inner knowing. God, our Father, the Source of all that exists and in which all is contained, just IS.  And the Source is infinite, limitless, without boundaries – there is no beyond, there is only within, which has neither beginning nor end, it just IS, ALWAYS, EVERYWHERE.  It is inevitable, unavoidable, constantly supportive of all that exists in loving acceptance, never judging, just embracing and enfolding in the eternal field of LOVE.

There is absolutely nothing you need do or can do to be worthy, let alone more worthy in the sight of God.  He created you perfect and obviously you could not possibly improve on that, therefore stop reasoning, puzzling, wondering, doubting, and generally trying to make yourselves acceptable to God, because He created you like unto Himself, infinitely and eternally acceptable.  All that He creates is like unto Himself because all is within Him.  Just open your hearts to receive the abundance of Love in which you are at all times enveloped and release the doubts, worries, and anxieties that you allow to plague you, and then, once more, know that you are eternally divinely loved and cared for.

It is time to awaken from the dream, the nightmare, the illusion that has brought you so much unnecessary pain and suffering.  You chose to undergo the experience of separation by building an imaginary state that excluded God.  It could only be imaginary, unreal, because without God, truly separated from Him, there is nothing – no consciousness, no awareness, no life, no Love – and that is beyond all the bounds of possibility.  You are all permanently safe and secured in the loving arms of your Father, and that is what unchangeable means.

Love is eternal, unchangeable.  Life is an aspect of Love, as is consciousness, as is awareness, as is wakefulness, the state to which you are returning.  You never left it, but you did close your eyes and pretend to leave, and you are about to open them and discover that you are still just where you were when you closed them, at Home in the arms of your Father.  The bliss of knowing who You are, who You truly are is about to eliminate forever the endless pain and suffering in which the illusion has seemingly enshrouded you for so many eons.  You have collectively chosen to awaken and discard the illusion, and that is what is to happen – your awakening from the illusion, from the unreality in which you have apparently been immersed for eons is imminent!

The brilliance of what awaits you is ineffable.  Your emergence into the bright Light of Reality cannot be delayed any longer.  You need to wake up from the dream into the awe-inspiring wonder of Reality, your true and only Home, otherwise known by humanity as: Heaven, Paradise, the Garden of Eden, Nirvana, Shambhala, and myriad other names.  And, It is within You, always.  To awaken is to uncover your real identity as One with Source, in a state of infinitely flowing peace and harmony, where individual wills are united with the One Will and recognize themselves as essential undifferentiated aspects of that One Will.  And that recognition brings joy, utter and absolute joy, a knowing that surpasses all you have ever known, a wisdom beyond conceivability, and a peace that exalts and discloses an infinite possibility of creative opportunities with which you can engage.  Think of all the arts available to man that add beauty and wonder to your environment; they are as nothing compared to the possibilities awaiting you when you awaken.

this is a good sign

Limitation is of the illusion, a state in which difficulty and impracticality appear to impede and hinder nearly all your creative ventures no matter how inspiring and desirable they may appear to be.  Many of you do obtain satisfaction, sometimes amazing satisfaction, from overcoming difficulties, issues, problems, conflicts, and reversals as you strive to achieve the goals that others have set you, or that you have set for yourselves.  But suppose that the energy you used in doing so could instead be put wholeheartedly into your creative and artistic concepts – can you imagine how much more fulfilling that would be?

Striving and struggling have themselves become creative ventures for you, dimming your awareness of, your faint and distant memories of Reality.  You greatly honor those who succeed, especially where many others have tried and failed – and that is kind, compassionate, and generous – but it is also raising pain, suffering, and desolation to the point of being the purpose of the exercise during which they were experienced.  And much more attention tends to be focused on the suffering and indomitability that these determined ones have demonstrated rather than on what they have actually achieved.

To wage war successfully these “virtues” must be encouraged and honored, as they have been for eons.  But war itself is and never can be a success, as your worldly history demonstrates very clearly, time and time again.

The illusion encourages suffering and pretends to reward it.  But in truth those who are honored are quickly forgotten unless they continue to strive towards further achievements; and their rewards are very frequently severe bodily damage that further limits and restricts them as they tread their human life paths.  And, as forgotten heroes, they find themselves with much time to reflect on the roles that they have played, frequently discovering that they had not been fully true to themselves even though they had done their utmost to please those who commanded or directed them, and had done their best to support and protect those “on their team or their side.”  Some rise above this realization and learn to serve humanity, but many are overwhelmed with bitterness and an intense sense that their lives have been an unrelieved series of calamitous failures.  This, of course, is not the case.  Every human life, no matter how unconscionable and evil it may appear to have been has, in the long run, brought about essential changes in your thinking and in your beliefs.

All your human cultures, races, philosophies, religions, and other organizations – political, business, or social – hold divisive beliefs and values which they then uphold, encourage, persuade, and indeed attempt to enforce upon you, demanding that you embrace attitudes and behaviors that “supposedly” are for the ultimate good of all. They are not, purely because they are divisive.  You are all only too well aware of the maxim “divide and conquer,” and yet, when it is used for that specific purpose, no one seems to notice . . . until it is too late.  It is an insidious form of betrayal that has been used time and time again on a basically unsuspecting or unaware majority by an unelected elite whose constant and unchanging intent is to maintain or increase their power over humanity.

No more.  Collectively you have chosen to awaken from the illusion, and that is terrifying those who would control you, hence the ever-increasing attempts to introduce more new laws to further restrict the rights of the individual (“divide and conquer”) in the interests of maintaining the security of the nation from terrorist attacks which, unless forcefully prevented, are about to destroy it.  And fear has been so enthusiastically encouraged by all forms of advertising that many do feel threatened, unsafe, and would support almost any measure that is proclaimed to protect them from these intensely perceived but unreal threats.

You are all sovereign beings created in Love for an eternity of ecstatic joy, and those who would continue to support and maintain the illusion are doing their utmost to prevent you from becoming aware of your changeless divine heritage and destiny. Go within, ask for help and for Love from those who are watching over you constantly in the spiritual realms, and then open yourselves to receive it.  Release all your doubts and anxieties, they are totally without basis or foundation, because you are all divine beings whose awakening is assured.  To believe otherwise is to embrace and support the illusion and all the fears and anxieties that it promotes.

Meditation loss

Let go, surrender to the Truth of God’s endless and unremitting Love for you as you go within daily to your safe haven, your inner sanctum, where the “Peace that passeth all understanding” awaits you as you prepare to awaken into the bright Light of Reality.

Your loving brother, Jesus.

http://johnsmallman2.wordpress.com/2014/01/20/your-awakening-from-the-illusion-from-the-unreality-in-which-you-have-apparently-been-immersed-for-eons-is-imminent/

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Wishes for Life – Way Beyond a New Year!

Hello Folks,

I have been reading the Wisdom of the Enneagram lately, from Don Richard Riso and Russ Hudson, and found this uplifting, lovely passage on page 41.

Happy New Life!

 

“Always remember that it is your birthright and natural state to be wise and noble, loving and generous, to esteem yourself and others, to be creative and constantly renewing yourself, to be engaged in the world in awe and in depth, to have courage and to rely on yourself, to be joyous and effortlessly accomplished, to be strong and effective, to enjoy peace of mind and to be present to the unfolding mystery of your life.”

 

Don Richard Riso & Russ Hudson

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