Today’s message is one that reflects some of the private conversations that so many of us have had with God. Whether we pray on our knees, talk to ourselves while driving, or cry quietly and simply ask ‘Why?’, today’s message touches on many of the questions that we so often don’t know how to answer, but that seem to come up again and again as we experience humanity.

Some people try to explain that evil does not exist, or that it is merely a psychological factor. But this is not so. The evidence of evil is here in this world. We cannot deny it. If there is no evil, why would Jesus pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”? He is praying plainly that evil does exist.

So the truth is, we do find evil in this world. And where did it come from? God. Evil provides the opportunity for us to recognize and experience goodness. Evil had to be, if there was to be any creation. If you wrote a message with white chalk on a white board, no one would see it. So without the blackboard, the good things in this world wouldn’t be visible. For instance, Judas was Jesus’ best publicity agent. By his evil act, Judas made Christ eternally famous. Jesus knew the role he had to play, and all that was going to happen to him in order that he might demonstrate the love and greatness of God. A villain was necessary to this enactment.

Perfection is not to be found in this world

It’s hard to know where the dividing line is between good and evil. Certainly it is terrible that bacteria kills billions people every hundred years, but think of the chaos of overpopulation. And if everything here were good and perfect, no one would leave this Earth of his or her own accord; no one would want to go back to God. So in a sense, misery is your best friend, because it starts you seeking God. When you begin to see clearly the imperfection of the world, you will begin to seek the perfection of God. The truth is that God is using evil, not to destroy us, but to make us disillusioned with His toys, with the playthings of this world, so that we might see Him.

This is why the Lord Himself permits injustices and evil. But I have said to Him, “Lord, You have always been perfect. How do you know what suffering is? Yet you have put us through these tests; and you had no business doing it. We didn’t ask to be born as mortals and to suffer.” (He doesn’t mind that I argue with him. He is very patient.) The Lord answered, “You don’t have to go on suffering; I have given everyone the free will to choose good instead of evil.”

So evil is the test of God, to see if we will choose Him or His gifts. He created us in His image and gave us the power to choose for ourselves. But we so often don’t use that power consciously. At night, when we leave our bodies during sleep, we all return to our Godlike states. But in the daytime, we become devils – not all of us, but most of us – the unconscious among us. Why not live in tune with God in the daytime, for then we shall know no fear, we shall know no evil. It is easy to say this, but how easy is it to put into practice?

While evil in itself is something we don’t want, yet it is like a poisoned honey, it is palpable, it is tasty. At the table, we are tempted to eat too much, and to eat the wrong things. Then we begin to get fat here and there, just where we don’t want it. In response to our wrong actions, Nature takes revenge and seems to be poking fun at us all the time. It is indeed a funny world! But the results of our wrong actions don’t seem very funny to us! Believe me, I know! This is why many of us quarrel with God and scold Him, “Why have you created all of these terrible temptations that your children succumb to? Why have you made them so pleasurable?” Well, the lesson is simple: the Law of Cause and Effect.

So, since there is no perfection in this world, why continue to seek it here? You may find a little short-lived pleasure, but mostly you will find suffering and injustice. Pain was given to make you know when something is wrong with the body. But when the pain of cancer comes, there is no reason in it. The sufferer has no relief from his pain, and he doesn’t know why he has to suffer. And there are those who need money and can’t get it, and those who don’t need it who easily acquire more. Those who have much want still more; and those who have nothing want just a little, but can’t get even that. Isn’t this true? Why these injustices? Some people are as healthy as can be, and some are always sick. But health or disease doesn’t necessarily determine whether or not you are happy. St. Francis suffered much of the time, yet he was healing the sick and was filled with the joy of God. Suffering has a different meaning for you when you have attained the freedom of God. But you have to attain that freedom first.

We must learn to work without desire, and to live in this world without attachment. As soon as you are caught up in desires and attachments, you will have all the evil that is coming to you. That is why the Gita says “O Arjuna! No (compelling) duty have I to perform! There is naught that I have not acquired! Nothing in the three worlds remains for me to gain! Yet I am consciously present in the performance of all actions.” Those who want to be liberated must do likewise, engaging in service-ful, joyful, and non-attached activity. Most people willingly work hard for money, but they won’t make even a little effort for their salvation. We must work for God. The way to do this is to stop cooperating with evil and to behave as God would have us behave.

We must love one another. Sometimes it is not easy, but to love your enemy means to choose not to become another person’s enemy. By a thought, any one of us could destroy another, but why would we want to? Jesus had that power. When his enemies taunted him to save himself from the cross, he said, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then shall the scripture be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” He conquered by love. If the ordinary man is slapped, the great desire is to slap back. Therefore, God does not give His divine power to those who are spiritually weak, because they would misuse it. The desire and the strength to forgive comes from attunement with God.

How few you find in this world who are sincere and who want to be your friend for your sake, and not for something they can take from you. Those sincere souls are most enjoyable. Greater than all riches is true friendship. If you can be a true friend to people, you will find God. If you sincerely love people, you can know them, just as when you look through a clear glass, you can see what is in the glass. But your perception of people is unclear unless you love God, and unless you love others with the love of God.

“I can give my life for a sincere soul”

In this world, we will all eventually learn that we must be fearless, sincere, and surround ourselves not only with those whom we can inspire, but with those who can inspire us as well. When we attain heightened levels of clarity, we can begin to help those who are ‘evil’, but trying to do this when we are not yet strong enough ourselves will weaken us. So many of those who try to reform others become infected with their evil.

If you have a mind that absorbs everything like blotting paper, you must keep that mind free from evil influences. Just as blotter paper that has become snaked with spilled oil will no longer absorb water, so must your mind first be saturated with good until it becomes impervious to evil.

Be strong in your own goodness, and try to be helpful to others. The man who only looks out for himself and his own family won’t find much happiness. If he doesn’t think of anyone else who might be suffering, he denies himself the joy of helping another, so his own cup of satisfaction will remain small.

The Cosmic Motion Picture

There is another angle to duality, or good and evil. If a movie producer made motion pictures only from select angles, and showed them in the film houses morning, noon and night every day, he would soon have to close-up business. He has to produce variety in order to attract people’s attention. The bad man makes the hero look so much better! And we like plots that are filled with action. We don’t mind looking at exciting movies about danger and disaster because we know that they are only movies. I remember one time when I was taken to see a movie in which the hero died; it was such a tragedy! So I stayed and watched the next showed until I saw the hero alive again, then I left the theater.

If you could see what is going on behind the screen of this life, you wouldn’t suffer at all. It is a cosmic motion picture show. This movie that God is projecting on the screen of this Earth has no value once you see what goes on behind the screens. Look at the beam of God’s light that is projecting these scenes onto the screen of life. See the pictures of the whole universe coming from this beam. See beyond the illusion.

Another time, I was sitting in a movie theater watching an exciting drama on the screen. At a certain point, I looked up into the projection booth and saw that the projectionist wasn’t interested in the picture, because he had seen it over and over again. Instead, he was reading a book. The projection machine was doing its job; there was the sound, and the beam of light was casting the realistic pictures onto the screen. And there was the audience, caught up in the drama. I thought, “Lord, You are like this man, sitting here in the booth, absorbed in your own nature of bliss and love and wisdom. Your machine of cosmic law is throwing on the screen of the universe scenes of jealousy, of love, of hatred, of wisdom, but you remain uninvolved in your plays.” From age to age, from civilization to civilization, the same old pictures are shown over and over again, only with different characters playing the parts.

When I took my gaze from the beam of light that was casting the scenes on the screen, I looked at the audience and I saw that they were going through all the emotions of the actors in the movie. They were suffering with the hero and reacting to the evil of the villain. To the audience, it was a tragic experience. To the operator in the projection booth, it was only a picture. And so it is with God. He has created pictures of light and shadows, the hero and the villain, good and evil, and we are the audience and the actors. It is only when we identify with the play that we get in trouble!

Without shadows existing alongside the light, there could be no picture. Evil is the shadow that converts the one beam of God’s light into pictures or forms. Therefore, evil is the shadow of God that makes this play possible. The dark shadows of evil are interspersed with the pure white beam of the virtues of God. He wants you not to take these pictures so seriously. The director of a movie sees the murders and the suffering and the comedy and the drama as a means to create interest for the audience. He stands apart from the play and directs and observes it. God wants us to behave with detachment, realizing we are only actors or observers in His cosmic show.

Though God has everything, it can still be said that he has some desire: He wants to see who will remain un-intimidated by this picture, and who will play his part well and come back to Him. You can’t run away from this universe, but if you act in this play with your thought fixed on God, you will be free.

If you feel like saying to God, “Lord, this is a motion picture to you, but it is terrible to us”, He may reply, “I make you realize it is a dream every night when you go to sleep. You simply forget this in the daytime.”

For him who realizes God, there is no evil

The way to supreme happiness will not be found by the scientists nor the material-minded people alone, but by those who follow the masters who say: “Go back to the booth of the Infinite from which you can see the projection of all these cosmic motion pictures. Then you won’t be troubled about God’s creation, God’s play…”

When you are part of the delusion, you suffer.
When you stand aside and watch it, you cannot suffer.
When you are an observer, you can enjoy this play.

And with that, a little story to end today’s message:

A king fell asleep and dreamed that he was poor. He was crying out in his sleep for just a penny for some food. Finally, the queen woke him and said, “What is the matter with you? Your treasury is full of gold, and yet you are crying for a penny.”

Then the king said, “Oh, how silly of me, I thought I was a beggar and was starving for lack of that penny.”

Such is the delusion of every soul that is dreaming it is a mortal, subject to the nightmarish evils of all kinds of disease, suffering, troubles, and heartbreaks. The only way to escape this nightmare is detaching from the dream images of this world. It is because you have your attention on the illusions that you suffer. If you give your heart to man, or to drink, or to greed, or to drugs, you will suffer. Your heart will be broken. The more you seek peace in God, the more peace will devour your worries and sufferings. Suffering comes when the evils of the world are let in. When we learn to be spiritually tough, we enable ourselves to be filled with joy, and thus, evil-free.

One more time…

OUR EGOS ARE IN CONTROL OF OUR MINDS AND ARE CAUSING OUR OUT-OF-BALANCE THOUGHTS AND EMOTIONS TO RULE WHO WE ARE!

How many times do we need to hear this before it really sinks in? Sometimes we may have to hear it over and over again to finally learn how to release the ego’s power over who we are!

Next…

WE ARE LOSING OUR PRECIOUS MOMENTS OF NOW BY FOCUSING OUR THOUGHTS ON PAST GARBAGE LIKE FEAR, ANGER, RESENTMENT AND OUR INABILITY TO FORGIVE AND MOVE ON!!

Why??? When are we going to get it? Another thing…we are living for tomorrow with the assumption that our current problems will be gone and our lives, we assume, will be happier. If so, what is happening to the present? Are we missing it? Is it being overshadowed by anxiety or the illusive hopes that our lives will be happier when such times as our kids are out of the house, or when we don’t have to go to this unsatisfying job any more, or when our mortgage is paid off? Whatever it is that we are anticipating that will bring us more contentment than we are presently experiencing, if we do not change our thinking NOW then these “whens” will simply be replaced with other “whens”. We will continually believe that we will be happier later on. Wherever it is that our thoughts are taking us, we are missing the present!

Are you getting fed up with the restlessness, the anxieties and the constant dreaming for better times? If so, then CHANGE YOUR THINKING!!! CHANGE IT NOW! The present time is the only time that is available to us, and it is for this moment that we need to be grateful!

I spoke to an incredible senior citizen a while back about to what she attributes her positive attitude, her optimistic outlook on life, and her brilliant smile. She shared with me her secret: She stated that she wakes up each morning and makes the conscious decision and verbal affirmation, “Today I choose happiness.” How profound is that?! How can so simple a statement contain so much wisdom, power and love? How many of us can have the courage to proclaim such a statement to ourselves and then truly live by it? Can you? Is happiness a conscious choice? I believe it is! This courageous person shared with me that she has experienced several difficult experiences throughout her life; yet through each challenge, she chose happiness. I walked away from my time with this special lady a changed person. She is a living example of how our attitude and outlook on life are our own individual choices to make, and how they can make our lives positive, loving and worth living or, conversely, a cross to bear.

So, does a statement such as this: “I choose happiness” seem possible in your life? Can you say it now? Can you step aside from your current problems and challenges and look at yourself in the mirror and say that you choose happiness? All that we truly have is the present moment, and we can choose to see happiness in this moment or we can look at life as one continuous problem after another that we have to overcome. No one can do it for us! We must make the continuous effort to see our current problems as situations that we need to learn from, lessons that our souls CHOSE to experience in order for us to remember who we are. These situations were not forced on us…they are gifts offered to us to grow more loving, more patient, more understanding individuals.

Our families need us, our friends need us, our planet needs us! Are we up for the challenge? Can we use our precious life energy in a focused, loving way that can help create peace in our lives and peace in our world? I think we can!

How many of us have experienced a ‘calling’? What is this voice, or pull, or force that has set us on a journey into unknown territory? Where has this urging come from? From within us? From outside of ourselves?

The next set of questions that come to mind are…

‘When did all this begin?’

‘What was I searching for on the day that I realized that I possessed a calling from something so much greater than myself?’

‘Did I know that once I embarked on this search, I would not be able to turn back?’

Then, of course, the next set of questions begins with…

‘If I could turn back the clock to a time much simpler, when this calling wasn’t such a big part of my life, would I go back?’

‘How has this urging changed me?’

And finally…

‘Has the momentum of this pursuit for answers escalated over time or is the desire and passion for my search diminishing?’

‘Am I continually feeding this urging or am I trying to push it aside?’

‘What has control over who I am?’

‘Is it my ego struggling to make sense of it all or is it my humble, simple craving soul reaching out to me for a connection, a union with all of the other parts of me?’

These are some of the questions that we each need to be asking ourselves…we need to delve deeply within our hearts and souls and truly see what our motivations are and why you are here, reading these words right now. Please take the time to ponder these many questions when you are alone in the stillness. Take time out of your busy days to understand not only why you are here but where you are going. We each need to have a goal, a purpose, a spiritual focus within our lives in order to truly live a full, balanced life.

We are each on our own paths and have each arrived here through different experiences, different relationships, a different set of circumstances; yet, WE ARE HERE!!! We are a small group amongst a hustling community, yet the size of the group is immaterial. We are all here for a reason…some are seeking support and guidance during a challenging period of their lives, some are striving to release fears or practice forgiveness on a regular basis, some are working hard on controlling their thoughts and emotions and some are looking to add a much deeper spiritual realization into their lives. Then there are others who are on a fast-paced ascension process, whereby their primary life focus is on their spiritual growth and on maximizing their life experiences to attain a higher vibration and more powerful energy balance. Whatever the reason, this urging continues to simmer, stew and sometimes boil, depending on the heat within us.

The key is that we continue to come together to answer this ‘calling’ that is deep within our being and that continually talks to us – whether we can hear it or not… Each of us is unique and each of our paths are special and unique. No one person is better than any other…no path more powerful. We are united here for one purpose and one purpose only…that is to remember who we really. And who are we? We are simply spiritual beings having a human experience. We all know this, yet we have a tendency to forget it!

Okay, why am I bringing up this calling over and over again? It is because I believe that once we recognize that voice of silent knowingness that comes from the depths of our being and when we honor that recognition of Divine truth and let it direct our lives, we will never be the same! We have joined others hearing the calling at this time in our evolution, to join this emerging global family of like-minded individuals who are simultaneously undergoing this life-altering transformation. It is now time to become who we really are, time to relinquish the limitations that are fostered by our fears and embrace the truth that is conceived in love. We have reached a crossroads of monumental proportion that requires the relinquishing of all that is ego-based and material-driven and must strive to replace them with unconditional love, kindness, truth and honesty.

We live in very trying times right now where confrontations are mounting, both in our homes and in the nations of our world. We have crises in our waters, in our air, in our economies, and even in our streets where we used to feel safe. What is happening and why now? There are many theories, many prophecies, much discussion about energies, about vibrations, about earth changes…but what do we think about this? How does this resound deep within our souls? Each of us probably feels differing beliefs on these questions. There is no right or wrong answer. Each of us must answer our own questioning, discover our own beliefs and truths and live our lives accordingly. For within each one of our personal ‘callings’ there is a remembrance of things past, an undefinable place of recognition that comes from within us and forms a connection with who we truly are. This connection has a deeper knowledge as to why we chose to come into this particular body, in this particular lifetime. For this reason, we each must continue to seek and re-discover who we really are and why we are here at this particular time. By loving both ourselves, others and all of nature as one connected energy and by living our principles and our truths, this truly is possible.

The key to this process is getting to know who we really are, what direction our lives are heading, making any correction or improvements in how we lead our lives if necessary, and by truly getting in touch with our Higher Selves and our deeper truths. This process of rediscovery is a journey, an opening up of new ideas and yet a closing of old doors, a holding-on and yet a letting go, a time of struggle followed by a deeper personal understanding of what the experience brought to us. This process is powerful and it is on-going. It doesn’t happen overnight or after a couple of spiritual classes or books. It takes time, it takes effort and it takes conscious awareness of our thoughts, our emotions, our habits and our choices on a DAILY basis. Through this process of self-discovery and personal insight into who we are, we are then able to make conscious choices of who we want to ‘become’. We are changing each moment of every day, and when we are able to make ‘conscious’ choices, we can truly mold ourselves into a more loving, accepting and balanced individual.

Life is continually changing and providing us the opportunities for soul development and growth. The moments in time when we find ourselves right in the middle of any major change in our lives merely reflects a pause in an ever-ongoing momentum of individual soul growth. Through these experiences and challenges, we are given the opportunities for expanding who we are. Can we see change as a gift to us which has all the possibilities of expanding our consciousness? This is only possible if we condition ourselves to see the beauty, to see the opportunity, to see the potential in each change in our lives as a grand possibility for personal soul growth. How we react to change is a choice made by each one of us.

A life lived by choice is a life of conscious action.
A life lived by chance is a life of unconscious reaction.
It all depends on how we choose to exercise our own free will.

This ‘calling’ from our souls for a deeper connection can be our constant companion when we listen and acknowledge its presence. We must never expect that the process of evolution ends at any given point, whereby having completed a given course of study, we are tested, graded and given a diploma and can then just sit back and utter a sigh of relief. This is a process, experience after experience, challenge after challenge, lifetime after lifetime. We are the captains of our ships, we are the ones to keep the momentum going forward…to see where we are heading and to be in control of the wheel at all times. When we allow someone else to step up to the helm and make decisions or choices on our behalf, we lose a part of our souls to this outside force and give away our own individual power. Through the deeper understanding that these Teachings give to us, we are fortified with the knowledge of the powers that are contained within each of us…and this power must be truly understood, controlled and directed throughout the course of our lives.

There have been few times in all of existence when humans have been able to hold so much of their own power within their physical bodies. With this power, comes much greater responsibility. We are now in the transition period during which we are given time to climate to our newly powered vehicles. Take this time to be accepting of yourself, to look around you as well as within you and take in all the changes that are taking place. And most of all, remember to be patient with yourself and those around you.

During the next several weeks, you will be given many opportunities to engage with your calling. Are you going to listen? Are you really able to hear it speaking to you with all the mental clutter that is going on in your mind? Please give some thought to the questions and comments written here and share your own thoughts on this topic with the rest of us. Help one another discover ways to really open up and hear this voice of wisdom that wants SO badly to reach all of us!

Remember dear ones, we are all teachers and we are all students. Let’s maximize this time of change by truly practicing understanding, sharing our wisdom and experiences with one another and unifying as one heart of SOUL.

‘We came into this life with nothing to learn…we have only to demonstrate what we already know…’
~Neale Donald Walsch

CHAPTER 5: Realisation In Love

Link to chapter: click here
Length of chapter reading: 42:28 minutes

Duality is not an expression of separation. It is an invitation to embody unconditional love and acceptance for all, no matter whether our minds can make sense of it, no matter whether our beliefs are in line with it, no matter whether our desires are fulfilled by it. Duality is the ultimate union of opposites representing the possibility of wholeness disguised in contradiction. When there is little evidence, where we do not believe that there is enough proof, we can ask ourselves what we do have. This is when we open ourselves to the realisation that through free will, we have the power to choose to see things differently.

“In learning a language, when from mere words we reach the laws of words, we have gained a great deal. But if we stop at that point and concern ourselves only with the marvels of the formation of a language, seeking the hidden reason of all its apparent caprices, we do not reach that end, for grammar is not literature; prosity is not a poem. When we come to literature, we find that, though it conforms to the rules of grammar, it is yet a thing of joy; it is freedom itself. The beauty of a poem is bound by strict laws, yet it transcends them. The laws are its wings. They do not keep it weighed down. They carry it to freedom. Its form is in law, but its spirit is in beauty. Law is the first step toward freedom, and beauty is the complete liberation which stands on the pedestal of law. Beauty harmonises in itself the limit and the beyond – the law and the liberty.”

Why is it that so often, we reach ‘a’ point and conclude that we have reached the final step in our journey?

“I have found love! My search is over.”
“I have completed a degree. I no longer have to be a student.”

As with the learning of a language, there are many facets to our understanding. We eventually discover that the more we know, the less we understand. The complexity of the universal truth is so intricate and vast that we can easily become entangled in its details. The human mind was not made to grasp all the facts, calculate all the figures and make sense of all the outcomes. It is in the simplicity where we can truly make sense of all in our lives. It is in the silence where we can truly find clarity. If we relate this to the learning of a language, it is when we transcend the words of a poem and feel the essence of the poet that we have come to a point of greater understanding.

“If we happen to be awake then, we question him.”

If we happen to be awake…

“The question is, in what manner do we accept this world, which is a perfect gift of joy? Have we been able to receive it in our heart, where we keep enshrined things that are of deathless value to us? We are frantically busy making use of the forces of the Universe to gain more and more power. We feed and we cloth ourselves from its stores. We scramble for its riches and it becomes for us a field of fierce competition. But were we born for this?
To extend our proprietary rights over this world and make of it a marketable commodity? When our whole mind is spent only upon making use of this world, it looses for us its true value. We make is cheap by our sordid desires, and thus, to the end of our days, we only try to feed upon it, and miss its truth. Just like the greedy child who tears the leaves from a precious book and tries to swallow them.”

Where do you see yourself fitting in the picture Tagore paints in the words above? I used to be one of the frantic. There was a time when I was watching others trying to swallow the leaves and wondering if I should join in. But for some reason, I don’t see a place to fit in anymore. I am disconnected from the traffic, unplugged from much of the noise, and find myself wondering…where do I fit in? Do I try to change the world? Do I try to remind people what they seem to have forgotten? Or do I disconnect even further and ignore the pain and the chaos?

I don’t mean to sound self-righteous at all here. I am sorry if I appear to be. In truth, I feel like an alien, living amongst a people with whom I don’t know how to relate. When I am in the company of others, I often seem to say things that silence the room, but I don’t know what that means. When I am physically alone, I find myself able to reach such heights of mental expansion and seem to be able to best translate and share those moments through technology. I heard somewhere recently that the longer we spend disassociated with the rest, the more others seem unrecognisable. Is my experience a product of the times or a consequence of something else?

“…we can never have a true view of man unless we have a love for him… Man foolishly tries to prove his superiority by imagining his radical separateness from what he calls his physical world, which in his blind fanaticism, he sometimes goes to the extent of ignoring all together, holding it as his direst enemy. Yet the more his knowledge progresses, the more it becomes difficult for man to establish this separateness and all the imaginary boundaries he had setup around himself vanish, one after the other. Every time we loose some of our badges of absolute distinction by which we conferred upon humanity the right to hold itself apart from its surroundings, it gives us a shock of humiliation. But we have to submit to this if we setup our pride on the path of self-realisation to create divisions and disunion, then it must sooner or later come under the wheels of truth and be ground to dust.”

But what if I understand a tree better then I understand man? Or perhaps I should ask why I feel more comfortable with it. And then I’m reminded that when we ask ‘why’, we do not truly see the picture in front of us. So I try to step back to see a bit more of this picture, and then I meet the hermit that resides within. The part of me that identifies more with that which is unseen, with that which is unspoken by most.

In all my wondering and trying to relate, I have realised that this physical world inevitably requires action. Building up the courage to act is a process of facing ones fears, seeing them for the self-imposed illusions that they are, and detaching from that which sells the sense of separateness. “…we can never have a true view of man unless we have a love for him…” And here I am drawn back to myself. Do I love myself? How can I realise the true view of man if I do not see it in myself first?

The attunement process is a ceremony of spiritual awakening that symbolizes the creation of a new connection between you and the Universal Source of Light that aligns you with your Highest Good. You can imagine it as being similar to the process of turning the dial on a radio to find a station. During an attunement, you are ‘tuned in’ to a different station. In other words, you are being attuned to a higher frequency.

A Reiki attunement must be given by a Reiki Master. A Reiki Master is someone who devotes themselves to attaining and maintaining a very high frequency of energy respective to the general masses. A Master’s connection to the Universal flow of energy is high enough that he or she can create a stronger connection between you and the Universal flow. After the final attunement, a person is technically labeled a Reiki Master, but the process of attaining Master-hood takes an undefined amount of time, depending solely on the person.

One of the unique characteristics of Reiki is its tradition of attuning people to the different levels of vibration that are represented in each degree. During the first degree, you receive four attunements and the second and third degree each require one attunement. Attunements are short ceremonies in which the Reiki Master performs a sequence of acts that connect you to a greater flow of energy. The ceremonies create an energy pattern around you when the Reiki Master imprints symbols into your aura. Your energy frequency immediately adjusts to the higher frequency represented by the Reiki symbols. The attunement is permanent.

Remember the definition of Reiki. It means ‘Universal Life Force Energy’. When someone says that they work with Reiki energy, it doesn’t mean that they are accessing a special kind of energy.

I work with Reiki energy = I work with Universal Life Force Energy

There is no distinction between ‘different types of energy’. There simply is energy, or there is no energy. There is no ‘good energy’. There is no ‘negative energy’. Once you realize that everything is energy, you begin to fully understand what the attunement process is and what being a Reiki practitioner means.

There are many sources that will tell you that the purpose of an attunement is to allow you to access ‘Reiki energy’ in order to heal a person or a situation. This is misleading. The purpose of an attunement is simply to give you greater access to the Universal flow of energy. What you choose to do with this new connection is up to you although it is important to recognize that wanting an attunement in order to heal others or to heal a situation are secondary desires.

You will not be able to heal anyone or anything until you begin to heal yourself.

To heal means to balance.

Until you balance yourself, your ability to balance elements around you is limited.

Enlightenment is a two-way process. You are invited to share your experiences of attunement with others who have gone through it and/or who have questions about it by adding your comment here Why don’t I start by sharing an attunement experience with you…

I was attuned to master level in Toronto, Canada – although I was slow to start and tried to ignore that inner voice for as long as I could…because of fear.

My whole attunement process took approximately 2-3 years. I had intensive periods of lessons and attunements with my teacher. These were followed by longer periods with little-to-no contact with him during which time I was encouraged to put the teachings into practice and to observe the changes that were to take place within myself, in my life and to those around me.

I was not encouraged nor deterred from giving Reiki sessions to others. My teacher was supportive throughout the process. I was often reminded that free will was a governing Universal Law and I had the choice each step of the way.

As I became more and more comfortable with the changes that came with this process, I began to hear that little voice in my head more often…although I wasn’t as afraid of it anymore. I noticed myself being inspired to try new things and face fears that I knew were holding me back. I took Kundalini Yoga classes which I thoroughly enjoyed, and opened a Reiki practice that allowed me to give Reiki sessions and attunements to others.

After about a year and a half of advertising myself as a Reiki practitioner – all in the name of empowering others with the benefits of Reiki, I decided to close down shop. My personal experience made me feel that offering Reiki in exchange for money tainted the process and actually limited to flow of energy. This is my experience, and I am by no means saying that this will be the case for everyone.

Since my first attunement, I progressively learned more about energy and made the conscious choice to apply what felt right. After experimenting with different approaches, I decided that rather than singing in the streets about the ‘miracle of energy’, I would respect the fact that everyone chooses for themselves and took the indirect route of simply providing the information to others through my site.

Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me…unless of course, I decide to let them.

I’m sitting before the panel again. It’s come time to make some choices about my next assignment. My Guide is standing next to me, as always the pillar of calm, strength, clarity and wisdom. I’ve been working a lot at honing my skills and developing some new ones that will help me in this next life. I realize now what I missed last time around. I think I know what to do this time. I’m so blessed to be given another chance.

Whenever any of us up here are told that we’re ready to go back, a sequence of events is initiated to ensure we’re ready when the moment comes. I’m at the point where I have to meet with the Masters and choose some specific experiences that I will have to go through in this next life. The panel will present me with some choices – all designed to prepare me for my next steps toward a higher level of initiation. We’ll also talk about contracts today. You know, those agreements you get into with other souls before you enter into your new body; the ones you all agree to take part in and that no matter what happens, you all have to go through. Anyway, that’s what today is about. Finalizing the cornerstones of my next life on Earth.

I heard something funny once when I was observing some humans. A guy was talking about his perception of this process of choosing experiences and signing contracts. He said it wasn’t fair that we are asked to make such important choices while we’re in our state of bliss. He said that if we knew how those experiences would really feel, we probably wouldn’t agree to them in the first place. Yes, it is true that we eventually attain a state of bliss when we return home, but even when we are embodied, we have a direct connection with home whenever we want it. It is just a case of learning to cultivate that connection – something he hadn’t learned yet.

During my last life, I was meant to develop an experiential as well as a mental understanding of the concept of free will. I brought with me the conscious awareness of pre-destined experiences and sacred contracts, and although I didn’t completely grasp these concepts, I knew from within that I had made choices long ago that were impacting the life I was leading in that body. What I struggled with though, was an acceptance of the relationship between free will and destiny. I walked through a great part of that life asking myself, “How can we have any power to choose when all our choices have already been made?”

Nearing the end of that life, I began to realize that although certain experiences were pre-destined, the way that we choose to respond to those experiences is completely up to us. We have the free will to choose how we perceive each and every experience. And these choices are what dictate how we develop and grow in each life.

Even though I can explain the concept of this lesson to myself, it still isn’t a lesson that I have completely enveloped with my heart, so I shall continue on my journey of understanding in this next life. Now, if you’ll excuse me, the Masters are waiting…

When I came to the realization – not the understanding but rather the ‘knowing’ – that I am not my body but instead that I AM a limitless, boundless, and timeless SOUL living a human experience, everything else started to make sense…including ‘Nothing Matters’.

‘Nothing Matters’ encompasses the concept of attachment. For example, if you believe that you are nothing without that perfect person, if you believe that you are worthless and would never be able to get along in this world without that perfect man or woman, what you are really saying is that you are attached to the idea of the perfect dependable partner because you do not believe that you are limitless, boundless and self-sufficient, totally powerful in your own right. Through this attachment, you have empowered this idea or this person by giving up your own power. If instead, you apply the concept of nothing matters, than all the fears that lead you to believe that you need someone else to survive disappear. You no longer spend time considering what would happen if you were alone, because the idea of ‘alone’ wouldn’t even exist – you would see it as another cry from your ego to make you afraid.

Our Souls are trapped in a time/space reality just for the benefit of experience. By applying ‘Nothing Matters’, the experience of being here becomes not only bearable but actually peaceful.

Resistance is released.
Passion surfaces.
Purpose is uncovered.

Does purpose matter? That is your choice. The concept of ‘nothing matters’ says only one thing: you make your own choices. Other people’s judgments don’t matter. Your judgments don’t matter. Your choice is made regardless of whether you doubt yourself or not. Nothing matters because this is all an illusion. I am not fat and short. I am so much more encompassing than that. I am not female and blond. My skin color is not me. None of that matters.

“Nothing Matters” opens your EYES to everything around you, not just what you see in front of your nose, or on your schedule for the day. ‘Nothing Matters’ represents a consciousness or an understanding that we are all limitless beings, capable of anything and everything!!

All you have to do is decide what you want to do with the power that is yours. Do you choose to empower manifestations of fear or do you choose another path? There is no right or wrong because in fact…nothing matters! Judgments…nope, they don’t matter!

We are only observers, because the real experiencer, the real thinker is our Soul, going through local space, and past, present, and future time experiences to grow and to evolve. Our body, physical, mental, and emotional, our mind and intelligence are only the tools of the soul to get that experience. I say ‘only’ because to give these things more credit would empower them while taking power away from me.

Let me for a moment get into the topic of free will versus destiny.

It may seem like a contradiction to say that we have free will to create our existences but at the same time, before we came here we decided to go through specific situations that we cannot now choose not to go through. Let’s look at this for a minute. Assuming that this is what actually happened, and that we did in fact agree to experience some predetermined things in this life, it is important to understand to what we actually agreed. We only agreed to take part in the experience. We did not predetermine how we are to experience the experience. In other words:

We always have the choice to decide how we want to respond to experience.

That is the key in determining how our existence unfolds. Empower yourself by owning your choices, taking command of your journey. None of this matters because essentially we will all get to the end result. The question is only how you CHOOSE to get there. If you choose to take a passive role and see yourself as indestructible because the ending is inevitable, that is your choice. Take a moment if you wish and just remember that for each cause, there is an effect. You are free to make your choices, but ignorance of their consequences is not a defense. It is up to you how you choose to live your life.

Only you look through your eyes.
Only you see the world the way you do.

If you choose to see yourself as being harmed, then that will be your reality. On the other hand, if you choose not to see yourself as harmed, your thoughts and perceptions will accommodate this alternate reality for you. Nothing that you experienced matters in the end whether you see yourself as harmed or not. Nothing matters. Even the choice that you make about whether you are hurt or not doesn’t matter because the way you define yourself here is not an all-encompassing definition of who you are.

It is about perception.
It is about experience.
Have fun with life!! Enjoy it!! Life is not a serious thing….it’s freedom if you choose to look at it that way.
Always your choice…