Attaining clarity is a funny thing.  The purpose of attaining clarity is to reach a place of stillness, silence, eternal security, oneness and to essentially become the embodiment of unconditional love.  On the other hand, those are things that do not exist on the material plane and to experience them, one must go ‘in’ and eventually learn to radiate them out.

Is it possible to be in physical form and have multi-dimensional experiences? It is absolutely possible.  What is not possible is to expect to be able to attain such an ability of conscious transmutation while remaining in an environment of a lower vibration – a vibration over-populated by the herd.  If you want to change for the Light-er, you must first purge the metaphysical weight.

Purging the weight is a process of death and rebirth.  It is a process of first accepting and then letting go of perspectives that box you in. Only when you allow these things to die do you create space for rebirth. It’s just like learning how to walk again.

Through this process of acceptance and release, you receive new tools for new purposes.  You can still try to use the old tools to accomplish new tasks, but you’ll eventually find that they don’t work the same way they used to.  In fact, nothing will feel the same as it used to.  The things that once brought you so much joy lead to disappointment and disillusion now.  Once the mind is stretched, it cannot go back to its original form.  You are changed forever.  You may allow the memories of the past to haunt you.  You may choose to try recreating what was once joyful, but nothing tastes nor does it look or feel the same.  All the senses are put to new tests.  The mind is exercised in different ways and the process of change just seems to get faster and more unforgiving. Whoever said that ignorance is bliss had a point.  There’s a temporary bliss connected to ‘not knowing’.

The only time you experience pain from the transformation into Light-ness is when you’ve shifted into a relatively higher vibration while simultaneously continuing to live an existence in tune with a lower vibration.  At this point, it becomes more and more of an effort to ‘balance’ because you’re no longer balancing according to the universal equilibrium. Instead, you’re creating your own scales and conjuring up your own private units of measurement in order to satisfy your egoic desires.  You’re constantly faced with the process of renewal and if you don’t embrace a new perspective of the experiences that come your way, you’ll create pain for yourself. You’ll create a reality of suffering because you will try to exert effort where effort cannot exist.

‘Effort’ is an interesting concept. It’s a deceiving word.  People use the word ‘effort’ with pride.  They believe that it denotes dedication and commitment.  In actuality, effort indicates resistance – it takes place when you’re working against the flow.  If you are working against the flow, you are not working in accordance with the Universal Laws.  You are in opposition to nature.  What is nature’s way of telling us that we are not working in harmony with its laws?  It brings pain.  The source of pain is resistance.

The next time you find yourself exerting effort to accomplish something, observe your mental chatter, ask yourself what you are doing at that very moment, and decide. Do you choose opposition or harmony?

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.

Understanding our minds is essential in order to be able to manifest in our lives. It is the key to becoming conscious co-creators with God. With the Law of Manifestation, we understand that everything is energy. If we understand this natural principle, then we get what we want in our lives by learning to use our precious energy to manifest what we desire by transferring this energy from one reality to another.

We do this with our minds. The mind is a process, not an organ in the body, whereas the brain is the sensitive instrument of the mind. Each of us possess only one mind, but it is important to recognize it as having three main levels, or aspects of itself: the conscious mind, the subconscious mind, and the superconscious mind.

A brief outline of what we have been discussing lately follows as a summary aid which you are welcome to refer back to as you progress in your work on the path:

The Conscious Mind

• Our “reasoning mind”
• Utilized through use of our personal power and will
• Used through physical action
• Programmer of our subconscious mind – we decide what we feed our subconscious by being aware of our thoughts 24 hours a day on a conscious level (by pushing out the negative and reaffirming the positive)
• Called the “captain of our ship”
• Referred to as the “President of our Personality”
• It’s task is to use its power of reasoning and discernment in all that we do
• Also referred to as the “gardener” who plants seeds into the subconscious and whatever is planted is what will grow!

The Subconscious Mind

• Our “non-reasoning mind”
• Operates on a more instinctive level
• Serves as a memory bank for every thought, feeling, habit and desire that we possess
• “As above, so below” – what we think and imagine in our subconscious mind is what we will draw to ourselves in our outer world
• Subconscious mind does whatever it is programmed to do
• Think of it as our “servant” – it will supply us with whatever we need as long as we program it correctly
• Most dreams are created through the subconscious mind
• Our physical body will reflect whatever we put into the subconscious. If we worry about getting an illness, chances are that we will create one through constant thought energy, manifesting in the physical.
• Stores our habits, both good and bad
• Stores our developed abilities (e.g.: how to ride a bike)
• Use of affirmations is critical in forming a positive and strong subconscious mind

The Superconscious Mind

• Our “Spiritual Mind” or “Higher Self”
• Our all-knowing mind
• Allows higher level thinking and knowing
• Is the origin of most creativity
• Attuned to Cosmic Will
• Contacted through meditation, some dreams and intuition
• Brings us inner peace and true joy
• When we focus our energies on loving, generous intentions, our superconscious mind will provide us with the continuous flow of ideas and creative energy to help move us closer to our goals

We must utilize our three mind aspects, working in harmony and in unity with one another if we are to become conscious co-creators with God!

The Importance of Healthy Bodies

Each of us understands the importance of feeding our physical bodies with healthy food choices, vitamins and herbs, along with getting daily physical exercise of some type. We are constantly being bombarded with articles in our newspapers, advertisements on television and in magazines, advice from our doctors and our parents, etc. about what we need to do to keep our physical body strong and healthy. So much emphasis is put on needing to continually be aware of how we take care of our physical bodies. But, how often do we get reminded about the importance of taking time during our busy days to feed, nurture and expand our spiritual bodies?

Many of us have also been provided with numerous suggestions and ideas from various sources on ways to consciously grow into more loving, balanced, forgiving and accepting human beings through many different spiritual practices, the main one being through daily meditation – that time for conscious stillness when we open ourselves to higher energies. Yet how many of us listen to these repeated suggestions and truly attempt to implement the practices into our daily routines? This is not a judgment…simply a question to ask ourselves to determine if we are taking a consciously active part in our spiritual growth.

Mantras

Many of us know that meditation can be a powerful way to cleanse, clear and center, but how many of us have experienced the power of mantras and prayers? These are also tools that represent very powerful spiritual practices that can help us attune to our pure states of spiritual being. Even by simply repeating the names of God and other powerful words that resonate deeply with us, we can create transformational shifts in our realities that will very likely ripple into the realities of many around us as well.

There is not a single spiritual teacher or Master of any path or religion who has not recommended this practice in some form. The benefits of this practice are unbelievable. Gandhi chanted the name of God as Rama constantly throughout his life, and he said it was one of the absolute keys to his success. Sai Baba said repeating the name of God and visualizing His form is one of the main keys to spiritual success. The idea is to not just do it in meditation but to did it throughout your day, while doing laundry, showering, driving in the car or taking a walk. During the day, it is so simple and so beneficial to repeat the name of God or the word ‘love’ in any project that you are doing, dedicating it to the Highest Good. We can take any simple task and turn it into a dedication to that highest part of ourselves that is grateful for the gift of life.

Power of the Mind

The law of the mind is that thoughts create reality. Energy follows thought. When we chant the name of God, we eventually become that which we are chanting! If we repeat the name of God enough times, it has the effect of cleansing our physical, emotional, mental and etheric bodies to the point that they reflect only God. One of the greatest difficulties that people on the path experience is a wandering mind. I experience this myself, still more times then I notice. But when I do catch thoughts float by that are dark, or that represent a reality that I do not wish to experience, I immediately chant ‘DELETE, DELETE, DELETE’. Sometimes 3 times is enough to bring peace, and other times it takes more than 30 repetitions to erase the thought and its energetic imprint on me. But then it’s gone. This is an example of the power of self-observation, and a power it certainly is!

The chanting of the names of God can also keep our minds focused on higher vibrations. It is not that important whether you focus on visualizing God’s imagine in your mind’s eye, or on connecting to a feeling of peace or love that you create. This process of simply repeating words of such high frequency is enough. It is all that is needed to activate an automatic elevation in your vibration, and in turn, in the vibration of the world around you.

If our mind isn’t on God (whether consciously or unconsciously), then it is likely to float back to the lower self and the many needs of the personality of the little ‘i’. We must learn to focus our attention on the true part of the Self. The mind creates bondage, yet it also has the power to create liberation. This is equally true of the spoken word. Words can harm but words can also heal. Reflect on this…

Any time you feel negative emotions coming on or if you are feeling depressed or angry, try chanting the name of God. If you allow yourself, you will be lifted up faster than you can imagine into a place of greater peace and tranquility. You see, it is not that the process does not work for everyone. It is that we struggle so much, often viewing the world as a cold and difficult place full of obstacles and opposition, that we have come to believe that this is our natural state. So because this has become the color through which so many of us automatically perceive our experiences, it no longer feels natural to be in a state of peace and calm. Sometimes I rise into this wonderful state very quickly when chanting my personal mantras, and if I am far enough detached from the ‘little ‘i’’s’, I notice that my first response is a very subtle sense of relief and relaxation, BUT this is very quickly followed by a fear that I have to be on guard and immediately my instinct is to get back into a protective stance. Or sometimes, I get the feeling that this peace is too good to be true and I should get back to a reality of pain. Watch yourself. If you catch yourself creating this same pattern, see it from a detached place of understanding and compassion, and then simply guide yourself back into that place of peace. When I have this interaction with my many facets, I sometimes feel like I’m trying to calm my inner child into coming back into the sun where the light is warm and nurturing. At first, I can understand that the light is overwhelming and if I’m not used to being in it, it can seem very bright. So why punish and judge our reactions? Instead, watch them as they happen from a place of higher knowing, and act accordingly from a place of greater understanding.

Names of God

A few suggestions of powerful words to chant are:

“I Am That I Am”

“I Am God”

“I Love”

“Be Still and Know I Am God”

“Elohim” (Meaning: ‘All That God Is’)

“Adonai” (Meaning: ‘Lord’ in the Kabbalah)

“El Shaddai” (Meaning: ‘God Almighty’)

“Jesus Christ”

“Krishna”

“Buddha”

“Holy Spirit”

The list can go on and on. The key is to use a powerful mantra or a name of God or of a Master that means something special to you; an entity to which you feel yourself drawn or a powerful expression which you find comforting.

As well as the names of God, there are also sacred sounds such as Aum and Om which are the mother of all mantras. These sounds can have a tremendously soothing effect if you are attuned to the range of their frequency. They can help guide your mind and your emotions to a place of quietude. I listen to my Om cd very often when I am facing an experience that frightens me or that makes me uneasy and what happens is that the sound organically brings me out of a place of fear and into a state of peaceful calm which in turn equips me with an improved mind-frame to be able to make clearer decisions. Much power is in this particular sound for it attunes the chanter or the listener to the sound of life intself, or in other words, to God. It brings both invigoration and calm. I believe that the invigoration comes from a state of greater awareness and this broadened consciousness is easily interpreted as a more ‘alert’ or ‘invigorated’ state. The amazing thing about mantras is that many of them exist in the highest dimensions and have been brought forth to humanity by the ancient Indian seers who hve actually heard these mantras clairaudiently.

Names of God can be chanted out loud, whispered, said silently in your mind or written down. Each has its own unique effect. The idea is to not become too mechanical in their recitation. Saying each word with worship and devotion to God empowers it to purify, cleanse and heal all of our bodies. When you chant the name of God, you are programming perfection into your subconscious mind, which then creates perfection in your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies.

It is extremely important to build a strong subconscious mind because what we feed it is what we will manifest in our lives! It takes 21 days to create a new habit, so once we begin using loving visualizations and words of power each day, they will become part of the normal, natural way that we live. Thus, whenever we find ourselves in a stressful situation, it will become much easier to act positively and calmly rather than ‘reacting’ with out-of-control emotions and fear.

An Extra Boost

However, saying all of this to you,  I can also very much appreciate that life can become extremely complicated and sometimes we may want an extra boost of support from the heavens in order to get through the experiences without too many cuts and bruises. Sometimes, when life has drained a significant amount of our force and we have not been actively replenishing to keep up,  we may even get to a point where we feel that we can make it through the experiences, but at a cost to our bodies. Although I know that we are given only that which we can handle and not a drop more, it can sometimes feel that one thing after another is coming at us with growing intensity with no breaks in between to even catch our breath. In these situations, the power of mantras is invaluable because it is a way for us to refuel before the next battle and manifest a state of centeredness that will carry us even in the most fluctuating of times. I have been through some of these challenging cycles, and in the process, I have learned to use another tool that I would like to share with you now. When you feel spiritually tired and perhaps not quite sure if you can handle any more of what this life has to offer, take a breath, and begin to repeat the following:

“God, please heal my soul.”

The power of this mantra can even put you to sleep as you become enveloped by a feeling of mercy. It is as though you are being carried up on wings of divinity more beautiful than the mind can imagine. When we ask for this holy healing, we are actually asking for a healing that each and every one of us receives as we reenter our spiritual home once we leave our physical bodies. There is a process that follows the physical death in which the soul is placed in something similar to what we would call an incubator, and here the soul is supported through a mending process that helps it regenerate back to its fully recharged state. By asking for this process to take place while still in the physical vehicle, you are asking for a healing that incorporates so many levels of your essence that, in turn, you may wish to leave the body through the sleeping state in order to support this process.

What happens…

Chanting mantras helps to build our Light Body which is the body we will use in our ascended state. The more we chant words and sounds of high frequency, the more the energies of the words become the center of our consciousness and protect us from lower vibrations. The mantra is like the seed that will eventually grow into a beautiful tree – the tree being symbolic of God-realization. The ultimate purpose of reciting the names of God is to blend our individual consciousness with God consciousness, thus becoming aware of our true nature as the eternal self. By praying or chanting, we are using ‘the word’ as a co-creator with God, thereby intoning the highest possible vibrational frequencies. Everything is energy, and these spiritual practices assist us in raising our frequencies to a higher state of Light and Love.

For example, if you chant the divine word of ‘Elohim’, which means ‘All That God Is’, then you are attracting to yourself all that which is God. Chant God’s name as you are falling asleep and you will float in your soul body to the dimension and consciousness of the name you are reciting, since where you go when you fall asleep depends on the last thought in your mind. The constant practice of this most holy spiritual discipline builds enormous spiritual force and power in your aura which can then be used as a blessing upon every person you meet…thus we can literally change the world around us!

Can you imagine how you would feel if you could harness the tremendous force of your mind and channel it into a spiritual focus only? Imagine if you used your mind constantly, 24 hours a day, to focus on loving thoughts, words of power and caring emotions…your every thought, word and deed would be of divine origin! This is the ideal – to let your entire life on Earth be an affirmation of God, which is who you really are!

There are so many spiritual disciplines available for each of us to become more balanced and loving and to help us ascend and evolve into higher beings of Light. We can use our meditations, our prayers, spiritual reading, daily positive affirmations, journal writing and physical fitness to help us achieve that inner knowingness and peace. It is also beneficial for us to enjoy spiritual music that soothes our soul and to sing to our heart’s content as this also creates a feeling of joy and bliss for our soul. It is important to create variety in our spiritual disciplines for we need to make the journey interesting and joyful. Just as we are good to our physical bodies, we need to feed good spiritual food to our minds and to our spirits.

A final note…

One of the keys to spiritual and wordly success is understanding the importance of where we put our attention. Where our attention lies is literally where we live…so why not keep our focus on training our minds and bodies to seek inner peace and joy through the various spiritual practices available to us that have been proven to change the world!? This is OUR journey and we have the responsibility to ourselves to be the best that we can be! These many ideas can help us have fun along the way. Let’s stop making excuses that we are too busy or do not have enough time for these practices. We can make these a priority and change our lives…NOW!

All of the above serve as healing balms, not only to us, but to the world itself, as these sounds, words, mantras and prayers move through us and out into the etheric, astral and mental atmospheres. The choice lies with us whether we are going to use words and thoughts to hurt or to heal. It is my fervent prayer that each of us chooses to use the power of thought, word and deed in order to cause as much healing as possible within ourselves and upon the planet. Because whether we recognize it or not, we all really need it!

CHAPTER 7: The Realisation of Beauty

Link to chapter: click here
Length of chapter reading: 14:14 minutes

Is beauty pleasurable? Can pain be beautiful? Can beauty that once brought us joy turn into a thing of pain? The realisation of beauty is not a milestone, and once reached, your quest is complete. Beauty takes on an infinite variety of shapes, colours, meanings and stories. To assume that what is beautiful to you is beautiful to everyone else is a common warp of perception, but what of the assumption that all beauty brings joy? We can discuss society, we can discuss culture, we can discuss tribal influences. Beauty is understood just as much as it is misunderstood. Tagore’s seventh chapter provokes ideas that allow his audience to perhaps question what this creature we call ‘beauty’ really is.

“A thing is only completely our own when it is a thing of joy to us.”

This is because joy resides in the heart, and for something of this world to bring us joy, we must have allowed it into our heart.

“…as long as our realisation is incomplete, a division necessarily remains between things known and unknown, pleasant and unpleasant. But in spite of the dictum of some philosophers, man does not accept any arbitrary or absolute limit to his knowable world. Every day his science is penetrating into the region formally marked in his map as unexplored or in-explorable. Our sense of beauty is similarly engaged and ever-pushing on its conquests. Truth is everywhere, therefore everything is the object of our knowledge. Beauty is omnipresent, therefore everything is capable of giving us joy.

Our perception dictates whether we recognise beauty. Perception is not a question of how much are see but from where we see it. Test this last statement with the quote above and see how it fits into your reality. Everything is capable of giving us joy. What does that mean? Can you see joy in starving children? Can you transcend the physical and encompass the beauty of any scenario? If you are using your physical sense, the answer will be ‘no’. Perhaps the human mind is not capable of recognizing beauty in all that exists in this world. Perhaps what we understand to be beauty is, in fact, a misunderstanding. Perhaps it is helpful to start there…what is your definition of beauty?

“As we become conscious of the harmony in our soul, our apprehension of the blissfulness of the spirit of the world becomes universal, and the expression of beauty in our life moves in goodness and love towards the infinite. This is the ultimate object of our existence, that we must ever know that beauty is truth, truth beauty. We must realise the whole world in love, for love gives it birth, sustains it, and takes it back to its bosom. We must have that perfect emancipation of heart which gives us the power at the inner-most centre of things and have the taste of that fullness of disinterested joy which belongs to Brahma.”

This, to me, implies that beauty has absolutely nothing to do with physical looks and everything to do with the essence of existence. A woman is beautiful not because of what she is wearing but because of the essence within that she radiates for others to experience. A sunset is beautiful not because it is romantic but because of the essence of life that it inspires.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Not in the ‘eyes’ of the beholder, but in the ‘eye’ – the Third Eye. Beauty can only be seen through the soul. It is the connection of divine to divine that creates the experience of beauty. It is the openness of the heart that allows for beauty. Without faith in the existence of a power greater than our own, beauty cannot exist.

CHAPTER 6: Realisation In Action

Link to chapter: click here
Length of chapter reading: 30:37 minutes

This morning, I saw a man at work. This man was very special. I knew that he had agreed, a long time ago, to meet me in this exact place at this exact time to teach me what I was starting to forget. He sat at his desk, the same small space he fills each day, wearing the same uniform I imagined him preparing each evening for the following day. He worked very quickly, his hands very busy making notes and shuffling papers. Each time a patient approached him, he would look up and, from his serious demeanor, he would shed light on the face looking back at him with a warm and patient smile. He knew that he worked in a place where people were afraid to go. He also knew that he had the power to bring them peace, through his eyes, through his smile, and through the integrity with which he dedicated himself to his work. It is through him that I saw God this morning. It is through his nobility and his grace that I was able to remember myself. It is for this that I am grateful today.

“As some, under the idea that law is the opposite of joy, mistake intoxication for joy, so there are many in our country who imagine action to be the opposite of freedom. They think that activity, being in the material place, is restriction of the free spirit of the soul, but we must remember that as joy expresses itself in law, so the soul finds its freedom in action. It is because joy cannot find expression in itself alone that it desires the law which is outside. Likewise, it is because the soul cannot find freedom within itself that it wants external action. The soul of man is ever-freeing itself from its own folds by its activity. Had it be otherwise, it could not have done any voluntary work. The more man acts and makes actual what is latent in him, the nearer does he bring the event yet to be. In that actualization, man is ever-making himself more and yet more distinct and seeing himself clearly under newer and newer aspects in the midst of his varied activities, in the state, in society. This vision makes for freedom.”

I read something about myself recently that has had an impact upon the way that I identify my ‘character’ is the roles it plays. Because of a number of things, including tools provided to us through astrology (the date and time of my birth) and numerology (my name and the place of my birth), I read that I am destined to have many different jobs in this life. My first thought was one of isolation – with so many different roles, I’ll have to attempt to enter into many different tribes, some that will accept me, and some that won’t. The isolation comes from my perception of my fleetingness, the transitory nature of my journey, going from one place to another, fulfilling my role, and then moving on to where my purpose takes me next.

I have already started to realize this destiny. I have identified the distinct transitions from one role to another and I have begun to understand how to see the beauty and richness in what sometimes feels like quite lonely work. It is actually quite a magical dynamic because in one sense, it is isolating – you sense that the experience will be temporary, yet much important work needs to be done. But during that short period of intense service, intimate connections are made between souls, there is a recognition of the higher essence amongst the souls who are connected through these acts of service.

Why have I written about this self-realisation? Because it is through action within this physical world that I learn such great lessons and experience thoroughly hopeful moments of connection and divine recognition – through others of my Self.

Our journey is not one of systematic predictability. We are not meant to follow the path discovered by out neighbor because we know where it will lead. Our journeys are of a much greater purpose. By having the courage to follow a path that we create with each choice we make, we learn who we are. We get to know our Selves. We rediscover the consciousness that we were when we were planning this life; the consciousness that we are underneath the physical vehicle; the consciousness that is in each breath we take. Action is the process through which to rediscover our Selves. And when we rediscover the truth about our Selves, there is no more a need for fear. That is where freedom comes in.

“…the ideas in our minds are constantly seeking opportunities to take on outward form…”

Action is also the greatest desire of our thoughts, but not in the way that many people think. Thoughts are living beings. We can create thoughts. We feed them into life. When a thought ‘comes into’ your mind, it is literally a foreign entity seeking a source of life. If you choose to invest energy into contemplating the thought, repeatedly going back in your mind and thinking about the thought, expanding on it and playing with what it would look like, it beings to grow. The more you invest in feeding it with energy, the more it acquires a life of its own, until one day, it has the power to physically manifest. This is a very powerful area of esoterica. If you are interested in learning more about it, perhaps you would enjoy The Magus of Strovolos by Kyriacos C. Markides.

“The Upanishad says, ‘In the midst of activity alone wilt thou desire to live a hundred years‘. It is the saying of those who have amply tasted of the joy of the soul. Those who have fully realized the soul have never talked in mournful accents of the sorrowfulness of life, or of the bondage of action. They are not like weakling flowers who’s stem-hold is so light that it drops away before attaining fruition. They hold onto life with all their might, and say, ‘Never will we let go ’til the fruit is ripe!’ They desire in their joy to express themselves strenuously in their life and in their work. Pain and sorrow dismay them not. They are not bowed down to the dust by the weight of their own heart. With the erect head of the victorious hero, they march through life seeing themselves and showing themselves in increasing resplendence of soul through both joys and sorrows. The joy of their life keeps step with the joy of that energy which is playing at building and breaking throughout the universe.”

Some of us will receive the gift of coming face to face with one of these joyous souls that live each moment so nobly and to such a full extent that we forget maya’s hold on us and realise the true opportunity we have been given in this life. It is so easy, so very easy to dwell in the sorrow, and the pain, and the misfortune, and the unfairness of this world. These are tools that are meant to confuse us and to distract us from our true power and our true purpose.

I don’t have an inspirational story to share with this quote, but rather one of shame. For you see, I have been caught up in the throws of maya lately, forgetting all about the beauty and glory of this life, and dwelling instead on the suffering. I have forgotten, until now, as I listened to Tagore’s reminder, that there are SO MANY souls waiting in line just to be chosen to come into embodiment. “Why?” you may ask. Well, it simple. ‘Up there’, we prepare. We study, and reflect, and we get ready for the moment when we will be able to come back into this, or a similar world and apply our new knowledge so that we can discover a little bit more about your true Selves. It is through experiences that we create together here that we can get closer to our true Selves. Some of us have seemingly charmed lives, and others suffer the pain that only heroes could endure. It is not for us to judge why. It is not for us to even question whether we are worthy, for that has been decided long ago. All that is left for us to do is to make each moment count. There is joy in every moment. Find it and you will remember why you are here.

“He who thinks to reach God by running away from the world, when and where does he expect to meet Him? How far can he fly? Can he fly and fly and fly until he flies into nothingness itself? No, the coward who would fly can no where find Him. We must be brave enough to say, “We are reaching Him here, in this very spot, now, at this very moment. We must be able to assure ourselves that, as in our actions we are realizing our Selves, so in our Selves we are realizing him who is the SELF of Self. We must earn the right to say so unhesitatingly by clearing away, with our own effort, all obstruction, all disorder, all discords from our path of activity. We must be able to say, “In my work is my joy, and in that joy does the joy of my joy abide.”

Hahaha! This made me laugh. If I had a nickel for all the times I would have wanted to avoid the physical world and escape into the comforts of the metaphysical, I would certainly get a few free coffees by now! It is very tempting not to want to do ‘the work’ and to call our avoidance an act of purification or, alternatively, a quest for pleasure. I’ve heard both arguments, and they’re both equally colorful!

I don’t think ‘killing time’ is a sin if, by this, you mean spending time doing something that is fun, without stress and brimming with pleasurable. It is, however, a great loss if, by ‘killing time’, you are attempting to numb the pain of a life devoid of inspiration and passion. The work of Sir Ken Robinson is certainly a testament to the power of following your passion. His latest book entitled The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything, will help many people awaken to this truth. Makes you wonder, once our work truly becomes a manifestation of our passions, what are we going to do with all our days off?! Haha!

CHAPTER 3: The Problem of Evil

Link to chapter: click here
Length of chapter reading: 33:11 minutes

Evil is a concept that epitomizes fear. Fear is a lack of wholeness. Wholeness comes from connection to our Selves. We are all One, affecting each other with every choice we make. When we see our Selves in others, and are able to honor each facet of our brilliance with unconditional love, evil becomes but a part of the Universal Whole.

“The river has its boundaries, its banks, but is a river all banks, or are the banks the final facts about the river? Do not these obstructions themselves give its water and onward motion? The towing rope binds a boat, but is the bondage its meaning? Does it not, at the same time, draw the boat forward? The current of the world has its boundaries, otherwise it could have no existence, but its purpose is not shown in the boundaries that restrain it, but in its movement, which is towards perfection.”

Evil is but the perception of the short-sighted. It is not empowered in the mind that sees beyond the current scene on the stage. How far beyond the scene we choose to see depends on one thing and on everything…

It depends on the seer – who has the choice, the free will to choose whether to see from a point of love, or of one of fear.

It depends on all of us – for we are all interconnected Oneness. All that he does impacts on all of us. The ripples of her actions reverberate upon the surface of the sea of Oneness which we all connect to form.

For now, in this form, the sea has a shore that defines it, that delineates it from what is beyond. This allows us to see in concepts and ideas. This is the imperfection of our perfection. Evil is a concept. It is a tool that is meant to help us move beyond the stage. It is but a theme, a plot twist, a part of the drama. Watch the show. Enjoy the drama. See it for what it is.

“Just as a man who has an ear for music realises the perfection of a song, while in fact he is only listening to a succession of notes, man has found out the great paradox that what is limited is not imprisoned within its limits. … infinity revealed within bounds.”

How is it that we can be so profoundly yet unconsciously connected to the wisdom of the All, yet get so caught up in the drama? Think of the magnificence of our inherent capabilities and then look at what so many of us choose to do with each life. I am not saying that we all don’t do our best and proceed upon our paths at our divine paces, but what if we chose to express more of our true Self to the world? What would the world look like then?

Yesterday I met someone new. At a certain point he was talking about his perception of his work-week and how, by the time 3pm on Friday comes along, the seconds seems to tick by excruciatingly slowly. I saw this divine being in front of me, with gifts and talents that only he can offer to the world, and wondered what the world would be like if he shared those gifts with us. What do you think the world would look like then?

“When we select for observation a limited area of our activities, our individual failures and mysteries loom large in our minds, but our life leads us instinctively to take a wider view.”

Perception.

“Pessimism is a form of mental dipsomania. It disdains healthy nourishment, indulges in the strong drink of denunciation and creates an artificial dejection which thirsts for a stronger draught.”

Do you see the optimist as trustworthy or delusional? Do you see the pessimist as realistic or hopeless? I don’t tend to distinguish between optimist and pessimism. I don’t think in those terms. When someone calls me an optimist, it is usually said in a wistful manner indicating to me that there is a part of him or her that would like to believe, but it’s too difficult to run the risk of being deluded…again. In place of optimism and pessimism, I see imagination and trepidation. To see life through child-like eyes does not mean to be ignorant and senseless. On the contrary, innocence brings with it wonder, delight and joy.

“…knowledge is nothing but the continually burning up of error to set free the light of truth.”

How would our children view school if this was the ideal of our teachers? Would the definition of education change?

“[Man] is more in truth then he is in fact. He truly belongs to individuals who are not included in his own individuality and whom he is never even likely to know.”

How many times have I wondered where the rest of the souls in my Monad are at any given time?! Have I met all of them in this life? Will I? Would I recognise them if I did meet them? Are they scattered all over the cosmos, or are we all sharing in life on this planet at this time of its evolution?
When I am out in the world – in a car at a red light, at the airport standing in line, walking down a cosmopolitan street – and I lock eyes with a stranger and feel, in that instant, that time stands still and a message is being exchanged, I wonder – do I know you?

I’m not someone who signs up for a lot of e-mail newsletters. I enjoy subscribing to blogs because of their variety of content mixed with the personal musing of their authors, but newsletters usually seem to be filled more with advertisements and event announcements then meaty content. I suppose I liken them to weekly columns (blogs) vs. the classifieds (newsletters).

That is, with the exception of one ‘newsletter’ that I have been receiving for years. Once a month, a new Beacons of Light – Reminders from Home broadcast pops into my inbox. The delivery usually comes at a time when I get more emails than I want to read, obligations demand more of my time than I am willing to give, and ‘work stuff’ outnumbers the ‘fun stuff’. Regardless of all that though, the Beacons are always a welcome change of pace.

Rather than being a traditional newsletter, Beacons is a transcript of a channel that is conducted monthly. It’s delivered in numerous languages (and they’re even looking for more volunteers to translate the messages and make them more accessible to others) and are even in video format now. I like to digest it word by word, at my own pace, sometimes reading it once over during a three day period as I reflect upon its multi-layered messages. All this isn’t to say that I resonate with all that is presented in the broadcasts, but I do find comfort in reading a story, experience or perception shared by someone else that so closely resembles my own. In a world that still places so much emphasis on the physical, it can be easy to wonder if you’re ‘crazy’ for feeling that something ‘different’ is happening in the world lately.

I believe in magic. I know it to be true. Synchronicity is magic. Love is magic. Dreaming is magic. Perhaps you will find magic in this month’s broadcast too…

I understand something now that I didn’t understand as I was in the midst of the experience itself. You see, I have recently experienced the Shakti energy in my life. It cleansed, it took away, it cleared out the energies that would not be able to support the higher vibration that I am moving toward, into and through. Shakti (Kundalini) is the destroyer as Shiva is the creator. At some point, the two energies meet, they mingle and dance together until the time for the second comes. The second, the Shiva, the creative part of the journey – it has started for me again. I reached a point in which I was loosing the spark of joy, my passion for things was fading, I was seeing the loss around me, the sacrifice, the cost of change and transformation, and I was getting too tired. Too tired to hold on to what was no longer there, so tired of feeling the pain of loss, and too tired of trying to fit the old me into the new place in which I have found myself. Then I prayed. I prayed for the Universe to guide me to the passion and the joy and the creativity of life once again. Not even two days later, I felt the spark again! I felt it, and because I was so afraid of not feeling joy in each day, I drank in this new vital energy and ran with the inspirations I was given. Sometimes action takes courage, and at other times, it just takes the intention to want to change – the knowingness that there must be change.

One of those sparks was this blog. I have been pushing writing out of my life the moment I felt the strength of the written word. I think the potency…the power…the alchemical magic of writing was so overwhelming that I just simply wanted to run away from it…because I didn’t understand it…I didn’t know where to begin… But, when someone with the inspiration to create blocks off every outlet to express creativity, there is an eventual suffering – a suffering that comes from not letting creativity flow and blossom and heal everything it touches. It is magic, and magic deserves to breath, it deserves to be honored.

I have been asking for the opportunity to shine light everywhere I can. I believe this is part of one of my sacred contracts in this life. I have been waiting for the opportunity, but because it meant so much, on so many levels, when it did come, it scared me away with its possibility! The power – my power – my Higher  Power – was showing itself to me, and I ran away. I have been carrying this fear with me for a very long time although I still don’t really understand why because shouldn’t something so beautiful and so magical as the awareness that anything is possible be, in theory, easy to embrace? After all, isn’t that what we all want? Some proof that there is more? Some sign that we CAN?

Lord, use me as an instrument of thy peace so that I may assist you in bringing Heaven to Earth.

When I was living in England, I would say this prayer to myself as I walked to work each morning. It would help me find peace when I was nervous, or stressed, or sensing that I was loosing perspective of the bigger picture. Maybe it can help someone else out there, so I share it with you now, in this moment.

So…I fill my cup with LIGHT and FUN and LAUGHTER and I sip from my cup as much as I want…because…I am amazing, I am brilliant, I am the Creator of my existence and all my choices reflect my Brilliance because I am in Command!!!

Love and Light!!

God bless!

What’s the difference between work and play? My first reaction to this question was that we inherently ‘like’ to play and ‘dislike’ working. I know that there are a growing number of you out there who like working, and there are an equal number of you who have never liked playing, whether it was sports, cards or acting. Setting the exceptions aside, let’s look at the basic aspects of work and play for a moment.

Actually, let’s not set you aside. Let’s use the fact that there are so many ‘exceptions’ as a guide to help us see what dynamic is actually functioning here. Maybe it isn’t the act that defines whether we are working or playing. Maybe it is rather the way that we perceive the act that categorizes it as work or play.

When we play, most of us have fun. We enjoy the temporary activity of participating in a game. Even though there are rules, we don’t take the game seriously because we know that ‘it is just a game’. We know that we are just playing the role of a tennis player for a short time, and then when the game is over, we go back to being ourselves. We don’t always identify ourselves with the game, or our role in the game. We derive enjoyment from the fact that we can use our creativity, instincts, intuition, rhythm and imagination to play our part in the game. So if all of these things are so much fun, then why are there some people who dislike playing sports or board games? It’s because they take the game too seriously.

Once we begin to perceive the game as something we must win and decide that failure is bad, the game then turns into work. Instead of allowing our instincts and intuition to guide us, we constantly calculate risks, evaluate possibilities of success, judge players based on their past performances and view everyone as our enemy. The game becomes a competition. The game becomes a war. Life or death is at stake; the life or death of our ego.

Allow me to give you an example. Let’s say that you are asked to walk 50 meters on the sidewalk in front of your house. The only rule is that you cannot, under any circumstances, step onto the street or onto the grass. You must stay on the sidewalk at all times. Would you be able to do it? Of course! You walk on that sidewalk everyday! You could even run or ride a bicycle on it and be able to accomplish the task.

Now, imagine that this sidewalk is 300 meters above sea level, it has no railings and it connects two mountains. Would you be able to do this without stepping over its edge? The answer is that of course you would. The difference is that you don’t take the first game seriously so you are fully aware of all of your skills and abilities and are capable of using them easily to accomplish the task. In the second scenario, you decide that it is no longer a game and that you must take it seriously. The moment you decide it is work, you loose your connection to the right side of your brain where your creativity, intuition and rhythm can be found. As a result, you only work with your left brain where you have logic, deduction, analysis and judgment. You will still be able to accomplish the task if you choose to because you have the skills to do it. The question is, will you remember that the skills are inherent in you and all you have to do is perform them without over-analyzing. In other words, will you have faith in yourself?

When we predominantly work with only one side of our brain, we paralyze ourselves. It is just as if you were to tell a bird to fly with only one wing. It is the same for all of us. When we stop taking things seriously, we allow communication to flow freely between both sides of our brain. The result is the ability to fly.

The next time you are at a job interview, or sitting in your dentist’s reception area, do an experiment and pretend that you are just playing a game. Right before you enter into a situation that you are dreading, remember the feeling of laughing so hard at something that tears stream out of your eyes and your stomach cramps up, yet regardless, you continue laughing because of the pure joy of the experience. See the pure joy and light-heartedness in every situation and you will always be a winner.

I’m going to take my own advice. Next week I have a driving test. I’ve been driving for over 10 years but for some reason, instead of seeing this test as a technicality (as a GAME), I’ve been trying hard to freak myself out about it – even though inside I feel assured and at peace that everything will be fine. So, instead, I’m going to try this experiment and see how changing my perception will effect the experience…