Paradigm Shift 1: The Real vs the Unreal: It is all One

It is very difficult to communicate the reality of the spiritual path to a new initiate. The first block to overcome is one of expanding an individual’s horizons. As a teacher once said to me, “The problem is to get your listener to realize that you are telling them something they haven’t heard before”.  It is very difficult to change someone’s paradigm, their basic assumptions about reality, especially the ones they’ve held since they were children. But that is what is necessary, even inevitable if you are a serious adept.

The root of the problem is that we will most often take what we hear and fit it into our present belief structure, whatever that may be, often so smoothly that we aren’t aware that there are much greater depths to what we are being told.  We miss a great deal because of that. This situation is often exacerbated by the fact that our lower selves don’t want us to become aware of a deeper understanding because the mask is threatened by spiritual growth. It is a conundrum only overcome when we, ourselves, are no longer satisfied with our present paradigm – when we come to a point where our inner self discovers that the paradigm that we have no longer rings true. At that point it becomes possible to see beyond it and to open ourselves to a deeper understanding of the path.  That doesn’t mean it will happen automatically but that is a point in our lives where it becomes possible.

               When we start out on the path of devotion we tend to take all the new teaching we hear and fit them into the structure of beliefs we already hold. In some ways these beliefs form the boundaries of our imagination even if that means losing important contours of the teaching, the subtler concepts and ideas, i. e. which makes those teachings worth hearing. We can lose what makes the new teaching life changing. However, it is the life changing elements of the teachings that are the important parts because it is that information that stretches us into new paradigms, that breaks up our internal dogma. And we need the new approaches which will breakup, that can stretch, can bring to life when we finally embark upon our spiritual path consciously to progress upwards on the journey. Prior to that our momentum is mostly unconscious and, therefore, not really committed. Once our commitment becomes conscious, becomes the focus of our lives, the paradigm shift looms in our future whether we know it or not. With some it happens almost immediately. It has taken a good deal of time with me and the process isn't done.

I recall sitting doing my prayers one day and I suddenly became aware that the being that I was praying to was real. I don’t mean that I had not believed in God previously. I had. But in that moment, He became very real to me personally. I finally experienced the reality that was Him and I knew that He was listening..., to me..., personally. This experience extended to other etheric beings, what Christians would call the saints, easterners would call other Gods and I call Ascended Masters. In addition, I became aware of the presence of angels as well.  I was aware as I was speaking that there were those who were actively listening. It was as though I was suddenly made aware that I was blind and there were those in the room with me that I couldn’t see but who were as real to me as anyone with whom I shared the physical plane.

               My paradigm shift involved the perception of our physical plane as a holodeck, where the real world is hidden from those who are on the deck by our five senses. But that is only one level of what I mean and a simplistic one at that.  It makes this sound like science fiction and that is not at all what I mean.  There is also a point where one realizes that everything is connected. Everything is one. That makes sense, of course, if you consider that all the universe is God. It all is of one source, one cohesive personality, one consciousness. If you can see it that way then it becomes self-evident that it would all be one, connected, unified. This perception, while it can be understood intellectually, isn’t real to you until it becomes part of your experience. It becomes more than a part of the way you view the world. It becomes a part of how you experience the world.

With real commitment we begin to realize just how extensive, how all encompassing, how all pervasive the spiritual universe actually is. We discover that the physical universe is only a small part of what exists and isn’t even the most real. And that is a discovery that takes, (and causes), a real change of perspective.

               One thing that I am NOT talking about is an emotional conversion. Often, I hear of someone converted to this or that religion, sect or whatever. Sometimes this is a positive life experience. But sometimes what has happened is that they have simply gotten a new set of emotions and they misinterpret that as having walked the whole of the path up the mountain in one experience. That can, indeed, happen but it isn’t an experience based in the emotions and it is, indeed, a rare occurrence.

               Because of the necessity of changing our paradigm we often spend a good amount of time on the path before we really incorporate the path into our lives.  But here is the bottom line, what I would like you to take away from this particular blog: the physical plane is not home.   You tend to perceive it that way because this is where you are and all that you remember but the etheric realm exists all around you all the time and is more real that the physical plane.  So it would be wise to stop making all of your assumptions based on the primacy of the physical plane.  A whole new, larger understanding awaits.

The Big Bang

                       Fecundity

All of shapeless Infinity's bound without bounds

within visions horizonless, lacking a place.

The ambiguous light bounded solely by thought

is as form that's unmoving or moves without form.

In a pause that seems endless a fulfilling sigh

of awareness awakening emerges. And when,

in the midst of this vast vibrant void, there appears

an existence, it's only by contrast to void

that its’ presence is noted, that it is perceived.

What then is the perceiver or who's there to see

in the instant of birthing, the ripening of time

before time e'en exists to be ripened?  What sen-

tience lives before birthing to witness this birth?

An awareness in stasis, in stillness, await-

ing a thought form with patience, awaiting, while time,

in its infancy, pulls it and runs on before

it and measures its’ boundaries, receives in that mo-

ment of birthing response from itself as it gives

and receives - like a breath that both inhales and ex-

hales and each without ending 'till separate, each

contemplating, desiring the other, feels joy

at the bonding, the union, the twined separa-

tion that gives definition and thought to the two

who are one.  All the universe is the overt

choreography of their delight in their shared

co-existence and mutual desire to express

the perfection of love which they find in themselves

and each other. A moment is captured. The Yin

and the Yang, both the male and the female re-

sonate. Thus is the dance itself

borne.

Show is better than tell

        As we progress on the spiritual path and have experiences that tell us things about the nature of the universe, the divine, etc. we of course want to tell others what we have seen or heard.  But it is far better to help others who are striving on their path to discover for themselves how to get further on the path than it is to tell them what picture we saw when we were there.  After all, as they travel the path and when they get to the goal they’ll discover what they are supposed to know.  Until they get there it will often just be more of someone else's experience.

        Generally, I do not recommend that you discuss your spiritual experiences with anyone who does not have a fair amount of spiritual momentum because others will tend to doubt your experience, intentional or not, consciously or otherwise.  That doubt will enter into you unaware and you will often begin to doubt your own experience.  Often those that you confide in are not prepared to approach your experience with open minds.  This is not something that they would do if they were aware and could avoid it.  If, in fact, you confide in a spiritual counselor who is more in tune with the law than with the spirit they will often respond to your revelation with their particular doctrinal point of view.

        Sometimes, when you have a new revelation, realization or idea or whatever, you get a build up of energy inside of you and it fills you with excitement.  Often when you get that surge of positive energy you just want to share the event, to tell someone else about it or in some other way relieve that energy.  You blow off some of the energy when you do.  You will often find, however, that in doing so you have just wasted or mis-qualified that energy.  It is somewhat akin to all of those other ways that we have of mis-qualifying energy some of which we have talked about.  Things like anger, gossip, resentment – all of those things that we do to blow off energy.   You blow this energy off when you could instead take it in and make it a reservoir for the fulfilling of the thought form that spawned it.

        Finally, there is a saying that I have heard from multiple sources on my journey that is as follows: "Those who tell don't know. Those who know don't tell." Now why would that be?

Thoughts on meditation

        A good deal has been written about meditation.  There are many books that you can get that will help you and give you techniques.  Some of them are very good.  Some not so.  Regardless, you can get your technique elsewhere.  I just have a few general things to say about how to approach meditation whichever technique you choose.

        I tend to shy away from any that say in one way or another that meditation doesn't need to be about your spiritual life.  Meditation can have very positive benefits for you in many aspects of your life but those positive effects are peripheral.  It is, first and foremost, a spiritual tool of profound benefit.

        When you meditate put your mind on God.  When someone is speaking we are often thinking about what we want to say rather than listening to the speaker.  But we should, in fact, be giving them our attention.  It is this way in meditation.  Be thinking about God and address your attention to God.  You're not thinking about God's traits.  You aren't thinking about what God might be saying.  You aren't thinking about anything besides the technique you have been given.  You are simply paying attention to God as you would someone who was speaking.

        There are two things that are important aspects of meditate.  First, do it from the heart rather than from the mind.  We in the West think of meditation as primarily a mental thing - a thing that we do with the mind.  We focus the mind.  This is not the essence of meditation.  This is a pathway to meditation.  Meditation springs from the heart while taming the mind.  So you want the source and focus of your meditation to be the heart rather than the mind.  Second,  do not expect anything.  If you are expecting you aren't in the moment.  You are thinking about what will happen, what will come of your meditation.  Do not expect reciprocal response.  Just be in the moment and put your mind on God.

        When you are distracted do not attempt to fight the distracting thoughts.  This only gives them energy and importance.  As Bagwan Dass put it when he spoke to Ram Dass of distracting emotions: "Emotions are like waves.  Watch them disappear on the surface of the vast, calm ocean.".  I would say the same about thoughts.  Watch them disappear on the surface of the vast, calm ocean.

        Do not be mindful of the invasion of thoughts.  That will only disturb your harmony.  Let them go by.  Mostly the thoughts you think do not originate with you anyway so don't carry a burden of guilt, (no matter how small), for having them.  They are out there in the mass mind and you. like a radio that is opened up to multiple bands, are often not discreet in what you receive.  Meditation is meant to help that.  That is a perk of meditation.  It will give you much stronger control over your own personal radio.

        OK.  All of that being said what is my technique?  I focus on two things that are somewhat similar.  First I keep my mind on God.  Not God's attributes or God's gifts or anything about God's personality.  Just on God.  Second, I strive to keep my focus on the third eye.  This is the point at the root of the nose between the eyebrows.  This is the totality of my technique.  There are techniques that involve breathing exercises.  These can be very beneficial both for concentration and for depth of meditation.  Kryia yoga is a very high meditation technique that serves both as a tool for centering and becoming close to the Divine  and as a means for burning away negative karma.  There are other types of meditation that can be very beneficial.  The one that I have described works for me.  Find the one that works for you and do it with diligence.  The rewards will be great.

        One last word.  If you want to learn how to meditate you can't do any better than a group called Ananda.  You can contact them at "www.ananda.org/meditation/".  I am not a member of Ananda and do not mean to push you in that direction but I will at times be recommending different organizations to you for the purpose of gaining information or training in different spiritual practices.  If one or another of them strikes you then more power to you.  In this instance I think that Ananda is a great place to learn a particularly penetrating, easy and useful meditation technique.

Responsibility and Attachment - Part 2

        I am not known as a lazy person.  In fact, once I get working on a given day I often don’t even think to stop for a meal.   But what I think is that I have been lazy in my approach to life and, by seldom doing anything that I don’t inspect very closely, I think I have learned some things about that kind of laziness.  Actually, that last statement needs amending. I think that I have learned some things about what I experience as laziness.  It may not be what another person experiences as laziness.  Theirs may be a pure, more essential form, (as in more of the essence of), of laziness in which case I bow to their greater experience and the clarity of their opinion.  Still, here are some things that I have learned.

        Not all laziness conforms to the classic concept.   Certainly not in the cause.   That is because if we aren’t lazy we don’t spend any time thinking about it and if we are, then assuming we are on a spiritual path, we are usually disinclined to explore the reality of it.   Never-the-less the fact that someone doesn’t want to work is a simplistic explanation that begs the question: WHY does someone not want to work?  In my experience there are multiple causes for laziness.  I will get to mine in a moment but the root cause of mine was exacerbated by a sense of resentment against God because I wanted to do my spiritual path without effort and I resented everything that I considered I was required to do.  I wanted a magic pill.   Another reason for my recalcitrance was that everything I tried to do in the physical world was untypically hard.  There are reasons that all combined to make that so.

        The first reason was my autism.  Every autistic person is different.   I suspect that is why it is called a spectrum disorder.   One problem I have always has was in transferring information from visual to actual.   I could read blueprints but I couldn’t translate them into the activity of building so I was severely handicapped in ‘the trades’.

        The second reason was astrological.  I have 15 squares in my natal chart.  For those of you who accept the reality of astrology a square is a point of opposition and that often translated into strange ways of derailing whatever I was involved in.   Having 15 of them has made for quite a ride.

        The third reason was that I was born into an intellectual environment rather than a trade-oriented family.   I was nurtured in an environment that encouraged an interest in English, History, Science, etc. but with no ability to encourage an interest in woodworking, auto mechanics and what is often referred to as “the trades”.   I certainly never took shop in high school.

        Finally, my grandfather, who was a doctor, told my mother not to get too attached to me because I was probably not going to ‘make it’.   I wasn’t miserably sick but no one could hold me for any period of time without me throwing up on them for the first three years of my life.  That means I did not receive very much 'tactile stimulation' that has been shown to be so important to a person's ability to emotionally connect with others later in life.   In addition, I was the fifth child in five years at a time when there were no pampers and my mother had 3 children in cloth diapers.   There were no dryers so my mother had to hang the laundry out in high humidity every day.  She was quite busy.

        However, in my case all of that begs the question.   What is the root cause of my laziness?  I was, (and am when I am not paying attention), jealous of my time.  In my egos' paradigm I view doing things – working – as somehow robbing me of my time.  This is not out front in my consciousness.  I have had to struggle to see where the root of this issue has been hiding but with some rigorous introspection I have come to that.  What I haven't come to is the answer to why I should feel that way.  At times that question is vital.  At other times it is not so important.  In this case it may, for all I know, be a momentum I have carried over from a past lifetime.  It may not.  But I can address it without knowing the root so long as I own the being the source.

        Now you might think that this is me whining about all of this but that would be incorrect.  You also might wonder what is the point to all of this given that this blog is supposed to be a spiritual primer.  The point is that you MUST inspect your life moment to moment, day by day, with a cast iron honesty.   Know as clearly as possible what is the truth about yourself and what are the causes.   Know that you can't know everything about what causes your response to events in your life because, as I said, much of what comes at you is karmic.  But you can know a good deal about the whys and wherefores of how you respond to the events of your life and the first thing to know is that all of your reactions, your responses, your emotional trauma are always, ALWAYS, your issues.  You may think and even say that this or that person did this or that thing that was the cause of your being angry or depressed or whatever but it isn't true.  Ever.  Not once.

        Think of it this way.  If there is anyone you know, or you can even imagine, who wouldn't react like you do to a given situation then the reaction's source is within you rather than inherent within the situation.  If your reaction is an emotional reaction then it is based upon your personal emotional makeup rather than being an inevitable result of the situation.  I have learned that every time I have an emotional reaction to anything or anyone - when someone says or does something that elicits an emotional response - it is not directly because of the situation nor because of the other person.  It is because of something within me that is triggered by the event that I want to blame.

Even if you can point to what the other person does and make a case for it being in some way negative that doesn't mean that it is the cause for your reaction.  They are responsible for their action.  You are responsible for your reaction each and every time you have one and it will almost universally come from your attachment.

Responsibility and Attachment - Part 1

        My daughter watches the way I live my life and she is sure that I am doing something wrong. I am not "energetic" enough somehow. She is concerned that I am not active enough, as though the very fact of ‘being active’ has some innate goodness. I suspect that if I began to run around in circles she would get the idea that simple activity isn’t necessarily the key.

        I am convinced that we shouldn’t be attached to the results of our labor, no matter what that labor may be. We want to accomplish something and so we set off to do it. We want a new car or to put together a college fund for our grandchildren or we want to lose 30 lbs. or whatever we desire to accomplish and so we begin to plan how we are going to accomplish that goal, that desire. What we do not realize is that having the desire, acting to fulfill it and believing that the act is creating the fulfillment of that desire are keeping us in Maya, illusion, attachment. As long as we are attached we will have ups and downs. We will experience the sine wave of our emotions. We get happy when we acquire what we were after or reach our goal or succeed at something. We attach our happiness to that thing.

        It is like the difference between playing football and dancing a ballet. In football there are goals to accomplish (no pun intended but the coincidence is not without cause). You have a long term goal and shorter term goals. You get emotional highs and lows all through the game when your team gets a first down or you are forced to punt or you score a touchdown or fumble the ball. You are susceptible to the highs and lows because you are attached to the end result of the game. In ballet the best dancers aren't working for a goal at the end of the ballet. They are in the moment all the time, striving to simply do the best that they can with the particular move they are in the midst of right then. There is no score to achieve at the end of the ballet, only the moment by moment best that they can give. This is the way to live life. Do not be attached to the results of your actions. Just strive to do the actions as best as you can and leave the results up to God.

        You don't need to worry about where your next meal is coming from. Didn't Jesus say "Take no thought for what you shall eat or what you shall wear. But rather seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and all else shall be added unto you." What he was talking about was not irresponsibility, nor inactivity, (I am certainly not recommending a life of sloth), but rather to maintain non-attachment to the results of our labor and to trust in God for all of our needs. We think in our human minds that this is unrealistic. We don't see that happening to anyone including ourselves and so we dismiss it as possible only for those few special "saints" that we read about. But saints are no different than us. They are simply people who made the leap of faith. You don't need to force this leap. If you do it before you are ready you may very well fail but you can slowly work your way along the path to complete faith in God until you get to a point where your faith is already great enough that you won't have to fabricate that belief. It will simply be a part of your life and you will step into the practice of completely relying on God with no effort.

        Think of a child and their parents. A child doesn't wonder where the next meal is coming from. A child knows that the parents will supply it. It is the same with our heavenly parents. (I will keep coming back to the image of parents with their child because it is fitting in so many ways.) "It is the Father's good will to give us the kingdom." We don't have that happen in our lives because that isn't our prayer. Our prayer is fear that what we need won't be there when we need it so we have to work so hard to create it in our lives. We assume that we are ‘on our own’ when it comes to supplying our own needs. But if we let go of fear completely and trust in God entirely then that is our prayer. Our prayer is that God will meet all of our needs. And it is so. But of course, we must keep the energy moving so we remain active, doing the dance always so that the energy can keep moving. It is like the water in the plumbing pipes of a house. As long as you keep the tap open and the water running then more water will come in to fill the pipes. But when you turn off the tap, when you stop the activity then the flow of energy, the supply of water, ceases and you need to kick start it again. But as Baba Ram Dass might have said, “You need to be very high to make this happen”.

        Now I started this out by saying that my daughter is sure I am doing something wrong. So, I strive to do the dance in such a manner so as to not cause her concern. I strive as well to not be attached to the actions that I do that she can interpret as being the product of desire, my "effort" to earn a living and be active which she sees as important. She worries about me sitting home alone and getting "spiritually constipated". So, I strive to act in such a manner so as not to worry her. I am not sure that this is the best solution because it inhibits my ability to be unattached but I never said I was a master teacher. I'm just another traveler climbing the mountain - trying to get by in this life best as I can. But the reason I bring this up again is to tell you that there are those around you who will always interpret your actions from a "human" viewpoint and you need to do what you can to keep from having that be an impediment to your growth. I am hoping that in my next life, (should I have to return), I will be even more 'crazy' about God than I am in this life.

The Spiritual Life as exemplified by St. Therese of Liseux

In the World but not of it…


        How difficult it is for those who are not on a spiritual path to understand those who are. There is a set of motivations for the adept that the worldly do not clearly perceive. Every action is attributed to a worldly cause, subjected to a worldly interpretation, either by choice or because of a boxed in paradigm. This is because that world lacks the potential motivations and the point of view that exist in the world of the adept. In addition, we often judge other’s actions by our own experience, our own unique set of limitations and assumptions. In short, we think that everyone thinks like us.

        I remember some years ago at the university I attended, (I had returned to school after an absence of nearly thirty years), listening to one student, a young man of the world, a former sailor, berate another student who was straight out of high school and a Christian. The ex-sailor said that he was absolutely sure that the other must have engaged in masturbation by now, that no one could have reached the age of twenty-one without having done that. He said that if the other denied it then he must be lying. Why? Because that man of the world had no reason nor desire to control that particular urge and, in his life and experience, masturbation was so common that he was incapable of envisioning someone who would or could want to control that urge.

        As I write this I am reading Monica Furlong’s biography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux and it is the particular perspective of the author that leads me to mention this. At the time that she wrote the book she had little awareness of the effect that the process of spiritual growth can have, especially as one gets some ways up the mountain. Stepping on to the spiritual path with a real depth of commitment in whatever context one chooses will eventually involve a radical change of perspective. That change can be immediate or gradual but the change happens. Ms Furlong’s perspective offers little or no comprehension of the particular viewpoint that can be the driving force behind someone’s spiritual vocation. The new environment, the new paradigm fostered by the new dedication can color and divert all of those cause and effect relationships that she so easily assumes exist in an isolated and worldly context. It is not that I do not find this easy to understand. All of the quirks of personal psychology that Ms. Furlong mentions as relating to St. Thérèse may very well play a part in the life of the young girl but I believe that they fit into the matrix of her life in an entirely different fashion than is portrayed by the author. I can easily understand how Thérèse’s struggles, her vocation and her intent as a devotee of God can be very strong and pervasive and yet be completely misunderstood and wrongly weighed by someone who is not as engaged on their spiritual path, not as immersed as St. Thérèse.

        In a sense we become two people. We are still the person that acts and reacts in response to those worldly motivations so we have these patterns of behavior that reflect that level of consciousness. But we are also that spiritual being that sees those patterns for what they are even as we act them out. So, we are engaged in an interior struggle not to ‘conquer’ those patterns nor to learn to live with them as is so often the goal of psychology, but rather to move beyond them by moving beyond the outer being that fosters them.

        Much of what takes place in a being struggling on the spiritual path is of a strength far surpassing the ability to account for it in the soul’s earthly environment. This can be because as an adept’s awareness expands she will find that the outer personality that she has identified with for so much of her life, that is the basic framework of who she is, turns out to be only a paper mache construct. If we aren’t paying attention to the incidental events of our lives they will pass without making much of a ripple beyond causing a momentary happiness or sadness. But when we begin to watch and examine the events of our lives in the context of our relationship with God then they become catalysts of growth and learning. It is a mistake to assume that every interior experience can be accounted for by searching the soul’s outer circumstances whether present or past. It is a mistake to assume, from the vantage point of the world, that Thérèse’s attitude towards suffering and self-abnegation can be understood or explained solely by her previous exterior experiences in that life. Her attitude is far more likely to be a response to the interior experience of her spiritual life at that moment.

        How often it seems that, to the two different types of people, those who are consciously on the path and those not consciously on the path, things seem the opposite of each other. When one reads the lives of the saints or first starts on the path of spiritual growth saints can be completely misunderstood in both their actions and their words. In the writings of St. Thérèse of Lisieux when she is near to her death she speaks of her gratitude to Mother Marie de Gonzague for her lessons in humiliation. This is not a subtle way of rebuking Mother Marie for her careless handling of the health of St. Thérèse. I am sure that from the viewpoint of the little saint it was recognition of the fact that Mother Marie’s actions and behavior had prompted her to learn lessons in humility that made her express gratitude to the Mother for being an instrument of God’s divine Will. This was regardless of whether the choice on the part of Mother Marie de Gonzague was conscious or unconscious. It was regardless of the outer motivation that prompted Mother Gonzague to act as she did. That was not important to the lesson learned. Thérèse’s gratitude applied to the lessons that the Saint learned through the experiences she had as a result of the behavior of her Mother Superior regardless of the Mother’s awareness or spiritual attainment. If you are saved from drowning by a floating log it doesn’t matter if the log did it intentionally or not. It doesn’t take long on the path to realize that suffering is an integral part of it and that one may come to value suffering greatly. If the saint doesn’t specifically say that it is only as a means to an end it may be because the means and the end are so closely identified with each other in her perception. Thérèse may well have had an unattached attitude towards suffering caused by a growing level of desirelessness and an awareness of how closely suffering is connected to spiritual growth. The willingness to pay the price increases and so the price becomes more reasonable in the perception of the devotee of God’s Will. We stop desiring things for what they can do for us and start desiring only to please God and often suffering can do just that. Is it because God wants us to suffer? Of course not. It is because that suffering leads to an end that is desirable.

        It doesn’t take long for a devotee to realize that happiness isn’t the goal of life, that any particular physical, emotional or mental state isn’t the goal at all. The goal of life, once one has ceased to deny the existence of God and so can look upon existence with some degree of true understanding, is a spiritual one - to reunite with God - and that desire eventually becomes so much the singular goal that all other considerations fade, especially our own personal comfort. Once that goal is reached then happiness and all other desired qualities can be added. Without the achievement of that goal everything else is only diversion during the period of striving.

        As to making much of little things in life, being overly concerned with the ‘little’ faults, this is seldom a problem from a spiritual point of view. It is in the little things that first allow for the entry of evil into our consciousness, not in the big things. As we progress upon the path we realize that everything that we may think, say, do, desire, feel etc. is either going to get us where we want to go or it will take us in the opposite direction. If we use the energy that we are given to create something that isn’t going to take us to our goal then we have done that which will eventually return to us in a manner that will serve to separate us from God because that energy will not return to God until it is restructured to be like God. It will instead remain to form an energy veil between our consciousness and our goal. It becomes more and more important to each soul on the path to eliminate all barriers between them and unity with God. I have heard it said that the closer you get to the gates the bigger the lions get who guard them. Or another might say that the path gets more narrow, sharper and sharper until it becomes a razor’s edge of discrimination.

        In her biography of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Ms. Furlong states, “The question of sanctity was, as always, the unanswerable conundrum. If she said she was a saint she would be guilty of the sin of pride and therefore would not be one. If she said she was not a saint and actually was one, then, out of false modesty, she would be guilty of a lie.” This is a misunderstanding of both humility and the adept. St. Thérèse might well have known the truth of the matter and said without pride that she was a saint. It would depend on how she defined it. Personally, I like Paramhansa Yogananda’s definition. He defines sainthood as..., “One who God considers to be holy”. Therese may also see herself as a saint simply by the fact that she has dedicated herself to her path. Humility isn’t thinking of ourselves as less than we are. Humility is the recognition of our true relationship to God, not taking our abilities personally. How delighted the world is to judge the godly in terms of a humility they are unable to comprehend.

        In reply to the second half of the conundrum if St. Thérèse was a saint and said that she was not, was she automatically assumed to be lying? Could she not be a saint and yet be unaware of the fact, being concerned more, as saints so often are, with her defects than with her saintliness, and so in truth be able to say no? To be unaware is not to be lying. That seems so obvious as to not need saying. That brings us to another question – Can one be a saint and be mistaken? Of course. The measure of a saint is not their level of mundane knowledge but their love of and unity with God. Can one be in union with God and still not be cosmically aware at all times? A saint does not always know the true measure of themselves and can often be seeing their own flaws magnified when all that others see is the God Light shining through them. They tend to see their faults as being larger than they are both because of the momentum they have often built up of self-introspection in order to cleanse the smallest defect from themselves and because of the background of stainless purity which is the result of their continual striving.

        All you can really do is the best you can, ignore the voice of self-condemnation and guilt and just keep on keeping on. The point is that if even we can play those games with ourselves on that macro level then what of the saint who will look at the smallest of flaws as through a magnifying glass and therefore see themselves as falling far to the negative side of the razor’s edge?

When Doctrine Becomes Your God

        A problem develops when doctrine becomes your God – when it becomes more important to you than the God you are supposedly seeking. When that happens and your doctrine’s belief structure collapses within you then often your path goes with it, if not even your belief in God. This is true as well if there is a particular person whose integrity is vital to the degree of your commitment. If that person is shown to be less than perfect then your ‘faith’ is betrayed and you fall away from your spiritual path. I would argue that your path has already been diverted if either case is true but you may not yet be aware of it. It is important to build your spiritual path on a personal relationship and commitment to God rather than base it on the veracity of a doctrine or the moral perfection of a spiritual leader.

        This does not mean that if you discover that the integrity or morality of the person who you follow is corrupted in some fashion that the message that they deliver is corrupted.  God and the Ascended Masters can't wait for perfect people to do the work that is there to be done.  Often they must choose those who are less than perfect to be their tools, their messengers to the world, and if they aren't perfect then, well, the experience of being a tool can often further them on their path as well as you on yours.

Science and Spirituality - a quick note regarding Newton's laws of physics

        Science has some marvelous applications and I don’t mean just in the classification of knowledge in the physical world. The laws of physics, especially those delineated by Newton, have some very apropos applications in the spiritual world as well. Even so I do not accept the judgement of the scientific community as to the truth or validity of my spiritual view. It isn’t the scientific community, itself, that is in a position to speak about the spiritual path. Rather, it is the application of the laws of physics to my understanding of the path and the greater universe beyond the physical that is most useful. There are some wonderful things that science has done for the advancement of our understanding of the spiritual world as well as the material although most scientists seem to be unaware of it. That is, the laws of physics are directly applicable to the spiritual realms, when we apply them to our understanding of that which we cannot directly perceive through the application of only physical criteria.

        Let me give you some examples. The most familiar example is Newton’s third law of motion which simply put states that, “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. This is the most often used example of a law of physics being applied to the path because it is a perfectly clear statement of the law of karma, also stated by Jesus when he said, “As you give so shall you receive and as you mete so shall it be meted unto you”. The fact that science can show that it is a law upon which the physical universe organizes itself is a means of understanding how the spiritual realm functions as well. The spiritual realm may work according to laws not so much instituted by God as a conscious choice, reflecting capricious feelings of vengeance or pleasure, but rather as an unavoidable extension of His very being, inexorably stamped on the fabric of the universe by the nature and personality of its’ Creator.

        Another example, less commonly referred to but equally applicable is Newton’s first law of motion. A body at rest, (if you can find one), will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. Conversely, a body in motion tends to remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. This is a very clear statement of the action of habit. The law manifests in the physical plane as inertia but in the emotional plane as habit and in the mental belt as what we often refer to as ‘thinking inside the box’ or preconceived ideas. A personal paradigm might be said to be a habitual way of thinking that we become so set in that we can't see outside of it. Setting aside for a moment the things that we think of as physical habits, like narcotics, (although the comparison even there is still quite apt), think for a moment of people you have met who tend to be ‘angry’ people, or controlling people, or are addicted to eating, sex, or lying. Aren’t these ‘habits’? We usually write our personality traits off by saying, ‘well, that’s just who I am…, I can’t change’, and let it go at that. This is because our habitual way of acting has become so set that we have come to see it as who we are rather than how we act. What people usually mean when they say that they can’t change is that the trait they are speaking of is too ingrained. They mean that it would be so hard to change that it becomes who they see themselves to be. Therefore, they can’t imagine putting forth the level of energy it would take to overcome the momentum of their behavior and they don’t see a good enough reason to try.

        Regardless, I am always skeptical of the statement, “I can’t change”. I would think that the fact that not everyone is like ‘that’, (whatever ‘that’ is), would be evidence of the fact that we CAN change. If you set up a particular vibration within the emotional makeup of a being, (like anger or sexual gratification), that vibration will tend to maintain itself especially if it is continually fed energy as habits so often are. This is especially true if its' action gives rise to a rush of energy that reinforces our desire for its' continued existence by creating a feeling of pleasure much as we see in the Skinnerian model of behavioral modification.

Perfect Soul / Imperfect Mask

        Those who have given themselves to a higher goal in no matter what strength or percentage often think of the path as this strenuous effort to change who they are into this vision that they get of who they should be. My wife pointed out to me that early on in our growth we often have a tendency to see ourselves as spiritual peons and that one of the most important lessons on the path is that we aren’t and never have been the peon that we perceive ourselves to be.

        In fact, we already are who we need to be. Right now, within us there is the Buddha. I remember being told that in different ways at multiple points in my journey but I still thought there was something I had to do or change or whatever in order to make it a reality. I thought that if I wasn’t experiencing the ‘latent Buddha’ then it somehow wasn’t true for me – that I was missing something. I didn’t realize that my failure to perceive my Buddhahood didn’t negate the truth of that statement but the reason I was told, (aside from it being true, of course), was so that, when I was ready, I would remember it and act accordingly. I didn’t realize that I was being told was that I wasn’t the outer personality that I so closely identified with but rather the inner being which hid behind all that and that one day I would meet. In other words, the information was meant to change the way I look at my journey. What the spiritual path is about is not the raising up of our lower selves, the perfecting of our ego. It is first the change of paradigm that allows us to see that perfection that already exists within and choosing that perfection over our ego. We are this sphere of light, this being of God perfection and we just need to fill that matrix that is already there by our change in consciousness, the matrix that God has already created. As we come to see this reality more and more we naturally come to strive to fulfill it. That is the process of the soul as it strives to take on the reality of God’s personality, when we work to out picture, to become, the virtues that are within.

        It is hard to come to grips with the realization that the personality that we identify with, that matrix of habits, likes and dislikes, opinions, intellect, etc. is not who we really are but is, rather, a mask over the interior being. Mostly we let this outer personality run our lives. Typically, it makes all of our decisions on a day to day and minute to minute basis and we don’t see behind it because we are unaware that there is a place behind it that is available to be observed. We can get glimpses of the real self at special times in our lives when we can step back from our ego’s control over our lives.

        To do this we must realize that the outer personality that we have identified with all of our lives is not, in fact, who we are. More importantly, the outer personality is not perfectible. This outer personality is often referred to as the ego, the mask, the Dweller on the Threshold, the false self. Whatever we call it we may spend years striving to rein in this wayward false self and find that we are still being fooled by its' subtle machinations. The key is not to try to change the ego but to stop choosing to act from the ego at all - to replace the ego with the mind of God. We must stop taking counsel of our ego. If we allow the mind of God, His attitudes, His thoughts, His desires to become who we are then that is the part of our real selves that we will come to identify with. We will find that the ego, that mask that we wear, loses its power over us – because that is not who we are.

Like God - Not Like God # 2, Short Circuits and Adrenaline Surges

So we have these chakras that channel the energy of God throughout our bodies and they don't have surge protection or fuses or breaker boxes. What does that mean for us?

I have a friend up in Montana who left Russia back when that wasn’t a very easy thing to do. If I recall correctly he left in the mid to late 70’s when you could still get killed just for trying. He told me of another expatriate Russian who had also come to the United States and lived here for some time. However, this friend of his went back to the USSR back before the wall came down, before most of us could even foresee that event happening at all. He said that his friend couldn’t stand it over here because of the amount of decisions that he was continually called upon to make: what to have for dinner, what kind of job to get, whether to ask for a raise, how much of a raise to ask for, what kind of kitchen plates to purchase, which movie to see that evening, etc. In the USSR all of the decisions were made for him and he came to like it that way. Our way of life was apparently far too uncomfortable for him. In fact, he thought we were crazy having to live like this.

I mention this because it illustrates a point. You can get so used to an experience that you are no longer capable of judging the reality of the experience. Even more, you can be unaware of some of the most profound effects of the experience. In fact, you can become so completely inured to input that you begin to actually desire, enjoy and perceive as positive things that are remarkably harmful to your being. This can happen at the very first experience because you may be so inundated by stimuli, both from the experience directly and by nature of your being in the mass mind of the planet, that you can no longer perceive the reality of experiences, new or old. This is especially true if the part of your being that is harmed is a part you are not in the habit of receiving feedback from or if the part harmed is a portion of your being who’s feedback you ignore, are not ‘wired’ to receive or where have turned down the volume. This can also be heightened if the part of your being that you ARE in the habit of receiving feedback from enjoys the experience despite the other part’s damage, the part you are unaware is being afflicted. Finally, there is the possibility that the very part of you being damaged is the part of you that sends positive feedback to your consciousness concerning its’ reaction to the experience. This can continue for so long that the cumulative effect can both damage a person significantly and yet, at the same time, become an integral element of one’s behavioral pattern.

One obvious example of this kind of situation is smoking. It is both an excellent example and a very poor one. It is excellent because of the obvious dichotomy between the results we might wish came with the action of smoking, like good taste, looking ‘cool’, etc. and the results that come in reality: smoker’s cough, bad odor, wrinkled skin, disease, death. We have been told that smoking poses all sorts of health risks. It can cause cancer, emphysema, heart disease and a long list of other health issues yet there are people who really like smoking. It is a poor example first because the negative effects are actually so visible and are physical as well and second, because the people who smoke can see the negatives and choose to keep smoking (or their habit chooses for them). It is even less applicable because it does not address those habits that are spiritually destructive only. Do not mistake me. Smoking is spiritually destructive as well as physically but we can easily point at some of the negative aspects of it. This is not so easily done with others.

But let’s take anger as an example. It is almost universally recognized as non-productive, is obviously a rush of energy, and is in many ways demonstrably the type of cause/effect relationship that I am discussing. When we get angry we erupt emotionally. This is certainly and unarguably a blast of energy that moves through us, leaving us feeling drained. It is a strange thing to say but to many people the spewing forth of anger feels good (whether they are aware of it or not), especially compared to the alternatives of calm acceptance or stifled feelings of injury or unfairness, and often is the very weapon we wield to make the object of our anger suffer. I am not saying that anger itself feels good. I am saying that many people, when faced with the choice of anger or acceptance of the situation, allow themselves to experience anger because the rush of letting it go, of venting, feels good. It is the easier choice to make in the face of accepting responsibility for our anger ourselves. It may be said that it is a rush of energy through us that attempts to dominate, subjugate, punish and injure whoever is the target. But that isn’t what feels good. Next time you are in a situation that elicits anger from you notice that there is a feeling of building pressure. The pressure is the source of anger. The expression of that anger is the release of that pressure, allowing that energy to flood through you and out through that short circuit in a burst that feels ‘freeing’ or ‘honest’ or whatever you want to label it. We “blow our top”. The reality of what is happening is that you have taken a good deal of the energy of your being and tuned it to the vibration of anger and spit it out, usually directed at someone else. Have you ever tried to be in an environment with a really angry person? Were you able to keep your harmony? Maybe not. When someone is angry and venting it the energy of the entire environment is filled with the vibration of anger and it is unlikely that you are immune. None-the-less we are often told that venting this anger is ‘positive’, that it is healthy.

Another example is overeating. While it is true that obesity and overeating may not always be in a direct cause/effect relationship, that is to say not everyone who is obese over eats; if we ignore the destructive quality of the food that we eat nowadays then overeating is more often than not the direct cause of obesity, especially if one’s metabolism is slow. Yet there are people who, knowing that they will gain excessive weight, will overeat anyway. Again there are positive and negative aspects to this example but the one that I want to point out is that when such a person eats, it is often the very act of eating that is rewarding in one way or another and the fact of putting on weight isn’t as directly connected to the act of eating from an experiential point of view. It is separated in time and the direct cause/effect relationship is not immediately obvious, therefore it is easier to separate the two events. (Yes, we are, of course, aware of the connection between eating and weight gain but I am talking about direct sensory evidence, not logical nor scientific evidence for this particular example.) How much more difficult it would be to overeat if, even as we ate, we put on noticeable weight. Imagine if, as you ate, you could see the extra girth being added and what a profound effect this might have. It is a shame, in a way, that the law of cause and effect can sometimes take a bit of time to manifest, to be perceived. This is an important point because we can lose control over something that has evident negative effects and only the slightest separation in the logical chain of cause and effect, such as eating and weight gain or smoking and increased potential of heart disease. If that is true then how much more are we able to lose control of - or see no reason for - control over causes which have no easily perceivable negative effects.

We may have difficulty recognizing effects that, due to the subtly of their expression, do not ever register consciously. Or if we do perceive the negative effects we may not connect them to the causes and enjoyable effects that we readily perceive. We may be completely unaware of the negative effects or consider their relationship to the cause to be the mere subjective opinion of someone else. Yet we may be unaware of profound effects upon our spiritual selves due to a lessening of our ability to perceive those same effects.

One that is not so easy to perceive or confirm is masturbation. Here is an act that quite simply feels good to the individual and apparently has no negative effects. Here the energy of the action is harder to follow because we don’t see any cancer connected to the act, no weight gain, no “hard evidence” but it is certainly an activity that involves energy and all energy is God’s. This is a “mis-qualification” of energy. You are not using the energy in a creative way but rather creating an energy “short circuit” that lets you experience the rush of that energy. But the energy is lost to you and not used in a creative fashion.
The problem is that acts of this sort are non-creative and that the energy that you have bled off in an activity of that sort is no longer in your control but can be taken up and used by any entity that is attuned to that vibration of energy. When energy is used to create things that do not vibrate like God then the energy used becomes those things and they do not vibrate like God. Those energies do not rise up, magnetized into our higher selves, but spew out into the greater environment, and since nature abhors a vacuum there are entities that ARE attuned to those energies, that gather them and use them to continue their own existence.

We cannot dismiss as non-existent phenomenon that we simply haven’t as yet developed the sensitivity to register. We can’t afford to dismiss the often profoundly negative effects that a behavior has on a part of our spiritual being because they can’t be observed through quantifiable measures of stimulus/response by senses limited to the physical plane. We shouldn’t dismiss them simply because we can’t directly measure and quantify the relationship between the behavior and the effect. If those relationships exist then they will have those effects without regard for our ability to perceive the relationship even when we can perceive the results.

Indeed, the problem is exacerbated in examples that have far more subtle effects, effects that, when one is not very tuned to them, can only be perceived when they are ‘turned off’ if even then. Have you ever been somewhere where there was background noise such as and air-conditioner on low or a busy street a couple of blocks away? You know that you can tune out the sound after a fairly short time and in a sense not hear it at all until it is turned off and the silence makes you aware that something was making a noise. But let’s up the ante. Suppose that the sound of the air conditioner was initially turned on so low that you couldn’t hear it at all and that it was then slowly increased, so slowly and so low that it never did register to your hearing at all. Then suppose further that on your desk there was a fan that covered even any audible sound generated by the air conditioner. How would you know that the sound was there? Suppose that the sound of the air-conditioner was, in fact, subliminal in the first place. How would you know that it was there? Finally, suppose that the subliminal sound had an accrued negative effect on your physical body – that over time the sound could harm you. How about the people that live or work near a power station in a town? There is certainly evidence that the environment created by the powerful field generated by a power station can harm you.

You may not, probably don't, view your choices as “evil” as most people think of evil although the energy that you lose doesn't vibrate 'like God' but rather 'not like God'. Let’s not fall into the trap of moral gradients, moral superiority or inferiority over those who are attracted to these different vibrations. These things are simply choices that we make that have particular consequences. It is those who are responsible for creating the vibration who may fit onto that moral gradient. What we must do is decide if we are willing to accept the consequences of involvement in those activities and for how long. To every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. It is that simple. That isn’t to dismiss the “like God, not like God” razor. It is quite real. And I certainly strive to avoid the “not like God” stuff. But I am talking about the sense of guilt that the fallen ones always try to burden adepts with.

There are two other things to be aware of. One is that we must, in the long run, account for every bit of energy that we are given, every pulse of light, 'every jot and tittle of the law' as it were, and this leads us to the most important effect of all. The other is that we are polluting our environment more with these 'negative' rushes of energy than we can generally comprehend.

Finally we come to THE reason, the single most important fact, about why all of this is important. As long as we have an outstanding balance of mis-qualified energy still needing to be balanced out there in the universe, (negative karma), we can’t get “beyond the wheel of karma”. This is the real goal and we keep ourselves from it by building and maintaining that well of mis-qualified energy. So it isn’t a question of good and evil, at least not always. There are, of course, those beings who ARE evil, who choose to do those things not in spite of the effects that accompany them but because of the effects that those activities have. But that is another discussion entirely.

Like God - not like God # 1, Virtue and Chakra Basics

       I am striving to become one with God and so I strive to behave like God. To do that I must have some idea of what kind of God I follow.  To follow you need to have either a guide present or you need to have a guide’s map.  And you certainly need to have a goal.

        Here is one of my most basic tools.  From a theoretical standpoint, everything is either like God or not like God.  From a metaphysical standpoint, everything is either like God or not like God.  From a practical standpoint, everything is either like God or not like God.  From any and every standpoint everything is either like God or not like God.  That’s it.  That is the core belief of my doctrine.  Every thought, word, desire, deed… everything.  Everything is either in God’s image or it isn’t.  It is that simple.  You don’t need someone else to tell you what God is like.  When that happens, you apply someone else’s vision to your experience.

        Having said that what do I think God is like?  Easy.  God is the best of all the ideals of man, the common thread that runs through all religions, through the universe, that is our concept of universal values because the personality of God is woven into the very fabric of His universe.  Sooo, what are God’s qualities?  From my point of view some of them are Love, Truth, Service, Power, Wisdom, Mercy, Honor, Freedom, Duty, Loyalty, Justice, Clarity, Responsibility, Victory…  These are qualities that are immortal.  They are the very essence of who or what God is.  Is there something on that list that you feel doesn’t belong there?  Remove it!  Don’t accept my doctrine without question.  This is a map.  I don’t claim to have the map down perfectly.  Not even for me.  Certainly not for you.  We need simply to strive to incorporate the virtues that we see as being like God, those aspects of God’s Personality if you will, into our lives at every moment of every day and they will bring us closer to God.  These are both the tools and the goal because they are God’s qualities as best as I am to understand and the more we strive to be like God the closer we will be to God and the closer we get to God the more we become God.

        I strive, at every moment, to inspect my thoughts, words, deeds, etc. I ask myself whether they are like God or not like God.  I don’t judge from the standpoint of ‘good’ or ‘evil’.  I judge from the standpoint of ‘like’ or ‘not like’ God.  The distinction is a subtle one, I know, but I try to steer clear of guilt which I do not think of as being ‘like God’.  Guilt seems to me to be an unnecessary burden.

        You are not required to live a life of ruthless determination.  You are not required to do anything.  It’s faster, yes. If you want to be the one in charge of your life rather than your life being in charge of you then it is a way, a viewpoint that may help.  Take this paradigm and use it to the level that seems useful to you.  Pedal to the metal or easy does it are both just right if that is how you feel drawn to incorporate it.

        Do you want to live a saint’s life?  You can right now.  Right now.  How?  Strive without ceasing to manifest those qualities that you listed above or the ones that you believe belong on that list and others like them whatever the cost.  Don’t expect to be perfect at every moment.  Expect yourself to be striving for perfection as often as possible until it is at every possible moment.  Perfection isn’t a static state anyway as far as I can tell.  Perfection is being as perfect as you can be at any given moment in time.  If you are doing ALL that you can then don’t judge yourself as “good” or “evil”.  Leave that to the pundits, to dogma or religion.  You simply move on in your striving for those things that you perceive as the qualities of God.  In a sense you create a pull towards God by being similar to God.  You pull yourself or magnetize yourself to God.  Does God radiate as guilt?  Not to me.  You do not need to use my list you know, once you get the idea of what belongs on your list of what God is like.  You know intrinsically what you are striving for by searching your heart.        In order to discuss good and evil and how to maintain a higher level of purity on a day to day basis I need first to talk about how energy moves through your body via the chakras.  To do that we need to talk about the chakras themselves.  Bear with me in this because my aim is the day to day nuts and bolts of the path, not my doctrine.  But I need to give you a framework through which you can understand the tools as I offer them and how to work with them.  Hence, this initial information.  Please don’t skip over this blog if you think you already know all about the chakras.  You may get some information that you don’t already have or come to a new understanding of them and their operation and even if you don’t, you may get a bit of information that conflicts with your present knowledge and may, therefore, expand your paradigm if you don’t let your personal doctrine get in the way.  In addition, I may say things later that assume you have absorbed this information.  Even if you don’t agree with all this it will still serve as a framework for you to understand what I am going to say in the following blogs.

        There are seven chakras that I want to describe for you.  There are actually 12 major chakras in your body but only seven that I need to discuss at this point.  The seven are located in a line from the top of your head down to the base of your spine.  The top chakra is the Crown Chakra.  It is a bright, pure yellow and is the wisdom chakra.  This is the chakra of the Christ Consciousness.  It is the point where the energy from God enters your body through the crystal cord.  The second chakra from the top is the Third Eye Chakra.  It is a bright emerald green and rules God Vision and healing.  The third is the Throat Chakra.  It is the seat of God Power, God Direction and the Word of God.  The fourth chakra is the Heart Chakra.  This is the chakra of God Love and it is pink, (no surprise there).  The next chakra is the Solar Plexus Chakra.  It is purple and gold and is the chakra of service and ministration.  The Seat of the Soul Chakra is next.  Its’ color is amethyst.  It is the chakra of God Justice and God Mercy.  Finally, at the bottom is the Base of the Spine Chakra.  It is the chakra of the Mother Ray.  It is the chakra of purity and of the Ascension Flame.

        All of these chakras serve to spread the energy that comes into you throughout all of your four lower bodies, much like the breaker box breaks down the electricity that comes into the house or apartment where you live.  There are, however, some important differences.  While there is some similarity to a breaker box there is also some similarity to a prism.  Because the function of each chakra is to step down an energy that is fundamentally different in action from the energy that moves through the other chakras but in a house the electricity flowing through each breaker is fundamentally the same.

        In addition, the chakras don’t actually act as surge protectors the way breakers do.   You might think of them as fuse boxes rather than breaker boxes where the fuses have pennies inserted so that they don’t blow when there is a short circuit somewhere downline.  I have seen representations of the chakras in books where the colors do not correspond to what I have given above.  This is not always because those who are giving that information are incapable of seeing the chakras or are inventing their descriptions.  On the contrary, they are passing on the information as they see it and are often truly able to see the chakras.  The trouble is that they see the chakras within their own bodies or the bodies of others around them and the light of those chakras is not the light of chakras that are pure, radiating the clear, brilliant light of God as it appears when it is emitted from God’s being and stepped down to us.  That isn’t a judgment of them.  My chakras aren’t radiating only the pure light of God either.  So, these people are seeing that light as it is mis-qualified.  They see the chakras as they are when some portion of the energy is being used for things that do not vibrate like God.  They are seeing it in this environment, the negative energy of the physical plane, the environment that it inhabits and the misuse that it is put to here, once we receive it.  This is simply the condition of people on the planet. Chakras that are pure radiate a beautiful pristine clarity of color far different from the muddy browns, oranges and grays that are often depicted.

        The chakras are marvelous centers of energy that whirl and vibrate with life and God energy and should be treated as God’s abodes in the body.  Approached with joy and reverence they offer us a way to learn and to honor the God within.  Yoga is a great way to do this.  So is meditation upon one or another of them.  The Third Eye is a great tool for increasing one’s concentration and centering our mind on God.  That is why many teachers of meditation recommend that you put your concentration upon the Third Eye when you meditate.  Each of the chakras is the focus of a particular type of God’s energy and can, when keeping that in mind, be great tools themselves for strengthening one’s momentum.

A Mystic's View of the Spiritual Journey

It’s 4 A.M. Nasruddin leaves the tavern and walks the town aimlessly. A policeman stops him.
“Why are you out wandering the streets in the middle of the night?”
“Sir,” replies Nasruddin, “if I knew the answer to that question I would have been home hours ago!”

- Rumi -



        For so long the spiritual journey goes on and seldom do I realize that my journey isn’t taking me somewhere that I may recognize before I arrive, not even to a place I won’t recognize but might believe in, like a distant planet where the flora and fauna are new and never before seen but the planet is still round and the colors are still within the visible spectrum. No. It will not be a place that lies within my conscious experience at all.

        I strive to go to a place that lies even beyond those that I can imagine that I can’t imagine. I am going to a place that, ‘tho I have been there and felt it, experienced it and even remember that I have been there at sacred moments in my life, yet it is a place that I can not imagine at all. Having been there I think that I recall my having experienced it and yet I do not recall it with any clarity for my memories are all filtered by my being encased in this limited vehicle. All my memories of the event are visual, auditory, olfactory, but the meat of the experience is of who I AM and how I AM when I AM there. I now recall only what I could accept of it - what I could turn the experience into in my memory so that I could accept it, get a grip on it, what I could bring back when I came into this tiny box of consciousness again - what I could allow myself to vaguely remember without giving up too much of my cherished beliefs about the nature of reality. These beliefs are precious to this lifetimes’ personality. They are the tools by which I juggle my sanity. That recollection is only a cartoon representation of that place done in symbols. It is like Jungian dreams that presents my inner psychology to me in terms I can accept but not comprehend. It is, however, a place that I know of even when I am unable to recall its’ true nature.

        I hesitate to even say that I have been there, not because I am not sure, but because I may then believe that I can imagine it, that I can define it, and that will surely keep me from it for then I will strive to go to the place that I can imagine, a place that I can describe, thinking, this is that place that I was. This is where I have been. But the place that I can imagine, that I can remember, is not the place I have been.

        Yet how can I go to a place that I cannot imagine? If I can’t imagine that place then how can I believe in it? And if I can not believe in that place then how can I go there? How can I go where I can not believe that I can go? How can I stay there if, when I am on the threshold I think, “I can not believe this”? Given this I must practice every day knowing that I can not know where I am going, that I cannot know the goal until I am there, that, in truth, I can not get there at all, that the goal of my striving is the striving itself – to let the striving be the goal so that I can move beyond that which I can imagine as the goal, so that something, some part of me that I am unaware of, can achieve the true goal that I cannot imagine.

        Yet if the striving is my goal then my arrow is misaimed for then I must both strive and cease to strive, having achieved my goal. I must strive without the goal in mind at all but rather I must strive only to be worthy of the goal. I must strive not for that which is without but for that which is within that, when the time comes that I am taken up to the goal through no power of my own, I will be of an energy that can be one with the goal. Then, by God’s grace, I may transcend my own beliefs, my own consciousness, my own programming, my own concepts, my own personality, my own dogma, my own drunkenness, my own mask that I am not even aware that I wear and be pulled through that wormhole leap to divinity, by me undesigned for my design would be flawed, undirected that my personal consciousness not wrestle with the guide, unanticipated, unlooked for, undreamed of - into that consciousness that is God or Truth or whatever word that you use to describe that which you perceive as forever unknowable yet attainable by your inner being to the everlasting joy and release of your consciousness.

        May the guide come and effortlessly take me to the goal. As Rumi says with a poignant sadness that echoes in my heart, “I didn’t come here of my own accord, and I can’t leave that way. Whoever brought me here will have to take me home.”

The Uniting of All Faiths

          One of the themes that I have found in more than one of the 'new age' groups that I have been associated with the that of 'the uniting of all faiths'.  This is an exemplary goal but there is one thing that stands in the way of it.


I am rewriting this blog.  I will endeavor to expedite it but must be clear in my communication.  "Be patient with me and I will pay thee all."