“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” —attributed to Albert Einstein
As a human race, all that we will ever see, unto eternity, is our Self. When we can only look through the eyes of an unhealed past, we remain chained to the whipping post of our own ignorance. When the individual self embraces the possibility for change, and finds its relationship to the Greater Self, a door is opened to an eternal mystery, and with it, an expanded potential for healing is discovered.
ACCESSING THE UNKNOWN?
We all travel life’s roads, roads which are paved by two primary sources. Our culture and our memory are part of this shared infrastructure of consciousness that is internalized and normalized within our own minds and hearts. But which roads of knowledge are being offered to us to travel upon, and where do they lead? Entire life experiences can become accommodations and adjustments to the “knowledge” that we are inadequate, woeful human beings who do not have the power to stand up for ourselves and be heard. Entire life experiences can be created that keep us fearful and distrustful of others, well into our adulthood, and even unto death.
The “unknown” has a special window to it, and it is called “this moment”. Yet, only the special few have the vision to see through this window. It is the opening in our mind and heart that God (change to higher power, or whatever represents love, beauty, and healing to you) speaks through, so that we can find the truth and spirit of this new moment. Do not fear the unknown, as it can be so much more than we could ever anticipate or imagine.
Even after our most sincere and deepest “prayers”, there still must be an opening created and maintained within our minds where we can listen and watch, without fear or judgement, for the “answer”, which is always provided, and rarely understood. An overactive mind runs over the quiet truth that is revealed in each moment, so take off those mental workout clothes, and take a breather!
We will never change “God’s mind”, but we just might change our own, and, in that change, the real miracle of life can be revealed, and our lives renewed.
Many types of “knowledge” actually breed division and separation between human beings. It is easy to tell the difference between their teachings and teachers just by feeling within our own inner chambers of consciousness how their message impacts our hearts. Eventually the teacher presenting the highest learned “truths” of the day will be ignored, if he/she is not able to break through the psychic/spiritual barrier between the mind and the heart, while still presenting, or preaching, to others their message. Did they just bring more head knowledge, which we tend to daily saturate our awareness with anyway (Google it!), or did they bring the intellect coupled with the heart awareness, where we can experience the promised fruits of deeper connections with all of creation, and, perhaps, an increased measure of peace of mind and love in our world?
Within myself, it is quite enlightening to note that when I attempt to interpret situations solely in terms of a potentially divisive philosophy/understanding, I usually now rebel out of my refreshed understanding of life, and continue on and listen more deeply for the real truth of the moment, (AND NOT THE POTENTIALLY WORN OUT TRUTH OF YESTERDAY). All of those divisive philosophies that pit “me versus you” or “us versus them” will bring fewer positive results than unitive philosophies that bring people together in the spirit of cooperation and caring. Yet it almost seems like the divisive ideas are for many, and for me, by instinct, first in line for consideration, so it is important to not act out of impulse. It is being mindful to wait out that first racing train of sometimes fearful, angry or hurtful thought, and just watch it as it passes through the screen of awareness, and wait for another peaceful train of loving thought that may lie underneath all of the other noise.
The goal might be to make “love” the leading, or first, thought considered, but in my reality, it does not always automatically arise, nor should it, just because I think that it is a good idea. It is important to note here that ideas that initially appear to be counter to our prevailing philosophy may have legitimate origins, and discovery and exploration of the mind and our individual experience of it should continue without fear and self-judgement, as we attempt to discern the “truths” being communicated. If our “prevailing philosophies” are not subject to change, then we risk excess friction in all of our relationships, especially as we slip further and further away from the new, upgraded truth trying to be revealed.
Understanding what we now consider to be sources for knowledge is all important, as well. With the idea of “FAKE NEWS” being so casually tossed about these days, it is important to keep in mind that “FAKE NEWS” has always been with us. It can be traced all of the way back to the days when we first starting naming objects, and attaching emotional linkages to our observations. Everybody sees things somewhat differently, though similarities outweigh differences by super-substantial amounts. But the human mind tends to focus on the differences, and, thus, temporarily accentuate those divisions while examining the objects of its reality, as it reassembles the new information into its own unique information matrix known as the personality.
Of course, once “new ideas” become integrated, they can be just as resistant to change as old, damaged, worn out thoughts, and the new synthesis will require continuous further revision until some sort of all-encompassing unitive philosophy arises (or God-consciousness, for those who like to tie spirituality and religion together).
Where does our reliance on technology connect with a “search for truth”? Search engines now serve you up what they think you are looking for. They know who you are, and more importantly, what your online consumer preferences are. They know how you are looking for things, as well as how you search for news, companies, products, etc. Plus, they know the zip code and the local geography where each user is located. Search engines are getting better and smarter at knowing YOU, as well as what’s what in your micro-locale every day. A quick type into Google, and you are being fed an illusion.
To the more technically inclined, it takes more than cleaning cookies or turning off personalized search in Chrome to get to the “truth.” Keep in mind that most of the search algorithms are Capitalist Oriented Male Biased computer coding exercises that sort and order the “objects of reality” based on that slanted mind-set. If we all want that biased mindset, then we will continue to trust and rely upon Google, and most other search engines, for the ordering of our reality. It should be more than a little concerning to know that many of the same values that our President touts as his own are built right into these algorithmic formulas.
Mindfulness, insight, and meditation help to create a more stable foundation for thought, feeling, and action. Remaining socially connected through real life interaction, vs through media devices, keeps the heart and mind refreshed and engaged holistically. Giving and receiving “presence” to each other has much more value than the mere information that might be exchanged. For us to continue to trust in technology solely for our heart connection is like only eating popcorn for our diet; Satisfying in the short-term, and deadly in the long run.
There is so much more to reality than what just greets the eye, and scientists, mathematicians, theologians, artists, philosophers, enlightened politicians, and Google algorithm writers, continue to struggle towards some unknown destination that our collective search for truth continues to guide us towards as a human race. We need only watch the evening news, or read any newspaper or magazine, to recognize that we are no closer now to a consensus reality than we were before, even with the advent of the internet, with religious and philosophical divisiveness, ego aggrandizement, wealth accumulation, and personal and corporate power still being celebrated and supported as ideals to pursue by the cultural power brokers.
THE CONSPIRACY OF SILENCE?
The conspiracy of silence has to be broken, again and again if necessary, and the silencing of my true identity through adherence to old, worn out patterns of behavior inculcated into me by our culture, our religions, our so-called teachers and teachings, and our misunderstandings of our parents, our God and creator, and our outdated sense of self have to end, for this present moment healing event to have any hope of transforming the heart and soul.
Starting within myself, I have seen how a lifetime of oppression, and repression, had brought about a series of near fatal illnesses, physiological as well as spiritual. I saw how a dark force, common to all of humanity, lived, moved, and had its being enshrined within my own heart and soul. I also saw how the medical, economic, religious, cultural, political, and spiritual traditions had failed to honor my most basic, innermost needs of being valued for my basic essence, and to have my voice listened to, understood, and accepted by those who have that capacity of the Heart.
The conspiracy of silence is continuously fed through our ignorance of our true nature, and our unwillingness and/or inability to both access and speak our personal truth at home and in the marketplace. This conspiracy of silence exists within all societies, and ours is no exception. The conspiracy of silence is alive and well in many millions of American minds, including many present day religious and spiritual leaders.
This oppression and repression keeps us stuck in a very narrow frequency of existence.
We all look up to authorities from time to time. We all have been inspired, and sometimes oppressed, by them, as well. Yet, truth remains a pathless land, and we all need to pursue our own spiritual healing. Our journey in that new direction IS our unique path. The truth that sets us free IS the accessing and the sharing of our sense of enhanced wisdom and insight that has evolved through tuning into a wider frequency of being
An unfulfilling life experiences results from subservience to unhealed, oppressive forces from our past. No rejection or betrayal can ever hurt quite as much, and can have as long lasting impacts, as those which occurred while in childhood. Repeated rejections can contribute to an isolated, powerless sense of self for all susceptible people.
We all have access to infinity, and to each other, on levels that the conscious mind does not fully understand. The truth about each individual human life, and the collection that is called humanity, is that the sum total of all life influences each other directly and dramatically. Each moment of each day, our collective consciousness rains down upon us (or erupts within us) a wealth of information, and reaches our minds and “hearts”. We receive this information through the training, education, parental upbringing, media and news, the overall witnessing of life, our “dreams” and personal insights, as well as through some less obvious and poorly known and misunderstood means.
Each of us is both a receiver, and transmitter, of information. We tend to believe that the information that we are passing is exchanged solely through our words, and our body language, yet there is another level as well, a level that remains poorly understood, ignored, or even denied..We all have access to Spirit, with its “extra sensory perception”, yet we risk ridicule from many sources, including those scientifically inclined, or religiously indoctrinated, should we ever experience its mystery and claim it for ourselves. Each of us has a life energy field, which has not yet been detected by science, but certainly has been detected by the sensitive beings within the shamanic tradition, as well as within the mystics of the human race over the aeons of the existence of life. This life energy field, or in Rupert Sheldrake’s terms, the morphic field, is the field that we not only radiate, but that we are immersed in from the collective, interacting fields of nearly eight billion other human beings now living, as well as all humans and precedent life that has ever lived.
Psychic Phenomenon?
The intersection of family history and a birth in November of 1955 has created some interesting, and, at times, amazing stories for me.
My Uncle Worth died in February of 1955, 9 months in advance of my own birth. His photo is included here, along with his wonderful wife, Aunt Effie (who also died before I had any awareness, when I was less than a year old). My grandparents dearly loved their Uncle Worth and Aunt Effie, as well as my mother (and I assume her brother, my uncle Wayne, as well).
When I was 4 years old, my grandfather showed me this chair. I immediately recognized it, and claimed it as my own.
I “remembered fashioning every piece by my own hands, and assembling it together myself”. How could I have possibly done that as a 4-year-old? Of course my mother guffawed, and stated that it was a store-bought chair that my grandfather had since he was young. I “knew better” and to this day, the memory of the chair, and its actual presence in our home, both haunts, and comforts me.
It is now known that Uncle Worth was the original owner of the chair, and that he passed it down to Grandpa, who then gave it to me.
I still sit down in the chair on occasion, and I feel a mysterious,beautiful peace (completion) when I sit in the chair.
Looking at my history, I remain seated in the Mystery.
IRIS?
I would like to refer to an event in April of 2007, when we had two cottonwood trees fall across the center of our home. They caused extensive damage, but to document those details is not the intent of this paragraph. Our wonderful spirit dog Iris, a white German Shepherd that had become part of our family in 2001 as an eight month old puppy, endeared herself to me in a way that will forever hold a special place in my heart. She was our constant companion for many years. She was a perfect trail dog, and led both Sharon and I on many wilderness hikes, offering her joy of exploring, and her willingness to protect us from unknown dangers. While the tree removal service tended to the fallen trees above our home, Iris and I entered into the home, and walked through the living room towards the hallway into the bedrooms. Suddenly, Iris, who was walking behind me, started feverishly barking, and I turned back to her, to see what her problem was. I took a couple of paces back to her, and right then, a six foot long, two hundred pound piece of the tree fell through the roof, and landed EXACTLY on the spot where I had been standing when Iris barked. It landed with such a thunder that the house shook, and then I trembled, as well.
The tree service man later said, in forty years working his trade, he had never before lost a load. Iris had saved my life. She was to die at the all too young age of seven, in December of that year, waking Sharon and I to a heart piercing death shriek and howl. We got up and held her to close to us, as her life force left her. Sharon and I felt like we had lost a precious child. A most amazing side story to this is that ONE YEAR TO THE DAY, AND TO THE MINUTE (3:45 am), after Iris’s death, my father’s dog Rocky woke up, and started howling for two minutes. Dad reported that Rocky had NEVER done that before, and he never did it again, until the day he died, June 23, 2016.
Looking at my life’s history, my heart still gets broken by the Mystery.
Left to right–me, Joan, Marie, Marc, Jeff
Marie, Sharon, and myself
In July of 1987, I met Marie Schmidt, a practitioner of the Infinite Way, a movement of “spiritual healing” created by Joel Goldsmith (died 1964). I had seen a simple advertisement for her tape group, while attending the International New Thought Alliance conference in Portland, in the summer of 1987. The tape group was a combination mediation group, and a forum for listening to the taped teachings of Joel Goldsmith, a spiritual healer and mystic who first began his healing practice shortly after the Great Depression began. Marie was a woman of about 87 years old, who taught every Sunday at the old YWCA on 10th Avenue in downtown Portland. She hosted a weekly meeting at the downtown YWCA, which she played one hour tapes every Sunday, since 1961. She had been holding weekly meditations and tape recorded playbacks of Joel’s actual messages since 1962 (she had 1000 hours of his recorded messages, which she ended up giving to me).
Marie would sit in the front of the room, and lead a 15 minute meditation, followed by the playing of a cassette tape of one hour length. She had a collection of at least 300 tapes (of which I eventually copied virtually all of them, and committed them to memory as best that I could).
I was captured by this group, which had mostly older people who attended. I believe that I was the youngest person there, for the period from 1987-1991, while I remain involved with her group. Initially, I kept my distance from most of the people, not really being sure what the whole business was about.
One day in 1988, I had just broken off an engagement to be married to Laurie Hartmann (you knew her father, David Hartmann, from the BPA-he was the famous educator and speaker on transmission line theory and physics), and I was devastated. The sweet old woman, Marie, offered me a “healing session”. Well, I had my doubts, and nothing to lose, and I was a little curious about this “healing business”. I went up to her apartment, still devastated, and meditated with her for 15 minutes. At the end, Marie spoke the “message” that she heard from Spirit, in regards to me.
“More perfect than you are, you could never be”, with “all that is human, is illusion”.
Well, OK, but how can I possibly apply that spiritual salve?
As I thanked her for her time, I then noticed I was totally at peace, and I was “healed” of all of my emotional disturbances around the breakup of my engagement to Laurie.
I later tried to have her heal my mentally sick
ex-wife, Donelle, with no success. So there were limits to her ability, though she always
stated that God heals, not herself .
I can almost now hear Marie’s voice, telling me, in regards to you: “More Perfect than you are, you could never be.” How that manifests in all of our lives remains an unraveled mystery, to be experienced by us each day that we have the privilege to wake up.
Winter of 1991
I met my wife Sharon in 1989. We shared a common passion of finding and expressing the joy and truth in life, and we meditated and prayed together for many, many hours together, especially early on in our relationship. The fruits of one of our shared meditations is the following “poem”. I had a particularly deep, profound connection during a meditation around 1990, where I had once again entered into Truth’s domain. There was no apparent message, that is, until I returned to my conscious mind. The silence then used the words in my memory to create the following message (the first stanza I wrote in 1985, prior to any real spiritual unfolding, and I could never finish it until this meditation in 1990 filled in the body of it):
THE VOICE OF AWAKENING
Though the slowly shifting sands of time, Create ever taller hills for this lost soul to climb, It must be in my selfish, hateful world of no reason or rhyme, I must begin the search for Truth, to find the Love that is sublime.
“Oh seeker of Truth, God’s high mount you would climb, “Though you now stumble through the valley’s shifting sands of time. “Stop confusing your mind with worn out rhyme and reason, “For they are forever charged by Truth with treason!”
“Oh mental marathoner , only on Life’s treadmill you now stand, “And using anothers’ words and thoughts keeps you life’s ‘also ran’ “You’ll forever chase in vain Love’s all-knowing voice, “So be still, for with your run’s end, is the Cause to rejoice!”
“Oh marionette’s dancing image of the screen of the world’s mind, “With all of those conditioned beliefs in control, what freedom could you find? “Release yourself from all of those memories’ materialistic strings “To prepare for the inner Wisdom that only my Intelligence brings!
“Oh shadow boxer of evil, when will you ever retire? “Tis only champion of a dream world to which you aspire! “Cease giving energy to your illusions with those mental pugilist blows, “To reveal the peaceful mind of the One who now knows!”
“So please wake up to Love’s voice sweet somnambulator, “And realize the eternal truth that “I” within “you” is greater, “Than any mental image you could ever form or learn, “And then your World will reflect the One for whom you now yearn!
And then the real “punch line” to the search for Truth:
“To be in realization of Truth, is to find God’s high mount another illusion to climb, “Continuously being recreated by fearful, desirous minds caught on the merry-go-round of time” “The non-illuminated, restless mind remains forever bereft of Love’s Rhyme and Truth’s Reason, “And only chases after mirages, until it sees all of its movements are guilty of treason!
Summer of 1992
I awoke one morning during the summer of 1992, and finished preparing to leave on a weekend hiking and camping trip with Sharon, up to the Mt. Adams Wilderness Area. My senses were somehow heightened, and I felt as though I could see and hear better than I was accustomed to. Food tasted better, the air carried many more scents, and my entire body felt alive with vitality, and sensation, well beyond what I was accustomed to experiencing in my day to day life. I had to work that day, so I ignored my “extra sensory perception” for most of the work day, and I remained excited about joining with my beloved partner on a hike to Lookinglass Lake, which would end up becoming around a 10 mile hike, in one direction.
Our drive took longer than expected, and we arrived in the Wilderness area too late to reach the developed campground, so we parked for the night in a snow park area, and set up our tent to shelter for the evening. We sat outside of the tent, and I began to experience, in its fullness, that “extrasensory perception” yet again, but much more profoundly this time. It was as if I had sensory receptors in the dirt, the sky, and the trees. It was as if I had grown roots, so to speak. I not only could see the ground all around us, and the beautiful trees, and the sky, I could FEEL the ground, and it was as if I extended all the way through everywhere that I could see. It was the experience, in a new form, of “all that I can see is myself”. It was like I was “hearing” and “seeing” and “feeling” for all of nature that surrounded us, and it was a profound mystical, transcendental event.
We finally lay down for the evening in our tent, and though I was still quite profoundly experiencing this event, I was able to fall asleep beside my beloved. Shortly afterward, I awoke to a great light enveloping our tent, and I arose to go outside to see what was happening. In the sky appeared a Great Light, and the entire surrounding area was bathed in a light that totally eliminated all shadows, even though it was near midnight! I awoke Sharon, who rose to witness the light. To this day, I have no clue if the light is associated with my “heightened mystic awareness”, or if it was just a coincidence that a UFO would awaken us to bathe us in its radiance. After we returned home, I told my mother about the light, and she reported that the week before, a mysterious light in the Mt Adams wilderness area was also reported, so who knows what was happening there?
Eileen Bowden Retreat
It was the summer of 1993, and I had scheduled a 5-day retreat with Eileen Bowden and 20 other followers of the Infinite Way, a mystical healing path originated by Joel Goldsmith (died in 1964). The retreat took place in Federal Way, Washington, at the Pacific Palisades retreat center overlooking the Puget Sound. I spent the four days in silent contemplation and meditation, with several group talks given by Eileen over the course of the time period. Eileen Bowden, who lived in British Columbia, Canada, was a student of Joel Goldsmith, the originator of the Infinite Way. Joel was a non-practicing Jew, and was led into Christian Science in the 20’s, while his father was on his death-bed. Joel watched a Christian Science practitioner heal his father, and Joel caught fire with the possibilities for bringing spiritual healing to all of life (life that is receptive to healing, that is) because of this.
Eileen was hand-picked by Joel to continue teaching the Infinite Way, as she “had the message”, meaning that she had achieved, or attained, the “Presence”. She would enter into the sacred energy, and then give her unprepared talks (she spoke extemporaneously for at least 1 hour for each talk given). Our role as “listeners” was to be in a sacred, meditative space, as well, so as to contribute to the total energy of the experience. The result for me from this experience was that I was totally “involved” in the sacred energy of the Spirit, with the total quietness/stillness of my mind complemented by perfect peace, and joy. I carried this energy for a full week after the retreat experience.
The experience was somewhat perplexing to my wife Sharon, as she wondered why I was having this profound experience, and why it continued on for so long. She had many questions, but the perfect peace that I was experiencing was not ebbing, at least initially. I had to return to work, as I worked for a living as an electrician. At work, the energy continued to flow in its own unique way, but well into the work week I started to question the value of “enlightenment” when I still had to continue to work. My co-workers were so out of touch with these things that I considered important, special, or sacred, and I could not quite get a handle on how this spiritual experience would have any value in the workplace. I dared not speak about it, or show any type of behavior that would distinguish me from anybody else, and the dominating attitude for me was to “just blend in” as best I could.
Anyway, when the “energy” finally ebbed, I despaired a bit, and I felt a little awkward pursuing any deeper connection with the Spirit. I had started questioning the value of a process that I was failing to integrate into the rest of my life. There was nobody to blame but myself, but ever so gradually, my “over commitment” to my spiritual unfolding began to ebb, as well. In the words of one of my journeyman “Don’t try to be so good, just blend in if you want a career in this industry”. Well, I hid my “goodness” as best I could, though I continued to pursue spiritual interests unbeknown to my fellow construction co-workers.
Another short story really stands out from my electrician apprenticeship program that I attended from 1988-1992.
We are all linked together on a much more fundamental or foundational level than we realize. Our thoughts may be nothing more than unfocused prayer, so be careful with those thoughts that we entertain in our private little worlds, because they always become quite “public”, in reality. Women’s intuition may be nothing more than a more direct, though intermittent, connection to the underlying truth that connects all of us together. Thank you, Gary Johnson, for helping LIFE reveal one of its greatest truths to me!
Let me bring this discussion home for just a moment. On Sunday, March 17, 2019, I went to play cards with my friend Jim H. While playing, I noted that I felt a blister forming on my forefinger on my right hand. I thought to myself that there was no way I could be developing a blister, because I had not done any work with my hands. Well, at that very moment, Sharon White was at home working outside around our home, and she had developed a blister, and noted it at the same time that day (6:00PM) that I felt the blister forming on my own finger. Coincidence?
On January 3rd of 2017, I started having seizures, and felt the presence of a golf ball sized black tumor in the left hemisphere of my brain. How on earth could I detect such a thing within myself without a MRI machine? I feared that I might be “losing it”, or even about to lose my own life, and was afraid to tell the doctor about it, though I mentioned to her that my dying father may well outlive me. Yet, on March 5, Marty C. had a major seizure, was hospitalized, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor the exact size, and in the same location in the brain as I detected within myself. And, when he described his seizure to me, I was struck by how similar his experience of the seizure was to my own. I told Marty that I felt that the black mass represented death itself, and that I hoped that it was not predictive of his immediate fate, or my own. When Marty had surgery to successfully remove the tumor two days later on Friday, the black mass from my own “life energy field” also disappeared. Marty was to die several months later, after a dramatic decline. Coincidence?
DREAMS?
In 1964, at 9 years of age I had a most amazing, realistic dream. This was during a period of time when I slept very little, as I usually got to sleep no earlier than midnight, no matter how early I went to bed. I laid in bed and reviewed the day every night before sleep, and see where I could have done things better, or said something a little differently. My dreams had finally evolved beyond the continuous nightmare phase that I was accustomed to, prior to age 8.
THE DREAM:
The priest, having received his directive from “on high”, then returned to his village along the lake in the high mountain region. He gathered all of the villagers together, and informed them that they were to take every golden figurine, every sacred symbol that they owned, and they were to throw them all into the lake, and never to think about them again. Then, he told each villager that they must each go into their own home, and face the “evil one” without any protection or care from any of their gods or their symbols of the sacred.
The priest then returned to his own home, having tossed all of his own idols and treasures into the deep blue lake. He stripped himself bare of all clothing, and then began to summon the forces of the dark. He became surrounded by a fog, and as he lifted his hands, sparks started flying out of his fingertips at the unknown force of darkness that lay just beyond his visual field, still hidden beyond the boundaries of the fog. The priest refocused his energy into his arms, and hands, and the sparks grew into a steady energy field, extending from his body, his heart, and his spirit, towards his unknown adversary. He was determined to overcome this force, this dark energy, and he redoubled his efforts. The priest’s heart began to race out of control, he began to sweat profusely, and a growing sense of fear and dread began to take hold of his entire being, as he finally understood that his energy could not last forever. Yes, for him to continue this battle, he must sacrifice all of his life force. Yet, he felt that he had no choice but to keep engaging the enemy, to finally see the face of the force that had terrorized his village since time began. He desperately strained and stretched to see the object of his fear and disdain, even as the ebbing energy field flowing from his fingertips continued to cut through the fog. Suddenly, a face began materializing before his faltering gaze. As he collapsed to the floor, almost drained of all life, he could no longer fight an undeniable truth– the face of the evil one might be his own!
Being so immature, and not too worldly in my knowledge, I did not have the necessary background to know what to think about the dream. I discussed the dream with my older sister, who seemed to have some partial answers to its mysteries (based on her understanding of reincarnation), but so many mysteries remained to be explained. I waited and watched for further answers, and went on with the all of the important business of being a carefree boy, though at times, I fleetingly experienced “self-awareness”.
Three years later, while taking World Geography as a class in the 7th grade, I was introduced to the Incan civilization, and Lake Titicaca, which is on the border between Peru and Bolivia. This was, and still is, a very sacred lake, and, according to the lore of the Incan people, it was where the origins of the human race began. I had an eerie sense of familiarity with the lake, and with the people of the area. I proceeded to consume every book on the Incan civilization that I could find. I became hooked on the idea of traveling to Peru someday, to seek out some answers, and to experience its culture, perhaps for a second time? I eventually traveled to Peru in 2014, having a remarkable experience that has been documented elsewhere.
Who was that boy who had that dream? Is this dream message as valid today as it was, perhaps many years ago? What kind of life is there to experience once the forces of darkness within one’s own soul have been overcome? More will be revealed. I have had many more experiences in adulthood, some of a very profound nature. The pieces of the puzzle of my life are being integrated into a bigger picture. As I make sense of my own experience, so I make sense of the whole of life.
Recently, I was reading my journal from March of 1989. There was an entry about a mysterious dream that I had on March 17, 1988, where I am looking for a discarded ring with 8 jewels. After feverishly looking about, I locate 7 of the jewels, and not the mounting, or the eighth jewel. The last jewel will be found mounted to the lost ring itself, the thought comes to me. I am with an unknown girlfriend at the time, though there is sadness associated with this friendship. I know that this “unknown woman” is not the final jewel, and my search must continue. The dream tells me that this is a view of the future, so when I woke up, I was a little more than just skeptical, to say the least.
I was with Laurie H. at the time of the dream. I first met her in an ACOA (adult children of alcoholics) meeting in October of 1987. Laurie and I were engaged at that time, though several weeks later we cancelled the engagement, in June of that year. This opened the door to an eerie conclusion to this story, and yet another story of healing.
Last night, Sharon showed me the ring that she bought for our 2nd wedding, in Las Vegas, in 2004. Sharon bought the ring in Portland, prior to our leaving for Las Vegas, and I was not involved in its purchase, though I asked her, prior to leaving, if she had a ring for our fun 2nd marriage. She then went to purchase it at Mother Goose, a store in Portland.
seven jeweled ring with big stone
On it was mounted 7 small stones, with one large green eighth stone distinguishing the setting. I had seen it before, and yet never understood its significance, until I re-read my journal. WOW, the ring, and the story, straight from the dream! Sharon had never seen my journal before (it has been in storage since 1989), and I have never discussed its contents with her, either, nor had I even thought about it once in the intervening years.
Looking at my history, I have witnessed many dreams inspired by the Mystery
In 2017 our dear friend June T. was visiting her brother Dale in Medford, Oregon. Dale was very sick at the time. In a Friday evening dream, I was in an unfamiliar bathroom, and I had fallen between the toilet and the wall. I was quite distressed in the dream. That next morning, Sharon and June talked on the phone, and June told her that Dale had fallen between the toilet and wall, while she watched helplessly. Coincidence?
In the spring of 1992, while Sharon and I were living in Rock Creek, I had a most amazing dream, and it is the miracle of love, and trust and innocence that enables me to share it (only Sharon has ever heard it , and she had no choice-she woke me up from it). In this dream, I was in my grandfather’s home, sleeping in the bedroom that i always slept in as a child. A “fierce, fiery cluster, or orb, of pure light and love” hovered over me, and though it did not have human form, I knew it to be my grandfather. I was being drawn into his love light, and I knew that, for me to continue, this energy would destroy my body because my body was too weak to support this “fire of love” that came to me. I did not care, for I had finally found what I was looking for, and I began to rise up, and attempt to join with it, knowing my “body” would be destroyed in the process.
Now, in real time, in the physical world, my body was shaking and almost convulsing, and, to Sharon, my “crying and distress” showed that I was having a nightmare. In her concern, she woke me up, and I had never felt so disappointed to have to wake up, as it ripped me away from this most remarkable inner experience. It is also remarkable how absolutely parallel this inner experience in the dream was to my own grandfather’s experience on the operating table, when he was “ripped back into this world” against his will.
But the dream carried many fruits with it into the world that our bodies inhabit (Also, the prayer of gratitude-Grandfather, Great Spirit, Thank You, appeared in my mind and heart back then, as well). I knew that if I wanted to entertain, or to even host, the higher vibrations of love, my body (both physical body and the body of thought constituting myself), must become much stronger, and more open to the powerful energies of Love’s universe. I came to realize that I must improve my physical conditioning and my dietary choices, and continue to be engaged with like minded individuals and groups of people, where energy can be exchanged.
Matthew Fox Workshop, April 2017
We attended Matthew Fox’s Cosmic Christ Workshop in Tacoma, April 2017. After Friday evening’s seminar about mysticism with the Master Spiritual Teacher, Matthew Fox, we returned to our hotel room, to rest up for the next morning’s follow-up workshop on the Cosmic Christ. I had quite the deep, peaceful sleep, which lasted six hours for me. Prior to awakening, I had a most interesting, powerful dream. What was/is fascinating about this dream is how absolutely awake I was, while having the dream.
In the dream, I opened a door, and walked into a room that was well lit. The room seemed neither familiar, or unfamiliar to me. Inside of the room there was a man standing, who was also neither familiar or unfamiliar to me, as well. He greeted me, holding a cup out to me in his hand. He gently offered it to me, and for a moment I considered what it’s contents might be. I then knew that if I drank from it, I would become “intoxicated”, but of a different nature that was still consistent with the path of “sobriety” I currently walked upon. I then noticed a table, where an opened map laid open upon it. The man walked with me to the table, still holding the cup.
I looked at the map, and it was a topographic style map, similar to what I might use for traveling and/or hiking with. There were two distinct areas to it. The path or road, on the right side of the map, had only one dark, solid line drawn from the bottom to the top of the map. But, the section on the left side of the map had several dotted lines that only remotely “paralleled” the route on the right side of the map. I had no judgement about each of the path styles, yet I remained curious about the several dotted line paths, which intersected each other, while also “snaking” their unique individual routes up the map. I noted also that the “dotted line” paths also did not ever cross the path of the solid, dark line, though all of the paths had no distinct starting, or end point.
At the Cosmic Christ workshop Saturday morning, Matthew asked if anyone had a dream that they wanted to share in the big group. Not being a “realized person”, I felt uncomfortable sharing the dream. But when it came time for a break, I took a book to Matthew for signing, and shared my dream with him. He refused to tell me what it might mean, but he had a smile on his face, and told me to let it tell me it’s meaning.
On our drive home, Sharon White took controls of the car, and I started telling her the dream again. It was then that the horripilations began in earnest, and the full meaning came through me. A complete mystical understanding, and teaching, was built into that dream, and it was then I realized that I had indeed drunk from the cup of the Spirit. Yes, I became quite “intoxicated” with Spirit, and I knew then that we had truly been blessed again by the Master Teacher. There were new paths of consciousness to be traveled, and they were indicated by the dotted line, intersecting and interweaving paths. The solid line on the right, which I had no interest in, was the established ways of knowing and seeing, and the continuation of the structure of the past. BORING!
This dream was a complete spiritual teaching, and for that, Great Spirit, I thank you, and my gratitude to you will be expressed through the life that you live through me, for now and all time to come. Yes, mysticism, the heart of all vibrant, evolving religions, also can be a personal reality. It is not, however, for those clinging to structured understandings of life.
(edit) The common bond to these experiences is my empathy and love for all three people, even while they went through their own unique version of suffering. Coincidences happen, and our eyes start to open to our long neglected truth. The more that we are receptive to that part of us that is truly unknown, the more we awaken to another possibility of our being. Whatever it is, and whoever it is that we are in consciousness, we also exist less consciously in realms where we have always been connected with our higher power, yet we did not yet know how to express its unique energies..
Empathy, compassion and love are the portals through which to receive the mysterious, higher level energies from our spiritual heritage. We are all connected at a much deeper level than we realize, yet we still can make this experience a more conscious one. Up to this point, I have not yet been able to apply this gift in any meaningful manner to help the human race, other than my willingness to write about the much greater undeveloped capacity of our human mind, heart, and soul. Learning to separate out from that energy what is mine, and what should be mine, from the vast sea of other member’s of the human race’s real life experiences, as well as their expectations and beliefs can initially bring fear and a sense of being overwhelmed. And, many of the people troubled by psychosis, including variations of paranoid schizophrenia, suffer from the inability to bring order out of the apparent chaos of many overlapping realities. Yet, that understanding of the information that we consciously, or unconsciously, share with each other may well be the key to ultimate transcendence for the human race.
A friend of my uncle Wayne, Ramona Hugulet, used to be accessed by surgeons at St. Vincent Hospital for her intuitive ability to “see” into patients where the source of their discomfort was. She was actually profiled in a PBS program twenty five years ago. I don’t see our medicine and technology catching up with our innate, though neglected, abilities in that area. It is finally starting to become “common knowledge” of the importance of searching for wholeness while undertaking any important medical treatments or processes, as these endeavors complement and work synergistically with western medical approaches to healing and cures.
I am not a religious person, though I have joined with the community of many theologians who believe that dreams are one of God’s (or, Higher Power, Universe, Healing, Spirit, Grandfather Great Spirit, The One, etc.)primary ways of getting our attention. In the absolute, there is little difference between what we experience through our dreams and through our so-called waking reality. Awake or asleep, internally we respond in real time to what we witness as if both experiences have equal footing in reality. So could God/Truth be trying to tell us something while we are sleeping? Here are six spiritually significant dreams that may be more than meets the mind’s eye.
DREAMS:
1. Visitation Dreams
It’s common to have a visitation dream after a loved one passes. The deceased often appear in bodily form, healthy and luminous, in order to communicate an important message: “I’m okay.”, or “There is nothing to fear about death”. I have had several of these dreams over the years, with my most recent experience revolving around the recent death of a good friend.
2. Prophetic Dreams
Many people have had a “dream that came true.” Our dreams may use our past experiences to produce a probable series of future events—showing us patterns that help us make better choices when we’re awake. I have had several dreams that have predicted EXACTLY events that were to happen, yet they remain unreliable predictors of the future, because the future is always changing, depending upon changes made in the present.
3. Warning Dreams
God—and our body—can sometimes speak in dreams to warn us about imminent danger, especially regarding health. We may dream of a specific body part or even receive a verbal warning. In a 2015 study of women diagnosed with breast cancer, 83 percent had dreams that were more vivid than normal. And 44 percent reported hearing specific words like “breast cancer” or “tumor.”
4. Healing Dreams
These are the internal creations that bring us from an “out of balance” place into “harmony and balance.” They often involve a mystical encounter. I have experienced many healing dreams, I had one amazing dream with my deceased grandpa Henry which, to this day, inspires and confounds me.
5. Heavenly Dreams
According to a 1989 study, more than half of healthy young adults who dreamed of death spent a significant amount of time in that dream in heaven. These dreamers sometimes go down a tunnel or pathway and arrive at heavenly destinations. They also frequently encounter deceased loved ones. I have had dreams where I have heard the songs and sounds of the “angels of heaven”, carrying a message of beauty beyond my ability to describe or define.
6. Mutual Dreams
A mutual dream is when two people—typically in separate locations—dream of the same thing at the same time. According to a 2017 study, shared dreams are 80 percent identical on average. They often occur between close friends or relatives. Interestingly, 4 percent of these dreams are shared by strangers. A most profound realization and insight may come to the dreamer, that the collective mind of man dreams through individuals, and individuals dream through the collective mind of mankind. We are one, after all, you and I.
7. Projection Dreams
In 2007, I was able to see that my sense of self had to include the much more expansive collective self that we all share as being conscious members of the human race. In a dream, I was shown how all of us may project ourselves into another human beings’ experience in our dream world, and experience their version of reality for a moment or two. If you have ever awakened from a dream, shaking from the experience of living in a very real, but alien, life experience, you have walked across the mysterious threshold into a higher dimension of understanding our self.
Wisdom and insight are available through our “dream channels”. Atheists and agnostics have the same capacity as the saints, as far as the ability to access dream wisdom goes. One of the more amazing dreams that I have had in recent years was the previously mentioned dream involving June Thomas’s brother Dale. We are much closer than we presently believe, and our beliefs keep us more separate as a human beings, than together as spiritual beings. June is much more like me, and attuned with me, than I am comfortable with, some times.
The same is true of ALL OF HUMANITY.
GOD? or “Higher Power”
Higher Power”
Note: “God” or “higher power” are terms used extensively through the 12 steps of AA. “God” can a major impediment to people’s understanding and willingness to pursue AA (it sure was for me, especially in the early 1980’s!). For some, God is simply a name for the human capacity to make positive changes in our own lives. It is not the God of religion that is sought through AA, it is the God of one’s personal understanding. Nobody in recovery needs the self-righteousness, judgement against those not yet “saved”, and the guilt and shaming of others that all too often gets promoted from within fundamentalist Churches. On the positive side of religious practice, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Rastafarians, and Jews have all found a “higher power” to guide and direct their paths using the 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous, as well as pagans, agnostics and atheists. “Higher Power” in its simplest form refers to the innate capacity of the human heart and mind to make a profound change in itself, should it make the decision, and follow through with it. Perhaps you can find a new path, too?
God must be individually experienced, and then the fruits of the experience can be collectively shared with other interested parties (AA meetings, friendship circles, etc.), to create the strongest atmosphere for healing of self and others. Our own intention must start the process, though the healing intentions of others for us, and for themselves, can bring us together into a “healing formation”, where the miracle of the collective/shared mind of a love inspired mankind can really work its wonders. Here we may actually share in the real Master Mind that has attempted to guide the human race since the beginning, since well before our present day diseased world mind took over. The right group of people, sharing love and healing together, creates a palpable energy, and this can characterize some recovery groups, depending on the quality of recovery present, and being expressed, in those groups.
“God” can a major impediment to people’s understanding and willingness to pursue a change in heart and/or recovery from addiction (it sure was for me, especially in the early 1980’s!). For some, God is simply a name for the human capacity to make positive changes in our own lives. It is not the God of religion that need be sought, it is the God of one’s personal understanding. Nobody in recovery needs the self-righteousness, judgement against those not yet “saved”, and the guilt and shaming of others that all too often gets promoted from within fundamentalist Churches. On the positive side of religious practice, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Rastafarians, and Jews have all found a “higher power” to guide and direct their paths, as well as pagans, agnostics and atheists. Perhaps you can find a new path, where the promise of a healing change can happen in your own life?
For me, in sobriety, “God” could never be just a man, or a “he” or “him”, but instead “God” is our collective universal life force, and the innate human creative capacity for personal change, healing and evolution, and love of self and other while practicing compassion. God is a state of mind and body that One experiences, after the ego has been laid to rest. God, the same yesterday, today, and forever, eternally Now, eternally Love, eternally unfolding in creative new ways of being and expressing itself. The Infinite Indivisible Invisible, defies all logic, and all human attempts to categorize and control (but oh, how religions, philosophers, and scientists, and the verbally expressive part of me in this post, love to keep trying, don’t we?). We will never find God through a Google search algorithm, or through mindlessly following other people’s opinions as to what the “truth” is. It is a uniquely personal journey, and no one can do this for us but ourselves.
PRAYER?
I would like to take a small diversion here, and talk about prayer, non-verbal and verbal communication. “Prayer” is a word that points to something so simple, normal, and natural, yet the word points to a much greater potential for shared reality than most people understand, or realize. And no, prayer is not a beseeching or a begging from some sort of Santa Claus God for something that we don’t already have, though there are 10,000 books already written about prayer indicating as much. There is so much cynicism and skepticism about prayer from non-Christians and atheists, and that negativity exists for good reasons.
There is a band of frequencies in the spectrum of universal life force where humanity resides. Our minds already arise from this base, or fundamental ground, of being or existence. We naturally can access all of these frequencies, yet we must discern which ones to attach our life force energy to, and which ones to avoid. We all have access to these frequencies together, as a human race, thus the incredible potential for overlap of experiences, and the sharing of healing, insight, love, spiritual power, and understanding at the most fundamental of levels.
One of the levels of awareness has become known as the human mystical state. “God Consciousness’, “Christ consciousness’, or the “Buddha Mind”, are names given to this sublime state of being, along with several other monikers, depending on the culture and the point of history where this is being defined and described. This energy field is the same energy that Jesus accessed, and that Saint Paul on his road to Damascus experienced. It is a non-verbal state, though the human race certainly spends a lot of time trying to bring that experience back into the verbal world of incomplete concepts. Our attempts at communicating with others are well-meaning but often times inane and insane attempts at measuring the immeasurable. Our culture is perceived to be immeasurably enhanced , and the awakening elements of the human race give great tribute to those who continue their attempts to bring this energy to mankind through their music, poetry , art, science, teachings, story telling.and other verbal contrivances.
The energy exists above and beyond the word, and its limitations, yet needs a verbal bridge back to the mind of the human, who has become lost to its influence while under the sway of the day to day hypnosis that living in the world of words supplies. The Garden of Eden is eternally lost to the person who lives in the past, while being defined by the verbal constructs around his history and experience. The Unknown, where “God” resides, becomes a source of fear for those who are addicted to their personal and/or collective stories, with their verbal structures of ignorance, isolation, hubris, and self-centered behavior. Those who finally touch the Unknown, are changed, yet lack the power to bring that change to others, though they can now send out their “waves of positive influence” or prayers, if you will. They only can point to where the Truth lies, which is the real power of the word. The word itself is not holy, or spiritual, but the state of being pointed to is where the real power remains. All of the religious works ever presented to the human race are but pointers to the truth, with no innate capacity to impart the truth on their own.
Prayer that starts on the verbal level and only stays there will have the characteristics of an affirmation, or part of the goal seeking mechanism of the human mind. Prayer that reaches the great Unknown, where the verbal machinations finally cease, will be blessed by that “carrier wave” of spiritual energy, thus have the potential for greatest power, healing, and connectivity. The eternal struggle of man is to find their own unique way to quiet, or liberate, the mind, without damaging the mind in the process. The quiet mind is how to open the internal window to infinite spirit, which will blow into the inner window in its own unique time and manner. Who, or what, gets blessed by that blowing wind of spirit is primarily out of our conscious control, but, oh, how some people claim to “have the power”, and sell people on their own self-righteousness.
Answered prayer appears to be a “miraculous intervention”, and proof that certain individuals or groups have a special, or developed, connection with their God, Lord, or Higher Power. My “prayers” have never resulted in any miraculous healing of others. But, I have somehow connected with people on a mysterious non-verbal level, whereby I can sense what is going on with another, or that another can feel my “positive intention” for them. Apparently, I have the carrier wave connection, and some data is transferred, yet shamanic powers, or healing of the bodies of others or similar events have not occurred through my efforts. The only body that has ever been healed through my “prayers’ is my own.
When Jesus stated that we should be “praying without ceasing”, the truth is that we are continuously praying, anyway, whether we are conscious of that fact, or not. Our minds are continuously generating thoughts, which are spawned by our overall attitudes towards our self and towards others, and towards “the big picture”. These thoughts either go out to “make the crooked places straight”, and co-create some new or reaffirm some existing order, or they create new layers of chaos and confusion in the collective and personal life experience. Later, in Part Two, when we look at the Common Knowledge Game, we can finally comprehend one of the more insidious aspects of prayer that has taken over much of our collective experience of humanity.
“Prayer” is a word that points to something so simple, normal, and natural, yet the word points to a much greater potential for shared reality than most people understand, or realize. If we could all divest ourselves from our religious or scientific and/or secular backgrounds for a moment, and consider what is about to be discussed, we can share in the possibility for a greater personal and collective unfolding.
Telepathy and prayer can refer to the same experience, as well as prescience, psychometry and/or remote viewing, and other psychic phenomenon. It is too easy to discount, or “poo-poo” this aspect of human potential. Our world culture will continue to further hypnotize itself with its higher technology entertainment, and many will lose their way because of over reliance on the diversion that these toys of communication bring to us. What will open us up to the possibilities of the “unknown”?
Otherwise, we just define our life by what we already think we know, and by what others, such as parents, friends, teachers, ministers, etc. might think about us. Time based thought and activity remain the domain of our ego, whether we consider our minds healthy and happy, or insane. But for many of us, in order to find the real connection, joy, and sanity that exists, we must let go of our personality controls of our world, and let the natural peace at the center of our being decide what is best for us, rather than the turbulent surface of our minds, where individual or collective misunderstandings still control us like marionettes.
Mind, by James Allen (As A Man Thinketh, 1902)
Mind
The Master Power that molds and makes,
And Man is Mind.
Evermore he takes the tools of thought
And shaping what he wills,
Creates a thousand joys, a thousand ills.
He thinks in secret, but it comes to pass
Environment is but his looking glass.
Theoretical physicists are now understanding that there are possibilities for alternate universes, as well as enhanced connections with the one we all currently reside within. I am saddened that mankind is becoming increasingly dependent on its technology for communication, while not concurrently developing the sensitivity to connect with the “energy” that we all share in, and with which we communicate with each other continuously. Our technology, especially the hand-held media devices that we use to entertain and hypnotize ourselves with, only serves to continue the energy of the past, without offering alternatives to the present collection of corrupted choices that humanity has seemed eternally resigned to make.
Science, though able to define relationships and the laws that dictate behavior between all observable, and quantum, phenomenon, are only now beginning to understand the ramifications of the real law of our existence, which is “all that we will ever see, unto eternity, is ourselves”. Science provides laws for what we see, yet, unlike enlightened spirituality, provides no laws predicting or supporting what is possible for humanity. Quantum mechanics will not be understood fully until the self-centered perspective towards infinity is replaced with the understanding that the collective, as well as the individual, is present in each of us, in each moment of existence. The impacts that we all have upon each other are not yet fully understood, yet prayer, meditation, and mindfulness prepare the mind for the unknown, where all true creation springs from. It is a much more collaborative effort being a human, and any other form of life on this planet, than our minimally conscious minds understand at this time. Ultimately, science and religion, medicine and technology, will all be united as manifestations of mankind’s expression of true being.
All of our “thoughts and prayers” have the potential to be of life-affirming value, yet their authority pales in comparison to the power of the underlying, unconscious intentions and manifestations of our collective consciousness and collective unconsciousness, and the infinite variations of potentially dangerous, unenlightened energies within it. I have seen that there are multitudes of suggestions and temptations floating around in our collective consciousness, and far too many of them revolve around diseases of the body, diseases of the mind, and rejection of our spirit of love. Yet,within that misunderstood and mysterious energy field, lies an infinite potential for healing and transformation, as well. The path towards conscious awareness, and “miraculous healing” includes sorting out what are our true thoughts and intentions from the collective stray noise of the human energy field, and how we can protect ourselves from all of the dangerous frequencies that we all tune into, intentionally or inadvertently.
Can we experience a spiritual apocalypse where we accept a new way way being, of seeing life, and finally remove ourselves from the limitations that our time based thinking has created for us? Can we come from a place not from our conditioned backgrounds, our upbringing, our wounding as children, our PTSD as adults, or even our most educated, intelligent parts of our training? Will we allow for ourselves the immense uncertainty, and the ultimate privilege, of accessing new paths of consciousness where love, empathy and compassion are our eternal companions? Will we allow our energy fields to resonate with the highest potentials for human experience, to even approach that of our purported divine nature? If we could move past our collective, and individual, discomfort we might learn something about empathy and compassion and mercy and justice, and even connect with a majesty and a miracle that far transcends our limited vision for life. We might finally know “God”, “Buddha”, Allah”, “Vishnu”, “Shiva”, “Krishna”, “Jesus Christ”, “Mohamed” and “Our Self” not as separate concepts, but instead as all part of a great holism.
To not do so is to continue our collective misanthropic experience of war, hatred, enmity between nations and peoples, destruction of our sacred planet Earth, economic inequality, racism, misogyny, diseases of all manners and types, and mental illness. We are free to choose what energy to manifest, and to access. If we do not want the damaged, diseased status quo to continue unto our collective Armageddon, then we will all make necessary changes to the paths we are now following, and/or we will follow completely new conscious paths of experience..
For I am about to create new heavens and a new earth; the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind.
—– Isaiah 65:17
Always remember that WE are the “I” in Isaiah 65:17, when we finally make conscious contact with the ultimate truth of being and existence.
I have attempted to “capture lightning in a bottle” by articulating this message. May each of us never despair of our faltering attempts to reach towards this infinite energy and to express its love and wisdom. To have a better life, we have to access new parts of our infinite self, and travel on new paths of understanding. A primary law of consciousness is that “we find what we are looking for”, so make sure to look for what we really want, and not fall victim to the suggestions of others that don’t always have our best interests at heart.
Very truly I tell you, whoever makes conscious contact with the truth of their real self will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because we are all birthed from infinite power. And the miracles that we perform are to bring the highest glory to our lives, to the lives of all others, and to the transcendent energy from which we have arisen.
——-Jesus Of Nazareth, from John 14 12:14, (spiritually reinterpreted).
Life after enlightenment is all about personal responsibility for one’s thoughts and actions. When we decide to no longer be the victim, we can finally be the victor. Life can be lived on wider and wider frequencies of energy, where meaning, personal value, and loving service to others will bring to each of us all of the resources that we will ever need to live a successful life.
Can anyone conceive of the life where our hearts are opened so wide, that we literally feel like they will explode from all of the love that we now are able to share? Can anyone conceive of the life where our possibilities for understanding and experiencing more of the mysteries of the infinite nature of the interior universe finally becomes common knowledge?
We must not give up before the Miracle appears in our life, and in all of our lives which are impacted by our own.
Can we envision a more challenging, yet beautiful experience for ourselves, and for the planet?
What better reason for living can there possibly be?
Which frequencies of life are we attuned to today?
If we don’t appreciate where we now are, we are free to make another choice for our self.
The “unknown” is the opening in our mind and heart that God (change to higher power, or whatever represents love, beauty, and healing to you) speaks through, so that we can find the truth and spirit of this new moment. Do not fear the unknown, as it can be so much more than we could ever anticipate or imagine.
Even after our most sincere and deepest “prayers”, there still must be an opening created within our minds where we can listen and watch, without fear or judgement, for the “answer”, which is always provided, and rarely understood. An overactive mind runs over the quiet truth that is revealed in each moment, so take off those mental workout clothes, and take a breather!
We will never change “God’s mind”, but we just might change our own, and, in that change, the real miracle of life can be revealed, and our lives renewed.
Many types of “knowledge” actually breed division and separation between human beings. It is easy to tell the difference between the teachers just by feeling within our own inner chambers of consciousness how their message impacts our hearts. Eventually the teacher presenting the highest learned “truths” of the day will be ignored, if he/she is not able to break through the psychic/spiritual barrier between the mind and the heart, while still presenting, or preaching, to others their message. Did they just bring more head knowledge, which we tend to daily saturate our awareness with anyway (Google it!), or did they bring the intellect coupled with the heart awareness, where we can experience the promised fruits of deeper connections with all of creation, and, perhaps, an increased measure of peace of mind and love in our world?
Within myself, it is quite enlightening to note that when I attempt to interpret situations solely in terms of a potentially divisive philosophy/understanding, I usually now rebel out of my newer/refreshed understanding of life, and continue on and listen more deeply for the real truth of the moment, (AND NOT THE POTENTIALLY WORN OUT TRUTH OF YESTERDAY). All of those divisive philosophies that pit “me versus you” or “us versus them” will bring fewer positive results than unitive philosophies that bring people together in the spirit of cooperation and caring. Yet it almost seems like the divisive ideas are for many, and for me, by instinct, first in line for consideration, so it is important to not act out of impulse. Yes, it is being mindful to wait out that first racing train of sometimes fearful, angry or hurtful thought, and just watch it as it passes through the screen of awareness, and wait for another peaceful train of loving thought that may lie underneath all of the other noise.
The goal might be to make “love” the leading, or first, thought considered, but in my reality, it does not always automatically arise, nor should it, just because I think that it is a good idea. It is important to note here that ideas that initially appear to be counter to our prevailing philosophy may have legitimate origins, and discovery and exploration of the mind and our individual experience of it should continue without fear and self-judgement, as we attempt to discern the “truths” being communicated. If our “prevailing philosophies” are not subject to change, then we risk excess friction in all of our relationships, especially as we slip further and further away from the new, upgraded truth trying to be revealed.
Understanding what we now consider to be sources for knowledge is all important, as well. With the idea of “FAKE NEWS” being so casually tossed about these days, it is important to keep in mind that “FAKE NEWS” has always been with us. It can be traced all of the way back to the days when we first starting naming objects, and attaching emotional linkages to our observations. Everybody sees things somewhat differently, though similarities outweigh differences by super-substantial amounts. But the human mind tends to focus on the differences, and, thus, temporarily accentuate those divisions while examining the objects of its reality, until is reassembles the new information into its own unique information matrix known as the personality.
Of course, once “new ideas” become integrated, they can be just as resistant to change as old, damaged, worn out thoughts, and the new synthesis will require continuous further revision until some sort of all-encompassing unitive philosophy arises (or God-consciousness, for those who like to tie spirituality and religion together).
Where does our reliance on technology connect with a “search for truth”? Search engines now serve you up what they think you are looking for. They know who you are, and more importantly, what your online consumer preferences are. They know how you are looking for things, as well as how you search for news, companies, products, etc. Plus, they know the zip code and the local geography where each user is located. Search engines are getting better and smarter at knowing YOU, as well as what’s what in your micro-locale every day. A quick type into Google, and you are being fed an illusion.
To the more technically inclined, it takes more than cleaning cookies or turning off personalized search in Chrome to get to the “truth.” Keep in mind that most of the search algorithms are Capitalist Oriented Male Biased computer coding exercises that sort and order the “objects of reality” based on that slanted mind-set. If we all want that biased mindset, then we will continue to trust and rely upon Google, and most other search engines, for the ordering of our reality. It should be more than a little concerning to know that many of the same values that our President touts as his own are built right into these algorithmic formulas.
Mindfulness, insight, and meditation help to create a more stable foundation for thought, feeling, and action. Remaining socially connected through real life interaction, vs through media devices, keeps the heart and mind refreshed and engaged holistically. Giving and receiving “presence” to each other has much more value than the mere information that might be exchanged. For us to continue to trust in technology solely for our heart connection is like only eating popcorn for our diet; Satisfying in the short-term, and deadly in the long run.
There is so much more to reality than what just greets the eye, and scientists, mathematicians, theologians, artists, philosophers, enlightened politicians, and Google algorithm writers, continue to struggle towards some unknown destination that our collective search for truth continues to guide us towards as a human race. We need only watch the evening news, or read any newspaper or magazine, to recognize that we are no closer now to a consensus reality than we were before, even with the advent of the internet, with religious and philosophical divisiveness, ego aggrandizement, wealth accumulation, and personal and corporate power still being celebrated and supported as ideals to pursue by the cultural power brokers.
Part X). The Master
The Master, if, or when, it comes, will reveal itself in its own unique, inimitable fashion and form. For some, it takes a lifetime of searching and seeking (some say many lifetimes, though who could know about such things?). Those who have resigned themselves to lives of superficial living, drinking alcohol excessively, using intoxicating drugs regularly, flitting from short-term relationship to short-term relationship for sexual purposes, or other forms of reckless behavior will not have the depth of desire to begin the search, though, ultimately, the pain that arises from these lifestyles may motivate the individual to finally begin the search, after the collapse of their life.
For some, it takes such a life, immersed in desperation and suffering, to develop the earnest desire to find the real way out of the multitudes of forms of human insanity. In this case, the suffering person may truly be blessed beyond their own comprehension, not knowing how such pain actually guides the soul in a truer, more straightforward direction towards the goal. There are also those who are happy with the church of their family, its social functions, and the doctrines and rituals of the organization, and they will not usually have the motivation to seek further, and dig deeper, into the essence of that what is real, true, and eternal. But, from time to time there are those even within an organized religion who realize that they have deeper spiritual needs than even the church can satisfy, and thus begins another pilgrims’ search for the all abiding truth. They develop true spiritual discernment, and even the worn out holy books of thousands of years ago take on a new life, and vitality, as they become able to see through the “trees” of words, to the true “forests” of spiritual wisdom and knowledge that the vast majority of their peers fail to perceive.
The search for the truth of life, the truth of being, will take the sincere seeker along narrower and narrower paths of discovery, and inquiry, as time goes on. By necessity, there must be a certain amount of purification that must first occur within the mind of any seeker, because if the mind carries too much hubris, and is prone to excessive delusion, the contact with the Truth, if it occurs, will be the generating force for yet another layer of fantasy within the seekers’ mind (case in point-Joseph Smith, though there are many other famous masters of illusion who have wrought their religious and spiritual havoc upon human consciousness over the ages.). If the seeker has truly become fed up with the fantasies of the human mind, and is willing to have them healed by a touch of the Spirit, then all such psychosis is much less likely to visit the mind, but there are no guarantees.. The closer that one gets to the truth, the easier it should become to discern the distortions of truth from those who have touched, and personally experienced, the essence of that which is sought. But, the best truth that exists is the actual truth that has unfolded within the secret, interior dimensions of ones being. The educational experience, though it is seen as a necessary adjunct to the search (especially at the seeker’s initial stages of spiritual unfolding) must have its influence reduced, and ultimately eliminated, if one is to finally achieve unity with the goal. There is a time and a place for teachers and teachings, but they must be transcended if one is to achieve the fullness of spiritual potential.
When contact is finally made, the seeker may not be able to contain, or embrace the totality of the essence of the teaching, or insight, given. The message(s)/insight(s) will be shocking, and should rock the seeker to the core, as Truth is completely foreign to the human mind. No amount of education or training can prepare the individual for what is to be experienced. As is said, the “finger pointing at the moon can never be the moon”. Most people confuse the description of the event with the actual inner experience of it, and thus delude themselves into believing that they have already experienced the truth, when, in fact, all that they have experienced is strong emotions wrapped around some personal or social experience. When the truth hits the center of one’s being, it sets in motion a series of inner events that eventuates in the seeker having a totally different outlook on life, on the universe, and on their self. But, because we are human, and still retain the power of free will and choice, the message may be rejected (at least temporarily), and we may try to cling to our old, worn out way of reasoning, feeling, and relating to our lives, to each other, and to Truth. On the one hand, we may have said to our self, and, perhaps to others, that we are fed up with our lives, and with the way the world is experienced by us, and we will do anything to bring about a change in our life’s situation. But, when the inner pathway to our transcendence is finally revealed, we balk at its implementation, finally comprehending how dramatically that we must change to be aligned with the path of Truth, and Righteousness. We may not be really ready to “die to ourselves” and truly be “reborn” of the Spirit. If we can humble ourselves enough, we can continue the journey. But, those who recoil, as if burned by a hot flame, spend many more years, if not the rest of their lives, avoiding making the final adjustments to become aligned with their Life’s True Message.
When one finally accepts the path of Truth, and is willing to relinquish their hold upon the world of the ego, then they are in the neighborhood of the real One. More than once, certain members of our human race have had “mountain top” experiences, where true insight has been gained into understanding life, love, and both the ephemeral, and eternal, natures or aspects of reality, or That One. That One becomes the source for all future understanding and engagement with the world.
That One sees beyond the limitations of the isolated, suffering self, and could see the unity of all creation, and how all systems of thought tend to separate us from each other, rather than unite.
That One saw how the limits of love shared was typically tribal in nature, and rarely extended beyond the imaginary boundaries of their perceived communities.
That One saw how organized religion had become a tool for the political powers of the day, and no longer existed to serve the needs of the spirit, but instead to follow the dictates of those male power figures who inaccurately, and sometimes falsely, interpret the scriptures to control people, and arrange selfish outcomes.
That One saw how the rich and powerful within the religion used its truth to dominate and control others.
That One saw these religious power figures actually monetize their brethren, to see how their “flock” could bring them wealth through their superstitious tithing, or offerings to their “God”.
That One saw that the poorest in spirit occupied the most fertile ground for healing, yet all too often were the most separated from any benefits of their religion.
That One saw how the religious powers of the day were corrupt, potentially beyond repair.
That One saw that all sense of religion needed to be “born again”.
That One came down from the mountain top to bring the good news to the people, that they did not need their religion anymore to keep them philosophically imprisoned.
That One then advised the world:
If their “religion” does not allow for them to love another as them-self, then discard those dark aspects of their religion, honor the underlying spirit of love, and affirm the dignity and value of the human being through the healed human heart (which is the source of all true religion).
That just might mean removing the log from our own eyes (even if the log is our very own religion), before attempting to remove the splinter from another (yes, this is the inventory step).
It means stop monetizing humanity for business purposes.
It also means separating the Church from the State.
It means taking personal inventory, and when wrong, promptly admit it.
It means lying, cheating, stealing, destroying, murder, greed, selfishness, destroying the animal and plant kingdom and the like are antithetical to the spirit of love which has created this universe, therefore they are unacceptable patterns of behavior only reserved for those who have chosen to stay asleep..
You know who That One is, because That One lives today, and it is not just the Jesus of two thousand years past. That One has existed since the beginnings of the illusion of self, and other, and the illusions created by competing philosophies. That One has the voice for God, for Truth, for Love, and Life, bubbling up inside of their hearts, just waiting to be listened to, and obeyed. And That One understands all to well the difficulties in bringing Truth and Love to the masses, because in the masses is where corruption of thought gets institutionalized and normalized, instead opting to bring it to humanity one person at a time.
“Higher Power”
“God” can a major impediment to people’s understanding and willingness to pursue a change in heart and/or recovery from addiction (it sure was for me, especially in the early 1980’s!). For some, God is simply a name for the human capacity to make positive changes in our own lives. It is not the God of religion that need be sought, it is the God of one’s personal understanding. Nobody in recovery needs the self-righteousness, judgement against those not yet “saved”, and the guilt and shaming of others that all too often gets promoted from within fundamentalist Churches. On the positive side of religious practice, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Buddhists, Hindus, Rastafarians, and Jews have all found a “higher power” to guide and direct their paths, as well as pagans, agnostics and atheists. Perhaps you can find a new path, where the promise of a healing change can happen in your own life?
For me, in sobriety, “God” could never be just a man, or a “he” or “him”, but instead “God” is our collective universal life force, and the innate human creative capacity for personal change, healing and evolution, and love of self and other while practicing compassion. God is a state of mind and body that One experiences, after the ego has been laid to rest. God, the same yesterday, today, and forever, eternally Now, eternally Love, eternally unfolding in creative new ways of being and expressing itself. The Infinite Indivisible Invisible, defies all logic, and all human attempts to categorize and control (but oh, how religions, philosophers, and scientists, and the verbally expressive part of me in this post, love to keep trying, don’t we?). We will never find God through a Google search algorithm, or through mindlessly following other people’s opinions as to what the “truth” is. It is a uniquely personal journey, and no one can do this for us but ourselves.
God must be individually experienced, and then the fruits of the experience can be collectively shared with other interested parties (AA meetings, friendship circles, etc.), to create the strongest atmosphere for healing of self and others. Our own intention must start the process, though the healing intentions of others for us, and for themselves, can bring us together into a “healing formation”, where the miracle of the collective/shared mind of a love inspired mankind can really work its wonders. Here we may actually share in the real Master Mind that has attempted to guide the human race since the beginning, since well before our present day diseased world mind took over. The right group of people, sharing love and healing together, creates a palpable energy, and this can characterize some recovery groups, depending on the quality of recovery present, and being expressed, in those groups.
A New World Religion?
A new world religion has emerged upon our consciousness, one that does not exist solely to support the needs of the Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or Christian communities. Its sacred texts are written in the stars, upon the lands that we inhabit, and upon the fabric of universal awareness. The real “word of God” can be examined on a daily basis, for those who have retired (temporarily?) their hand-held zombie making devices long enough to start getting acquainted with the real ground of all being. Can God, or Truth, be found through an internet search? Can old worn out “sacred texts” written by people wrestling with their own ignorance give us enough light to clear out the destructive aspects of human nature? Can even a newer collection of words, thoughts, and written literature fill our spiritual needs?
The quickest way to prepare for the new world order (which was once the old world order, by the way) is to get outside of the house, the computer, the movie theater, the Facebook pages, etc. and start getting acquainted with the great outdoors. We are not connected to God through our technology. In fact, most of our media related technology has separated us from the quiet state of being that allows God’s will to be readily accepted into consciousness. Gaia is a living being, and is the true “son-daughter of God”. And yes, we are children of that sacred child. God’s face is seen clearly, once the detritus of human misunderstanding is moved aside long enough so that Reality may emerge, once again.
Technology is only a tool, though it has become another new world religion, a way of life for far too many people. Our country, and our world, shows the collective effects of falling far short of meeting or even acknowledging the existence of our spiritual needs, or attempting to meet our spiritual needs through illusory processes. Most of our media devices have continued the promotion and distribution of cultural hypnosis, and most people continue to be separated from a greater good through that process. The world exists in a state of hypnosis, and it is easy to see that truth when the mind finally takes itself off of the grid of shared cultural and religious misunderstanding.
Taking dominion over the world, and then destroying its wildlife, forests, rivers, oceans, and lands was never part of God’s will. It was always part of a worn out patriarchal attitude that still pollutes human awareness to this day. The greed and self-serving interests of our ancestors has been glorified, and exalted, over and above the preservation of our planet, and the cultivation of harmony between the diverse interests of people on this planet. The “mark of the beast” is seen daily in the attitudes of those who promote the destruction of our environment, and who incite hatred and enmity..
Freedom may not be for everybody now, but it certainly is for me, now, and for all of eternity. I am grateful for my wife Sharon White, who shares in the new/old insight.
All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter
by J. R. R. Tolkien (1892-1973)
All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost;
The old that is strong does not wither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
A light from the shadows shall spring;
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
The crownless again shall be king
Even if you are now lost and wandering upon the surface of your own “Dark Side Of The Moon”, there still is hope. To be insane in an insane world, to be a stranger in a strange land, is the true new normal for many people presently wandering upon the face of this chaotic planet. How we deal with the insanity determines whether we remain imprisoned, or find our freedom. Blaming others for ones’ present station in life is self-defeating. Yet, that is the first response of an immature mind, a mind not ready and willing to make the necessary adjustments in course to create a new life experience.
Mental illness, drug addiction and alcoholism, and their most oppressive spawn, suicide, have been a scourge upon the fabric of human consciousness for time immemorial. Suicidal ideation begins with the loss of personal meaning and choices for life, with their companions of depression, alienation, isolation and loneliness. Suicide is the ultimate act of oppression against self, which has already been oppressed and repressed since birth. Suicide is a cruel act of violence against self, family, friends, and the supporting community. Suicide is the only solution for desperate souls who have reached the end of their options.
Our society continues to churn out potential suicide victims at a catastrophic rate, and that rate will only increase, as the diseases of addiction and mental illness within our culture continues to increase. I have known, and buried, far too many friends and family members who were waiting for a better day, and life, while abusing drugs and alcohol, or collapsing into mental illness. My own “wait for a better day” has born great fruits for me, but the fruit was not passively acquired, nor was it acquired through waiting for the outer conditions of my life to improve. I first had to confront my own suffering, and the sources within my mind, memory, and heart that would push me towards self-annihilation. Suffering need not be a death sentence, for those who choose to awaken.
Life can be an extremely humbling experience. Those blessed few who stop resisting life and develop the capacity to accept “defeat” are the ones most susceptible to healing. It is when we are defeated, that we become the most open to life affirming change and growth. Then we can accept personal responsibility for the rest of our lives, knowing that the willingness, and capacity, for changes in our attitudes and behaviors can now become our “higher power”. When our goal has finally been spotted, or, has spotted us, we each can make our own, unique path towards it. The trail that each one of us blazes is as important as any path made by any prophet who has ever lived, or will live. It is only our ego, or the egos of the hero worshipers of other faiths that would say otherwise.
To make dramatic changes in my life, the desire had to come from a place deep within myself. I did not change because my wife and family, my friends, my minister at church, my employer, my political leaders, or my “people pleasing” attitudes cajoled or advised me to change. I had to begin to value myself differently, and to become conscious that my behavior was causing irreparable harm to myself, to other human beings, to our animal brothers and sisters, and/or to the sustainability for life on this planet. I understood that my behavior was insane, and that I had a death wish for myself, and/or for others. I sought for a higher power or energy to overcome my insanity. Bringing healing to a situation is about what we are not doing well, and where we can improve, right now, in this moment, to help unfold divine intention. Positive change follows the hearts’ intentions, if the heart is pure. If it is a desire from the Heart, never stop seeking that which seems unattainable, for it is the Heart itself seeking for its own highest expression.
Most forms of insanity can be healed without a lifetime of therapy or taking medications, if it is recognized that at its source, insanity arises from our habituated thoughts and feelings. Insight changes attitudes, insight changes behaviors, and insight changes lives. To change my world, I first changed myself, through insight, meditation, making amends to all people that I may have harmed through my insanity, and through carrying the message of recovery and healing to all who are interested in not only hearing my story, but bringing healing to their own lives, as well. I continue to die daily, to all that is not like my true nature. I do not need pills or philosophical ideas to separate me from life’s goodness. I now see the good that is really good, and all of the illusions of self that others, and the past versions of me, offer up to the world as our daily “prayer offerings’ for its conditional acceptance, or its rejection.
Built right into the very fabric of life, is death itself. There are up to fifty trillion cells within our human bodies which are constantly dying off, and being replaced by others so that we can continue to live, and even evolve (or regress as the situation may dictate). So also should all of our old thoughts die off, to be replaced by newer, more vibrant creations, if we are to continue to live, and grow, and even evolve. Those who do not do the work to shed the old ways, the old thoughts, the incomplete and inaccurate ways of seeing life, and being in life, will remain the “poor among us”, and more susceptible to the ravages of disease, aging and deterioration of the mind and body. Yet, even though the disease and despair wrought by toxic male energy is woven throughout the collective garment that now covers our humanity, there are many threads of hope interwoven within it, as well, and these threads are our hope for transcendence.
Though I lost out on my childhood dreams and goals of becoming a space traveler, to “get off this fucking rock”, I was able to live into a new dream. This “fucking rock” transitioned from a living hell, to becoming more of a peaceful paradise, where I became a more conscious traveler through the infinite regions of inner space, or Consciousness itself. My spiritual launching pad only awaited for me to “let go of the controls” to be catapulted into the unknown, mysterious, transformative and healing potential of the infinite. My “spirit rocket” now lifts off daily, without the extra encumbrance of religious and cultural conditioning, misunderstanding, judgement, and all of the superstition which impedes spiritual progress. Love and acceptance of myself and all others, INCLUDING ALL ANIMAL LIFE, now unfolds within me as my primary, life affirming propellant.
To remain healthy, we must be willing to “punch a Nazi”, figuratively speaking, but not just those projections out of our own wounded past. We instead will be dealing directly with issues that need to be addressed through insight into self, communication with others and/or outright confrontation with the offensive and antagonistic elements within our society still operating under the influence of the chaos and swamp of the collective consciousness that we all arose from.
Always question prevailing attitudes and philosophies of the people in power, be they politicians, employers, pop psychology or spirituality gurus, or religious figures. Healthy skepticism is warranted whenever a person or organization tries to exert pressure on individuals to conform to certain beliefs or traditions. Never sit idly by while witnessing injustice or unfair and hurtful judgement and action meted out by the people in power against innocent people. By your silence, you are supporting the ignorant and the evil doers. They will use your silence to claim that you were in full support of their abhorrent behavior. Do not join in their conspiracy of silence.
Taking dominion over the world, and then destroying its wildlife, forests, rivers, oceans, and lands was never part of God’s will. It was always part of a worn out patriarchal attitude that still pollutes human awareness to this day. The greed and self-serving interests of our Christian ancestors has been glorified, and exalted, over and above the preservation of our planet, and the cultivation of harmony between the diverse interests of people on this planet. Our politicians and corporate leaders use our Capitalistic economic system to rape and pillage the Earth, and its peoples, and all of its life.. The “mark of the beast” is seen daily in the attitudes of those who promote the destruction of our environment, and who incite hatred and enmity between people.
Never let someone speak for us, we are responsible for bringing our voice into the world, and having it heard. Never take for granted our right to freedom of speech and its expression, both at home and in the marketplace. Find the way to express yourself without sacrificing your integrity, and stand up tall and strong in the face of any ignorant, unfair or unwarranted criticism. You will “cast your pearls before swine”. Our hard-earned deepest truths have little value to those who are considered hypnotized, which are many of the “civilized” and “normalized” citizens within this diseased culture of ours. If they cannot see how your wisdom will increase the size of their bank accounts, increase their prestige and popularity, get them more or better sex, or just generally appeal to their ego, it will have little value, except “laughing value”. “A prophet is never respected in their own hometown”.
Healthy anger at people, situations, politicians, religious figures, and abusive family members is not only acceptable behavior, it is required for honoring the truth of the moment, and to retain spiritual integrity. Do not follow those well-meaning souls who claim that all anger is hatred, for that is simply not true. Anger becomes dangerous when it does not naturally arise from the moment, but instead from animal/tribal instinct, memory and religious and cultural conditioning. Oppression and repression are birthed through incomplete and prematurely aborted responses to environmental threats. Institutionalized anger, or hatred, arises from memory, inadequate education, and emotional immaturity, and can be stoked by politicians and religious leaders with ignorant and evil agendas, and it is dangerous, being the source or racism, war, hatred, alienation, and cultural insanity.
I am concerned about the “unaware ignorance” that is so prevalent within many sections of our society, including elements within the American Christian church. Using a church to get to the truth and beauty of Life can be like using an old Volkswagen Beetle to drive around the world, with a worn out, outdated map. Though Christianity brings a form of comfort with its historical and cultural familiarity to all, for many of us it is a clumsy vehicle for consciousness, with much too philosophically restrictive, time dependent dogma that even postpones “heaven” into a fantasy future after death, with no guarantee that anybody will ever spiritually ascend, no matter how much we try to match “what Jesus would do”, or what the other “prophets” would advise us to do.
Mysticism is at the core of all true religions. Each of us is a mystic, should we shed the oppressive and repressive energies of familial, cultural and religious conditioning. Each one of us should become the leader of our own internal movement towards truth, beauty, love, intelligence, awe, wonder, grace, and miracles. What is the difference between the “mind of God” and the “mind of man”? Ah, the answer is there, for you to discover for yourself. You should never just accept my answers, without your own deepest inquiries into your own personal truth.
It is revealing to note how the experience of “enlightenment” allows for the love for all people, and respect for all love based philosophies, yet promotes no dogma, religion or philosophy, as such, for its own support. The prerequisites are a desire for change, self-honesty, insight, mindfulness, meditation, and the developed ability to see beyond the controlling mirages of cultural and religious conditioning. Yet, religions, and their followers, tend to strongly move in tight circles around their own adherents and practices, and often exclude others from their spiritual “inner circles”. And those who point to the benefits of non-religious, spiritual enlightenment are regarded suspiciously, and, in some cases, as manifestations of Satan, or are seen as Infidels, by those who claim to be “religious”.
This meandering story has presented a small portion of my own journey towards healing. As each individual is unique, please do not use my experience to minimize, or maximize, your own. We must eventually find our own direction for life, and not only learn how to think for ourselves, but also to learn how to think and feel with others. We can truly be one with others in a non-controlling, NON-JUDGMENTAL manner, and be with each other with compassion and in communion.
It is healthy to acknowledge that we all need each other. I can’t do this life alone, nor would I ever want that for myself. We are here to help and support each other, and to love each other. Each moment can either be a new beginning, or just the continuation of a painful past where all of human suffering arises from. It is our choice as to how we will experience this moment. I must be willing to travel new paths of consciousness, and never to become too attached to any particular memory, or teacher and their teachings, as it is up to me to work out my own “salvation”. When I let go of the controls, including my own internalized forms of institutionalized thoughts, when I let go of time based thoughts and expectations, when I respect the truth that many times the presence and wisdom of the Great Unknown, rather than just more information and knowledge, is what I am best fed with, that is when I am truly trusting the life force which has always supported me, whether I have recognized its presence or not.
While incarnated into human form, with our poorly illuminated human minds, we can only witness the projections of our minds. All that we will ever see, unto whatever eternity that we can possibly conceive of, is our self, so the most important question for each day is “how will I see myself today?” The answer to that question determines whether I can see through the eyes of the truth of this moment, or just the limited eyes of the past. Each person that I meet either is one of the infinite manifestations of God, deserving ultimate respect and love, or they become just another dead illusion of my aging, conditioned mind. The insight gained through mindful self-examination can erase the blocks to Love’s awareness, and imbue life with a new meaning. Yet, even with Love being cultivated, anger will arise, and it is the mark of a mature, healed person as to how they can skillfully express their most difficult emotions. Why would anyone just settle for the “finger pointing at the moon” or the verbal description, when one could walk upon its very surface, and be one with it. Sucking more meaning out of someone else’s “finger” will never replace the direct personal experience of our deepest desire, the underlying truth of our own nature.
Be ever vigilant with the internalized image of anything, or anyone. Note how the desire for the image, rather than the truth that underlies it, will attempt to take precedence, and will distort one’s view of the world. The image plays to a small part of fragmented being, whereas the truth plays through the wholeness of the all beings. Lust, greed, selfishness, hatred, and judgement of all others unlike oneself all play to the structure of internalized individualized images. Seeing each other through wholeness and love and thus disempowering the fragmenting images, which is another way of saying “giving forgiveness” allows for right action and healing in the otherwise chaotic and broken world created within the mind of individual self.
The ultimate truth is that “you can’t be real”. For in God’s eyes, there is only one self, one love, one existence, with an infinitude of manifestations. There is no room for “you and me” in ultimate truth, though we must continue to make room for that “illusion” in the relative truth of this world, through practicing forgiveness and letting go, until the final ascension into “enlightenment” or complete spiritual understanding. Finding the true connecting link is the journey into wholeness that our human race must undertake, if it is to survive. When we see our brother and sister as our own self, then we are home. This connecting link is not to be found through our digital devices, or through our “best thinking” or philosophies. It will unfold when we learn how to no longer think time based thoughts, but, instead, eternity based thoughts. That is the only place where Unity will ever be experienced. To see eternity, is to first witness the self without fear and judgement, and then see through the illusions of self to the Heart of Truth.
MOUNTAINS IN THE DESERT
While in realization of Truth, God’s High Mount is found to be just another illusion to climb
The idea infects like a virus to control the innocent, and all fearful, desirous minds.
The non-illuminated, restless mind remains forever devoid of Love’s Rhyme and Truth’s Reason
With its fruitless chasing of desert mirages, until it looks within, and sees the movements that are guilty of treason.
The quickest way to prepare for the new world order (which was once the old world order, by the way) is to get outside of the house, the computer, the movie theater, the Facebook pages, etc. and start getting acquainted with the great outdoors. Once we are free from the encumbrances of our daily lives, we may be more receptive to the call of our spirit. We are not connected to God through our technology. In fact, most of our media related technology has separated us from the quiet state of being that allows God’s will to be readily accepted into consciousness. Gaia is a living being, and is the true “son-daughter of God”. And yes, we are children of that sacred child. God’s face is seen clearly, once the detritus of human misunderstanding is moved aside long enough so that Reality may emerge, once again.
Technology is only a tool, though it has become another new world religion, a way of life for far too many people. Our country, and our world, shows the collective effects of falling far short of meeting or even acknowledging the existence of our spiritual needs, or attempting to meet our spiritual needs through illusory processes. Most of our media devices have continued the promotion and distribution of cultural hypnosis, and most people continue to be separated from a greater good through that process. The world exists in a state of hypnosis, and it is easy to see that truth when the mind finally takes itself off of the grid of shared cultural and religious misunderstanding. We can pull our eyes off of the phone display for a moment, and engage the person next to us in conversation. We will all benefit from the exchange. We do not benefit in any spiritual or social way by remaining glued to our phones.
Someday the rest of the world will wake up, and realize that all of our technology is only a symbol for the true power that we all have access to, if we only were to fully explore the full range of our consciousness. My closed mind and heart was eternally grounded, and would have NEVER freed itself from darkness’ grasp, until I accepted personal responsibility for the brokenness, and self-destructive and other-destructive life that I had co-created for myself and with others, see the damage that those illusions caused, and became willing to have a different, more spiritually oriented type of life experience.
Freedom may not be for everybody now, but it certainly is for me, now, and for all of eternity. I am grateful for my wife Sharon White, who shares in the new/old insight. May all sentient beings be freed from their suffering. But first, all sentient beings must become conscious enough to be aware of the options available to free themselves from their suffering. Pay attention to the man behind the curtain! Get to know him at the deepest level. And then, don’t give up finding truth, beauty, and love until the real Miracle appears in your own life, OK?
Like my father asked, when I was nearly four years old, and finally learned how to talk,
“Will that boy ever run out of things to talk about?” and
“Bruce, would you please shut up!”
Once I started talking I proved that I had the capacity for speech, and A LOT OF IT. Both of my parents wondered, at times, if I would ever shut up. Once a person touches Consciousness, Infinity is the limit to our potential. Yet, my own voice disappeared, after many years of oppression, and repression.
The long-term oppressive effects of the conspiracy of silence that plagues most men will continue to limit our potential to experience happiness and longevity, and love for our life. That certainly was the case for my own life, and nearly eventuated in my early death at thirty years of age.
I am humbled and amazed by both the miracle eternally embedded in SACRED SILENCE, as well as its bridge to human consciousness through the Word. May the Word take a form unique to each of us in all of lives, and lift all of us together into a unity of love, thought, and action. May the Word spontaneously arise from our SACRED SILENCE, and not from the chaos of our troubled past.
As I contemplate the entirety of my life, I see a simple truth arising from the complexities of the details. Silence born of ignorance and oppression brings suffering and disease. Silence born of healing brings joy and love into the world. This same Silence brings forth the capacity to listen with the heart for the deepest meaning embedded within All of Life, in All of Its infinitude of forms, and return the dignity back to each sacred manifestation of life.
Is anybody really listening to each other?
Those who have learned how to really listen, hear the “voice for God”. And, we finally get to live in the creation that Love provides for us all, when we accept Love’s vision as our own.
And, no, Father, in whatever form Father may take, I will never “shut up”.
CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW?
As I look at my life’s history, I hear and witness Love and its healing Mystery.
I have penetrated the Conspiracy of Silence.
My world can never be the same
How about yours?
