BRINGING IN THE KINGDOM

BRINGING IN THE KINGDOM

Every Second Sunday of the Month I speak at my UU Church on some of the Red Letters -referencing the Words of Jesus as highlighted in Red in some Bibles. Then I interpret them based in my own interfaith and interdisciplinary journey - not your typical Christian teaching. Below are my notes for a handout for next month and in more detail than I usually do. So I thought that even without commentary they might be of interest and possible benefit to some here.
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BRINGING IN THE KINGDOM - Red Letter Sunday notes for April 2017 ~Arjay

JESU QUOTES: [brackets mine]
"Thy Kingdom come [?*] on Earth as it is in Heaven."
"Seek you FIRST the Kingdom of Heaven and ALL THINGS [gifts, abilities] shall be added unto you."
"These things I do [materialize], you [collectively?] also shall do and GREATER things."
"You shall know [obgnose**] the Truth and the Truth shall set you Free [liberate and satisfy you]."

Kingdom = Authority symbol (As is the term Father), indwelling Presence of the Divine power.
Heaven = sky/ space, symbol of non materiality, Bliss enclosure/ container, invisible and indivisible Spirit [energy/ information or quantum state].

Text notes:
Notice the missing line: "Thy will be done." We have spent two Sundays on this. Now we will explore how to know this Will or we could not "do" it.  It is NOT a matter of religious legalism.
** Obgnosing: (obgnosis, obgnose) = A coined word: a combination of observing and knowing  (Gr. gnosis - intimate knowing = agape. A direct experience of reality.

Take (or imagine) two pencils (sticks) bound by a rubber band. (Image courtesy of B.M.)
Pull the pencils apart and notice the tension ... we can call this tension stress.
Relax the tension and the pencils move closer together. We can call this a state of equilibrium or  Peace.
Let the pencils touch and we can call this a uniting principle or Unity.

Every problem (stuck, conditional viewpoint), to be experienced as a problem must involve or contain an obscuring, compulsive trance state (illusion).

The emotions exist as a continuum and some of the points on that continuum are named in our cultures with their unique combination of pleasure and pain.
This emotional continuum reflects our stress level (as distress or eustress) ... which are energy states - reflecting the internal harmony/ disharmony of the life-force (soul).

Afflicting emotions reflect disharmony in that soul-force and mirror our perceived separation from the Unity (G-d).
Obscuring thoughts/ beliefs/ judgements reinforce that disharmony and perpetuate it through time.
Love and Joy indicate our proximity or (Divine) Presence - to knowing the One-ness of everything.

Joy is the "Native" or natural state of life knowing itself, prior to any persona (personification).

Love is the Native state of one who knows and enjoys the Unity Presence.
Metaphorically the Unity can be compared to the above bundle of sticks... a Unity in multiplicity.
We are divided for love's sake, for recognition of the prior Unity. (Paraphrase of A.C.

"The unexamined [reactive, unconscious] life is not worth [worthy of] living." ~Socrates
Allow yourself more life-love-joy. Make the wounded Unconscious consciously whole, per Jung.
THOUGHT EXPERIMENT 1
Imagine the pencils as sticks. Individually they break easily.
A bundle of sticks are strong and work together as a Unity.
We can see this Unity as a symbol for the ONE.

THOUGHT EXPERIMENT 2
Take (or imagine) a pencil in hand and notice...
A shaft or barrel (traditionally of wood) ... allow it to symbolize a "magic wand."
A graphite core, which we may use to to make signs and words to tell our "story" ... allow it to symbolize Imagination)
An eraser which will serve us in editing and rewriting. Allow its interpretation as "healing."

Let the eraser symbolize our power of letting go of the afflicting and obscuring emotions and attitudes which make up the illusory story of our separation from Unity as well as justify all our limiting beliefs.
Erasing the energetic charge or knots of our emotional history will move us toward peace, clarity and a restoration of sanity.
Thus we will be Free, Happy, Safe (fearless via embracing our unity) and Well in connecting with the healing power of seeing the Truth of our unlimited Unconditioned Nature.

OBSERVE a stuck condition AS IT IS and it will transform as the life-force or "energy" bound up in the condition begins to self liberate in light of awareness and give a sense of free flowing-ness.
The State of Flow is spiritually identified by a return to Love-bliss, unconditioned by circumstance and detached from any identity or fixed identification with a problem.
The Flow state is associated with enhanced ability and performance with less effort or stress.

Every problem (stuck, conditional viewpoint), to be experienced as a problem must involve or contain an obscuring, compulsive trance state (illusion). (L.R.H. paraphrase)

Ultimately, Contemplation is about realizing the silence of non judgement by pure obgnosis, thus realizing the no-thing-ness or empty spaciousness at the root of experience which releases bondage to all conditions.

EXERCISE: (inspired by D.H.& B.M)
Warning: do not do this if you are adverse to thinking more positively or clearly :-)
Ask: Does it get any better than this?
   Yes, there is always more! (Affirm something like: I am/ we are/ it is, worthy*** of, capable of, evolving toward ... so much MORE).
Intend: Consciously Choose it's Evolution toward a (higher, more perfect) state.
   Be inspired by the vision of greater possibilities it implies.
   Do not worry about "how" this might happen.
   Do this as a meditation until it becomes a new habit, countering pessimistic self talk.
   You may do this for up to an hour at a time (recommended).
   Then follow the Love-Bliss-desire of the open and awakened Heart.

*** Our sense of Divine Worthiness to receive is proportional to the willingness to give to and forgive others. So also give this attitude of abundance and innocence away - as a blessing, wish or prayer - for others to realize and benefit from as well.

G-d Present and Undefined.

As my blog title indicates these are intentional musings, thought streams feeding into what has yet to become an integral river-way suitable for journeying, but sufficient to drink from if thirsty. :-)

Dare I say that G-d is Happiness (unconditioned) but that happiness ( conditional) is not G-d. It is somewhat the same as saying a human is a mammal but not all mammals are human. Happiness is the divine PRESENCE, the door into the divine Mystery. it is The way of perfection, the light of clarity, the truth of freedom as its beginning and end. It is Heaven and Paradise, the Buddha fields or bliss fields of the accomplishment of all aspirations. It is the pure pleasure enfolded in all we call good. It is the meeting of that which we seek and the knowing of our very selves. It is the bare minimum that can be asked of us and the design template for the completion of all we aspire to be and do. 

Of course one might object that  I could say the same thing about everything ... G-d is a rose, or G-d is the home of the Dung Beetle. That would make me a pantheist. But the "not" as in; the rose is NOT G-d, would define me better as a Panentheist. Yet " it is never the thing we desire but the feeling," as Edward L. Krammer said. Actually our ultimate desire I would say is a "felt meaning," as Eugene T. Gendlin describes. And that in some way is reducible to a common denominator of Happiness, as Bruce M. Di Marsico so rigorously defines. Of course for me all these states of mind and body are clearly understood as energy-information   states and this shift of viewpoint opens up new possibilities of application. 

Given the above, there is a certain error that creeps into the spiritual traditions as well as social philosophies - that there is something missing in us that needs to be added or compensated for. Eventually one surrenders this path of attainment and realizes that like a mirror covered in mud, all one needs to do is clean it of obscurations. Then one is free to examine its otherwise unknowable contents at leisure, the contents of oneself - or One-Self ... or as  One without a second, a No-thing, which none the less mysteriously IS - the  primal "Tabula Rasa" one might say. 

This is the aspiration of Rasa Coaching - to end the self sabotage and revel in the Self in all its Love-bliss - the Raj or "royal" rasas of this ancient sadhana model. There is an eternity of exploration awaiting therein .

A Donkeys Tale

St Frances called his body Brother Donkey, yet he saw G-d everywhere. He also abused Brother Donkey and I think that a flaw, but I do understand ... and such asceticism has consequences. I likewise see my personality as a Brother Ass and and quite an ass it can be. But of a greater import, I no longer identify with it.

The persona does have its life, independent of the changeless witness. These things of blood and possessions, of memory and beliefs, are indeed like garments that are put on and wear out, they shall all pass away, but the Bliss of Being shall not pass away. The knowledge of the Blissful Self is not to be found in any perfecting the garments of the personality.
This immortality behind the mask I have searched and found. There is nothing left to do but stand as its witness and invite others into the sanctuary of themselves. And I have nothing new to teach. It has all been well said by others more eloquent than I if not well understood. 

Yet in a vow I made half a century ago, my life  I pledged to the the sharing of what I might find, even if the G-d idea was an empty promise.
Actually what I found is both empty, in this very sense of dropping separative identities, and is also the pleroma - the fullness of life in its most fulfilling sense.
That is my testimony for those who can receive it. It is this testimony which is important, the bearer of it is not. Please keep the two distinct for after all, by experience, this bearer is still an ass and likely to remain so until the journey Home is complete.
And so if I have a small word of advice let it be this - let the dark angel of the mind have its play but seriously no longer identify with it. It will soon dissolve like a dark clouded sky even if you do nothing else, so leave it to its own. And seek to know the witnessing Self  inclusive of everyone to be more beautiful than that which can ever be separately named. 
SOHAM

Life as Shape Shifter

Everything is energy ... And we don't know what that IS. Historically, "Spirit" is energy. The only difference in definition is that Spirit is alive - a life- force.  Life is self evident. We know it in our subjectivity as irrefutable - as irrefutable as consciousness. And any idea of death is a shocking incongruity. Every kid probably knows that and only adults will argue in favor of a dead universe somehow birthing life. 

In studying the healers - to understand the deeper mysteries of prayer and contemplation - I have discovered much. I too have learned to see with more innocent childlike eyes, not deceived by adult vanities. I think a fear of death somewhat unnatural and externally imposed over the natural pain  of loss. We have come to distrust our primal intuition. Our original religion seems to be ancestor worship and the idea that they still live, yet apart from physical form.

Science recognizes the placebo effect but refers to it somewhat derogatorily. I am comfortable with the idea that  the Placebo effect as senior to the mechanics of physiology as its effect transcends our current understanding of cause and effect. I might even suggest that mechanics, either of physiology or subtle energies are habits of belief condensed into laws within a collective consciousness and that the true energy of all healing is conscious intention. 

Consciousness for me, is the native potential within all energy - exactly as in the law of the conservation of energy. (It can neither be created nor destroyed but only changes form and flows from one point to another.) Consciousness is the original shape shifter - it has no form but assumes forms as temporary identities. As identifications we assume both the powers and limitations of the forms we identify with. To forget that we are formless, is to become subject to the entropy of death inherent in form. Then only death can liberate us from our illusions. 

To abide in formlessness is to become Source itself. It is to know the emptiness of the Void and the Abyss. Yet that transcendence is not the purpose of creation - only its source. The purpose of creation is to play with forms yet know that we may dissolve or recreate them at will. Our very identity is a collection of forms. Unique identities, knowing their self- nature as source, is the prize of the game called life. It is our immortality embodied.  This is non-duality. 

If you have ever had the urge to create a piece of art, or a poem , or a musical piece, look deep within your motivation and you will know that this is true. Creating heaven, paradise, utopia from within the dimensionless "holo deck" of empty space is perhaps the fulfillment of us all.

A Healer's Apology

There is a lot of greed in the healing business, a fair amount of secrecy as you would find in a competitive market place, a lack of ethics is commonplace in this market nitch also and unsubstantiated theories abound concerning how things work. None the less, there are things that work. In the same way that spiritual disciplines sometimes work or that schools of psychotherapy sometimes work, the methods of the healers also sometimes work. So one can see the glass as half empty or half full. I prefer the positive approach. Some things work and some things work better than others. I experiment with what works for me and my clients. I offer no guarantees and at the same time expect results or I stop using what will not work for me. I do not need to understand everything and believe no one fully understands the how and why of human change. Call it science or pseudo science (which includes psychotherapy or "Talk Therapy" ), we are still horribly lacking in understanding the human condition. But we are learning and that is a very good sign. For all these reasons I resist the temptation to become a "certified" practitioner of any school of thought. As a researcher I am free to test, and mix processes and invent new ones. And my clients name their price. That is the best feedback mechanism I know that says I have delivered value... that people actually pay me for what I do. Perhaps they do not pay me what I am worth, but that is a matter for their own conscience and besides I am doing what I love, for loves sake.

The Soul Embodied

For the Jews a disembodied soul was unthinkable. They understood the body as the vehicle of Wisdom. Likewise the Greeks knew that the body was the bestower of gnosis, knowledge not of the mind but of the sensings of the body, what Eugene T. Gendlin would call the felt sense - sense being meaning - derived not by logic but through an intimate communion as the felt interconnections of all the cells and their interface with the world, physically and imaginaly.

Modern man has become disconnected from the body and theology replaces communion with the living Spirit. Only the healers still explore what the theologians and ministers have forgotten... that Spirit is a life-force, an energy which animates body and mind. The felt sense or felt meaning is the perception of this life energy, a direct knowing of Spirit and its experience as Presence, operative as a power for evolutionary change.

By this omission, personal transformation has become the exception rather than the norm. By this omission preaching has proven itself impotent over the long haul and teaching become a misdirection into the abstractions of conceptual understanding resulting is violence. The need today within religious bodies is to restore the meaning of Spirit as a life energy and encourage the cultivation of a body based knowing - a knowing which is pre-verbal and a product of information processing one million times greater than the conscious mind can achieve.

Of course the great mystics have understood and the quantum biologist is discovering, that the body is really an amalgam of many subtle energies which form a blueprint for our garment of flesh and blood. What we see in the mirror is but an instrument of the living body, and the instrument can become damaged. Yet the energy body retains its knowing of perfect functioning and restoration as well as transformation become thus available.

Now a mirror has its function as the eye that sees can not otherwise see itself. What the mirror of flesh reveals is qualities and attributes of the body energetic that it might better know itself. So the the mirror provides a feedback loop.

So for me - to be more precise - the practice of Spiritual Direction is energy based, combining the knowledge streams of Gendlin's Focusing - exploring the "felt meaning" experience - and of modern energy workers in the domain of healing. It then becomes a skill of learning to allow the Body wisdom to unfold as energy and information in a contemplative healing process of Self revelation.

Credo Mysterium

Credo Mysterium:

Spirit is neither created
nor can it be destroyed -
being without beginning or end.
Spirit but changes form and flows
from one point to another,
one viewpoint to another.
Spirit is thus... Energy.

Energy is omnipresent
unto the vastness of space.
Energy is omniscient -
as intelligent designer.
Energy is omnipotent -
without logical contradiction.
Energy is thus a living force.

This life-power is what I am.
The life-force being collectively
the Unity of the All - Alaha -
a Mystery many call G-d.

The body is a Temple of the Holy Spirit -
that living energy incorruptible.
The body is geometrically composed
of the most subtle resonant fields,
templates for its garment of flesh.
Thus the Spirit is closer than the Jugular.
It is moved by the fields of emotion,
and steered by the currents of thought.
Its essence is the force of love-bliss,
which is our very heaven
and immortal home of the I Am.

In Spirit and as Spirit I worship.
Prior to concepts I contemplate
with groaning s to deep for words,
the Spirit prays, forgives and heals.
Thus in abandon, I am freed.

Arjay

Life-Force Coaching, Part II

An Introduction to Spiritual Direction as life-energy Coaching: An Idiots Guide

1) spir·it noun \ˈspir-ət\ : the force within a person that is believed to give the body life, energy, and power.
~Mirriam Webster

Three essential survival needs are air, food and water. These involve the important fundamentals of Spiritual practice. Spirit has the dual meaning of breath. Our breathing mirrors our psyche. Psyche means "life." Being taught to watch the breath is enjoined with watching the psyche as a beginning practice in the recognition of the psyche as a function of the life-force. Few make the connection and thus a fixation on the respiration does not much cultivate the energetic awareness needed for the next step. That next step is feasting and fasting on the Life-energy itself. One recognizes the life-energy through the body as sensation or "felt meaning." Thus the Body is said to be the Temple of the Holy Spirit - or at least its feedback mechanism.

Here lies a core difference between Spiritual direction as a cognitive process and Spiritual Direction as an energy process. As a cognitive process every word and term is understood via mental constructs primarily and due to the uniqueness of our experience the meaning of terms is quite variable and even ideas such as prayer, or silence or G-d lend themselves to diverse theologizing. Thus there is really not much Direction or guidance going on, only accompaniment as each individual sorts out what has not been previously examined and hopes the guide will be sensitive enough point out when one is becoming at risk of loosing the way. So alternative and less directive terms like spiritual friend are associated with the guide. And if the sojourner finds bumps in the road which create dis-ease, there are no real healing interventions the typical guide has recourse to.

As an energy process Spiritual Direction finds some overlap with the above model, yet is lead by by a different language, a language of the body and its felt meanings. If, simply for illustration, the issue of love comes up, the sojourner may be asked where they feel that in the body. At this point we have a real definitive felt meaning of what is being addressed, even if the words as descriptors are inadequate. The guide may ask questions that help the sojourner distinguish this body energy in terms of solid or flowing, heavy or light, stressful or pleasant, and from many more perspectives. The native wisdom or intelligence of the life-energy in the body mind has a balance point it seeks to achieve and the guide may gently coach the sojourner in releasing or neutralizing the polarities of the energetic tension that the sought after inner peace may be achieved. Both positive and negatively judged perceptions may be released with great benefit in terms of sometimes extra-ordinary healing of body and soul. And expanding insights and intuitive guidance become spontaneously more available, something which might take years to arrive at by typical conversational means or short sighted disciplines of meditation.

Having recognized the functioning of the life-energy, its instinctive wisdom and transformative power, the sojourner is more able to discern that this life-energy is the real guide, the "inner voice" or prompting that was being sought. Its guidance is now available and with cultivation it continues to unlock the obscurations to the Divine Presence which brings fulfillment to ever expanding aspects of the human condition even if our surface human desires are for a time thwarted. In other words, this fulfillment is unconditioned by circumstance yet not necessarily a specific cure-all for living some idealized pain free life. It becomes more like what the Buddha taught - an end to suffering and also a heightened awareness of what I think Jesus taught as a becoming One with existence as Alaha, an incorruptible Unity.

Life-Force Coaching

As the practice of Spiritual Direction is being reintroduced into protestant denominations, including Unitarian Universalism it has been very interesting for me the past couple of weeks in trying to introduce the idea of "energy" into conversations about "spirituality" in my church. I feel like one who has been accused of drunken swearing from the pulpit, or who is trying to reintroduce the idea of a flat earth before The Royal Academy of Science.

Here is a quote from a highly respected contemporary Spiritual Director, author and contemplative concerning the meaning of "spirit."

"Spirit means to me the vital, dynamic force of being, that which is given by God and brings the soul into living reality. This understanding is for me compatible with the ancient terms ruach, pneuma, spiritus, and the Sanskrit prāna. Spirit implies energy and power."
May, Gerald G. (2009-03-25). Care of Mind/Care of Spirit

The Connection of Spirit with energy is quite clear in the quote and throughout history. The idea of energy has advanced human ingenuity far beyond the constraints of mechanics to devices with no moving parts and which allow us to see into the smallest and farthest reaches of the cosmos. In the field of medicine the understanding of energy and a Life-force has allowed us see inside the body and treat disease without invading it with scalpel or dangerous chemicals. In the field of Psychology we now have processes that facilitate restoration of mental health without dredging up endless painful details of the past over periods of months and years - thanks to pioneers like John Thie, John Diamond and Roger Callahan. So the resistance to looking at energy as being not only appropriate and finding useful applications in the area of Spiritual guidance astounds me... especially since it has been an integral aspect of spiritual paths for thousands of years.

But it seems that after the practice of Spiritual Direction fell into long disuse, a very few decades ago some group of "experts" decided to codify what it was and should be for the modern age. The idea of spirit as an energy - not being then understood - was omitted and the new adherents are quite locked into this restricted model.

Perhaps it should not surprise me as the idea of energy has been stripped from the teachings of even yoga in most of the centers I find locally. I seem to recall a Chi Kung class in the Religious Education catalog of my local church but that doesn't mean endorsement. It also perhaps shouldn't surprise me as acceptance of a life energy underlining spiritual teachings would have repercussions about how the worlds scriptures would need to be presented.

Our modern world view is based in the understanding that energy is really all there is, and this knowledge has only improved our ability to comprehend the mysteries of life. Surely this must also apply the greatest Mystery that religions seek to explore.

A String of Consciousness

The first part of this blog was a (somewhat veiled) comment made in the Facebook group Energy Medicine Exchange. The second part is a commentary elaborating on the idea as a practice. It is a way of thinking about it and not meant to be literally accurate - only effective.

Comment:
I always liked magnets. I played for hours as a kid with bar magnets, a piece of paper and iron filings. I was struck by the magnetic field as the cross section of a toroidal shape. The field was large but I was drawn to the center line, the bar, where the field seemed stronger, more dense. I began to imagine myself as a bar magnet. I suspected that references to the sushumna nadi and later to the Governing Vessel (w/ conception vessel) had something to do with this center line. Today ideas of chakras and meridians all take second place to this central core. It is here I go to find the heart, the three Dan tien, all that I need. It is here I now go (as energy worker) in lieu of addressing energy points. It is here where my momentary intention is enlivened. It is my magic wand, the phallus of Shiva. I work with this core, its sacred tremor, its song as likened to a variable tuning fork. This channel which is of infinite extent yet fits easily in the heart space... or anywhere in space. Within is the light of life and death, a perfect stillness of being. Infinite spaces are woven into it as a single thread, and a silence that makes all sounds distinguishable. It is the axis round which my universe extends outward and dances as it spins.

Commentary:
A line is but a series of points extended. Each point on the line exists only by reference to another point. And let's call the first point the "heart" - only so that it has a name. The heart is always only here and now - in eternity one might say. Extended points give the illusion of time, by which one may have the illusion of motion and the perception of vibration. Vibration is the necessary and impeccable alternating  of attention between any point and it's heart reference - which ultimately is a function of consciousness.

Now imagine a line from above the crown to beyond the body base. further imagine that it is as the string on a musical instrument. As one shortens or lengthens the string the vibration changes.
Now imagine a plane perpendicular to the string at some point - in effect shortening the length of the string as with a musicians fingers pressing the string to the neck of the instrument changing the note.
Consider again the idea of a plane intersecting the string and the vibration extending outward creating a geometric pattern much like a table of sand when vibrated creates a pattern unique to the vibration.
Now imagine the line referenced above and compared to the string as having unique vibratory sounds and geometries associated with each of its points.

This is what I refer to as the central column. Using the imagery of this column may recall descriptions of the Sushumna nadi or other metaphysical constructs of subtle anatomy. However flawed it may be as an accurate representation of gross energetic anatomy, it is none the less effective in energy work involving meditation or healing applications. there seems something of a principle here that the pre-conscious mind can work with.

One may intuitively scan the length of this column for blocks and release them in oneself and others. One may locate frequency harmonics related to varied conditions of dis-ease and it's release. One may simply touch it and surrender conditions to its innate wisdom to make adjustments in accord with a gentle intention of correction toward wholeness.

This column may be associated with the body as with a transparent overlay. Yet it may also be liberated from the proximity of the physicality. It may be associated with any point in space and seed like grow from this point - much as an apple seed grows forming a central core with a somewhat toroidal three dimensional all aroundness.

Metaphysically considered this column runs from below the base of sex, to the pure relational love of the sacred heart to the bliss above the crown.It is as the trunk of the tree from which many fruits form on its branches as energetic fields.

For those who use their hands, consider the posture of praying hands and the center line where they touch. as the hands part and one plays with the sensate energy between them the point and the line are considered as still present by inference. play with this knowing and the aspects of point, line and ball as three loci of energy. Even working silently and at a distance, sense the three aspects of another as your hands enfold them.

Meditatively smiling into the column and using the energy of the felt meaning of this non verbal and pre-verbal inner smile as a calibration tool can remove any knots of locked energetic function found in the column and restore a balanced free flow of information associated with ideal function.The smile and the core ultimately merge in my experience as a purity of perception.

There is much more that can be said of this way of working but I am always operating from the view of experimenter rather than system maker, so I here offered a few insights that others may expand upon. The ethical among the readers will credit me for the gift should they make use of it in sharing with others.

For related working models see the Snow Globes concept of EmoTrance, the Emotion Code, and Chinese Energetics.

Healing or Whole-ing?

No human endeavor is to be understood without an understanding of the human mind. Our survival depends less on exploring the stars than exploring ourselves. 

As a healer we are often engaging people in crisis. Their pain could be physical, emotional or a mental conflict such as a crisis of conflicting beliefs. We must in all gentleness understand that without this pain, our clients would have no use for us. Under our care they may grow in exciting and liberating ways, but their motivation is seldom growth itself or self knowledge. 

In the subtle realms of healing work - of soul and spirit -  people may be asked to revisit intense states of feeling that they hoped they would never have to face again. They would have to examine their life which has been constructed within a polarity of seeking pleasure without pain. Such a polarizing strategy usually ends in failure and becomes a life strategy trade of bland existence within a relative comfort zone. 

Even as the unsatisfactoriness of this strategy dawns on them and people turn toward seeking some form of liberation, the path they choose is predicated on the promise that it will not hurt. This consideration is usually dominant over and above the effectiveness of the path.  

But there is a lie here that must be addressed. The lie is that we are not strong enough to bear again the pain of memories past and challenge the decisions we made in their regard. The lie is that vulnerability will weaken us and perhaps even destroy us. 

The truth is that the past is the past even if it was yesterday. The truth is that our past is as the boogie man under the bead - there is no substance to the image apart from our own minds.  To look is to dissolve the fantasy. To look is to be free.  To look is to exit the mirage and become courageous and creative. 

To be a healer or a spiritual guide is be the courage for the seeker, to inspire and reassure. It is to guide the  seekers looking and hearing and feeling until old beliefs fall away and the world in view becomes creative play. 

In my view this is the supreme sport and universal play whose mastery gives excellence in every game of life. It makes every person a winner in a win win world as measured by the standard of unqualified happiness. This requires a shift in understanding ourselves as world leaders currently engaged in crisis management with our clients. 

Perhaps a bigger picture is in order. We are pathfinders of possibilities others can not as yet dream. We few have caught the vision in part but have yet to understand its ramifications. 

Religion, politics, legislation, and philosophy have failed, and science too seems currently under the reign of the profiteers. Our social justice and philanthropic work is a drop in the bucket of need. Thousands of years have passed and history imitates the words of Paul: "That which I would do I do not, and that which I would not, I do."

The time of the healer sages is a possibility now. They are an evolutionary voice and force, a witness for what it is to be human, wholly human, wholly alive, wholly in community with the whole of life. 

I for one seek not a profession of healers but raise my voice for a culture of healing. There is education to be done, much education, which which goes against much of what we have been taught. 

Some suggest that we teach meditation to our children. That is a start. I have suggested that we add a forth "r" to the curriculum ... Relationships. Yet in this time when healing models are so simple that even children can do them, I say let them, encourage them to be healers. The path of happiness and self esteem we already know lies in service. Let them be hero's all  We need not enforce this, only allow it. 

Does anyone have a better idea?

Let's say we want to build healing center. 

It is easier to make changes at the level of the architect than the level of the contractor. And it is easier to make changes at the level of the contractor than after the building is finished and you discover some materials are substandard. So too it is easier to make changes at the level of energy and consciousness than adjust manifest conditions. 

Saying NO does not mean ignore. The negative evokes its image like trying not to think of an Elephant. Once the Elephant is clearly recognized it can be consciously released or deleted New possibilities become available - new choices.  One has only to remove the tusks and add horns and it no longer an Elephant. Adding gratitude that you have the resources may change your relationship to bill paying. Change can be that simple. Being open to the possibility seems the harder part.

Mechanics and Consciousness

Sometimes there seems to be a war among healers, between the masters of mechanics and those who seek to function from the realm of pure possibility. Many are the modalities of subtle energies, of chakras and meridians. and few are the scientists of the potency of consciousness and its possibilities.

The healing systems run the gamut from those who work with nutrition and homeopathic remedies, to those that work with Psionic devices including crystals, radionics, tuning forks, etc., and those who work with personified energies as spirit guides and those like myself who (though not exclusively) explore the less tangible realms of pure consciousness and are content to get what we get in the spirit of investigation.

This last realm of consciousness exploration is as yet barely investigated and historically the province of the mystics. And as one interested in healing, I search it not because it has yielded the the most surgically precise results but because my path is to know the source condition of creation and the potential of Spirit, to use some rather nebulous terms.

Consider the view that bodies are cocoons and meant to be discarded when their job is done. A radical idea to many. In Eastern traditions this is related to the description of the world as becoming mirage like - a subjective reflection of the rarification of the gross energy components and eventual objective dismantling into the more subtle "rainbow body."

In this view we are neither a light body nor chakras or a meridian system any more than we are a brain. All these things are perhaps only machinery built to do what we have forgotten how. Not that this game is without merit - children love to play with toys and creators love to invent. Yet none of this machinery nor its mechanics nor the yogas or systems of healing supersede the "I" of the "One we are" in it's omnipotence.

Using an ancient model; the Bliss body, the bodies mental and emotional, or of subtle energies or of flesh are temporal and thus but an optional expression of the play of "I" - which some assure bears no energy signature nor is it in need of a form to assert its creative potency.

Being attentive to the bodies - their sensations, emotions, and attitudes -  will reveal exactly what needs to be released - into THE RELEASE OF THE BODIES THEMSELVES. Bodies, celestial or biological are a delicate balance of opposing forces - of stressors. Perhaps this is why Jesu said the body(s) are the Temple of the Holy Spirit. The temple however is in the end a housing, a landmark and the Spirit is not diminished in its passing away. Even the ego is but the machinery of mind whereas the Self is existent a priori as Peace.

And pragmatically, from the point of view of mechanics there is no end to the things we find we need to heal. We may even make them up if we run out of things to fix, to keep the game going - to maintain the tension sufficient for life.  The way out is discovered in the resolution of the issue of identity - Self knowledge. Some get this faster than others. Self knowledge reveals a freedom from mechanics, yet also a freedom to create or re-create  conditioned experience. Neither view is incorrect if awareness assumes response-ability - assumes cause.

 It does take a tolerance for insecurity to venture into this area of the unknown. Our identity is affixed to the realms of mechanics (even if it is called quantum mechanics) Yet in the end this intuition of absolute freedom is what I follow as a contemplative or healer.

A Letter to Online UU's.

... I recently spent some time seeking the appellation of UU Lay Community Minister through the UUSCM with a designation of Spiritual Director.

This however is not the first time I have served as a commissioned minister or practiced the art of Spiritual Direction and as a committed UU, I would like to share... Why I continue to choose to focus on the path of Spiritual Direction in Community Ministry.

There is a cartoon I have recently been informed of that lovingly skewers the UU habit of avoiding depth in worship. The cartoon shows two doors — one is labeled “heaven” and the other is labeled “lectures about heaven.” The UUs in the cartoon are going to the lecture.

The Spiritual Director has chosen the door less traveled through. In my case this meant keeping a pledge for over 40 years to dedicate 10% of my 24 hour daily endowment of time to the practice of contemplation and related disciplines. There comes too a time when the desire is natural to "pay back" or "pay forward" the grace with which one has been blessed as a student beneficiary of several mentors and open oneself to the responsibility of the guidance of others as one has likewise been guided.

Having experienced deep healings along the way I have noticed many parallels between the physician and the guide as healer. Like a physician, a guide of experience and training stands ready to help guide others in choosing spiritual health. In connection with this the archaic term of "cure of souls" is most tellingly accurate and in keeping with my communities articulated vision of helping to heal the world. Alas the word is not always followed by the walk as the realities of institutions come into play.

And it is to be cautiously noted that Spiritual Direction like medicine, is a practice and not a science and a practice of relationship as well as anything else. The guide and the student need to form a fit of a high order for the relationship to succeed. This is not something that any one pastor nor one director can be expected to provide a diverse community. And yet the first item to attend to is the filling of the transformational space vacated with the near exclusion of the contemplative path of prayer.

In the Protestant traditions the idea of the priesthood of all believers is emphasized to the detriment of loosing the empowering model of one on one guidance. Like self diagnosis in the medical model, this is not recommended. In healing as in personal transformation, a partnership between guide and seeker is the ancient pattern. And far from being the authority, the guide, like a good physician, is there to encourage and assist the seeker in making good choices based in a larger perspective of knowledge and experience.

That Aldous Huxley could find in the diversity of religion a "Perennial Philosophy," suggests there is a common path of verifiable experience from which we may draw and more accurately than devotion to our favored  ideologies. The guide is a companion on a cross cultural and human journey taken together where both are committed to the greater well being of the seeker.

This is in contrast to teaching and preaching which leaves the seeker with little of a support structure - where diagnosis and treatment are left to fate and typically a return to what is comfortable and familiar - which is no permanent change at all - is the result.

Having taught a Religious Education class on the teachings of Jesus based in his native tongue of Aramaic and continuing that as a monthly offering called Red letter Sunday, I am all to familiar with this intellect based model to deepening spiritual insight . Change is here subject to memory and memory is short lived as the motivating excitement wears thin and thus any required accompanying discipline is dropped.

Even a change in belief not grounded in experience and being left unexamined invites a repeating pattern of avoidance of core issues on which hinge real transformation. And if transformation of the individual as well as society is not our goal, then I submit we have betrayed the foundations of our faith.

This seems an oddity to me in a religious movement that gives much lip service to diverse forms of worship. True there are religion based groups in some congregations, such as those who identify as Buddhists in my home "church." Yet the contemplative path is far more expansive than any single spiritual tradition. Expansive enough to string many solitary practitioners and small groups together in a networked thread to produce a necklace of rare and enriching value reflecting light on the human condition.

The contemplative path is also a path suitable for some of the "nones" and the "un-churched, those who have become disenfranchised with religion, and as an active yet non creedal spirituality the contemplative path frequently draws the young. Of this I am a witness as I am surprisingly affiliated now with a liberal evangelical community that thirsts after contemplative wisdom from sources outside their doctrinal tradition. Ah the flexibility of contemplative prayer to sooth the critical mind.

For this reason alone - for an infusion of new blood - UU congregations would do well to open its walls to this neglected aspect of the Spiritual traditions and reaffirm a history of cutting across the limitations of religious sectarianism which in one form of another has appealed to many who now identify with Unitarian Universalism.

The Mystagog

I belong to no religion.  I am a mystagog - a teacher of religious mysteries - a guide to the "Perennial Philosophy." This rare term marks the uniqueness and flexibility of an interfaith viewpoint. There are no academic degrees offered on this path, a path that must be supplemented by a dedication to contemplation and a rigor of examination that does justice to those who have gone before.

I study the wisdom teachers - the gnostics, the mystics, the shamans and healers rather than the theologians. They offer insights and methods of approach into the Great Mystery as an experience rather than belief.

The first and obvious teaching is that something' is happening, but we do not know what it IS. That something is generally called Reality. However in practice, any description that may be put in words is of necessity incomplete or fanciful error. Thus it is said: those who speak do not know, Those who know do not speak.

There are benefits in approaching reality as an experience rather than a concept. Some of the benefits reported by mystics traveling this path of experiential knowing include greater peace, joy, love for the whole of creation, healing and the perception of beauty - often said to be highest knowledge of G-d's imanence that a mortal can behold.

Reality is that which IS and is prior to any interpretation and not adulterated by interpretation. This has been expressed as: before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood carry water. The only difference is the clarity of the light by which we see the duty or dharma (law) of the present moment. In Tibet this light is called rigpa and is said to be "clear" to indicate this clarity of perception. Reality is a mater of what you can experience. (What we cannot experience is of course unreal to us.)

The attainment of this clarity is traditionally and logically by removing the obscurations to it. Thus the simplest way to realization is one of releasing all concepts which filter and color our direct perception. This includes primarily the persona's or masks we identify with and are organized as "ego" that occlude the core of what subjective essence or nature there may exist to be disclosed in the process.

In the Christian tradition this has been expressed by Jean-Pierre de Caussade as:

"We attain to God by the annihilation of self. There is no way more secure than that of abandonment [releasing, letting go - the "annihilation" called nirvana, or "emptying" called sunyata (Buddhist), and the "passing away" called fana (Sufi)] and none more easy, sweet, clear, and less subject to illusion and error. God requires an empty space even in the most remote recesses of our nature in order to communicate Himself to our souls. In the degree in which we banish all that is not God, we shall become filled with God...."

The Cell and the Spirit

There is an analogy I enjoy playing with ... comparing the life of a cell to the the life force we call Spirit. It helps answer questions about ideas of the One-ness of existence and the many-ness of its expressions.

A single cell multiplies by a process of dividing itself - the one becoming two, the two becoming four and so on. As we repeat this process a mere 64 times, like putting a penny on a checkerboard and doubling the amount for every successive square, we end with more money than the wealth of the entire world.

We could call the original cell the parent cell and with each division its progeny retains the essential information of the parent cell with which it began and the as yet unexpressed potential of its future evolutions. If Spirit were to function as the cell we could fairly say that even the advent of a new spirit would posses the information or "memory" of all that came before it and all that might come after it. Its existence then would seem beginningless and endless in terms we could compute.

The idea of death of course enters into the observation of the cell as a material biological entity. Yet we are learning that there too is a quantum realm to biology and that a "body" is a function of energy fields which extend beyond its material existence. Awareness of this existence may lie in a future activation of life's potential, yet the mystics have long spoken of realms of being beyond the material and advances in science do more to confirm such ideas than counter them. Were this to be the case, physical life may viewed is a cocoon for the gestation an other order of existence and specialization.

In the duplication of cells we do see that each is a unique improvisation on the original pattern. As a spirit our uniqueness seems important enough to assert - even to the point of denying our unity. That is how important identity is. It is only identity misplaced which seems a real problem and thus the council to "know thyself."

In terms of spiritual practice we might consider then that validating our individuality is as important of affirming our unity. Our uniqueness is perhaps affirmed and demonstrated best as our unique purpose in the context of the unity of the whole, much like cell in the cornea is distinguished between a cell in the heart - all unique, all functionally part of a specialty team, and all playing a responsible role in the health and harmony of the whole.

As each cell carries the history of its making, so too might spirit AND ... spirit might rightly lay claim to itself as a reincarnation of its ancestral stream.

Of course these thoughts are simply part of a game I play. Yet playnig games is a childs preparation for life. As a child of the spirit of the uni-verse I engage my studies with gusto and take them none to seriously. In this lack of seriousness lies to a child's enjoyment even in the exercise it's drama.

I invite the reader to play with these ideas and see what other connections can be found that may shed some light on the matter, for I have only scratched the surface. And besides, what what one discovers for oneself is the more valuable.

The Trance of Expectation

WE see what we expect to see. The brain filters out information to simplify the conduct of daily life. That is also our limitation. So we speak of thinking "outside of the box," but what does that mean and can it be developed?

For me it is the rehabilitation of creativity and if there is any sense to be made of the idea that we are made in the image of the Creator it is to be found in cultivating our creative capacity.

Einstein said that G-d does not play with dice. I would interpret this to mean that in an ordered Universe, all problems to be a problem must contain unconsciousness and our challenge in becoming fully human is as Carl Jung said, to make the unconscious conscious... which is to say to clearly perceive what is there and from within this clear seeing to make new choices and higher integrations based in having more information available - allowing new connections and insights which honor the internal order of existence. Such an internal order seems always at work in an evolutionary direction unless it is interfered with by imposing our design based in unconscious motivations and unknown data ... something human beings are notoriously adept at.

Again for me this means a restoration of creativity as the solution to every problem. I offer there is no problem where there are found sufficient options and any limitations of our options are to be found in a lack of creative perception and not inherent in the problem itself.

Before I give a process designed to rehabilitate our creativity, let me recall a story of Alfred Korzybski teaching a class in semantics. The professor held up a match box and asked what it was. Predictably the response was "match box." Korzybski's response was a loud and immediate "NO!" He said, "Matchbox is a noise." and he threw the object into the crowd and weapon like struck a student. Clearly the object could at least be a projectile of some sort ... perhaps a home for a beetle.

Given this I pose a question and invite the reader to ponder again and again and again:
"WHAT COULD YOU ALLOW 'IT' TO BE?"

Substitute 'IT'' for virtually anything one can become aware of; an object, a person, an emotion, attitude or physical condition, even oneself.

An example: What could you allow this Blog post to be?

An example of pixels if printed and viewed under a microscope?
The ravings of mad Philosopher plotting to de-stabilize your life?
A teaching of potential value for one with writers block or tasked with solving problems?
A string of letters to practice devising a code for or as a translation challenge for Esperanto?

This little question can be liberating and reveal where we are stuck. One simple definition of freedom is the ability to change ones mind. And in terms of healing, the more open we can be to the possibilities of change, the greater our success. This process works on that principle.

The Most Valuable Possesion

A caution on the stories we tell...

Arguably that which is most valued by human beings is... our STORIES. day and night we tell and retell stories, to ourselves and all who will listen. We live for our stories, from and within them. And arguably, we are possessed by them. We stream them with eyes open and eyes shut. We gather in groups to exchange them and celebrate them in books, radio, news print and on the stage. Our religion is story, our science too. Our identity is hi-story, stories repeated and our dreams are fragments of story as yet to unfold. Our stories are made of experience, judgement and belief systems, which may rarely be subject to our examination. They are the smoke screen of our delusional identity, valued above reason even if through logic they are invoked and our morality likewise is subject to their conditioned whim. We may even think that we are not, if we have no story to prove that we are. We are sucked and suckered into them for we identify with the flawed story teller - ego, monkey mind, or unnamed protagonist, ti's but a further fiction within the story line itself. Stories become the carriers of our bondage to viral emotions and the justification for our actions repeated generation to generation and yes at times they may be a door to inspiration for a few heroes who get the joke and can laugh them off. But mostly in our story telling and story sharing we are needing to be comforted that we share the same archetypes and thus are somehow OK, even if addicted to and driven by the recurring drama and trance of pathos. Yet to go beyond the norm of the acceptable human, we must dismantle our stories, challenge them for accuracy, drain them of reactivity and often for the best, abandon them all together to find what is real and healing - to find ourselves and our place in the grand design.

Special Offer

(Written partially "tongue in cheek.")

As many of you know I do not charge for coaching services, but I am trying a new marketing strategy of assigning value, as freebies I am told are not viewed as having worth.  So here it is… a $24.99 value for FREE to the readers of my blog. All I ask is that you make a donation of FREELY sharing it with others that might benefit – and do so in my name or in reference to this blog.

Just as a single drop of coloring mixes with a glass of water to pigment the whole volume, so too may a single “drop” (energy) of wellness revitalize and renew the heath of body, mind or circumstance. Like in homeopathic theory, a substance diluted to where only the information signature remains, it may still facilitate a cure.

The word “drop” here is used figuratively yet may also be understood as a Tibetan metaphor for prana - the life force.  So one can utilize the idea of the drop literally, or understand it as an energy form and metaphor. Experiment and use the metaphor in a group healing environment as an image to align intention.

This approach can help many circumvent the failure of trying to do too much, and more easily allows the focus to remain positive as attention is on the drop primarily and its environment or damaged  condition only secondarily.

Consider that if but a single healthy cell or pattern remains, there is enough information to begin a transformation of the whole system, for the intention of life is toward its own perfection and life is most tenacious in overcoming obstacles if given a chance by our cooperation with it.


The drop understood as a thought form of pure information can mean at any given moment, simply the best understanding of a perfected state and the felt meaning of that state. How big a drop can you allow? Cut that in half and begin there.


One’s intention here is itself only information in the form of a thought, and as it is so often said; energy follows intent – and that in accord with its own wisdom. Transformation is allowed to occur in its own time and with less effort. A simple curiosity affords more results than willfulness.

So let the idea of the drop form… stir it in, shake it up.  If the condition being addressed feel solid, knead it, push and pull on it gently with the mind and mimic the motions with the hands and body if you like. Mix it well and then sit back and let it work.

Just make sure the drop is rich with euphoric (wellness) feelings and the shift toward wellness is assured.  All by itself, through practice, the drop will evolve into a fine rain, a trickle, a stream an ocean, as one works the process described here. Let it, allow it to happen all by itself.

This applies to blessing others as well. Never underestimate the casual good wishes extended to another, especially if the intention includes the instruction that the drop persist and gather like energies unto its self.

                   The Universe as a Hologram


This could become an empowering habit for how you think about troubling things.

PS This "drop sadhana" is but stage one of a larger connected teaching. This is offered here as a simple reframe of how we may view and work with intention, energy and information in a way most can easily  understand and put to immediate use.

Focus on the "mixing" of the "drops" and other insights should follow.  The best learning is what we discover for ourselves.

***Special note:***
If you are not absolutely delighted with the results of this process after using it for 30 days, return it to the aethers with a full 100% no-money-back guarantee. :-)

De Profundus

In light of the fact that all concepts have limitations, it is said: “Those who speak do not know. Those who know do not speak.” Yet we speak to serve and the service is judged not by an absolute standard but by its usefulness. To devise more useful constructs we must often think outside the box. There are usually more workable solutions than what we have been given to believe, even if they are sometimes counter intuitive.

 "Eternity is in love with time"
   -William Blake. 

To say with Paramahansa Yogananda, that all time is happening now, is to say that all possibilities are available now, that eternity dwells in the spaces between our thoughts of yesterday and tomorrow. This includes what Physicists called the Multiple Histories Interpretation. There is only here as well as now and nothing outside of mind exists independently of this - "this" however in apearance is a collective work of creation, which means I cannot do what is lawfully beyond the agreement of the collective. However if one can exceed the limits of the mean, then so can others follow in the temporal stream. Such is the game we play as One, for no other reason than we can, worlds without end. 

Q: Is this a school with lessons to be learned?

A: There is naught to learn, only potentials to explore. 

Q: Does "an eye for an eye" - repayment in kind - express accurately the idea of karma?

A: Karma is about the mood of anger and attitude of vengeance which underlies the act. It is about our emotional triggers that have not been released. This we carry forward beyond the grave and into the collective ancestral pool. Karma can be mitigated to a degree as our emotional streams are purified.

Q: Is there such a thing as reincarnation?

A: There are only changes of state and the borrowings of ancestral memories, creatively utilized and recycled in new combinations and unforeseen connections called inspiration. 

Q: What is death?

A: A device invented to facilitate and encourage rapid evolution, much like sexual diversity accelerates the creation of genetic adaptations.