Personal Note on the Church as Healer Series

I do not call myself a Christian, except perhaps in the “Catholic” sense of Universal. If Christ is eternal, so must be the Christian message. If we can not see this (in comparing the religions of the world), then perhaps we have misunderstood the original message.

If the church denies the “perennial philosophy” and insists on reinventing the meaning of the ancient symbols the majesty of G-d will not be served.

‘Ehieh asher ehieh’ is the supreme mantra of the Hebrews – I am what I will be. Many times did Jesu say I AM and … so he was/is. We to as “gods” (small g) are to cultivate this I AM, and cultivate our perfection in the image and likeness of G-d.

The beauty of affirming I am love, joy, beauty, etc., all attributes of G-d and thus of ourselves, is that we get to release all the obscuring spirit-energy blockages that prevent that from being true. Yet the effort keeps us in growing into our true nature as G-d perceives it and Jesus encourages us.

The "I" (Great Self) of G-d, can be usefully described as holographic, each of us revealing, potentially, the unity (alaha) of that whole, while appearing separate. The “I-maker” (ahamcara) is the desire for uniqueness, differentiation of identity, which too is G-d's desire in the search for Self knowledge.

In this series I lay out a spiritual path of healing (omitting the details for this blog). For me they are one and the same. Yet I am not a system builder, but a model maker a guide through some landscapes of the spirit. The systems of “techniques”are already in place and ready for ones "personal touch" of adaptation. My quest is for the perennial philosophy (the eternal Christ) and as importantly the perennial practice; the core teachings of the wise (exemplified for me especially in Jesus).

I do not overly concern myself with healing the body. The body and the outer circumstances of the soul will take care of itself ... in time, if the Spirit (life energy) is cleaned and made holy, which is foremost an inner work.

To be sure there will be important differences of opinion in what I write, but a healthy Christian agnosticism is not a betrayal of the Faith. There is so much we may never know in our lives, but this is no reason to presuppose, as many religious do, that we can find all the answers in a single book. As St paul said; all scriptures may be suitable for edification, even if all are not equally valuable.

Among the scriptures I read from is the book of nature, the living creation. It is time for science and religion to put away their petty quibbles, as with the advent of Quantum theory, the scientist must become philosopher too and give up the rigid materialism, which has been its blinder, just like the literalism of the fundamentalist has been theirs.

I hope you will find reason in these pages as well as faith.

© Arjay, 2009, All rights reserved.

Church as Healer VIII

At some point soon aftet my intitiation into my core ‘hesychastic’ (described earlier) practice and experiencing the profound bliss of G-d’s Presence. I asked G0d where do I go now. I had a strong impression to look across the street from the corner on which I was standing. There stood a full Gospel Church and my first impression was no, not that.

I had visions of fundamentalist narrow mindedness (which indeed was evident in some people). Still there was a strong sense of YES and I obeyed. Within two minutes of walking through the door, I just started to cry as feelings of isolation from the community of G-d were revealed and healed through encountering the high energies of praise and faith.

I think more healings can happen spontaneously in the churches today, yet I know that my healing began long before I entered the door for I had dropped my shields blocking G-d's spirit and let go some time before. In fact, I believe the healing happened when I released my BS (belief systems) earlier. The tears and conscious manifestation of that healing was just the confirmation.

So the better part of healing is the correction of all the energetic disturbances and resistances which hold our suffering in place. Then we can receive it. Once this is released the unfolding drama of the healing itself can be allowed to complete.

In practice however, a healing ministry points to a commitment by the church to healing in the first place, to assisting people in the practice of engaging and releasing the spiritual core of whatever they may be facing (and at root all things are spiritual for as St Paul says; we war not against flesh and blood.

Therfore we must be prepared to teach people the spiritual laws and processes of healing the soul in some safe and formal fashion as a part of the ministry itself; getting the word out that there are those present that can help in the restoration of the soul and its powers. There is in my own mind no difference between healing and growing in spiritual maturity.

And if as a church we are not about this, what are we about? Many I have seen are content to be social service organizations that teach their own brand of theology on Sundays. And people are leaving the church on account of this attention to the body and neglect of their souls growth in intimacy with G-d.

I know these are strong words and I'm inclined to temper them when the message is heard. Actually I'd rather not try to change the church at all, it seems a stubborn institution and there are more receptive ears on its fringes. Yet it is not my will that is to be done here.

© Arjay, 2009, All rights reserved.

Church as Healer VII

Our healer is the Holy Spirit; literally the breath set apart. Figuratively, by this breath life was breathed into Adam. Counselors are taught to watch the breat as an aid for understanding the clients process, some forms of therapy teach specific breathing patterns. The religions of the world have long taught the importance of the breath. We ar told to slow the breath, to stop the breath or speed it up. We are told to simply watch the breath, or count the breaths. Christian contemplatives synchronize the breath with meditative phrases as some yogis do with mantras. The scientific research increasingly shows abundant benefits for such practices, yet the advanced adepts know a couple of secrets the beginners do not.

There is an energetic parallel to the breath. It is the breath set apart. It is the life force and the carrier of vast amounts of information related to our interconnectedness with all life, as well as our personal history. It is intelligent beyond comprehension as that which “runs” or subconscious process and gives insight in our creative and spiritual lives. When one comes to see all our moods, emotions, attitudes and thoughts as simple forms of this energetic breath and can enter the stream, the flow of it without resistance, one truly begins the spiritual path of return to our reflected image of G-d.

All suffering is a disturbance of this spirit-breath, and the joy of the Lord is found in its uninhibited, spontaneous expression as it restores the soul to a state of peace and unity. This life force is the true breath that needs to be monitored and it is available to those who would not otherwise consider themselves mediators or contemplatives, but simply lovers of life.

There is another secret of the wise who have gone before us. This is to proactively engage the witness consciousness – you – the observer of the breath in cultivating a joyous attitude. This secret is found in the Buddhist anipanasati sutra, that continual exhorts to “gladden” the mind while engaging the outer breath in contemplations. The Tantric master Pundit Acharya - who helped bring a scientific view of yoga to the west - says to fully enjoy breathing, or you are doing the exercise wrong. The Taoists say cultivating the inner smile is the first and final practice of a sage. And thye contemporary Christian mystic Bernadet Roberts says that when all her ideas of G-d had vanished she found a smile and knew that the smile, the one smiling and the one smiled at were one.

These are two key insights of my own practice, which has earned me a reputation as mystic and healing coach. They could hardly be simpler, yet yield results most profound. Assisting people in integrating these into their ordinary life is the basis of my free coaching practice patterned after the ideal of the “cure of souls”. It is a ministry of love.

© Arjay, 2009, All rights reserved

Church as Healer VI

When we think of healing, we think of something being broken. Yet before the brokenness there is health. We are designed to be healthy, naturally so, unless something interferes with that. It is like in Genesis where G-d creates and in the end calls it ALL good. Our soul health is our goodness in a sense. Our goodness is the first creation. Something must separate us from that natural goodness before we require a correction or restoration of any sort.

Healing is that correction, a restoration of the goodness of the soul experienced as love and happiness. That is our nature, to experience this is our right and there is a part of us that knows this as our spiritual heritage. We have lost our way back to the goodness, which is G-d within us. If religion only existed to do this one thing, return us to our original health and wholeness, religion would serve G-d, and Peace would be within our global reach.

Instead we have used religion to divide us, to splinter us socially, and psychologically. In so, to justify our madness, we have made of G-d a power apart from us and our world, and denied the image of G-d within us.

We see before us a material world only and have disconnected from the spiritual energy which governs it – the living waters that connect us one to another and are the carriers of information as spiritual and psychological knowledge which reveals the true causes behind our sufferings, healing our memories, emotions and disorderly thoughts.

We do not need to be told to love when the waters of life flow freely and cleanse us, for we no longer feel separated. We do not need to have G-d preached to us for we now abide in a presence of Life’s immanence, and for what would we trade that.

This spiritual water for which we thirst is as experiential as our heartbeat and not merely a metaphor, nor is it a gift we receive at the altar. It is as near to us as our breath and needs only to be pointed out, as we would point to the stars and show a child the belt of Orion in the night sky. The tihas come to see the realty behind the symbols we hear in church. The time has come to make church an instrument for teaching the healing G-d so wants to give to us.

© Arjay, 2009, All rights reserved

Church as Healer V

My meditation practice and my understanding of Spirit is derived directly from a visionary presence. As I cried out what now Lord, I sensed the words “spell my name in your heart, always.” And I saw the Hebrew letters YHShVH, written in my heart in Hebrew script – right to left. At that moment I became an heir to the hesychastic tradition of the prayer of the heart. As the days passed I repeated this name of Jesus, in Hebrew, every waking moment and soon, the letter Shin began to flare up in a glow and a sense of joy bubled up from my inmost being. There was a daily increase in the intensity of this joy to the point that Joy was nearly my sole and continuous awareness. So powerful was this experience I spent the rest of my life trying to understand it, and now share it as an achievable end.

I read some advice as a boy that to understand what an author had written it was not enough to know the meaning of the words; one must enter the spirit of the author. I practiced this skill reading volumes of quotations and trying to assume the viewpoint of the writers. It was an interesting experiment in “shape shifting.”

The Hebrew mystics say that G-d used the letters to make everything that was made. I strove to enter into the sprit of these 4 letters and they have been my guiding light over the years. Therein I found a secret of the tetragramaton as a kind of formula of a Great Law and the presence of G-d as person within it.

The Law is a law of manifestation and healing, a continuous pulse of life-death in a cycle of becoming, to which everything is subject. It is the Truth of religions; variously called the Way, Dharma, Tao, hiranyagarbha, tathagata-garbha and myo-ho. It is the stuff of all things and its intelligent operation – its reason (logos). I choose to call it simply energy, meaning that which does the work. Albert Einstein originally called it “subtle energy”. Many have tried to define this energy but it is ultimately indefinable, and like an author, demands we assume their viewpoint to know the story properly. This has been the goal of the mystic, the gnostic and the enlightened or liberated ones of the ages. This is the truth of YHShVH as it has translated in my experience.

And why should it seem so strange to find this core insight buried in all th major faiths, if even St Augustine could say that what we call Christianity is the oldest religion. This is why the Apostles Creed says Christ is, was and always will be, for wherever mankind speaks with G-d there can be only one truth to tell, though ears may hear it differently. When I hear my own churches slogan “Christianity for everyone”, this is where my heart goes, to this boundless truth.

As for myself, I make no claims in this regard, other than being a reporter of what I have been shown. I am a student of this teaching as much as anyone, And this is a teaching to be lived rather than understood in a formulaic fashion.

Over a couple of decades I have been blessed to discover a core practice which makes all of this intelligible as an experience of Divine Presence and healing of the soul. It is a synthesis of ancient models of the soul/spirt and modern pioneers of “Energy Psychology,” bringing healing and the spiritual path together where they belong. It is my sole wish to make this available without commercializing it, but I can not do it alone.

© Arjay, 2009, All rights reserved

Church as Healer IV

It is popular today to entertain the question; "What is your favorite superpower?" I think part of our fascination with Jesus is that he demonstrated a desirable superpower and was the equivalent of a superhero to those of his day.

My answer to this question is that the superpower I desire is one given to me by virtue of being a child of G-d - the ability to heal all suffering of emotion and thought, and to do so almost instantly. What the church has not realized is that we all havve this power and it requires ony exercising with the help of a guide who understands the anatomy of the soul, just as a physical trainer must understaqnd the anatomy of the body.

This anatomy of the soul I must point out is one of the most neglected firlds of study in religious education. We `would rather invent new menings of terms to validate our sectarian theological positions.

Do understand I am not talking about instantaneous healing of the body - though that is apparently possible I believe – but of the soul, the seat of suffering. In our imaturity we lack the conviction, the faith, and knowledge that we can change the physicality in a predictable and consistent way. We may grant that some “have the gift” but it is not for everyone.

But let us use the metaphors of science to help us understand our predicament and begin to decipher the equation matter = energy = information as it relates to healing..

The Physicists tell us - through extending our sensory perception with instruments - that looked at one way, the universe apears as a constellation of "particles", yet looked at another way it is a wavelike motion of energy - though we do not know what that IS. This energy can further be broken down by the mind into simple information - relative information only – situational meanings, for we are not able now to see beyond our own filters, the glass darkly as St. Paul put it.

How this relates to our own experience is that the body sometimes appears as a solid form and sometimes is experienced as an identity of fluid movement of sensations - as energy in manifestations of thought, attitufe. and emotion. Along with this observation a meaning develops. The meaning is not a sperate reality but an integral "felt meaning” which involves the whole of our experiencing and memories of experience and hopes for future experience.

Furether, observing that the body seems sometimes a solid, and sometimes as vibrating or wavelike surges and floods of energy via thoughts and emotions, and sometimes as a dreamlike imagining of pure symbol and geometric beauty, frees us back into the liberating mystery of not knowing, and not having to know what this thing is - the force of life - that appears as many, yet is only one just like the particle and wave are a single unity and not two things. This helps me loosen the strangle hold of my judgments and opinions which steal my joy as they increase my suffering and sense of separation in the flow of life

This state of flow is what we seek and we find confirmation in the word for heaven in the aramaic - shemaya - which has the meaning of space and vibration, rather than place or thing. This is related to Malchuta or “queendom”, being the “Presence” of G-d.

In this co-mingled union of Presence; possibilities of communion, mystical contemplation, answered prayer, inspired guidance and many healings increase. These profound aspects of Divine immanence play within our awareness as the shifting patterns of a kaleidoscope. Metaphorically this interactive Presence might be picturesqly termed walking with G-d, in the same sense of the Genesis story of G-d walking the garden with Adam and Eve and communicating in a comprehendible way.

Certainly, at least, our sense of separation begins to dissolve at an ever increasing pace. And we discover, at least energetically, that what we can feel we can heal – meaning: all the traumas of the past can be brought to naught and all the buttons that trigger our unhappiness may be irrevocably defused. From this place of inner peace I find love comes naturally and all the commandments are thus fulfilled.

In my mind, whether we are talking Buddha (known as the Great Physician) or Christ, the spiritual path is better understood as a path of healing. This removes us from the divisiveness of theological abstractions and faulty logic, and places the “proof” directly in the deepening experience of love and happiness in all relationships; self, other and G-d – Alaha in the Armaic.

A church – as a community of persons - that fails in its healing ministry must perpetuate the idea of a heaven and happiness far removed from this life in time and place. And it must know that it betrays the Jesus it takes its commission from. How shall such a church in conscience call itself Christian?

Yes, body and circumstance may remain in bondage for yet a while as seeds sown must yet be reaped; seeds of our doing, seeds of our ancestors. But a higher authority rules the spirit and its will is love, peace and joy - regardless of circumstance. Its will is available now in the ministry of healing. Yes, I honor G-d’s wisdom in being patient with my infirmities, but I honor G-d more in the active pursuit of the restoration of my soul in G-d;s merciful and gracious joy./Will we accept it – giving our hands our heart and mind to the task of restoring this divine image and superpower hidden within each of us?

© Arjay, 2009, All rights reserved

Church as Healer III

The Mystic Joaquin de Fiore had a vision of a church without walls. It was a church under the direction of the Holy Spirit. It is this church I speak to now.

To properly understand such a church we need to be clear on the words. Church never was a building or a professional ministry. It was a group of people teaching and learning from one another’s experience. Holy means set apart, being that which is beyond corruption. Spirit in every language means literally breath and is linked to the Life energy and creative energy of the source behind all things. Do not let the word energy scare you/ It simply means that which does the work. We do not know what that energy is and different cultural and even scientific systems have different names for it, yet we can not see it directly, only its effects.

We are used to thinking of the intervention of the Holy Breath as manifesting in dramatic ways, including the miraculous. Yet any expectations in that regard are our impositions and the Holy Breath is not bound by our concepts of it. Neither is it bound by our religious orientation, as scripture speaks of it being poured out on all people.

Incoruptible breath as icorruttible energy is the highly experiential "Presence " (Wisdom, Shekina) of G-d. G-d is that spirit-breath and we are called to worship in spirit-breath. This experiential aspect of worship is what we are to strive for as the basis of healing, answered prayer, scripural revelation, and daily coversation with G-d. To not understand this is to cheat people out of their natural right to commune with G-d directly.

I believe we are in the days of the outpouring of the Holy Breath upon its church. This seems evident in so many ways; The advent of numerous theraputic “touch” therapies and healing techniques. The rise of energy based healing techniques like Reiki, The recent explosion of workers and researchers in “Energy Psychology”.which addresses the need for emotional and attitudinal healing. I believe this is a beginning of a new movement of the Holy Breath to heal its children. Yet Its children must be willing to answer the call.

There are of course professional healers who use these spiritual methods and there is likely to remain a need for some “experts”, Yet many work with these practices out of the love and generosity of their own spirit. It is to these I address this message. Come, learn, heal, teach and bring this service, this ministry, to the tired traditions of your religious institutions. We need to heal the conflicts and wound within us, between us, and outside us and we have the tools to begin.

© Arjay, 2009, All rights reserved

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Church as Healer II

Missiongathering Christian Church has a slogan: "Christianity for all". It sounds wonderful, as does the slogan on its home page (which I wrote).

Yet, aside from its gay ministry there is little different here. The same values are supported of serving family and children and getting a (Church) "home" - family including gay marriages of course .

The other suffering souls will likely not find much attention to healing here. How different the Gospels would read if Jesus said he had decided to cut back of the healing thing as it’s a bit flamboyant. How different would Churches be today if healing the hurting soul had a high priority? Jesus preached to it must be noted but there is no sign he thought that was enough, so why should our ministers think preaching G-d is all that is required?

Of course the "gifts" of healing may not be as abundant today, yet should that stop us from using the gifts we have? Perhaps if we take this first step the Holy Spirit will come again in power.

Loosing job, car, home, credit, possessions and friends almost overnight does give one a different perspective on things. One insight might be this: Charity is good, yet often is used (abused?) by those who do not need it and sometimes received too make the giver feel good. The true need is a healing and that may require literally taking someone’s hand and supporting them through a transition. That too is healing. The soul of everyone is worth saving.

Is this beginning to sound more militant?

© Arjay, 2009, All rights reserved.

Church as Healer

My book in process is called The Betrayal of Love and Wisdom. It could also be called the betrayal of Jesu and the Holy Spirit, One betrayal of love is the betrayal of the healing ministry He charged his disciples with. We focus on Jesus’ physical healings but Jesu was the pattern of the “cure of souls” in spiritual guidance, which seeks to release our bondage and baggage – which goes far beyond preaching and even prayer. The Church is here, I believe, to “set the captives free.”

Yet how many are in bondage, even daily to bouts of fear, anger, jealousy, loneliness and even the numbness of indifference. The most common psychological problem is fear and it lies at the heart of many others. Perfect love may cast out fear but love often requires action in the form of therapeutic intervention. Without such intervention, our love is held in bondage and despite good works of charity en mass, Christians are seen as hypocrites in their daily lives.

To appeal to the baser motives of the church - which is the desire to grow and be prosperous; note that the largest selling category of non-fiction books is the self-help market. Yet do some ministers look in horror that many turn to yoga or other eastern meditation and healing arts for relief they did not find in the church, Some ministers supposing this to be the betrayal of the Gospels. They remind me of the Christian Scientist that would let their child die rather than get medicine from a doctor.

Shouldn’t it be obvious then that the flock is not being tended? A church that counts among its members, those cured of PTSD and a growing list of diagnostic labels are likely to be faithful members - and generous. I can not fathom how a minister can relegate healing to non spiritually based professional disciplines with mediocre track records, or on the other hand, leave it to the miraculous power of prayer, which too often is just passing the buck.

In light of the above I do understand how the mere mention of Christianity for many of my friends is a laughing matter. That ministers may be uncomfortable with this new role of the church I have no doubt. That Jesu could want this I also have no doubt. I cry His tears when I take communion and remember His love.

I have spent the last year prayerfully trying to seed this vision in my own church. If I fail, I fear only that it will be a failure for all of us. And if my single voice is silenced now by apathy and tradition, I trust the Holy Spirit is already preparing other voices to follow. As my vision is an interfaith ministry, perhaps a grander vision is in order, of an interfaith free soul clinic. This might wake up the church, to do the right thing.

© Arjay, 2009, All rights reserved.

The Box

Do people really have an interest in finding G-d, Truth, the Self, or the Higher Life by whatever name? In my conversations with friends; Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, New Age, Hermetic or what have you, I often think I can count the faithful ones of love on one hand - myself not among them - and this because most spiritual practices are modified by the ego to serve its own ends, and being like the serpent of the Garden, the ego is the subtlest of beasts. There is no more direct practice than its sacrifice and vigilance is the key.

My teacher said to me one day: "You know its dark inside that box and you don't care.” He was referring to the coffin and testing me again I was sure.

I replied: something like: "I do indeed know. My personality will blow apart like sand. My memories will dissolve like salt in the sea. My knowledge will loose all points of reference. Thus purified, all I will have for a body is the light, this star like radiance I see before the inner eye, having worked unceasingly to find it. And I will have this secret bliss without reason, as my mood of being, for being learned of loves discipline, I release the knots of the heart and their Unity obscuring emotions. Through an artful forgetfulness I no more identify with positions of judgment. Let ‘the box’ take what it will of my time and life here. I make my home in eternity. Nothing perishable of earth or heaven will I call my own. All things good are beyond the bondage of time. Love can only visit the world like morning dew, long enough to call us to its-Self. One day life may even form me again as dew, for none are free until we are free as One."

© Arjay, 2009, All rights reserved.

Mystic Quotes & Commentary

--> "This passing life that we lead here, in our sensuality, is not aware of what our true self is, except in faith. When we come to know and see truly and clearly what our self is, then we shall Truly and clearly, see and know our Lord G-d in fullness of joy. And therefore it needs must be that the nearer we are to our bliss, the more we shall long for it, and that both by nature and by grace....
And therefore it properly belongeth to us, both by nature and by grace, to long and desire with all our might to know our self."
~Julian of Norwitch

Comment:
Our native spiritual condition is none other than a certain bliss over which circumstance holds no sway. We are hypnotized into thinking that circumstance must dictate our bliss and herein is our cause of bondage. By faith we celebrate our joys having yet to see them and are established in ourselves as cause, and that cause in G-d.


"Through depression and sadness a man can forget who he really is.... A person should try and chase after [or welcome] his depression and force [move] it [by prayer] into rejoicing, so that [the energy of] the depression itself is turned [released] into joy."
~Nachman of Bratelaw

Comment:
When the spirit is brought low we are identified with the senses and their limitations. And the heart is held captive by the judgments of the material mind. Prayer – especially if it is a letting go of limitations, turning them over to G-d, frees the spirit into the joyful presence of G-d. Anything that elevates the spirit into Joy may be called prayer.


"Depression is the strongest Husk [evil] of all ... depression thus has no relation to G-d. Regarding G-d it is written 'Force [power] and joy are in His place/ (1 Cronicles 16:27). The Divine presence therefore only rests on a place of joy."
~Menachem Mendel of Vitebsk.

Comment:
Every cell constricts in the presence of physical pain and the emotional pain of depression. With joy, every cell finds its proper function and the body-mind finds ease and clarity of function. One needs this clarity to behold the beauty of G-d.


"... joy itself comes from the Universe of pleasure, which is itself undetectable. This is very high, on a level that is called Holy.... it descends step by step until it comes to man in the spirit of the Holy."...
~The Maggid of Mezeritch

Comment:
Joy is the surest sign of the delicate contact, which is the Presence of God. Simply abiding in joy strengthens our connection with the Divine. It is in fact a prayer and G-d answer is greater Joy.


"The feminine principle ... is ... identified with the Divine Presence (Shekhinah), the essence of G-d that pervades all creation. It is this essence that is the true beauty of all things. Thus whenever one contemplates any beauty, he must realize that it is the Divine Essence, and can thus make use of it to begin the ascent on the ladder."
~Nehunia ben Hakanah

Comment:
By attending to the beauty without and aspireing to transform the within into a tapestry of beauty, one partakes in the creative activity of the Presence of G-d which seeks our reunion with G-d.


"When a person wishes to unify the Blessed Holy One and His Divine Presence (the male and female aspects of the Divine), he must banish all other thoughts.... One must then bring the Divine Presence into his mind....When a man comes together with his wife, he must remove all clothing, to be together with her as one, as it is written "They shall be one flesh." In a similar manner one must remove all other [thoughts, which serve as the soul's] garments, when he makes the Unification twice each day, declaring, "Hear O Israel, God is our Lord, God is One."
~Tikuney Zohar

Comment:
It is difficult to achieve this state of no thought, which is empty of reactive memory and judgment. Still we can monitor our emotions and let go our reactivity throughout the day. The Sedona Method is a clear and simple example of this, and one that has been validated independent studies.


"The Blessed Holy One does not place His abode in a place where male and female are not found together (YH). Blessings are found only in a place where male and female are found, as it is written: "He blessed them and called their name Adam." A human being is only called adam when male and female are as One."
~Zohar

Comment:
A human being is only half a creature in the bodily realm. The soul must reunite with its contrasexual half, so be called a fully human being in the image of which G-d made mankind.


"On account of his deep love for the Shekhina, a righteous person must bind himself to Her Love.... This kind of love may be compared to that of a man for his wife. For at night when he awakens with strong feelings of love, he will hasten to satisfy his longing with deep affection, particularly when he knows that she whom he loves, loves him as well."
~Slijay de Vidas

Comment:
Agape is then a love which finds the Divine ardor mirrored in human Eros.]From agape will come agapesis – a truly spiritual love, yet the first is the training ground of the other.


"Yes, it is truly the Beloved which comes to visit thee. But He comes invisible. He comes to touch thee, not to be seen."
~Hugh of St Victor.

Comment:
This is the error of Psyche with Cupid as well. Touch is a far more intimate sense than vision. Vision is an intellectual sense that separates wholes into parts. Touch unites parts into wholes.


"When you pray to G-d for something, think of your soul as as part of the Divine Presence, like a raindrop in the sea. Then pray for the needs of the Divine Presence.
You can have faith that your prayer wil benefit the Divine Presence. Then, if you are properly attached to the Divine Presence, this influence will also be transmitted to you.
When a person is happy, he unconsciously claps his hands. This is because his joy spreads through his entire body. The same is true of the Divine Presence. Each influence is transmitted to each of its parts."
~The Baal Shem Tov (Master of the Good Name)

Comment:
So the Divine presence is an us, a spiritual unity within the diversity of souls. T poray for ones own needs without sympathetic regard to the similar needs of others is to pray outside the presence of G-d.


"Every act of unification constitutes an act of love; this is especially true given our current state of exile in which the divine union is severed and our Mother is in exile in this world.... For we must take it upon ourselves to restore the unity of G-d through our prayers and religious deeds. This may be compared to a son who loves his mother and who requests from his father food, raiment, and conjugal rights on behalf of his impoverished mother. He [even] becomes exceedingly angry with his father and weeps on account of his mothers exile, reminding his father of the love they once shared in their youth.... The children are responsible for awakening this love through their prayers."
~Elijah de Vidas

Comment:
Like Job wrestling with the angel of the Lord, we may change even the mind of G-d, if it serves the Divine Presence. Never fear to Challenge G-d on behalf of the good you see. Such a challenge is made by prayer and for this cause Jesu\u says knock and keep on knocking.


"In all worldly delights, there is an element of the Highest Love.
Through a person's natural desire for such delights, it becomes easy for him to love G-d.
If this were not true, it would be very difficult even to begin to love G-d. But when a person can arouse this love through material delights, it becomes easy to love G-d Understand this.
A person’s love for material pleasures is a fallen love, but it is derived from the highest love. When he desires some worldly delight, he should realize that G-d is helping him, and making it easier to to love G-d. G-d knows that without this, such love could not be aroused.
When one does not realize this, however, his worldly enjoyment causes this attribute of love to fall all the more."
~Nachum of Tchernoble

Comment:
Heving loved the form, fall deeper in love with Love itself. From the hearts eye all things are renewed in the mind. Then will true understanding come.


"Rabbi Moses ben Nahman said: A person should keep G-d and His love in his consciousness at all times. He should not separate his thoughts from him when he journeys on the way, nor when he lies down, nor when he rises up. Until he reaches a spiritual level at which when he speaks to people, he speaks only with his mouth and tongue, but his consciousness is not with them - it is in the presence of G-d. It is possible for those who reach this spiritual level that while they are yet alive they are bound up in the bond of eternal life. For they themselves have become the dwelling place for G-d's Divine Presence."
~Alan Unterman

Comment:
G-d will strip you of your memory, of your intelligence, of your reactive feelings, and in remaking you in the Divine image, all that you were will be portioned out in accordance to the needs of others to know the Divine. Your spirit will be a simple witness to G-d’s spontaneous action.


"The attribute through which G-d clothes himself through our prayers is called Mother."
~Levi Yitzchak of Breedichov

Comment:
The cult of the distant Bachelor G-d, is the absent Father. A Father to be a Father requires a Mother A mothers womb to Birth us, a Mothers breast to feed us and a mothers ears to hear us. It is by our prayers that G-d corrects the course of creation. Were this not so, there would be no free will.


"May He give you what your heart desires and fulfill your whole purpose. Let us shout for joy (before the fact, giving thanks) ... may the lord fulfill all your requests.... now we know that the lord gives victories from his holy heaven with miraculous victories from His right hand (of power]"
~PS 20 4:6

Comment:
One proof of G-d is the miraculous, yet the greater proof is love. It is this greater proof which is the meaning of the cross. Dare you take on the sufferings of others? If you are certain G-d delivers, what is a little sacrifice if it lightens the burden greatly for another.
"Delight yourself in the Lord (YHVH) and He will give you the desires of your heart."
~PS 37:4 (Note that delight is the prerequisite)


More Julian of Norwich Quotes …


“Prayer is a right understanding of that fullness of joy that is to come, coupled with true longing and great trust. The tasting of the bliss for which we have been destined naturally makes us long for it.”

Comment:
We all long for love and happiness and would probably give all for these two certain gifts. Yet we do not know these gifts to be certain and eternal until we know G-d. Then we will give all for G-d.
“We can never stop wanting to be his, and longing for him, until we posses him in the fullness of joy, then we will desire nothing more. He wants us to be completely occupied with knowing and loving him until the time when our longing shall be completely fulfilled in heaven.”

Comment:
There will always be obstacles and stumblings in this world, yet it is here that we come to know G-d. If we can see the Divine Presence even here, Then nothing can hinder our desire to come closer, even leaving all else behind.


“… until I am substantially united to him [Self / personhood] I can never have perfect rest [eternal – time is the apparent movement of impermanent things] and true happiness [uncaused]. I mean to say, that I must be so united to him that no created [local] thing can come between [distract] my G-d and me [in spirit – non local].”

Comment:
The fullness of G-d is in the non local realm of the Physicist, beyond time and space. The local realm of limited forms and sequential actions can only point to the peace and pleasures of our true life in G-d which is boundless.


.”For he does not despise what he has made, nor does he disdain to serve us even in the simplest of our natural bodily functions, for he loves the [embodied] soul that he has made in his own likeness”.

Comment:
Through our limitations we desire the limitless. Through imperfection we conceive the perfect. In each step beyond we outgrow the self we were. All things serve the good and nothing is to be despised.


“… we body and soul, [are] clad in the goodness of G-d. Yes, even more intimately, because all these other [time bound] things may wear out and vanish, but the goodness of G-d is always whole [timeless] and close to us without compare.”

Comment:
When in the midst of time we bohold the timeless and the eternal, how can we confuse the real and the unreal.


“This is our Lords will – that our trust and our prayer be both equally great…. I believe, that we do not truly know that our lord is the ground from which our prayer springs forth, and also that we do not know that it is given to us by grace out of his love. If we truly
knew this we would surely be inspired to trust our lord would gift us with all the things that we desire.”

Comment:
So nature urges us to long and grace to trust. And in these two activities the lord keeps us constantly engaged because this is our duty.
That for which we pray is inspired by G-d. Our confusion lies in believing the thing is what we need rather than the source. In each area of life that we discover lack, we have failed to find the source. Pray to know the mind of G-d’s wealth and friendship and inspired conversation. Then in your abundance may it be given even outwardly? Yet how long would such a journey of discovery take? Our years are numbered and better perhaps to seek the heart of G-d.


“… if we do what we can and humbly ask for mercy and grace, then all that is lacking we shall find in him. And this is what he means when he says “I am the ground of your praying.”

Comment:
When we are empty of selfishness, many struggling steps are accomplished in one. To be grounded in the world is to walk in quick sand, and to be grounded in Gp-d is find sure footing even in the dark.


“Then the Lord opened my eyes and showed me my soul in the middle of my heart.”

Comment:
In the heart space, literally, is infinities door, the eye that beholds all from everywhere...


“I saw with absolute certainty that it is easier and quicker for us to know G-d than it is to know our own soul. For our soul is so deeply grounded in G-d and so endlessly treasured that we can not come to know it until we first know G-d its Creator, to whom it is united.”

Comment:
Searched for, we – self - can not be found, can not be said to be here or there. Having gone thus far we discover we are everywhere and in everyone our essence shines – or is it their essence in which I share? Yes, One essence, One G-d, One unity of Life. Where then is G-d not present?


“Because of the great eternal love that G-d has for all human kind, he makes no distinction between the blessed soul of Christ and the least soul that shall be saved.”

Comment:
Only the ego divides life into parts, into yours and mine. G-d is ultimate “I” not ego – a Unity that plays at multiplicity for the purpose of conversation, which like binocular vision gives a new dimension of experience.


“How greatly we should rejoice that G-d indwells the soul. Yet how much more we should rejoice that our soul dwells in G-d.”

Comment:
G-d desires spirit to know its unity, yet the unique soul is no accident of creation but forms a partnership with others, like hands and feet, which must function in unison to do the spirits work..


“Thanksgiving is also an integral part of prayer.”

Comment:
A prayer without thanksgiving is a prayer half finished. It is like a starving man who does not recognize the food before him; it is a meal uneaten.



“And so I hope that, with his grace, he has and will ever more, draw our outer expression to conform to our inner disposition, and make us all one with him and with each other, in that true eternal joy which IS [my emphasis] Jesus.”

Comment:
So what does the form of a body look like beyond the barriers of space and time? It looks like Love, and Bliss and Inspiration.


“G-d, of your goodness give me yourself…. Only in you have I all.”

Comment:
Enough said.


From the Hua Hu Ching, (Brian Walker trans.)


"All things are brought forth from the subtle realm into the manifest world by the mystical intercourse of Yin and Yang. The dynamic river yang (Yud) pushes forward and the dynamic river yin (Hei) is receptive, and through their integration (via Vav) things come into existence (final Hei)."


Comment:
This mystical intercourse is circumscribed in the moswt sacred name of YHVH.


"The interplay of yin and yang within the womb (garbha, Lotus, Hei) of the Mysterious (non local) Mother creates the expansion and contraction (orgasmic ‘spanda’) of Nature. Although the entire universe is created out of this reproductive dance, it is but a tiny portion of her being. Her heart is the Universal Heart and her mind is the Universal Mind (anima mundi)."

Comment:
Yin is feminine and represented by H/Hei and the masculine tang by Y/Yud Like womb and seed are the mysterious darkness of the Mother and the penetrating light of the Father. Their ecstasy creates the vibratory universe, yet is of the mind of G-d alone.


"... something perfect exists [non locally] before any move is made [wu wei]. This subtle perfection deteriorates when artificial actions are taken, so be content not to disturb the peace."

Comment:
The Law of YHVH requires that cause [Y] and effect [H] arise simultaneously and then unfold in space-time [V]. The true will of the heart is G-d’s will and in recognizing that there is nothing to do but offer praise and thanksgiving as it unfolds. Trying to manipulate the form it takes, leads to dissatisfaction.


"The superior person recognizes that he and the subtle [non local] Law are One. Therefore he cultivates himself in accord with it, bringing moderation to his actions and clarity to his mind. Doing this he finds himself one with all that is divine and enlightened."

Comment:
Your mind and G-d’s mind are One, a mysterious entity called Lawful [YHVH] which creates by thought and destroys by a thoughts cessation. Understanding this, one will wish to abide in the moods of love and never deviate.


"Simply see that you [pure subjectivity] are the center of the [perceived] universe and accept all things and beings as a part of your infinite body."

Comment:
One can see only through ones own eyes and perceive only what is a part of oneself. Such is the meaning of Divine unity. In all things you have partnered with other souls to create for there is no real separation between you.


"How can the divine oneness be seen? If you are willing to be lived by it, you will see it everywhere, even in the most ordinary things."

Comment:
Who or what is living you? If it is the ego you will see separation. If it is G-d you will see Unity.


Misc. Quotes


"When you see that there is only this, which rises and falls, only this, one no longer speaks of either existence or no existence."
~Khema from the Abyakatasamuita

Comment:
ALL things come fron G-d and return to G-d. How then can we say we have gained a thing or lost a thing. There is only G-d, and knowing this is Peace.


"What is form in the presence of the real.... the inhaling - exhaling is from the spirit, now angry, now peaceful ... there is no reality but G-d says the completely surrendered Sheikh, who is an ocean for all beings."
~Rumi

Comment:
"To abide in G-d is express the will of G-d, which is to teach only the faith and certainty of G-d. Knowing G-d is the true grace. All gifts are manifest for this one purpose and then may be relinquished.


"I am the clear consciousness -core of your being, the same in ecstacy as in self hating fatigue."
~Rumi

Comment:
The mirror of the world can become distorted, but the light that shines upon it is forever true. The joy without reason does not even require yourself as itsa reflection. Become the ray of light and look no further into the mirror.


"He (the Supreem Lord) is of necessity not impersonal because it is only posible to carry on transcendental rasa with a person."
~ Swami Pradhupada

Comment:
Some believe there to be only a Law; physical, metaphysical or both in nature, but no ultimate person That it is possible to have a relationship with the universe, its parts or entirety, demonstrates there is a personhood as integral part of the Law...
By our delight, our love and joy, does the law of G-d provision us. In our Joy G-d gives joy and in our suffering G-d must wait until we turn away from our own will. Yet each moment of our separation causes us to forfeit our inheritance. And the body-mind will owe its debt even after the spirit repents. Yet G-d will enfold our spirit in divine love through the trials, keeping our heart free from corruption.

On a Mission

It is official, signed and delivered, sealed with my heart ... I am a member of a church. I have been a member of a religious order but never officially such a thing as a "church". They have been places I liked to visit for a while, like Synagogues and ashrams, and stir up a conversation to get a glimpse of G-d and the soul through other eyes, but never to call home, Churches have so much they need to be forgiven for I would tell myself. Yet this seems the church I never thought existed - but hoped it might. It is not perfect of course, but wants to be, and that being in alignment with the "Red Letters" and making Jesu available to all in a way they can receive his message and serve the unity of G-d, which also means receiving and serving others.

It is a radical congregation of both gay and straight people, made almost famous overnight with a billboard saying "we are sorry" - apologizing for the Christian fundamentalist backlash that defeated Proposition 8 in a recent California election, allowing gays the right to marry (Could this be a beginning for loves triumph over literalism?). It is a church that grew in spite of its intention not to be church, only a ministry for the needs of the youth. It became a grass roots transformation into a new vision. It was the youth that brought in their parents and their parent brought in friends. And it is now a growing body that would rather splinter into smaller congregations than become too big and loose the personal connection.

It is a gathering that has beauty as one of its core values, and looks for the inner beauty in all persons. It is a circle of souls that values truth and realizes it is a progressive realization, It is a meeting of individuals that values community and tries to respond to the needs of people locally and beyod, to the suffering around the world. It is a environment where the ministers are huggable and are real people; with blue jeans, human failings and wounds, and a meeting place where healing can begin for the disenfranchised of Christendom. It is a place that seeks to break down the barriers of otherness that separate us from one another - thus it van be hazardous to your comfort level. And it is a safe space where it is OK to question and find your own answers and change your views as you mature - even a controvecial old mystic like me.

It is a place I think Jesu would be proud of and thus I call it my church. I wish to be a part of its evolution and its evolution become a part of me. It is an experiment that needs supporters as it strives to be a pioneer of "Christianity for all". And it is unfolding a virtual ministry, because behind all the slogans, this message is to precious to be confined to a box. If you get a chance, I invite you to see for yourselves.

(Check out www.missiongathering.com - podcasts are available.)

© Arjay, 2009, All rights reserved.

Light of Life

Happy Easter

There is a light in the heart, whose name is pure love. With the human heart it shares two beats: Da-dah .… Its first beat is Love-desire and it rides on the rich red merkaba (chariot) of energy. Its second beat is love-bliss and it rides on the sky blue merkaba of beauty. The nature of this twin phased love-light is five fold; first to behold only the good. Secondly it is called the glow because it illumines what it beholds from within, rather than reflecting what is without. Third it is called radiance, because wherever it seems to appear, it fills an infinite expanse. And it is called the brilliance because it outshines all appearances, all lesser lights disappearing into its own clarity. And lastly it is called splendor because its magnificence is beyond description, being the source of all that is or ever could be. The crowning glory of this five-fold light is Life itself, its Temple in the center of your breast. May you go in (literally) and find eternal rest there, surrendering everything to the incomparable wisdom of this intelligent presence.

© Arjay, 2009, All rights reserved.

The Way of Love in 8 Lines

The Way of Love in 8 Lines:

Love is a decision to extend infinite compassion.
Whatever separates us is not love.
Always be in love with someone.
G-d is love, not its object.
It is never the thing that fulfills but the feeling.
Love is a way of knowing.
The highest form of love is Bliss.
Bliss is the purest form of prayer.



PS : {Thought for the day} The deep meaning of the incarnation is not that G-d became man, but to reaffirm the first truth about man in the Bible; that mankind is in the image of G-d. If you wish to find G-d, look to your neighbor. If you do not see G-d, ask for forgiveness. If you see G-d at all, forgive them.


© Arjay, 2009, All rights reserved.

Five Angels

I have had a birthday (I am now officially old), so I wanted to give a present of the “Presence” (in gratritude of getting this far :).

The Five Angels that accompany me.

· Touch, whose gift (grace) is Pleasure (happiness). [the temporal embrace of the good]
· Energy, whose gift is Ecstatic (flowing, orgasmic). [an active principle]
· Light, whose gift is Love. [“Do you not know that you are made of light and love?”]
· Beauty, whose gift is Creative (inspiring, knowing). [a receptive principle]
· Joy (enjoyment), whose gift is Bliss (for no reason). [eternally, the highest form of love]

The Five Angels merge into the Presence* of G-D

{* Every spiritual path invokes one or several of these “angels” in some aspect, as a practice of return to our original source (though usually indirectly, confusing cause and effect). Meditate deeply – experientially – and often on this (a very direct route) and “Wisdom” will come.}

Thank you for receiving.

© Arjay, 2009, All rights reserved.

In Spirit and Truth

Prefatory Note: This was written in response to a question: what I want others to know about where I am coming from. It is also a sermon of sorts, every word being pondered over in the Spirit.

I am a NOT, a neither this nor that. I am NOT a Christian, yet believe Jesu (as Christe) – by whatever name: Barbelo; Son of the Great Father, Babelu; Gate of G-d, Al Maisan; The Shinning One, etc. – has always walked among us; as Emanuel, G-d with us, even as when with Adam in the Garden (as the Torah reveals a teaching). And on any given day He may be disguised as one near to you sharing a message both personal and transcending our religions, disturbing and amazing us. And whether as a man or woman, an Angel or a cloud of light, or a voice as like a whisper from an unknown source, He wants to be introduced to you. And from that day forward you need never feel alone nor sweat the appearances of things. Cleave only to love, let go of all else, and you shall know and be known by G-d.

In Spirit and Truth

“… in Exodus 34 verse 6 when Moses has his most intimate view of God we see only goodness. Merciful, gracious, longsuffering, abundant in goodness and truth.” ~Andrew Moore

Notice that these “seeings” of the Divine are rasa’s, or ” felt-meanings” rather than bounded forms of recognizable dimension or extension (material objects or energy manifestations). Spirit belongs to the invisible “non local” realm and it’s relationship to manifest existence is revealed in the rasa’s of relationship. These felt-meanings are the life-breath of spiritual Presence. Notice too that all the above rasa’s are “good” qualities and foster unifying relationships in a boundary-less intimacy, whereas the common, less “positive” rasa’s would suggest a lack of unity in relationship and require physical/spacial separation to reflect our spiritual-emotional estrangement with the divine Unity – Alaha in Aramaic.

The premise I am working toward here is that to worship “in Spirit and Truth” we must contemplate the noble rasa’s of love-light and joy-without-reason, until we literally dissolve or are enfolded within their unifying power. Being thus assimilated, G-d, the essence of Life, is our pure food, our manna, and our true Life is eternal, unbounded by space or time. We must simultaneously dismiss all negativity, especially of fear, anger and doubt, by turning it over to G-d and letting go completely, again and again if necessary.

All that appears not as love and its kindred spirits is simply excrement of sorts, to be released and recycled in the “bottomless pit” (of the “implicate order”). In Hebrew, “hell” is Gehena, which means garbage dump. It is as a mulching pit where all that is no longer useful for life’s sustenance decays and is turned to fertilizer for new growth. We need not concern ourselves with fighting the garbage of our lives, simply surrender it and move on to purer ground. There lies faith.

It can’t get much simpler, yet it is a moment to moment, not a one-time act or confession I am recommending as there is a certain momentum that is desirable if we truly seek freedom and knowledge and wish to pass beyond the emptiness, the no man’s land, which lacking discernable and familiar structure can feel like an abandonment to the lover, which the mystics have called a dark night, of indeterminate duration, and some (like Eckhart) with a more intellectual detachment have accepted this as the truth of our being – an annihilation. Beyond the passing away of the small self however, there is a Person waiting to receive you as in a mirror of exquisite delight. (Then the journey truly begins I am told.)

Wrath, Law, Jealousy etc have been cut out of the equation through the work of Christ.
God's plan for creation is for it to resonate with the beauty of heaven. ~Andrew Moore

When I do have occasion to speak to people about living loving and joyous lives - living from the Spirit, rather than the senses - it becomes quite apparent that they do not want to give up, self righteousness, anger, judgment, condemnation, etc. Christians by and large are no exception. Neither theology nor debate can save us from this grayish-dark side of our humanity. Perhaps we must first hit bottom.

This is not a conversation people want to have and one I do not force. I do recognize the addictive and habitual nature of these reactive responses and the seductive allure of rationalizing them or avoiding them. What I do not appreciate is that people set their sights no higher than to fit themselves in an accommodation with the attributes of their lower nature and taking what solaces they can in sharing their predicament with others who “identify with” them. Jesu also challenged us… even to “be perfect even as the Father is perfect”. What can seem more impossible than that? Yet we need not lose hope; G-d lets us “chunk it down.”

“Attributes can be understood as spirits or Angels, and can be placed within the context of a cosmology of multiple heavens.” ~Andrew Moore

It is noticeable that the “spirits” which govern our lives are not the Holy Spirit. Though we may invoke the Sprit of G-d in church to heal us of our conditions, it is also too often evident that we are not surrendered to the fire of its purification. We love our drama, our special ness and positionality, above holy relationship and G-d holds our free will to be inviolate.

And within the majesty of G-d, the so-called wrath of G-d is not a Divine doing; it is a thing we bring upon ourselves in our abandonment of Truth. And the fear of G-d is discarded in love. That G-d should be other than goodness, Jesu in so many ways rejected, without denying the evil that men do… even if it were in the name of the LORD as some scriptures suggest.
Yet the Law called LORD, * the true and incomparable Law of wondrous workings as the heart-mind of G-d – YHVH – does allow us to dig our own grave, or rise to heights as the gods (elohim) we are - being in the image of God; Elohim (Genesis 3:5). It is all within the power of the un-conflicted heart to reason (by way of beauty) and speak (by way of love-desire) into being. This is called “the will of the heart”. We all have this saba ana, this unchallenged “desire power” as Jesu once said when He was asked to heal. Though we may wish to take no responsibility, our own divine inheritance, our lineage, will not deny the power of its own word (logos). Only the “obscuring emotions”, the baser rasa’s, triggered by constructed and inherited memory programs of “sin” (our mistakes) keep us from our regal home in the heavens (too ouranou), and making the very space around us now a dwelling for the reign of the Holy Spirit, our Queen (malkuta shemaya).

And Jesu in modeling our nature for us, parenting us, did not abuse the power of G-d to fight human battles as when throwing out the moneychangers from the Temple or even to prevent his own crucifixion. He summoned forth no knighthood of Angelic hosts to fight his own fight. Toward such events he approached as a man and struggled as a man alone. He invoked the power of G-d only to glorify G-d in direct service to others, affirming G-d’s Oneness as being a plurality in Unity with Himself (YHVH Elohim). Thus we are given the Golden Rule; for we are all within one another, within Christ, within G-d.

Such is the example He set forth for us and bid us to do even greater things than He, for Christ is now multiplied through us. His story continues through us, for we are given power to bind and lose, within the Spirit of Wisdom our mother, who reveals the Father in the Son, and ourselves as second generation Adam, children of adoption in Christ’s eternity, a thing hidden in the folds of time since the foundation of the world.

“God 'is of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on iniquity.” Habbukuk 1:13

If we wish to draw closer to G-d’s stately grace and maternal mercy we must come to see with G-d’s vision; see only love, speak only love and find our joy in the love itself. This does not mean to be busy with things religious or “drip” on people with a “bleeding heart”, or presume a posture of martyrdom. It means to “walk the talk”. And if maintaining this love-light, within a hero’s heart, were our only discipline, in time, we would come to know a great storehouse of the blessedness of G-d, be justified in the faith of G-d, and be no more in bondage to the limitations of the world.

Note * see the blog “The Reign of Heaven.

© Arjay 2009, All rights reserved.

Contemplation and Intercession

I have started a prayer group within the intentional community I am associated with. Still a monk at heart I am aware of my obligation to pray for others. It is natural for me to want to combine the contemplative and intercessory aspects of prayer, and have experimented with how to accomplish this over the years. The journey has helped me live a miraculous life. The following, some may find helpful in this regard.

The Physical body can be likened to a sheath or covering for the soul. The physical body of course dissolves at death. Please consider that there are other sheaths or “bodies” we can become aware of with little effort. There is the energy sheath revealed under Kirilian photography – which when fully rehabilitated, is possibly the resurrection body. There is the emotional sheath, which reflects our life essence – ideally as love. There is the mental sheath where we come to full understanding and a spiritual sheath, which is timeless eternal Joy in the awareness of our unity with the Divine.

Each body has a preferred state of functioning in Life-Joy. This “life joy under all conditions” is the meaning of “Blessed” in the Beatitudes.

My personal formal meditation practice continues to evolve and now revolves around these five sheaths and their combined joys which together I call the Five Body Bliss of Inner Lovers, having
10 steps (and a secret 11th) to master. I have yet to teach this meditative process to anyone. Below however is an abbreviated adaptation of my practice to the art of intercessory prayer. I offer it for your consideration.

The five embodied blisses & intercession:

· First, offer a short prayer of your choice, or as I say; “Bismillah” - In the name of G-d.
· Get the idea of touching them to start. This can be a simple resting of the hand on their shoulder, or on the place where it hurts, or a hug or cradling them in your arms. Follow your intuition as to what is appropriate and sense this as comforting even pleasant.
· Whatever the condition or situation, get the idea “it’s only energy” and energy can change form, and move from stuckness to flow. If you can, stay with this until the situation seems less “solid” and/or you feel a sense of “release” within yourself. Your own “felt sense” is a feedback mechanism.
· Extend love and/or light dissolving everything, even the very form of the person, the condition and your self into a radiance at/in the heart. Stay with this as long as you like. You may find it delightful. Though I am not much for words, I may say “I love you” at this point.
· Dream a short “waking dream” of some beautiful resolution to the problem. The details of the resolution are less important than the sensing of its Beauty as Harmony, Order, Elegance, the wonderful, etc.. Beauty taps the highest intuitive function of mind.
· Get the idea of smiling inside and let all thoughts dissolve in a smile of pure joy. Get the idea of increasing this joy to the highest level you are able in the moment. In time this smile may open up into a spontaneous bliss of G-d’s Blessing/Blesedness.
· Let go completely and faithfully let G-d do what is needful. Become a blank slate upon which the inspiration of the Holy Spirit may write.
· Retrace quickly the steps from Joy back to Beauty, back to Light/Love and allow this light to condense into new energy patterns as you come back to the felt sense of touching the person again.
· Remove the hands of your imagination as you give thanks & amen to G-d.
· Move on to the next prayer request and repeat the process.

This is my current approach to what I call contemplative intercessory prayer.

PS If doing this for oneself it is probably best to “imagine” your condition in the second or third person.

© Arjay 2009

The Reign of Heaven

“The reign of heaven is within and between us”. Heaven in Greek is too ouranou and in Aramaic shemaya (from the Semitic root ShM). Together we get the idea of endless (aya) vibration in space . Together we get the idea of vibration in space – rather than being a specific place.

As we all know, in spite of our solid appearance, we are mostly space. Perhaps this too goes deeper than appearance. Physics once postulated a universal ether and zero-point energy is the newest term to indicate that space is not “empty”. I posit G-d as the dweller therein, or at least the mind of G-d. Our bodies even our thoughts, do not belong to us; they are temporary dwellers with us in this space, products of generations of genes and memes; unconscious coverings which clothe us in our poverty. We have yet to honor the sky clad image of G-d – which even space-like, is more than sufficient to guide us into Wisdom.

There is a fundamental Unity to space, which mirrors the Unity of G-d. Space is essentially indivisible. ”Its center everywhere, its circumference nowhere.” Any apparent reference to separate spaces is a convention relative to the positioning of objects in space. Subjectively, space “feels” no boundaries and is itself a feeling of spaciousness, of freedom, of possibility, like a blank canvas waiting for the brush.

As to the objects of space, they have incredibly short lives at the sub atomic level. They appear and disappear into what I assert to be intelligent waves of space itself only to reappear in ever-fresh patterns. These patterns are dependent on the imaginal intelligence, which is the conscious and willful vibration of space called mind.

Because of this relationship of space to its objects, the physicist notes that the act of observing "changes” the object. In fact, without an observer it appears that objects could not exist at all. The Observer then is no mere passive witness but co creator in all manifestation, all of experience. It may be said that subject and object arise together and I like to add; in the mind of G-d.

Mind IS space-like. Inventors speak of ideas being in the air, much like the prophets report visions and voices from the space surrounding them or even from within the objects that are present, like Moses before the burning bush. The history of simultaneous invention shows that ideas who’s time has come are not limited by distance or person. present. A small child knows that his imagination is not limited to the space inside his head. He can point to his imaginal creations with full certainty that they exist in the space outside him. It too is this imaginal realm where converse with G-d takes place. A kind of Jungian active imagination assists this dialogue. Prayer as imaginative feeling finds its proper offering in this space. Meditation on the aliveness of this space brings G-d to life for us.

To enter into the space-presence (too ouranou) of G-d is to reverberate with the spiritual traits (names/resonant vibrations – shemaya) of G-d. One tuning fork can entrain another into its vibration, which is a good analogy for the process, yet it is not the gross vibration of the electromagnetic spectrum we deal with, but the vibration of consciousness in its felt meaning of relationship to its object. Space without objects – therefore without time, as the motion of objects – is a workable image of the non local realm from which all local phenomenon arise.

The idea of divine names can easily become overly intellectual and lead to erroneous concepts. The needful thing to know is that there is a felt meaning behind them all, the contemplation of which liberates the divine essence within us. Immerse yourself in this feeling and radiate it into limitless space – dissolving all objects of the senses and seeding the spacial “ground” from which they may re-emerge as a more perfect reflection of imagination.

The first cause of creation is desire, which evokes from within itself the first creation - the idea – which operatively through space-time manifests in material form. The perception of time however is due to our sensory limitation. In accordance with the Theory of Relativity, to one traveling at the speed of light, past and future are occurring simultaneously. Within this disparity of perception is also the key to the miraculous; of instantaneous manifestation.

How does this relate to the tetragramaton YHVH? It is said G-d used the letter Yud to create the world to come – Yud is desire, G-d’s out-trusting ardor. The first Hei is the form, which models desire and the final Hei is the manifestation." Thus it is said G-d used Hei to create the world that is. Vav is time and the bridge between the two Hei’s; it means “and”, being the many possibilities of desire realized. One can liken Vav’s expression to the “Multiple Histories Interpretation of quantum mechanics, and as multiple histories, it is wise not to be overly specific in defining the result as it may limit the manifest options and become counter productive of the intent.

The YH and VH further relate to physicist David Bohm’s implicate and explicate orders respectively as defined by physicist David Bohm. To add the letter Shin between these letter groupings we have the interpersonal factor, the “boundary condition” of science or the Holy Spirit of religion, which makes the Law (of YHVH) personal with respect to the individual. The five letters of course spell Yeshua – Jesus in Hebrew – G-d made imminent. Many are the mysteries of Shin, a “mother letter,” the form of which suggests the fire of the Holy Spirit (Wisdom) clarifying what Jesu meant that he had come “to cast fire on the earth.”

One may liken space to a womb and desire to a seed while the idea is the embryo. The creative process of the individual should mirror the procreative process; the seed sown in bliss of union. Lest one be inclined to perpetuate the myth of male superiority in the divine realm, be reminded that it is woman who evokes desire. Get the idea that form wants you as much as you want form; that it evokes as well as responds to your ardor.

We are given free will and the Law operates according to will. To do our own will in opposition to the Divine will is suffering. To align ourselves with the Divine will through Love and Beauty is to foster fulfillment within the Unity of creation.

Therapy and healing have to do with time; letting go of the cause effect judgments of sensation based logic and reactive emotions. After healing spirituality begins, bringing creativity instead of reactivity. The highest form of creativity is bringing our thought into alliance with the good of the entire unity of being and beings, which multiplies our power as well as our wisdom. This good of course is love, and rather than say unconditional love, I say unconditioned love, for such a love comes only to one who who knows the intimacy of this Unity.

And we find confirmation of the above in the meaning of “name” in Aramaic, which includes the ideas of light, sound, vibration and atmosphere. To pray in the name of Jesu is not a simple appeal; it is to relate to or resonate with the intelligence of Christ.This idea of relationship must never be lost to us, as it has been by many who teach a mechanical “law of attraction” or a law of Dharma or science. Never forget that there is personhood hidden within every-thing and every-one. That personhood is like the drop in the ocean or the spark in the fire, inseparable, as we all are from G-d.

What may be invisible to the two eyed one’s will one day be seen by the eye of the heart and all shall appear as light more beautiful and fluid than the astronomers gaseous nebula. I like to say, greet everything with a chivalrous attitude; with respect, honor and a generous heart. This includes the ground you walk on and the chair you sit in, for to me it seems true that as Jesu says in the Gospel of Thomas;” cleave wood and I am there.”

© Arjay 2009

Attitude of Gratitude

Sunday, March 02, 2008

Repost: Attitude of Gratitude

My greater intention at all times is simply to open more and more to love and joy - my essential nature and cling to nothing, "nothing," my true home. In the service of love-Bliss there is an underlying attitude to which the ego is to be trained or entrained to emulate - to come into resonance with. It is an attitude of gratitude. This opens the door to a fuller expression of the Self, the Most High, Lord of Hosts.

Every experience is a gift - from Life itself. Unlike social gift giving, the gifts of Life are not to be kept or hoarded. They are to be passed on, circulated and returned to their ever renewing source condition.

Naked we came into the world and naked we leave. As Spirit we are clothed in memories, knowledge, and emotional addictions which obscure or essence. As is advised in the Gospel of Thomas, "… take off your clothes without being ashamed and put them under your feet like the little children and tread on them, then you shall behold the Son of the Living One and shall not fear." - perceiving then what your is your destiny, rebirth as the Divine child, a magical child, without judgments, without the baggage of the storybook past we identify with as adults.

Similar to the Four Agreements as described by Ruiz, I ask of the "grown up" ego - my personal identity - that it commit to giving thanks for the experience of life as it comes, moment to moment. This is not presently the ego's preferred mode of being in the world. There are reactive emotions and unlimited arguments why "I" should not be thankful. To which - when attuned to my higher Self - I answer, "thank you, I love you!"

Hubbard describes "thank you" as a completion for any two way communication. It is as the period at the end of a sentence. A marker from which to move on. When you say thank you, you do affirm the "other," yet in so doing neither agree nor disagree with a viewpoint. There is no argument, simply a closure by acknowledgement and perhaps an opening, pregnant for unfettered release of love and enjoyment, a possibility of communion.

There is always something to be thankful for. You do not even need to know what it is. Used as a kind of mantra, say "thank you" and then simply listen into the silence, stare into the world containing space, feel into the unity of continuity and change which appears as time. Something good is likely to pop into mind in the midst of your present experience and in response to the affirmation of gratitude. Even if that goodness is to catch yourself being pessimistic or argumentative! That is the perfect setup for letting it go, to return the gift back to its source, back to emptiness of pure potential, a potential for transformation through the mysterious operation of the Universe and its Law of Love.

At breakfast this morning where I wrote this, I say thank you as I drink my coffee, savor it as awareness becomes present to the taste, and this returns me to joy. I say thank you to the egg I eat and I open in love for the gift of its sacrifice for my sustenance. I think of the chicken farms and ask forgiveness for any suffering my participation in the act of eating may have caused and ask permission to absorb its life force into me that together we shall continue the walk of conscious evolution. This fills me with more love and gratitude. (OK, so now you know I'm crazy : )

As I do these simple things I notice my internal energy changes, that indeed this is a mental yoga of high order. I become lighter inside and my own light of consciousness begins to permeate the environment of the cosmos more and more. And more there is to be grateful for. And more beauty to behold, more love to circulate and more Bliss to unfold me into realization of Truth.

And the ego becomes servant, hardly noticing that it is participating in its own reactive undoing. It becomes thoughtlessly infatuated with the presence of love-bliss in its spontaneous arising, which seems to rain down upon it. Ego too becomes aware of a different kind of power, a power of faith. The recurring sense of struggle disappears from life little by little. In time, it is as if the ego becomes gratitude - a remarkable thing this - a confirmation that everything has its proper place and function and that when it is found all things do work for the good.

It is a subtle error to try and love from the ego. That is not its place or function. That is in part the failure of religion. Love is of G-d and is G-d, The Self of all selves operative in the world of duality. Ingratitude is among the first signs of the self's alienation from the Self in the unfolding process of involution and evolution. When the "I" is thankful, it basks in the glory of the "I AM" singing holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of Hosts (Isaiah 6:1-8).

© Arjay 2008, 2009

The Cross of the Intercessor

Historically, in the time of Abraham, human sacrifice was practiced in many cultures as a way to appease the gods. Then was substituted the sacrifice of animals as human life was cherished more than for its mere instinctual survival value.One may look upon the Christian drama of the Cross as the end of an age for both human and animal sacrifice. The meaning of human life gaining greater value in its potential for immortality, expanding the idea that life was in the physical blood and givining it a universal meaning.

No longer does a body's blood serve the cause of salvation as an outward sign of life's significance. Life remains the object of sacrifice yet now emerges a greater refinement with a deeper understanding. What the Divine calls us to do now is sacrifice our very own soul - that G-d breathed into Adam (I will speak of the spiritual breath/winds at another time). Psuche means life as well as soul.

This sacrifice of the soul-life is still necessary for each of us to enter into the Divine Life (Zoe) which Jesu came to increase within us abundantly. Thus the saying that he who seeks to save his soul-life shall lose it. Jesu did not do it for us but rather prepared the way for us to follow him; much like the one who first broke the four minute mile - called impossible - somehow prepared the way for others to do the same, which they did in rapid succession.

We offer this sacrifice of soul every time we give up judgement and offer forgiveness; forgetting and releasing our own will of separation. Or when we surrender our thinking for waiting upon the inspiration of the Holy Wisdom of G-d. These are but a couple of examples of the method and means of carrying our cross and following Jesu. This in a nutshell is the New Covenant based on the revelation and understanding of life which Jesu espoused.

I Understand that this challenges Christian doctrine suggesting Jesu dies for our sins, erasing them for the sake of our salvation. Yet remember that we are the Body of Christ and we are to enter into the mind of Christ and as such we must never be content with glib doctrine. We must ask again and again like a child; "but what does that mean?". The Logos is not above reason but is the very reason behind all things.

Most Christians will not like this interpretation of the Cross and their relationship to it. It requires that we take responsibility rather than assume we can sit back having let Jesus do it all. But Jesus was master and teacher in the sense of mentor - teaching us to fish rather than giving us a single meal as the wise saying reflects.

Most Christians will offer prayer when they or their loved ones are in need, and give from their abundance. I question if this was Jesus' Way. He asked us to pray for our enemies and and gave from an apparent lack to the multitudes in feeding the 5,000 in an emergency, with a few loaves and fishes.

Simone Weil wrote that if the Christian Church fails to offer truth sufficient to the needs of the congregation , it is their duty to seek out other religions. Perhaps the mass exodus we see from the churches today is a reflection of that search for full disclosure of the Divine Truth. And before a belief system is declared defunct and shredded into a myriad "new age" teachings, a certain die hard fundamentalism seems to surface. This too is happening today.

As for me, I have sought not to reject or digress into literalism, but to become inclusive, certain that G-d has always left guidance that The Children of G-d may not want for direction. In that spirit, I offer a Buddhist practice to help understand the meaning if taking up ones cross. It is a two part practice called "Taking" and "Giving."

In taking, one imagines that the sufferings of all beings are taken from them, invited and accepted upon oneself. The two fold fruits of cultivating compassion and selflessness are the desired results. This aligns well with Jesu saying; "Greater love has no man than this, to give his life for his friend."

The other half of the practice is Giving, in which one imagines that one is giving perfect happiness to all beings. As (by the LAW of the Tetragamaton) one can not give what one does not have, so in the act of giving, ones having is subconsciously assumed. And the more one gives the more to receive. Jesu echo's this in the saying of the Gospel of Thomas that. "what you do not have within you will kill you."

Thus in this second practice one participates in the resurrection as well as the role of salvation. And remember Jesus saying, these things I do you shall do and greater things.

© Arjay 2009

Crossing the Ocean of Tears

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Repost Crossing the Ocean of Tears

Newcomers here please pay attention to the difference between self and Self (spelled with a capital)

In "Crossing the Ocean of Tears," I follow now the thread of Rasa (bliss essence, meta mood, felt meaning in its Sanskrit interpretation) which ties all spiritual teachings together. The rasa of love is shringara - King of the Rasa's - which includes the erotic sentiment, wherein life surges within psyche and soma, mind and body. Shringa unites the two loves - of the serpent and the dove.

Thus there are four primary essences; desire, love, bliss and not the least, selflessness, who's high names include also silence and zero (the attainment of which leads to Sahajaya - liberated action by spontaneous inspiration). Their permutations are many, their gifts beyond measure, yet little else is there to understand… except that the rasa's also enumerate the many moods of suffering and this too is key.This one who writes - speaking much of Bliss - is no stranger to tears. Show me one who does not cry and I show you one who's heart has become weak; become dependent on cognitive massage to keep alive their soul, oblivious to life in the highest as it becomes numb to the base.

I love the ocean. I imagine it as the tears of the gods, reminding us that in rebirth, like in birth pain, it has its rightful place. Such too is love which is, though we know it not, the patient nurturing of the embryo of the divine child and finally the bringing it to term as the Self.

Love indeed is King. There is no more noble act than to awaken love through love - extending love to all creatures of and within consciousness. This is the hearts exercise which proffers wholeness and no poison can then cause it to skip a beat. And there is no greater purpose than loves sacrifice of self righteousness. Then love ascends to the throne of life incorruptible, inexorable, yet infolds everything in its embrace.

All teachings are tricks and subterfuge to lead the knower to a place beyond the influence of the deceiver, the pretender to the throne of "I". Many are the rituals and practices of the Temple (body). Many the distractions which draw one out of the house of the heart, the chambers of the bride and groom. Yet as they sever the root of Divine Ardor, do not cultivate the tree of loves flowering virtues and free not the fragrance of Bliss into the winds, they lead only to decay and are as compost for the continuing cycle of rebirth and forgetfulness.

Love and let go … the true will is to love and let go in light of love-bliss. Once this is known the way is simple if not easy. Almost immediately comes grace & blessing. The challenge is to abide in this through all trials until the angel of death repents. There is greater depth here to explore but if anyone claims a higher revelation I dare them speak their word of blasphemy.

To speak of love as a power rather than an affection is to know that it rests on a foundation of self love. At its most basic this is about the body - not our judgments about our bodily imperfections but about the feelings that are locked within the cells and strangle the life force.

As an exercise then, scan your body for feelings. Begin looking into the chest and the region of the heart. In the space of the organs of breath and the metronome of life's rhythm, are likely to be stored many pains of the psyche as emotional turmoil. Should you become aware of them, extend love to them as a parent would love a child.

From Plato to Freud a three fold division of mind has been described, yet mot useful is perhaps the Kahuna description of the unconscious as child, the rational conscious as the adult and then a super conscious essence as parent of all - the Self. I would place the self in the center of the circle of unconsciousness and the rational self as on the periphery. The path then to realization of the Self is then through the unconscious and this model reflects the kind of love I speak of above - love as for the child.

Just like our solar system is positioned on the outskirts of our galaxy far from its center, the adult self has a long way to go to know the parental Mother-Father Self. And the body-mind is as a microcosm of this universe. Its sense of separation from the energy field of all Life is from the knots of obscuring emotions, reduced ultimately to the feelings of fear and abandonment by the Parental (Mothering) Self. When you extend love to these tacit body feelings, you re-parent all the irrational children of the unconscious with conscious love. And clear away the debris of unconscious content which occludes the knowing of the Self. Long have I focused on cultivating positive emotion of joy even before its spiritual depth is understood. Its purpose is to gather strength of suficient psychic energy to enable one to address the issues of the unconscious which the body holds frozen in time and space. Release them and the spirit takes back its wings. Meaning: as you learn to release unconscious content, you rise above attachment-by- identity-with and discover there is only one thing left to do … let go even of the self.

The unconscious and its content IS our spiritual ignorance - not some misinformation or information's lack. There is inevitable pain in becoming thus conscious and my aim here is simply to make it more bearable to confront, that one might emerge into unreasoned Bliss of Self.

There are many means to escape this pain, lifetime after lifetime, including some spiritual practices so called. There is however only one way to erase it and that is to face it directly as it comes. For that I have offered simple tools I have found effective. And the above is but an application of such I have to recommend.

So then talk to your heart, find its fears and concern. And listen and respond, like women tell men, not to solve anything, simply to offer love and encouragement. Then will the child transform, growing in the direction of light, lightness and freedom.

One could say - and quite rightly according to the western metaphysical philosophers - that G-d is the hidden beauty within all things. One must find the beauty within - in even the dark corners of the body-mind - and then one may find the beauty without. Ones perception is dependent on the lens one looks through after all. It is the beauty which calls forth love. One could call this beauty the perception of potential perfection; the potential good and true which life ever aspires to become as if dreaming somehow it could. Look then and see the desire to become - which is the Divine Ardor imminent and inherent in all things.

All love has been said to be self love as we are all joined in the hub of the Self. But how to love oneself? To love ones body or personality indicates at best a high self esteem and at worst a uncomely narcissism. Both are ego based. Herein is described a process whereby one might love oneself as might the Divine and in a way that leads to the Self. One can not correctly love ones neighbor as ones self until one learns to love from the Self. Giving love to self and other is then a learning of the same art - crossing the ocean of tears in the boat of love-bliss.

© Arjay 2008, 2009