Sunday, October 24, 2010

Open all doors, Close all doors

Recently, the team of non-physical "thesis advisers" that work with me has drawn my attention towards six to eight specific women who they tell me are "candidates" to join me in this work of the World Prophet, in training.    I feel ready in many ways for a new dawning of both the inner and the outer woman in my life.  Yet I also often feel confused and off-base, as if I am misunderstanding what they say -- pouring new information into worn out mental and emotional models. 
In this reading, I had asked for clarification of how to deal with these women, given that in some sense I am "pursuing" all of them at the same time.  In the culture in which I grew up, pursuing more than one woman at the same time was frowned on.  Now the team is telling me not only to do so, but to tell each of the women all about it. They also suggest that I include it in this blog.
<begin transmission>

Stop taking it personally.   We need you to open the lives of many women and support the lives of many men.  The ones you are working with so far are examples and "types" of what is yours to do.  Your opportunity and challenge now is to get good at it.

You have made in your house a room called the Lady Room.  It is not designed for just one lady, but first and foremost for a lady "principle"  (First the lady principle and later the principal lady.)  It is fine and expected and proper for you to pursue and honor and open all the candidates we send you,  in parallel and in earnest.  Stop at nothing in your quest to have the lady energy be fully present and embodied in your life. 

Get to know these women as you get to know your Self.  Allow each one to know you. Choose each one totally and fully, and with nothing held outside of discourse.   Practice giving yourself.  Trust Love.  Fear not to lead the way: love provides.

Each of these "candidates" is a partner, a member of the "tribe of ten thousand".   Each is also a possible condensing point with you in establishing the "shape" of the tribe of ten thousand.  Your complement and consort will be she whose energy will marry with yours to create the greatest possible reach for the joint married vision. 

Physical marriage is not essential, yet may follow.  Physical marriage is somewhat easier than the alternative structures in the sense that it helps to "put all the eggs in one basket".  It hence clarifies the resulting lines of energy.  But do not stress. Allow circumstances to change gracefully and gratefully along the way. Trust that each of you is sent as an answer to prayer.  Allow us to take care of how that prayer is made real.
Explore all partnerships. Explore all partners.  
Be the answer to prayer.  Be the Holy Spirit for each other.  Be God for each other.  
Be alive.  Be fully human.  Be and accept nothing else.
Q: What are good ways to "explore all partners" all at the same time?


The above statement in italics is a complete and true answer to this question.  Only when you try to substitute your answer for the Holy Spirit's answer, or your timing for "tapestry timing" does this get confusing.

Here are general principles, for all of life:
  • When circumstances get overwhelming and confusing, it always helps to clarify the DDP.  Start to clarify the Definition, Direction and Purpose of the "gardens" where you are currently at work. Tell the truth.
  • If you don't like the circumstances you see around you, start to tell the truth to yourself about your deepest prayer.  Your deepest prayer is life: it is who you are.  You can see it outside, you can see it inside.  There is no gap in who you are.  You are one.  By owning and claiming your deepest prayer, you own and claim your Self.
  • Open all doors.  This is a deep principle of life.  Open all doors is a motto to hold in your heart.  It will help you be open to the gifts that come your way, the gifts that surround you, and the gifts you bring.  Remember that in time you will open all the doors of your heart.  But this does not mean to open all doors all at once or without preparation.   Open all doors in the proper sequence and in the proper arrangement and in the proper timing.   There is no door that must remain closed for eternity.  Yet there is no door that must be opened all at once. Trust the Voice for God, within you and without you, to indicate which doors are yours to open and which doors are yours to enter into.  Leave the rest alone.
  • Close all doors.  This is also a deep principle of life.   It is another way of saying to live now, which is the only time there is. When you are not using a door, keep that door shut.  As you move on from each encounter, be aware of the closing door as you mutually depart.  Doors do not remain open by themselves.  They must be kept open. To close a door means simply to let it close. By allowing the doors to close, you reestablish the living, breathing skin around each organism.   Each door will open again when it is needed. The oneness of the open door is never lost.  It just goes into a resting and relaxing and ease-filled state.   Any door you keep open when you are not using it is a drain.  More than that, it is in some sense a lie.   By keeping open a door that you are not using, you pretend to yourself there is something you are doing that you are not actually doing right now.  So tell the truth yourself about which doors you are currently using and keep only those doors open.
This is how you can picture passing between your women.  Open all the doors of your heart in proper timing and alignment and be with what's there.   Be fully present in love.  Offer love fully, as it is offered to you.  And then let it all go.   Stay true.  Refuse to be drawn into channelizing the total love gift  into an insufficient, untimely, or demeaning "package".  Neither a physical package, an emotional package, a mental package nor a spiritual package alone, will have room for the full gift. 

Here are three concrete practices to try:
  • Tell each one about the others.  This is excellent practice for all of you.  It also helps you all meet each other across the circle, which is important for the total tapestry.  This is how the full tribe of ten thousand will gather.
  • Blog about the whole experience. This will be freeing.   In fact, you literally have no idea how freeing this will be.
  • Keep inviting people to Holy Spirit Night.  Many questions, issues, and problems will resolve themselves automatically when you see each other in person.   One of these women has, with you, been the condensing point for Holy Spirit Night.  This is an example of what all of these women can be for you and for each other.  Allow each one to be all of who she can be for you and for all of you and for herself.  Expect miracles. Nothing else will satisfy.  Amen.
<end of transmission>

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Faerie Tale - Ahriman claims one of his own and is put off

From time to time I have a research session that occurs in the form of a discussion with one of the dark powers.   I call these faerie tales.  The faerie tales are intended to be helpful and timely, but not at all "accurate".  Think of it as poetry.
This faerie tale is a discussion is with Ahriman where he claims one of my friends and is put off.
In Rudolf Steiner's material, Ahriman (the name comes from Angra Mainyu, the principle of darkness in Persian mythology) represents one pole of an unbalanced and tempting pull away from truth.  The opposite unbalanced and tempting pole that also leads away from truth is Lucifer.  Ahrimanic energies are dense, materialistic: too grounded. Luciferic energies are grandiose, ambitious: too high-flying.  Truth lies in a dynamic balance that permeates both Ahrimanic and Luciferic energies one with the other.  And all must be held in service of the Christ energy, which is centered, whole, and real.  The image of Archangel Michael with his foot upon the neck of the dragon is a pictorial representation of the proper interrelationship of the Christ energy with both the Luciferic and the Ahrimanic tendencies.
In the drama of this faerie tale, I am discussing with Ahriman the fate of a friend he wishes to claim back to "slavery".  The voice denoted "All" indicates the voice of the Coning itself, which represents the deepest and most balanced wisdom available.   The All voice gives me feedback when I ask for it, but otherwise does not intervene.  My questions are addressed to All.
I am transcribing the session as received, with minimal edits.  I am including it in this blog because its themes are relevant at this time.

<start of transmission>

Ahriman: You have tried to claim one of my own.  I want her back.  She has pledged herself to me.

Me: Pledge?  Show me the pledge.

Ahriman:  She pledged on her life's honor to heal her brother, her sister, her mother, and her father.  They all already belong to me.

Me: Is this a vow that can be broken?

All: Not in this life.

Me: Is this a vow that can be honored?

All: Not in this life.

Me: What is the life in which this vow can be honored or broken?

AllThe Life of Joy.

Me: Does Ahriman have a claim that prevents her from attempting the Life of Joy?

All: No

Me: But does he have a claim on the brother and the sister?

All:  The claim goes deep.

Me:  Can she release her sister to Ahriman?

All: Not and keep her vow.

Me: So she must find the joy in turning her sister and brother over to Ahriman ("to be tortured")?!

All:  There is no other way.

Ahriman:  If she cannot do this (and she will not) then by ancient claim she belongs to me.

All:  It is so.

Me: Is there any rescue for the sister?

All: Not this side of hell.  She must enter and pass through.  She must be redeemed from inside the belly of the beast.

Me: Isn't the miracle stronger than any beast?

All:  Of course.  But then she would have to ask for it herself.  Then all vows are null and void, and the world starts over anew and afresh.

Me: But you think this is unlikely.

All: She is heavily defended against it.

Me. So she must give the sister up to you?

All: There is no other way.

Me: What miracle can she request?

All:  She must find that within herself.  The only miracle worth asking for is the one miracle she came to this world to manifest and receive and give and serve.  There is no other.

Me:  Does she know what this is?

All:  Only in part.  To the extent she refuses to ask for all of it, then part remains inside of Ahriman's claim, and hence her Joy is forfeit.

Me:  The miracle is joy?

All:  So it was, so it is, and so it may be.   But remember, you who wish to help, that her joy is that which you will never see and never feel and never be.

<end of transmission>

Sunday, October 3, 2010

A Course in Miracles

A Course in Miracles is essential.  It is of the essence -- the essential ingredient.

What is A Course in MiraclesA Course in Miracles is a book.  More specifically, it is a set of three books and some related pamphlets all published within one cover. The material was written down by a pair of professors in New York City in the years from 1965 to 1973.  The professors would say they transcribed the book, not wrote it.  One of them, Helen, would receive the words by a process she called inner dictation or automatic writing and write the words down in shorthand.  Later, she would read her notes aloud to the other one, Bill, who would type up the scribed material.

The author of the course material is Jesus.  This bold claim is the one way I can speak my true relationship with the course.   Through the course, I have come to know its author and his love.  The author speaks with a one-pointedness, an authority, an honesty, and an uncompromising joy that helps me see this world and my place in it through eyes of  love, truth, and power. Over time, it has become easy and natural to simply accept what the book itself says about its own authorship, namely that the author is Jesus, rather than quibble, doubt, or theorize.  It rings true.

The first book is the Text.    The Text is the heart of the course.   It is through the text that you will begin to see the all-encompassing scope of what is possible in the thought reversal of this world.  It is a self-study course.  One can do it together with others (and this makes most things easier and more fun).   Yet it is through ones own internal work that one will make the material ones own and start to live it in ones life.

The second book is the Workbook. I will not attempt to improve on what the Workbook says about itself.  The Workbook starts with the following:
A theoretical foundation such as the text provides is necessary as a framework to make the exercises in this workbook meaningful. Yet it is doing the exercises that will make the goal of the course possible. An untrained mind can accomplish nothing. It is the purpose of this workbook to train your mind to think along the lines the text sets forth.
The exercises are very simple. They do not require a great deal of time, and it does not matter where you do them. They need no preparation. The training period is one year. The exercises are numbered from 1 to 365. Do not undertake to do more than one set of exercises a day.

The third book is the Manual for Teachers, which could equally well be called the Manual for Students.  Many have found that this description of the pathway involved in becoming a Teacher of God is exactly the missing piece to sustain them in their studies and to point the way forward.  It seems in many ways more practical, more focused, more down to earth than either the Text or the Workbook.

Without the Course, I could never hope to occupy the job description known as World Prophet, in training.  Here are a few of the reasons:
  • With the Course, I have come to trust the aspect of the Voice for God that speaks through me.  I have accepted the call.
  • The year of "mind training" that the Workbook represents, and which  I have now repeated several times, shows me at deeper and deeper levels that there is no substitute for joy, that joy is our natural inheritance, and that the pathway to joy is giving freely that which is given us.  The course calls this forgiveness.
  • To fully inhabit the role of World Prophet requires partners -- lots of partners.  My job is to gather together with the "tribe of ten thousand".  A few of the partners are ready for the call and just need to be reminded of what there is to do.  But many of my partners need help.  Some need help to even begin to hear the call.   Many more have spent their entire life hearing the call but have reached an impasse where it has become clear that what they started out with will not go all the way. With the course, there is something to give them.  The course demonstrates both where to start and how to keep going all the way home.
  • Saying, "Yes!" to life can be deeply disturbing to the status quo.   If one is not used to it, it rearranges everything.   The course provides a foundation, a stepping stone, and a safety net when people are reaching out into the new.
  • If used properly, the Course helps one see through ones own hesitation, puffed up arrogance, and lies.
--

To explore further, I suggest the website ACIM.org, which is run by the Foundation for Inner Peace, the original publishers of the course.   On that site, one can read the full text of the Workbook and a good overview of how the Course came into being and what it says.  And lots more.

When buying a copy of the course, I recommend the third (complete) edition.   This edition includes the two pamphlets that were published later but were received through the same process of inner dictation as the rest of the Course.  You can purchase this version through the acim.org site online store or at a discount through online stores such as amazon.com (hardcover, softcover, or mass-market paperback).  I do not recommend the copies of the course through other sellers.