12.31.2009

Imagine

As we leave 2009 behind and move into the magic of 2010, we will continue to use our imagination to create that which many of us want to create—a world filled with peace, joy, abundance, love, and acceptance, while still being an exciting, dynamic, and wonder-filled place to be. That which we can imagine, we can achieve.

With thanks to radiointernetsite for this composite of John Lennon music and images with lyrics.

12.29.2009

The Challenge of Seeing Ourselves as Equal

From the "Declaration of Independence" of the United States, adopted July 4, 1776:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The United Nations, in December of 1948 adopted "The Universal Declaration of Human Rights", the first Article of which reads:
All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.
How amazingly easy it is to accept that we are all equal as an inspiring phrase, yet how challenging it is to accept in practice.

Think about how you feel when you see a destitute man on a street corner, unbathed, unshaved, perhaps emaciated, perhaps begging for a handout, perhaps unable to make eye contact with other humans. What's your reaction? Pity? Hope? Appreciation that "there but for the grace of God go I"? Do you ever, in any way, look at such a human and see a powerful creation of god, or feel a connection in spirit with such a person?

Think about how you would feel (or perhaps have felt) if your most trusted, admired, cherished, human being were to come and visit you in person. Would you see them as equal to yourself, or would you feel small in comparison?

Think about how you would feel if an 'other worlder', or alien being, were to land in your back yard in their splendid space vehicle. Would you feel equal to said being? Would you listen in reverence and awe? Would you subjugate yourself to them, believing that they are more knowing, more powerful, more deserving than you? Would you be afraid, thinking that they have some power over you?

Do you see 'teachers' as higher, better, smarter, more powerful .. and 'students' as lower, lesser, dumber, less powerful'?

It's an interesting phenomenon that goes on in human beings. Sometimes we feel superior, sometimes we feel inferior. Sometimes we get pretty righteously indignant about how superior we believe we are. Sometimes we get frighteningly powerless at how inferior we feel we are. How often are the times when we 'feel' completely equal to another? Not better, nor worse, but honoring another, and honoring ourselves, as equal expressions of a universal whole?

We each have so much to experience with each other, and learn from each other. Truly, in all senses of the word, we are the same. Exactly the same. And yet .. completely different. We each are creations of the One, Prime Creator. Just as a cell in the human body divides itself to become two of the same rather than two halves, such is every creation of god a complete representation of the whole. And yet different.

Those differences are important, even crucial, to the expansion of consciousness, to the growth and experience of All That Is. And yet we want to label each other as good or bad, see each other as better or worse, more powerful or less, more deserving or less.

As we move forward into our future I hope we will more and more and more realize how very much alike we are, begin to really accept each other as equals no matter what we look like, no matter what we do, no matter what we think. I hope we'll stop feeling inferior and giving our power away, and stop trying to feel superior—or even just feel better—by taking power from others. We really, truly, are all in this together. And what a wonderful thing that is!

12.28.2009

Powers of Creation

In this fourth, and final, installment of Steve Rother and the group's December 2009 Beacons of Light, the group talks about the problems that arise when we stop following our heart, stop creating. In a way they are asking us to expand ourselves out of the boxes that we've put around ourselves and each other, to continue to question things we have always taken for granted, to use our creative power to manifest lives that are both joyful and fulfilling.
Powers of Creation

First of all, you are creators—each and every one of you have the abilities of god within you. Most of you do not know it, because you are wearing a veil that keeps you from re-membering your own true nature, your own true abilities. But what is the need to create anyway? Why do you need to create?

We tell you, you do not. But it is your nature, and at any time or point you block your creative expression in any way, you will block your own god-self. You will block your own energy, and many times this force of energy going out can be reversed and the energy starts moving inward instead of outward. This exact scenario is what causes many of the energy allergies we have talked about and many of the physical setbacks experienced.

You are pretending to be human in that structure. Yet you are the most magnificent creators and the most magnificent beings to be able to hold the thought in your head for only seven seconds and have it manifest. No, it does not manifest in seven seconds, but it is created in seven seconds. If you hold that energy and vibration, it will show up in your energy field and it will show up very quickly.

We are telling you that the overlaying of time is going to start to have a new meaning for you. We hope that you start to play with this and push the boundaries of things that have always had very clear boundaries—time is time. You have atomic clocks that keep exact and perfect time, yet two years ago you had to sneak in an extra second just to make it work.

The whole idea of time is changing, because the rotation of the inner Earth is changing. This is not a mystical thing. It is simply that the core of the Earth is changing its rotation. It rotates at a different rate than the surface of the Earth. This has also increased and created the illusion of time on planet Earth. As that spin rate starts to change, you will start to see behind the veil a little bit more on this illusion of time and you will find new ways to use it. Play with it. Celebrate it, and above all celebrate your increments. Celebrate those times that have special meaning. Celebrate together.
Sometimes it doesn't look like there's a whole lot to celebrate. Sometimes it feels like we have to generate the enthusiasm that will allow us to celebrate.

When it feels like that in your life, stop and take a moment, however brief, to re-member how far we've come as individuals and collectively as the race of man. We've come a long way, and the future that we've been imagining and building for lifetime upon lifetime is in sight. When you think about all the lives and all the experiences that have led to this moment right now, celebrating becomes the most natural and fun thing to do. Enjoy!

12.27.2009

Everybody or Nobody

We are not going to be able to operate our Spaceship Earth successfully nor for much longer unless we see it as a whole spaceship and our fate as common. It has to be everybody or nobody.

~ Buckminster Fuller
Born in 1895, Buckminster Fuller was a man ahead of his time. As far as I can tell, he was more interested in how we be as opposed to what we do.

I have heard, though not been able to verify, that "Bucky" Fuller felt so akin to the planet and all of us on it that he would voluntarily clean up public areas that he found himself in, like airport restrooms. His rationale for this behavior was that we all live here, we all ought to be responsible for it. Whether he did or didn't do what has been attributed to him, it's a concept that I agree with, appreciate, and find worth emulating.

A New Way to Experience Responsibility

This post is a continuation of the information given by Steve Rother and 'the group' in their December 2009 Beacons of Light. To begin they discussed the coming three years, and what that will mean to us humans. I loved this comment in particular:
The three years may appear like an airplane approaching for a landing. Two years of turning to align with the runway and one year straight on approach and landing.
Exciting times ahead, don't you think?

After talking about the coming three years (Countdown to Ascension), followed by using the tool of perception to view from the perceptive of our Higher Self (Two Tools for the Shift), the group talked about us developing a new relationship with responsibility.
Responsibility

There is one other piece to consider as you enter this final quadrant. This quadrant of Earth will no longer support irresponsibility the way is has in the past. Even the word “responsibility” will start to take on an entirely  new meaning for all of humanity.

The word “responsibility” has actually been a negative in your world, for the most part. Folks, when each one of you thinks about responsibility you do not get excited. Instead what happens when the word responsibility is heard or thought, is that you tend to shrink. We tell you that responsibility is the balance to power. You are creators already. Understanding how you can use those creative abilities and how you can do that on planet Earth in the physical body, in the situations and dramas that sometimes surround you, will be key to your life existence as a soul on planet Earth.

We tell you also that responsibility will be changed in many different ways. Many of your organizations—whether they are business corporations, religions, clubs or whatever brings people together—those are the areas that will now start helping to define what responsibility really is.

For example, if you have a business and need help, you look around, interview people and hire someone. You tell them what you will pay them per hour,  week, month, or year, because we believe this is what your job is worth. In the future, what we are going to tell you is that even that will change. It will not be the job you do, but the responsibility within the company that you take will determine the pay for that job. A conscious corporation is focused on more than money because any entity of any kind—whether it be a collective or a single individual—will have to understand that it is now about working from the heart and not the head.

Many of your corporations have been working for one thing only, and that is for money. Money will always be a motivating factor. However, what will be understood is that by blending it with consciousness and love for your customers, it will bring more business and money than ever thought possible. These are the perception changes that are going to start shifting everything.

You are going to find out that responsibility and the word “responsibility” have new meanings, which when you hear them may actually start to excite rather than shrink your energy fields. You are going to find that all of humanity is working with a different area, so look in different parts of your own life.

Look in your relationships, what you do for a living, and your friendships. If you ever wish to have more power in an area, it is simply a case of taking more responsibility in that area. By doing so you are able to make space for that to happen not only in your own life, but in the lives of the other gods that are all pretending to be human as well.

It is no longer that you are separate in any way. We tell you there are many out there teaching that there are good people who are going to ascend, and bad people who are going to stay. We do not agree with that point of view, dear ones. This time either all of you go or no one goes, so it is now about helping everyone and being conscious.

It is turning around, seeing the neighbor who is driving you crazy and finding a way to say hello to him warmly and genuinely. It means finding a way to be responsible not only for who you are and what you do—but accepting responsibility for your own happiness. What about that, dear ones? No, that does not always seem easy either, but re-member it is perception. Do not give your responsibility to someone else.  

Your responsibility has to first be you. Only then can you turn around and share that with other people. You generally experience the opposite of that on planet Earth right now. So, if you will reverse that which is currently in effect—if when you hear the word responsibility your ears will perk up—then your energy field will start to move. You will see it and be able to use it from a totally different perspective than you have before.

12.25.2009

Merry Christmas Everyone!

They were heard to exclaim as they moved without strife ..

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a Good Life!

12.24.2009

The Crystal Angel

Any spiritual teacher will tell you (and it's likely that you already realize) that people you come in contact with are mirrors for you. They reflect back to you exactly what you want to see in yourself. "How can that be, we ask? I did not ask for this [ insert horrible thing here ]! I would never have asked for such a thing!"

"How can I have asked for such a thing? Have I no compassion for myself?" you ask. And then you remember that no game is worth playing that doesn't provide a challenge. The game of Life on Planet Earth is an amazing and wonderful game, and as with all great games, is rife with challenges.

I want to take you on an imaginary journey so that you can see yourself, as a character within a play, how it's possible that we can choose and create even the most upsetting of scenarios.

The principle character in the following story is a woman. But even if you are a man, use your imagination and, for this brief journey, play along. Take a moment and pretend that you are playing a game of being a woman married to a wonderful man. This is a man you've known a long time, a man who means a lot to you, and who you know deep in your heart would never hurt you on purpose. Just imagine ..

Imagine that, in this story, your husband breaks a favorite piece of sculpture that you own. Suppose further that this is not the first thing of yours he’s ever broken. In fact, it seems like the more upset you get about him breaking things, the more things he breaks. It’s almost as if something inside him is deliberately breaking things just to piss you off! You can’t understand it, you don’t like it, and you’re so upset about this latest instance that if he does it again you just might hurt him. Badly.

Conventional psychology might call this "passive/aggressive" behavior, but for now, set aside any desire to label this in conventional terms. For now, you are simply frustrated and angry at his continual acts of carelessness that end up hurting so much.

What to do? Imagine yourself, your Self in Spirit, handing a beloved trinket to your husband and asking him to smash it into a thousand pieces.

Tell him you want to learn about not being so attached to 'things’ and you want him to help you get over it. "So here you go, husband of mine. Here is a piece of sculpture that I care more about than almost anything. I found it in a little shop in a precious little coastal town. It's one of a kind. It’s hand-made and irreplaceable. It’s my reminder of a time when things were grand and beautiful and peaceful."

"It’s going to hurt me a lot if it gets broken" you continue "but in that upset I just might see how things are not nearly as important as people. Please take it. Smash it into a thousand pieces so I can learn that which I have thus far been unable to learn. I may get angry with you. I may get really angry. Really really angry. Remember all those times previously when I asked you to smash things so that I could learn about unconditional love, but I didn’t learn it? I want to learn about unconditional love, I truly do. I’m getting desperate, and I think I need a really strong lesson here. I need to lose something that will really get my attention, really make me stop and look and think and feel. Something that will get me to look at my reactions. Please love me enough to do this for me, even knowing that I might hate you for it."

Imagine that this person in Spirit—the one who loves you more than life itself—looks at you, all the probabilities stacked against him, knowing that it’s more than likely that you’ll react as you did in the past, by getting hurt and getting angry, and he’s not so sure he can go through with it. But he knows that you are going to hurt even more if you don't eventually learn what it is you've said you want to learn.

He considers these different negative outcomes, but he also considers the one tiny but important potential that you might actually learn what you’ve asked to learn. He knows how long you’ve tried, how much this means to you. He also loves you so deeply that he’s willing to help you with this lesson, no matter what the cost to him. Even if it costs him his human relationship with you. He loves you that much.

Imagine now that you are back to your physical reality ...

So one day (just as you asked) your husband's human self mishandles your trinket and breaks it, right there in front of you. You yell. You scream. You cry. You throw a fit. You forget that you asked him to play the perpetrator of this crime. You are so upset you can’t think rationally. This was your favorite trinket! "HOW COULD YOU?!?!" you scream. "YOU MONSTER! I HATE YOU! I WISH I’D NEVER LAID EYES ON YOU!!"

On all levels of his being, all this gentle person wants to do is comfort you, to make it better, to sooth away the pain. But in the unseen part of his heart, the place where you aren't aware and neither is he, he knows that this is something you created for yourself, and that the only one who can solve it is you. If it’s even possible, he’s more upset than you are, because he knows how deeply hurt you are. But he leaves the room without so much as saying he’s sorry.

You, completely disconnected from Source, continue to lick your wounds. You have had this reaction before. Many times. In your heart of hearts, in the place you cannot see, you cry for both of you. You are hurt and so is he. The experiment didn’t work. You didn’t learn what you’d sought to learn.

On the spiritual level you contemplate this for a brief moment and then release it. You both did your best. You created a play and acted it out, and it didn’t turn out the way you’d hoped. But there’s always tomorrow, another day, another stage, another scene. You don’t give up. This is something you dearly want to learn.

You know about the unconditional love of Spirit, it’s Who You Are. You want to bring that feeling into your human incarnation. You make a pact with yourself to try again. Not today, that would be too soon. You look at your past, about how you’ve learned before, and you know that eventually you figured things out. Eventually you saw patterns, saw the consequences of certain thoughts and actions, and eventually achieved that which you desired to learn.

Days go by. You live your life in physical reality, still carrying around in your humanness a great deal of resentment about this person and what they did. Truth be told, that was about the last straw. You don’t know if you can continue to live with such an insensitive human being. "Doesn’t he know how much he hurt you? In the past at least he said he was sorry, at least he tried to comfort you. This time he didn’t say a word. No gesture, no remorse, no admonitions not to do it again. Nothing!" All these thoughts are running through your mind.

You are seething just under the surface, ready to lambast him at any opportunity. His fault. His fault. The whole incident was his fault. For awhile you continue to stew in your juices. You’re angry. You’re disconnected. You don’t hear the call of Source, even though it is gently calling you. It always is.

Days turn into weeks. As you begin to cool off a little bit, you get a little tickle of insight. Or maybe better said, you allow that little insight to come into your awareness.

An image from the past appears in your mind. It’s from when you were a little girl. Your brother broke something that you loved. You realize how upset you were, back then, and how you’ve carried that upset around all your life. Sure, you and your brother are civil to each other. Your families get together. But there’s always been a kind of tension between you, and you’ve never been able to figure out why. You sent yourself that image from the past, you just don’t know that you did.

All of a sudden, you realize something that you decided way back then, when you were a child. You decided that your brother did it on purpose, just to hurt you. This you clearly remember. You know that you hated him for it. As you grew up you tried to forgive him, but you never could. In fact, as you think about it, you realize that that hurt has been incubating inside you for many many years.

Inside this recognition, you suddenly begin seeing the different times that someone carelessly or purposely broke something that belonged to you, something that you cared about. You see image after image of things that broke and people you rejected because of it. And suddenly, out of the blue, you realize how much love has been lost over these seemingly insignificant losses of material things. You wonder at yourself that you never saw this pattern before. And then you realize that you had seen it before, you just never realized the significance of it.

You never saw the significance of it because you were looking at it through your human eyes, and not through your eyes of Spirit. Today, you saw those experiences through the eyes of spirit, and realized that you did. The eyes of spirit belong to you, but they don’t necessarily see what human eyes see. When you look through the eyes of spirit, you see things the way they were meant to be seen, in all their beauty and magnificence, in all their meaning, and with compassion.

An amazing thing happens to you inside this new recognition. You realize, in your heart of hearts, how dearly you love this human guy who keeps breaking things that are important to you. When you stop to really look, you realize that each time the thing that got broken was more valuable than the last. You realize that this is a pattern, and you realize that the pattern is escalating. You think about what you’d decided about people who break things that matter to you.

You know about focus, about how what you focus on is what you bring into your reality. You realize that you’ve been creating many, if not all of these circumstances. You think about how you’ve been asking spirit to make you more loving and less critical of others. You think about how you have wanted to be more like your dog, that little guy who loves you no matter what, who comes and wags his tail and licks your face and looks lovingly into your eyes even after he’s been punished. You remember wishing that you could love like that, love someone no matter what, because loving someone feels so good and hating them hurts so much.

Next you remember reading that your Inner Being guides you through the expression of your emotions. You recall that when you feel good you’re strongly connected to Source, able to hear the call and answer it, and when you feel bad you’re not so connected to Source, not so capable hearing the call or answering it.

And you wonder …"is it true? Is it really true that when I get so upset, so angry, so hurt, I cannot hear the call of Source, can’t see through the eyes of Source? Is it as simple as being stuck in a cycle of upset, and not being able to hear the call of Source? If it is true," you ponder, "what would happen if I stopped, right in the middle of that hurt, or upset, or anger, and listened, became cognizant of how I feel in that moment? Could I do that? Is it possible?" You determine to try.

Months pass. Life happens. Things come into your life and go out of your life. Then one day, out of the blue, when you are blissfully happy and thinking that nothing in the world could upset you on this day at this time … you hear a loud crash … and the tinkling of glass. Your heart leaps into your throat. You are struck with a feeling more than mere words .. "This cannot be good."

You begin to head to where the noise emanated from. But before you do, you feel a little niggling in your heart. You stop. You listen. You have this thought that says “He didn’t mean to. He really loves you. You really love him.” And you think “It’s true, he does, and I do.” This is followed by a whole series of thoughts, a conversation really, between you and you. The thought occurs to you to forgive him. Another thought occurs to you that you can’t. Another that you won’t. Another that you should. Another that nobody is going to tell you what to do. Another that you can’t possibly forgive someone who is breaking all the stuff you love. Not ever. More thoughts, more debate.

But an amazing thing is happening through all of this mental dialog, and the images and thoughts that pop into your mind, seemingly unbidden and in the twinkling of an eye. You haven’t blow up, even though you wanted to. You didn’t jump to the inevitable conclusion that someone was doing something to you. You didn’t rush off and spew venom helter skelter. Maybe you wanted to, maybe you still will. But you didn’t. You broke the chain.

Here’s a chain of thought and belief that has followed you for the greater portion of your life, and you broke it. Interrupted it just enough that, if you’re determined and if you’re willing, can be broken again and again. And some day, possibly soon - potentially even right now - anger might not be your first response. You feel calm in a way that you’ve never felt before in such a situation.

You head out to see what it is that broke this time. You are prepared. You might blow up, you might not. You might be calm, you might not. But you have a tool and you used it. You listened to the call of your heart.

Listened just long enough to interrupt the chain of habit, and that’s all that matters. That’s all that you need to do. Just interrupt the chain long enough to hear the call of Source, to see things through the eyes of Source. It’s a sweet call. It’s a beautiful way to see things. It’s a tool that is yours by birthright, and now you know how to use it. Once you’ve interrupted the chain you can do it over and over as often as necessary to create a new vantage point from which to view any situation.

Are you curious, in this very human story, what happened next? You might be surprised to know, or you might not, that the call of Source on this day, for this individual, was very strong. She proceeded to the front room where she saw her husband cleaning up what was left of one of her most prized possessions in all the world: a crystal angel given to her by her mother. It was her mother’s, and her mother’s mother’s before her. She had taken great care with it over the years. She intended one day to give it to her own daughter. When she saw what was left of it, her eyes welled up with tears. She couldn’t help it. First she felt sadness, then felt the anger beginning to rise.

And then she did a very difficult thing. She stopped, and she listened. Listened to her heart. What she heard in that moment will stay with her for the rest of her days, and beyond. What she heard was her mother’s voice, clearly, as if her mother were standing right beside her, though her mother had been dead for many years. She stood there, looking at the shattered pieces of a crystal angel and she heard her mother say “I love you.”

Overcome with emotion, tears streaming down her face, she turned to her husband. She saw the upset in his eyes, read the turmoil and the hurt that registered there. Knew that he was waiting for the inevitable tirade to rain down on him. In that moment, in that infinitesimally small flash of a moment, she understood in a way that no words could ever explain, what unconditional love is. She put her arms around her husband, held him tight and whispered “I love you.”

That was the last time she cried tears over anything that broke. In fact, for some reason that she couldn’t quite understand, broken things began to be really funny to her. She couldn’t help herself. Sometimes it angered others, when they would break something and she would laugh, but she couldn’t help herself. It just seemed like such a silly thing to get upset about, to throw away love over. Sometimes, when viewed through the eyes of Source, some things are just really really funny.

12.23.2009

Your Reality

Recognize that your reality is not changed by changing the external things in order to get to the internal things. Your reality is changed by changing the internal things, which then affects the external things.

~ Germane through Lyssa Royal
From Spiritual Sovereignty by Lyssa Royal

Two Tools for The Shift

In my post Countdown to Ascension I introduced the first part of the December 2009 Beacons of Light message from Steve Rother and 'the group'. That first part talked about the coming three years and how we're moving rapidly into the new world that we are creating.

This part of their message is about some tools that can help us get there. This mostly has to do with perception. We've heard for many years that 'reality is how you perceive it' and the group helps us understand how this is so, and how to use that knowing to achieve that which we wish to achieve.
Two Tools for the Shift

There are two important concepts that we will address one at a time. These will be incredible tools for you to use during this transitionary period. One we spoke of before, calling it the 12th dimension. There are 11 different yous having 11 different experiences and one point of perception. That point of perception is your 12th dimension. What you have been unaware of at this point is that it is very easy for humans to shift that point of perception. By consciously shifting your point of perception, you can now receive multiple views of the same point that you have never been able to see before. This gives humans another vision—a whole other level from which to perceive in order to truly see themselves.

The challenge is that you are not accustomed to raising yourself to that next level, so the first tool we give you is raising your level of perception. If at any point you run across what you call the brick wall--where you are going in a direction and you know your heart is there but you just cannot seem to get any farther or you just seem to be blocked--the first thing to do is not judge it. Do not call it “good” or “bad,” because the moment that you do that brings it into the lower vibrations.

The moment you doubt yourself and say, “I must not be good enough,” or  “I must not be spiritual enough to make this happen…” it lowers your vibration. In that instant you are in effect  doubting god and you negate the entire process at that point. So, the first thing we ask you to do is not to judge yourself. We realize this is not always easy, but re-member how important it is and trust in yourself and in the process.

The second thing we would ask you to do is to take yourself into your own higher self, then look at the situation from that perspective and level of awareness. Look at what you could have possibly gained from this experience, or what can be happening to make this better because of the restriction. Why did you put that restriction there? Only by consciously choosing to view it  from a higher perspective is that even possible.

This is not something humans have been trained to do, and it is not something you are all accustomed to doing. It is fairly simple, but you can all help each other tremendously by taking a step back and instead of reacting just take a breath. Move yourself to a higher perception and see the larger picture, even for just a moment. You will feel the difference. Even if you still do not have all the answers or do not feel all the energy inside, stop for just a moment. When you continue talking, your words will come out differently. You will feel lighter, as will those around you. Your channel will have changed, because your own perception now sees from a higher perspective than before.

So the tools are:

1 - Raise your level of perception.

2 - See the bigger picture (view from the perspective of Higher Self), if even just for a moment.

Abraham offers a similar way to shift perception, one I've discussed before, which is to find something, anything, to appreciate. In finding something to appreciate, no matter how small, you stop reacting and become conscious of what's going on around you.

By finding something to appreciate you are both changing your perception AND opening up to seeing the bigger picture. Finding something to appreciate moves you out of the negativity of judgement and into the softer, more open space of awareness. Standing in that place you have access to ways of being that are not available to you when you are caught in any of the myriad automatic responses that we humans have developed over time.

However you do it, know that whenever things aren't going as you wish they were, you can interrupt your 'programmed' way of being simply by shifting perspective. Use whatever method works for you, whether it's consciously breathing, consciously appreciating, consciously noticing, stopping thought for a moment, whatever—the method doesn't matter. The point is to find something that causes you to shift out of automaticity and into consciousness.

Don't get me wrong, automaticity is a good thing! Without automaticity we wouldn't even be able to get out of our chair! But we've created programs that run on automatic that we aren't even aware of, and we're working to break those up. The first and most important step is to become aware; becoming aware gives us the ability to see from different perspectives.

When we can see from different perspectives we find solutions that we didn't see, solutions we might not have even considered possible. Sometimes we get to see that what we thought of as a 'bad' situation really isn't, that it's just a step that's taking us to where we say we want to be. Sometimes we even start to see how and why we create the situations and experiences that we do.

If you look back in your life you'll realize that you've done perspective-shifting many times. The object now is to do it consciously, and do it often, especially when things don't seem to be going well.

Remember to have fun with this! This is your life we're talking about here, you have a right - even a responsibility - to enjoy it in all its nuances!

12.22.2009

Love Is

Love is stronger than fear, and Spirit is alive in all matter.

~ RaHo Tep
From Stories of Initiation
RaHo Tep, The Initiate

through Suzan Caroll.

Countdown to Ascension

Steve Rother and 'the group', gave an especially powerful message in their December Beacons of Light. They covered a number of topics, all related and all relevant. It's a lot to tackle in one sitting, so I'm going to highlight different parts of their message over the next few days.

The first thing they talked about was the next three years, that being 2010, 2011, and 2012. We are 'on the home stretch' so to speak in creating our new world, all we have to do is be aware that we are, stay focused on how we want things to be, and use the tools that are being made available to us—tools that will both help us get there, and help us live in that new reality as we are creating it.

From the December 2009 Beacons of Light from Lightworker:
Countdown to Ascension

Let us talk about the overlay of time on your planet, because that is one of the critical pieces that all of you will be dealing with in the next three years. This upcoming time period is becoming very important.

As you know, we have been talking about the countdown to ascension for a while. In the beginning it started out as a cosmic joke. Part of the reason for that was simply that the year 2012 was thought for so long to be the end of the planet and the end of recorded history. Your intentions were to move all this into the next space—many of you have called it the fifth dimension, the ascension, or the new time on Earth. We have told you a bit about what that looks like from our perspective, for the path you are creating starts between your ears. You are the ones creating the path just before your foot hits the ground and you are certainly planning something very special.

But here is the interesting part. Your fears of the year 2012 were correct. In the original script of the Game, in the year 2012 for planet Earth would have been the end in a sense. It was written that Earth would wind down all of its life force energy between the years of 2000 and 2012. You would have started this process not only with confusion, frustration and anger on the planet on the part of individuals, but also with the Earth herself. She has been picking up on that vibration, absorbing it and having many more difficulties with weather pattern changes and seismic and volcanic activity. This has been especially evident in the middle of the Pacific Ocean where we predicted it many, many years ago. New Lemuria is rising and we are telling you that it is all starting to shift.

There is still a movement that will take place in the middle of the Pacific Ocean that will have a tremendous impact on the rest of the planet. It will open the new portals of creation, and at that time many of your own belief systems will have to dissolve. This must occur to be able to begin evolving into the next level, for you to support a life in this next level of existence. Now, what does that look like? Does that mean you are going to leave your bodies? Does that mean everything is suddenly going to be okay? No. Trust us when we say that the evolution of humanity does not work that way. You work very well with positives and negatives. The problem is that you have always called negative “bad” and positive “good.” As you evolve to this next level, you are going to realize that there simply is no “right” or “wrong.” There is no difference between good and bad. Instead, it is simply the way each one of you has perceived it and brought it into your own world that causes the seeming disparity. Much of the changes you are going to start to see will open up possibilities that have been closed to you before.

The Final Quadrant – A New Miracle

The three-year period 2010, 2011 and 2012 is the final quadrant of what you are going to experience on planet Earth in the old energy. Yes, you are looking for major movements, and you have seen some of this happen. It has been predicted from many different channels and in various ways; this information has come through and you are expecting it. Dear ones, it is that expectation that is causing this new evolutionary process to take place.

Let us explain from a different perspective. Many of you have asked us what exactly is going to happen in the year 2012. You humans, still to this day, have not decided what day this cosmic event is going to take place. Some of you think it is going to be on the 21st, on the winter solstice. Some of you think December 31st yet others of you think it is actually going to be on December 1st or December 11th and 12th. There are a lot of connections out there, and it really does not make any difference to us because humanity as a whole will decide that next key part. When you decide and focus on a single point of when that is going to be, the created energy from all humans will gather and focus on a single point. Miracles do happen and this will be the biggest collective miracle thus far in the history of humanity.

Originally we would have told you that what would have happened in the year 2012 was that when you finally decided on the day, you would have these wonderful parties and you would expect the ascension to take place during the parties. You would have big bonfires on the seashore, travel to the mountains, or wherever you decided to celebrate you would welcome in the new energy as the sun rose that morning across the sky. You would have a wonderful time, and the following day you would have climbed down the mountain or walked back from the ocean and gone back to work. But now there is another dimensional level that is starting to appear.

New Relationship to Time

There are still parts of you that will have to come back to this old energy, and yet other parts of you would have moved on very quickly to the new levels. The overlaying of time will have a different effect on all of humanity, because time itself will begin to be measured differently at that point. That is starting to take place even now. Over the next three years with this final quadrant of planet Earth as you knew it moves into this new realm. What happens is that you, the creators, are starting to get excited at the possibilities. So, even the scenario we have previously laid out is beginning to change.

The little gods of Earth are taking their creative powers back, and this will be of the first of your collective creations. These next three years will be the key as to what will happen when you come home from the party, and in what happens in the days that follow.

Fire the Hologram!

We have previously spoken of the hologram of Earth forming from your own thoughts. We have shared with you that you are god; therefore, when god has a thoughtit is like a beam of light shooting into space. You have a thought from one god, you have a thought from another god. If several of those thoughts are similar in vibration, then they meet in the same place. That is incredibly powerful, because matter is drawn to energy and forms around it creating that vibration in your world. The hologram is a large ball of energy waiting to be fired. We have called this hologram the Third Earth. Once fired it forms a hologram which is a three-dimensional representation of light.

We are using the word “light” slightly differently than you do, but you understand what we are talking about. This is how Earth formed in the first place. What will be taking place is now that you are moving, the energy of this third Earth--this hologram of light--will now come to Earth and help you over-imprint the original hologram of Earth, thereby helping to shift and change it from that point. Does that mean that there will be nothing more to worry about? Does that mean there will be no more negativity on planet Earth? That is what we ask you, because we have nothing to do with setting up this new Earth. This is entirely your design much the same way as the old Earth was.

Dream your greatest dreams, dear ones, for those dreams will make up the new Earth. Then be prepared to walk into a new life for that is surely ahead of you. This will not happen in a single day, but it will begin in a single day and that is the day you will soon choose. You are shifting this beautiful planet right in front of our eyes. You are changing it even though you cannot see your own creative abilities, even though you are blocked from seeing your own connection to each other and the other creators. But you are starting to work together in a harmonious vision of what humans want on this planet and that will determine the starting point of the next millennium that is to follow. That is what was actually predicted in the Bible, even though it was slightly twisted by many to mean something else. The direction of next millennium is determined in this final quadrant of 2010, 2011 and 2012.
There's another little piece of information related to this that the group has spoken of before. I relate it to a concept a few years ago in the US where we focused on ensuring that all children had access to minimum standard of education. It was called "No child left behind."

The group applied that phrase to the ascension, calling it "No one left behind." In our past, specifically Atlantis and Lemuria, we had the opportunity to move into a higher vibrational reality, but we didn't understand how important it was to include everyone. This time we're doing it differently. This time we understand that we are here to help each other, no matter who that 'other' is.

What that means is that this consciousness shift and the creation of a new earth isn't exclusive to those who know it's coming. Earth is the creation of each and every one of us, whether we are consciously aware of what we are creating or not. Not everyone will choose the higher vibrational reality, but it is our joint work to ensure that all know that they can choose, and that those who choose will be supported in moving forward, and those who choose not will be allowed to follow their path, without judgement, as well. [For more see my blog entry for September 5 entitled Differences between 3d, 4d, and 5d particularly the last section "You Are Not Alone".

I say it often and it is so true—we are all in this together. We always have been. There is no 'us' and 'them', only 'us'. And it's the responsibility of each of us to remember that. It doesn't mean we need to get all 'preachy' with each other. If it means anything, it means the exact opposite of that. It means that we begin to stop judging each other, and allow and accept each other—and ourselves—just the way we are. More on that tomorrow. Stay tuned!

12.21.2009

A Message From Uriel

I thought this was an interesting little reminder from Archangel Uriel. It comes through Jennifer Hoffman at Uriel Heals:

The Gifts of Responsibility

The human experience is a gift that each of you has been blessed with, which allows you to express your creative powers in unlimited ways. There are many levels of experience in your dimension, that range from fear to love, pain to joy, and every other aspect of the earth's limitless energy.

When you believe that what you create in your life is all there is to this experience, you ignore the responsibility you undertake as creators, healers and transformers of the earth and its ascension. This responsibility is written in your soul contract, where you have agreed to use your gifts to heal and ascend on a universal level.

Your soul contract includes the responsibility to work with the energies you have brought with you, using the gifts you have been blessed with. Their use expands beyond your own healing work, they are to be expanded into their highest possible expression in the third dimension, which happens when you are aware of the responsibility of multi-dimensional healing you have agreed to.

You lead two lives, and each has a dimension of responsibility. On an individual level, you are on your own healing journey in your soul's experience of the third dimension. But as healers and teachers, you are on a multi-dimensional healing path, an agreement to participate in transformation and ascension on a universal level. All of your work extends beyond the third dimension, as you are ascending humanity's place in the Universe.

If you are empathic you feel the energies of others and know their pain, which can be so strong that you feel you must shield yourself from it so that it does not interfere with your own energies. But you feel this energy because it is also within the earth's matrix and your responsibility is to bring the light of higher dimensions to transform it into joy.

As healers you help heal energetic imbalances and traumas. Those who come to you for healing are also awakening you to the awareness that these energies also need to be healed within the earth's matrix. Send the energy of each healing to the earth's energetic matrix, which expands your transformation work and makes it available to all of humanity.

Each of you is a divine messenger of Source and your presence on earth at this time evokes your energetic healing which is also the earth's. This is your responsibility as multi-dimensional healers, as messengers of the divine heritage you all share.

Do not get stuck in the pain or trauma, it is merely an opening for transformation, a reminder to you of your role in the ascension process. Stay within your stillness, and claim your dominion over lower dimensional energies as one who is responsible for their transformation.

As keepers of the divine flame for humanity, you can transcend any experience, heal any trauma and manifest the earth's highest potential. This is your mission as multi-dimensional emissaries of light and truth. Heaven on earth arrives through the work that you do, with each energy you transmute and every level of healing you complete.
I want to add to this that you don't need to be a 'practicing' healer or teacher to be using your tools and doing what you came here to do. There are as many expressions of spirit as there are humans. Maybe your gift is through music, or through art, or through sports, or through being a loving and supportive friend or parent, or through the gift of laughter, or through running a business. Each being has a their own personal gift, and their own way of expressing it.

Know that we are all healers, mentors, and teachers, while also each being clients, patients, and students. In other words, we're all in this together. Just because your business card doesn't say "healer" or "teacher", just because you don't have clients, patients, or students, doesn't mean you aren't doing essential healing work. If you are here on Earth at this time, hearing the call of your Higher Self, seeking expansion and growth, you are right on track. Be encouraged by that—just by being here and being who you are you are doing important work.

Don't assume someone isn't 'doing their part' because you can't see what it is. And by the same token, don't feel like you aren't doing what you came here to do because your way doesn't match what others think is important or doesn't fit their definition of healing. Only you can know what makes your heart sing. Only you can know what inspires you to action. Trust your own knowing, your own path, and your own expression.

12.20.2009

Feel What You Feel

Sometimes, in our search for our Higher Selves, for ascension, for increased vibration, even bliss, we tend to forget that Spirit expresses itself through us, the human being birthed into physical reality on planet Earth. Sometimes we don't honor that human self so much, but instead attempt to transcend it into what we think of as something grander, holier, or more profound.

And that's where we get off track. We did not come here to transcend our humanness. We came here to be the human being that we chose to be, in every moment of every day. We came here to take Human to a new level of experience and discovery. To raise humanity to new levels, yes, but not to transcend human.

That concept is highlighted in this recent message from Story Waters at Evolving Truth.
The significance of becoming aware on all levels of what you are feeling cannot be overstated. What you seek, no matter what terms you may choose to express it in, is at its core a state of Self realization.

Whilst your realization may be your unity with all life, with All That Is, it is still a realization that births through the experience of You, and you are an experience of Self. You cannot take You out of the equation. You can not escape your Self and you do not need to. All that you seek is within You.
This ascension, this raise in global vibration, isn't about finding Spirit and leaving to go experience Nirvana. We can do that instantly once we're dead! This ascension is about BE-ing the very human that we are: honoring it, loving it, appreciating it, and BE-ing that human. Which also means honoring, loving, and appreciating all other humans too, whether we agree with them or not. It's about discovering the truth about who we are, even when that truth is painful. It's about feeling what we feel and not pretending that we don't—which is something that we, as a race, have become very good at.

Over the eons of time that the race of Man has been developing, we've experienced fighting with each other, we've experienced hatred, we've experienced lack, we've experienced uncounted numbers of atrocities that we've inflicted, one upon the other. There is no end to the dark side of mankind, of this we are well aware. So aware of it in fact, that we now try to pretend it doesn't exist.

Through what we think of as compassion we try to keep each other from experiencing what we think of as negative behavior, behavior that comes from 'the dark side.' Did you know that that actually isn't the most effective expression of compassion? A deeper expression of compassion is allowing others—and ourselves—to actually express the emotions that are there to be expressed. Emotions that, as a race, we have kept under wraps for thousands of years.

The time of burying our collective heads in the sand is over. It's time now to allow each other—including ourselves—to feel what we feel, and to stop pretending that we don't. To stop hiding from our feelings. Those feelings are what make Human Being what it is. It's time now for us to allow each other the freedom to feel how we feel and to express those feelings.

Kinda scary if you think about it, isn't it? to think about what might happen if we each allowed each other to actually feel, to actually connect with, to express, emotions that we've been hiding from for so long. At the game of hide and seek from our emotions we have no equal! But the way to our freedom as a race of beings doesn't come from hiding. It comes from seeking, from expressing, and finally, from accepting. It comes from being Who We Really Are, in all our upset—and in all our joy. Because sometimes it isn't just the negative emotions we hide from, it's the wonderful and loving emotions as well.

There's an interesting phenomenon that happens once a feeling has been experienced in all its richness, a magical thing that you might not be aware of. When an emotion is fully experienced, fully expressed, that emotion doesn't just go away, it becomes transmuted. Changed. No longer is it hiding in the deep recesses of our being pressing for release, causing havoc with our psyche because we won't acknowledge it. Feeling and expressing emotions is an important part of healing, and important part of being.

This is it, my friends. This is the lifetime where we get to experience, and eventaully accept, fully and completely, who we are and who we've been, so that who we are becoming is free to actually be. As long as emotions are roiling under the surface, unexpressed and unaccepted, we aren't free at all. As you are well aware, freedom doesn't come from without, it comes from within. And it starts with feeling what we feel and no longer pretending that we don't.

12.18.2009

Expect Your Dreams to Come True

Today's message comes via our friend Maja at The Smiling Soul. Thanks for your wonderful and inspirational messages Maja!
Expect your every need to be met, expect the answer to every problem, expect abundance on every level, expect to grow spiritually. You are not living by human laws. Expect miracles and see them take place. Hold ever before you the thought of prosperity and abundance, and know that doing so sets in motion forces that will bring it into being.

~Eileen Caddy
When Eileen Caddy says "You are not living by human laws" she's referring to the 4D/5D reality that we are creating. We live in that new reality when we focus outside of what we think of as reality. So when you happen to notice that that which you expect has not yet manifested, that is not the time to switch back into 3D thinking .. "I can't, it won't, it hasn't, when will it come, why has it not?!"

Instead, continue to hold in your heart the knowing that all which you seek is being made manifest. Feel it as a knowing, as a done deal, and steadfastly refuse to allow yourself to slip back into the 'reality' that greets your human eyes in any moment in time. That moment is based on your past thoughts and beliefs—what you are building with your current thoughts and beliefs is your future. That future is closer than you think, far closer. But don't hold it out in your future, feel it in your Now. Lose yourself in the feeling of what it is like to live in the reality of that which you want. Remember to feel your way into a new world vision as well!

Refrain from trying to figure out how it's all going to happen. Simply luxuriate in the feel of having what you want, and allow the universe to fulfill those desires. Follow your impulses, intuitions, and inspirations, as tiny and fleeting as they might be. Who knows what you might set into motion with a simple smile!

12.16.2009

The Awaken to One Alliance

I want to take a moment to thank and appreciate Darrell Johnson of Awaken to One Alliance (Ato1) for the work he and his organization are doing as a vehicle for spiritual and social change, and for inviting me, through this blog, to contribute to that venue.

Here's how Darrell describes Awaken to One:
The Awaken to One Alliance is not a religion or spiritual path, but a grassroots movement designed to simply acknowledge a conscious and open declaration and call to action for an awakening of our true selves, and the resulting catharsis that such an awakening can bring. A to 1 is about you, for you, and with you. We do not ascribe to any set belief system; ours is only the recognition and search for universal truth, wherever that truth may lead. We welcome people from all beliefs and theological backgrounds and are open to the unique perspectives that these belief systems can bring. No one has the bank on total truth, but the Awaken to One Alliance believes that we can all benefit from diverse perspectives that may be different from our own.

The Awaken to One Alliance is about you, and we need and appreciate your input. This is a partnership and dedication to the true understanding of ourselves and our relationship with our Creator. Whether the perspective is scientific, theological, philosophical, or empirical, we welcome you on this important journey whose import is nothing short of essential to mankind’s survival. If you have a specific question or inquiry, please e-mail us at info@awakento1.org.
I'm pleased and honored to be a part of the Ato1 family, and excited about where we are going—as individuals, as a community, and as a world.

I invite you to take a few moments to visit the Awaken to One site and see what Darrell has put together!

Tiger Woods .. What Did We Learn?

I don't normally respond to current events and what people are discussing, because that's not where the joy in life lies for me. But life is, afterall, about choices, and we seem to be making some interesting choices about how we see this social debacle called Tiger Woods and His Infidelity. The media has their spin on the whole mess, and each individual has theirs.

I was curious to see if anyone had the same take on this 'Tiger hoopla' as I do, so I started reading both media comments and general public comments. I perused hundreds of posts on half a dozen different web sites. I read until I could stand to read not another single comment. In all those posts I could find no other who saw the things I did, though a few did offer up a few compassionate 'leave the poor guy alone' comments. Note that I didn't find any word about Tiger at all on the web sites I commonly frequent .. no surprise there. :p

Still curious, I asked my daughter "what did we learn from Tiger Woods and the events surrounding him this past week?" At first she replied "not to be adulterous?" Given the more or less exasperated look on my face she must have realized that was not the response I was looking for. Searching deeper she replied "that he's human?"

That he's human. Which is indeed, in my opinion, exactly what was/is there to be learned. Despite common opinions about Tiger Woods and the stirred-up emotions around him, the real issue isn't infidelity. It isn't whether he did something or didn't do something. It isn't about privacy or one's right to privacy. It isn't about endorsements. It isn't about any of that, though the media circus that has busses, trailers and reporters huddled around his home 'compound' would have us believe otherwise. It has to do with being human. If we can boil each other down to an essence, to the one thing we all have in common here on this planet in all our third dimensional glory, it is that we are all human.

Being Human, at this moment in time, means that we are all subject to the same duality, the same polarity, the same density, the same karmic laws, the same societal judgements, the same habits, the same patternings, the same blind reactions, the same history. All of us. You and I, and you and I and Tiger, are not so different after all, are we? Because he plays golf better than we do, better arguably than anyone alive, what does that mean exactly? It means this: It means he plays golf really well. That's what it means. That's all that it means.

Does it mean Tiger is faithful to his wife? Does it mean he ought to be? Does it mean we have a right to judge him for his life, for his choices? Tiger's wife might care, Tiger might care, but to anyone else—anyone else—it really does not matter. At all. Those are questions the rest of us don't get to ask. Why would we even want to?

There are so many wake-up calls being sounded at this time that Tiger's is only a tiny example among many. The question is, when are we going to stop trying to live each other's life and start focusing on our own? We are so astounded that Tiger "could do such a thing" .. why? Because now that he's so clearly demonstrated that he's a human being like the rest of us—and not the icon of perfection that he has been made out to be, even paid to be—all of a sudden we can no longer count on him to tell us which clothing line to wear? which car to drive? which razor to shave with? which burger to eat or soda to drink? what sports equipment to use? Why do we entrust any human being—other than ourself—with such power?

Isn't it time we stopped expecting other people to make our decisions for us, and instead make and take responsibility for our own? Isn't it time we stopped expecting each other, any other, to not be the human being that we/they are? Might we want to raise the standard of what it means to be human? Absolutely! But ridicule and denigrate those who have that very human side exposed to the rest of us? No. Follow along blindly when the media decides to cash in on some drama that's unfolding? No. Isn't it time we started deciding for ourselves what to think, what to do, how to behave?

It's really so simple, but we can't see it until we step out of duality, out of right and wrong, out of good and bad, out of shoulds and oughtas, and allow each other to live the life that we each came here to live. We came here to help Earth and everything and everyone on her to ascend to a higher vibration. We came here to live our human lives as the Spirit that we are. We came here to enjoy life, to enjoy being human, to enjoy Earth and to enjoy each other. We did not come here to tell each other how to live, nor did we come here to tell each other what to do, or what not to do. Those are decisions each individual makes for themselves.

Living life is what we each do, according to our own desires, our own inspiration, our own choices. Let us now—right now—determine to allow each other to do that in joy and in love, even when another's life doesn't look like we think it should. Let us take responsibility for our own life, our own choices and nothing more. Let us honor each other by allowing all of us to do the same, without foisting upon each other—or even ourselves—our righteous indignation.

If we learn nothing else from watching Tiger writhe under public scrutiny, let us learn that we are the most amazing, most wonderful, most interesting, most exciting species to grace physical reality in all of our Universe. We are all Human, and we really are all the same. Tiger is me. Tiger is you. You are me. I am you. Can we not love and allow each other the space to express what it means to be human, without judgement and without blame? I say we can.

In fact, I'm going to say something bold here. I'm going to say that despite what it looks like in the media and through common indicators, that we already are, by intent and by action, giving each other the space to be human, creating and moving into a unified future. It might not look like it, but looks can be deceiving. Just because raising consciousness doesn't get press, and those who are raising consciousness don't respond to drama, doesn't mean amazing and wonderful things aren't happening. They are! Isn't it exciting to be a part of that?

12.15.2009

You Are The Artist of Your Life

We talk a lot about the concept of "you create your own reality", and for many of us—potentially all of us from time to time—that's a hard concept to even contemplate, let alone accept. And yet it's true. We do create our reality, even though we often don't understand it, and can have difficulty accepting it.

Here's a YouTube video from Allen and April Crawford. This video is one of many where April channels Veronica, who talks openly and frankly on topics like this reality and our place in creating it. If you have trouble accepting the idea that you create your reality, let this be a way to help you see the truth in it. If you already accept that concept, let this be a reminder about what a powerful creator you are!

And remember too ... you truly are god in your own universe, you just aren't the only god. *grin*

12.14.2009

Raising the Ceiling

From the Pleiadian Collective through Wendy Kennedy at Higher Frequencies:
Moving yourself into the higher vibrations is ... like holding up the ceiling. After awhile the others realize that the ceiling has been raised and that they’ve been bending over for a long time, but now they can stand up.

12.13.2009

Enjoy the Ride!


I love this reminder from Steve Rother's 'The group' about 'the meaning of life on Earth' and what we're here for. This piece is part of a Beacons of Light message given in July 2007 entitled "The Dark Side of Light".
You came here with a purpose. You came here with a vibrational tone which is unique within you and that you carried from Home with the greatest possibility of sharing it with others. Find that tone. Do not worry about how you make a living at it. Do not worry about how your friends are going to accept it. Do not worry about whether or not people are going to call you “woo-woo”, which is one of the Keeper’s favorite words [they refer to Steve as "The Keeper"].

Look at a way that you can express it, for you will then be the mirror of god. You will then start to see well beyond the limitations of the field of duality and the field of polarity. You will begin seeing things as they really are, to start embracing every aspect of life.

If you had one phrase to describe the meaning of life on Earth it would be “Enjoy the Ride”. What if we told you that you were here to have fun, laugh and play? What if we told you that you were here to enjoy the ride every step of the way? Well, we are telling you that again now. That is when you become the highest use to the universe that you can be.

When you smile, when you laugh, you become the same vibration as the angels. Laughter is the language of the angels. That is how we communicate. That is how we communicate with you, and when you notice that all of your belief systems temporarily go away when you laugh and you come down to what is real, that reality is beautiful.

See that in each other. Find ways of sharing that with each other. Find ways of expressing that through your stories, through your music, through your artwork through every piece of your vibration. Dare to push yourselves beyond the limitations of light and dark to see the absolute incredible beauty in the truth of the color of god.

12.12.2009

Acceptance Is Key

This reminder comes from Suzan Caroll at Multidimensions:
Unconditional love does not favor the simple or the grand. It simply IS. Just as quantum light can only be perceived when you look at it, unconditional love can only be perceived when you accept it.
It's such a simple concept that it almost boggles the mind, and it yet applies to everything that we experience. It explains why we can each take a different experience away from the same event or circumstance, and why we can shower others with love and affection and yet they may still feel unloved.

So .. you can't feel love until you accept it. But there's an interesting corollary to that—you can't feel hate either, until you accept it. Given that you are the all-powerful god-creator that you are .. what will you accept into the reality of your being today, and what will you simply smile at and let go?

12.11.2009

The Importance of Individual Choice

In Lynne McTaggart's recent blog article "The Power of the Group: Beyond Mob Rule" she covers the topic of group power, where and how it goes wrong. Lynn asks "Why do large groups of seemingly civilized, kindly, and moral people perpetrate acts of inhumanity?"

She discusses a few of the ground-breaking psychological experiments from our past, like Stanley Milgram's 'Milgram Experiment' about teachers and learners, and Philip Zimbardo's 'Stanford Prison Experiment.' It's a powerful post, well worth reading. For convenience I'm including Lynn's post in full, below.

The question is, what did these tests prove? They proved something extraordinary, the knowing of which can lead us into the world that we want to see - one of peace, joy, unity, and full responsibility. The experiments taught us that, as Lynn states, "ordinary people would place obedience to authority (‘I was just following orders’) above their own moral values under certain circumstances".

This is the lesson that we are here, at this time to learn. If we are to create the kind of world that many of us are striving to create, we must begin in the chair in which we sit. No longer is it appropriate to follow orders that don't ring true with our own hearts, no matter what the consequences. We are at our most powerful when connected to a group, yet we must always be aware of our individual responsibility and the choices we are making.

Yet there is something else to know .. and that is that we, as individuals, cannot make these choices for each other. If someone feels that following along a path where you personally would not go is the right thing for them, we must allow them the freedom to make that choice. Even if that someone is our child, or our spouse, or our friend. It is the responsibility of each of us as individuals to determine where our heart is leading us, and to allow others—indeed encourage others—to do the same. We each have the individual right, the individual responsibility, to follow the path of our own heart.

The Power of the Group: beyond mob rule
November 6th, 2009 by spiralmedia (Lynne McTaggart)

Because I am interested in the power of the group and the power of group thought, lately I’ve been investigating why and under what conditions this occasionally goes horribly wrong. Why do large groups of seemingly civilized, kindly and moral people perpetrate acts of inhumanity?

Under what mindset did many ordinary German people agree to be, as Daniel Goldhagen put it, ‘Hitler’s willing executioners’? What can be conditions under which inhabitants of the Balkans feel justified in carrying out systematic rape and the destruction of entire communities? Is there a mob psychology that takes over, prompting an otherwise loving person take up a machete and use it to slaughter women and children in Africa?

What, Joan Didion famously asked, makes Iago evil? Is evil inherent in the person or inherent in the social context?

During the 1961 trial of Adolph Eichmann, the American historian Hannah Arendt concluded that far from being a dysfunctional psychopath, Eichmann was, to all intents and purposes, shockingly ordinary.

Evil, she posited, is utterly banal, capable of being committed not by the crazed and lunatic but by the unremarkable: even the most civilized among us — the happily-married, two-kids-and-two-cars regularly-churchgoing neighbor — can turn into a sadistic crazy when given social support and a legitimatizing ideology, such as Nazism.

Shocking findings
One of the people fascinated by Arendt’s then explosive thesis was Yale University social psychologist named Stanley Milgram who created one of the most famous experiments examining this question. He’d created a study in which an actor, posing as the ‘Learner’ in an experiment, was subjected to memory tests. If he got any answers wrong, the participants in the experiment — the Teachers — were told to deliver shocks of increasing severity to the participant.

In actual fact, the Learner did not receive real shocks, nevertheless he responded convincingly as though he had. The extraordinary finding of his experiment was that every last one of the 40 Teachers had been willing to administer shocks of 300 volts and two-thirds prepared to order the full voltage of 450-volt shocks, even though the Learner was heard to scream out in agony, complain of a bad heart condition and repeatedly demand to be released from the study.

Milgram had designed the study so that his participants were both repeatedly ‘ordered’ to continue meting out ‘punishment’ and absolved of any blame for what happened. The experimenter would take ultimate responsibility if the Learner got ill or died.

Milgram concluded that Arendt was right: ordinary people would placed obedience to authority (‘I was just following orders’) above their own moral values under certain circumstances.

Mob rule
Perhaps the most famous study of in relation to the dynamics of groups and ‘mob rule’ was carried out in 1971, the Stanford Prison Experiment. Stanford University psychologist Philip Zimbardo created a mock prison in which a group of nice, middle-class university students, especially screened to be the most psychologically stable of all those who’d volunteered, were assigned the roles of guards or prisoners, with Zimbardo taking in the role of prison supervisor.

The Palo Alto police were cued to ‘arrest’ the students and fingerprint them, and they were given humiliating clothing to wear, referred to only by number and made to follow endless arbitrary orders and punishments in order to mimic the dehumanizing aspects of prison.

The experiment quickly got out hand. The student guards became more and more sadistic, refusing to allow the prisoners to urinate or defecate, or to empty the sanitation bucket, forcing them to sleep on concrete, placing them in a closet deemed to be ‘solitary confinement’, and finally subjecting them to degrading and pornographic violence. What’s more, the prisoner students accepted their humiliating treatment. At least one third of the guards were judged to have exhibited true ‘sadistic’ tendencies; many of the prisoners were left emotionally traumatized by the experience.

Although it had been planned for two weeks, the study had to be halted after six days.

Zimbardo’s conclusion was that his prison experiment had all the hallmarks of mob rule: that when people assemble into groups and are given power over other groups, they cannot resist behaving sadistically.

These two pivotal studies have been cited in all the decades since in psychology classes as proof positive that groups have an automatic Lord-of-the-Flies effect, causing people to shed their moral judgment, even their humanity.

The BBC Experiment
In 2002, Alexander Haslam, a professor of social psychology at Britain’s University of Exeter and Stephen Reicher, social psychologist at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, wished to revisit these ideas and recreate the Stanford University experiment.

Funded and filmed by the British Broadcasting Company (and eventually shown on TV as The Experiment) the two researchers created an elaborate prison, and again randomly divided a group of men into two groups as either prisoners or guards.

Nevertheless, this time, unlike Milgram or Zimbardo, the experimenters did not in any way attempt to influence the participants’ actions. So crucially they did not provide the defining ideology – or justification for cruelty.

Over eight days, the experimenters were witness to stunning developments. Although the prisoners, the ones with less power and privilege, were initially demoralized, over time the group dynamics shifted.

As the prisoners developed a sense of shared identity, they began to function effectively as a group and also increasingly enjoyed improved morale and mental well-being.

Shared identity
Shared identity ultimately led to improved effectiveness and even health, with low levels of cortisol – the hormone pumped by the body in times of stress. As time wore on, the prisoners became stronger, happier and empowered.

The guards, on the other hand, who had not bonded as a group, became increasingly dispirited and powerless, exhibiting high levels of cortisol.

Eventually the prisoners staged a breakout and the authority of the guards collapsed. After the coup, everyone — guards and prisoners — spontaneously agreed to form a system of greater equality: what they termed a ‘self-governing, self-disciplining commune’.

The experiment would have ended on a happy note, but the idyll didn’t last. After the group began doubting their ability to enforce the commune, the organization of the group soon began to fall apart.

Tyranny re-established
At this point, some members of the guards and prisoners began to plan a new ‘coup’ in which they would take over, re-establish a line between prisoners and guards, and establish more authoritarian order. They even requested black berets and black sunglasses to reinforce their images of a you-talkin-to-me bad ass.

Those in the commune didn’t fight back, but were in such disarray that they, too, were willing to agree to a system of tyranny again. At this point, fearing another Stanford experiment situation, Haslem and Reicher ended the experiment.

Haslem and Reicher are very clear about what they observed.

Nevertheless, tyranny was not inherent once people formed a group; it was displayed because of the failure of the groups, first the failure of the guards to form a collective bond and then the failure of the entire group to create the equalitarian commune they’d imagined.

While the prisoners had successfully fought off some relatively minor inequalities at the start of the experiment, by the end they were willing to embrace and even support tyranny because they did not enforce their collective utopian ideal.

Although the researchers believe tyranny is a product of group processes, not individual pathology, they disagree about the nature of it.

“From our standpoint, people do not lose their minds in groups, do not helplessly succumb to the requirements of their roles and do not automatically abuse collective power. Instead they identify with groups only when it makes sense to do so.’

The individual inside the group
Groups — our neighborhoods and towns, our religious affiliations and political parties, even our countries, in every sense — determine and justify what we do.

Cohesive groups are extraordinarily strengthening — indeed necessary for our survival.

Even as a beleaguered group, the BBC prisoners remained robustly immune to treatment by the guards — so long as they could connect with others in the same boat. In fact, the more they were oppressed as a group, the stronger they became.

The bottom line is that every group creates a collective culture — whether of hate or love — but every individual in the group helps to create that culture and has a responsibility.

What is important is establishing and maintaining the we’re-all-in-this-together cohesion of the group, but then taking a good long look at its values to ensure that it does not stand for oppression of anyone.

Because you are a Republican does not give you the right to behave badly to a Democrat. Because you are Israeli does not absolve you from humane treatment of a Palestinian — and vice versa.

And that’s where your individual responsibility takes over.

12.10.2009

When All Hell Breaks Loose

Abraham is asked from time to time “Is it normal for all hell to break loose in our lives when we begin this work?” and Abraham’s answer is always “Absolutely!” which makes everyone laugh and giggle.

However, when ‘all hell’ is breaking loose in our own lives, it’s not so funny, and it’s not so easy to accept either. As we continue to work on holding a higher vibration we wonder why, out of what seems to be nowhere, upsetting things happen. “Man alive!” we think, “I’m doing everything I know how to do to be happy and joyful and loving, to have fun and keep positive, loving thoughts, and this shit just keeps happening! wth??”

I know for myself that sometimes it’s just plain exasperating to be feeling like I’m doing so well—feeling connected, looking for joy in every circumstance, remembering that we are all sparks of god and all connected—and then have a situation erupt around me or to me that has me reeling in upset. It makes me wonder what I’m doing wrong.

The truth is, when that happens we aren’t doing anything wrong, instead we’re doing things very very right.

Think about it .. this is the time when we are integrating and releasing issues we’ve carried around in our humanness for many many lifetimes. Only that which is of the highest vibration can move into the higher dimensions; which means that anything that is fear-based cannot. So any experience that is fear based must be acknowledged and released. Though we can peek into past lifetimes—and many do—to see what might need healing, we don’t have to. This lifetime will bring into our awareness everything—and I mean everything—that needs healing.

We are grand creators, and if there are things we’ve been hiding from, or ignoring, or pretending aren’t there, we will, when we are ready to acknowledge, appreciate, and accept these as our own creations, bring them into the present moment.

We project those things that need healing out into our physical reality where we can see them in all their glory (or upset!), and oftentimes others willingly participate to both help us and help themselves. We project these things into our reality so that we can see them .. because if we don’t see them we don’t know they’re there. If we don’t know they’re there, we won’t be able to integrate them. If we don’t integrate them we can’t move forward.

Each experience that presents itself as upsetting, terrifying, anger producing, blame making, or any similar negative emotion is simply us agreeing to see, up close and personal so to speak, that which we wish to heal. All there is to do, in that moment of upset, is to take responsibility for having brought that event or experience into our life. In essence, that means viewing it from a different perspective.

We may not know how we’ve brought an experience into our reality, or why, but if we can accept, fully and completely, that we did, we have access to releasing it. Just knowing that it’s there and accepting it as our own creation is enough. Awareness is everything. If you don’t know there’s broken glass on the floor you can’t clean it up, and hence risk stepping on a shard each time you walk in that area. The same is true of that which we desire to heal: if we don’t know it’s there, we risk being hurt by it each time we venture into that area of our life.

So the next time you’re confronted with an upsetting experience out of what seems to be left field, congratulate yourself for your growth. Know that it’s because you are growing that these experiences are coming into your life—on deep levels you are inviting them. If you weren’t raising and holding higher and higher vibrations your life wouldn’t be changing. It’s A Good Thing™!

As Connee Chandler has said,
I trust that my Inner Being always takes me from where I am now, by the shortest route, to where I most want to be. And the shortest route doesn't always go through the nicest neighborhood.
So true!

12.09.2009

Give .. Yes! But Remember to Receive

Now that "the giving season" is upon us, I thought it might be time to remind ourselves that while it's important and heart-warming to give, it's no less important or heart-warming to receive.

For those of us who grew up in an environment where hard work and 'making it on your own' were both modeled and expected, receiving isn't necessarily all that easy. For others, we have such a caring and loving spirit that giving is quite natural, while in receiving we feel unworthy or undeserving - as if we haven't done enough to deserve to be given to.

If you feel that way about receiving, it's time to give it up. We are all sparks of god. Yes, even you! We are already deserving, we are already worthy. There is nothing you or I or anyone else needs to do, only what we want to do. "But .. but .. but .." I hear you thinking! There are no 'buts' .. you are already worthy. You are already deserving. There is nothing you need to do to earn love, you already have it, you already are it.

Sometimes too, when we fail to allow ourselves to receive, we don't think about the pleasure we deny others who desire to give to us. In our false humility we deny ourselves the pleasure of being given to, and we deny those who wish to give to us the pleasure of giving. It's true that giving comes from the heart. What we tend to forget is that receiving also comes from the heart.

So this holiday season, if you have trouble allowing others to give to you, begin opening that up for yourself, then carry that feeling forward into your future. You can start small if you want to - allow people to open doors for you, or give you their seat on the bus, or step aside so that you may pass, or give you their spot in the check-out line.

When someone gives to you, look them in the eye and feel the generosity that they bestowed on you, no matter how small. Honor them by accepting their gift, and appreciate them by thanking them, even with just a heartfelt smile. Allow others to complete the connection of giving, by you being willing to receive. If you have had trouble receiving, this will open up a whole new world of feeling for you.

A similar message, relating to asking as well as receiving, comes from Lee Harris at Limitlessness. The full message is available on his new website, Lee Harris Energy.

Among other things, Lee said:
More than ever this year, there has been a growing experience of helping each other through the rough times. So many on earth have been challenged by finance, loss, life circumstances, relationship changes or shock (or all of the above), so the masks of ‘difference’ between us have come down and people have needed to ask for help more than ever before and ‘connect’ with others.

It can be difficult to ask for help if you are sensitive or you are used to being the one to give, as you can feel you have nothing to offer those who are helping you. But remember it is all about receiving now if you have been a giver for a long while. And don’t forget how good it feels for others to give to you (think of yourself giving to your loved ones here) so don’t deny people around you that experience if they offer it.
Love is a wheel and where we give it out, we will receive it from others. They may not always be the people we have given our love and energy to, but the magic of the universe keeps this energy moving and flowing between us all. And it will scoop you up when times become hard and remind you that there is always a doorway for you.

This wave of energy and giving is simply the expression of our love for one another, and that is a beautiful thing. You see it every day, in the smile from a shop assistant or a shared smile with another person on the bus. Intimacy is everywhere. We just have to open to it and see it.



This collective ‘challenging time’ these past couple of years is no random occurrence. This was always part of the plan for our evolution. We are all equal as human beings, no matter what our experience or supposed persona in life is. When we help each other, we remember this.

So this month, open to the divine within the human, for it is appearing more and more every day. People are expressing love, honesty, trust and intimacy in bigger and bigger ways. 


12.07.2009

What Is Compassion?

Sal Rachelle wrote this interesting piece about what compassion is in 2005, and it continues to be eye-opening and relevant.

We tend to think of compassion as completely loving and accepting .. and it is. But compassion doesn't always look like we think it does. Tough love can be an expression of compassion, and allowing can mean intervention. Allowing can also mean doing nothing. It all depends on listening to our guidance from within. When we listen to our guidance from within we raise ourselves from simple compassion to compassion with wisdom.

Here's what Sal had to say about Compassion:

Exploring Compassion

What is true compassion? If we look at the lives of those who seem to have touched a great many souls, what do we find in common? Is it the level of caring and empathy for others? Not really. There are numerous people who care deeply and feel the suffering and misery of the downtrodden, yet seem powerless to do much about it. That’s not the vital ingredient here. Is it the ability to have a great oratory and be convincing? Well, that might help, but there seem to be an awful lot of successful marketers and salesmen out there who haven’t done much to heal the planet. No, that’s not it either. Is it the desire to do good? Well, again that may be a factor, but there are plenty of social workers and activists adding their voice to the chorus of dissent, while the problems seem to continue unabated. That’s not the whole picture.

What sets aside the true healer from the crowd of sincere, but relatively powerless aspirants? What is the magic ingredient that formulates true compassion? What makes Mother Theresa any different than the social worker next to her at the soup kitchen? It’s not the level of concern for our fellow humans. It’s not one’s ability to appeal to the masses (although that helps). It’s not even one’s knowledge of the human condition.

True compassion arises when one’s life is totally and completely turned over to the power and presence of God Within. Power and effectiveness in healing arises when one comes from the center of one’s being, instead of from mind and ego. Having an open heart is only part of the equation. Being able to use the mind and other subtle faculties of being is also important. But having true spiritual understanding is essential.

We have six lower bodies (or aspects): Physical, emotional, mental, astral, etheric and causal. If any one of these aspects is out of balance or dormant, we are not truly in our center of power. Without being in our center, our actions are not in complete integrity. There is always a hidden “agenda” behind our actions. It may be an obvious motive, such as money, fame, or outer “power”, or it may be more subtle, such as the need for approval, outer “love”, ego strokes, or the desire to please God.

What Compassion Isn't

One of the biggest stumbling blocks to becoming truly compassionate is the attachment to a belief system regarding what service is supposed to look like. We think that unless we live a life of austerity, piety or activism, we are not being truly compassionate. We berate ourselves for seeking personal pleasure or idle delights, or feel uncomfortable meditating or praying quietly because “we are not out there enough.” Or perhaps we think we must be perfectly clear and calm all the time, with no anger or sadness. Was Jesus angry when he turned over the tables in the temple? Obviously. Are there numerous accounts where he wept? Absolutely. Being compassionate does not mean denying emotions that don’t fit the image of kindness. However, it does mean not being controlled by those emotions.

We need to let God Within decide the most appropriate way of expressing our love for self and others. When we “let go and let God,” our actions may reflect “tough love” “intervention” or “non-intervention.” We may give financially, or we may not. We may travel to foreign countries to help out, or we may not. We may become vocal and involved in social issues, or we may not. We cannot judge the outer actions as a basis for measuring compassion. In fact, we cannot judge at all. Judgment is the opposite of compassion. If we see so much as one human being as less deserving of love than any other human being, we are not there. Does Hitler deserve love any less than Gandhi? Of course, this does not mean we condone the actions of terrorists. It only means we see beyond the outer façade to the core being within.

The Osamas and Saddams of the world are not going to go away because we build more bombs, send more troops, or pass more judgment. Every soul is a reflection of the composite consciousness of humankind, to some degree. Where are we not in total acceptance within our own hearts? In what way are we contributing to the problems we see around us? What is the “outer” world reflecting back to us? If we go deeply enough into these questions, we realize that there is a part of Osama or Saddam within each of us. We can then learn to unconditionally love that aspect of ourselves and bring it into alignment with the rest of our being.

Listening Within

We have many alternate “selves” existing in time, space and beyond. Eventually, we must reclaim those selves and bring them into alignment with our total being. Some call this “soul retrieval” or “recovering past lives” or “self-integration.” As we bring more and more of our Self into God’s Love, compassion is a natural byproduct. We perform service because it feels right, and it becomes no big deal. We say exactly what needs to be said to help a fellow traveler along. We begin to realize all is in Divine Perfection, and always has been. And that is when change actually begins to happen. If we can truly see the perfection in what is going on in the world, we can begin to heal that which is out of balance.

The paradox is that we are completely perfect, just as we are, and yet being in 3D bodies on Earth, we are all prone to errors of perception and unresolved issues somewhere within our being. However, we do not need to let our imperfections get in the way of realizing our innate perfection. God is not finished with us yet. We are the outer expressions of God and God is still evolving. That’s right, God is continually expanding and radiating outward into new experiences and forms. Let’s forgive ourselves and move on. Sure, we made errors, but let’s not make the mistake of viewing our shortcomings as sins or flaws in our being. We are not flawed. We are as perfect today as the day we were created. Our eternal innocence will never change. To quote “A Course In Miracles,” we are as God created us. God created us as compassionate and loving. And so it is.