A Grandfather Tree spoke to me...

While in the mountains, I once met an ancient and gnarled Grandfather tree. We spoke a long time, often in whispers, so no one else could hear. He told me tales of wisdom. He said many trees are dying now, their roots are not deep enough to reach water because the earth has grown hotter. His roots are so deep, he can always drink, so he sends healing energy to the earth and other trees, but he cannot save them all. I thanked him and promised I will not forget him and that his stories will continue to grow within me

St. John of the Cross

Perhaps you will find this as beautiful and meaningful as I do...

Verses on the Ecstasy of Deep Contemplation

Translated from the Spanish poem

by San Juan de la Cruz (St. John of the Cross) 1542-1591

I entered where I never knew,

and I was left without knowing,

transcending all knowledge.

I never knew where I was entering,

but when I found myself there,

without knowing where I was,

I understood important matters.

I don’t say what I felt,

for I was left without knowing,

transcending all knowledge.

It was the perfect knowledge of peace and piety,

a straight road well understood in deep solitude.

It was something so secret that I was left babbling,

transcending all knowledge.

I was drawn into it,

so absorbed and taken out of myself,

that my feeling was left devoid of all feeling

and my mind was endued with an understanding

by not understanding,

transcending all knowledge.

He who really reaches that point

faints away from himself, he scorns

all that he formerly knew;

and his knowledge increases so much

that he is left without knowing,

transcending all knowledge.

The higher one rises, the less one understands

what the shadowy cloud is

which brightens the night;

therefore he knows

it remains ever unknowing,

transcending all knowledge.

This unknowing knowledge is of such great power

that the scholars can never overcome it by arguing:

for their knowledge does not extend

to this non-understanding

transcending all knowledge.

And this highest way of knowing

is so completely superior

that there is no university

or science that can attempt it:

he who can overcome himself

by a knowing non-knowing will always be

transcending.

And if you want to listen, this highest knowledge

consists of a heightened perception of

the Divine Essence; it is a result of His mercy

to leave one not understanding,

transcending all knowledge.

Original name Juan de Yepes y Álvarez, (born June 24, 1542, Fontiveros, Spain—died December 14, 1591, Ubeda; canonized 1726; feast day December 14), one of the greatest Christian mystics and Spanish poets, doctor of the church, reformer of Spanish monasticism, and cofounder of the contemplative order of Discalced Carmelites. He is a patron saint of mystics and contemplatives and of Spanish poets.

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-John-of-the-Cross

The Colors we need...

The Moone Toone, Hirth Martinez

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBCLJ754qc0

Full Moon of Guru Purnima

Composed Sunday, July 29, 2007

Yesterday I washed my soft pink towels with something blue. Oops. 

Now I have soft blue towels. It must be what I need just now—to wrap myself in blue softness.

How perfect life is when we can accept what is. No resisting. 

No thinking pink should be pink when it is clearly blue.

Life is a painting that gives us just the colors we need.

Song of Solomon, Poetry for the Soul

 

Book of Hebrews

1. Song of Solomon 2:8-14
   Look! Listen! There’s my lover! Do you see him coming? Vaulting the mountains, leaping the hills. My lover is like a gazelle, graceful; like a young stag, virile. Look at him there, on tiptoe at the gate, all ears, all eyes—ready! My lover has arrived and he’s speaking to me! 

   The Man

   Get up, my dear friend, fair and beautiful lover—come to me! Look around you: Winter is over; the winter rains are over, gone! Spring flowers are in blossom all over. The whole world’s a choir—and singing! Spring warblers are filling the forest with sweet strains. Lilacs are exuberantly purple and perfumed, and cherry trees fragrant with blossoms. Oh, get up, dear friend, my fair and beautiful lover—come to me! Come, my shy and modest dove— leave your seclusion, come out in the open. Let me see your face, let me hear your voice. For your voice is soothing and your face is ravishing.

Gurdjieff

Bee Keeper

Free will is the function of the Master within us. Our ‘will’ is the supremacy of one desire over another. —Gurdjieff

Be Fascinated with the Light

"It is my responsibility all alone to work on myself, to change myself, to uplift myself, regardless of how that affects any other human being. It is my responsibility to be true to truth alone, not to any other human being and not even my own elementary immature nature.

If it is possible for a human being to invite a divine power into his life, into her life, in which the human being could go through life without bumping into things, without getting hurt, if that is possible why isn't everyone in the world eagerly seeking this power in order to have it do the work for him so that their life might be peaceful?"-Be Fascinated with the Light, Vernon Howard talk.

Enduring HUMILIATION

HOW HUMILIATION HEALS 

Are you aware of your ability to make decisions in favor of yourself?  Decide to end inner conflict, then give no thought to the consequences of the decision. It is strange how a turn towards trueness arouses uncertainty. We insist upon fearing our own freedom! What we fear is the humiliation of all that has given us name and position, but it is the very crumbling of name and position that sets us free, for they were unconscious chains. 

Humiliation can be compared to an actor suddenly caught by the audience without his costume. It hurts for a moment, but then he remembers the man under the costume. By permitting total humiliation, we permit it to destroy the fantasy, leaving only the liberating fact." 

If we will repeatedly suffer the humiliation of admitting that we really do not know what we are talking about, eventually we will.—Vernon Howard

Susanne Sundfør songs

Susanne Sundfør - Reincarnation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4cpyFAHEmI

Do you believe in reincarnation? 'Cause I thought I saw your soul Flashing and dancing on the horizon Shades of jade and emerald Oh, I'm a bad girl 'cause I turned the bad world Into a crystal pearl And we were loveless, oh, it was pure bliss Something I've never felt before I might be crazy, but baby, lately I don't believe the news They say it's ending to stop pretending To start looking for the clues A glass cylinder where we can linger Let me take us to the stars I won't be missing your tender kissing 'Cause the light will wipe out all the scars.

Susanne Sundfør - No One Believes In Love Anymore

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSRUxacE9nU

No one believes in love anymore They throw away the keys, no one knocked on the door No one knocked on the door, knocked on the door You reap what you sow, no one knocked on the door Pain is pleasure and then just pain Chasing the thunder and lost in the rain You are lost in the rain, lost in the rain Yourself to blame, you are lost in the rain The skin so enticing, the thrill of the sting Then drops the stinger and the spinning begins Oh, yes, the spinning begins, the spinning begins The world has gone off the hinges, and the spinning begins A downwards spiral, punctured balloon Disfigured and pale looking up at the Moon Looking up at the Moon, up at the Moon We’ll all get there soon, looking up at the Moon.

Susanne Sundfør - Undercover (Live)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-uRyOu4YV4

Don't trust the ones who love you 'Cause if you love them back They'll always disappoint you It's just a matter of fact Don't love the ones who trust you It's just not in your heart You're a teasing little twister and They're dancers in the dark, oh, but I wish I had a lover who'd keep it undercover We could live our dreams, we'd sail on golden wings I wish I had a lover, someone who wouldn't bother To tell me what to feel, to tell me what is real It's not a lot I'm asking for They'll kiss you in the evening, devils in disguise, and Love you till the morning then vanish before your eyes A walking disaster can also master A graceful posture, but where's the dignity when...? I wish I had a lover who'd keep it undercover We could live our dreams, we'd sail on golden wings I wish I had a lover, someone who wouldn't bother To tell me what to feel, to tell me what is real It wouldn't even matter If you didn't even bother To be more than a lover It wouldn't even matter If I didn't even bother To believe in a forever, no It wouldn't even matter If you didn't even bother To be more than a lover It wouldn't even matter If you didn't even bother To be more than a lover, no, no, no.

YOU SHINE LIKE A DIAMOND

Diamonds by Rihanna (written by Sia) | Cover by One Voice Children's Choir.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIeKy8mD-1khttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fIeKy8mD-1k

Susanne Sundfør - Music For People In Trouble

 

This song and video kind of beautiful. Perhaps you will enjoy it:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Abet-OycQpE

Prayer of Assistance

Lord Creator, and all you His assistants, Angels of Light,

Help us to be able to remember ourselves at all times

 in order that we may avoid involuntary actions, 

—as only through them can evil manifest itself. 

 —Gurdjieff

ANGELIC PRAYER

I just found this prayer which I first wrote and posted here in 2016. There is so much to read in the angel archives! You need never feel alone or unsupported, unless you choose to. The angels are always here for you. Your Open Classroom is here. Your classmates are here, in various parts of the world, together with you. Your teacher is here. Your Inner Teacher is here.

Angelic Prayer For You

Dearest One, May you receive the abundant blessings of the angels each time you cross the threshold into Your Open Classroom. May this sacred space shelter and give you comfort. May you feel the burdens of the ego melting away as you surrender to the higher teachings of the angels. May you rest in the peace that is here, the peace the world cannot give.

May you be willing to remove the masks that separate you from others, God, and yourself. May you receive the understanding and acceptance that fill this room. May your one (1) bright eye (I)  be opened so the weariness of seeing with two (2) eyes dissolves in the clear light of Truth. May your true vision refine and deepen. May you fall into the love in your heart and let it raise you higher.

May you always know you are welcome here, where you are held in the love and power and tenderness of the angels. If God is the sun, then angels are the sunlight that warms and brightens and enlightens your way.

finding for ourselves

John 14:23—KJV

23 ... If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

"If we love our Teachers, we will try and keep their words. But to do so, we must see what the Teacher is made of. We must feel instinctively that the Teacher gives us food.

I am sure you would not listen to me for two minutes if you did not think I gave you food—and this is the same for all Teachers. But to give food, we must receive food, and we can only do this in the same way as everyone else—by work on ourselves—by deeper and deeper work to discover ourselves. 

Then we can pass what we have gained onto others, so that they may benefit by our finding and may go forth and find for themselves. Because this is what really teaches us—finding for ourselves—work upon ourselves."

—A Point in the Work: A Continuation of the work of G.I. Gurdjieff. Ouspensky, and Maurice Nicoll—anonymous

Your School is What You Bring to it

In any school, you have to work with what you are given before you can be given more.

So the question we need to ask ourselves is not, "What is missing?" or "How can I have more than I have?" but rather, "How can I use what I have been given?"

We have each been given a play. It is not important what the play is, it is important how we work with it.

We have been given all that is necessary to awaken.

—Girard Haven, Notes from a Conscious Teaching

Rising Above Fear

I used to be terrified of spiders. One day a Wolf Spider appeared in my bathroom. Because it was so big, I could see it lift its leg as I came near, see that it was afraid (as big as it was). I could see its life, that it meant me no harm. It just wanted to live.

Wolf Spider

I found a way with a glass and a paper to take it to the door. At that moment, it got free and I screamed and the spider screamed (I heard it with my spiritual hearing) — anyway, it ran outside, and I ran into another room.

The fear was still in my body, but I recognized it as being only a physical reaction, which I did not have to identify with. My body was shaking and it took a while for the fear feelings to pass, but those feelings were not my true self.

To live an entire life with hatred towards anything, with fear of a spider, with the idea that their lives are mine to take because of hatred or fear — is to live a life unexamined. 

Life takes on new meaning when we begin to rise above our fears and hatreds. 

I still don't like to see spiders, but do my best to set them free outside. 

"The unexamined life is not worth living" —Socrates

Practical things

Deearest & Nearest,

This morning I woke up with an email message that T-Mobile had a data breach—which means my data was compromised, since I use T-Mobile for my cell phone. That meant that I had to get busy freezing my credit reports. And take other actions to help protect my data.

Is it how I wanted to begin my morning? Nope. But...

I took a few immediate actions, then stopped for breakfast. Paused to be still before doing more.

The world is always bombarding us with "things to do" — because the world created by man is a world of ego. That's all it can do. But no matter what the world sends, we do not have to respond from that same level. 

And we never have to feel like a victim  — poor me. We don't have to complain. We can accept what IS. And deal with it to the best of our ability.

When we struggle to hold on and maintain control — well, we struggle. And struggling is no fun. 

When you find yourself struggling, trying to maintain control — use it as a spiritual exercise. Look deep into yourself. Find out what is there.

You do not have to let victim personality, fear, and anxiety control you. You really don't. You don't have to keep trying to build up the false self. You really don't. 

With lots of love now and always...

BE THE CROW YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD

• Collect shiny things
• Hop happily down the street for no apparent reason
• Scream loudly when you see your friends

Plans & Visions

  Dearest & Nearest,

Your plan for your life may have nothing to do with God’s plan. God’s plan is what happens. Your plan is what you think will happen. This does not mean that you should not make plans. Life must be lived; plans must be made.

You might plant an apple tree with a vision of mouth-watering red apples in your mind. Just when the apples are about ready to eat, you get a new job in a new country. You never eat those apples, but you eat new fruit in a new country and someone else enjoys the apples you left behind. Or maybe a storm destroys your tree and all of your apples. You cannot eat those apples, but you still benefit from having planted and loved a tree, and so does the earth! 

An old Chippewa Indian axiom advises, “If your eyes cry because of losing the sun, your tears will not allow you to see the stars.”

It can feel so sad to lose something or someone you cherish. No one can say that sadness is not real for you. Emotions are part of being human. To push away or deny feelings is to be less than alive. Feelings must be acknowledged if they are to be resolved and dissolved into love—not hidden away to become clouds that obscure the light from shining through. When we are free to experience a feeling completely, we are also free to move on from that experience. Emotions can be either a flowing river, cleansing and freeing, or a dam that stops the flow.

If you cannot linger to taste even one apple from the tree you have planted, feel your longing; cry your tears—but please do not take old tears with you to the new country to which you are traveling. Neither hold a grudge at the storm for destroying your tree. The angels might change that old Chippewa saying to, “If your eyes cry too long because of losing the sun, your tears will not allow you to see the stars,”—and add another, “If your eyes never cry, your unshed tears may become clouds that obscure the light of God from shining clearly through you.”

Maybe you thought you were planting the tree to eat apples. Maybe God put the vision in your mind, not to eat apples, but as part of a greater plan. Maybe it was as simple as planting and loving a tree for a while, reaping the benefits of sun and exercise, filling your mind with the beauty of nature, giving back to the earth, and leaving a lovely legacy.

YOU ARE MADE OF LIGHT

Although it has been said that you are the light, angels remind you that your true nature is more than the light. Your false nature, the nature of ego, exists in separation from Light. Your true nature is that which contains both light and dark. THAT is the true light: A light your eyes are incapable of seeing: A light your mind is unable to fathom: It is the heart that knows and recognizes this Light. This is the Light of compassion, wisdom, and the only true love.

ACTIVELY DOING SPIRITUAL WORK

Dearest & Nearest,

When you are actively doing spiritual work—which doesn't mean just sitting in meditation once a day—it means ACTIVELY DOING SPIRITUAL WORK—then your life truly becomes permeated with spirituality, like the scent of roses or lilacs permeate the air where they grow. Then spirituality can permeate even your dreams. Even in your dreams your spiritual work towards freedom can continue.

For example, I woke from a dream the other morning. In this dream there was pain—someone was in great emotional pain—and I could feel it. And I was telling him that it was because he was focusing upon these painful thoughts. And that over here, if he just shifts his focus, is a beautiful pure white shining flower.

I can still see that flower now. It was shimmering and radiant with light.

I told him—if you just shift your focus to this flower, the pain will go away. Nothing can touch this flower—which is the radiance of your true being—not all the pain and darkness of the world. You must only shift your focus.

Isn't this a wonderful spiritual teaching. And it all came in a dream.

with love and devotion, as always...

So sweetly pure and innocent this bunny sat quietly while I took it's picture, knowing I meant it no harm.

The Prologue to St. John's Gospel

Dearest & Nearest,

The Prologue to St. John's Gospel:

 1 In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. 2 All things came into being through God; without God was not anything made that was made. 4 In God was life, and the life was the light of humanity. 5 And the light shines in the darkness and the darkness comprehended it not.

_______________

Darkness cannot understand Light! And darkness can NOT put out  the Light.  So fear not the darkness. It is simply your wrong understanding. It is not real except as you make it real by believing in it. 

The angels say: O Beautiful One. Why believe in that which is not real, which was never real, which is made real only through ignorance? When your wrong understanding dissolves, so does darkness.