The Guardian Angel

The angel had been bound to earth for hundreds of years, yet the angel lived in patience where time did not exist. For eons the angel had been speaking to humans, whispering words of love and encouragement into their ears. Most of the time, no one heard, although now and then the angel saw in someone's eyes a glimmer of understanding.

This angel was presently guarding a small child whose skin was white as snow, though it was no fairy tale, for the child had been sick with some earthly disease for a long time. The child lay in a bed, blending into white sheets, surrounded by family members who were trying not to cry. And the child, who knew what courage was, whispered, “It's okay to cry because I am going away.”

And the angel smiled and wrapped its love around the boy and touched the hearts of his parents, grandparents, and little brothers. As the angel touched their hearts, it knew the anguish in those hearts. The angel could have moved away, spared itself this pain, but it only moved closer, giving off its strength. 

The child's father forgot not to cry. Tears fell down his unshaven face. The little boy wanted to reach up and touch that face one last time, but he had no strength. Sensing this, the unseen angel helped the boy raise his arm. As the child touched his father's scratchy wet face one last time, father and son felt a great peace, for the truth of tears is better than the pretense of smiles.

Then the mother cradled her child in her arms. The grandparents cradled their own children, this mother and father. And the angel of God bound them all together with its love and spoke to the child, saying, “It is time.” The child heard a voice like bells and looked upon the face of the angel for the first time. The family could not see the angel, but they saw the years of pain and fighting the disease fade away as the child's face began to glow.

“I will show you,” smiled the angel, forgetting everything now except the child. “Look!” The angel pointed to the Light. Seeing the Light, the boy breathed a last sigh and closed his eyes in peace. 

The angel departed with the soul essence of the child, guiding him to the Light. And the family was not alone. The room was alive with angels, embracing the family, whispering words of love, holding their sorrow, taking what pain they could unto themselves.

As the angel guided the child to the Light, the angel felt the power of the Light, and longed to return to the Light, but its task was upon earth. The angel did not linger in pain or longing. It lovingly watched the boy merge into the Light, then turned and made its way back to earth.

The angel did not stop to ask why, did not hesitate, did not question the way of the world or of God. It simply went on to its next task. It was just in time to catch a young teenager as she fell from a speeding car whose door had become unlatched. The girl would later tell a wondrous story of a Being of Light that caught her in its arms, saving her from the hard pavement of the road. And the angel was already gone, onto its next task, fully present in the moment.

THAT SINKING FEELING...

We all know that sinking feeling, don't we? You know — that feeling in the pit of your stomach — or pain in your heart — 

which happens when you get that piece of mail from some bureaucratic  authority, or the government, or maybe a credit card ...

or that email that says your google account has been suspended (that just happened to me ... it was their mistake, but I still had to spend time fixing it)

the stock market is crashing (if you happen to have invested in it) ...

you are rejected for a job, abandoned by a partner, you miss your train

you lose your mobile phone ... you spill your coffee ...

YOU are not that feeling. NOT that fear. NOT that despair. NOT that anxiety. NOT that reaction. NOT that ego Neti! Neti!

Dearest One, 

Lovely Light of God, 

Do NOT give the outer world permission to control you.

meditation on taking yourself as lightly as angels do

Is there anyone in your life who says “mean” things to you, “pushes your buttons,”? If so, you are invited to visualize that person standing before you right now, saying the things that usually upset you.

Where does that person’s power over you—the power to make you feel bad—come from? Can you see that you are the one who gives power to that person’s words? You are the one who gives that person power over your state of being.

Observe your breathing. Observe your thoughts and your emotions. Do you really see the person—or do you see your thoughts about the person?

Imagine yourself fully involved in the drama, the way you sometimes are with this person. Give yourself the starring role. Put yourself at center stage—and watch the drama unfold . . . 

The person slings arrows at you in the form of words. You glare and open your mouth to shoot an arrow back—when suddenly—you hear laughter emanating from somewhere. You stop, mouth still open, and look around you.  

You gaze in amazement! You are surrounded by angels. An audience of angels. Laughing angels. Why not? Angels know you are not the drama you take yourself to be.

You look back at your friend/enemy and realize that he (or she) cannot see the angels. He hurls another insult at you. It hits you square in the solar plexus and instantly you feel heavy and serious again. You glance sideways at the angels. They are still laughing! You scowl indignantly. How can anyone laugh at a time like this?

You feel stress and tension building in your shoulders and in the room. You scowl harder. The harder you scowl, the harder the angels laugh. Soon the angels are rolling on the floor, bubbling over with angelic laughter. You gaze with wonder at the laughing angels. You see love beaming from their eyes. You see endless patience. You see light. 

You turn to the person you have been arguing with. You are astonished to see that he looks just like you! You move your hand and he moves his. You scowl and he scowls. As you gaze at this person who looks like you, he begins to metamorphose right before your eyes... 

He is turning green—lime-green! He is turning into jello. Before your astonished eyes, he turns into lime-green jello, talking, gesturing, and scowling—a quivering sparkling blob of lime-green jello, translucent, that the light shines through—like a halo!

You look down at your own body. It has also become a blob of lime-green jello, translucent, that the light shines through—like a halo!

You peek at the angels. They are standing still and serene. They encompass you in a circle of light. Smiles quiver on their faces. Suddenly you understand their laughter. You turn your attention back to the blob of jello wobbling before you, talking very seriously, unaware of the angels. All you see is light shining like a halo through sparkling lime-green jello.

You can breathe again! You can take a deep breath of fresh air and let it go. You see what the angels have always seen—you are free! You have always been free. The light shines, radiates, and sparkles around you. The light shines, radiates, and sparkles around the other person.

 Words continue to come out of his mouth, only now everything is moving in slow motion. You can see each word. You can grasp each word and hold onto it, if you like. Or you can let the words go, let them flow into the atmosphere, and dissolve somewhere in space. You are that free!

You smile upon the person. You breathe deeply. You are that free! You always have been. You turn toward the angels. You wink at these heavenly messengers. The angels dissolve into laughter. Or maybe jello—jello of all colors—strawberry, lime, grape, and cherry, translucent, that the light shines through, like a halo!

With love, light, and laughter,

your teacher & the angels

The Great Way

Hsin Hsin Ming

Verses on the Faith Mind
by Chien-chih Seng-ts'an 
Third Zen Patriarch [606AD] 

Translated by Richard B. Clarke

The Great Way is not difficult
for those who have no preferences.

When love and hate are both absent
everything becomes clear and undisguised.
Make the smallest distinction, however,
and heaven and earth are set infinitely apart.

If you wish to see the truth
then hold no opinions for or against anything.
To set up what you like against what you dislike
is the disease of the mind.

When the deep meaning of things is not understood
the mind's essential peace is disturbed to no avail.

The Way is perfect like vast space
where nothing is lacking and nothing is in excess.
Indeed, it is due to our choosing to accept or reject
that we do not see the true nature of things.
Be serene in the oneness of things
and such erroneous views will disappear by themselves.

When you try to stop activity to achieve passivity
your very effort fills you with activity.
As long as you remain in one extreme or the other,
you will never know Oneness.

Those who do not live in the single Way
fail in both activity and passivity,
assertion and denial.
To deny the reality of things is to miss their reality;
to assert the emptiness of things
is to miss their reality.

The more you talk and think about it,
the further astray you wander from the truth.
Stop talking and thinking
and there is nothing you will not be able to know.

To return to the root is to find the meaning,
but to pursue appearances is to miss the source.
At the moment of inner enlightenment,
there is a going beyond appearance and emptiness.
The changes that appear to occur in the empty world
we call real only because of our ignorance.
Do not search for the truth;
only cease to cherish opinions.

Do not remain in the dualistic state;
avoid such pursuits carefully.
If there is even a trace
of this and that, of right and wrong,
the Mind-essence will be lost in confusion.
Although all dualities come from the One,
do not be attached even to this One.

When the mind exists undisturbed in the Way,
nothing in the world can offend, 
and when a thing can no longer offend,
it ceases to exist in the old way.

When no discriminating thoughts arise,
the old mind ceases to exist.
When thought objects vanish,
the thinking-subject vanishes,
and when the mind vanishes, objects vanish.

Things are objects because there is a subject or mind;
and the mind is a subject because there are objects.
Understand the relativity of these two
and the basic reality: the unity of emptiness.
In this Emptiness the two are indistinguishable
and each contains in itself the whole world.
If you do not discriminate between coarse and fine
you will not be tempted to prejudice and opinion.

To live in the Great Way
is neither easy nor difficult.
But those with limited views
are fearful and irresolute;
the faster they hurry, the slower they go.

Clinging cannot be limited;
even to be attached to the idea of enlightenment
is to go astray.
Just let things be in their own way
and there will be neither coming nor going.

Obey the nature of things
and you will walk freely and undisturbed.
When thought is in bondage the truth is hidden,
for everything is murky and unclear.
The burdensome practice of judging
brings annoyance and weariness.
What benefit can be derived
from distinctions and separations?

If you wish to move in the One Way
do not dislike even the world of senses and ideas.
Indeed, to accept them fully
is identical with true Enlightenment.

The wise man strives to no goals
but the foolish man fetters himself.
There is one Dharma, not many;
distinctions arise from the clinging needs of the ignorant.
To seek Mind with discriminating mind
is the greatest of all mistakes.

Rest and unrest derive from illusion;
with enlightenment there is no liking and disliking.
All dualities come from ignorant inference.
They are like dreams of flowers in air:
foolish to try to grasp them.
Gain and loss, right and wrong;
such thoughts must finally be abolished at once.

If the eye never sleeps,
all dreams will naturally cease.
If the mind makes no discriminations,
the ten thousand things
are as they are, of single essence.

To understand the mystery of this One-essence
is to be released from all entanglements.
When all things are seen equally
the timeless Self-essence is reached.
No comparisons or analogies are possible
in this causeless, relationless state.
Consider motion in stillness
and stillness in motion;
both movement and stillness disappear.
When such dualities cease to exist
Oneness itself cannot exist.
To this ultimate finality
no law or description applies.

For the unified mind in accord with the Way
all self-centered striving ceases.
Doubts and irresolutions vanish
and life in true faith is possible.

With a single stroke we are freed from bondage;
nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing.
All is empty, clear, self-illuminating,
with no exertion of the mind's power.
Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination are of no value.
In this world of Suchness
there is neither self nor other-than-self.

To come directly into harmony with this reality
just simply say when doubt arises, "Not two."
In this "not two" nothing is separate,
nothing is excluded.
No matter when or where,
enlightenment means entering this truth.
And this truth is beyond extension or diminution in time or space;
in it a single thought is ten thousand years.

Emptiness here, Emptiness there,
but the infinite universe stands always before your eyes.

Infinitely large and infinitely small;
no difference, for definitions have vanished
and no boundaries are seen.
So too with Being and non-Being.
Waste no time in doubts and arguments
that have nothing to do with this.

One thing, all things;
move among and intermingle,
without distinction.
To live in this realization
is to be without anxiety about nonperfection.
To live in this faith is the road to nonduality,
because the nondual is one with the trusting mind.

Words!
The Way is beyond language,
for in it there is

no yesterday

no tomorrow.

A Grandmother Story

This event, which is now a story, really happened. You can decide for yourself if it is true. There are only two characters in this story. One of them happens to be a Wise Woman, although no one ever thought of her in this way when she was alive. 

There was this very old grandmother who was on her deathbed. Before she died, she called one of her granddaughters to her. She had thirteen grandchildren but she only called this one. The grandmother had been an ordinary grandmother, or so the granddaughter thought. The grandmother looked into her granddaughter’s cool green eyes with her own eyes which burned like fire in her shriveled face and whispered to her, “Little girl, I want to tell you three things.” 

The granddaughter, who was around twenty at the time, nodded respectfully, and leaned forward to listen. This is what the grandmother told her, “All there is IS. The will of God is all there is. You do not exist.”

The angels will leave you these words to ponder, the way the wise grandmother left them for her granddaughter to ponder through the years when the grandmother would no longer be walking upon the face of the earth.

The Secret of Life

Life is just a bowl of cherries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9kAd8Mygpw

This guy was looking for the secret of life. He had been looking for the secret of life for fifteen or twenty years. His search finally led him to India. He traveled all around India, asking everyone he met for the secret of life. 

Finally, he was directed to the Himalayas where he spent another year or so, climbing and searching and asking his question. Everywhere he went, no one knew the answer. Then he began to hear rumblings about an ancient teacher, who was rumored to know the secret of life.

One day, after a grueling climb, he reached the mouth of a small cave and—lo and behold! There sat the very man he had heard about!  

The old sage fixed him with a piercing gaze, and said, “Ah, you have come at last, my son. What can I do for you?”  

The guy felt so elated! He knew he had found the guru who was going to give him the answer he had been seeking for so long. So he asked him the question he had been asking everyone, “What is the secret of life?” 

The wise all-knowing guru squinted his eyes, and the guy was sure he saw a spark of light emanate from them. He waited with bated breath—at last the secret would be his!

The guru stretched, gave a big yawn, and then relaxed with a long sigh. A serene smile danced across his face and his eyes twinkled as he replied, “Life is just a bowl of cherries.” 

The seeker gasped, “What! I’ve been traveling for twenty-five years all over the world, seeking the meaning of life. I climbed all the way up this mountain just to find you, and you tell me life is just a bowl of cherries!” 

The ancient sage blinked his eyes, “You mean, it isn’t?”

A safe haven

The world stands out on either side no wider than the heart is wide. —Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892-1950)

Good Morning Nearest & Dearest,

You really are nearest & dearest to my heart and soul—because we can commune Together with One Heart—at the Soul level. In speaking to those who live only at the level of the world, have you noticed that at times it is as if you are speaking another language? 

You may remember this from the angels: Although angels speak another language from humans, they understand the language of the heart, so they can converse with anyone. The only language that really matters is the only language angels care about: The Language of the Heart. The language of the heart is the universal language of peace.

Some of you may know or remember that in January 2021, a Tuxedo Cat found me in a parking lot one icy cold night as I stepped out of the woods, where I had been walking (yes, I sometimes walk alone at night in the dark woods). I heard a cat crying and there he was, huddled in a ball of cold, as if he was waiting for me. He moved away each time I came near, and I gently followed him, pausing each time he did, around the entire parking lot, till we ended at my car and I was able to pick him up.

I stopped at a store to buy him food. He was nervous and slept somewhere in the living room when I went to bed. I was very aware of another presence in my house. And determined that I did not want a cat.

I tried very hard to find his home, but no one answered my posts, and I could not find him in any lost posts. And I fell in love with him. He had found a home where he would be loved and cared for—my home, which became his home.

He was very shy and would run and hide when anyone else came to my house. But he always trusted me. It was as if we were two souls who had reunited. I named him Emerson Charm. He was about 1 year or so old.

When dear sweet Emerson Charm came to me, he was at first afraid. He didn’t know how to respond to loving touch. His claws automatically came out and my hands suffered many scratches. I made a conscious determination to never be harsh with him. I continued to be soft and gentle and he transformed—or rather, he melted into his true being.

I wanted to give him a chance to be as he was, not confine him in a box of my definitions. I did it imperfectly because I am imperfect, but I did it. We had a close and loving relationship. He had the freedom to come and go and roam the woods and he always had a safe haven to return to. His home held no hostility or anger. I never spoke harshly to him. He died only a year and half later, from a fatal disease, though I tried hard to save his life.

I miss him greatly. He was so young, and so wise and true.

Can we create this same gentle loving home within ourselves, which I created for Emerson? Even when the world outside is not so loving? Even when people speak harshly to us? Even when it seems the world is speaking another language from us? Then you always have a safe haven to return to, no matter how harsh the world is. 

Much love, as always,

CHRISTMAS 2022

For those of you who take a moment to visit, here is a Christmas Angel I made.

This Christmas season in the states has been very cold ... something called a cyclone bomb. Blowing frigid air and snow. 

Where I live, we didn't get so much snow, but the temperatures have been as much as 30 below zero. I have never experienced such cold before.

It makes me more grateful for a warm home and enough food. My power did go out for a while, which means no heat. And I thought of people in Ukraine who are going through winter with no heat, no water, not enough food. I wish them well from afar. War is a horrible thing.

We must widen our circle of acceptance to include all the suffering there is ... and so allow it to be transformed into love. In this way, we serve as angels serve, by being positive transformers. 

We can only accept our limitations, our inability to change what is beyond our control ... especially in a country far away where insanity has taken over. The cruelty and greed of one man ... only one man ... is enough to send human beings to be killed and kill other human beings in a terrible useless war.

There has always been war, for as long as human memory can remember. While we cannot stop the wars outside of us ... we can see the wars we fight within. What we See ... become aware of ... can be changed. Something Higher than our small will can enter into us and transform darkness into light.

So be of good cheer. It is of no use to become depressed over things you cannot control. As the angels always say ... Be of Good Cheer. Goodness and Cheerfulness have a power to help heal and transform ... while depression and hopelessness can only duplicate themselves over and over. 

With love on this Christmas Day.

Krishnamurti

Krishnamurti 

11/20/2019

Question: Why do you decry religion, which obviously contains grains of truth? Why throw out the baby with the bath water? Need not truth be recognized wherever it is found?

Krishnamurti: Sirs, what do you mean by religion?  Organized dogma, belief, rituals, worshipping any person however great, reciting prayers, repeating Shastras, quoting the Bible — is that religion?  

Or is religion the search for truth or God?  

Can you find God through organized belief? By your calling yourself a Hindu and following all the rituals of Hinduism or of any other "ism", will you find God or truth? Surely, what I decry is not religion, not the search for reality, but organized belief with its dogmas and separative forces and influences.  

We are not seeking reality, but are caught in the net of organized beliefs, repetitive rituals — you know the whole business of it — which I call nonsense, because they are drugs that distract the mind from seeking. They offer escapes, and thereby make the mind dull, ineffective.

So, as our minds are caught in the net of organized beliefs with their whole system of authorities, priests and gurus, all of which are engendered through fear and the desire for certainty — as we are caught in that net, obviously, we cannot merely accept, we must enquire, we must look directly, experience directly, and see what it is we are caught in and why we are caught.  

Because my great grandfather did some ritual, or my mother is going to cry if I do not do it, therefore I must do it?  

Surely, such a man, who is psychologically dependent on others, and hence fearful, is incapable of finding out what truth is. He may talk about it, he may repeat the name of God umpteen times, but he is nowhere, he has no reality. Reality will shun him, because he is encased in his own prejudices and fears.  

And you are responsible for this organized religion, whether of the East or of the West, whether of the left or of the right, which, being based on authority, has separated man from man. Why do you want authority, either of the past or of the present?  

You want authority because you are confused, you are in pain, in anxiety, there is loneliness and you are suffering. Therefore, you want help from outside; so you create authority, whether political or religious, and having created that authority, you follow its directions, hoping that the confusion, the anxiety, the pain in your heart, will be removed. Can another remove your pains, your sorrows? Others may help you to escape from sorrow, but it is always there.

So, it is you who create authority and having created the authority, you become its slaves. Belief is a product of authority and because you want to escape from confusion, you are caught in belief and therefore continue in confusion.  

Your leaders are the outcome of your confusion, therefore they must be confused. You would never follow anyone if you were clear, unconfused and directly experiencing. It is because you are confused that there is no direct experience. Out of your confusion you create the leader, organized religion, separative worship, which brings about the strife that is going on in the world at the present time.  

In India it is taking the form of communal conflicts between the Mussalmans and the Hindus, in Europe it is the communists against the rightists, and so on and on. If you look into it carefully, analyze it, you will see that it is all based on authority, one person says this and another person says that. And authority is created by you and me because we are confused. This may sound oversimplified verbally, but if you go into it, it is not simple, it is extremely complex.  

Being confused, you want to be led out — which means you are not understanding the problem of confusion, you are only seeking an escape. To understand confusion, you must understand the person who is making the confusion, which is yourself, and without understanding yourself what is the good of following somebody?  

Being confused, do you think you will find truth in any practice or organized religion? Though you may study the Upanishads, the Gita, the Bible, or any other book, do you think that you are capable of reading the truth of it when you yourself are confused? You will translate what you read according to your confusion, your likes and dislikes, your prejudices, your conditioning.  

Your approach, surely, is not to reality. To find truth, Sir, is to understand yourself. Then truth comes to you, you do not have to go to truth — and that is the beauty of it. If you go to truth, that which you approach is projected out of yourself, and therefore it is not truth. Then it becomes merely a process of self-hypnosis, which is organized religion.  

To find truth, for truth to come to you, you must see very clearly your own prejudices, opinions, ideas, and conclusions — and that clarity comes through the freedom which is virtue. For the virtuous mind, there is truth everywhere. Then you do not belong to any organized religion, then you are free.

So truth comes into being when the mind is capable of receiving it, when the heart is empty of the things of the mind. At present our hearts are full of the things of the mind; and when the heart frees itself of the mind, then it is receptive, sensitive to reality.

A Little Ice Sculpture Fantasy

Picture a group of ice sculptures. Now imagine that these sculptures are given sentience. Before long, they begin to base their importance upon their appearance. The more elaborate ones become puffed-up with grandeur and the plainer sculptures develop poor self-concepts. They forget their existence belongs not to them, but to the sculptor. They forget that when the warm rays of the sun caress them, they all melt equally, returning to the water from whence they came. 

Walking in the Magic

Walking silently through the forest, I encountered this Being. It turned its face away and froze like a deer, pretending I could not see it. I froze also, pretending I was not looking. We both stood like that for a long time, gazing at each other, pretending we were not. As usual, I gave up first, turned, and walked away, pretending I did not hear the rustle of leaves as it, too, moved on.

Quote

John the Baptist, Leonardo da Vinci

 You must realize, my dear child, that not everyone in the world is like you. There are those who walk among us, who have NO HEART. They may look like you and me, but where their heart should be, is only a rusted-out, vacant hole, rimmed by ragged iron teeth.  

Most likely, their heart was torn out; stolen away from them, earlier in life. All that remains is an ugly, gaping wound. They are wounded, and in turn wound others. Get too close to them, and their jagged edges will rip you open.

Because they have no blood of their own, they delight in causing others to BLEED. Inflicting pain distracts them from their own desolation, and indeed, they often draw a strange delight and satisfaction from casting a spell of misery over those they encounter.  

YOUR PAIN is their food, and they will seek to draw you into their gravitational pull and DEVOUR the light within you. They are the empty ones, moving through this world like hungry ghosts. I do not tell you this to make you afraid, but only to warn you that such souls exist.  

You must learn to see past the smooth words and masks they will use to lure you into their grasp. Read the signs. Pay attention to your intuition, heeding the inward bells of warning. They walk among us, but they are not like us. — J. M. Green

Awakening

MY 

BODY IS 

A CANDLE

I have become a candle

The flame of my being is on fire

I am watching the candle

melt before my eyes

soon my eyes shall melt too

My flesh is dripping away

leaving my bones naked

and disconnected

The sockets of my eyes

have become empty

My spirit self rises

from what used to be me

and the me I have become

dips her spirit thumb

into the melted mass

of bones and flesh

and devours the me

I never was

Angels of Death

Angels of Life

arrive and say

'Turn  from

the unreal

to the Real'

and when I do

my spirit body

becomes a candle

My spirit self melts

and reveals a new self

and when I turn to look

I see nothing

and the new me

the me I Am now

begins to melt . . .

INTRODUCTION & PRELIMARY LESSON

Enter your Schoolroom doors with a sincere  heart and an open mind. To receive esoteric teachings you must be receptive. You must show up and work with your lessons. This is loving yourself enough to teach yourself how to love you back. So show up for yourself. If you don't, who will?

The angels have promised a clear and simple way. The way is as clear and as simple as making the effort to show up, not only for these lessons, but for all the lessons of your life. It means loving yourself enough to teach yourself how to love you back.

 

Welcome To Your Schoolroom

This is your Schoolroom. Here you will find your monthly lessons. They will always be here, like a good friend. Maybe even like your best friend. You are on an amazing and fruitful journey. You are unlearning everything that is not true about yourself so the light of Truth can shine clearly. You are encouraged to print out your current lesson and carry it with you for quick reference, especially when you are in need of support and encouragement, though some people prefer to carry their lesson in their smart phone, ipad, or just read it on their computer.

You are not asked to blindly believe or accept any of the ideas in these lessons. Blind belief leads only to sorrow and disappointment. You are invited to hold your heart and mind open to all things possible. You are invited to explore the possibility of the Infinite.

When you employ your own intelligence to find your own answers, false conditioning begins to fall away. When what is false dissolves, what is true is revealed. You begin to find out what you really are—and what you are not. You discover your true divinity. At the core of this divinity is Love. This LOVE manifests through each human being in unique and wondrous ways.

The Clear and Simple Way 

Cosmic College of Conscious Awareness 

Welcomes YOU

Your Introduction, Angel Dictionary & Preliminary Lesson

Violet leaf in Springtime

Your lessons are not meant to adhere to any particular rules of writing. They are meant to wake you up, take you out of your ordinary mindset, create new neural pathways in your brain, and guide you along existing pathways of creativity and enlightenment. They are designed to free you from the prison of mechanical thinking. 

Dearest Divine Being,

Welcome to Your School, and thank you for being here. I have been offering the higher teachings of the angels to people just like you since 1981 through readings, counseling, talks, seminars, and written lessons. Our school is an international school. We presently have students from the USA, Europe, India, Lebanon, and Croatia. I have seen the positive changes that can come to those who are committed to showing up for their spiritual life.

Enter your schoolroom doors with a receptive heart and an open mind. To receive esoteric teachings, you must have some degree of receptivity. You must show up and read your lessons. This is loving yourself enough to teach yourself how to love you back. So show up for yourself. If you don't, who will?

The 8^th of each Month

Your lessons will always show up for you. On the 8^th of each month you will receive a new lesson at the email address you have provided. Your lessons are sent to you in pdf format, which you can open in acrobat or adobe, downloadable free from the internet. You may increase or decrease the font size to suit yourself. If you have questions, problems, or suggestions concerning your lessons, please let me know. 

Hopefully there will be no editorial or grammatical errors, and sometimes there are, so I apologize in advance. I am the only editor, and I appreciate all corrections, so let me know if you find mistakes. When we refuse to be corrected, it means we are not sincere in our efforts to know Truth. A sincere seeker is willing to be corrected. This is a sign of humility. If we are not humble, we cannot advance very far because ego is in control. Ego cannot bear to be corrected. Ego must always be ‘right’ even when it is wrong. And ego is always wrong. 

Please do not mistake low self-worth for being humble. They are different. The lower someone’s self-worth, the more that person resists correction. We will talk more about this in lessons to come.

Please read and refer to your current lesson until your new lesson arrives. When there is homework, do your best to complete it, if only in imagination. You can do your homework in imagination, if that is all you have the time or inclination for, although actually doing it will give you a more meaningful experience.

Suggestions for Getting the Most Benefit
from Your School

Let Your Reading Be a Meditation

• We learn best from a state of deep relaxation. So relax. Let go. Breathe deep. Exhale tension. Inhale peace. Let the words and energy of the angels fill and surround you. Let yourself enter a state of deep meditation as you read.

• You may like to print your current lesson and carry it with you. Read some passages throughout your day. This allows negative conditioning to be replaced with positive wisdom and inspiration. It offers you another way to think, a chance to come out of the mechanical mind.

• If you prefer, you may keep your lesson with you in your smart phone, iPad. Or just keep it in computer. It’s up to you.

• If you have a 'talking' computer like a MacIntosh, you may also listen to your lesson. Some PC's also have this option. I always listen to mine.

• Record your lesson in your own voice and listen. 

• Read your lesson out loud to yourself, your cat or a tree for another experience. You are also welcome to read passages to friends and family, but please don’t give them your lessons. Each person must make their own commitment and connection to the school to benefit from the energy.

• Choose quotes from your lessons that are especially meaningful to you and post them in your home or copy them on 3x5 cards and carry them with you for quick inspiration and support.

• Write about what you are learning.

• Post in Your Open Classroom for your own benefit, as well as that of your classmates. This is also where you may ask questions and receive answers.

• Read a few passages before sleeping so the Teachings can work for you in your dreams. What you last think about helps shape your dreams, your sleep, and your waking hours. Start your morning with your lessons and your favorite cuppa.

• If you are near other students, you may meet to read and study your lessons. You may also share your lessons with your significant other or a family member who shares your household. This can deepen your relationship and keep you both on the ‘same page’ in your spiritual evolution. 

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SPENDING TIME WITH YOUR LESSONS

The more you spend time with your lessons, the more you open yourself to the transformative healing power of the angels. Many students tell me they can pick up their lesson, start reading anywhere, and receive what they need. Your lessons can transform your understanding—but this can’t happen if you leave them sitting lonely in your computer.

  What is asked of YOU?  Show up for yourself!

I do not ask you to do anything I am not willing to do. I not only write the lessons, I read them over and over, as I ask you to do. I often revise and update lessons, as I am doing right now—rewriting this Introduction for you.

Each month, I send different lessons to each class. I read each lesson again before I send it and think of each student who is receiving that lesson. Often I write particular passages with certain students in mind. Students often tell me the lessons and daily messages seem to be written just for them and correspond with what is happening in their life. You may also experience this. We’re all connected through the energy of the angels and the school. You are not alone.

You Are Not Alone

A new lesson is written every month. As of today, I have written 169 lessons. The school is offered for a very nominal fee, considering how much time and energy is put into it and what you can receive. I was compelled by Higher Guidance to create the School, to offer individuals like yourself ongoing support for your Spiritual Path. 

From Out of the Blue

This inspiration came from out of the blue. One day, while sitting at my desk, I received a clear message to create a school. It took me a while to do so because of my resistance. Finally, I heeded the call—here we are. I write more about the process of beginning the school in future lessons.

As the months go by, notice how much energy you put into your lessons. Notice how much you put into other areas of your life. Life can be over in a minute, but you don't really believe that, do you? No one does. People say it as if they know what it means, but if you really understood the concept of time on earth—your time on earth—you would not waste one precious moment. You would put your spiritual life first and foremost above all else.

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 The Act of Writing is Powerful 

Just as I write, I encourage you to write. You will often be asked to write as part of your homework. You are also encouraged to write online in Your Open Classroom. You may also write to me, to share your experience, though I may not respond personally every time. Or just write to the angels. Or God.

Whether you take these opportunities is your choice. You are asked to write because I know how beneficial it is. You may have 'excuses' not to write, show up for your lessons, and do your homework. That's fine, but please do not call excuses reasons. If you really don’t like to write, that’s also fine—there are other ways to connect with your higher purpose and Truth, which you will find in these lessons.

You have no reason not to participate fully on your spiritual path—although you may find many excuses. It’s always always important to tell yourself the truth. Humans are hurt more by the lies they tell themselves than the lies they tell others—or the lies of others. Often we do not realize when we are lying. Unconscious lies are the most damaging.

The Power of Writing

Do not underestimate the power of writing. When you write, you become both writer and reader, teacher and student. Just as reading can awaken inner wisdom, so can writing. Writing helps you understand your mind. It helps you listen to yourself. It connects you to heart and intuition. It allows Divine Intelligence to communicate with you. When you write freely, you become one with the act of creation. 

At times, it may seem as if you are writing nonsense, especially if you are not used to writing freely and spontaneously or sharing your writing with others, such as in Your Open Classroom. If you keep writing, you may find deeper meanings and messages hidden in the words.

The discipline of writing gives intuition a chance to express itself. It gives voice to heart, as well as mind. Rereading what you have written, especially after some time has passed, may give you greater insights into yourself, the journey you are on, and reveal even more wisdom from the angels and your intuition. As time goes on, you may find deeper meanings and messages hidden in your words. 

Throughout your life you have been socialized and censored, told what to think and feel, admonished to be good, afraid you might not be good enough. Writing gives you the possibility to be spontaneous and unrestricted, free to let whatever flows—flow.

Research supports the positive effects of writing as a means for releasing stress and boosting the immune system.* Writing your visions and goals is also a way to help you gain clarity and understanding about them. So whether you write poems, stories, journals, or letters to your guardian angel, you will reap many benefits. We will talk more about Guardian Angels in future lessons. For now, just know that—Yes! You have one. Whether or not you see angels, angels see you. This is what matters.

How did I begin this work? The ego always wants to live its own life, as if its life is real when it is a mere mirage.

You may know that it was with the intervention of angels that I survived a near-death experience, commonly known as an NDE, in 1981, during which I encountered the Light of all Wisdom, Love, and Compassion. I chose to go to the Light, but an angel sent me back to my life on earth. Angels and Beings of Light intervened to Protect and Guide me, not only while I was out of my body, but also after I returned to it.

This experience shook the cornerstones of what I considered to be normal reality. It profoundly changed my life and the course of my career. I was not meant to die that night—at least my body was not meant to cease to function upon the face of the earth with 'me' in it—death is another concept altogether. The 'I' is never born and never dies.

The 'I' is never born and never dies.

Following this experience my natural empathic and psychic abilities, always very keen, began to deepen and expand. I sensed the angels around me and could intuit their messages. Amazed and astounded by this, I questioned deeply what was happening. I had always thought of myself as a very pragmatic, down-to-earth person, perhaps even more so since my contact with the angels—because angels—in spite of the many myths human beings have created about them—are among the most down-to-earth beings one could ever encounter.

I have not always come willingly down the path of angels. I wanted very much to lead my own life—the ego always wants to live its own life, as if its life is real, when it is a mere mirage. I had my own idea of how my life should look and the work I should be doing. But I couldn't find the path to that way, so eventually I gave up and went the way of the angels.

The angels are always here for you. Your School is here for you. Your teacher is here for you.  Be here for yourself. When you take one step towards Truth, Truth takes two steps towards you. This is how spiritual energy works. When you show up and participate in your Spiritual Life, your School, Your Open Classroom, Homework, and email Messages, you will reap many benefits. Reading your lessons has a cumulative positive effect. 

If you want to know more about me and my connection with the angels, you are invited to visit my website: www.theclearandsimpleway.com. For now, stay tuned to your lessons. Notice the questions that arise. Notice the answers that arise.

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YOUR ANGEL DICTIONARY

To better understand your lessons, the following is a list of Definitions as we will be using them in our school. Keep it on hand should you need to refer to it later. ______________________________

—THE CLEAR AND SIMPLE WAY DICTIONARY—

1. EGO: 

Ego is the unreal, the false you. This is the same false you that is in everyone. It is not unique to you. It is unique to being human. The unreal you can never know true or lasting happiness. When we refer to 'you' we are often referring to the ego you. So, please do your best not to be offended or take it personally when I use the word 'you.' It's also easier to write using, 'you.' 

If you do take it personally or get offended, just know it is the ego that gets hurt. Your true self, the real you, can never take or give offense. Only the unreal ego takes itself so seriously and gets indignant. Please keep this in mind as you read your lessons. 

Remember we are doing ego work here. Don't expect ego to be happy about it. Ego will do everything it can to distract you and take you away from spiritual work. Ego does not want you to be here. It does not want you to be free. Ego wants to control and dominate your life.

2. The Mind: 

Everyone needs a mind that works well in order to function on earth. The better your mind works, the better you can function. Your practical mind is your intelligent mind. Your educated mind. My working mind is working right now—with my fingers—to write this lesson. I must know how to type, write, spell, and use a computer. We need a practical mind. What we do not need is an impractical mind. We do not need negative limiting thoughts.

The impractical mind gets in the way of practical thinking. Negative voices talk to us all the time in our head. You know those voices. They are the ones that criticize and condemn you, even when you are doing your best. You will learn more about these negative thoughts or voices, many of which exist below the level of your awareness. They cause considerable harm by telling you how to think, feel, and act. What you are not aware of controls you. When you become aware of negativity, it begin to lose control over you. This is important to understand—you will find it repeated throughout your lessons, even in this lesson. 

What you are not aware of controls you. When you become aware of negative thought patterns, they begin to lose control over you. 

3. Maya: 

Maya is a Sanskrit word and refers to the veil—the illusion of appearances that seems so real. Maya is illusion, delusion, and seclusion from Truth—the glamour that covers human eyes. Maybe you’ve read fairytales where there is a ‘glamour’ cast, so a person is enchanted and believes the shack they are seeing is a palace, or the imposter is a prince.

Observation and Awareness

We are fooled by the ‘glamour’ of the world all the time. This is why the practice of observation and awareness is so important. Otherwise, you are fooled by the outer appearance—the masks people wear. You are fooled by your own masks. Your immersion in these lessons can help you see through the maya—the illusion.

The conditioned mind interprets the world for you and so you do not see what IS. You see with eyes of ego, as if a veil were covering your eyes. Spiritual awakening begins to lift the veil. You begin to see with new eyes. You begin to SEE. If you want to read more about maya, you may go here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_(illusion)

4. Conditioning: 

The moment you were born, the process of conditioning began. Most of what you have learned about who you are comes from the world—other people, parents, and teachers—who were also conditioned. This is like the blind leading the blind. Nonetheless, every human being must go through the process of conditioning and socialization. Everyone must be socialized according to their culture, learn to live with others, and to adapt to the needs of their community. 

There is negative conditioning and positive conditioning. Learning to cross the street safely is good conditioning. Learning that you are bad if you make a mistake is bad conditioning. We want to keep the positive conditioning and lose the negative. Reading your lessons conditions your mind with new understanding. You have spent your life being conditioned by the false world. Now it is time to relax and let the positive uplifting words of the angels fill your heart and open your mind so you might make contact with something higher than this ordinary world.

5. Vision: 

Everyone has visions. The highest vision for our school is Union with God. There are also earthly visions that are yours alone to bring into manifestation. God has already created everything. We only need come into harmony with God's vision for us. This means getting rid of the clouds of ego and expectation that keep you from seeing with eyes of True Vision.

True vision happens in the present moment. A vision that is truly yours fills you with inspiration and enthusiasm. Vision arises from Divine Source and is connected to faith, which is a state of oneness, a timeless state. When ego takes over a vision and calls it mine, vision becomes an egoistic expectation.

6. Expectation: 

Expectation comes from ego mind, not from heart. Expectation exists in the time state of past and future—never in the present moment of now. Expectation leads to suffering when desires are not fulfilled according to the demands of the ego. Expectation keeps you from true vision. Expectation keeps you from experiencing the present moment.

7. Creation and Vision: 

God creates everything. This means that we—you and I—do not have to create anything. We do not have to create God's vision for us—we must only become aware of and in harmony with creation here in this present moment.  

For instance, it seems as though I am creating this lesson. For sure, I am writing on a blank computer screen, watching the words form, letter by letter. While it may seem that I am creating this lesson, I am not. All I do is show-up—put my fingers on the keyboard and start typing—more accurately, the typing starts. 

I do not have to ‘think’ about what I want to say. I do not have to struggle. Struggle is the opposite—the antithesis—of relaxation. The more relaxed we are, the more freely creation can express through us. 

Creation feels really good—have you ever noticed? This is because you are one with a Higher Power. You are working in union with Creativity. The more you are in tune with God, the better you feel. Why? Because God is good—not good, like the opposite of bad—just Good. God is Good. 

8. Responsibility: 

Responsibility as we define it means the ability to respond appropriately to life. It means taking care of yourself, your emotions, your feelings, and your life instead of expecting someone else to do it for you. This means taking care of the body in which your spirit dwells—taking care of your financial needs without debting yourself or society—taking care of your surroundings so you live in a clean, healthy environment—and fulfilling your spiritual and earthly obligations. Most importantly, it means showing up for your spiritual life with a receptive heart and an open mind. 

There is nothing more vital than being responsible for your spiritual life. When your spiritual life is in order, so is the rest of your life. Your spiritual life must always come first. As the Bible says, ‘Seek first the kingdom of God, and all things will be added unto you.’ Isn’t that beautiful and reassuring? Yes. It is. Because it is a statement of Truth. 

9. Inner Transformation: 

The only transformation that matters is inner transformation. People change on the outside all the time without changing on the inside. When you transform within, even the way you experience the world changes. This is transformation at its deepest level.

Inner transformation, for the purposes of our school, means attachment to your old self—ego—begins to dissolve and be replaced by something Higher. It is like cleaning tarnished silver—when you remove the tarnish, the pure silver shines through. 

Transformation is the dissolution of your old nature, which allows it to be replaced by a New and Higher Nature. You become new. The Clear and Simple Way Cosmic College guides you towards letting go of what you are not and discovering what you are.

10. Receptivity: 

Receptivity to Truth is the most important quality you can cultivate. Receptivity does NOT mean blind belief. Receptivity means your heart and soul and mind are open to Truth. Only when you are receptive are you teachable.

11. Teachable: 

You may have the finest teacher on earth, but if you are not teachable, it will be of no use. Being teachable means being open and receptive to new ways of thinking. It means a willing and humble heart  eager for Truth. It means being enthusiastic enough about your spiritual life to show up and do the work. So much is offered in your school. What you receive depends upon your receptivity—what you are willing to receive. 

These lessons have been in existence for many years since what you are now reading was first written. Most students do not take advantage of everything that is offered in the school. What you receive is in direct proportion to how receptive you are. If you take only a thimble to the ocean, how much water can you bring back?

You are encouraged to try everything in your School and Your Open Classroom. It's your spiritual life. You decide.

12. Teacher versus teacher: 

Yes, you have a 'teacher' in your school, but you will see that I also list myself as your classmate in Your Open Classroom. This is because I am both 'teacher' and 'student'. Whenever I use the word teacher to refer to myself, I use the small form: teacher, not Teacher. 

13. The true Teacher is Within: 

Your school is not a religion. You may have whatever religion, Guru, or other teacher you choose. Your school is a spiritual path. You are your own best Teacher. Your lessons guide you to the teacher within. This is the purpose of your school—to awaken your Inner Teacher. We all need guides for this. The school of angels is a Guide for you—when you show up and do the work.

We are not promoting gurus here. I am not your guru. The angels are not. Spiritual teachers exist only to guide you to your inner Teacher, which guides you to God—not to be worshipped. 

If you could see your true worth for one moment, you would kneel at your own feet forever.

Some people think that an outer guru—teacher, pope, priest, whatever—can take you to God. This just isn't so, yet people persist in this belief. Teachers and Gurus do not take you anywhere. They point the way—they guide you—when you are willing to be guided. You, yourself, must do the work. You must show up for your spiritual life. You must find out what is true for yourself.

So please keep in mind that teachers and gurus—whatever name you give them—can only point the way. They cannot make you walk that way. It’s always a choice. No one can do the work for you. You must show up and do the work yourself. 

The angels are not a path to God. You are your own path, unfolding like a perfect flower. So stay on the path. Your school willingly and lovingly guides you along the path. No one can do the work for you. Your lessons are here. The angels are here. God is here. Your teacher is here. Your classmates are here. You must be here. You must show up and do the work. 

14. Teachers, Masters, Gurus, Saints, and Scriptures: 

You’ll notice that I sometimes refer to and quote other Teachers and Scriptures. There is so much we can learn from what has already been written and taught. I prefer the more ancient scriptures, as opposed to most ‘new age’ teachers or writings. This is my preference; it doesn’t have to be yours. 

I love the language and teachings of Jesus, and also The Bhagavad-Gita, Nisargadatta Maharaja (I AM THAT), and Ramana Maharishi, to name a few. I had the good fortune to meet Nisargadatta Maharaja in his home in Mumbai, India. I met Ramana, too, in a vision that was as real to me as, well, real life. Jesus appeared to me once, when I was in the hospital, near death. He came as a being of green light, so bright, so calm and serene, just when I needed healing. And I was healed.

I also find higher teachings in the artists, poets, songwriters, and musicians. Even reading mysteries and novels. In forests and mountains and rivers. Truth is everywhere—when we have eyes to see and ears to hear. So you may find me quoting all sorts of spiritual works and words.

Please know that I am NOT promoting a book, a scripture, a teacher, a guru, a religion. Jesus existed long before organized religion. It just so happens I grew up reading the Bible, so I have a strong connection to it, specifically, the words of Jesus. I also receive great spiritual insight from the women of the Bible. 

We cannot count on the Bible to be totally accurate since much of it was just the history of the times and because the words of the Bible have been translated and changed over time. But we can find deeper meanings in any spiritual text when we are open and receptive.

I devoted a year to reading and studying The Bhagavad-Gita (The Song of God), verse by verse, day by day, imbibing its meaning. I’ve read many versions by now, and my favorite is by Swami Venkatesananda. 

I spent several years of my life living in Ashrams in India and the USA, studying meditation and the teachings of the East. I also studied and taught Hatha Yoga. So I have a strong basis in and love for eastern philosophies and teachings. 

I revere many teachers and teachings as sacred, but I can only refer to what I have learned and what is meaningful to me. I refer to Jesus or Krishna or Buddha or whomever not in terms of religion, but in terms of their Teachings which have enhanced my own life and understanding, as I hope they will yours. 

Religion is not a part of our school. Spirituality is. Spirituality is the essence of our school. I am not promoting a teacher, guru, or religion. Our school is the school of angels. Angels promote only God. Angels worship, adore, and love the Beautiful Mirror that reflects always and eternally their true Nature—which is God.

15. Esoteric: Esoteric means ‘Hidden in plain sight.’

Our school is an Esoteric School. Throughout history, higher teachings have been offered to humankind. There is no reason, and no need, to keep spiritual teachings hidden from anyone. When your heart is not ready, you cannot SEE anyway. You cannot hear. You cannot receive. 

The dictionary defines Esoteric as: ‘Intended for or likely to be understood by only a small number of people with a specialized knowledge or interest.’  

YOU are one of those people. Only those with a sincere desire to know God can even be here. The Bible tells us, ’many are called but few are chosen.’ The meaning of this may become clearer to you as you continue your studies.

God calls everyone. Few listen. Few heed the call. Few are ready for the deep inner commitment to Truth that is necessary if one is to advance on the path. You have chosen to respond to the call. It is as simple as that. 

Everyone is called to these lessons, to the higher teachings of the angels. Without exception. A human being must make their own decision to respond to the call. This is why it is so important that each person make their own connection to the School of Angels. You cannot—NOT—do that for someone. Someone can’t do it for you. You do someone a disservice if you prod or pressure them to come here or give away your lessons for free. 

The Bible tells us, Do not cast pearls before swine. We are not calling anyone swine (I happen to like pigs very much). It’s just that pigs can’t appreciate a pearl and will trample it into the mud. 

Precious Pearls of Wisdom

The angels offer us Esoteric Teachings: Precious Pearls of Wisdom. Do not cast your pearls where they will be trampled in the mud of unconsciousness— unappreciated, or worse, used against you. This pulls down your energy. Honor yourself and your school. 

One of the most meaningful gifts we can offer anyone is the gift of the school, but a person must choose to accept the gift. Everyone is called and few are chosen. You must choose, again and again, in each present moment—because ego (darkness or unconsciousness) will try hard, again and again, to persuade you to make another choice, to pull you from Truth. 

It’s Your Choice

Ego is a thief. It tries to steal those precious pearls for itself. So stay committed here in this present moment. When you stay committed to Truth, Truth stays committed to you. It isn’t that Truth is not always here. Just as light is always available in a dark room by turning it on, so is Truth. And until you make the choice to turn on the light, all you have is darkness. It’s your choice. Many are called and few are chosen. The choice is yours. If you have to make that choice a thousand times a day, make it. 

16. Artists, Poets, and Musicians also teach us. 

So you may find poetry and music throughout your lessons. Some of our greatest artists lived lives of profound enlightenment. Again, I can only refer to those works that I know of. You are always welcome to share your own in Your Open Classroom.

17. Art: Art is whatever you do that allows the creative energy of the universe to flow through you. Many of you are artists, teachers, and healers in your own right. When you are one with your work, in love, in the present moment, you are an artist and your work is your art—whether you are adding up numbers, baking a cake, caring for your children, writing, or painting. Art flows through you, and you are one with the Creative Energy of the Universe. You are always welcome to share your own creations in Your Open Classroom.

18. Spirituality and Wisdom are Everywhere: 

When your heart is open, your eyes can See. It isn’t that you must read a certain book, follow a certain teacher, or listen to a certain kind of music to receive spiritual insights. Wisdom is everywhere. Insights abound. 

You can’t necessarily judge a book by its cover. Just because a book—or a person—‘looks’ spiritual, doesn’t mean it is so. Anyone can put on an orange robe. Anyone can wear white. Any book might have a beautiful cover. Someone might be physically beautiful because they inherited certain genes. It’s what lies beneath the orange and the white and the pretty mask that matters. 

In our school you decide what is right for you. Spirituality shines from within—not from without. In our school you learn to trust yourself—not your false self—which has been leading you along the wrong path—your true self—your God Self. Your sweet beautiful Intuition. Heart connected to Divine Intelligence. What could be better than that? So do what you like. Have fun. Don’t create hard lines of what ‘spirituality’ is — then you must then try hard to live inside those lines. You are not a child with a coloring book. You do not have to color within the lines. You do not have to color within the lines! 

19. Give up Blind Belief: 

Part of your work here means the willingness to give up blind belief. Find out for yourself what is true by your own experience and contemplation. Do not blindly believe anything you read here. Your school is not a church, a religion, a cult, an authoritarian. It is a Cosmic College of Higher Learning with wide open doors. You are invited to enter these doors and find out for yourself what is true.

Blind belief is very cruel. Cruelty pours from the eyes of a disciple with blind faith.

You are asked to think for yourself. You are asked to give up blind belief. Blind belief is very cruel. Cruelty pours from the eyes of a disciple with blind faith. Think about this and what it means for you.

20. The Intention of your school… 

The intention of your school is to awaken the Teacher within you and make contact with something Higher.

21. Contemplation…  

Contemplation means going within and finding out for yourself what is true. You must verify everything, including what you learn here—for yourself—with your own intelligence, contemplation, meditation, and experience. You must learn to think for yourself. In this way you replace the darkness of blind belief with the light of Divine Intelligence.

22. Conscious Awareness…

Everything in your School is designed to wake you up and bring you into Conscious Awareness. As you will hear repeatedly: What you are not aware of controls you. When you become aware of negative habits and attitudes, they begin to lose control over you. 

What you are not aware of controls you. When you become aware of negative habits and attitudes, they begin to lose control over you.

When you are consciously aware, you are alert and awake in the present moment. You know where you are. You know what you are thinking, feeling, doing, saying. You are where your body is. Your thinking, feeling, and acting match.

23. Ask yourself…

Am I aware and alert in the present moment? Do I know where I am each moment? Do I know what I am thinking, feeling, doing, and saying? Am I present where my body is? Are my thinking, feeling, and acting in harmony?

24/Angels…

Angels are Divine Messengers of Light, Guardians, and Protectors of humankind. Angels speak to you through these words. The angels of nature, nature spirits, watch over the world of nature.

There is not a hierarchy of angels in the way that humans think. In our lessons we do not give names to angels. They are simply 'the angels.' You may have a particular name for your angel and that's fine. The angels I work with are just 'the angels.' This is how they came to me and this is how they remain for me.

YOU are not required to ‘believe’ in angels for your school to work for you. Angels do not need human belief for their existence. If the idea of angels challenges your belief system too much, you may prefer to think of angels as a poetic way to describe and explain Greater Truths.

Marianne Williamson, in her book, ‘Illuminate’ describes angels as, ‘powerful thought forms that help hold the world together. They are the thoughts of synthesis, connection, and repair. To call on the angels is to move our attention to a higher, more creative direction, to invoke the structures of a more enlightened worldview.’

25/GOD…

God by any name at all remains God. God is known by different names in different religions, cultures, and spiritual paths. In our School we honor all names for God: Awareness, Reality, Truth, I AM, Love, Allah, Tao, Goddess, Consciousness, Great Spirit, Jehovah, Higher Power, YHWH, Adonai, Elohim, haShem, Light, Universal Energy, Divine Intelligence, Divine Mother, True Source, and whatever Name you choose to use.  

Your lessons do not purport to tell you what God is or by what name you should call God. The point of your School is not to indoctrinate you with new beliefs, but to free you so you can know for yourself what is true. As you progress in your school, you may find your ideas of God expanding beyond the limitations of previous conditioning.

26. God does exist…

If angels exist, then God must exist. Isn't this so? The Clear and Simple Way Cosmic College of Higher Learning is based on the affirmation that God does exist and God is not what you think. God is beyond all thought. Words cannot describe God. In our school, we acknowledge God as Divine Intelligence, Reality, Love, Truth, Compassion, Wisdom, Consciousness, Awareness—a Divine Presence that is always present. Please do not be afraid of the name God. It isn't the name that causes people to shy away; it is the false and frightening ideas people have learned to associate with God, particularly in organized religion.

27. Spirituality…

Spirituality is not about beliefs and ideas. Spirituality is about being absolutely present in your life. When you are absolutely present in your life, your life is spiritual and you are a spiritual being. Then intuition speaks to you crystal clear. Spirituality is not different from this earth you walk upon. It is not something else out there. It is not different from you. It is not separate from God.

28. The Real You…

Only the REAL YOU can be truly happy because ITS NATURE is happiness. As you learn what is not you, you learn what you are—this is the journey of your school. There is nothing more exciting than the spiritual journey. It takes you Home.

I look forward to our next meeting along The Clear and Simple Way

The Fine Print:

Your lessons are meant only for you. You may share them with family members in your household, such as a partner or child but please keep in mind that people value something more when they make their own investment and commitment. What is given for free is often not honored or appreciated. It's called an unearned benefit. In this life we need to earn our spiritual benefits for ourself. You can't earn them for someone else and they can't earn them for you. 

The best way to share your school with others is by telling them how the lessons have served you and encouraging them to become a student themselves. When others see positive changes in you, they will wonder what it is you know. This is a good time to share with them what you are receiving from your lessons.

These lessons and my artwork are copyrighted and cannot be used or shared without permission by the author.  

Your Open Classroom

Your Open Classroom is where you may introduce yourself to your Classmates, ask questions, receive answers, and share your spiritual journey, You will have received an Invitation by now. Once you sign in with your User Name and Password you may read, post, and comment. 

It is also where I keep in touch with you, let you know what is happening, and post special messages, including from the angels. It is filled with years of posts, which you may find in the archives. Your Open Classroom is always open. So don’t let negative thoughts get you down. Don’t take loneliness as a companion. Go to your classroom instead and imbibe the uplifting, expansive energy of the angels. 

There is no good reason for you to feel unsupported, now that you have your school. Your school and the angels are your constant companion. They are my constant companions. When you write to me or ask questions in the classroom you will likely get a quicker response from me than when you send an email directly, though of course I answer emails too. I love hearing your experience of the lessons and what’s happening on your path. 

If you send me private emails, keep in mind that I may share them in Your Open Classroom—without revealing your identity. Your Open Classroom may not always look the same when you go there. I often change the ‘decor.’ This is to keep you on your toes and from getting too attached to the way things ‘look’. 

Sharing Your Experience of School

Word-of-mouth is a great way to pass along good news. Feel free to tell friends, family, and associates about your experience in your School, as well as post on your social networks. You may send people to my official website if they want to know more. You may also gift others with the School. Christmas and birthdays are a great time to gift the School because you give something that has lasting value, not just another toaster.

Having the good fortune to have friends, family, and associates around you who are also taking the lessons speeds up your own transformation, because you are on the ‘same page’ and can share the work together. Sharing life with those who are dedicated to waking up is one of the best ways to grow closer to Truth.

Study Groups

When you are fortunate enough to be near other students of the School, even one or two, you may like to meet together to read and share your lessons or just to meditate. You may read aloud and share your lessons and what you are learning, but please do not give your complete advanced lesson to newer students, since it will upset the delicate process that is being created for each student. Each student must build his or her own relationship with the angels. Each student must make their own commitment.

Each lesson is vital, deep, and in the present moment. You may be surprised when you go back and reread old lessons—how much your understanding has increased since your first reading. Students often tell me that rereading an old lesson seems like reading it for the first time. The more receptive you are, the more you will receive from each lesson.

Thank you for reading your Introduction today. Please keep it and your Angelic Dictionary on hand to refer to. It is your first step to receiving your future lessons. Well, actually, your first step was enrolling in the school. Without that first step you could not be here now, reading these words. 

Congratulations!

Glückwünsche!

 

The love and blessings of the angels are with you now and always to guide and protect you in all your ways.

 

My Website:  http://www.theclearandsimpleway.com/

__FOOTNOTES__

*Writing: Writing about stressful life events helped reduce symptoms of asthma and rheumatoid arthritis in patients with these chronic illnesses. The effects of the writing exercise were still evident four months later and resulted in clinically meaningful improvements in patient symptoms. The new findings add to a growing body of evidence linking mental health to physical well-being. 

Although researchers are not sure how this technique called ‘expressive writing’ can lead to improvements in health, they speculate that it may help people better cope with stress, which can take a deleterious toll on health. 

On average, asthma patients who wrote about their most stressful life event showed a 19% improvement in a specific measure of lung function, while control asthma patients showed no change, the researchers report. Rheumatoid arthritis patients were found to have a 28% reduction in symptoms, whereas control arthritis patients did not improve. 

Ventilation of negative emotion, even just to an unknown reader, seems to have helped these patients acknowledge, bear, and put into perspective their distress. In this and a growing number of studies, it is not simply mind over matter, but is it clear that mind matters. 

—The Journal of the American Medical Association, April 14, 1999;281:1304-1309,1328-1.

Research Studies on the Benefits of Writing

These Longer-term Benefits of Expressive Writing were found in this Study:* http://apt.rcpsych.org/content/11/5/338

HEALTH OUTCOMES

• Fewer stress-related visits to the doctor
• Improved immune system functioning
• Reduced blood pressure
• Improved lung function
• Improved liver function
• Fewer days in hospital
• Improved mood/affect
• Feeling of greater psychological well-being
• Reduced depressive symptoms before examinations
• Fewer post-traumatic intrusion and avoidance symptoms.

SOCIAL AND BEHAVIORAL OUTCOMES

• Reduced absenteeism from work
• Quicker re-employment after job loss
• Improved working memory
• Improved sporting performance
• Higher students’ grade point average
• Altered social and linguistic behavior

BENEFITS OF WRITING*—Amanda L. Chan, Managing Editor, Healthy Living http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/12/writing-health-benefits-journal_n_4242456.html

1. Writing by hand can help you learn better. 

Step away from the computer—the very act of using a pen or pencil to put things on paper can help you better retain the information you are writing, according to research. That’s because in the physical act of writing, signals are being sent from your hands to your brain to build motor memory. 

2. Expressing emotions through words may speed healing. 

Writing down your thoughts and feelings after a traumatic event can actually make physical wounds heal faster, according to a study from New Zealand researchers. In this study, participants were assigned to write in a journal either about their deepest, most innermost thoughts and feelings, or about anything except their feelings or beliefs. 

Then, after two weeks, they had skin biopsies taken—which left a wound on their arms. Researchers followed up with the participants until those wounds were healed, and found that those assigned to expressively write in the journals had faster healing times than those told to avoid writing about their feelings, TIME reported. 

3. It could help change the way cancer patients think about their disease. 

Attitude is everything, and that phrase couldn’t be truer for people going through a life-changing experience like a cancer diagnosis. A 2008 study in the journal The Oncologist showed that expressive writing could help cancer patients not only think about their disease in a different way, but also improve their quality of life. 

‘Moreover, despite the pilot nature of the present study, initial findings suggest that a single, 20-minute writing exercise led to changes in how some patients thought about their illness,’ the researchers wrote in the study. 

4. Consider it a fundamental part of your Gratitude Practice. 

When’s the last time you counted out everything you have to be thankful for in life? Keeping a gratitude journal could help you feel happier, according to a study conducted by researchers from the University of California, Davis and the University of Miami. 

The New York Times reported that people in the study who kept a gratitude journal that they wrote in once a week for two months were more optimistic about life (and, interestingly, exercised more), compared with people who did not keep such a journal. 

5. And writing down what you’re thankful for could help you sleep better, too. 

Spending just 15 minutes a night writing down what you’re thankful for could do wonders for your sleep, according to an Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being study. 

Researchers found that study participants who wrote down a list of things they were grateful for before bed experienced longer and better sleep,  Psychology Today reported. 

It makes your mind and body better. 

According to a 2005 article in the journal Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, the benefits of expressive writing aren’t just experienced short-term — they can also pay off in the long run. 

Expressive writing has been linked with improved mood, well-being, stress levels and depressive symptoms, as well as more physical benefits of lower blood pressure, improved lung and liver functioning and decreased time spent in the hospital.

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Thank you for showing up today. See you next month. Until then, I leave you with these words of love: 

 

LOVE

Love is not your ideas. Love is not bound by the little thoughts of the mind. Love is not limited. Love is not mechanical. Love is not your beliefs. Love is nothing you think it is. Words cannot describe love. Love contains everything. Everything! Dark and light, negative and positive. Love is a pure and unconditional acceptance that embraces all of nature in its entirety. Love embraces the entire universe. Love resists nothing because love knows there is nothing to resist. Love knows there is nothing but LOVE.

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