Letting Go

Letting go is one of the most important and fundamental practices I have engaged in over the years. With my involvement in and study of Buddhism and more recent work with the symbolism of the Ankh, it is clear just how important that practice is to one's development, transcendence and self-realisation. Balancing desires, overcoming anger, rising beyond greed and jealousy, recognising and respecting others, all require that the attachment to one's conceptualisations are released.

It is through letting go of our attachments that one may cultivate a mind of equanimity, tolerance and compassion, and attain the path toward enlightenment. As I reflect on my experiences of 2013, I note that those people who I have most looked up to have demonstrated those capacities. People who have maintained their poise in the midst of trying circumstances, while patiently providing support and encouragement to those around them. It is recognising these types of people in our own lives that can inspire us on our own paths and in some way may even reflect back those qualities that you seek to emulate.

Just as it is impossible to fill a cup that is already full, new transcendent qualities of personality cannot be developed until the contradictory qualities that keep one mired in the delusional world of never ending desires and subjective conceptualisations are released. In fact, as those contradictory qualities are eradicated, the transcendent qualities naturally manifest.

How then is one to eradicate their attachment to subjective conceptualisations that keep us mired in the delusional world of never ending desire? The answer is in formalising a personal process of "letting go" of such concerns and establishing a practice of "letting go". There a many formal approaches to releasing such constraints in the various religious systems, but of the ones I have tried, I have found that without making them personal they become devoid of personal intent and tend to the dogmatic and repetitious.

My process has consolidated around the following recitations before or during periods of meditation, before sleep (if I think of it) and even while I'm riding my bicycle on the way home! It's all personal after all.

Thankfulness, Forgiveness and Repentance

Dear Lord, I give thanks for all your infinite gifts. For the gift of individuated consciousness, of love, of companionship, of tolerance and patience I give thanks. For the ability to sustain myself and my family and to help those about me, I give thanks. I give thanks Lord for all thy virtues and I pray that I may be a clear and undistorted channel for the light, love and healing energies of the one infinite creator and be a source of abundance and happiness for those around me.

Dear Lord, I give thanks for all those sentient beings who have assisted me throughout countless lifetimes I give thanks [and to those ascended masters, spirit guides, guardians and bodhisattvas who have interceded on my behalf I give thanks]. I also give thanks to those who have chosen to share their existence with me in this lifetime, in particular I give thanks to … [those few people that you intimately share your existence with, e.g. wife/husband, children, parents, siblings, friends, relatives, etc]. I dedicate any merits I may have accrued to all those beings, that they may overcome their ignorance, anger and greed and realise the Bodhi mind.

In giving thanks Lord, I also offer my forgiveness to all those sentient being who have trespassed against me, knowingly or unknowingly, by word or by deed, and I 100% release all desire for retribution, retaliation or revenge. I dedicate any merits I may have accrued to these people that they may overcome their ignorance, anger and greed and realise the Bodhi mind.

In offering my forgiveness, Lord, I pray that I may likewise be forgiven for the trespasses I have committed against others, knowingly or unknowingly, by word or by deed, and I 100% repent those incursions and pray for the wisdom to avoid such offenses in the future. May I overcome my ignorance, anger and greed, and attain to the Bodhi mind.

Dear Lord, in giving thanks I also ask Lord that you send forth your Angels of Light, Love and Healing to shine the light, love and healing energies of the one infinite creator over my family [list by name] and myself and to help protect us from the attention and influence of all entities of darkness for our highest good and the greatest good of all, but in all things may your will be done not mine.

Gratitude and Honour for the past contribution of others

Dear Lord, I give thanks for my parents [ names (name/secondname)];

For all the love that they shared with me, the lessons they taught me, the sacrifices they made on my behalf and the legacy they left me. I give thanks and I pray that I may be a wise and effective administrator of their legacy for the highest good of my family and the greatest good of all.

Dear Lord, I give thanks for my grandparents [ names (name/ secondname)];

For all the love that they shared with me, the lessons they taught me, the sacrifices they made on my behalf and the legacy they left me. I give thanks and I pray that I may be a wise and effective administrator of their legacy for the highest good of my family and the greatest good of all.

Dear Lord, I give thanks for my family [ names (name/ secondname)];

For all the love that they shared with me, the lessons they taught me and the sacrifices they made on my behalf I give thanks and I pray that I may be a true and faithful husband to my wife, a loving and helpful father to my children and that I may be a source of love, health, happiness and abundance for my entire family.

Dear Lord, I give thanks for all those sentient beings who have assisted me throughout countless lifetimes;

For all the love that they shared with me, the lessons they taught me and the sacrifices they made on my behalf I give thanks and I pray that they may each overcome their ignorance, anger and greed, find their way to enlightenment and attain to the Bodhi mind.

There is certainly a lot of repetition of the word "Lord" in those recitations, however, the significance of such things is always and everywhere about one's personal intent and not what may be assumed or interpreted by others. As such, it might be worth pointing out that I am not referencing some external entity living on a cloud or something, but am referencing the Lord of Light within me. That connection that exists within me that connects with the unified field, infinite energy, intelligent infinity, creator consciousness or whatever it is that you may refer to it as. It is truly important to understand that we are connected with and at one with the one infinite creator and this process of transcendence is all about stripping away the obstacles that restrict, veil and impede that connection. There is no right or wrong however and each journey back to enlightenment is intensely personal. This is just how I see things at the moment.

Also, it is important to understand that we all have a sense of guilt over some wrong we might have committed, but that sense of guilt is also just another form of subjective conceptualisation that needs to be let go. It is not something that we need to hold on to as a form of self-punishment, so, regardless of what we have done we are all worthy of aspiring to transcendence of this material world. It does require work, however, and the path to enlightenment is one of mastery over all our desires, as well as those desires for self-punishment. So release desires of guilt right along with all the others. That is not to say that one is exonerated from their offenses, transgressions or injury to others, but a recognition that we may ever choose to make amends and change our ways at any time. Maybe you need to create your own specific recitation to reinforce your commitment to progress for every day we have the chance to make ourselves anew!

In concluding our meditation and Sutra classes in the Chan Hall of the monastery, we recite the following Four Great Vows to reinforce our commit to the path. I hope that they may inspire us all to seek and keep to the path.

Four Great Vows

Countless are sentient beings I vow to liberate;
Endless are afflictions I vow to eradicate;
Measureless are the Dharmas I vow to master;
Supreme is the Buddha way I vow to attain.

I for one am always needing reminding that reality is Śūnyatā and that I need to let go of my conceptions, desires and attachments to overcome my ignorance, anger and greed. The number of times I have let my attachments manifest in expressions of anger towards others are too many to count and is an ongoing source of disappointment in myself. For instance, my desire for respect from my children and subsequent anger when they are disrespectful is but one of many recurring sources of frustration in my desire for liberation from these feelings. Ironically, my desire for liberation is the source of frustration in not achieving it, but that is itself an excellent example of just how subtle and numerous our afflictions are while ever there is attachment.

In that light, chapter Sixty-four of the Tao Te Ching is particularly poignant:

That which is at rest is easily kept hold of; before a thing has given indications of its presence, it is easy to take measures against it; that which is brittle is easily broken; that which is very small is easily dispersed. Action should be taken before a thing has made its appearance; order should be secured before disorder has begun.

The tree which fills the arms grew from the tiniest sprout; the tower of nine storeys rose from a (small) heap of earth; the journey of a thousand li commenced with a single step.

He who acts (with an ulterior purpose) does harm; he who takes hold of a thing (in the same way) loses his hold. The sage does not act (so), and therefore does no harm; he does not lay hold (so), and therefore does not lose his hold. (But) people in their conduct of affairs are constantly ruining them when they are on the eve of success. If they were careful at the end, as (they should be) at the beginning, they would not so ruin them.

Therefore the sage desires what (other men) do not desire, and does not prize things difficult to get; he learns what (other men) do not learn, and turns back to what the multitude of men have passed by. Thus he helps the natural development of all things, and does not dare to act (with an ulterior purpose of his own).

May we all eradicate our attachments to let the divine effortlessly manifest within us.

Namaste.

Investigating the nature of Self

In a recent meditation I was encouraged to ponder further on the nature of Self and coincidently, while looking through a bookcase for some old documents, I found a document I had compiled and bound some years ago on the major arcana cards of the Egyptian tarot as archetypal representations of the elements of the self. There are some online resources(1) available that investigate these concepts.

This might seem to be a bit obscure, but one of the initial premises of the concepts presented here, of consciousness embedded with light throughout creation, is that as the light coalesces into increasingly complex forms and relationships, so too does the complexity of consciousness increase and the processes for its development. Part 6 very briefly describes that the motivations for self-realisation can be conceived of in terms of archetypal constructs within the personality elements of Mind, Body and Spirit, as shown below.

 

As can be seen from this diagram, the interactions of archetypes are complex within each aspect of Mind, Body and Spirit, which combine together to form the Mind-Body-Spirit complex we experience as ourselves in this existence. The means by which development of individual entities is assured is through the dynamic interaction between these archetype concepts and was summarised in Part 6 as:

… the basis of ensuring and stimulating the motivation for attainment or realisation of potential exists within the fabric of existence. Through the capacities that are pre-existent and the potentials established for that existence (karmic and otherwise), work is guaranteed to occur through catalytic action that leads to experience, that informs and in turn transforms, propelling oneself on the great way of progress.
 

From reviewing my previously compiled material, I can add that as the interpretation of the significance of one's experience compels one to transform, direct interaction with the other archetypes can provide a positive feedback to accelerate the transformative potentials and experiences of one's existence, as indicated by the dotted lines.

This diagram is exemplary only and is really not original, coming as it does from the explanations of the original Egyptian Tarot provided through the Ra contact (2) and work done by that contact group, but it does provide a reference model for how one is a compound of complexities that interact together to provide unavoidable experiences that are interpreted through the Mind, Body and Spirit. In that, there is a trinity of aspects to ones beingness that require nurturing to maintain a balanced development and transcend the limitations of this mortal existence.

But what is meant by these concepts of Mind, Body and Spirit? This bears some explanation so that the reader may more closely interpret that which is indicated.

• Mind – Is that which is aware, interprets, comprehends and chooses.
• Body – Is the physically constructed and chemically based vehicle through which we interact with this world with the 5 senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.
• Spirit – Is the all-pervasive, animating principle that one's existence is but a singular focus of, connecting one with all.

With a perspective derived from the path of progression described in the symbolism of the Ankh, one can see the eradication of ignorance is facilitated through the processing of catalyst of the Mind, Body and Spirit to create experiences through which the significance interpreted that leads to transformation. In this manner, the processing of catalyst by the Mind, facilitates the transformation of the Mind, that processed by the Body transforms the Body and that processed by the Spirit transforms the Spirit. It is through such transformations that ignorance is eradicated. This defines the necessity for balancing such efforts of developing Wisdom across each of the aspects of the Mind-Body-Spirit complex that makes up the Self. In the symbolism of the Ankh, that is the development path of the vertical axis.

The horizontal axis of the Ankh speaks to the principle of polarity that permeates the material experience and the need to eradicate one's attachment to one's subjective conceptualisations. This then is indicative of the transformative efficiency of the Significator in processing catalyst and interpreting experiences. An overtly negative interpretation, or an overtly positive interpretation, reinforces one's attachment to polarising concepts and cognitive biases. Whereas, the practice of equanimity, detachment and compassion as the lens of interpreting the significance of experiences and processing catalyst is the most efficient transformative path.

May we each realise the transformative potentials in every moment.

Namaste.

1. Archetypes Study Guide, http://archetypalmind.wordpress.com/
   
2. LL Research, The Law of One, http://www.llresearch.org/
   

The Past as Prologue to your Future

Following up on the interpretations and insights previously outlined on the ancient Egyptian symbol of life, the Ankh, I have been considering to what extent spiritual progress as defined in the Ankh is held in common with other religions. That is, is there a common concept of a path and progress along it? To recap the insight on the Ankh, there are two aspects of development as described below:

1)      A path through material existence - Shedding conceptual attachments and abiding in a state of equanimity and loving kindness – the horizontal axis; and

2)      The means to progress along the path – Perfecting wisdom through the elimination of ignorance with respect to the nature of material reality – the vertical axis.

Buddhism

In Buddhist terminology these concepts are relatively clear. That is, through eliminating all delusions of form and discriminative thoughts, recognising that ultimately all of conditioned reality is Śūnyatā, the Bodhisattva’s mind is freed from hindrances and he/she attains the path. Then through the perfection of wisdom, the Bodhisattva achieves enlightenment as the unconditioned is realised, ultimately transcending suffering as the unconditioned is made manifest and Nirvana is achieved. As we have previously identified, these correlations are clearly described in the Heart Sutra.

There is, of course, a large body of work in support of this simple message, with great traditions, elaborate ceremonies and rituals.  These may be very appealing for the mystical qualities they allude to, but if not understood with the context of the fundamental tenant of spiritual development, they may be quite confusing, repetitive and meaningless. Ironically, one may become attached to the very tools intended to break-free of one’s attachment to form and conceptualisations.

Christianity

What of Christianity?  Might a similar path be described? In the traditional King James Bible we certainly see talk of a path in Matthew 7:13-14 :

13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

In this quote from the Book of Matthew one can almost see the disciple Matthew leaning forward in earnest attendance, listening to Jesus as he gestures to the right and left of the vertical axis of the Ankh, explaining how broad the ways of “destruction” are compared to the narrow path that leads to life, as he points along the vertical axis.

Of course, the life of Jesus is itself a lesson in unattached compassion and loving kindness, even unto his death where he foresaw his demise, yet demonstrated his transcendence of all material attachment by sacrificing even his body to edify others with this example. But what better example is there than the parable of the suckling infants from the Nag Hammadi Gnostic collection of the need to balance discriminative perceptions of existential duality as a requirement for entering the “Kingdom”.

(22) Jesus saw infants being suckled. He said to his disciples, "These infants being suckled are like those who enter the kingdom."

 They said to him, "Shall we then, as children, enter the kingdom?"

 Jesus said to them, "When you make the two one, and when you make the inside like the outside and the outside like the inside, and the above like the below, and when you make the male and the female one and the same, so that the male not be male nor the female female; and when you fashion eyes in the place of an eye, and a hand in place of a hand, and a foot in place of a foot, and a likeness in place of a likeness; then will you enter the kingdom."

And again he admonishes his disciples to reconcile their discriminative conceptualisation if they are to overcome the limitations of existence within a body (house):

(48) Jesus said, "If two make peace with each other in this one house, they will say to the mountain, 'Move Away,' and it will move away."

It would appear that Christianity as preached by Jesus was pretty definite about the need to overcome attachment to discriminations of dualistic polarity as a means to enter the “Kingdom of Heaven” and this is precisely the path described in the Ankh.

Taoism

In Taoism, the idea of a Path or Way to transcend this Earthly existence also is not only clearly identified, but is the focus. The very meaning of Tao is Path or Way and we see the first two verses of the Tao Te Ching describing the Path, again consistently with the symbolism of the Ankh as described by the polarity of concepts (duality) within a spectrum of Attachment:

Verse 1:

The Tao that can be followed [or walked, in material terms] is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named [conceptualised and discriminated] is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the origin of heaven and earth
While naming [discriminative conceptualisations] is the origin of the myriad things.
Therefore, always desireless [without attachment], you see the mystery
Ever desiring, you see the manifestations.
These two are the same—
When they appear they are named differently.

Their sameness is the mystery,
Mystery within mystery;

The door to all marvels.

Verse 2:

All in the world recognize the beautiful as beautiful.
Herein lies ugliness.
All recognize the good as good.
Herein lies evil.

Therefore
Being and non-being produce each other.
Difficulty and ease bring about each other.
Long and short delimit each other.
High and low rest on each other.
Sound and voice harmonize each other.
Front and back follow each other.

Therefore the sage abides in the condition of wu-wei (unattached action).
And carries out the wordless teaching.
Here, the myriad things are made, yet not separated.

Therefore the sage produces without possessing,
Acts without expectations
And accomplishes without abiding in her accomplishments.

It is precisely because she does not abide in them
That they never leave her.

Tao Te Ching, Translated by Charles Muller [with my clarifications]

Above we see, repeated and expounded, the potential for entrapment by identifying with and becoming attached to the conceptualisations and discriminations of the material world. That is, it is only through recognising the equivalence of opposing polarities that one finds the Path (Tao) and the work of the Sage is begun.

My guess is that there would be similar correspondences to the Ankh symbolism at the root of most, if not all, major religions. How the message gets confused through course of time would be like a game of Chinese whispers, where interpretations of a story differ with each explanation or where points of importance are omitted as their significance is not recognised. Then of course there is the theoretical analysis and intellectualisations that have occurred to attempt to explain in different words the message that is otherwise so consistent.

However, grasping the meaning of the Ankh, the Tao, Jesus or the Buddha is not easy or straightforward and so undoubtedly tools and developmental supports would have been constructed over the millennia to introduce neophyte seekers to the concepts and to educate them on the path. For those reliant on such tools, like the Ankh, it is important to remember that they are nothing but tools to support and they are not to be relied on beyond that. In fact, such supports must be abandoned and removed, otherwise they will act an anchor holding one back from self-realisation. It is important to recognise, therefore, that if the Ankh as described in these pages is at all useful, it is only as a small tool, a signpost along the road and is not to be confused with the road itself.

Hopefully, we are a little closer to understanding the sayings of Jesus, the Tao Te Ching and the words of the bodhisattva Avalokiteśvara in the Heart Sutra:

Here, O Sariputra, form is emptiness and the very emptiness is form; emptiness does not differ from form, form does not differ from emptiness, whatever is emptiness, that is form, the same is true of feelings, perceptions, impulses, and consciousness.

Namaste.

Update on the Ankh Symbol

After considering the two dimensionality of the lower part of the Ankh, being a coordinate system of Consciousness on the vertical axis and subjective distortions of discriminative thought on the horizontal axis, I was encouraged in the simplicity by which such a coordinate system could describe the degree of one’s divergence from the Path, as a Cartesian coordinate system defines the position of a point. However, I was perplexed at the confusion entailed in the descriptions of the axis themselves. Then a few weeks ago after attending a meditation session and Sutra class at the Chan monastery, I discussed with the Shifu the significance of the Three Poisons of Buddhism, being Ignorance, Anger and Greed.

It had occurred to me while listening to a story of one of the patriarchs of Chan (Zen) Buddhism that anger and greed were but manifestations (or discriminations made) of the same root, being Desire. That is, one only hates or is angered by something because they do not desire it and one is only greedy because they do desire something. Hence, Anger and Greed just represent opposite polarities of a single Klesha - Desire. My Shifu concurred and we discussed further how it was the taming of Desire and the eradication of Ignorance that lead to enlightenment, the Bodhi mind and Nirvana.  

Reflecting again on the Ankh, I saw clearly that the horizontal coordinate system of the lower part of the Ankh was really nothing other than the positive and negative expressions of Desire defined on an axis centred around a zero point of total detached compassion and unconditional love. In further consideration it can be observed that the Kleshas are nothing other than descriptions, or discriminative distinctions of the degree of divergence (left or right, positive or negative, more or less) from this state of detached compassion.

The vertical axis of the lower portion of the figure is seen to represent, therefore, the spectrum of Ignorance; total ignorance at the bottom, rising in degrees of increasing wisdom to the perfection of wisdom (Prajñāpāramitā in Sanskrit) at the top.

I have updated the descriptive elements of the Ankh with this revised definition of the axes as shown below.

 



In doing so, I also note that curving inward of the extremities of the cross suggest a motion or movement back towards the point of emergence from the creative principle, or zero point, in both horizontal and vertical directions. You will observe also that I have marked this gateway point with a circle to identify the target of our existential development.

This might tweak some form a recognition in your memory of having seen this conglomerate of symbolism before and if you are wondering where, I’ll point out that this is very similar to the Celtic Cross with the circular focal form centered on the vertex of the cross. It is intriguing to contemplate the possible historical connections between the Egyptian Ankh, the Celtic Cross and the Buddhist Path to enlightenment, or the intelligence that may have devised such symbolism. For my part, I see a great tool for stimulating the memory when the weight of material concerns cloud the meaning of life.
 

May we all dispel our ignorance and balance our desires and discriminative thoughts.

Namaste.

Edit: I have been plagued by a concern over the use of Desire as a label for the horizontal axis and have been motivated to understand that Desire itself is not the root of the distortions of subjectivity and discriminative thought that give rise to the subjective kleshas. Instead, the root is the attachment to objects of form, which arise through conceptualisation and discriminative thinking. To extend my explanation above, one is not only greedy or angry because of their desire or repulsion for the object of attention, but because they are attached to the subjective form that object holds for them. Therefore, the horizontal axis is better termed the Spectrum of Attachment to reflect this clinging to notions of discriminative preferences and conceptualisations. This is also very consistent with Buddhist terminology and teachings. I have updated the diagram to reflect this change.

Now we can contrast this symbolic description of The Path provided in the Ankh directly with what is described didactically in the Heart Sutra, observing the consistency:

Therefore, O Sariputra, it is because of his non-attainmentness [non-attachment] that a Bodhisattva, through having relied on the Perfection of Wisdom, dwells without thought-coverings [conceptualisations]. In the absence of thought-coverings he has not been made to tremble, he has overcome what can upset, and in the end he attains to Nirvana.

-          The Heart Sutra

 

Ankh - The Path in a Picture

Is there a single image that captures the path to enlightenment? That can guide and remind us, in our ignorance, of the road we must seek and of the destination to which we aspire?

The Egyptian Ankh or Crux Ansata provides just such an image, but it bears some explanation to transform a flat lifeless image into a guide and instrument of direction of the highest order.

Here is the insight gained through meditation on the Ankh, yesterday morning. I was prompted to contemplate it by a reference made in a Gnostic podcast I listened to a few weeks back. The idea that the Ankh was a symbol of metaphysical principles for initiates was intriguing and an easy object of contemplative focus in meditation.

In the diagram below, we can see the Ankh symbol in black, with descriptions and indicators detailing the significance of its different aspects.





 

 The central theme of the symbol is the horizontal line that separates the above from below. Above we observe the circular, womb shape and below, a singular line. The creative principle represented by the womb shape is obvious if considered and the fact that it is whole and undivided speaks to the greater integrated totality of creation. The vertical line that emanates from the creative principle, drives forward into the void, separating the horizontal line that demarks its emergence and instantly transforming the hitherto passive void into a seething sea of dynamic tensions of discriminative duality. Left versus right, the spectrum of subjective conceptualisations is immediately created, with an infinite array of unbalanced distortions available for the experience of consciousness.

The vertical line emanating from the creative unity, suggests a divergence from that principle the further removed one may be. In this spectrum of consciousness, one may see the wise and self-realised entities as closer to the horizontal line, while the ignorant and dependent being further removed. Which if viewed in reverse order describes a hierarchy of development bringing one closer to the infinite creative principle from which the finite, individualised consciousness was born. In fact, the vertical line indicates that not only is there a spectrum of consciousness, but that there is only a single point at which it is possible to penetrate that creative principle from the position of individualised consciousness. The vertical line delineates a path back through the void in which concepts of duality and separateness must be balanced to return to the infinite wholeness of the creative totality. The Left-hand Path does not exist without the Right-hand Path and that all such discriminative conceptualisations are but distortions keeping one suspended and isolated in the void and off the path of return. In this graphical way we can see that it is the realisation of the middle-way, of neither identifying with the self nor others while remaining detached from the conceptualisations that entrap the mind within the horizontal spectrum of discriminative subjectivity, that provides our path to enlightenment. That is, a profound realisation of Śūnyatā is the path to the Bodhi mind.

Is it any wonder that there should be such consistency in metaphysical instruction between the ancient Egyptians, the Gnostics and the Buddha? How many ways can the same guidance be given?

May we all balance our discriminative thoughts and raise our consciousness to find the middle way and attain the further shore.

Namaste.

Edit: In the diagram above I have changed the original "Self as All .. Self as Nothing" of the horizontal spectrum to "Individual as All .. Collective as All" as to better reflect the extreme perspectives of Service-to-Self and Service-to-Others conceptualisations. The description of this aspect of the diagram was a little obscure after coming out of meditation. After contemplating my unease over it, I concluded that it is the Collective that is the opposite polarity to the Individual and better represents the extremes of discriminative thought in this spectrum.

Evolve to Progress

“The earth goddess has moved a greater part of her awareness into a 5^th density environment, dragging earth and all related sentient beings along behind her. That is to say that there is an unstoppable force pulling earth and all its life forward into a new realm of existence and experience.”

So says the guide who came in response to my meditative focus on the question of “Why another war?”

I took some time this morning before breakfast to meditate and reconnect with the spiritual life after a number of months of disrupted practice and focus on matters of material concern, such as housing, money and business issues. But it was “Father’s Day” and I dedicated a little bit of time to my spiritual practice. After running through my standard approach to entering the meditative state; breath counting, energising chakras, drawing up the kundalini and seating my awareness in the area of the pineal gland as I have previously described, I settled my attention on to the question of focus in a single-pointed state. Very quickly I was drawn into a vortex of energy that streamed down over me and filled my body with a white light that then radiated out into a sphere around me. The energy vortex then continued through me deep into the earth and I felt my awareness fall backwards, as it were, down into the earth within the column of the energy vortex, coming to rest at the bottom. I immediately felt the arrival of another entity and was in the presence of a guide who had come in response to my question.

Now, I did not challenge this guide nor otherwise question its authenticity as is my usual response when confronted in this situation, as I was automatically filled with a profound sense of gratitude and took to one knee as I gave thanks. My guide bid me to come with her and she would explain what was happening with the world and its focus on war and aggression. Under her control she took me to what she said I would understand as the 5^th density. I had the sense of rising up and arrived in a space that was completely filled with light. This is the density where, she said, our earth mother had relocated and that this relocation has profound implications for all life on our planetary sphere. As we are bound to or a part of (?) her, life will now inexorably transition into a new state of being, that is a new density of existence.

She likened this transition to a filtration process through the energetic barrier between the densities. To pass through the barrier one must shed the discordant energies (thoughts, desires, etc.) that are not consistent with the new energetic level of existence. But as the concentration of entities increases in proximity to this barrier, the discordant energies are becoming increasingly intense as they rise to the surface to be either shed or embraced. This process of increasing discord brings to the fore a conscious choice. A choice of control through fear and an experiential dead-end devoid of freedom and adventure. Or a choice of love, freedom and inspiration.

To the question of what I should personally do to continue my adventure with the earth mother into the new environment, my guide advised that I should continue to open my heart in unconditional love and to apply the wisdom of my experiences, while working on the eradication of base lustful tendencies.

The pull of the earth goddess of everyone against this barrier of transition between densities is separating humanity into increasingly separate and obvious groups. These grouping are reflecting the dualism of choice for differing polarities of “positive” or “negative”, respective to the polarity chosen by the earth mother. Evolving to shed the fear and control of the negative paradigm is making the choice to embrace the positive model of existence chosen by the earth goddess.

Observing the absurdity of the warring factions as country after country is overthrown, leaving chaos and destruction of the civilian infrastructure and communities, with politicians jockeying for position to support the insanity while creating a prison state of totalitarian surveillance through secret laws and courts to prosecute dissenters and whistle-blowers, … the choice is to either embrace the absurdity or to just step out of it and let it flow around you as you are drawn through the density barrier. To evolve into the paradigm of the new density or remain with the old.

(42) Jesus said, "Become passers-by."

Like passing through a sieve, the detritus is left behind, becoming more and more apparent over time and requiring removal to allow efficient filtration of the flow to continue.

(73) Jesus said, "The harvest is great but the laborers are few. Beseech the Lord, therefore, to send out laborers to the harvest."

 

 

The Bed Sheet Metaphor

It was my privilege, a number of years ago, to speak at a spiritualist church on a topic of my choosing. Given, at the time, my occupation with the nature of chakra energy centres and the characteristics of these different energies, I chose to speak about my understanding of these energy centres and how they related and connected us all to the broader universe we exist within. The analogy that I used was that of a bed sheet, where a bed sheet represents a frequency of light corresponding to one of the chakras.

In the analogy I used, our existence was projected through 7 different frequency bands corresponding to the 7 major chakras. By layering the seven sheets upon each other and drawing them all up into a knot at one point. This knot, I reasoned, could represent ourselves, living within the fields of universal energy. A being existing as a focal point of these universal energies, drawn into a complex combination (the knot). Draw the sheets into more knots and you define a community of focal points of energy complexes (individuals) that relate to each other through their proximity in sharing of the energy fields (sheets). A simple but effective analogy for the energetic view of existence within multiple, interrelated yet distinct frequencies of electromagnetic energy (light).

The different characteristics of light (detailed here) and the variability with which each penetrate and flow through a corporeal entity provides for the variability of characteristics demonstrated within each entity. The proximity of entities within the sheet, determine the amount of influence and distortion each focal point exerts upon another, while viewed from a distance the grouping, distortions and energetic interrelationships can be conceived of as a community sharing common characteristics. With a big enough sheet and perspective, one can consider multiple groups of entities, clustered into regional communities, with the greater the distance between them the less they affect or influence each other, yet they are all interconnected by the sheet. Simple enough?

This morning the local council was due to collect the garbage in our suburb. I had forgotten to put the bins out last night and awoke with a start early this morning at the jolt from my wife reminding me to put the garbage out. She had heard the garbage truck making its way through the streets in the silence of the early morning. Dutifully I arose and wheeled the garbage bin out to the curb to await pickup and quickly returned to bed, intent on another hour of sleep. As I dosed back into sleep, I was cast back to my speech at the spiritualist church and was consumed with a sense of gratitude for the opportunity to share those thoughts and express my insight. In this half dream state, thoughts and ideas extending upon this analogy flooded through my mind including the following:

• All the graduations of the electromagnetic spectrum can be conceived of as sheets layered one upon another in an infinite array. [ Grouped in octaves like the spectrum of light ]
  
• Different levels of existence include different layers of sheets that are knotted together;
  
• On the death of the body, consciousness retreats to the highest level sheet (frequency of light) before re-entering material existence as another knot;
  
• Levels of existence above this one do not include the lower level sheets (frequencies), but include higher level frequencies;
  
• Realms of existence occur within zones where the prevailing frequencies are most stable and that does not necessarily require a planet;
  
• The Sun as a source of light (electromagnetic energy) is a point of existence for higher levels of consciousness;
  
• To preserve physical integrity beyond natural areas of existence, vehicles are necessary for transportation through and beyond areas of non-native frequencies;
  
• Transportation is not just over linear distances as we perceive it in our realm and is not just for transport through our range of frequencies.
  

Then I was wondering about the requirement for food and why we must eat food and excrete if our existence is energetic in the spectrum of light. The thought that was conveyed was that the more gross the form of existence the grosser is the source of energy required to overcome the entropy of annihilation of the physical body complex and that a chemical body required chemical inputs to maintain it. That of course implied that higher levels of existence do not rely upon gross chemical constructs of bodily materials and nutritional requirements would be completely different to our own.

Then as I began to finally drift into sleep, I was filled with an urgency to write down my recollection before it was forgotten, so I could convey it to others who may be interested.

Hence, in an obscure but interesting quirk of synchronicity, you find yourself reading this material due to me not putting the garbage out last night and being poked in the ribs by my wife this morning!

May we each find our way out of ignorance and confusion to embrace the mind of pure awareness.

Namaste.