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Wednesday Jul 14th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's OM
Burnt Offerings & the Blind Spot
One asks: “How could Burnt Offerings possibly create intimacy with the Divine” This is a good question, because the notion that somehow G-d would be pleased by a person taking an animal, slaughtering it and roasting it seems mysterious to us at the very least.
In many approaches to discussion of spiritual transformation, conversation is being offered about a “blind spot” that even spiritual masters exhibit. This “blind spot” is something every person has, our friends can easily get together with us and tell us what OURS is, yet we STILL have trouble addressing it.
There is a relationship between the “inward parts” of a person and this blind spot. The blind spot is associated to the inward part of a person that lingers untransformed. It remains even after who-knows-how-much effort to attain consciousness. In ghetto vernacular, the Blind Spot is the place "where the sun don't shine," the bowels of a person.
The Hebrew Priest would reserve the broiled flesh of the sacrificial animal, called Terumah in Hebrew for a sacred festive meal. This flesh is considered very sacred and access to it was restricted. Conversely, the bowels of the animal had to be entirely consumed by fire. The notion of consuming the bowels by fire is found in many ancient and aboriginal cultures.
The Hebrew term for “sacrifice” is Korban, from the root KRB, meaning “intimacy.” There is no correlation between the English word “sacrifice” and Korban. Contemplating of the notion of animal life being lost by act of slaughter cannot help but trigger deep feelings of irony except in a callous person. We cannot help but note that in the days of the Temple in Jerusalem, the murder rate was comparably low. Unlike modern society where we can go to the grocery store and grab some cuts for dinner without a moment's reflection, meat for food consumption had a sacred context because it reminded the eater of Terumah and of G-d. Absent this sacred context, the price of flesh becomes cheap, and murder rates skyrocket.
There are two common terms that associate to deepest pleasure and pain in one's inner parts. One is YUM, and everyone who has fed a child knows this pleasant expression. The other is YAK, and for most people nausea is the most undesirable possible experience. Among indigenous and aboriginal medicine practices, bringing on nausea is desirable, praiseworthy, and even ceremonially solicited. In the context of burnt offerings, nausea is literally the removal of embedded attachments from a person's deepest parts. Digestion is all bound up with fire, from the first grinding of food by the teeth, represented by the Hebrew letter Shin, connoting fire and meaning tooth, to the precious heat within the furnace of the stomach, praised, and protected by wise practitioners of traditional Asian medicine.
We often find that a person's blind spot is associated to any of a variety of forms of spiritual dysfunction, where the person's will becomes vulnerable. This dysfunction is the end-result of inappropriate desires and resulting attachments. Since desires and attachments built momentum, once these take root deeply in a person, it becomes easier for the person to function without complete integrity or to compartmentalize otherwise-unacceptable behaviors.
Not all attachments result from less-than conscious choices such as bad habits, lifestyle, integrity issues, and so forth. Many have spiritual dimensions. Causes include forms of soul fragmentation, where trauma leads a portion of the soul to withdraw, attachment of spirits of persons who have died and not transitioned completely to the Light, and demonic entities who engage in cascading levels of destructive effort. Some authorities state that as much as 95% of the population experiences some form of spiritual dysfunction at one or another time in their life. This type of problem can be addressed much more easily than some people may imagine, and without any of the drama and adversarial context associated to Hollywood movies about the topic.
First and foremost, the means of address for any of these conditions involves willingness to make whole and sweeping spiritual progress. Secondly, issues associated to a person's Blind Spot are not typically addressed directly because it is the very nature of the blind spot to be impossible to access directly. Finally, since such issues are best addressed from the root, always invisible, but subject to examination and extraction in the proper light.
In the Holy Temple in Jerusalem, the Korbanoth, or Intimacies were offered in a variety of forms on a daily basis. Likewise, a person who takes takes time daily for spiritual practices invoking Divine Intimacy creates a kind of momentum that leads to uncovering and illuminating the roots of the Blind Spots and spiritual Dysfunctions we all carry.
Our weekly quartet of spiritual practices can gradually lead you home. Join us, the benefits accumulate.
Wednesday Jul 23rd 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's OM
Sackcloth & Ashes
There are 47 references in old and new testaments to wearing or sitting on “sackcloth” as an act of mourning and penitence. In part, this act along with self-denial should be our response to the Gulf Oil tragedy. According to the Prophets, a nation that cannot recognize its transgressions is abhorrent in the eyes of the Divine. “Let them be covered with sackcloth, both man and animal, and let them cry mightily to G-d. Yes, let them turn everyone from his evil way, and from the violence that is in his hands.” (Jonah 3:8 KJV)
We cannot but expand upon our theme from the past week's writing “Oil and Consequences” that the pathological conduct of life in modern society is the true cause of this mess. Laying blame on corporate malfeasance is valid but also hypocritical because blaming others does not address the root cause. Would that we could purchase vast amounts of sackcloth (also known as a hair shirt, typically woven from Goat's hair) and distribute kits of sackcloth and ashes to be worn by every member of congregations throughout the world. If speaking today, the Prophets of Israel would call for a Global Act of Mourning and Repentance. We cannot help but wonder what is wrong with a society that fails to mourn and repent from its transgressions.
The Gulf Oil Spill is not alone in a series of events suffered by the US in this new century that call for national mourning and repentance. The question is: “Why does no such mourning take place?” The answer is that we have compartmentalized ourselves to the extent that leads us to unresponsiveness. We suffer from a type of paralysis that causes us to be disconnected from the simple fact that as micro-agents in a macro scheme of resource extraction and planned obsolescence, we have become a source of death and destruction unlike anything conceived in any time in world history. Our sense of identity, discussed below, is not equipped to correlate such factors.
The entire premise of consumerism is bankrupt. Architect William McDonough said there is no way the world could sustain another “industrial revolution in India and China” but this is the direction towards which we run, headlong. The model behind the economics of consumerism is a trap of the worst proportions. While “expanding middle classes” in India and China seek to “have” what the Developed Countries “have” we wonder what sort of outcome could be the consequence. It is not without chagrin that one drives down interstate highways clogged with vehicles designed to use 99% of their energy consumption for the purpose of moving the vehicle and 1% of their energy consumption for moving the person behind the wheel. Amory Lovins, founder of the Rocky Mountain Institute has explained this irony. The Rocky Mountain Institute's web site is a must read for anyone seriously considering the relationships between policy, personal conduct, and intelligent technology application. From Amory, we learned that the several important sea changes in energy and natural resource utilization were not decades-long transitions, but took place in a matter of years.
The pathological state of mind that leads a person to adopt a position of powerlessness is one of being a debtor, rather than a creditor. The Creditor is a Sovereign, who is aware that the power lies within him or her to do whatever is right. The Debtor is a subject, unaware, who readily consigns “rights” and “assets” to others, thus being weakened and stripped of the capacity to call for accountability. While a corporation is perpetual, a corporation is not a Being; it does not have the seed of G-d within it. For a Human Being, who bears the seed of G-d within, to consign the rights of creating and holding accountable to a corporation is the ultimate convolution of proper placement of authority. It is an act of diabolical and demonic proportions for a living Divine Being to become the subject of an entity that does not bear the G-d seed. But, what happens each and every time we engage in a transaction involving a bank is precisely that sort of abdication of the Sovereign Throne upon which we rightfully hold power. With the collapse of Sovereign self-cognizance, a person becomes a shadow of being, an ever-needy vacuum rather than a Source. The results are what we have in the world today. Where a person's primary sense is of lack, this person is lost to the Sovereign nature of the human experience. A sense of lack is the abdication of the Sovereign Throne associated to Human Divinity.
The time-tested method used by spiritual masters to resolve a sense of lack is ironically self-denial. Doing without can lead a person to discover one's inner world possesses everything needed - and more. The person discovers that the quality of inner resources is radiant by comparison to outer resources which are comparably pale and flat. Attachment to outer resources as though they can provide comfort is also a form of abdication.
Within the traditional model of mourning, employing Sackcloth and Ashes, a person fasts from a wide range of pleasures. Where a nation fasts from pleasures, profound insights are made available. These come from recognition that so many pursuits are simply machinations - they are seen as unnecessary and wasteful distractions. This is why many communities who fast routinely wind up simplifying their lives substantially. They break the bondage of lack. We should all fast, learn to do without.
The opposite of doing without is being within. The cascading effects of being within are profound and can bring previously unimaginable solutions to the practical challenges we face as a society. The secret of being within is that such an approach invokes the affirmation that we share our destiny. In this context there is no secret or separate action isolated from impact on others. We act in concert more naturally. This could be a part of the solution to the fragmentation and compartmentalization that leads to ever-more toxic outcomes in the world.
Our weekly quartet of spiritual practices can gradually lead you home. Join us, the benefits accumulate.
Wednesday Jun 16th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's OM
Oil and Outcomes
When we see choices we make leaving dreadful consequences like the Gulf Oil Spill, you just can't help but wonder about outcomes. What is language spoken by the release of ancient energies and spiritual elements behind them flooding the fertile Gulf of Mexico that have been laying beneath the earth's surface for millions of years? What is the language of the animal and plant entities who face immanent destruction, possible extinction, and where survival is possible, years of reconstitution? What are the impacts on the people of the USA, regional, and national, and the Nations of the World with respect to policy, economics, natural resource and energy acquisition, and reassessment of what was presumed to constitute the societal norm? What should become of corporate governance and transparency in the wake of cited large scale engagement in short-cuts for profit's sake yielding a corporate culture of involving hundreds of egregious safety violations that lead to wholesale death and destruction? What kinds of Technologies with positive or unintended consequences might come to the fore in the effort to address this catastrophe? What will be the effect of chemical dispersants being added every second to the spill at the well head and what alternatives might be better? And, the ultimate question is "Who is in their right mind that has good ideas that could be helpful now, and are such people being invited in or barred from the conversation, and for what political or economic reasons? The scope of the matter is vast and will doubtless be a resonating source of controversy and reflection for the remainder of the century.
A few mathematical facts we don't hear combined in one paragraph might be relevant. We do know is that the Gulf of Mexico is the seventh largest body of water on earth, with an estimated 650 Quadrillion gallons of water. The relationship between the size of the Gulf and the spill is worth exploring. If the oil spill is at the current US Government maximum estimate of 2.52 million gallons daily and lasts for 258 days before being stopped, the huge quantity of 650 million gallons or 15,476,190 barrels of oil would be involved. This quantity of oil represents one ten-millionth of the liquid in the gulf. After 56 days, based on this daily estimate we now have a total of 141 million gallons to deal with. For comparison, the Exxon Valdez spill involved 10.8 million gallons, an amount reached every 4.29 days.
These impacts challenge at least part of our world-view. To most of us, the outcome of life is at least partly predetermined. In short, we live, we learn and improve, and expect to return to Source, having reconciled any trailing issues, or Karmas. The range of choices associated to the widely-held doctrine of Free Will come to play. The "rules of the game" of life, at least in a "spiritual" person's view are based on the notion that we are all here to attain a positive outcome. Under Free Will, we recognize a person could make any of a number of choices given a set of circumstances. However the notion that there are deliberate negative intentions leading to murder, death, environmental degradation, theft and depravity represents a ragged edge of our world view that is difficult to reconcile.
This oil spill is all about that kind of world-view. It runs counter to the view of right-use, balance, and wholeness. Yet, as fossil fuel consuming participants in the vast sea of micro-choices that led to this crisis, we are among those people who compartmentalize such choices that range beyond the ragged edges of the "rules of the game." Relative to the world's population and with our highly out of balance patterns of consumption among the world's population, the quantity of developed country citizens is less than the one in 10-million ratio of oil to the Gulf. Yet, we sustain far more devastating impacts than the oil spill the world over without blinking. We have major house-cleaning to do. We need moral and technological guidance mixed with workable and easily adopted solutions. We have to stop compartmentalizing because our compartments have sprung a toxic leak.
This incident is one in a recent series of world-historic events that calls for us to look carefully in the mirror. The first in the series involved the destruction of the World Trade Center. Our leaders responded with endless blame, war and retribution. Persons calling for self-reflection were called traitors or terrorists. This event is one of a different character, yet it is one in which blame and themes of war unfortunately arise. President Obama regrettably speaks in military terms of “fighting” the spill and “siege of oil.” This language is the offering of a completely bankrupt societal model. The choice of such language avoids calling for citizens to take responsibility for the events involved. We should repudiate the use of such language and recognize that our compartmentalization is no less toxic than the choices made by BP to cut corners and defy regulations in its pursuit of profit.
We find ourselves in a maze. The entry point is today. Wherever we turn, we must come out at the other end. The duration of our transit through the maze is up to us.
Our weekly quartet of spiritual practices can gradually lead you home. Join us, the benefits accumulate.
Wednesday Jun 9th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's OM
The Parallel Universe
The Great Secret of the Ancient Mysteries involves a Parallel Universe that carries the essence of the Divine message without corruption of any kind. This is the universe of Master Plant Spirits. Just as the sentient being Man has a physical body endowed with unique powers, the Master Plant Spirits are sentient beings that possess physical bodies endowed with unique powers. Where Man has eyes, plants have seeds. Where fowl and insects have wings, plants have leaves. Where many have legs, plants have roots. And, like the powers of Man which involve the ability to speak, build, and propagate, Plant powers are communicative, conscious, medicinal, healing, nutritive, and restorative in character. All cells contain DNA, whether found in plant, mammal, reptile, fish, bird, arachnid or insect. And DNA is known in biophysics to broadcast coherent light, transmitted as a digital signal. The intention of this broadcast is communication of intelligence, pure and simple. The notion that a plant is "only a physical thing" is as incomplete as the notion that Man is only a physical body.
A person who engages in a living foods diet becomes far more susceptible to the intelligence fostered by the Master Plant Spirits. The claim that people who eat fresh, wholesome diets primarily composed of raw plant materials are more healthy, knowledgeable, and sensitive to Divine Guidance is proven manifold. Those who seek to become initiated into the Parallel Universe of knowledge provided by the plants must do so by eating a diet appropriate to this endeavor. It was said that Man was vegetarian until the flood, after which time it was permitted for Man to eat flesh, but discouraged because "the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all the moveth upon the earth and upon all the fishes of the sea" (GEN 9:2 KJV) It is notable that the Plants are exempt from the dread of Man, because by design they were created for consumption and nurture in order to bestow their knowledge. They are the physical extension of the Divine Feminine expression. The elemental difference between chlorophyll and blood is that chlorophyll is built around magnesium while blood is built around Iron. Otherwise they are similar. This is a clue to the wise. Combined with the widely-observed rule from India to Jerusalem that one must not build a holy Temple using any object or hardware of iron, we detect a pattern.
The Rishis of India, the Oracles of Greece, the Essenes, the Hebrew Prophets, and many other supreme examples from of holy societies did not eat flesh, and they were known to live in areas where natural plant medicines with great psychoactive potencies grew in abundance. In the Amazon Jungles the Shamans and Tribal Healers strongly forbid the eating of Pork, and cautioned against eating other red meats in the context of their curative work. Virtually ALL of the ancient societies eschewed distilled alcohol and alcohol byproducts of fermentation except when combined with powerful plant infusions. Beer recipes held closely by European families still include all sorts of psychoactive plant infusions. Beers without plant infusions are common only in very recent history. The Vedic literature describes the use of Soma, clearly a psychoactive plant product. The Tabernacle accoutrements, Hebrew Priests and Kings were ALL anointed with oil containing vast quantities of "sweet calamus," called Knei-Bosum in Hebrew (Exodus 30:23) known today in nearly identical phonetic terms as Cannabis.
The "heavy wine" described in the rituals of the early Christians contained psychotropic plant infusions, and was known for its ability to invoke Divine revelation, produce Divine communion and healing at such depths that forgiveness of sins was not merely symbolic. Early Christians are shown in various artistic depictions passing around baskets of cubensis or other psychotropic mushrooms in the context of their communion rituals. The original story of Santa Claus is actually one of a Siberian Shaman who gathered mushrooms and due to high snow, entered through the chimney of the yurt to hold ceremonies during the Winter Solstice.
The Rabbis often repeat an old Kabalistic saying of the Sages that a person should consume Wine and Flesh to attain happiness, but the physical wine and flesh described in the old saying was not today's wine, and it was not the flesh of cattle but of certain plants. Here we must emphatically offer a warning: Such plants and their Spirits are invoked under strict limits among traditional societies. They are outlawed in modern society because the powers unleashed by these Spirits are not to be trifled with and can undo a person. The exception to the law is indigenous proceedings. Under indigenous proceedings, invocations are undertaken under controlled and sacred circumstances where appropriate supervision is maintained. Modern laws related to this topic are simply an outgrowth of these ancient precepts.
The Master Plant Spirits are endowed with the knowledge of creation unencumbered in any way by human foibles. They deliver an unadulterated and completely integrated perspective about the purpose and weight of human existence from the soul level. They show the linkage between and foster communication between all types and levels between the Father and creation, whether spiritual or physical at any depth. Their view is from the perspective of one who was fully conscious and present at the inception of each soul. They are in possession of the knowledge of the PURPOSE of each soul and the necessary steps it will take to restore each soul to its full and appropriate awareness.
They vehemently discourage escapism, drug abuse, and the "curse" of laboratory-based pharmaceutical treatment applications. Why? The allopathic approach strips the plant intelligence away. This leaves only the pharma-physiological action that by itself does not require CONSCIOUS changes in the patient's will, actions, and orientation. One cannot but note that the term CURSE is an anagram for CURES. The Aboriginal Tribes of the Amazon and other Rain Forests advise us that they learned all of their knowledge, including the Pharmacopoeia, AND their unique verbal-musical languages and vocabularies directly from the Master Plant Spirits. They are very critical of pharmaceutical companies' extraction of plant essences and the notion of patenting these extractions. This form of testimony is consistent throughout the Aboriginal world.
Master Plant Spirits comprise the class of the most pure and multi-dimensional spiritual experiences possible. Their experience is not primarily conceptual, it is primarily physical and thus organic in orientation. Perhaps a surprise to some who may wonder, these Spirits are cognizant of the One Creator, and thus particularly and deeply supportive and respectful of the Sages, Prophets, holy prayers, and their invocations that are expressed in monotheistic ancient traditions. It appears as though these traditional offerings are creations of the children of the Master Plant Spirits. The Plant Sprits are decidedly Feminine in nature. They are aligned with the Mother force - as might be expected, they are the manifestation of "Mother Nature."
The testimony of Scripture makes mention of the Master Plant Spirits in veiled terms - we hear much of the Archangelic, Angelic, and other guiding Spiritual beings, but mention of the Master Plant Spirits is subtextual. We infer from the norms of the priestly and traditional indigenous culture that Moses and the Prophets were well-schooled in the use of such vehicles of communion. However, the broad applications of various Master Plants are found in every religion, from Siberia, to China to South Asia, all through Europe, Africa, and Polynesia. Of course the Native North and South Americans hold them in great esteem. For most of us, knowledge of this realm of spirits is the "Half of the Story That Has Never Been Told." Where we do hear of psycho-actives, we hear mostly of impure instances of abuse and ineffectual applications that foster disorientation. While this knowledge is at the core of the formation of every world religion, often being the school of the Prophets and Sages, the Oracles, and the Seers, it remains esoteric and hidden from the common eye, and initiation into this Kingdom is rare. This is a central reason why Western societies are weak with respect to environmental sustainability - the institutions of Western knowledge were aware of the powers bestowed by the Master Plant Spirits, and for corrupt reasons, found a variety of ways to forbid or restrict access to this knowledge for the purpose of maintaining control of the population.
In place of this knowledge, religious institutions established comparably diluted rituals and practices that only mildly hailed to the inner work that only the Master Plant Spirits could produce. However, when properly invoked, the Master Plant Spirits are most extraordinary in their intimate knowledge of each soul and of the procession of Human engagement on Earth. When properly invoked, it is not unusual for Master Plant Spirits to lead a person directly into physically cathartic and visionary restorations that can reset a person's orientation at organic levels. Such experiences affect the emotional and physical bodies from the core of the body and spirit. These results are unequalled in any therapeutic regimen known in modern medicine. One student of the topic, paraphrased, said "Entering a prayer chapel, a person does not fear, but undertaking a ceremony among tribal people, one enters with knees trembling. There is no question you will face any and all obstacles, NOW and be reduced to your essence to presently deal in immediate terms with your existence. You can expect to be reconstituted according to your proper image and likeness under the set and setting of indigenous ceremony."
Yogic and Kabalistic Meditation and Breath practices are said to have been provided to the early mystics in the context of communion with Master Plant Spirits. These can be very powerful where the leader is familiar with the invocation of the purity and presence of these Beings who are created by the Divine as a repository of the unadulterated nurture and nature of the Divine intention. Their intervention alleviates the digressions of the human will, and restores the human to right-action. Whether one undertakes the cathartic experience of direct communion with the powerful Spirits is one question, but there is no question that the vestige of their teaching in Yogic and Kabalistic forms is potent and helpful.
Our weekly quartet of spiritual practices can gradually lead you home. Join us, the benefits accumulate.
Wednesday May 26th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's OM
Short Cuts
US society used to value work. Today it cuts corners. The examples are everywhere. The language of income has changed from "earn" money to "get" money. The Kabbalists call one's profession Parnosseh. The root of this term is the same as Furnish. There is a sense that the Divine furnishes a person with the necessary resources. The Divine Flow of Nurture, called Shefah in Hebrew, streams through creation. We have to access it. The means of this access is Work. King Solomon (Proverbs 12:24 KJV) "The hand of the diligent shall bear rule, but the slothful shall be under tribute." In other words, a hard-working person becomes a ruler while a slacker becomes a slave.
Examples of cutting corners multiply almost daily. This week alone we have news stories of Mega-Food companies punishing member-farmers for appearing at FDA town meetings where disclosure of unsafe food practices is made. Corporate Lawyers and Public Relations firms angle to prevent revelation of the true size of the oil blowout in the Gulf of Mexico. Shortcuts are reported circumventing safety provisions. The Catholic Church declares its Bishops and Priests are not its employees. Corporations paying minimum wage of $130 monthly, forcing employees to work massive amounts of overtime in China discount employee suicides. US Federal border security enforcement is so lax Arizona takes matters into its own hands and awkwardly ignites national debates. In the UK, the physician who first offered peer-reviewed linkage between autism and popular vaccinations is ousted. And the Duchess of York is caught soliciting bribes in exchange for access to her powerful Prince and Trade Minister ex-husband. We are reminded there are at least four lobbyists for each Member of Congress. All of this was reported in one week.
In the "business" of enlightenment, we find other examples involving money, and often large sums: The self-proclaimed ascended master, now approaching age 60 and with dyed blond hair, has a web site hawking dozens of books, CDs, seminars. Pay to Play was apparently the byword behind The Secret: "Advanced" seminars for a price upwards of $10,000 per participant were reportedly offered. Commoditizing enlightenment is a practice that often feels patently hypocritical. But within a culture of short-cuts "anything goes" and "what the market will bear" is the presumed standards of "fair trade practices" since you have willing buyers and sellers who are not compelled to exchange services and money. The give-away is that MONEY is the actual discussion; it is only filtered through a provision of some spiritual access.
Accountability becomes an endangered species. I once sat on a UN Panel discussing Spiritual Matters in the Western World. When I specifically identified certain Church Councils that had stripped away large portions of the mystical teachings from official doctrine, I was roundly criticized by the Chair. "We cannot point fingers" was the terminology. What I took this to mean is that Politically Correct means nobody is at fault even if G-d is subordinated. Now if you are a Church and you make G-d irrelevant by disgorging the teaching of the Masters, and get away with it, you are profoundly corrupt. If it was not the UN, one would have considered the position laughable. In this instance it was tragic. In protest I withdrew from the Panel. This is the same UN that certain spiritual leaders have tried to endear, as if UN involvement is a form of credential, as if to say, I'm accepted by the UN thus you should accept my Teaching.
You would not recognize a classroom in a public school, and if your kids are in public school they probably don't tell you what's going on. No personal article is secure - articles are routinely stolen. In the cafeteria, food is a commodity of influence much as it is in prisons - the bully gets the pie even if the child's mother packed it in the lunch box. Accountability for misconduct is unheard of. In public schools the norm is an unspoken language of "stressing high standards" while "confounding discussion" of impropriety. "Snitches get Stitches" is a term every kid knows. You keep your mouth shut. A regime of intimidation is involved. It builds upon itself, becomes a part of the norm of every strata of social life.
As for the matter of enlightenment, our fast-paced instant gratification model should be compared to older models. Today, we have weekend retreats where "initiation" is offered and "enlightenment" is conferred. In traditional India, it often took as long as 40 years before a person received initiation from his Guru. Loyalty to the teaching and its dispensation was strongly emphasized. Today, money being contributed takes the place of loyalty. In archaic societies, a retreat was not a weekend matter, or a week away, it lasted a year, or more years. For instance, in the Kashmir State lies a country called Ladakh. Here strong family support for spiritual practices is featured. A man might join a monastery for a few years, while his brother provides for his household. Then the monk-brother would return and relive his other brother and provide for the home. Many brothers thus look after their families, and themselves, spiritually and materially. About 150 years ago, Franz Liszt spent over two years at the Madonna Del Rosario Monastery near Rome, and subsequently entered the clergy in a minor order. He continued to write and practice music, but he kept his priorities. Today if a person joins a monastery or ashram, it is looked upon with a jaundiced eye, because "you are sacrificing your financial security." As if financial security was the goal of salvation.
Mass media has influenced our view of respite. When you asked to think of vacation, you are presented with a scene at a beach involving alcohol, with balmy breezes and palm trees. Or a mountain, with Ski runs, or shows in Las Vegas. Perhaps you are enticed by an all-inclusive resort package, again, with alcohol, and among these you will find many alternatives, but they are generally populated by people who are taking their "two-week vacation" from work. We do not normally envision a quiet chapel, or a hut in the jungle, a book of scripture, and a nearby small and plain cell or hammock for sleeping.
Nature is the model we must follow if we are to understand how to grow and prosper. We must observe the gradual formation of seeds, roots, stalks, branches, leaves, flowers, and back to seeds. Among the witnesses from the world of plants, the great plants are not the ones that come and go in a matter of days. Those are called weeds. The majestic redwoods take hundreds of years to mature, often become very large, and the power they store in their physical forms can be immense. Many stories are told of the medicinal power and healing potency of the bark, leaves, roots, or other parts of an ancient plant.
Similarly a person's career is often formed early in life, not by award of a special vocational credential, but by a combination of factors that include facilities of the soul and its mission, parents chosen by that soul for nurture, and extension of the soul's purpose into education, pursuit and engagement in life over time. A large number of historic personalities maintained a consistent effort from their youth that led them to the career for which they are remembered. This is especially true for spiritual leaders, but is also the case for the spectrum of careers, from scientists, attorneys, artists, musicians, scholars to military leaders, etc. By the time these people attained their mid 20s, typically we see a clear path of career. Almost universally money and compensation is a byproduct of the life's work, not its intention. This is significant.
If a person is looking for money, and asking what career will deliver that money, that's disoriented and vampirist. Career is the externalized love of relatedness. The world was created for people, not people for the world. We did not come to the world to become employees; we came to employ the world. Your work is your stage, your theater, thus Parnosseh includes the people and circumstances needed for you to receive your portion of Divine supply. Cosmically, there is no such thing as a "job." Our orientation and expectations followed are crucial to the process. Those who are primarily concerned with providing a reward to the world will be rewarded in due course. Those who are primarily seeking to be rewarded may receive a quick response, but they are far more like weeds than majestic redwoods.
Our weekly quartet of spiritual practices can gradually lead you home. Join us, the benefits accumulate.
Thursday May 20th 7:30 P.M.
at Jai Shanti Yoga
Shimshai Live
We will NOT host a gathering this week and will reconvene at Frederick's Om on Wednesday May 26. Topic to be announced.
We strongly support Shimshai's musical offerings. Seating is limited. Get your tickets in advance and find all details at the Jai Shanti link above.
When I met Shimshai about 10 years ago on the Big Island of Hawaii it was clear that I had encountered an artist with unique spiritual resources and talent. Shimshai's soulful and world-music inspired stylings elicit a transparent sense of spiritual homecoming, joy, and comfort, whether he is performing contemplative, meditative music, or danceable, up-tempo reggae-based tunes. His music is widely known especially on the west coast, and respected for its purity and freeing affect. Audiences wherever he plays feel it is a privilege to be in attendance. If you have not shared music with Shimshai, this is a great opportunity. Please be a part of this experience! Doors open at 7pm, be prepared to sit on the floor, and dance on the perimeter!
See Jai Shanti's web page for complete details!
Our weekly quartet of spiritual practices can lgradually lead you home. Join us, the benefits accumulate.
MONDAY, May 10th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Current Astrological Insights
Under what sky does the failure of the BP-contracted Deepwater Horizon offshore oil rig, collapse of Greek debt, fall of the Euro, largest point-drop in US market history, volcanic ash air travel interruption, and a host of challenging personal life-experiences take place? What should you do personally if you are experiencing upheaval, emotional strain, high stress levels, romantic upset, or health concerns? What and when are the next likely steps along the path of probable events?
To raise such a question is not a modern pursuit. Among the Hebrew Prophets, Sages and the Kabbalists, it is universally accepted that the actions of the planets in motion have powerful -- and predictable effects. These have been empirically observed for thousands of generations, and observations about planetary influences tend to be consistent, across cultures around the world. Where disagreements exist, they typically relate to how one calculates the positions of the planets, rather than the effects they are likely to have.
Without exception, all of the major authorities recognize and teach that day of the week and hours of each day are specially influenced by different planetary attributes. These attributes are associated to what we might call "spheres of influence" symbolized by the planets. For instance, Moon is associated to matters of comfort & emotion, Mercury to communication, Venus to desire, Mars to initiative or energy, Jupiter to expansion, enthusiasm & generosity, and Saturn, to contraction, commitment, work, responsibility, & maturity. It is no mistake that the day of Shabtai, (Saturn) is Shabbat, (Sabbath) coming from the same three-letter Hebrew root as the name of its ruling planet. And what happens on Saturn-day? There is a contraction, bringing a state of rest, cessation from work, assessment of one's primary responsibility to G-d and a mature self-identification with the sacred.
The acceptance of this doctrine is so universally imbedded it is a societal norm among the Children of Israel. When a wedding is planned, it has been common practice to travel to a sage seeking his blessing for the couple. A groom might travel for many days or even weeks prior to the development of air travel to attain such a blessing from his Rebbe. When he would arrive to see the Rebbe, if the Rebbe approved of the intended union he say “B'Sha'ah Tovah” meaning; It should happen at a GOOD TIME. Upon completion of the sanctification of the marriage in ceremony, when the groom steps upon a glass, symbolizing the breaking of the vessel of the past in creating a new life together, all present acclaim “Mazal-Tov” And what is the meaning of this word Mazal? Planet! The people wish the new couple “Good Planets.”
No monarch or important personage undertook major exploits, whether in forming a treaty, waging war, marrying a child to that of another leader, or determining which person to appoint to important positions in the court without consultation of sages who knew how to read the times. There are many examples, either self-evident or directly reported. Nostradamus' prophetic expertise was primarily founded on this skill, the Treaties created by Ronald Regan employed it, the US Republican Party appeared to select dates for their conventions for their nominations of George W. Bush based on it, and a host of other examples are widely documented. Ptolemy (2nd Century AD) used planetary motions to make accurate forecasts about the potential for success or failure of crops and commodities, and this work has been carried forward to this day, providing the foundation for far more accurate macro-economic forecasts than are provided by those only trained in university economics programs using modern quantitative approaches alone.
Careful attention is given to 3x-yearly approx. three-week periods when Mercury is in retrograde because endeavors beginning under the retrograde often encounter logistical, communications, and electronics or network problems. Networks and software often break down, electrical circuits fail and contracts signed under the retrograde often require revamping. Examples of this include both US Gulf War invasions of Iraq, which were flawed by logistical nightmares. Initial failure of the attempts to burn the oil slick, use chemical dispersants, and employ a containment box to ameliorate oil damage caused by the Deepwater Horizon Well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico are examples of measures complicated or forestalled under Mercury in retrograde. Our sincere hope and prayer that this Gulf oil flow will be capped off before Mercury goes direct on May 11 is a guarded version of optimism.
Today, we have a series or sufficiently rare and significant planetary alignments strongly affecting the geopolitical, financial, and personal or individual forecast. These began with the November 2008 ingress of Pluto into Capricorn, nominally a once-in-240 year event that includes the French and American Revolutions and previously, the Protestant Reformation. Pluto (profound transformation) in Capricorn (large scale societal matters and potentially, geological incidents) often involves overthrow of seemingly implacable tyrannies. Under this Capricorn transit, Pluto could lead to overthrow of Banking cartels and Corporatism after initially strengthening them. A large number of people are experiencing substantial life-changes of epic proportions as Pluto makes squares (90 degree angles) and oppositions (180 degree angles) to natal planetary positions. These people are experiencing career, financial, romantic, and other forms of serious upheaval. People who have planets in early degrees of cardinal signs, or the angles of their horoscopes (Ascendant Descendent, Midheaven, and Nadir) at these degrees are the most likely to need some support to sort out how to handle this time. Given the very slow motion of Pluto, this series of transformations will take several years to complete.
An interesting example of this transformation brought about by the Pluto transit was seen in a female astrological client who confirmed she experienced child abuse after it was mentioned that her birth chart showed this was likely. Under this transit the abuse issues come to the surface and she has to deal with them, free herself from anger, grief, shame, and other attachments. The ability to transcend the impossible is one of the hallmarks of Pluto's impact, but sometimes Pluto takes a person to the gates of their own subconscious Hades underworld to show them the full scope of the transformation they must accomplish. Pluto transits often begin with a person feeling isolated, disempowered, and facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Resolving the issues leading to a person's weakness is the purpose of such a time.
Uranus (change and innovation) and Saturn (holding to the old ways) have been in a pattern involving five oppositions, an even that most recently took place in the tumultuous mid 1960s. The first of this series took place on the exact day of the Obama/McCain election and it was clear that the themes of these planets yielded a polarizing of political situations the world over between reformers and staunch advocates of “staying the course.” The dialogue is not limited to the US, with elections during the opposition in many countries revolving around reform vs. traditionalism. The fourth of the five oppositions took place on April 26, 2010 just days away from the Oil well blowout and UK Elections which left a hung parliament. The fifth opposition takes place on July 26th. This opposition will be the first occasion when Saturn and Uranus opposed in cardinal signs since 1828, when South Carolina declared the right to nullify Federal laws.
People with sensitive points in their horoscope are being strongly affected by Pluto and the five occasions when exact oppositions between Saturn and Uranus occur in the current series. Nov 4, 2008, Feb 5 & September 15, 2009, and April 26 & July 26 2010. As for a specific forecast of political, geographic, weather, and financial market volatility, the near term group of planetary events suggest one should remain flexible because changes are taking place at a rapid pace. We have a few upcoming events that should be watched carefully for potential reversals in trend and volatility. Jupiter approaching Conjunction with Uranus on June 8 is a time when one would expect extra-ordinary volatility. It follows the May 23 Saturn-Jupiter opposition which will likely represent a tug-of-war between influences that cause markets to rise or fall. Those who are looking for indicators of direction in the financial markets should give careful attention to the period between the Saturn Uranus opposition of April 23 and these subsequent occasions.
Those who have sensitive points in their horoscopes to any of these events are likely going to be looking for answers. If you or those in your life are experiencing upheaval, unexpected changes, health issues, emotional or financial disruptions, or challenges with relationships, it is a good time to contact us at yes@reallyfree.org. Ask how to handle these situations for your greater good and well being.
Our weekly quartet of spiritual practices can gradually help you navigate in a changing world. Join us, the benefits accumulate.
WEDNESDAY, May 5th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
The Father
The most-used Hebrew words for G-d and the Spirit of G-d are in Feminine gender. According to Kabbalah, the world is the domain of the Feminine, nurturing quality, and many say that to experience the Father is extremely rare in the earthly realm. This knowledge did not filter down to contemporary American Evangelical Christianity, where we hear a vast array of prayers given to the Father in ways that feel twinged with pride and self-interest. In Protestant forms of Christianity the Mother is all-but-ignored.
According to the broadly- researched and widely-read text translated into over 20 languages, The Chalice and the Blade by Dr. Riane Eisler, the history of Earth is mostly one of a co-operative and feminine-based culture where fertility, nurture, and collaboration are prime. In fact the first commandment of the Torah, when enumerated in order of appearance is "Be fruitful and multiply." The Hebrew Kohen Gadol (High Priest), on his annual Day of Atonement entry to the Holy of Holies beneath the Shekinah (Feminine Presence) pillar of Glory above the Tabernacle said a prayer that is surprising on first hearing. He asked for mothers to bear young, for good crops and rain. Propagation of the Hebrew race is Matrilineal, not Patrilineal, meaning that a person's status as one of the Children of Israel is determined by the Hebrew Status of the Mother. In the Consensus Reality of Mass Mind, the notion of direct access to the Father is a confabulation because it misses the nuance of the Feminine. And to engage in Universal Laws and invoke their powers, one must know the structure of such things.
On this and other very holy occasions, the Priests assemble for the Nesiat Kapayim (Raising of the Hands) before the entrance to the Inner Court of the Temple in Jerusalem (and in today's synagogues.) The Shrouded Priests repeat their prayer covered entirely by prayer shawls. Their hands are extended and covered underneath the broad wings of their shawls. The THUMBS AND FOREFINGERS JOIN TO FORM AN EQULATERAL TRIANGLE and the RING AND PINKIE ARE SEPARATED POINTING OUTWARDS. Hence, they would recite the Priestly Blessing over the people, who also were entirely shrouded in prayer shawls. All bow their heads, and none look upon the Priests during the Blessing. All recite prayers asking for good outcomes of their dreams! The literal translation of the words is:
May the Lord Bless you and Guard You,
May the Lord make his face shine upon you and shower Favor upon you ,
May the Lord lift up his face onto you and give you shalom (Wholeness, peace).
A derivation from Eisler's insightful observation is the perception of two variant cultures and their affects. Archaic culture, based on a Kaballistically-correct understanding of the engagement of the Feminine in near-term human experience was superseded by a Dominator culture. Dominator culture is a construct of patriarchal and controlling appetites. In the context distortion where the gentle Feminine aspect is subordinated, the turbulent wake of this development is unambiguous: Biological, cultural, political and economic devastation as a consequence of lost nurture are fostered.
We have an economy centered on consumption, resource extraction, and planned obsolescence rewarded by short-term profits and stratification of social hierarchy. In short, it is a recipe for disaster, and the footprint of this approach grows in significance. Wall Street has rewarded profits in isolation, meaning investors have ignored the broad context in which profits are attained. Over the passage of time, it will likely become clear to investors that there is no such thing as a valid resource-extraction paradigm as imagined and vehemently defended by Milton Friedman and the Chicago economists. When this happens, a long-necessary sea change in the practice of economics may ensure, where the view of the economist is not limited to two or four quarters forward as practiced today by the herd of Wall Street intellectuals.
The Greek term Oikos is the source of Eco. Its rubric is the Whole World in summation. Nomos, or Nomia are Greek terms for the ability to identify with and relate to something. So when we speak of Economics we are speaking about relating to the whole picture as it really presents itself. Rabbi Shimson Rafael Hirsch identified an interpretive correlation between similar sounding Hebrew words, showing many examples of subtle relationships between their underlying intentions. Nomos and Pneumos are potential examples of this principal applied to Greek. And, Pneumos is the word for Breath, or Wind. And Wind, in the alchemical paradigm, is associated to Thoughts. By extension we could derive that the Thought is the Logos, Word, and then we come to the whole perception of the World as an expression of the Divine Thought. And this brings us to the Father.
According to Babylonian, Egyptian, Buddhist, Christianity Masonic and other ancient Hermetic iconography, a unique manifestation in creation is the All-seeing Eye. It is called the Sun God, Eye of Buddha, Eye of Providence Eye of Jove (Jupiter), the Eye of Apollo, the Eye of Baal, the Trinity and the Nameless One. It appears to be an ancient symbol of the direct experience of the Father with certain mystical examples modern verification in direct experience to support it. In other words, the symbol is a representation of a unique class of direct spiritual experience that has similar visual effects.
In Freemasonry, this symbol is called the Eye of Providence and the Masons referred to the Father as the Architect of the Universe. In the books of Kabala, the term for the Creator is often referred to as haMakom or "The Place." It is rare for this image to be referred to with gender specificity, because the experience of the Father transcends Male and Female. The Eye is often depicted as floating in the sky surrounded with clouds of Glory. Above The Eye on the dollar are found the words Annuit Coeptis, translated literally as "Favors Undertakings." The interpretive translation is that the Eye of Providence gives the supply, or prospers our endeavors. The terms Novus Ordo Seclorum below the Eye literally translate New Order Cycle. The origin of this phrase is Virgil's Ecologue (ecology again?) IV Line 6: "Magnus ab integro seclorum nascitur ordo." This is a poem about Sybil, who prophesies the fate of the Roman Empire. From C. S. Calverley's translation:
Come are those last days that the Sybil sang:
The ages' mighty march begins anew.
Now come the virgin, Saturn reigns again:
Now from high heaven descends a wondrous race.
Thou on the newborn babe -
who first shall end That age of iron, bid a golden dawn. . .
Thou, trampling out what prints our crimes have left,
Shalt free the nations from perpetual fear.
While he to bliss shall waken; with the Blest
See the Brave mingling, and be seen of them,
Ruling that world o'er which his father's arm shed peace.
A close examination of The Eye as shown on the US Dollar Bill reveals a curious and potentially prophetic attribute about this particular depiction of The Eye: A slight hint of the Sclera (white of the eye) is seen below the iris. Any positioning of the pupil in the eye, with Sclera showing either above or below the pupil is called Sankapu in Japanese by George Oshawa, one of the founders of the Macrobiotic philosophy. White showing from BELOW the Iris is a Yin condition, and according to Asian medicine, represents danger coming from outside a person. This Yin condition occurs in a person who has too much intake of Sugars, Alcohol, Refined Grains, and Pharmaceutical Drugs. These habits sound like the American culture and diet in a nut shell. Oshawa noted that Kennedy and Lincoln, as well as Indira Gandhi, were shown to have Yin Sanpaku before their death. All were assassinated.
The mystical experience of the Father is the Vision of the All-Seeing Eye. This experience is almost never documented, except graphically, but it is clear from the wide array of sources we have shared above that the experience is something from beyond the earthly life, something has been known to spiritual masters since pre-written history. Like most spiritual experiences that are reduced to symbols in modern times, we can understand the workings of the unique presence of The One as expressed through the symbol and attending phenomena.
There are a few points the ancient ones share about this extraordinary and rare spiritual experience when the Father manifests as the All-Seeing Eye. From a distance, The Eye seems to be a point of indescribable light moving in a cloud of Presence. Some report heavenly beings surrounding The Eye. One observation is that the Divine presence of compassion is so strong when the Father manifests up close and personal that a person is nearly or completely speechless, though a person might shed tears of joy and feel reconciliation like a child welcomed home after a lonely separation. The reason for these tears is the enormous unconditional acceptance of one's existence, and an overwhelming kindness that flows from The Eye. The person is literally showered, and absolved with Divine Favor and recognition that one is inseparable from the Father, belongs to the Father entirely, as a part of the Selfsame Being without constraint or limitation. The experience leaves a person entirely and unconditionally in a state of peace, a sense of wholeness, and uninterrupted tranquility. It is neither an inner experience or an outer experience, it transcends all creation and is an experience of unity in the entirety.
Tales of this mystical rapture report that one cannot look upon The Father with BOTH eyes. Because of the brightness emanating from The Eye the visionary becomes entirely and completely illuminated with the brightest imaginable and ineffable spiritual Light, greater than any spiritual experience, even of heavenly realms. However, it has been observed that one might be able to look upon The Father with ONE eye, reminding us of the powerful statement in Luke 11:34 oft-quoted by Paramahansa Yogananda and other Masters of India: "When thyne eye is single thy whole body shall is also full of Light." It is further observed that when a person attempts to look upon The Eye with BOTH eyes, the Presence is too bright to look upon and a person can only LOWER THE HEAD with profound gratitude and surrender. Scriptures and prayers are replete with the references to "bow (the) head in prayer" but no reference is made to the specific and undenyable cause of this bowing that really leaves no other option. We also hear of people falling to their knees or prostrating themselves in this degree of Presence. It is entirely common for a person who was standing at the onset of this vision to involuntarily but graciously fall to the the knees or to the ground.
Once a person experiences this direct blessing of The Father, the words of Psalm 16:8 "I have set the Lord always before me" become clearer and more laden with meaning. Such an exalted Vision never entirely subsides. It is worthy of a lifetime of meditation and invocation. Invoking and retaining the Practice of The Presence, the vision continues to guide a person upon the paths of life, helping one intelligently discern choices and retain the sense of the living Truth. Even a brief glimmer of this Vision is life affirming. One cannot but benefit from meditation on the All-Seeing Eye.
Our weekly quartet of spiritual practices can gradually help you reach the unity and peace that passes all understanding. Join us, the benefits accumulate.
WEDNESDAY, April 28th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Attachments
Just like the Earth's close orbital zone exhibits “space junk,” thoughts expressed as words create relatively permanent objective forms on the spiritual planes. The more emotion given into words, the more they possess a life of their own. Once spoken, all words attach to similar words, potentially creating massive systemic entities founded on intentions. Positive words create harmonious life. Negative words create chaos.
For illustration, imagine every spoken word created a piece of furniture. If you could see them all, the world would appear stacked from the ground to the sky with chairs, tables, lamps, sofas, and decorations. As you walk around you would be constantly bumping into them. Some would feel good and comfort you, others would bruise you. In reality, we walk in a sea of thoughts the world over called Mass Mind. Since Mass Mind is composed of individual thoughts, it is possible for these thoughts to enter our minds and become attached to us. Manipulation of Mass Mind is the objective of advertisers and public relations firms using media. It is a dark objective of propagandizers who seek control over populations.
Another way of looking at this is that as we pass through life, our words not only create objects, these objects have mass. They have mass because we have expended our life-forces via our words. When a word comes out, just as when beings come out, attachment to words with similar purposes begins. Words produce gravitational, cohesive and adhesive forces involved on spiritual levels. All being attracts similar beings. Just as G-d creates beings by the Word we create Beings by our Word. This is what the Bal Shem Tov meant when he said “Every word issued from your mouth creates an angel.” He warned that we should be careful to create good ones.
We are told that Angels do not possess a will of their own; they are endowed by their Creator with a purpose. They function as messengers. Many have observed that once an angel endowed with a message reaches its destination, it discharges that message. They resonate with their target's energy pattern until they produce their impact, releasing their energy and adding to the energy of their target.
Words and the attachments they create, like “a cat let out of the bag” cannot be put back into the bag. If they are inappropriate, with great expense of energy, they can be restated, clarified, or apologized for, but they cannot be withdrawn. Consequently, as words create growing attachments, the intentions behind them continue to grow unless the person who created them deliberately changes them. This is the reason why so many fairy tales refer to a “spell” that cannot be broken except by the person who cast it. One should always remember that words must be properly SPELLED. In most of these fairy tales where a spell must be broken, a great feat or test of character must be successfully undertaken in order to overturn the power of the spell. So it is with the attachments that issue from our words.
Where we create expectations, spiritual beings including beings created by the words of others congregate around these expectations until they reach sufficient mass to create a manifestation on some level. Hopefully we have created positive expectations, which invite positive beings and yield positive results. However, there are many here who unwittingly or even intentionally contribute to creating negation in a variety of ways. Some are parrots of negation. Others are sources of it. No matter how it begins, when this happens we invite negative beings, ranging from like-minded people to spiritual beings that are disoriented and engaged in negative activities. Because negative thoughts are a part of the Mass Mind, which were placed there for destructive purposes, we are all potentially subject to the influence of these and can become attached to them. We have to remain discerning and on guard at all times. To be effective in the act of self-guardianship, we dispense our word with great caution, knowing that it will ultimately lead to attachments.
Should you find yourself persistently cycling negative self-language, experiencing some types of pain, or engaging in self-destructive behaviors, a negative mass attaching itself to your pattern may have contributed to this. This can be released and you can be restored and freed to pursue your proper expression. Some find that short of releasing this attachment at the core level, the habitual negative behavior cannot be brought to a close. This is why spiritual teachers pay very keen attention to peoples' attachments and work out remedies for negative ones. This is why detachment has been taught in virtually every spiritual school since the beginning of recorded history.
Our weekly quartet of spiritual practices can gradually help you become clear and focused, with positive lasting results. Join us, the benefits accumulate.
WEDNESDAY, April 21st 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
The Golden Chain
There are some among us who are known as the “Links of the Golden Chain,” or “Keepers of the Keys.” Over the illustrious span of history, souls of the righteous are known to reincarnate. They continue the work in which they have established traditional pathways of spiritual traditions. These are capable of receiving what the Kabbalists call Chochmas Nistar, or the Wisdom of Secrets. There are two means by which a person can merit the knowledge of the Wisdom of Secrets: the more common is to receive the Wisdom of Secrets from his Rebbe or Teacher. A higher merit is found in the rarer cases where the person arrives with the teachings and spiritual faculties embodied in the soul. Even these often need a teacher to recapture their faculties. The key to understanding “spiritual transmission” as described by the Chasidim, Yogis, Lamas, Bishops, and the Sufis among many others is to understand that the offering of spiritual knowledge is a recursive cycling of Divine offerings that have been refined in many lifetimes of dedicated engagement with the dissemination of Divine revelation and truth.
This generation offers some who become enlivened and enlightened, who bear the capability to pass spiritual knowledge directly to other individuals. Here, we are witnessing examples of reincarnated Teachers from past generations. There are some among us who are living links in the Golden Chain of Divine Revelation. These exemplary beings have dedicated their souls, much after the fashion of what is called Bodhisattva in the Buddhist tradition. No matter whether these people function in business or education, trades, clergy, homemaking, government, or any role in the spectrum of careers, these peoples' lives are characterized by a tincture of Divine service which is inalienable from their continuous life expression.
Spiritual authenticity differs substantially from the charlatans who constantly speak of pseudo-spiritual matters for the purpose of manipulating people, who pretend to emulate the work of the righteous while profiting handsomely, justifying service to the passions rather than the higher purpose of Divine revelation. Of such are the proponents of the “New Age” who in all but words, disavow the traditions created by the Golden Chain and which has never once produced a single living saint. In essence, the New Age promotes manipulating the universal laws for personal gain, turning outside oneself in the quest for success rather than turning within for the truth. In short it is a diabolical enterprise, even leading to cases of demonic possession and all manner of tragedy.
In the history of the Kabbalah, with its crystalline understanding of the nuances of such details as the spelling of a great Master's name, we find a cogent discussion of the Golden Chain of reincarnation that produces great leaders who become the light of their generation. This is a unique example because many links in the Golden Chain do not continuously incarnate in the same traditions. It is held as very significant that great Masters of the Kabbalah received given names containing the same initials as the great master of another generation. One case of this type is the acronym RIBSh, which permutates to the following first initials, those of The “RaShBI.” Rabbi Shimeon Bar Iochai, the inestimable student by spiritual revelation of Elijah the Prophet. Nearly two thousand year ago, he authored the seminal Kabalistic commentary on the Five Books of Moses Sefer Zohar shel Torah, “Brightness of the Torah.” He was reincarnate as the “Holy Ari (Lion)” Rabbi Isaac Ben Shlomo of Luria, a man capable of cleansing a person from lifetimes of error due to the power of his Divine communion. They both lived a lifetime within walking distance of one another. The Ari was reincarnated as Rabbi Israel Bal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism, who ranks among the greatest of history's miracle workers. According to the famed Rebbe Isaac of Berdichev, the Bal Shem Tov was reincarnated as Rabbi Israel Ben Shlomo Shachna; the famed Ruziner Rebbe. He, like the Bal Shem Tov was able to raise the dead. The Kabbalists call this kind of facility Coakhos ha Nefesh, or “Powers of the Soul” who attribute this capacity to what they term Gilgulei Neshamos, or the Cycling (reincarnation) of Souls.
We should find it worthwhile to identify and recognize the mark of a true spiritual Teacher, and distinguish between such a presence and that of a charlatan in this time of tremendous deception. The reason why we are vulnerable to so much spiritual deception is that Western cultural history involves a supreme example of throwing the baby out with the bathwater: Increasingly materialistic scholars turned away from metaphysical knowledge in their well-intentioned search for valid science. There is nothing wrong with the search of true evidence-and-data-based science, but the inability to reconcile the evidence-based orientation with the quest for inward knowledge is a failure of consciousness. The Latin for inward knowledge is “Scientia.” This omission cast a dark and materialistic shadow on future generations who lost their spiritual roots. Among the distinguishing marks, a true Teacher endeavors to diligently learn from AND show tremendous respect for the traditions and pathways that have been established in times past. There is a simple reason for this: Such Teachers personally played a historic role among teams of souls dedicated to Divine service. They personally established and refined pathways for Divine experience as building-blocks among the world's spiritual practices. In their times, these pathways offered followers the capacity to receive Divine revelation directly from the spiritual worlds. And revelation, only when coupled with respect for past spiritual efforts obviously stands as proof of the legitimacy of a spiritual practice. This is because “G-d does not contradict the Prophets.” One might mention here, that the term Religion comes from the Latin root religiere, meeting to re-bind, from the same root that yields the term ligature. Clearly, the binding is to Spiritual Revelation and this does not contradict its well-established history.
In this epoch of world integration where information is broadly shared among cultures and communities throughout the global village, many of the precious jewels embedded in the world's spiritual traditions have resurfaced. There is a specific reason for this resurgence. During this era, a tremendous number of exalted souls who played roles in establishing spiritual offerings known throughout the world have reincarnated. And, those who have completed the earthly cycle are very busy supporting and “magnetically attracting” the awakening of consciousness in those remaining. Thus, they reactivate the Coakhos ha Nefesh (Soul Powers). Most of these influences are invisible, along the lines of the mystical aphorism “There is more to the Unseen than to the Seen.” These older souls, whether public or private, engage in the nurture and reaffirmation of the legitimate spiritual practices and knowledge they initially purchased through hard work, often at a great personal cost. During many lifetimes dedicated to the breaking of spiritual ground, we should recognize many the world over were imprisoned, shunned, or put to death, both male and female. This is one evident factor in the Holocaust of the six million Jews, where four out of five in Eastern Europe, notably the Bal Shem Tov's followers, were annihilated. This loss of enlightened souls precipitated a loss that might be compared to a wide-spread technology devastation. The lost ability to communicate with the Divine as instructed by the Bal Shem Tov paved the way for the dark age of materialism that engulfed the second half of the 20th century and remains a curse upon humanity. However, these souls remain active and many are present among us, painstakingly working to reinstate the links of the Golden Chain. The point is, offering access to direct Divine revelation is challenging - and ofttimes dangerous. It offends the crystallized mentality of decay embodied by the unenlightened character of the earthly enterprise that withholds spiritual revelation and Divine presence.
Again, we need to cite the reality of our situation in the context of history and the future. From the spiritual domain, this time is viewed as a time of choices; This will not be an overnight or one-time choice like the climax of a Hollywood script or the erroneous and wisely-refuted apocalyptic interpretations of the 2012 “end” of the Calendar of the Mayas. Such instant gratification expectations are unrealistic byproducts of the failed mentality of materialistic philosophy when ineptly and ignorantly applied to spiritual matters. The work that is being done by the enlightened ones will not affect everyone immediately, but this is nonetheless a time of tremendous and accelerated opportunity for awakening. Our present era will be regarded as one in which people and nations will offered the opportunity to make key choices -- choices that will have substantial repercussions in every respect. This is not a time during which most souls will be cycling off in Rapture, another materialistic distortion. Rather, it is a midpoint in the current group of souls' growth-process. Hence, this era has the character of a pinion gear in a machine - propulsion and energy cascades to many levels within its orbital sphere. More than several thousand years of effort and development lie before the work of the present group of earthly souls reaches its conclusion.. The hoped-for horizon of a peaceful world with a balance of resources and creativity combined with healthy competition and the expression of a Divinely inspired human enterprise remains a long way off. However, this is of no consequence, because as every great Master has said: “Now is the time to do the work of the Divine without hesitation. The reward will be reaped by those who follow.”
Our weekly quartet of spiritual practices gradually awaken the Soul Powers and yield lasting results. Join us, the benefits accumulate.
WEDNESDAY, April 14th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
The Buddha's Paradise
The Buddha is not found among these people making claims of special events on the calendar destined to change the human being on a wholesale basis. The Buddha does not come with promises of imminent Nirvana and claims that challenges on the horizon and human suffering are easily circumvented. The Buddha does not come with claims of non-events such as the fraudulent but highly profitable Harmonic Convergence or its perennial list of imagined offspring "just around the corner" on the calendar. The notion that time alone is somehow pregnant with an evolutionary force towards enlightenment in a special way that subordinates the responsibility of the individual would be viewed as absurd. In fact, the Buddha taught that the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth (Samsara) involved all sorts of illusions unique to the problem of time itself.
The more people who believe something is true, the less likely that so-called truth is one of the great teachings of the ancient ones such as the Buddha. When the famous mystical writer Manly Palmer Hall compiled his famous monograph of mystical stories known as “Ways Of The Lonely Ones,” his title referred to the instinct that those who possess true and exalted knowledge are ever-rare in society.
Today we find ourselves in the midst of vocal “spiritual” people whose ideas differ substantially from the great Teachers in respect to the conclusions they reach and teach. One cannot but conclude such people must have been robbed or knocked unconscious, having not taken sufficient time to for study, training, or spiritual discovery. This is a old dilemma and those who partake of it are engaged in an old routine called ignorance or arrogance. The routine looks a little bit like this: Folks with all sorts of pseudo-prophetic information emerge at the cusp of every world event of significance, especially around the turning of centuries or millennia. They bring us all manner of forecasts and discussions that may include hope for a positive world and a wonderful outcome. But, unfortunately, they deceive themselves and others because they did not call upon people to patiently make the important choices, but rather encourage people to simply ride along and experience the wondrous and instantaneous “evolutionary” transformation that is “coming any moment from the sky.” One would think that 21st-century people would be smart enough to see the silliness in that sort of outlook. But the lack of historical perspective leaves many vulnerable to exactly this superficiality. Without a doubt the “coming” so-called 2012 non-event is no exception, because people with limited historical perspective and exposure to critical thinking are unable to see the inconsistencies in notions presented. Those promoting the idea of a world-transforming event are grasping for all sorts of straws. The entire notion of this is completely inconsistent with the Buddha's Teaching. While passionate, it is a relatively poor effort to try and correlate truths and half-truths that themselves fall from an amalgam of meaningless and groundless convolutions that has been roundly criticized by the Maya themselves.
The Buddha emphasized that the passage of time does not necessarily have anything at all to do with the alleviation of suffering. The Buddha said that Mindfulness alone is the key to the mediation and amelioration of the challenges faced by man. Consistently, and without exception, the Buddha explained that Mindfulness is not something that comes from outside of a person, but from within. Buddha decried the notion that an external factor such as a day on the calendar or event announced by a central authority someplace could have any significant lasting impact on the Mindfulness of an individual unless the person was striving upon life's path.
While the Buddha indicated that one could reach Mindfulness rapidly, more often he said that mindfulness comes from effort through passage of time and patience. The Buddha demonstrated compassion for all of us because we DO require significant time and effort to attain the deeper levels of awareness possible in an awakened soul. Likewise, it is part of the Buddha Nature to recognize that there is a reward for effort, and that instant gratification and its ilk are not consistent with the general path of nature or the spiritual world. The Buddha's Paradise comes slowly, it does not arrive from snapping one's fingers on a single weekend retreat or upon a special date on a calendar like an order of Fast-Food. It comes from commitment. And commitment involves a distinct difference from person to person, obviating the notion that a calendar has anything at all to do with Paradise on Earth.
Our weekly quartet of spiritual practices involve a gradual path that yields lasting results. Join us, the benefits accumulate.
TUESDAY, April 6th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Divine Providence vs. Coincidence
Scientists and mathematicians argue with Mystics about the origin of events on earth. Spiritually-based observers notice "random" circumstances falling into distinguishable patterns while skeptics argue no particular order is in play. Many people seem unable to identify patterns of guidance that sift through daily life. However, it remains possible for a person to become highly attuned to guidance. This is an art. Such a person enters into a life of powerful and transformative dialogue. This dialogue is known among the Hebrew sages Hashgocho Protis - or Divine Supervision.
The mystics, after Isaiah 45:15 say the Divine Presence is not powerful because it is so large, but because it is capable of hiding itself in the midst of everything. In fact, the mystical Kabbalah says the action of gentle withdrawal from creation is what causes the creation come into existence in the first place. This retreat is essentially a reduction in size, if we imagine it in human terms. And, when we closely examine the creation and organism, we notice construction and forms with amazing and mathematical consistency. The distinction between organism and mechanism is that organism displays a myriad range of variants, while a mechanism is limited and lacks variants.
A person who seeks to learn from guidance first should look for evidence of guidance in the smallest places and circumstances. It is a mistake to look for big miracles and earthshaking revelations early in the process of discovering Divine Providence. Rather, pay attention to a slight breeze, a change in the light of the afternoon, the differences in the song of a bird; These all evidence the infinite variants that occur in course of life. To the shaman and the seer, these are texts to be read and comprehended. In the small variants we are ultimately offered a symphony of evidence demonstrating the Divine Supervision at work.
Each one of us is capable of citing examples that, from a probability standpoint, were astronomically unlikely to occur. But, they occurred anyway, and their occurrence taught us something. Our lives can be entirely changed simply by paying attention to subtle hints that come to us from every direction, and from within our hearts. Many great minds have written extensively on the subject of Divine Providence versus coincidence.
During the prayer over bread which takes place at each Holy Sabbath meal, the loaves ideally remain concealed by an embroidered cover. Like the Holy of Holies from which the sustenance of all Life proceeds, both in the interior realms within the human being, and center of society itself in the form of the Holy Temple, the use of a cover that lies over the source of power is involved. For a person to directly see or enter the source power requires a form of transcendence such as the act of divesting oneself, perhaps many times, just as High Priest was commanded to do on the holy day of Yom Kippur. The inference is obvious: a person potentially has to shed layers of preconceptions about what life is in order to discover its underlying reality.
Our weekly quartet spiritual practices simply invoke Divine Providence. Join us for them, and listen well.
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WEDNESDAY, March 31st 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Modern Spiritual Slavery
We have to speak about the factors that limit awareness and lead to spiritual slavery. Watch this space for an update to be posted shortly.
Our weekly quartet spiritual practices are in fact a convocation of Heavenly and Earthly communities to foster Divine Experiences. Join us for them, they speak for themselves.
Tuesday, March 23rd 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Convocation
Increasingly, a sense of urgency pervades the atmosphere when spiritually oriented people meet. This sense of urgency addresses the unfinished business of the human race. Granted, many people feel a sense of pressure because of economic circumstances, and this pressure does lead to valuable reflection. However, such reflection is often a form of looking for answers from the material world. Materialism does not address the spiritual, so a person who looks for material answers during a time of material decline is no better off than a person who does not look for such answers.
Among the Wise, there is a strong sense that many of the sacred teachings and sacred points of knowledge are at risk at this time. This is partly because the great traditions which have delivered mystical awareness to the world in times past are now effectively arcane. "New Thought" and comparable movements deliver a kind of approach that is much like pop psychology was in the 1960s and 70s. It was fascinating at the time, everyone enjoyed trying it out, and it made very few people healthier. “New Thought” never has produced a Living Saint. This reality has not escaped the eyes of the Wise. On the other hand , the dedicated activities that are common practice to Temples, Monasteries, Ashrams, etc. are not being absorbed by the modern culture. And while the presence of this awareness is intrinsically regenerative, the modern cultural risks loss of a great resource by inattention. This is a resource that has taken thousands of years and many lives to invest in Earth.
We make this point because while the grounding experience of spiritual revelation on earth is not subject to removal by the folly of man, there have been losses in the direct transmission of tools for revelation over Earth's history. And when this happens, it is necessary to reconstitute these pathways for knowledge in the mind of man. In circumstances where there is great crisis or upheaval, a break in continuity sometimes means the avoidable loss of life and spiritual opportunity for people. This is why we find the Wise becoming more and more urgent in their appeal to folks who are at the threshold of engagement in spiritual practice. The invitation is “Come across and enter the room.”
Late in July and the subsequent months of 2010, a series of planetary configurations of considerable rarity and challenge appear in the sky. Astronomers and astrologers who recognizes the infrequency of major planetary configurations such as these are scanning the history books to see what kinds of things took place under comparable influences. The last event of this nature took place in 1931. We know that the world was in a serious economic depression, and that the fundamentals of life at the basic levels were at stake.
This is one of the reasons why we have been called to work together. We did not come just to enjoy the higher buzz that comes from spiritual practices and personal purification, although they are certainly benefits of our work. We came together because we are asked to do so by the spiritual community of beings who are beyond the physical world. This group of spiritual beings has a better understanding of history. They have watched the cycles of the human experience. They are calling to us and asking us to take greater responsibility for our own spiritual development. From their standpoint, there are gifts we need that they are capable of giving us. And, in order for them to give us their gifts, we have to get together and invoke. This kind of invocation is called a Convocation. Not the Academic awarding of Degrees, but the Spiritual Expression of intention solely for the purpose of creating measurable positive outcomes. Metrics vary when one considers what should be accomplished but they are within the range of creating alighment and balance from within the matrices of the soul and physical worlds.
Our weekly quartet spiritual practices are in fact a convocation of Heavenly and Earthly communities to foster Divine Experiences. Join us for them, they speak for themselves.
Tuesday, March 16th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Food, DNA & Spiritual Development
The secret to our spiritual development is found in what we desire. The evidence of our desire is on the plate of food we eat. While it is true that we are able to receive benefit from the exercise of our will, and the experience of the results of our actions, the food we eat and the DNA within it has the most immediate impact on our development. This is why most spiritual schools have provided specific dietary regimens which must be followed by adherents to the Teaching. In fact, for many spiritual schools, the matter of diet is so primary that the entire topic rises to the level of Law rather than being limited to simple guidance or suggestion.
Hugh Lovell, the internationally famous biodynamic farmer is fond of saying: “If you put good things into your gut, good things in your life will follow.” Then, he would pick a leaf of biodynamic spinach which was full of texture and aroma, and say: “This is the sort of food that'll make your life powerful.” As we approach the spring equinox, the evidence that all life is renewed with an opportunity to “turn over a new leaf” becomes a symphonic physical demonstration from nature. Further, plants that flourish at this time of year are broadleaf dark green vegetables full of chlorophyll and vibrancy that cause the body to reach a more alkaline state. And, it is this alkaline state which is known to eliminate the cellular conditions that support development of cancer and other forms of disease. Hence, raw plant material offers at least a hint of life eternal.
Plants have some substantial information to share with us, of not only through being a part of us through consumption, they have watched us grow. They can share knowledge just like grandparents can tell us stories of great value about our childhood when we become old enough to hear them. In the plant kingdom we find some of the creation's most efficient biological and intelligent life expressions. No person experienced with pharmacology and the healing properties of plants would claim plants are not bearers of intelligence. But, the plant is very simple. In its simplest form, leaves are comprised of cells composed primarily of water, and DNA. And, DNA in any form is of principal interest to the mystic. Symbolically, the Snake or the Vine is the primary ancient symbol of DNA. And, what Biophysics teaches us about DNA is that it generates photons. Biophysically, the DNA helix itself is said to dance wildly within the cell, springing and emitting photons, and possibly, according to some researchers, even music. While the luminosity of this photon stream is extremely faint, equaling approximately 1 candlepower at 1 km distance, it exists nonetheless; with many leaves we have the potential for much photon bombardment, and thus, much information transfer. Those photons persistently carry intelligent information into creation, and the awareness is then shared within the matrix of creation. From a spiritual perspective this allows creation to resonate specifics of intentionality into the physical milieu. Or, in simple words, the plants serve as an agency for the transmission of Divine communication into the here and now.
The most direct means of transfer between the realm of underlying spiritual intention available to the creation and to the creation itself is through direct cellular transfer, otherwise known as “eating.” When we put a morsel of raw, uncooked and unadulterated natural food into our mouth, we take the living message being broadcast into creation directly into our body. Amazingly, this information first makes contact with our tongue, is swallowed, and passing our heart enters our stomach above our core. The intelligence helps us deal with our circumstances in THIS TIME AND PLACE. This is a fact in all vertebrates, which comprise the highest expression of biological development and thus symbolize the highest levels of potential spiritual function on earth.
The ideal Passover Diet, which has tremendous Kabalistic power, is entirely void of aged food components and made up of fresh nourishment. Naturally, the Passover observance only last for one week, but it represents a significant and clean break from the customs of the past. In this activity of eating a different diet, we become far more likely to receive present-term revelation, inspiration, guidance, and strength. These together comprise the foundation for a better life. There is one exceptional aged food in the Passover Diet, namely Wine. However wine is uniquely associated to Royalty and to blood and the Bloodline itself. It is appropriate for me to be connected to our bloodline if I'm seeking consciousness, because our bloodline carries our DNA. However, we cannot drink spirits such as whiskey or other aged drinks during the Passover because they take away from the strength of our bloodline. This should be a message to those on the spiritual path who consume alcohol with frequency. A little bit of wine is fine, but distillery alcohol in the form of spirits is often very destructive and is frequently shunned by those on the spiritual path.
Why now, why Spring? The guidance provided with the application of appropriate diet for the spring season is useful and exemplary all year long. If we begin now in the spring, and discover what works best for us, we are far more likely to have better experiences with the diet and receipt of spiritual revelation throughout the remainder of the year.
Our weekly quartet spiritual practices capitalize on the effort to elevate awareness into Divine Revelation. Join us for them, they speak for themselves.
Tuesday, March 9th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Passion in Meditation
The calm portrayal of meditation in contemporary imagery simply does not capture the passion involved in our approach. Simply assuming a posture, letting go and relaxing, closing one's eyes, and minding one's breath over a mantra is beneficial and often proves to have medical benefits. Nevertheless, in terms of the classes of spiritual experience, relaxation alone is not meditation by definition.
Meditation is the conscious subordination of the entirety of the mental and physical being to higher forces and living awareness that stems from the Self. This means, if you cannot leave the inertial condition of body awareness you are not in meditation. It is as different from the daily mental life as the state Sabbath is from the Six Days of Creation. Just as the Tribes of Israel encamped around the Mishkan (Tabernacle of the Presence) in a very deliberate array, the meditator engages in a very deliberate form of communion with the Divine.
To make the shift between the normal mental state and meditation, one must powerfully overcome the inertial mentality, with all its self-talk, perceptions, habitual thoughts, physical sensations, appetites, and other accoutrements of physical life. In the form of our teaching, there is no such thing as meditation while walking, or taking physical action, because meditation involves an entirely non-physical awareness of being. The key to meditation is the act of Concentration. The stronger one's concentration is, the greater the ability to meditate because you become more able to focus on single un-alloyed point of Divine Presence within, which is the Self. Masters over history and across the world's traditions have often taught concentration exercises concurrently with basic steps for meditation.
Concentration seems challenging, but is not difficult to learn. It's simply a matter of harnessing our desire. This is why the condensation of one's passion is so critical to successful meditation. No person truly in love has any difficulty whatsoever concentrating on the beloved. No hungry person is unable to concentrate on the plate of hot food within reach.
To concentrate prior to meditation, one has to invoke “being real.” And there is nothing more real than anticipating all of the good, and all of the love, power, awareness, support for uniqueness, embracing of community, and general benevolence that we will ultimately and eternally contribute to creation. Conversely, anticipating all of the same, returning in even greater measure back to us is also a significant part of concentration. Harvesting even a small portion of this awareness within the locus of a few minutes stirs great passion almost instantly, with the byproduct of breaking down the inertia of our mentality. And this breakdown allows us to refocus on the inner life and begin the communion of mediation.
The following oft misunderstood quote articulates this process and its rewards: “Whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.” (Matt: 21:44, KJV) In other words, it is much better for a person to seek out rather than be confronted with the destruction of one's inertial condition. Why? The inertial framework for reality is rarely valid and it is rarely sufficiently inclusive to be a bearer of Divine Revelation. And the absence of Divine Revelation is the absence of Life. So would you rather gather your passion and break up your inertia, or would you prefer a crisis arrive that leaves you completely undone? We choose the first of the two paths.
Our weekly quartet spiritual practices take us out of the inertial condition and into the opportunity to experience and share Divine Revelation. Join us for them, they speak for themselves.
Tuesday, March 2nd 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Meditation Basics
Meditation cumulatively causes your awareness to become rooted in the reality of your soul's eternal intelligence. it is the act of entering the Holy of Holies.There is no substitute for the cumulative effects of meditation. The meditation method we teach is the most direct path to Self-realization we have found. When the Soul's eternal intelligence is tapped, a person is able to live their lifetime with the full intention the Soul brings to incarnation. Harvesting the Soul intention has impact on the choices made in conscious awareness and leads to fulfillment on profound levels, making the lifetime far more resonant with its multi-dimensional possibilities. This is why the wise meditate.
Many people are unable to reach deep meditation because they have not learned to court the experience of inward communion through adequate preparation. Taking a honeymoon is not the first step in a relationship, and likewise, going into meditation requires many levels of preparation. The deepest meditations are possible after the preparations of prayerful chanting, breath-work, and when the stomach is not full of food. For this reason it is best to practice meditation before meals, and following some devotional activities which quiet and focus the mind and heart. Once these pieces are in place, the following is our method for meditation:
Meditation is the spiritual practice associated to the element EARTH. This means the posture you keep will be maintained without variance or even the slightest attention to your body. Begin by choosing a comfortable position in a non-distracting environment where you will not need to move for any reason. The full focus of intention and feeling is then drawn to the center of the body and the center of the spirit through the gateway of the Solar Plexus, or "Place of the Sun."
Focus in meditation follows Breath and a repeated phrase or Mantra. The ideal meditation breath is silken, gentle, soft, round, consistent, and determinately steady. This breath is like the certain rotating movement of a great round mill-stone driven by water wheel. It involves two forces, expanding Ying and contracting Yang, where the Yang Intention of Inhalation and the Ying Renunciation of Exhalation are brought entirely in balance. As the mill-stone gently turns, upon inhalation, the spiral of awareness deliberately augers down and down into the core of being, in deliberate pursuit of communion. At the turning point of the breath, finding Communion, the exhalation involves letting go and experiencing, and allowing the fountain of energy to release and resolve.
The inhalation should be like silken thread, drawing into the Center like pulling on a rope which draws you to the point of attachment. With coherent focus like a LASER, draw the breath simultaneously up through the root and down through the crown, with all intention, prayer and desire. The nexus of the meeting-point of the breath is the center of the body and spirit, deep in the middle of the body. The exhalation is a total release, allowing surrender and resolve with complete fulfillment and relaxation. The exhalation's complete relaxation is cumulatively deeper with each breath, just as the inhalation pulls more deeply with each breath.
The Mantra should have two parts, one that resonates with the inhalation and the other that resonates with exhalation. A Sanskrit example is “So Hum;” an English example is “The Lord is My Shepherd, I am thus Whole.”
Your closed eyes should be focused on this place, gazing softly and gently down the nose towards and through the solar plexus into the Place of the Center. Though the eye-lids remain closed, the eyes engage in piercing and deep pursuit of the inward horizon. Deep within this inner horizon, a Center will be felt, and later, seen. The eyes should look straight into this Center, where Light becomes visible. The senses feel a strong presence of being in the Center, the Only Being, the One. Should the eyes gaze encounter a vision, it should be duly noted, but the eyes and feelings should continue to pierce on the inhalations, and retain the focus on the Center, where the God-Self is. The Center, when pierced, becomes a Ring as you reach deeper into the next level of Center. The Ring, upon the exhalation, becomes the garment of Light that fills the body and restores your entire energetic and physical architecture.
The cyclical breath practice may fall away in the midst of the energetic flow. In deep meditation, breathing becomes subordinate to the energetic flow of focus and letting go. You should abide within this experience as long as you can tolerate it, and then some. The increasing of your tolerance of the Divine Communion is the fruit of meditation and this is why people who meditate are deeper, healthier, and more at peace.
Join us for our weekly Quartet of potent spiritual practices, Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation, which speak for themselves.
Tuesday February 23rd 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
The Veil
If we are not busy fooling ourselves, we realize that spiritual experiences don't necessarily manifest for us “on demand.” Why do we have to go through a process of self development in order to become “spiritual?” And, why is it that once a person experiences a spiritual breakthrough, it is as though the entire world looks and manifests differently than ever before?
As soon as we try to open ourselves to the Divine, our awareness turns to the matter of availability. We realize that our mental or emotional state has obscured the Divine from us. What is the explanation for this?
Throughout the Creation a type of membrane in the form of a transitional energetic field exists known as The Veil. In the Holy architecture of the Hebrews' Tabernacle, the Holy of Holies was separated from the outside world by a Veil or curtain called the Parochet. The Parochet serves as the separation between that which was entirely Holy and “everything else.” Crucial components of the process of life itself are made possible in Creation by the presence of The Veil. The veil lies between dimensions of the Resonant Being and the Reflective Creation. The Veil, like a filter, is capable of allowing or blocking the flow of Life from either direction. The presence and function of The Veil is the reason why one person has spiritual experiences while another person can only imagine them. The Veil is also the reason why a person has free will, and is able to develop the relationship with the Divine according to his or her own appetite. However, where an individual is on the fragmented side of creation outside the veil, perception is inaccurate and the attainment of truth is effectively impossible.
The Law of Separation explains the distinction between that which is Holy and “everything else.” Here is how the Law of Separation works: In order to create Life the Divine being exhibits a form of contraction known in Kabbalah as tzim-tzum. Tzim-tzum happens when the Divine Creator withdraws slightly from the Creation, creating a void which stands between the Creation and the presence of the Divine Being itself. It is not that the Divine being seeks to separate from the creation, but the Divine Being contracts causing the creation to rush towards the Divine Being and elevate itself in a spiral of enhanced relatedness. This is what causes growth to take place in creation and it is a cyclical activity which from the standpoint of time is eternal. The space left between the Divine Being and creation upon tzim-tzum is The Veil.
As a result of the lessons and individual experiences during a lifetime, the person gains perception of the effects of actions and chooses to take actions which lead to better effects. Over time, the person becomes more and more consistent with the Divine purpose for which they are created, and this allows a greater volume of awareness and life to pass through The Veil. As a person grows and becomes more and more congruent with the inner guidance that has been received, the realm of The Veil or its filtering characteristic becomes thinner and thinner. Eventually it disappears altogether.
Join us for our weekly Quartet of potent spiritual practices, Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation, which thin The Veil and lead to spiritual experience and greater opportunities for awareness, joy and positive impact.
Tuesday February 16th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Spiritual Work While Asleep
Night is key to the growth of the soul. Going to sleep with a clear purpose for the night and the coming day is the beginning of night-time spiritual work and common practice among the wise. You will find that coherent momentum in spiritual life can be substantially enhanced at night. Here are steps you can take.
Before going to sleep, review the previous day in reverse sequence, and notice any experiences that stand out on the memory horizon. These experiences are the learning-points; they hold energetic charges that can lead to lasting transformation.
Review these experiences carefully. If they are viewed as positive, affirm them. If they are viewed as negative, correct them: Reverse and restate them the way they should have taken place. Seal this perspective and affirm it.
Before drifting into sleep, choose one simple objective for the coming day and roll it into the mind on your breath. Doing so embeds the affirmation in your sub-conscious. Your affirmation will be most powerful when it is Affirmative, stated in the First-Person, and in Present Tense. For example, if you want to be more productive, you could affirm: “With focus I complete tasks gracefully and easily.” This affirmation meets all three criteria. To embed the affirmation, on the inhalation, the first five words of this phrase are invoked, including the word tasks. On the exhalation the final three words, “gracefully and easily” are stated. It is important to split the affirmation into phrases and auger them into the deep mind using breath.
Upon rising, the first engagement of mind is always towards Creator and the second engagement is towards the affirmation you created the night before. You will notice its depth has become stronger and clearer during the night. Affirm it some more before beginning the day. And, in the coming night, return to and use this affirmation as a point of reference while evaluating the past day. Employ the same corrective approach as needed. Affirmations work best when they are used for at least a few nights and it's advisable to write them down. Once the intention of the affirmation is fulfilled, it is time to bring in a new affirmation. In crafting the new affirmation, be cognizant of areas that have persistently needed attention over the recent past, and tackle one of these. You will find this simple practice will open a variety of dimensions and opportunities to you at night and by day.
Join us for our weekly Quartet of potent spiritual practices, Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation, which lead directly to spiritual experience and greater opportunities for awareness, joy and positive impact.
Tuesday February 9th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Resonance and Reflection in Relationships
All relationships involve a transfer of energy and consciousness. This involves the very simple Universal Law of Resonance and Reflection. Beings in Transparency are naturally RESONANT. Beings that are not in Transparency are naturally REFLECTIVE. The more a person has worked diligently to associate themselves towards inner revelation, the more they will find themselves on the Resonant side in most interactions.
This Resonance occurrs simply because revelation brings us into a more highly charged state. The higher the Resonance, the more likely it is that most encounters will involve Reflection among others. When it comes to personal or intimate relationships, this can lead to imbalance and people can get hurt. Or, it can lead to life-changing and gracious experiences that lead to gratitude. Consequently, it makes sense to resort to a verification process before taking a person into your heart and sharing your body.
During the intake phase of a personal relationship, our simple suggestion is to verify using a “Screen of Patience.” This can prevent hurt feelings and becoming tangled up on karmic levels of debt with people who aren't carrying something comparable to your level of vibration. To accomplish this, take your time; try to assess the basis for a person's attraction towards you. You need to discover whether a person is RESONATING together with you on their own or whether they are REFLECTING your Resonance back to you. Either experience can be very attractive and leave very positive results. When you find individuals who Resonate on their own, you can be more confident they could potentially Friend, Playmate or Partner in some enduring or meaningful and balanced way.
If individuals are Reflecting, yet unable to reasonably account for the foundation-building spiritual experiences that yield inward Resonance, the differences in energetic possibilities between you become evident. Strong Resonance attracts Reflection. The experience of Reflection is most often transient. In this type of relationship, such individuals relatively reflect Light; they do not radiate Light. If the Light is withdrawn, the source for the Reflection is withdrawn and the person returns to their own place in the spiral of development. History shows many positive examples of this phenomenon, scriptures and mythology are full of such stories, and those who return to their natural place in the spiral are counted as fortunate. This is a Universal Principal and one of the common means by which Resonant Knowledge is communicated across spirals of existence. As such it is a means by which much growth is shared. One should realize very frequent temporary attractions occur between beings who occupy different places among the spirals of Resonance and Reflection.
In the Resonance of unconstrained Being, Reflecting individuals may begin to uncover their own fragmentation and disassociation. When that happens, the Reflecting person must choose. When they choose negatively, we might just find ourselves blamed for their fragmentation or disassociation. If the individual does not “pick up their own dirty clothes,” should we remain engaged, they might continue the process as long as we permit. This would be an example of vampirism, and such cases call the integrity of both parties into question. When they polarize and choose positively they will be transformed and gain greater Resonance. In essence, many mis-steps can be avoided by employing the Screen of Patience.
Join us for our weekly Quartet of potent spiritual practices, Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation, which lead directly to higher dimensions of Resonance.
Tuesday January 26th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
The Path
The Divine emits portions of the One Being, The Self, which cascade into life for the purpose of experiencing and manifesting creation. The sum of this experience accumulates as Soul, the sheath of the consistent Self. Just as Souls enter creation to experience it, we are likewise drawn to return to the Divine. This consistent pattern of emanation from and return to Oneness is called “The Path” or Derekh in Hebrew.
Though some people make progress unconsciously, we consciously set foot upon The Path once we deliberately orient our appetites and actions towards returning to the communion of Oneness. Through disciplined, responsible heeding of life lessons, integrating spiritual experiences, and making progress in practical and integrated ways, we become more authentically “Spiritual” in our orientation. This does not mean we forego our earthly responsibilities - quite the contrary - but our earthly activities become increasingly potent signposts towards the Divine presence within us and evidenced in all creation. Eventually we reach a point where we live in “Heaven on earth” and serve as Way-Showers. Advanced examples of this include the great Prophets.
All that can be known is ever-available in the Present moment. We can tap into this present moment by reorienting our awareness towards the limitless Being and allowing Its character of One-ness, our Essence, to infuse our consciousness completely. This is the purpose of meditation as taught by Teachers of The Path.
Meditation upon the Inner Light is the most direct approach because it invokes direct experience of the radiant Divine emanation. This approach to meditation is as different from various respected types of meditation (such as Vipassana, Zazen or Transcendental) as a coherent laser beam is from diffuse, incandescent light. Taking this direct approach straight to the Light, one doesn't pursue seeing the Chakras, but the Realm of the Self and Soul which exist on more central dimensions of being than the Chakras. During such Meditation, we eventually become able to inwardly see and feel the Light as brightly as the noon-day sun even while in a dark room. This is key to our development and requisite to entry into Self Realization Meditation.
Join us for our weekly Quartet of potent spiritual practices, Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation, and discover the reality of the Path for yourself.
Tuesday January 19th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Kundalini - The Serpent Force
Spiritual transformation precipitates with “Rising of the Serpent of Kundalini.” It is universally sought after as a powerful spiritual and phyical healing experience because it yields a sense of undivided one-ness in a person's consciousness called Samadhi, Shalom, Salam, Chrism, and Nirvana by Hindus, Jews, Muslums Christians, and Buddhists respectively.
This experience can be invoked between Spiritual Master and Aspirant in the giving of a blessing called “Shaktipat” in Sanskrit, “Brocha” in Hebrew or “Baraka” in Arabic. It can be spontaneously triggered by breathwork, spiritual practice, tantric sex, and events. Under its influence many people experience physical shaking sensations and an overflow of the energy from the head down the arms to the hands. It can be initially frightening if a person is oriented towards attachments and not experienced with letting go, because its fiery energy vaporizes illusions in favor of revealing the unity of Life and Being.
The universal symbol associated with this and with healing is the Caduceus or more properly Rod of Asclepius. The related moniker Shake-Spear is associated to Pallas Athena, who personifies Kundalini and is the “Muse” under whose influence culture is transformed for the better. Archaic symbolism the world over exists, from Balinese costumes, to the Chinese, who regard this experience as Kung-Fu itself, the Tibetans (and Michelangelo in his sculpture Moses) who show it produces protrusions or “Yamantaka” atop the head, though this is not necessarily seen in physical form. The powerful energy itself is called “Qi” or “Chi” among the Asians. Stimulating its movement is the basis of Acupuncture and Shiatsu. It is called “Chai” among the Hebrews, who associate it to the Life Force. Rabbi Isaac the Blind, the Kaballist wrote down his father and my namesake ancestor Rabbi Avraham Ben David's (the RAYVID) seven-leveled diagram called the “Tree of Life” which was revealed to the Rayvid by Elijah the Prophet. This diagram invokes the Serpent teaching, integrated in typical Hebrew fashion with other profound knowledge.
In the Hebrew Scriptures this is mostly referred to as “Yirah” -- a term used over 330 times. Beyond scripture there are ubiquitous references to it but many do not understand it today. It is associated with Trembling, and generally mistranslated as “Fear.” “The Kriya Shema,” primary (and daily) Jewish prayer which says “Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is ONE” can be a direct invocation of this experience and its letters Shin-Mem-Ayin invoke the Root, Heart and Crown along the path of the Kundalini or as it is known in Hebrew, the “Nochosh” (Snake) which interestingly is also the word for the element Copper. The term for the Jewish skull cap, “Yarmulke” is a contraction of the words “Yirah Malkha,” connoting “Trembling in the presence of the Queen.” Notably, the Hebrew term used here for God as Sovereign is Feminine in gender. “Moshiach,” (Messiah) or Annointed One is a description of a person who remains in this state. Thus the sought-after time of the Messiah is the time when all persons will attain this one-ness and unified awareness.
In the Christian traditions this is widely described as a “Visitation of the Holy Spirt” - also Feminine, depicted in iconography east and west as a Golden Halo. There are an assortment of Greek terms for this experience, most accurately Tromos (Phil 2:12) among other terms. “Tongues of Flame upon heads” described on the Apostles' Pentecost is a direct reference to the changes in a person's aura that manifest when Kundalini has risen to the top of the head from its dormant position in the root of the spine. Churches in many parts of the world have seven nexus points from the Entrance to the High Altar which represent the major neural ganglia along the spine and crossing-points shown in the Caduceus where the snakes cross the Staff.
Few modern people including clergy have received training in how to handle or invoke this sort of experience, but regardless, it happens quite regularly and to people of all sorts and circumstances.
Invoking this experience, our weekly quartet of Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self Realization Meditation is a potent and life-affirming opportunity to embrace true spiritual development. Come and enjoy!
Tuesday January 12th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Let Go & Let God
We have to “Get out of the Way” if we are to experience Divine Revelation. Without personal experience of Divine Revelation we only pretend to live a spiritual life. Spiritual experiences involve direct outpourings of Divine Wholeness, Guidance, Blessing and Love, manifest in the Here and Now.
Revelation is not something we command on our own terms but we can consent to accept it. One who faces the choice of accepting revelation and gives consent is called a “M'Kubal” in Hebrew. This, the Act of Kaballah, happens when the time and circumstances are right. No more than we can control a Geyser, we cannot control when and how the Divine presence might come. When it does come, genuine Revelation can range from the whisper of a butterfly's wings to the strength of a Tsunami which can overtake us, washing away anything that is transient in our existence. In the wake of Revelation, we are reconstituted moreso in the “image and likeness” of the ONE. Gentler forms of revelation come to those with less experience and the power builds over a person's development. You always have the choice to say “No” but why would you?
To deny the perennial emergence of Revelation is to confess spiritual bankruptcy. It is clear that every person plays a part in bringing Revelation to the world, each person is part of the equation. There is no such thing as a Saint who brings the Revelation, there is only a Creation that is accepting it and a Creator who is giving it by whatever vessel is willing and avaiable.
Routine spiritual practices, especially Meditation and “The Inner Work” create substantially more responsive spiritual structures within a person. Eventually this work allows the Divine to fashion each of us into a vessel that can be a party to Spiritual Revelation. Our weekly quartet of Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self Realization Meditation are not pretend experiences, they are potent and life-affirming experiences that leave no stone unturned in the realization of true spiritual development. Come and enjoy!
Tuesday January 5th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
The Calling
If you experience a “Spiritual Calling” you MUST make a choice between two very distinct paths: One clearly leads to life while it may involve uncertainty or even risk, while the other, while comfortable, clearly leads to collapse and lost spiritual opportunity.
Not everyone experiences this, but if you experience a Spiritual Calling, you are put “on notice” that something is expected — and rewards may be profound — for answering “YES.” It feels like the “only way to go.”
Your Calling may or may not come as a complete surprise. Sometimes it happens once you begin to engage in spiritual practices that stimulate the Soul to rise in Sovereignty. This rising allows elevated consciousness and awareness. Sometimes you are offered the calling directly by The Almighty or even by another non-physical spiritual being who may appear in a vision, but these cases are rare. Most people report their Calling came to them without phenomena, but that it was like a bolt of lightening. In any case, virtually ALL felt they had to make an obvious and consequential choice.
Once it is known that a Calling has been issued, you have important work to do and only you can do it. It is your task to examine the work of your life, and to take on the disciplines and practices that will support your Calling. Our weekly quartet of Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self Realization Meditation offers potent and life-affirming experiences that leave no stone unturned in the embrace of true spiritual development. Come and enjoy!
Tuesday December 29th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Mass Mind
Mass Mind involves the relentless dispersion and widespread adoption of themes designed for social and behavioral control, often centered upon Greed or Fear. The spiritual student must be ever alert to themes of Mass Mind because they can sabotage spiritual development. Mass Mind consistently teaches two notions: “You can Achieve Happiness Through Buying Stuff,” and “You are alone and without support.”
The Christmas Season in the USA is a pernicious example of the mass-mind at work. Nowhere else in the world is Christmas such a commercial enterprise. Beginning each year at an ever-earlier date, Americans are bombarded with consumerist advertisements and messages reminding us that we must buy something. Images of luxury, feasting, and elitism are intrinsic to this emotion-tugging strategy. By the time Christmas comes, if a person is not surrounded by gifts, lights, decorations, smiling people and so forth, one is surely tempted to feel like an abject failure. Seeking to alleviate the emptiness, the malls are found chock full of people before and after Christmas, obediently buying.
Imagine for a moment that between Thanksgiving and Christmas you undertook a strong spiritual focus. Imagine you engaged in very intense spiritual preparation for a powerful spiritual transformation to come on the occasion of the “Rebirth of The Light” at Christmas. Would you be found stocking up on goodies the minute your month-long retreat and the anticipated holy festival ended? Hardly! Rather, you'd be less attached to material things than ever, attuned to deeper awareness and unlikely to be found in a crowded mall.
Our weekly quartet of Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self Realization Meditation offers potent and life-changing experiences that leave no stone unturned in the embrace of true spiritual development. Come and enjoy!
Tuesday December 22nd 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
The Mystery School
Small, sometimes secret groups of people gather across history to share direct spiritual experience, knowledge and service to humanity in “Mystery Schools” which become Academies of Enlightenment. The core impulse behind these groups is direct revelation from the Spiritual World, with tremendous impact on those involved. Long trails of cultural impressions result, fostering many great artists, musicians, scientists, writers, and scholars.
It is said one does not “join” a mystery school. “Members” are invited by forces initiated in the unseen realms of the soul, and confirmed by the wise on earth. However, such schools often coalesce in the presence of a Way-Shower or Teacher who may have many lifetimes experience in comparable activities.
The mere existence of a Mystery School does not guarantee enlightenment or rapid spiritual progress. However, where knowledge learned is applied in acts of kindness, a greater chance for success is found. Occasionally, the exoteric teachings of Mystery Schools crystallize in the form of Religions and while this is generally a positive outcome, Religious communities rarely manifest the comparable esoteric connections to the higher worlds as compared to Mystery Schools.
We will chat about these schools, their many advantages and disadvantages, as we conduct our weekly quartet of Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self Realization Meditation, which offer potent and life-changing experiences that leave no stone unturned in spiritual development. Come and enjoy!
Tuesday December 8th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Hug the Homeless
The Exercise of Compassion towards the Unfortunate is material evidence of Deep Spirituality. Blessing any person of lesser means absolutely floods the world with light. When I saw a woman give money to a drunk on a subway in Boston, I also saw tremendous light infuse the rail car. Wanting schooling, I asked “why” and she answered: “Because he asked for something I had that I could give. Should I ever be in that position I would appreciate being treated the same way.”
Newcomers to Monasteries, Ashrams and Temples often are pre-occupied with self interest in their quest for enlightenment. The Master will frequently assign them to serve the poor. This transforms the individual from a narcissistic seeker to someone who embodies sainthood.
If you ever feel depressed or like your world is collapsing around you, make 25 sandwiches with fresh, quality ingredients and take them to homeless people. Take your time. Smile with them. Ask questions and share laughter together. Laughter is the Boulevard along which Human Unity travels.
Our weekly gatherings are meaningful when we put our aspirations into action. Join us for our weekly quartet of Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self Realization Meditation, which offer potent and life-changing experiences that leave no stone unturned in spiritual development. Come and enjoy!
Tuesday December 1st 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Judging a Spiritual Teacher
Hindu Astrology warns the exact skill set that makes a good guru makes for a crafty THIEF! Watch your back! Spiritual Teachers are almost all very gifted, but should be required to meet conduct standards. How do you know if a Teacher meets a high standard?
Aside from the rather common practice of simply giving out nonsensical teachings without foundation in history or common sense, the most common misconduct issues are around asking for the exchange of high sums of Money, using Control Trips on Students, Abuse of Authority, Isolation of Students from Family & Friends, and Substituting Obedience or Devotion for a Student's own Common Sense.
Teachers get away with abuses most often when they are offering the opportunity for rare and difficult to attain spiritual experiences. Unfortunately, those in society who crave high level spiritual experiences are keenly aware that they may not have other opportunities to gain access elsewhere, and throw their common sense out, winding up hurt.
We emphasize that genuine and powerful spiritual transformation of the highest order can be attained without loss of sanity and integrity. Our weekly gatherings represent an example we believe stands in the face of many who would take advantage of sincere seekers. Our weekly quartet of Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self Realization Meditation offer potent and life-changing experiences that leave no stone unturned in spiritual development. Come and enjoy!
Tuesday November 17th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
The Quadrivium
Arithmetic, Astronomy Geometry & Music comprise the Quadrivium, which in neoplatonist education succeeds the Trivium of Logic, Rhetoric & Poesis. Once mastered, these seven studies produce a “Doctor” of the “Seven Soul-Liberating Arts.” Later, this was called a “Liberal Arts Education.” The modern study of Sacred Geometry is offspring of this pursuit.
To master life and thus show fullness in education required study, first in the Trivium, in which the True, the Good and the Beautiful could be discovered and mastered. Then came the Quadrivium, the advanced study, of which it is said:
Arithmetic is the Discrete at Rest.
Astronomy is the Discrete in Motion.
Geometry is the Continuous at Rest.
Music is the Continuous in Motion.
And the derivative of these, Architecture, is Frozen Music.
The spiritual path is not only one of engagement with the inner life and its forces. It is also a life of exhibition of divine principals by exploitation in artisanship, creativity, and in the application of Form, the Silent Language. The master poets, composers, architects, and masons knew this. We will show illustrations this week of how culture becomes the vessel and artifact of spiritual revelation. Join us as we expand our awareness, with our quartet of powerful spiritual practices - Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation. Come and enjoy!
Tuesday November 10th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Self Healing
Self Healing happens when we take complete responsibility for our well-being rather than passing responsibility to outsiders while changing little. We become amazingly powerful and self-aware by doing so.
To be a self-healer requires patience, a coachable attitude and a willingness to change habits. Necessary changes may include diet, internal dialog, exercise, reconciliation with our past, and “stories” about ourselves that must change. Every soul possesses a powerful internal compass that knows what to do if heeded.
With the help of media the world over, Governments routinely promulgate hoaxes and fear about sickness and death, while fostering highly toxic and profitable nanotechnology-engineered vaccines that are approved without significant trial. Swine flu is but one example of such a hoax. These vaccines have led to epidemics including autism and death. The dark spectre of Social Engineering is clearly part of the agenda. Corporations are pitching products based on fear of sickness. Under government-declared states of emergency, hospitals and drug-based medicine businesses are experiencing boom times, while medical professionals themselves know better and privately avoid receiving “treatments.”
Healing has always been part of the spiritual path - most saints have been healers in one form or another. Spiritual practices combined with health awareness make the world a better place. Inward practices provide guidance as needed. Sharing of herbal and other forms of knowledge has long been the province of spiritual communities. Join us as we expand our awareness, with our quartet of powerful spiritual practices - Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation. Come and enjoy!
Tuesday November 3rd 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Depression and Self Karma
Self-Karma is unfinished business in the soul that comes from incomplete tasks related to our creative expression. Examples include issues such as trusting society, having enough money, accepting others as partners, friends or playmates, resolving personal matters without anger or frustration, comfort with one's body or gender, health issues, and a variety of other facets of life.
The key difference between Self-Karma and Karma with others is that actions related to others are not involved with Self-Karma. Rather, by somehow missing the mark when it comes to tasks the soul has set for a lifetime, we find ourselves with unfinished business that we can address. Our souls seek opportunities to address these, in the quest for strength and wholeness.
Depression sometimes results when the soul is asking us to face a long-established pattern that requires rectification. Depression does not necessarily mean a pathological condition has arisen - it simply represents a turning inward. However, where a person resorts to self-destructive behavior, pathology is present and must be addressed.
Every person on the spiritual path has faced such challenges and chosen a self-constructive approach to facing our self-karma. This does not mean depression or sadness are forever banished. It simply means we have chosen self-construction. Self-construction is easier when we engage in powerful spiritual practices that connect us to Universal Joy and Wholeness. Our quartet of spiritual practices, Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya & Self-Realization Mediation do exactly that for most people! Come and enjoy
Tuesday October 27th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Death
Plus Special Musical Guests
Samhain is the precursor of Halloween. Celebrations are related to the Final Harvest, Thin Veils between the Worlds, and Ultimate Choices in preparation for the hard winter. The notion of the Grim Reaper is associated to Final Harvest and he is oft pictured carrying a scythe. The Paul Foster Case Tarot features him.
From time immemorial, at the time of the first frost, we had to consider how much food we would need to lay up, and our choices included how much livestock the farm could support during the winter months. It is no surprise that the final produce of the farm, namely pumpkins and squash, play such a strong and visible role in seasonal lore, imagery, and legend.
Under the attempted tyranny of a planetary corporate culture bereft of all but the most tame among symbols and meanings, Samhain, or Halloween plays a very important role. It gives us the costumed opportunity to “come as we aren't.” In it, we take advantage of a last time for play-with-abandon before the intrinsic seriousness of the colder months strips us of frivolity. But, there is more. The image of the woman with full moon behind her astride the flying broom is a direct reference that bespeaks the mastery of woman in preparation of herbal remedies -- ointments, cures and elevated above the earth by other-worldly wisdom.
What of the thin-ness of the veil between the worlds, in which the inhabitants of other worlds seem more prone to offer access? According to the Celts, there are seven times of prime opportunity for this to happen, being the solstices, equinoxes, Samhain (Oct 31), Imbolc (Feb 2) and Beltaine (May Day).
No one spiritual tradition encapsulates the full scope of the pre-historic earthly wisdom acquired over millennia. This is why we reverently cite “Not all that is told is all that is known.” Spiritual practice means nothing without organic linkages to plants, seasons, and cycles. Combined rightly, they make awareness of our present purpose stronger. To support our development, we hold these gatherings. We expand our awareness, with our quartet of powerful spiritual practices - Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation. Come and enjoy!
Tuesday October 20th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Reincarnation
Our incarnations often build on our past history. And, we often resemble our past selves, though we do change race or gender. Plus, other people with whom we have soul experience may agree to incarnate with us in order to share new tasks. We begin anew, and pursue new, yet consistent expressions of our soul's journey.
Many historic figures in History have notable prior incarnations who also have historical significance. This includes Barack Obama, who is considered the reincarnation of Senator Lyman Trumbull, who chaired the Senate Judiciary Committee and who co-wrote the 16th amendment which abolished slavery. Trumbull was a close friend of Lincoln's and practiced law in Chicago. Lyman also served in the IL General Assembly and as IL State Attorney General. We will also illustrate other interesting cases, such as the Reincarnations of Frederick Chopin and Ludwig Von Beethoven.
Is it important to know your prior incarnations? The Dalai Lama said that we have to know at least 14 of our prior incarnations in order to be a Lama. But to some of us, knowledge of what we have done before is a burden. There is no clear consensus on whether we need to know about our past or whether it should remain a mystery.
We can, however, learn from our past, including mistakes, if that becomes available to us. The soul does have the ability to create circumstances where our grasp of past life resources becomes a present-time grasp. For some people, soul identity is so strong, the present lifetime is only a projection of the strong awareness of one's eternality.
To become aware of past lives is not as important as to be aware of one's purpose NOW. Upon review, after this life we will see the correlations between our direction in life and that of past lives. Spiritual practice makes this awareness of our present purpose stronger. To support our development, we hold these gatherings. We expand our awareness, with our quartet of powerful spiritual practices - Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation. Come and enjoy!
Tuesday October 13th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
2012 The Audacity
Growingly shrill repetition of forecasts for a 2012 “event” stirs imaginations but it's a hoax. The Mayans themselves say “NO, this prophesy has nothing to do with us.”
What is going on here?
The 2012 conversation was popularized around a writing from José Arguelles called the “Dreamspell Calendar” where Arguelles attempted to synthesize a single calendar from 22 disparate Mayan systems. He later disavowed this work as naíve, but some of its ideas had already been swallowed hook-line-and sinker by the New Age, a dark conglomeration of wishful thinkers ever in search of legitimacy outside themselves. Self Realization is a path WITHIN yourself, not outside of yourself.
The New Age has a shockingly bad track record when it comes to conveying accurate understanding. They fomented all sorts of excitement around the “Harmonic Convergence” in 1987, the Millennium in 2000, and desperately have tried to vault on the shoulders of several calendar occasions since. The only problem is that these were all non-events. They sought transformation from OUTSIDE themselves. This would compare to eating a happy meal expecting that meal to make us happy. Do not ignore that pesky fact that not ONE of their vaunted events actually precipitated anything at all, except that money changed hands.
The foundation of the 2012 claims involve alignment with the Galactic Center on the 2012 Winter Solstice with all sorts of powerful potentials. The only problem with that is astronomers know that alignments with such far away bodies are not transient one-time shots relative to our zodiac. My calculations can prove the earth's Winter Solstice would be actually aligned with the Galactic Center for a minimum of at least 75 consecutive years, not just once.
What's the point? Enlightenment is not instant like fast food and it very gradually comes from within us. It doesn't come zapping in, piping hot, and ready for recognition. It is a soul process, yes, with occasional high points, but it takes work and commitment on our parts. To support our development, we hold these events to trigger such an inner process. We expand our awareness, with our quartet of powerful spiritual practices - Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation. Come and enjoy!
Tuesday October 6th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
No Gathering Sep 29
The Effect of Affect
Fake it till you make it? As sure as children play “Let's Pretend” adults magnify the game till it casts a long shadow. When we forget we are acting, we become conflicted, or adult-erated. So, then, why and when is “Posing” OK?
When a person enters life in a Monastery, Ashram or Temple, it is customary to dispense with the secular wardrobe and don some sort of ceremonial clothing day and night. The sages say it is good for a person to employ a “Holy Affect” because it forces one to consciously match outer appearances with congruent actions.
Yet, more often than not, Affect is used to create an image of success or power. Employed to stimulate confidence, such habits make “cons” as in con-men of us. Note the case of the rookie salesman in 3-piece suit, with suspenders and hair filled with “product” or the girl with The Hair, The Make-up and Those Shoes. They mask inexperience and lack of gray hair with clothing. Image consciousness plays a role in our every day, yet we do it automatically. And, automatic behavior is the enemy of spiritual growth.
It is important for us to take images, masks, and affects with great seriousness. We can't hide who we are underneath any more than the groom in White Tie (Tux with Long Tails) I passed who was dip-spitting (tobacco) to the gravel road outside a rural NC wedding. Unlike native cultures where the full regalia of costume comes out mostly for SACRED occasions, our society brings out the costumes mostly for secular occasions. It's an adulteration, a perversion. Unadulterated pride in who we really are and living as THAT person is the key after all, yes?
To support your development, we will expand our awareness, with our quartet of powerful spiritual practices - Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation.
Tuesday September 22nd 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
The Illusion of Security
“Mental Numbness” will be history's scathing critique of our times. While catastrophic dangers lie ahead, the mass mind of society turns to fantasy, booze and “reality TV.” Mass Illusion comes from wishful thinking supported by lost perspective. Those are the very ingredients in the recipes that Mass Media use to control you and separate you from your money.
Seers know better. Immanent planetary configurations indicate historic times are fast upon us. These times will prove to have few comparables in history. What do we do?
Like the Sergeant At Arms who quietly guards the proceedings of a legislative body, older souls take responsibility according to their mission, for the tenor of the mass mind. To do so requires a prescient sense of what is likely to come, and a deft, devoted capacity to recognize the flow of influences and possible solutions. “Positive Thinking” alone on the part of those otherwise ignorant but well-meaning people makes nary a dent. One has to be fully engaged in facts, details, lives, and the impact of actions to leave a truly deep impact through radiant contemplation.
This is why many Masters eschew the notion of being a “renunciate” who avoids the turmoil of the world. These Teachers see that only through direct contact and personal involvement can we make a real difference.
To support this work, we will expand our awareness, with our quartet of powerful spiritual practices - Darshan, Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation.
Tuesday September 15th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Mercury in Retrograde
When Mercury moves from West to East, “progress” gets stymied, so you can either get frustrated or gain a sense of humor. In either case, the stress is on topsy-turvey communication and broken continuity. Electric circuits fail, calls drop, and SNAFU becomes the constant.
During the three annual three-week periods of the year when this astronomical phenomenon occurs, the wise are cautious to observe the possibility that details will be ignored or lost, and agreements may come apart. The key to Mercury Retrograde is that vaunted CONTROL of one's own life becomes a subject of Mercury's farcical sense of humor. If you can flow with it, you're better for the lesson that you are not the center of the universe after all! If you can't flow with it, you're the Fool and mercury shows little mercy as your packages get lost, messages don't get delivered, electronics finally give up the ghost, etc.
From a spiritual standpoint, the period of Mercury in Retrograde asks us to REVIEW and RESTATE the details and linkages between ourselves and our world. During this time it's helpful to be retrospective and look for clues that it's time to go back over something in our life that needs further attention and refinement.
We will expand our awareness, with our trio of powerful spiritual practices - Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation.
Tuesday September 8th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Initiative and Timing
Plus Special Musical Guests
The Masculine brings INITIATIVE and the Feminine brings TIMING.
Where a man lacks a sense of timing, he becomes an oaf. Where a woman lacks control of initiative, she becomes a shrew. The balanced combination of these facilities makes a gracious life possible. History offers myriad good and bad examples of Initiative and Timing.
Both genders express some degree of balance between the two polarities, but a wise man learns about timing from a woman and a wise woman gains insight into initiative from a man. This practice of balancing Initiative and Timing is one of the great secrets of creation.
We will expand our awareness, with our trio of powerful spiritual practices - Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation.
Tuesday September 1st 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Comfort
Under the crunch of daily responsibilities and a changing world, we sometimes lose perspective.
The feeling that “everything's OK” doesn't disappear, it is simply eclipsed. So, it's reasonable to ask - what do the Masters mean by the ubiquitous expression that “all is well” when evidence of sickness, strife, and dysfunction is abundant?
Being “OK” means that there is awareness of the ever-present OPPORTUNITY for Divine communion and reconciliation. This opportunity is a birthright, but like all things held in reserve, we have to access it. To access Comfort requires no special skills, but an enlarged perspective. And gaining that perspective is one measurable consequence of routine spiritual practice.
We will expand our awareness, with our trio of powerful spiritual practices - Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation.
Tuesday August 25th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Calming The Storm
The younger a soul, the more prone it is to create drama, become loud, and resort to emotional or even physical violence. At televised town meetings displaying tumult, you can be fairly certain the screamers are younger souls. Older souls know this doesn't succeed, and more patiently project their inner communion to bring about change. Their approach changes polarities in an atmosphere that otherwise could become charged with negation, and permits more positive courses of perception and action to become available to all parties.
Forecasts indicate that political storms are likely to become a more frequent experience in the next several years. Plus, the storms are likely to become more and more intense. We must ask ourselves: How are we prepared to deal with such eventualities, because unchecked, they lead to civil unrest. This is a serious matter because there is no substitute for the inner calm and radiance that only comes from continued and consistent spiritual practice.
We cannot ignore increasingly inflammatory dialog in our society and be called servants of the Light. Rather, we must learn and employ spiritual tools that genuinely nullify such energies and transmute them to higher purposes. The “peace of heaven” does not come to earth without invitation. Our leadership can show that all arguments have two equal sides and that neither pole by itself is the “Truth.” We will evaluate this practice of peacemaking, and follow with our trio of powerful spiritual practices - Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation.
Tuesday August 18th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
The 7 Attitudes
You embrace most of a lifetime via ONE of 7 Attitudes. Awareness of how the Attitudes work is absolutely key. Your functionality with differing people & their approaches will be greatly enhanced along with your self-awareness once you begin to notice the Attitudes.
This information comprises a “key” awareness component that can be tremendously helpful to you. If you have not made it to one of our events or only have time to come to “Special Events,” this is one of those occasions!
The Expression Attitudes are Idealist and Skeptic. The Inspiration Attitudes are Spiritualist and Stoic. The Action Attitudes are Realist and Cynic. Each of the 7 Attitudes has a positive and negative pole. Where a person operates in the positive pole of an attitude, it works beneficially, and vice versa.
For instance, people embracing so-called “New-Age Philosophy” are in the Idealist Attitude. They are not as concerned about Reality as they are about Possibility. Those who are the most effective in sharing their possible better world are in the positive pole of Coalescence. Those who seem to be grasping at delusions are in the negative pole of Naivité. No matter which Attitude you have, you likely imagine that others should share it, and this is simply not the case. Your Attitude is a construct of your soul's appetite for experience of creation, and is expressed as such for important reasons.
Information will be shared via handouts and we will follow this with our trio of powerful spiritual practices - Kirtan, Kriya, and Self-Realization Meditation.
Tuesday August 4th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Compassion
The greatest healers often suffered or faced death. Asked what is the essence of healing, they answer “Compassion.”
One can truly know the meaning of healing once one has reached deep within oneself to face seemingly insurmountable obstacles. We cannot measure the wellspring of possible compassion that abides in the opened heart.
Compassion is perhaps the most distinct divine attribute. No person who has had spiritual experience fails to speak of the sense of Divine Compassion and Acceptance of us, no matter what state of disrepair we imagine about ourselves. Once we gain experience of the Divine Compassion towards us, it is easier to be compassionate towards others!
Tuesday July 28th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Shaman
Fascination with Shamanism has grown exponentially. Yet, our limited personal experience with Shamanism or Tribal Culture begs the question - What exactly is a Shaman, and what is to be expected from him or her? Was Moses or Jesus a Shaman? And, with the proliferation — and commercialization — of all-things-Shamanic, should you trust somebody who makes claims to be a Shaman? What questions should be asked?
Shamans are generally recognized to have three traits. First, they are healers, and in many cultures, they ingest medicine instead of administering it to the patient while their healing frequently involves some form of purge. Secondly, they remain in communication with the subtle world of Spirit or Spirits who are perceived as potentially helpful or harmful. From these spirits, they determine what course of action needs to take place in order to resolve a sickness or situation. Thirdly, a Shaman is intimately familiar with the natural flora and fauna of his or her environment, and the Spirits that underlie these, having received this knowledge from many previous generations.
The World's religious observances seem to consistently spring from comparable Shamanic roots. But, one factor is certain. The world view of the Shaman is so entirely different from the world view of the “developed world” that it is nearly impossible to reconcile the two. This is because the developed world views the environment as a series of disparate resources to control and dominate. The Shaman views the world as filled with holistically related energies and influences that if used or extracted improperly, invoke spirits that may backfire on the users with serious consequences. For instance, from the Shamanic View, IRON invokes a Spirit that must be approached with great care, lest it take over the life of the one who deploys it. And in the “modern” world, Iron has come to dominate, indeed. “He who lives by the sword shall die by the sword” is an ancient warning about this danger.
This evening we will examine the nuances of Shamanism and enjoy vigorous and beneficial spiritual practices.
Tuesday July 21st 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Different Perceptions
One viewpoint sees a devastating financial depression only beginning. Another sees a bright new age headed our way. Which is true?
A person who is anchored in the sense of separate self, who relates primarily to money and possessions might be feeling like the future will be very destructive and a time of great loss. But a person who is anchored in the unity of being, who relates primarily to creativity and shared experiences might be very excited, sensing that “finally” the long-awaited opportunity for a better world becomes available to our grasp.
What if it's true that we are only in the first phase of a long term economic depression? If you're primarily a materialistic person, you might be filled with fear. But for those who can lighten up, not only spiritually, but in terms of possessions, budgets, and perceived needs, you may be looking at the “time of our life” just around the corner.
The question we must ask ourselves is “Why did I come” to this world? If the answer is “To SERVE,” then we have no worries. But this pending future requires preparation. And THAT is why we are gathering. Where will YOU be on Tuesday?
Tuesday July 14th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Walking the Talk
How do we distinguish whether we are REALLY on a spiritual path vs. a person who is a poser? Are there any reliable clues to spiritual development?
One would suppose that a holistic quality would pervade the life of a spiritually-engaged person. Holistic practices such as integrity in business dealings, what one chooses to eat or serve, the practice of altruism, and how relationships are conducted - all of these may offer evidence of our spiritual scope, aside from personal inspiration or communion.
Some say that a person who is walking a spiritual path earns the attention of "Beings of Light, Spirits, or Angels" who are known to assist in the growth and development of humanity. If this is true, one would expect a person who claims to "love the lord" to be held to higher standards by those beings who bear the sacred divine trust throughout many levels in creation. The ancient story of Abraham our Father is exemplary of this.
One thing is certain. No matter a person's life choices, a spiritual person never tires of being closer and dearer to the heart of the Divine Creator. Come what may, we never give up, we keep trying.
Tuesday June 30th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Courage
Courage is the joyful and fearless assumption of unconditional existence. The mark of a fully engaged soul is the ability to step into new, uncharted territory. In doing so, the individual relies on the intelligence and guidance intrinsic in Life itself. Knowing that nothing can stop us, we passionately embrace our objective, even if it means accepting changes to ourselves in so doing.
All of the great Masters speak of this. The theme of stepping forward with faith is found in every tradition the world over, from the jungle tribes to the monks on mountain tops. Willingness to try something new, to open our hearts, actions, and intentions to new possibilities is incontrovertible proof of Life's embrace.
Life, itself, is the message of the heart. In the drumbeat of our heart, we are reminded of our life from our first waking breath to our last thought of the day. In Life, we are equipped with the innate ability to try new experiences and expressions. Our souls are filled with glee as we expand our scope. There is no person who does not have the ability to grow and who is not moved by the desire for increasing engagement in creation.
Tuesday June 23rd 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
The Path of Opposites
The most dynamic Spiritual Growth comes from experiences that oppose what we would otherwise have chosen. For example, a very mental person will grow rapidly along the path of devotion. A very devoted person needs to learn the path of reason. No matter the opposite, balance ensues. Knowing your Modus Operandus, knowing yourself, you can explore the opposite polarity that will balance your natural approach.
Part of any wise Teacher's task is to observe a person's nature and encourage or help that person face situations that stretch the skill set beyond the “original equipment.” The person is then enabled to freshly experience life.
One reason Ashrams and Monasteries give people new names is to foster this change of perspective by labeling the person. Typically, the new name itself represents a level of consciousness that will take a lifetime to attain. This practice keeps the person simultaneously affirming while reaching forward. Whether or not a person lives in a Spiritual Community, our souls, in conjunction with the Spiritual Beings and Guides, will create situations that gently raise the matter of the Opposite in our lives. This helps us reach true growth.
Tuesday June 16th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Confidence
Even people who experience strong spiritual communion waver under the force of life's changes. However, there is no doubt that confidence deeply rooted and grounded in Self-Knowing has a dimension of certainty not found in the fragile creations of the ego. One stands like a stone temple and the other, like a house of cards. The human being naturally wavers between deeper truth and superficial illusion. Knowing the difference between the permanence that comes from detachment and the “temporariness” that comes from holding on is one of the great lessons of self-mastery.
A big part of our early socialization involves modeling or attaching ourselves after external examples. For instance, early teens wear hair styles, certain clothes, and choose affiliation groups and language style based on admiration and competition. At some point in time, most of us realize part or all of this modeling is fake and we dispense with it. But none of us dispense with it entirely. Some externals we've adopted become part of the outer shell of our lasting “identity” -- even if we may have completely passed the need for them, we may still retain them.
That is where the challenge arises. Because these “constructs” are products of coping rather than divine communion, they stand at odds with the now, and thus, the soul's purpose. Eventually the soul will create life changes to expose us once again to the present and the dynamics of present choice. The test lies in whether we go deeper and dance with the present, or if, stuck in the past or the future, we quickly reconstruct ourselves in the hope of avoiding the now and its change, ultimately setting ourselves up for catastrophe while keeping a “stiff upper lip.”
Our spiritual practice, with its inspiration, devotion, purgative and strengthening experiences helps us gain genuine confidence based in the now.
Tuesday June 9th 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
Opening The Heart Chakra
To gain lasting spiritual experience and wisdom the heart chakra has to open. This makes it possible to free ourselves from the ever-whirling gears of our mind.
Having “spiritual” feelings does not mean the Heart Chakra is open. This simply means the Emotional Body is involved in perception. Opening the Heart Chakra is best described as being enveloped in a sea of compassion -- and calm. This is why devotion to the Divine Mother leads to opening the heart.
The ancient Hebrew sages felt that spiritual experience on earth is limited to the Mother aspect of Divinity, not the Father. This is why the spiritual presence abiding over the Tabernacle in the Wilderness and the Temple in Jerusalem is called by the feminine term “Shekinah.” It is notable that the Hebrew codeword “SheMa,” often translated as “listen” or “hear” is a feminine term. The Rishis of India, Tibetan Lamas, and Desert Monks of the Egyptian Thebaid also focused on devotion to The Mother. Aboriginal people, especially jungle tribes, clearly focused on the Mother. The Catholics and Orthodox Christians have maintained formal devotion to the Mother, and only certain relatively recent types of “Conservative Evangelical” and “Protestant” Christianity omit devotion to the Mother.
On this particular evening we will focus on some heart-opening spiritual practices.
Tuesday June 2nd 7:30 P.M.
at Frederick's Om
The Kaballah of Gratitude
Gratitude comes from a sense of proportion where we recognize the “beyond” has touched us. The Hebrew word “HOD” means Thanks and refers to the cognizance of Majesty, leading to Gratitude. This is so important, it is one of the 10 Sephirot in Kaballistic Tree of Life. The name “Judah” and the world “Jew” are DIRECTLY derived from this word. This is significant because the notion of the Jews as a People of Gratitude is brilliantly illuminating to Jews and Gentiles alike.
Proportion is mentioned here because a “Ratio” exists between the boundaries of our general awareness and the possibilities of awareness beyond those boundaries. When a person is "rational" they recognize these possibilities exist. An irrational person fails to recognize these possibilities. And when that happens, a spiritual blindness sets in. Hence, the ancients of days remind us to give thanks.
Giving thanks and expressions of gratitude are key elements in spiritual life. Kaballistically they are on the opposite pole from Netzach, which is translated as “Victory.”
Tuesday May 26th 7:30 pm
at Frederick's Om
Fasting
Fasting is practiced by virtually every spiritual tradition the world over since the beginning of oral history. The strength derived from mastery of appetites is an essential building block in self-awareness and has a domino effect in the refinement of the soul's capacity to take the lead position. Where a person does not fast, the body assumes control, leading to distortion of the Will. A person who learns to fast quickly learns to recognize the “tug” of desires and becomes able to become their master. Prayer during fasting becomes effortless and inner communion is enhanced, a foreshadowing of the transition away from our physical body.
Fasting also has innumerable health benefits. Fasting permits the body to reconstitute its energetic fields which foster restoration of the organs.
The Master Jesus mentioned that certain spiritual anomalies including some types of demonic possession “goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” This is because obsession and loss of the oversight of the soul over the body weakens the aura and permits interference from outside forces. Fasting includes not only that which goes into the mouth, but that which comes out of it. A person who fasts from food, alcohol, caffeine, tobacco, or other pleasures in life also must learn to fast from negative conversation about oneself or others. This is a powerful art indeed. Where medically suitable, weekly fasting is ideal, ceasing food intake, say by midnight on a Tuesday and resuming food intake on the following Thursday morning. During a fast, water may be consumed but no caffeine or sweeteners. After a fast, it is best to consume simple whole grains such as a bowl of oatmeal. While fasting you will feel a certain point after around 15 hours, where a metabolic shift takes place where the body begins to cleanse itself. In case the shift brings on pain or a headache, this is simply evidence that the body is doing important cleansing work and in reality the work of the fast is just beginning!
Feel free to discuss your experiences with fasting this evening.
Tuesday May 19th 7:30 pm
at Frederick's Om
Karma
Karma is caused by turbulence in the deep and polarized energy patterns stemming from our actions. Radiating like tangled ribbons from our souls and bodies, these patterns attract similar ribbons in Creation and Others which have “receptors” which snag and attach to our pattern. This dynamic is similar to the action of distinct Amino Acids which lock precisely into the DNA strand, functioning as receptors for specific genetic codes in reproduction. It leads to experiences that bring awareness to underlying causes, and hopefully resolve ensues.
The Soul seeks to create a harmonious emanation pattern, free of entanglements. When we encounter a situation that triggers Karmic meshing, the soul may elect to create conditions that can yield absolution which can free it from the turbulence. There are many possible scenarios. The wise maintain a sense of detachment, oft praised by the Buddha, which allows life experiences to restore balance and repair the energetic field.
This evening we will consider methods for Detachment, non-reactiveness, and the fostering of deeper perspective.
Tuesday May 12th 7:30 pm
at Frederick's Om
Real Astrology
Through Astrology a skilled reader can quickly help you identify issues related to the mission and character of your lifetime and those with whom you interact. Astrology has been practiced by Prophets, Sages, and Mystics for thousands of years, including by Abraham and virtually all the Hebrew Prophets.
Since Astrology reveals such a detailed perspective on your potentials, the wise seek at least a basic understanding of Astrology with a particular focus on the interpretation of your own chart. However, Master Paul and many great Teachers over history forbade the uses of Astrology to FORECAST the future for individuals. Forecasting a person's future is like stealing from them. It is far better to help a person understand their present and past and leave their future in their own hands!
This evening Frederick will share some insights into how a person can make more of their lifetime and relationships using the ancient tools of Astrology.
Tuesday May 5th 7:30 pm
at Frederick's Om
Balance
Attraction to images of balance speak to the soul's quest for equilibrium. Our first love is for the experience of creation. This love is so strong we are drawn to experience ever-more powerful situations and forces. The proof of our soul's attainment is in how we maintain balance in the midst of this love.
Nobody ever said this would be easy, yet we usher ourselves headlong into creation undaunted by the challenges we face. As experiences accumulate, we seek to reconcile to the facets of our experience. Spiritual practices exist primarily to help us restore our balance. From this point of restoration, we are able to make choices about what the Creation means to us, and what we should do about it. Without Balance, we lose track of our Purpose and become lost at sea - the Sea of Karma.
Tuesday April 28th 7:30 pm
at Frederick's Om
The Kingdom Within
Direct personal experience of the inner worlds, the “Kingdom Within You” is at the core of the highest degree of strength known on earth.
The Kabbalistic expression - “As Above So Below” gives voice to the profound depth of this reality. Our culture remains rapt with fascination towards the outer trappings of accomplishment and success but when people come with information about universal laws that lead to inner success, this is called a “Secret.”
The Prophets stated that a time would come when “All Mysteries Would Be Revealed” and many believe this time is at hand in the present era. In order to foster this reality in our lives and actually reveal the mysteries, we have to engage in deep spiritual work and powerful practices. There is no substitute for consistent effort and loving embrace of the spiritual path on the inner level. To those who persevere, “the Kingdom Within” opens and a deeper pathway opens with it.
Tuesday April 21st 7:30 pm
at Frederick's Om
The GOD SELF
Additional Gathering This Week: Weds April 22nd 7:00 pm
Satva Yoga & Healing 2177 Briarcliff Rd. Atlanta GA - 404-636-1739
Certainly we hear frequent mention of the GOD SELF in spiritual conversation. The SELF is the spiritual core of our being and all being. There is but one SELF, The Divine Being, all-encompassing, omniscient, omnipotent, and ever-streaming the love, awareness, and intelligence of the Creator.
Described variably as a “Cell of the Mind of God,” a “Spark of the Divine,” or “The Holy of Holies,” the SELF is the Infinite Place within. Entrance into SELF REALIZATION is the ultimate objective and destination of all spiritual awareness. In the Act of Creation, called Tzim Tzum in Kabbalah, the SELF fragments while remaining indivisible (a great spiritual mystery) and as a sojourner, travels through and gathers experience within creation, ultimately returning to the One. This experience gathers in layers around the SELF and comprises the substance known as the “Soul.”
The Torah says “No man may see God and Live.” Yet in SELF Realization one is able to See the SELF and entirely enter into the SELF. How can this be? To enter the Sacred Precincts of the SELF, all attachments must first be laid aside. Only then, from a state of oneness and completeness, otherwise described as Shalom, Communion, Nivrana or Samadhi, can a person return to the SELF. This is the culmination of the earthly human evolution and leads to different types of function and service.
The paschal images of freeing the Children of Israel from slavery in Egypt, the Crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus -- these all hail to the same understanding of this inner process of release from attachment and return to source of life within.
On this occasion we will do special practices that lead to this oneness.
Tuesday April 7th 7:30 pm
Kabbalah of Passover
The Pesach Seder is The Pre-eminent Kabbalistic Ritual, leading us into a fully altered condition - that being of release from attachments, or on ancient parlance, slavery. Who is not enslaved by some attachment or perceived need that separates waking consciousness from soul awareness? It is called the Time of our Freedom, and involves shedding of attachments, leading to reunification with our Source. Not merely symbolic, the Rite functions in the Four Worlds of Vision, Spiritual Awareness, Emotion and Action. The cornerstone of the observance is the unleavened loaf, Matzo, archetype of simplicity, bearing no pretense, just the pure grain in usable form. The Four Cups of Wine punctuate the shifts between Kabbalistic worlds. The rite employs extra-ordinary means and demands genuine sacrifices to achieve its end.
The Seder Meal is only the initiation of this experience, with densely-packed richly adorned Kabbalistic symbolism, from the Seven Lower Sephirot of the Tree of Life Array displayed on the Seder Pate itself to the progression of events taking place from prior to and beyond the Seder Evening. This experience is sealed into our consciousness through a dietary shift that lasts for an entire week. The opportunity presented is awesome.
The universal message of the Pesach has captured the imagination of the entire world, and with good reason. This ancient practice contains every key ingredient of the Four Elements that awakens the soul, those being Study, Devotion, Purging, and Surrender. It is an awesome experience in the deepest traditional sense of the term.
This evening we share more about the upcoming Festival of Matzo.
Tuesday March 31st 7:30 pm
YOUR AURA
Your Aura is a spiritual organ. It is the first point of entry and exit for energy in your body field. It extends approximately three feet from the skin in every direction, a virtual egg-shaped microcosm of being. Understanding how to manifest energy in the Auric field is absolutely crucial to self-mastery.
Much like the Earth's Atmosphere, your Auric Atmosphere is a zone of protection, inclusion and exclusion. Yet, we hear virtually nothing about how tap its capacity for creating the world we all claim to want. This is because there is comparably little spiritual training in the midst of so much spiritual chatter.
Have you ever walked into a room and noticed that everybody pays little or no attention to others? This is because folks' Aura gets contracted. Contracting the aura can be helpful if you don't want others to notice or approach you. But if you are trying to create a vibrant spiritual and loving world community, clearly our goal, the opposite is the case. It is said The Buddha's aura extended for 40 Kilometers!
This evening we share exercises involving the Aura that will initiate a set of skills you may find quite useful.
Tuesday March 24th 7:30 pm
Bhakti Yoga
Bhakti Yoga Bhakti is the Sanskrit Term for Devotion.
Bhakti Yoga is often expressed often through song, dance, anything passionate, colorful and full of beauty. The Bhagavad Gita describes Bhakti as the ultimate spiritual expression and many Yogis consider the Bhakti path to be the most accessible of all paths.
Almost all Yoga that takes root as a spiritual practice in America has the experience of Bhakti at its root. The universal archetype of Bhakti Yoga is expressed as self-donation and devotion to the Divine.
Clearly, Bhakti is at the core worship, of romance, and inspiration. In South Asia and the Middle East, many religions have quite a bit to say about self-donation to The Beloved. Hanuman yearns only to please Ram. Rumi's poetry is replete with amazing illustrations of yearning, honor, and respect for the Beloved. The Children of Israel imagine themselves as the bride of God.
Clearly this Beloved is within you, the Self, and to find the Self is to be a living expression of Bhakti. Once this is found art, culture, and all manner of creative legacy ensues.
Tuesday March 17th 7:30 pm
The REAL Meaning of “Good Luck”
Good Luck is a theme we hear quite a bit in the context of St. Patrick's Day. You probably know the story of St. Patrick - that he drove the snakes our of Ireland and is her Patron Saint. But we really know very little about him at all, except that he was an evangelical and that he worked against the Druids and Pagans to establish the Church. Not such good luck for many, it seems. It does not surprise me, then, that abuse of alcohol, the drug of choice for the Dominator Culture is heavily associated with his memory. Sad, but not surprising.
The term Good Luck is derived from the words “God's Light.” (Luck=Lux) This makes sense, because we know that as we grow in spiritual illumination, amazing events flourish and grow exponentially in our lives. Master Paul maintained a constant focus on development of skills and precision around what he called “Bearing the Light,” and was legendary for the sheer numbers of people who came into spiritual illumination in his presence. His work was so effective that famed Seikh Guru Kirpal Singh was astounded by Master Paul’s illuminated disciples following a western path, and as his jaw dropped upon seeing them, he exclaimed: “Where did you get such Light?”
Tuesday March 10th 7:30 pm
Spiritual Sight
The ability to accurately “see” what is happening on non-physical levels is a skill that can be refined. It is taught and discussed in many schools and is a key component of spiritual training.
While it goes by a variety of names, practitioners from Shamans to Shaolin Monks, Yogis to Mystics, to Priests and Kabbalists use and develop it.
Spiritual sight becomes possible when a person's angle of view shifts slightly from what we can call “direct” to a view that comes from a different angle. But this is not simply an exercise in optical geometry. It is a different angle of being that makes Spiritual Sight possible. The skill requires practice, and when used for the deployment of compassion, can become a powerful healing force. We'll share more including examples on Tues as we prepare for Kirtan, Kriya & Self-Realization Meditation.
Tuesday March 3rd 7:30 pm
The Chakras
Conversation about the Chakras has become so commonplace, but what have we really learned about these energy centers in the spiritual body that met with major ganglia in the spine?
We will explore questions about the Chakras this evening.
Are the Chakras really colored like the spectrum from red at the root to violet at the crown? They Aren't, this is an error that has crept into mass thinking due to oversimplification and symbolic expression, but what DO they look like and how do you SEE them?
What is their function, and more importantly how do you activate and BALANCE them?
Understanding the aspects of life associated each chakra is an amazing lesson. For instance, the stomach/umbilical Chakra is associated to contractual and fixed arrangements. People who have attachment issues sometimes face balance issues around this Chakra. And each Chakra has keys to its portion of our whole expression.
Tuesday Feb 24th 7:30 pm
Yoga Breath Refinements
It's typical of the oft-superficial West that so many people have taken "Yoga" classes with such limited emphasis laid upon breathing techniques, which are, in reality, the foundation of Yoga.
During our gatherings, when we breathe through Kriya Yoga before meditation, I've noticed that many people are unaccustomed to the vigorous breathing and release-to-cleansing and power that is so essential to Kriya Yoga.
It's a good idea for us to pause this week and examine a variety of breathing approaches refined and shared over centuries by the Yogis. Many "spiritual leaders" do not teach certain techniques to the public, but only offer them when money -- sometimes in large sums -- is exchanged for "initiation." These are generally referred to as secret breathing Yogas, or "Advanced Pranayams." There is no reason YOU must pay a sum that equates to a big slice of your monthly pie to somehow "show" that you are committed to learning the powerful techniques that really maximize the transformative experience Yoga offers.
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