The Purification of Nations

Thoughts concerning the speech made by President Obama following acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize:

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Nations, just as individuals, cannot find lasting peace except through peaceful means. Though it may seem that a show of force is the only way to achieve peace, such force will always eventually elicit counter-force. The goal of peace must be achieved by the means of peace.

The world does not know this yet. It fears the consequences of abdicating rule by force. A greater sense of the Divine reality that underlies the relationship of nations as well as of individuals must ultimately guide the shift toward peaceful means. That, and the understanding that the use of force or aggression on any level toward any life-form will ultimately harm oneself.

Adherence toward peaceful means may seem impractical and the historical view of "a just war" in service to the goals of peace may seem like wisdom. Yet our sense of 'practical' and 'impractical' evolves along with our sense of truth, and so the greater evolution of our collective consciousness will bring this awareness, too.

May the year 2010 see the unfoldment of both greater peace and greater truth. Namaste.

Environmental Protection Agency - U.S.A.

A step forward was taken today by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency which announced that it was now going to base its activities upon the premise that carbon emissions which affect climate change were harmful to the health and wellbeing of all people. Based on this premise, the agency would now be able, independently of Congress, to institute measures and develop requirements that countered the increasing threat.

The ability of the agency to act independently on behalf of the welfare of all is a step forward. It is an affirmation of the willingness to place sustainability front and center where it concerns people and resources, and to hold that the wellbeing of all people now depends on this.

Coming at the time of the international meeting on Climate Change in Copenhagen, the announcement focuses consciousness on this most important matter that concerns the future of the Earth.

New Unity - Tribal Nations Conference

There are leaders of 542 federally recognized tribes meeting with President Obama and others at the White House today. This is the largest gathering of tribal leaders in America's history. While we cannot know what the verbal commitment of the present administration to the wellbeing of these peoples may lead to (unemployment, for example, of up to 50% exists on some reservations), we wish them well and hold prayers for all now taking part. May the outcome of this conference be blessed.

The Nobel Peace Prize and the Drama of Light and Darkness

Life is not simple, and in relation to specific events on the world stage there is often an overlay of different energy streams, some of the light, some of the darkness, some more preponderant than others, some less so. Within an overall situation, streams of energy affect both the source which gives rise to a situation, as well as its outcome.

So it is with the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to President Obama yesterday for his platform and intentions in relation to peace-making. This overall perspective which he campaigned on is intended to create greater peace and unity on both a national and global scale through the breaking down of barriers between peoples. It was an ideal that catalyzed a nation, an ideal which, among others, brought him into higher office.

It has been said by one commentator that perhaps this Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded not to a person but to the American people themselves who held the vision strongly enough to elect President Obama president. Be that as it may, there are questions being raised on all sides at this time as to the merit of the awardee in terms of his actual accomplishment versus his ideals, and the reasoning behind the decision of the Nobel Committee when they made this choice.

Through most significant events on the world stage, energies of light and darkness play a part. For those who seek greater understanding, there is one important way of distinguishing light from darkness as it affects groups or nations in most situations, namely, whether the event or situation creates a feeling of peace, hope, and love among people, or tension, doubt, confusion, and fear. The latter group of responses are likely to be engineered by forces that would create division rather than unity, discouragement rather than hope.

The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a presidency that has yet to achieve its goals contains streams of both light and darkness - light emanating from the positive intentions and hopes of the Nobel Committee, yet darkness emanating from the possibility of ‘false reward’ for actions not yet taken which this decision leads to. It has created, among many, the feeling that something is not quite right, accompanied by an effort to justify it. Response to the award announcement has been filled with questions more than applause, confusion more than gratitude. Some have worried that the decision will create problems for President Obama in future decision-making regarding military engagement in Afghanistan or elsewhere. It is also possible that the decision could lead to more pointedly disappointed expectations should there be a misstep or departure from the ideals that ostensibly are the true recipient of the award.

Though it is not possible to know what the outcome of this decision will be, it is nevertheless important to take a measured look at it and the feelings that it has generated for many, remembering that in all things the means and the end of any process must contain the same energies of light. It is not the right way to create peace, even if one desires it, by doing something that lacks the wholeness of truth.

This perspective must be held like an umbrella over all decisions made by all leaders or persons in position of power or influence as they take action to promote their stated aims. In this, as well as in other situations, what appears to be of the light can also be manipulated by forces that are opposed to light, and what appears to enable lofty goals, can also enable dissension and greater dis-unity.

May this Peace Award be a real incentive to create a national and foreign policy in America that truly serves the needs of all people, and may all efforts of negative energies to prevent this from happening be brought to a close.

New Plan for Free Health Care in Africa

A task force called "International Innovative Finance for Health Systems" co-chaired by Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown and World Bank President Robert Zoellick has come up with a plan to provide free health care to over 10 million people in Africa who are now paying user fees.

This plan, developed during the last twelve months and announced in the last two days, has been a long time coming. It represents the world's greater stake in providing health equity to the world's poor, at a time when developed nations have the capacity to do so. It is a step forward in the manifestation of a unified planetary consciousness.

The goal is to help developing countries meet their health millennium development goals by 2015. The plan is to include a pledge of US$3 billion from the online travel industry.


$5.7b to expand health care in Africa, Asia
ABC News Report
Africa: Great Leap Forward on Free Health Care
All-Africa.com

Contraction

A time of contraction has been with us for a long time now, creating hardship for many, both individually and on a planetary level. Often, one thinks ones own burdens are personal - intrinsic and limited to the self, when in fact they are vastly influenced by the power of contraction. This energy is capable on a global level as well as individually of causing greater hopelessness, despair, and fear, all of which result from the covering that is placed over the light within.

When this covering is effective, one can feel bereft, without guidance, without hope, without comfort, without direction. One can feel that God is absent or not listening or that one has taken the wrong path and therefore been abandoned. The force of darkness cannot extinguish the light, for light is intrinsically stronger than darkness, but it can create a blanket over it so that it cannot be seen or felt, and often for long periods of time.

During a time of contraction, it is important to find the means of anchoring oneself in spiritual reality, however that becomes possible. One may not feel light, but one can know it is there. One may not feel God, but one can know God is there. Whatever means of spiritual anchoring resonates with the inner being is what should be pursued. Especially through being with others who can convey hope and trust during a time of darkness.

Knowing that 'contraction' is an energy force that affects many can help in another way. It can reduce self-blame for not being able to fix the situation or change one's feelings more quickly. It can also help to not take things so personally.

As light remains the strongest force within all universes, it will eventually restore its prominence and potency and the tide of contraction will turn. In the meantime, steadfastness is needed, and the kind of gentle love that will allow kindness toward the self to remain.

America in Balance

Within the spiritual foundation of this country are several strands of spiritual energy that form aspects of governance and the basis for law.

Among these strands are forces at work that create a strong motivation toward individual freedom and self-determination, and an equally strong current in the direction of unity and love.

These two currents are spiritual forces at work within the collective consciousness of a nation. They represent two sides on a scale of wholeness whose middle-point is a fulcrum that keeps both currents in balance. When harmony with truth and the spiritual core principles which America rests on prevail, then freedom and unity remain effectively in balance, each complementing the other, each supporting the other. When darkness and fear prevail, then it looks like the expression of one direction is threatening to the expression of the other.

Such is the case in America today. Though the controversy is taking place around the joined issues of Health Care and Illegal Immigration, the principle of fear is running through many interchanges about what caring for 'all' will do to one's own personal wellbeing. Within these dialogues, the energy of polarization (of 'me' and 'them' is strong, leading to tension, discord, and a sense of incompatability. Those who fear the overturning of law and the destruction of individual liberty based on the promotion of universal health care are bringing an element to the discussion which is not based on reason but on emotion - the emotion of fear and the need to defend against perceived threat. These are emotions fueled by energies of darkness.

The balance of freedom and unity need not require opposition. It is possible for a dialogue to take place based more in trust and in the desire to serve the needs of all. However it is this very principle concerning 'serving the needs of all' that is being undermined by forces that are establishing a hold on the consciousness of many, as if serving the needs of all would prevent their own needs from being met.

We must, if we are to understand the sweeping forces at work in this country and in the world at this time, recognize that the shape of a dialogue which influences its outcome is not just a matter of chance. Nor is it just a matter of political persuasion. There are large forces at work, both nationally and globally, that want to prevent unity from gaining a further foothold in human consciousness. They want to prevent love from becoming stronger as a motivating factor in the governance of people. The debate about health care has been fueled by these forces on the one side, and they threaten to disempower the forward motion of the new administration's efforts to bring a new vision into the American political scene.

As souls participating in the expansion of light upon the Earth, we hold a solemn responsibility, whatever our point of view, to hold our alignment with light and our trust in the future and not to engage with fear. Our alignment allows us to know that harmony of interests is, indeed, possible, and that while fear dismantles harmony, love and trust enhance it.

May all come to see through the strategems created by fear, and hold to love in the midst of these. Amen.

Trends in Emotional and Spiritual Health: Depression and Post-Traumatic Stress

This article is part of a talk given by Julie at Light Omega on Sept. 6, 2009 called "Depression - A Spiritual Perspective." To order a CD of this talk, contact information@lightomega.org

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Beloveds, we live at a time when increased spiritual energy on the planet is creating a raised awareness of the values of the heart and of life itself. At the same time, it is bringing into consciousness all that is out of balance and not in harmony with these newly awakening values. It is in this way that it is possible to look at the increased incidence of depression in developed countries, which, in many nations, has become of epidemic proportions. In the same light, though from another world, we can look at the increased incidence of post-traumatic stress or ‘post-traumatic stress disorder’ in military personnel returning from the 1990s Gulf War, the Iraq War, and now from Afghanistan.

What brings these two phenomena together is that they are emotional and spiritual ‘signals’ of something being wrong. One may look within the individual psyche to see what is ‘wrong,’ but that reveals only a partial truth. The awakening of the values of the heart creates a greater collision between the values of one’s humanity and the actual exigencies and ‘necessities’ of hand-to-hand combat and war in general. Similarly, the values of the heart awakening create an increased sense of urgency that the empty, loveless, or meaningless places in one’s life be filled with something real and something meaningful. In both cases, there is an interaction with individual psychological and spiritual motivations, and the actual landscape of one’s present life. In the case of military engagement, one can only wonder that there are not more post-traumatic stress reactions to the tragic and often unforeseen involvement in the killing of children and of innocent civilians during a military operation.

The values of the heart are those enhanced by the presence of spiritual light: peace, unity, love, compassion, generosity, forgiveness, and a desire to live in harmony with others. These values may come up in contrast to the outrages of war – the horrors that cannot be put out of mind or heart regarding what one witnessed, felt, or took part in. Though of less dramatic intensity and certainly of less violent impact – the meaninglessness of a life lived without the full measure of love, joy, or a sense of deeper connection with oneself or others, can also bring to awareness the sorrow of loss - of a hole that needs to be filled. At bottom, depression fosters a yearning for a spiritual, energetic, emotional, and relationship healing that can only take place if one is aware that it is needed.

The increased rise in depression in developed countries may, by some, be attributed to more proficient and earlier diagnostic capabilities, the availability of a wider array of treatment options including an entire pharamaceutical industry devoted to treating the symptoms of depression. Both of these are, indeed, contributing factors, but only address the symptomatic picture – the symptomatic expression of depression, not its cause. To look at the cause, nationwide or worldwide, one must look at the changing inner landscape of what people value and what they find missing.

Depression (and also post-traumatic stress) is a teacher, a signal, an announcer, that something needs to be addressed within one’s life that has not been addressed. It is a calling of the spirit for an increased awareness of what is missing. Although on an outer level, it may seem that what is missing is practical and tangible – such as a job, more money, adequate housing, or improved prospects for the future, on an inner level, at least for many, these may still only be ‘signposts’ to what the real cause of depression is.

Depression, as a teacher, tells us that something essential is missing within life that needs to be found. Often, one can fill the outer elements of life with a job, greater security, relationships with others, and still it remains. Because, as a collective human family, we still do not think of spiritual causes in relation to physical symptoms, we continue, for the moment, to look at the neuro-biology of depression as its explanation. We study higher cortical functioning, understand the work of neuro-transmitters, and think we understand what causes depression. However, the level of the physical is, without exception, activated by the level of consciousness in which spiritual, moral, and emotional values reside. Therefore, in an analysis of the future, we will not view neuro-biology as a cause of depression, but itself as a symptom. We will, at that time, look to the domain of spiritual energy and spiritual consciousness as the primary cause for physical and biological conditions.

For the present, we are still immersed in material explanations for a material world. We still explain the physical by the physical. As the world changes in its understanding of spiritual reality, depression, post-traumatic stress, and, indeed, all physical disorders will come to be seen to be energetically based, and new forms of healing will develop in order to treat them.

For individuals today, and before such a collective development takes place, it is important to understand the ‘signal’ function of depression and the wisdom of the body that is trying to convey something important from the soul. Though society may not be ready, individuals may be ready to bring their lives into greater balance and harmony, restoring to both the body and the consciousness a spiritual energy of love, hope, and unity, that for many has been missing for a long time and on a very deep level.

Headed Home

Written by Sen. Orin Hatch and Phil Springer

'Transparency' and Purification

There is a new word used publicly in government and corporate circles alike and that is 'transparency' - the willingness to be seen. This is both a beautiful word suggesting the desire for greater openness and accountability by those in positions of power. Yet it is also a word which can be misused when it is used falsely or indiscriminately.

That there are new 'transparency' advocates is a testimony both to the values of the new administration in Washington, (which we hope will live up to its own ideal), yet it is larger than this. It is a concept which comes about due to a shift in collective consciousness away from greed, manipulation, and self-interest, toward a greater concern for the collective whole. The AIG and Bernard Madoff scandals have contributed to the popular currency of this word, but these scandals are part of the larger picture of purification of a nation's consciousness - a process that is underway.

'Transparency' is not the be all and end all of a new age in America and elsewhere. But it does herald a shift in awareness that may make for more honest relations on all levels of government and between the government and the people. May this word come to be embodied on both a large scale and a small, so that deceptive practices become a thing of the past, and the desire to benefit life become a thing of the present.

The U.S. Health Care Reform Proposal and Its Opponents

In the discussion of any complex matter such as the overhauling of the U.S. national health care system, there are bound to be pros and cons, proponents and opponents of various portions of the umbrella proposal. Here, as elsewhere, the process of debating specifics is an important one and a central aspect of any democracy.

Yet, debate must produce a conversation between one point of view and another, out of which a compromise or harmonization of interests can ultimately take place. Debate, to be effective within a democracy, must result in unification, not division, since the outcome will affect all people. In the present national health care debate, we find that only sometimes are people discussing the actual health-care related issues. Often, what is being discussed is not health care but personal liberty vis a vis the government, and what is being generated as a formidable aspect of this perspective is fear of the loss of one's freedom.

Fear can be generated within any debate. It is the loud voice that declaims against something, and not only against the 'thing', but against the imputed motives of those who are proposing that thing. With respect to the present dialogue, fear of loss of freedom and of a government 'take-over' is being brought before the public in a way that gains national attention and has a powerful presence. It can make one doubt what one is hearing from the President or from legislators. It can destroy trust. It can make each person return to their own self-focused motives to the exclusion of motives that include others. Fear generates division, mistrust, conflict, and a loss of hope.

It is likely that any sweeping campaign or movement toward a change of this magnitude might call forth extensive controversy. Yet whether it calls forth fear is dependent upon the balance between light and darkness within the public conscioiusness and within the conscioiusness of those engaged in the debate. Such a fear response is not inevitable. It is especially not inevitable if one is aware of energies influencing discussions and realizes that the energetic impact of what is going on has, in some cases, become more important than the content.

In the presence of these negative energies, it is incumbent on those who understand the importance of unity, of not serving one's own interests above the interests of all, and of the power of fear - to create a stable anchorpoint of truth within themselves so that wise decisions can be made and credible proposals can not be dismissed.

Governments can disenfranchise people when they are not responsive to the public interest and when they pursue their own agendas without consultation with those they represent. Fear can also disenfranchise people, since it changes the base layer of what one perceives to be real, and robs the well-intentioned individual of the ability to choose between alternatives since the choice is no longer clear.

Let us, as we move through this public debate on health care reform, remain above the manipulation by fear as we strive to remain above it within our individual lives. Let us listen carefully and with hope to the proposals for change that are being put forth, not without discussion or due consideration to opposing points of view, but with a sense that the debate is significant and that the outcome may take this country one step further toward a newly-defined, positive vision of itself.

A Case in Point - The Gates Controversy and the 'Beer Summit'

We are now well past the flurry of excitment produced in the news media by the confrontation between Henry Louis Gates, Jr., a Harvard professor, (see references below) and the Cambridge, Massachusetts police, and the story is, for many, now fodder for late night talk show hosts. As with many news stories of this kind, it touched upon an important issue which normally lies dormant concerning existing race relations and respect for one another. This issue, in the present round, had its day in the sun, and we are left with the question of what, if anything, about race relations and about respect for one another have we learned?

While the momentary flurry of news coverage has abated, the image of the President hosting a 'beer summit' to discuss differences has not. At least not for some people. While such a 'summit' may be considered a politically-motivated move on the part of the Obama administration, or may be ridiculed as an ineffective way to deal with the much larger issue at hand, the 'summit' had this to say for it: it left us as a nation with an image of a President and a national role model espousing the viewpoint of talking things out to resolve differences, with the premise that greater understanding and greater harmony would result, even if points of view did not change.

Images can be used for all kinds of purposes. As mentioned, they can be used to poke fun at, to rally a crowd, to support an administration's policies, to deflect from another or greater issue that one wishes the public not to engage with. There are many good and not-so-good uses of images. Here is one, however, that in a very modest way can be pointed to for adults and children everywhere to take note of. Namely, that our President sat down with people at a time when feelings were inflamed to talk things out. We can only hope that such engagement and the premise of hope that it implies will expand from this personal and anecdotal level to an international level where America might take the lead in opening the doors to a similar kind of respect and understanding.

REFERENCES:

ABC News - Prominent Black Scholar Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Arrested After Racism Charge
Bloomberg News - Gates Police Confrontation Ends With Charge Dropped
MSNBC - Cops, Scholar to Meet Again After Obama Chat

A New Consciousness: The Story of Bottled Water

Bottled water has become a major industry in America and in much of the developed world, accompanying the growth of the health and fitness industries as well as the prestige factor which beguiles many according to their status in life. And yet except in underdeveloped nations where poverty, disease, and limited health facilities make it a useful tool, eliminating the need for boiling water to protect against disease, it has been an industry that has fed, for the most part, on human vanity and the desire to both look and feel youthful.

Now, we are seeing a concerted effort on the part of a number of states to ban the manufacture of bottled water on behalf of the environment. The carbon footprint left by the processing, packaging, transporting, and distributing of bottled water, in addition to the problems created by the disposal of plastic containers, are no longer considered a fair exchange in relation to cost versus effect. Increasingly, the cost is being perceived as too great.

The pressure of a global climate crisis and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is playing a larger role in the thinking of many government agencies today and should not be taken for granted in a case such as this. Here, an entire industry may virtually disappear as a result of a more urgent goal that has now gained national attention. What shall happen to this industry?

On the one hand, we must count the cost in terms of jobs lost and human beings who need to relocate themselves or be offered other employment. This can create problems for both families and communities unless product-lines are redesigned to produce more environmentally-friendly products - something that large businesses often have the means to do if they have the mind to. On the other hand, we need to look at this shift as a prototype for meetintg planetary needs that have been crying out for attention for many years now.

The shift from thinking of something as necessary to thinking of it as optional or unnecessary is a very important one as we reevaluate our priorities as a nation and as a collective humanity. In fact, it is the same shift that must take place on an individual level as well as the one governing nations.

What is necessary? What is not necessary in our lives that is costing us the life of the planet? What have we relied upon that we can now let go of?

There are many industries that have arisen due to unregulated commerce and to the appetites of large corporations to expand into new profits and new product lines. This expansion and proliferation of products must now be revisited in terms of their necessity. The cost not to do so is too great.

A parallel mushrooming of an 'optonal' industry may be seen in the many product-lines developed in recent years to produce white teeth. The 'teeth whitener' industry which is based almost exclusively on the desire to remain young forever parallels the rise of bottled water. Perfectly white teeth have become a necessity for television personalities today, and a cosmetic necessity for young and old in all walks of life. But there was a time before perfectly white teeth were necessary and before the whiteners producing perfectly white teeth were mass produced. There will, perhaps, be a time again when perfectly white teeth will not be a standard to follow.

Here, then, is our individual and collective dilemma: to uphold values that serve our own needs and those of our loved ones while at the same time holding of equal value the needs of others and of the Earth we live on. In this balance lies the future of the Earth.

Planetary Purification: The Up-rising in Xinjiang

  

Background: The uprising in Xinjiang province is held by mainstream media to be an ethnic conflict between the minority, largely Muslim Uighurs (pronounced Wee-gers) and the majority Hans in Xinjiang province, western China. Its underlying impulse of "we can't take this any more" is considered to have been generated as a response to Han violence against individual Uighurs several weeks ago. The city which has become the focus of the earlier violence and now the government crackdown is Urumqi.

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Planetary purification does not announce itself with a trumpet or a speech. It announces itself in the hearts of people who feel the expansion of light and, as a result, are motivated toward freedom, equality, love, and the pursuit of happiness for themselves and their loved ones. The expansion of light, however, also reveals formerly buried impulses of resentment, rage, and prejudice that hearts may have been holding that now, uprooted by the expanding force of light, seek expression within waking consciousness.

Impulses to seek freedom and end oppression are founded on the innate desire for freedom and equality that lives deeply within the human breast. Such constructive impulses are strengthened by light whose movement always fosters the desire for greater wholeness, both without and within. However, light's action as it releases impulses of darkness into consciousness, can take the original impulses and transform them into external actions fueled by the awareness of separation, hatred, and that seek violence toward others as a means to an end.

Both sets of impulses can and often do exist within any protest, and have existed in many areas of the world including in western China today. In a situation of protest, though the original impulse toward freedom and self-respect may be pure, it can be co-opted by forces of negativity that take the upward moral striving of the heart and turn it into something destructive and deadly. This is what has happened in the last few days in Xinjiang province, where long standing resentments by a religious and cultural minority known as the Uighurs toward the majority Hans produced violent action this week to end the oppression, discrimination, and violence that they felt leveled against them.
The impulse to protest against injustice, discrimination, disenfranchisement, oppression can be built on the foundation of a heart that wants to live freely, peacefully, with respect, and with the ability to provide for one's basic needs and those of loved ones. Yet, the power of darkness is capable of corrupting such impulses so that they become filled with an injustice of their own, no longer pure in their motive, but vengeful, hateful, and deadly.

As we view the world stage today from an inner perspective, we may see that despite their differing content, uprisings and protests are often related in their underlying motivation - in the swelling of the heart's sense of its own life-force that gives rise to the wish and need to act on its own behalf in the service of achieving greater wholeness. No matter what the external cause, the inner cause that fuels the desire for freedom, equality and the pursuit of happiness is light. No matter what the external cause, the inner cause that fuels the desire to seek revenge, to harm or wreak havoc on the lives or bodies of others is darkness and separation. Within any given situation, the impulse to act may remain faithful to the light at the heart or point of origin, or it may be taken over and used by negative forces to turn the will-to-good into something else.

This, then, is purification in action and the movement into the new, witnessed recently in Iran and now in China. And though light will ultimately prevail, being inherently the stronger force, humanity will undergo a transition that is more or less peaceful, more or less difficult, depending on the balance maintained as the intensity of light-force and counter-force increase.

May we, in the face of new energies arising from the depths of consciousness serve the good by doing good, and may we no longer give credence to the idea and premise that the ‘end justifies the means.’ The means and ends must be the same.


Note: Articles on the uprising in China:
BBC World News
China Protest

Michael Jackson - A Time of Rejoicing

Dear Ones,
This is by way of a letter, since it is more appropriate as a vehicle for paying tribute to the passing of a soul whose life was marred in many ways by healing issues that gained prominence in the eyes of the world, but whose spirit remained pure, loving, and joyful, despite the difficulties of the outer self.

Most embodied souls live with that complexity of manifestation - a part that remains pure and bright, and other parts that are colored by incomplete development, limitation, or distortion of their true essence.

And so because of his influence on global consciousness through songs of love and peace such as "Heal the World" and "We are the World" which affected an entire generation, we can acknowledge the difficulties that he himself brought into being through his own words and actions, while at the same time expressing gratitude for one who came into incarnation in order, among other things, to help heal the world.

While many are looking back at the life of this pop icon, focus of admiration and contempt, and musical genius, we who loved his spirit can look forward to what and where he is now and where he is going. Having remained inwardly connected to the other dimensions of life and spirit, Michael Jackson's transition is likely to be easier than most. Perceiving himself inwardly to be Spirit, he can let go of the embodied state more quickly and rejoice in his greater freedom, released from the burdens of self and the questions of identity that were so much a part of his life.

We, who appreciate his beautiful and pure being, can rejoice in his new freedom with him, for once out of the body he can become the largeness of who he is and was, and move, all the while dancing, into greater freedom and joy. Blessings and Amen.

Holding Suffering in the Heart of Compassion

See: Network of Light - Holding Suffering in the Heart of Compassion

Iran - Global Purification and the Desire for Freedom

Many have been moved by the recent protests in Tehran following last week's re-election of President Ahmadinejad. These protests which have grown larger in recent days, speak to us of the growing desire for freedom and governmental accountability among Iranians who feel, in great measure, that the election was stolen from them.

We have seen these movements elsewhere in the world, fueled by the growing force of spiritual light on the Earth which causes the heart to come forth more strongly in its desire for personal liberty, an end to discrimination, a turning away from falsehood and concealment, and a greater desire for governments to follow the will of the people. In a word, light is bringing forth the emotional and spiritual impulses that are the underpinnings for an overturning of the old ways of doing things. These movements have taken place in the Republic of Georgia, Ukraine, Tibet, and elsewhere in recent years, and can vary in degree along a continuum of peaceful to violent.

Here, a BBC account of what recently took place on the streets of Tehran:

"We Want Freedom..."
(First few seconds are blank)

Indigenous Peoples Worldwide - Movement Toward the Future - April, 2009

We do not yet know the outcome of the Conference on Indigenous Peoples held recently at the United Nations with a primary focus on climate change. But we do know that within Hopi prophecies (and those of other indigenous groups) it has been said that the white brother would have to come back to the ways of the land and learn to live in harmony with the Earth again in order to survive. The pressure of a global climate crisis is the outer event causing a rethinking of values and practices in relation to the Earth and her resources. Let us have hope that this conference and what emerges from it will create new priorities in our ways of relating to the Earth that member nations can transmit to their own governments and people.

Financial Hardship and the Soul

 

Many people have been taught to believe that if they are suffering from prolonged financial hardship, it is because they have not cleared from their karmic and historical reservoir, beliefs about scarcity. Such beliefs can include several fundamental ideas: 1) that the Universe will not provide for them because it does not care, 2) that the present collective external reality of financial downturn means there is not enough of jobs, money, resources to go around, 3) that one does not deserve success or wealth. There are other ideas connected with beliefs about 'scarcity', but these three are held by a great many people.

For those awake spiritually, thought and intention are often invoked so that positive beliefs replace negative ones, and so that one strives through the expression of positive energy to attract to oneself the financial wealth and resources that are needed. Often, this shift makes a significant difference. But sometimes it does not, and it is easy to think one is doing something wrong when financial hardship persists.

The perspective of personal error can be painful and enduring when no explanation can be found of why hardship persists despite one's best efforts, intentions, and positive beliefs. Especially in such a situation is it important to know that many souls have determined, prior to incarnating, to come to the Earth during a time of darkness and contraction when inner light does not meet outer light but rather meets only obstacles. Such souls have often agreed to be a point of light in the darkness, and a point of faith and trust during a time of severe challenge. They do this in part for their own personal learning, but also and more importantly in order to uphold an energy of love, trust, and truth for the benefit of the Earth.

Souls who have chosen to serve in this way may not know it consciously. They may only feel the pain of limitation. Nevertheless, their service lies in their being, itself, in the light and hope that they carry despite very difficult outer challenges.

For those experiencing limitation in this way, it is centrally important to feel connected to spiritual purpose - the purpose that lies behind one's having accepted difficult circumstances in life - and to release ideas of 'having done something wrong'. This may not immediately change the financial picture, though embracing trust and purpose are powerful forces for change. However, even if the situation were to continue for a while, it would no longer seem like the obstacles were of one's own making, but rather that a place within the self that was strong and pure had chosen to engage with these obstacles by coming to the Earth during a time of contraction in order to be a point of light in the darkness. This perception, and the understanding that the force of expanding light is having a progressive effect on the Earth in lifting the contraction, can lead to a deeper sense of courage and connection. Such courage and connection, no matter what the external situation, is a direct manifestation of the presence of the soul.

Sacred Words

All words carry vibration, some more so than others. Sacred words that have been used millions of times throughout history are powerful due, among other things, to the accumulated energy they carry. Literally, when you pray using these holy words, you are praying with all those who have gone before.

More ordinary words carry vibration as well. When such words are filled with light - the light that emanates from the purity of Divine Love - then these words can have a healing and, indeed, life-changing effect on others. For they are given the power to transmute darkness, to dissolve fear, and to raise the innate goodness and light that lives within each heart. Thus, spoken from a place of purity, light activates light in others, awakening them to their true self.

To this degree, one becomes a healer for the world, not by virtue of any special training or course of study, but because the light within activates the light without until all becomes One.

May all be blessed with the power of healing in this way. May all receive the light of universal Love.


Above: "Om Mani Padme Hum" - In certain Eastern traditions, the six syllables of this mantra are thought to refer to the purification of the six realms of existence.