deniers deny ...

Deniers deny what they don’t understand
Believers believe what they do.
Whatever you do, whatever you say
Never confuse the two.

Those who believe what they don’t understand
Or deny what they truly believe
Are caught in a spot without any hope
Of anything new to receive.

Wending my way ...

Wending my way on a sunny day I came upon a hill
Should I go up or just have a cup of tea and wait until
It’s time to go back on the very track that brought me here
Or should I climb to that summit sublime and overcome my fear.

The ascendency ...

The ascendency of the ungodly will persist
Till ascendency of the godly be proclaimed
The measure of ungodliness needed
To bring about this change
Is the measure of the victory
That ultimately arrives.

Was opportunity ...

Was opportunity ever divorced from vicissitude
Or progress achieved without crisis?
Is crisis vanquished or opportunity seized
Without some degree of change?

Not by adaptation
Nor even transformation
Only through transcendence
Can you succeed
Never causing a leaf to fall.

For God alone is the Healer
And God alone the Creator,
The Mover, the Sustainer,
And the Goal.

How many worlds ...

How many worlds are within us 
And how many are without
No number is large enough 
No time long enough
And no space great enough
Yet here they are.

We come from dreams 
And become memories
Yet always we are alive
And always we will be.
Who dreamed of us
And who will remember
As we remember them
And dream them also?

We unearth bones
And artifacts and pieces of our past
Bits from the container
But nothing of our lives.
The wholesome parts- the best of us
Are with us as we speak.
And always will be watching
From worlds greater than this.

Spirits are not buried
Or even petrified
They rise not from the earth
But from the heart inside
Where time and space are folded
And all these worlds reside
What a fancy place 
For eternity to hide.

I walked out ...

I walked out one morning
To greet the new born day
To see the new born faces
And hear what they would say

They told me how to listen
And taught me how to see,
Showed me how to live my life
And took good care of me.

Now that they have gone away
The sun is getting low
I will soon be joining them
But just before I go

I want to tell you it was real
And all of it was true
Don’t forsake the memory
Whatever else you do.

A new Day is coming
When the night is done
Go into that morning
And visit everyone.

Unbelievers believe ...

Unbelievers believe they are right
Based upon a lack of insight
Speaking only of what they see
Disclosing its very paucity.

An inner life they can’t describe
Is greeted with a diatribe
A wholesome fear of being misled
Frightens them away from what is said.

Mistaking faith for blindness
Only fools show kindness
Images appear
From the things they see and hear.

Courage to engage in symbolic thought
May give them a glimpse of what they sought
When truth was found in denying
Things they had not seen for trying.

In heaven ...

In heaven people love each other
In hell they love only themselves.

The first heaven is love of another
Second is love of truth
Third is the love of God alone
Fourth is only the heart
Fifth is the will of the Creator
Sixth is the banquet of the Lord
Seventh is everlasting fidelity.

My soul is moved ...

My soul is moved
As you mention my name
When you think of me
I am beckoned.
The truth, I suppose,
We’re never apart
At least where love is reckoned.

Nothing alters a changeless soul
As it appears to grow.
A changless beach must lengthen
Whenever the tide is low.

You are the moon and I am the shore
And the tide, our communication
Thus will it cycle for evermore
As we grow in appreciation.

If I could take ...

If I could take what I learn inside
And when I’m asleep at night,
And tell it to everyone I meet
Eventually there might
Appear in the dust
That thing that must
Make it all right.

My dogs are gone ...

My dogs are gone and I must watch
As subsidized cats devour birds
Those graceful winged creatures
Those messengers of north and south
Symbols of the coming peace,
Of man's hopes and aspirations.
Feathers and bones attest the nearness
Of the crying shame
To the splendors of a shining dawn.

Symbols are just symbols
We must not be carried away
By the lessons of evil we learned
At the dawning of the day.
The early worms are eaten
By the first birds to arise
Every symbol lives, it seems
And every symbol dies.

We are also symbols
But symbols who read
We learn from what is written
And follow it's lead.
When our symbol fails to thrive
And goes to the cats once more
Our knowledge will still be alive
Or what are symbols for.

If my soul could speak ...

If my soul could speak, and you know it can,
Just as it can see and hear
It would tell of a wondrous world
That is near, so very near.

If it knew, and you know it does,
It would say what to do, just because
Of the love it bears
For me and you.

If it could hear, and I’ve said it could,
It would listen, then burn away pride
Draw its mighty sword and divide
Light from darkness, bad from good
And strive toward what it knew it should.

Until Nirvana’s gates stood wide
And it was asked to come inside
The world of oneness, to bow at the feet
Of Him whom it has come to meet.

With gratitude and grief for the past
Reaching that gushing font at last
Feel the wind through its hollow reed
Escaping both ambition and need.

Here is the shore of the ocean I named
It is just as close as before
But there is still a ladder to climb
Still another door.

Even poetry can’t describe
Those things that still lie hid
If my soul could go, and you know it did,
It would see these, too.

My eyes can see ...

My eyes can see the clouds in the sky
The mountains the valleys the seas.
My mind can imagine and see far beyond
Understanding the nature of these.
My heart can see over ages
Uncovering things unknown.
My soul knows neither time nor space
And sees what it is shown.

Over the hills ...

Over the hills and far away
Where elderly gentlefolk sing and play
(So no one has to watch them decline
Or include them in a busy day)
Some of the greatest answers lie
Where wisdom is safely stored away.

The Great Being summoned ...

The Great Being summoned you into His court

To be judged by Him alone.

Some of you welcomed this wondrous gift

And so your love became known.

Some of you fled in terror

To a place you could not hide

The choice that you had made

And the secret motives inside.

Communication is symbolic thought ...

Communication is symbolic thought
and all creation is symbols.
It tells of what alone is not
symbolic, but unknowable,
unsearchable,
unattainable,
unreachable.

From floating palaces ...

From floating palaces where kings are overthrown
To a witch's kitchen where shadows are grown
Darkness, suspicion, scheming and lies
Blindness is caused by closing the eyes

Each and every day ...

Each and every day
I get shorter
I get balder
I get deafer
I get blinder
I get weaker
I get slower
I get wiser
I learn the secrets that only time can reveal
The secrets of the aged
I become increasingly aware of my life as a whole
I see connections
I feel as never before the strength of my spirit
I have power
I no longer take myself seriously
I am self aware
Watching others do as I have done, be as I have been
Brings me joy and pleasure
I have learned to wait until asked for advice
And to say only what will be heard and understood
More than this is never needed.

Some pages are stained ...

Some pages are stained with tears, others are stained with blood, but sometimes all I have to use is a little ink. Between the lines where rivers flow and oceans surge beneath storms, the meaning bears the message of love to connect our hearts as one. When the bridge is built, we may pass between, no need for stained pages in the great unseen. Integration, ascension, transformation, transcendence, the job is done.

When the worlds lament ...

When the worlds lament signals Gods descent to the darkness here below,
Stand in a place that is holy with grace and forget everything you know.
He comes in a hurry that causes a flurry and panic and fear abound
Don’t insist though you must persist until the answer is found.

When you suddenly realize ...

When you suddenly realize your life is done
And others have started to take your place
You’re walking toward that setting sun
Contemplating what you face.
Either your heart is filled with joy
Or fear and trembling seize you
The choice is still yours to make
No one else can do it, no one no matter who.

Overwhelming good ...

Overwhelming good awaits the soul and the inspired heart endures. The promise is real; the reward is great so never belittle the merit of such an opportunity.

I lay no claim ...

I lay no claim to owning good
I hope I belong to it
I have nothing at all to give
That hasn’t been given to me
Though I can’t possess
I would belong
And in belonging
Find that I am
Freed from limitation.

Freedom is ignorance ...

Freedom is ignorance
Love is pain
Knowledge enslaves
Unity enlightens
Contentment transcends
Astonishment transports
Nothing is aware.

What causes the surging ...

What causes the surging in my soul?
What makes my heart delight?
I haven’t a life left to live on this earth
I have no dog in this fight.
Nothing I have is of value
Nothing I do is worthwhile
All I have left is the love of God
And this is the reason I smile.

Out of the woods ...

Out of the deep woods came a man. When asked, he said, "I heard the call of the horn and turned and looked upon my self and disliked it. From the pain of this accusation I resolved to be a better man and walked toward the sun. The light shone into me, and composed me, integrated me, until I was astounded at what I saw within. This is why I have emerged from this darksome forest."

What if someone ...

What if someone saw me the way I really am
What if someone heard me when I thought I was alone
Would they run away from me, or would they kill me dead
Or would they want to join me, on this lonesome throne.

This is a riddle ...

This is a riddle which none may solve
This mystery of mine
It lives outside of time and space
A gift of God, a sign

I long to have you ...

I long to have you here, not from loneliness, but love.
I want to share everything with you, not for me, but you.
Not because of where you are, but because of where I am.
I haven’t a desire, a want or a need. I have excess, so what shall I do?

Where does good come from ...

"Where does good come from?"
The little children ask.
"Does it come from the earth
Or the wind in the sky
Or the sun with its shining face?"

Not from the earth and the sky and the sun
But below and above and beyond
The good that you want
The good that you need
Comes from God’s abiding Grace.

It is hidden inside the heart
In a land beyond the stars
It surges invisibly
Manifests all
Never leaving a trace.

In every land ...

In every land from sea to sea
In this great world of ours
Shadows of what used to be
Remind us of the hours
When mighty men did mighty deeds
And much hard work was done
To save the wounded man that bleeds
By saving everyone

When you serve ....

When you serve you’re rewarded, and this is how you grow.
When you grow a test is needed to see how much you know.
Every step on the path of faith has a greater test than the last.
The test that matters most, of course, is the one you have just passed.

Within my breast ...

Within my breast there lurks an accusation.
I think it’s not from me but another.
I can’t remember the source, the meaning, or the reason.
I feel a loss; a separation.
Should I cast it out or re-educate it?
Should I go to it and lament with it until it leaves or transforms?
Or should I rise to a place where such as this cannot touch?

It may be just another fragment of an ever breaking heart.
Nourishment needed
Warning heeded.
I’ll send it back with love to the accuser
All must grow, high or low
Our independence secure,
Having taken the cure.

Sometimes ...

Sometimes I open the door, to see the world without.
Sometimes without bursts through to me.
Sometimes my wings are sullied.
Sometimes I fly where answers be.
Sometimes my heart knows what to do.
Sometimes I just escape.

The test is to see if I can remain
Where everlasting joy abides,
Or if the world can conquer me
And all my friends besides.

If I have a choice, and I do,
I choose the better of the two,
No matter what this choice may bring,
I know my heart will always sing.

Let me sing

Let me sing beneath the dome of power
Let me ring the bell in the tower
Let me blow my trumpet and sound my horn
And play a clarion call
Till the summons reaches the ends of the earth
To uplift one and all

This bird ...

This bird was happily nested
Until the hunters flushed it up to be tested.
I do not weep for the life of the bird
Only the songs that will never be heard.

Where will I go ...

Where will I go when there is no longer room for me here. Will I be hot enough to rise, like smoke? Will I be bright enough to shine through everlasting space? Will I be flexible enough to flow all the way to the sea? Will I be hard enough to remain as a building stone? Will I be carried forever upon the wind?

Will the memory of me bring joy, or will it cause unhappiness? Will the things I leave behind be blest by my use or cursed by my possession? Will the air I have breathed bring life to others who use it in their turn? Will the earth itself be improved from my sojourn? Will all my forgiven sins be lessons for others and a step on our path?

 What of the stains I leave on paper, will they be seen again, will they be understood, will they instruct, will they enlighten, will they uplift, will they connect? If so, to whom? Me?

Each and every day ...

Each and every day
I get shorter
I get balder
I get deafer
I get blinder
I get weaker
I get slower
I get wiser
I learn the secrets that only time can reveal
The secrets of the aged
I become increasingly aware of my life as a whole
I see connections
I feel as never before the strength of my spirit
I have power
I no longer take myself seriously
I am self aware
Watching others do as I have done, be as I have been
Brings me joy and pleasure
I have learned to wait until asked for advice
And to say only what will be heard and understood
More than this is never needed.

My friends ...

My friends who are searching through heaven and earth
Hold the promise within them of spiritual birth
Answers are waiting, answers abound
Through patient endeavor, answers are found

My friends with the fire of love in the heart
Are deeply aware of being apart
Until freed by pain from this great separation
They live in the shadow of love’s preparation

My friends aware of knowledge inside
Look fear in the face and don’t try to hide
All knowledge points in a single direction
Fear is ignorance, here is protection

My friends on the ocean of oneness agree
That things are the way things are meant to be
But part of the way it was meant to unfold
Is that everyone’s story be properly told

My friends with hearts which are truly contented
Can also accept what is being invented
Allowing the truth to come into your being
Is more than believing or normally seeing

My friends whose astonishment bore them away
Have more in their hearts than they ever could say
The heart is as boundless as heaven above
And smoke always rises from fires of love

My friends who have vanished like glass in a frame
Are truly aware of the reason He came
Light has its reasons for being obscure
And light and its nature will ever endure

My shadow ...

My shadow lengthens in the setting sun
Just as it would had my stature grown.
My hope is when the day is done
The only shadow will be from my stone.

I came from ...

I came from where I’m going and that is where I am. One cannot live continually in one's imagination. Sooner or latter one must awaken. The way the beginning ends is the way that the end begins.

Let your soul lament ...

Let your soul lament the way it was meant till it pierces the surface thin and finds that treasure of joy within. We think the outside is mighty and wide, encompassing earth and beyond, yet inside is so vast with both first and last and the out as well as the in. From where you are lying, the tears you are crying, and great gasps are sighing, you feel like you’re dying; press on. Soon will be rapture, joy you will capture, grief and sadness be gone.

We want to be heard ...

We want to be heard,
we need to be heard,
hence the inspiration.
If nobody cares,
if nobody shows,
it changes nothing at all.
Maybe somewhere,
maybe some time,
thus the anticipation.
Someone will see,
or someone will hear,
our overpowering call.
Wake to the fact that we are gathered here,
Not projected on your wall.
Consider where you really live,
Or consider nothing at all.

What has caused my shell to crack ...

What has caused my shell to crack and the germ within to grow? How did I know I had a root that needed to burrow down or a shaft to find the light I needed for my life? As my green robe appeared and my leaves unfolded, and the light enriched me, I felt my strength wax and I longed to show my gratitude to all who saw me. Suddenly, then, I began to fluoresce and a magnificent show appeared. I felt humbled because I knew it was not from me, but a gift for my feelings of gratitude. Then my flowers withered and something else replaced them; the fruit encapsulated seed, protected in its shell, and I knew my winter neared.

O God ...

O God, the Divine Manifestation of Beauty, lead me, instruct me, show me, uplift me. Guide us, teach us, heal us, up-raise us. Thou art the Sovereign, the Merciful, the Gracious, the Beloved.

In this world where evil lurks ...

In this world where evil lurks inside the hearts of men
And bad is the new good. I remember when
The lives of saints and angels held the greatest of appeal
For youth to model and to follow and to love
Now the rock star and the Gangsta, the dictator and tyrant King
The mob boss and the bankster have become the only thing.
We no longer keep a record of the saints that walk with us
Their names are never mentioned and the records are all lost
The best that we can be, we no longer see
Contempt replacing reverence, cursing for a prayer.

Awareness of the ecstasy of soul ...

Awareness of the ecstasy of soul, joy of heart, rapture of spirit, keenness of mind.

What is this light inside my breast, this burning of my limbs?  What causes the longing for a sense of belonging, a desire to serve and a need to shine?  How can dust lay claim to life, or a soaring soul yet hunger?  There is only one spot where trouble is not, a single place in all of space where absolute peace is all that remains.  This is our home, though we were meant to roam and taste the many spirits, so that when we return with what we could learn, we are aware of where we are.

Knowledge is power

Wisdom is security

Service is happiness

Love is joy

Faith is action

Forgiveness is birth

Patience is reward

Perseverance is success

Courage is might

Mercy is awareness

Grace is real

Bounty is preservation

Kindness is connection

Justice is freedom

Unity is peace

Reverence is confirmation

Commitment is understanding

Belief is vision

Pride is poison

Humility is loftiness

Purity is perception

When you go to sleep at night ...

When you go to sleep at night 

Open your heart up to all that is right 

Think of those things that will bring you delight

When you go to sleep at night

You’ll be receiving much more that you’re leaving

And you will find there’s a great peace of mind

When you go to sleep at night

Open your heart up to God and His Might

He will protect you all through the night

When you go to sleep at night

When you go to sleep at night

If I told of all the angels that come pouring through the door ...

If I told of all the angels that come pouring through the door, or named every raindrop that landed on the floor, it would not serve a purpose or help us understand.  It might be better to concentrate on one, or two, or three or four, and tell of how they might come in and out and maybe come again.  We live in a world of what we can name, with a definition for each, but if we look at whence they came to see what they can teach, we would find an angel standing  just beyond our reach.

When they come down from heaven to dwell upon the dust, it changes how we view the world.  They give us names and definitions though they are no part of it, like the ions of capacitance.  If we transcend to a higher plane where symbols make some sense, we realize symbols are what we are and the best that we may be.  But if we remain on that higher plane, a higher life we’ll find, one where heart is the only part that still retains a mind.  It can ponder and reflect as it soars and swoops and dives, changing the course of many events and changing many lives.  Maybe if chance will favour us, perhaps we will remain, with that host of angels when they go home again.

Give your seeds to the angel of earth, they will grow with patience, be purified by rain and sun, emerge to the air, become verdant and luxuriant, flowering in spring, fruiting in summer.  This harvest will keep us until another year.  Eat what this angel brings, and live.

The angel of water descends from the sky, is purified by the sand and the air, takes the shape of the land it washes, grows in strength as it flows, from creek, to lake, to river, to sea, then ascends and transcends to the heavens again to make clouds of bounty.  Drink what is proffered by the hand of this angel and live.

The angel of air is bourne by the wind, purified by the rains, shaped by the clouds, warmed by the sun, it touches everything, and everything touches it, it compresses and expands, rises and falls, warms and chills, responding to all it encounters.  Breath the pure air that this angel brings, and live.

mind is the metal angel, dug from the earth, purified and melted by fire, molded by casting, tempered by the hammer and by water, polished by effort, sharpened by use.  It separates light from darkness, right from wrong, truth from falsehood.  Obey this angel and live.

Pride is the only angel that cannot live on high

With sin inside it tries to hide and that’s the reason why

Evil can never have a part of the true believers heart.

When love has finally perished ...

When love has finally perished 

And all that was has gone

A trumpet blast from heaven

Startles everyone.

From out the depths of darkness

Will emerge  --

A newly dawning sun.

This thing might happen here or there

In truth it may be anywhere

Throughout the endless reach

Of time and space.

As I lie with my head on my pillow ...

As I lie with my head on my pillow
I spread my great wings and I soar.

I go where the winds of my Beloved
Are wont to carry my soul.

What ambition could ever be better

What goal could bring more delight

Than rising and moving and singing

and knowing it's good and it's right.

God of Glory, King of Kings!

God of Glory, King of Kings!  
Thou hast turned sorrows to joy, grieving to bliss,
and sadness into happiness,
causing paradise to descend upon a broken heart.  
What greater good than this could we imagine?
  
The gentle winds of such transformation
blowing softly through our hearts
gives lift to our opening wings
and lets the world depart.  
To what places will these currents carry a soul,
what wonders to unveil.  
Splendors countless, worlds untold.  

Until at last, astounded, overwhelmed,
we must repair to peace,
the portal of the new fontier.

A grey man with old whiskers ...

A grey man with old whiskers
showed me the way
from earliest childhood
until today.

Now that he’s whitening
he’ll be leaving my world
and I must go with him
to somewhere untold.  

He guided me here, I must lead him there.  

Lonely soul come home!

Lonely soul come home!  Where all you seek and more than you can imagine awaits you.  Harken the call!  Respond the summons! Put away all that matters not. 

Unwrap your soul from its identity and let it weep with such weeping as will open the door and admit it to its heavenly abode.  Peel the first wrap and admit, the second and love, the third and know.  Then mourn the loss until blissful joy blows you gently through that portal to the road home.  If you walked, now you run.  If you ran, now you fly.  Guides here are rare, companions few, but could it matter?  Watch him come home to him; watch you come home to you.  If you should cry again, turn your back to the shadow.  If your back should become warm, turn your face to the light.  There is one way, follow it.

Where is the heart that needs not a soul, or the soul that needs not a heart?  Listen with heart and soul to the end  and the beginning.

All for which it longs will come to your lonely heart.

I am a stranger in a savage land.

I am a stranger in a savage land.  I have been taught that I live in a civilized place and that it is the envy of all.  Still, individuals seem to be often in a state of conflict; institutions are frequently dishonest, self-serving, and corrupt; and governments are not trusted by those who elect them. The world is in a constant state of war and bloodshed, starvation is common, epidemics are rife, and crime is an accepted part of daily life.  The civilization I was told that I was a part of has lost the ethical and moral framework that it was organized around and is now no more that a bubble which is presently going to burst taking with it the arts and technology which it created.  The relationships between family members and friends which is the glue holding the bubble together are rapidly disintegrating.  Few people remain who hold any value higher than self-interest, and those who do are usually clinging to some ideal that they have learned but do not understand.  Yes, savagery is the accepted expression of life on the bubble.

My hope and my optimism stem from a knowledge that there is a new and greater civilization coming into being beneath the bubble.  This new civilization is global in its reference, peaceful in its methods, and universal in its scope.  It has a new set of ethical and moral principles for its framework, and it is vigorous and adaptable in its growth. It has its own institutions and agencies. its own stalwart supporters, and it is everywhere.  Right now it is like the new skin beneath a blister.  It is soft and new, largely untested.  We must all hope that when the bubble bursts that it will be mature enough to protect and sustain all of us. 

You must not infer from this that it represents a threat or that it may foment a revolution, because these things are not a part of this new civilization.  It does not seek to overthrow nor does it wish any ill for others.  It rather works to support and sustain existing governments and agencies by requiring its adherents to obey and support their governments.  The goal of this civilization is to create a world where every individual may achieve his highest potential and fulfil his greatest capacity.  It wishes to harm no one.

This new civilization places the highest values on agriculture and medicine.  It respects the arts and sciences.  It elevates work to an act of worship.  It requires universal education.  It seeks to protect both the worker and the capitalist.  It sees value in eliminating the extremes of wealth and poverty.  It envisions a world language.  It holds that there is an imperative need for a world government.  The equality of men and women, and of the races is a fundamental belief .  Contention and conflict are replaced by frank and open consultation.  It seeks to cleanse the world of estrangement, animosity, enmity,  rancor, and hate; not by employing these methods, but by replacing them with love and unity, hard won as these victories may be.  

Who would trade their happiness ,,,

Who would trade their happiness

Just for being right

Sell their joy at any price

Or abandon their delight?

One day while I was soaring ...

One day while I was soaring, above the world below, I saw what I can only call a vision of what could be.  I saw happy people laughing in gardens of delight.  I saw all creation dancing with no one out of step.  Music was ringing from every side, none were forgotten, none left behind.  I stared in wonder at this vision, for nowhere could I perceive the sorrows that might have begotten this magnificent festival.  Then I noticed something that I can hardly tell.  The sorrows of all the world were settled in a single spot.  One soul had taken all of it so no one else need do.  And through that noble action the earth had been renewed.  What gratitude enveloped me I never can express.

Holy souls surround us ...

Holy souls surround us and angels sing us songs

We only need to listen and hear the blissful news

That all the earth awakens with every breath of dawn

Every spirit feels it, every creature too

Listen to the roaring and the beating of the drum

Mystic melodies descending from the trees above

Warbling these messages along our path of love

From out the darkened forests other anthems come

Every message has its wings

Every bird has got its nest

A gathering of mysteries

Each one with its test

When each test is over and the sun begins to shine

We all raise our voices in song of songs of song

You know your heat can bear it in your inner heart of hearts

The place where we all gather, the place where we belong.

When faced by chaos, one must choose ...

When faced by chaos, one must choose

between adaptation, transformation, or transcendence.

One is for you

One is for them

And one is for Him.

Here is the key to the gates of your heart ...

Here is the key to the gates of your heart

Open them wide and transcend

Look down from on high at the earth

From which you have come

And see it renewed

Sensible

Blessed

Look then at the friends who have gathered here

And accept from each one a great gift

What we share is more

Than words can bear

Or tongue

Describe

Or tell

Now let us fly higher and higher

Above these heavens we know

To those which were promised

When we were below

To those places

Where we

Belong

The egg must adjust if it is to become a worm ...

The egg must adjust if it is to become a worm

The worm must transform in order to be a moth

The moth alone can transcend unto the flame

Only the smoke, the light, and the lesson remain.

The seed becomes the plant

The plant produces a bloom

The flower becomes a fruit

With the help of the moth.

With the aid of the bird, the fruit becomes the seeds

The seeds cause the search, which leads to the love

That turns to knowledge, of the One

Who releases the bird.

On the healing of the soul ...

      There is a great deal of work being done at this time toward the healing of the soul, or the psyche, but there is little said about the stages of the soul's progress.  The human consciousness progresses through discrete stages and the needs of one stage are quite different from the needs of another.  There is not a set solution for developmental problems that is effective for individuals at all stages.  The condition of each person will dictate the necessary change and the required operand.   For example, at one stage a person may require total freedom, while at another a strict pattern will need to be followed.  At each stage, the world that an individual sees is different with different opportunities and challenges.  The way an individual responds to and interfaces with each stage will also differ.  Sometimes it will be successful and he will move on, other times he will fail to move on because his responses are mal-adapted.  This is the condition where a new understanding and approach must be found.  Without an adequate knowledge and understanding of these stages a person is often unwilling to consider the changes that are required, or unable to adjust to new perceptions.  Knowledge is equally important for anyone who is attempting to assist another in this process.  First it is necessary to accept that stages are normal and a required part of normal growth, sometimes even when they appear to indicate the onset of abnormal conditions.

      Language is both an indicator and a tool.  A person may say the same thing but have an entirely different meaning in a different stage.  If a statement is made to individuals at different stages they may understand totally different things from it.  This is the cause of many if not all human misunderstandings.  It often occurs that two individuals are conversing, and neither understands a word that the other is saying.  With an understanding of these stages one may form the proper sentences to engage a person in the world that they see, and speak of that condition.  They may also understand what someone is saying by understanding the context from which it is spoken.

      Much has actually been written about these stages in the past, but since it is found primarily in religious material it has fallen out of fashion, and been abandoned with the bath water, as it were.  I will attempt to put it into modern (or post modern) language, although some of the concepts will be difficult to translate into the current multiplicity of perceptions.  I would like to request some patience in attempting to understand the meaning beneath the words.

        Some say the staged are four, some say seven, and others that they do not end.  I will use seven which seems both the most common and the best defined.  The first three stages deal with the identity, and are therefore stages of limitation, since the identity is composed of limitations.  The fourth seems to be a transition between the first three and the last three which deal with the heart.  Heart here refers to an expanded awareness beyond normal mind not to the physical organ of that same name.  In the first three stages, awareness which transcends normal thought is experienced as emotion in the last three it is experienced as awareness or insight.  I will give a very brief description of the stages of the growth of human awareness and how they progress.

      When you were born, your senses were new, raw and unused.  You needed a reference in order to survive and to unravel the overwhelming barrage coming from these senses.  So you began to construct an identity.  This is not the sort of work that is done in a day. 

This construct developed over many years and proceeded to become more and more limited, since the purpose of this identity in the beginning was to sufficiently limit sensory input to allow perception.  You now had a pattern where you approached new experience by creating new  limitations.

       At some point, your true nature became trapped by this construct, causing uncomfortable feelings.  Your immediate reaction was to repress or deny these feelings since they opposed your identity.  You could not, however, deny that there was something that you did not understand, so you began to search for some new meaning, an answer to this nagging uncertainty.  As these feelings grew, your denial grew, and your search grew.  From your perspective at this time, you were your identity.  You did not remember life before this construct and could not in any way imagine life without it.  In fact any feeling or thought of life without it was to you identical with death.  Yet it was becoming more and more evident there was something else out there.

      At some point you will experience an identity crisis.  When this happens you will become aware of the existence of your true nature, although you will, no doubt have another name for it.  You will want to embrace it, but you will be totally unable to abandon your identity, so you will begin a new construct.  In this new model you will be faultless.  You will project all of your perceived inadequacies onto others.  You will become angry at each of the limitations you have invented in order to survive.  You will be like a snake feverishly working its way out of an old skin that no longer fits.  Your new skin will also tighten up and eventually become painful.  This new construct will begin to show cracks similar to the last.  Until a new crisis of identity occurs.

       Since you still cannot imagine a scenario without identity, you will begin another reconstruction.  This time, in order to maintain control, your construct will accept every responsibility with a strict code of conduct doing what is right and not doing what is wrong.  You feel that this is the secret of control and that it will enable you to survive without any holes or cracks in your construct. 

       When even this fails you will at last be willing to admit to the defeat of the identity and allow your true nature to emerge.  As this new consciousness grows, you will begin to miss your abandoned identity.  This will lead to depression and grief.  As the grief waxes you will try all the old solutions and more, but eventually you will be compelled to go through the grieving process to the other side.

       This is when the awareness will move to a new home.  It is variously called, from mind to heart, or from left brain to right brain, or from earth to heaven.  Here grief will become joy, sorrow will be happiness and anxiety will give way to contentment.  Where you once had feelings you now have knowledge and insight.  You will understand in an instant what you could not write in a lifetime.

        These insights will grow and you will be more and more astonished as you learn what it means to be human.  What you learn here can be expressed only through the arts or in actions.  You may be sought out for your wisdom, insights and perspective, but perhaps with little or no appreciation and respect.  You may appear eccentric.

        There is no need to describe the remaining stage.  If you arrive you will know, if not it really doesn’t matter.  It is who you are and who you will be, and where you are at peace.

       I hope this serves as an overview as we look at some specifics of each stage.  The most useful approach is probably to focus on how to help another person move from one stage to another.  It will help if we see them as common to all and not as some sort of ranking.  Individuals may regress in response to a life crisis or a bad choice, so all we may do is help each other where we are in the moment.

      The first stage is usually referred to as search or concupiscence.  Individuals here are searching whether they know it or not.  Denial is the strongest characteristic here since they don’t know that they know, so they search everywhere else.  It is important that they look everywhere.  The symbol or sign that will trigger an awareness might be anywhere.  If they confine themselves too much they may miss it, and if they do nothing to protect themselves they may come to harm.  They must remain detached, avoiding both love and hate, which would mislead them.  They must also avoid backbiting which would end the search before it begins.  Thus protected they must search confidently and patiently knowing that they will eventually find what they need.  You cannot successfully argue with them.  You can best help them be providing them with new material and experiences, by listening as they sort things out, and by answering their questions.  When finally they glimpse their true nature they will transform before your eyes.

       The second stage is called love or irascibility.  This stage is characterized by criticism and opposition.  Here the individual is attempting perfection, projecting all faults to others.  These are the individuals who have given the ego a bad name.  These are the theosophists.  They believe that their new identity is their true self, free from all limitation.  It is not.  They must learn the painful lesson that life in a comparative world does not allow perfection of this sort.  They must remain until they accept their own imperfection.  Once again you must not argue, even if they do.  You must not criticize them, since this prevents them from seeing their own shortcomings.  Help them to talk things through until they see their own position in them.  Demonstrate your own ability to accept error and take responsibility.  Thank them for their criticism, understanding the goodness they intend.  When finally they understand something of their own condition they will be able to move on.

         The third stage is known as knowledge or inspiration.  This is the last stage of the identity where it is willing to take on all responsibility in order to maintain control.  The individual here no longer tries to be right, but rather tries to do right.  They must eventually learn that control is not and never was theirs.  Having an illusion of control has been useful and even necessary in the past but now they are able to conceive of a life without it.  They will learn this best if you let them practice this illusion and not obstruct them.  They must see for themselves and cannot be told.  It is not confidence but faith that will allow them to relax so that their true self may emerge.

         The fourth stage is unity or benevolence.  It has been referred to as nirvana.  Here the illusions are lifted the constructs are gone and the individual is able to perceive the world by its true nature.  Once again the birth person, now able to understand.  This is the death once feared now beloved.  Conflict is gone. All is from a single place.  The ransom far greater than the expectation.   Ambition has no meaning beyond service.  The individual here no longer feels needed, not necessary any more; beginning to miss the illusion, beginning to miss the limits.  Depression of a sort, because happiness remains, begins to emerge.  All things must be grieved when lost even the identity.  Until this grief is gone through contentment will be denied.  When at last it ends pure joy is its replacement.  A gentle wind blows through and a new home is found.

       The fifth stage is contentment.  This is the beginning of the stages of the heart.  

See the world grind slowly by
from this new abode
where a thousand things occur at once
and not a single one untold.  
Only a poet may speak of this place
in a way you can understand.  
Only for artists and singers
this beautiful inner land.  
Outsiders are barred from even a peek.  
Though this be the place that all of them seek.