The Creator’s Healing

By Saint Germain

Channelled through Natalie Glasson, 26 March 2015

Greetings and love are extended to you through my being from all aspects of the universe of the Creator; you are deeply and absolutely loved in this moment by all that is the Creator. There is no separation or lack in the Creator’s love for you; everything is provided for you should you choose to accept the Creator’s love.

Many souls upon the Earth move through challenging situations and experiences which can be deeply painful creating wounds within their bodies. Whether physical pain, emotional pain, mental pain or any form of suffering is experienced, large or small wounds are created especially within the emotional body, however they can filter into all aspects of a person’s being causing havoc within the inner reality while being replicated into the outer reality.  When you begin to notice that all forms of suffering and pain whether inflicted by self or another cause an energetic, mental or emotional wound then you understand that many people are moving through their realities holding onto numerous wounds which they use to describe themselves. Have you ever introduced yourself to a person asking questions about them to then discover the story of the wounds they are holding onto and have experienced? Maybe you describe yourself to others by sharing your life wounds, all the experiences which have caused you pain? Many choose to define and describe themselves to others as their painful wounds, such as experiences of abandonment, lack, abuse or neglect. If you are describing yourself to others in this way then you are also describing yourself to all aspects of your being in this way. This symbolises you are also describing yourself to the universe and the Creator in the same way, which means the Creator will reflect all you focus upon back at you for further experiences of the same.

Your journey on the Earth is a process of learning, in the past it may have often been through forms of suffering; this does encourage you to develop into greater stronger aspects of yourself and truth, encouraging you to see yourself in new ways. Yet your experiences are not the story of who you are in the present moment, they are not your truth and essence. This is a very powerful concept and idea which is required by you to be let go in order to further free yourself to move beyond the ties of the old era and the 3^rd Dimension. Detachment is required from the past in order to enter more fully into the Era of Love and yet this can only be experienced through the healing of wounds of suffering. Many of you have taken time to heal old wounds and yet you still include them in your description of yourself. Is it not time to live in the present? Of course share your past with others, remember your past however do not let it be included in your description of yourself.

I invite you in a quiet time or time alone to describe yourself imagining you are existing in the present moment and the present moment is all that there is. Describe yourself without delving into your past. You may notice that certain beliefs or remarks come up which refer to your past, without actually describing your past. You may notice you hold aspects of yourself back due to rejection in the past or find you have to be loud because you are trying to hide who you truly are.  Describe yourself to yourself in expansively, lovingly and truthful ways free from restrictions especially from the past. This may be challenging at first as you are asking yourself to explore more fully your energies, beliefs and inner truth. I have been communicating about past painful wounds, however you may choose to notice how you describe yourself drawing upon positive experiences of your past, try to describe yourself, let go of these also. In truth I am asking you to acknowledge, describe and speak from your present moment self, from the truth within your being. It is a wonderful exercise to notice how much you bring your past into your present with every moment.

In a private space you can be as free as you wish, I understand that when with strangers or friends you may feel uncomfortable to describe and speak of yourself in this way and so when in the company of others invite yourself to simply lovingly observe when you bring your past into your present. Notice if you are always drawing upon the same wounds to define you or if you are holding onto old happy moments not allowing yourself to have new moments of bliss. Allow yourself in your communication and sharing with others to gradually delete and erase all unneeded reference to the past. I say unneeded as sometimes it is wonderful to share a past experience of your life in order to support or illuminate another person, however when the sharing is simply to amplify and empower your attachment to your past, this is no longer appropriate. Many people on the Earth are choosing to hold onto their wounds which are hindering them in moving into the Era and Space of Love.

In order to be love, one is required to heal the wounds within, while in order to heal the wounds within, one is required to be love.

Wounds, pain and suffering, it wishes to speak, to be heard as this is your body and beings way of healing the wound. This is a wonderful step by step journey of healing inner wounds: to recognise it, to allow it to speak its message, to take any action which is required and to embrace the wound and entire being in the healing love of the Creator, then holding and knowing within you it is done, complete and finished.

Take a few days to be lovingly observant of others and those around you, observing how they speak of their wounds to you without even noticing. Let yourself observe what their wounds may be. There is no need to share your observation; it is achieved in a quest to expand your awareness of the presence of wounds and how they can restrict your life attracting the same in your reality repeatedly. You may wish to notice if you attract people with similar wounds to you, this attraction is your way of relaying a message to yourself. I invite you to bathe each person you observe in immense love from your soul and the Creator, while you also accept immense love for yourself as well. Again we return to reflect upon the greatest spiritual and life lesson of all; to love yourself and others unconditionally. This life lesson cannot be escaped and is often the core of all aspects of life. When you do not love yourself unconditionally and choose to act unlovingly to others then you create emotional, mental, physical and spiritual wounds within your being. Holding onto wounds of the past and drawing them into your present moment is to neglect to and to resist loving yourself and others unconditionally. Of course wounds must be drawn into the present moment to be healed, however when they are being continuously drawn we can notice an attachment.

At the very beginning of my communication I shared with you, ‘love extends to you through my being from all aspects of the universe of the Creator, you are deeply and absolutely loved in this moment by all that is the Creator. There is no separation or lack in the Creator’s love for you, everything is provided for you, should you choose to accept the Creator’s love.’ And so I come to the purpose of my communication with you, I wish to remind you should you choose to accept the Creator’s love everything is provided to you. I know in many people this can create a resistance, a feeling you may have to give your power away to the Creator to then receive all you wish, akin to selling your soul to simply have a happy life. This is completely not the case. If you allow yourself to love yourself, in that moment you are inviting the love of the Creator into and to emanate from your entire being. If you choose to love those around you whether loved ones or strangers, then the Creator’s love automatically moves through you. If you choose to invite the Creator’s love to surround and embrace you as you enjoy the experience of being loved completely and absolutely, then of course you are accepting the Creator’s love. You are accepting an eternally present love, life force energy and vibration which is your truth and reminds you of your truth. You are accepting yourself as your truth, empowering your truth and divine essence. You are allowing yourself to become a reflection of the Creator therefore you are attracting wonderful beautiful experiences into your reality meaning you can learn through beauty rather than through wounds and pain of any form.

Accepting the Creator’s love is to empower yourself and your truth. Each day and as many times a day as you feel is appropriate, I invite you to call upon all aspects of the Creator including your soul to love you unconditionally. Allow yourself to bathe in this beautiful, nourishing and healing love, breathe it into every aspect of your being. Know you are immensely supported.

As you open yourself more fully to the love of the Creator you are aligning yourself with your divine essence and so you move away from learning through pain or chaos, embracing discovering yourself through beauty and love. Everything is provided to you because you choose to recognise and receive from the Creator. When you are holding onto wounds of the past you distract yourself and choose to ignore that everything is being provided to you in every moment by the Creator. The Creator does not wish for you to experience lack or suffering of any form, however it is only you who can choose to receive all that is provided to you. The choice is made, the request sent and you open up to receive when you allow yourself to be loved wholly and completely by the Creator.

Inhale the love of the Creator and allow all you require to be provided for you. It is that easy.

Enjoy the love of the Creator,

Saint Germain

Sacred School of OmNa

Nina Simone

Monstaville Book III. Chapter 5

5

15 July 2008.

You cannot always control your circumstances.

But, you can control your own thoughts.

There is nothing either good or bad,

only your thinking makes it so.

Things turn out best for those people

who can make the best out of the way things turn out.

It's not the situation, it's your reaction to the situation.

The reality in your life may result from many outside factors,

none of which you can control.

Your attitude, however,

reflects the ways in which you deal with what is happening to you.

Life at any time can become difficult.

Life at any time can become easy.

It all depends upon how you adjust yourself to life.

What you see in your mind is what you'll get out of life.

- Max Steingart.

If we can accept suffering, relax and feel good about it, or in spite of it, be cool, we can make our peace with it to some degree and let go of the anguish. Perhaps not enough to be happy, but enough to find some contentment and freedom within ourselves. To be fully conscious is to know not only what is happening physically and materially, or even mentally. It is also to know what we are feeling - how we feel - and to realise that the world of feeling is like a river. The soul in its pure form is always clear and flowing, innocent and childlike. Feeling pain and discomfort resembles the stagnant water that has collected water in one corner of the river where the water has been contained and stuck and ceases to flow. The remaining water continues to flow but our minds become trapped by the tangible suffering we feel. In other words, we lose the big picture; we concentrate on our suffering or succumb to its gravitational hold over us. This increases our strength and stamina and it teaches us lessons we need to learn.

Ultimately, the test is to rise above it. Smile, focus on your breathing, be patient and understanding. Relaxing means not resisting. Instead of just struggling, it is possible to expand our feelings, to open ourselves to other feelings, to appreciate that which is good within ourselves, in others, in our lives, in nature.

When we go on holiday, we adopt a ‘special’ attitude. We are determined to relax and enjoy ourselves, to take in the sights, to absorb the atmosphere. We feel free because we expect the best life has to offer. Such positive feelings protect us from negative experiences, or habitual conditions within us physically and emotionally, because we do not dwell on them. We expect to feel good and each moment that we might be suffering we also rise above it. We may be filled with wonder and awe, or a sense of play, a feeling of love, a dance that arises within ourselves as a result of giving time to our Inner Child to come out. We need it, we say, and we do. We need this experience not only when we go away on holiday ‘to get away from it all,’ to take a break from our lives. When we return from holiday, we feel refreshed and relaxed, open and settled, calm and at peace with ourselves. Yet, the feeling cannot be sustained and fades within a week, or two if we are lucky. We allow stress to take hold of us once again. It feels as though we have no choice since this is our ‘natural’ response to the pattern of our existence. However, it is a good exercise to believe that we are always on holiday. For, it is wise to relax and not get caught up in the suffering we feel.

“The trick is in what one emphasises. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same.” – Carlos Castaneda.

If I have poured too much fruit concentrate into a glass and then filled it to the top with water, I feel obliged to drink some of it until there is sufficient space in the glass to add more water (I could pour some down the sink but that would be a waste). I have made a mistake and now I am correcting it. So, I experiment. I do not wish to drink more of the bittersweet concoction than necessary. I drink some of the liquid and then add more water only to find that the taste is still too potent for my palette. Finally, I drink enough, gradually diluting to taste, until I have the right balance between fruit juice and water.

This analogy works the other way round too, of course. I might have started with insufficient juice and added too much water but then I need drink only a little to make the necessary adjustment by adding more concentrate. However, water is also more freely available. I might be impoverished and not have access to a bottle of fruit cordial because I live in a culture that denies me any self-esteem, individuality or self-expression. I, as an individual, may not matter and, through social conditioning, I might accept that and know no different. It might require a huge risk to venture out on a quest for some fruit concentrate that can be preserved in a bottle and consumed with water whenever I wish. Then, again, I might be enjoying the real thing: fruit directly from the trees where I live. Or, more than likely in this day and age, all of that fruit is being sold to rich countries and the middle men take all the profits while I am still left with drinking water alone (if I’m lucky!).

If the water is pure feeling and the juice is the substance of being, of personality and character, it can be seen that an excess of existential conditions results in discomfort. What needs to happen is that we accept - swallow - a portion of that experience as well as reaching our (or inside ourselves) to draw on more water, more pure emotion. Thus, we can add more clarity, innocence and playfulness to what we are feeling. We can make the necessary adjustments in order to achieve a more favourable formula, the right balance. Making a drink in this way is child’s play of course.

The Road Not Taken

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveller, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -

I took the one less travelled by,

And that has made all the difference.

- Robert Frost, American poet (1874-1963).

What I am getting at is that human beings have forgotten that we are not here to focus on the conditions and circumstances presented to us, or our individualistic desires, alone. These things are but part of the overall ‘drink.’ To achieve an ideal level of consciousness requires that we tap into the purity of our souls as well, the water of pure feeling in which there are no mixed emotions. We can find this water within ourselves naturally by responding to and caring for other people. However, it exists within us regardless of our social lives. In the modern world, we are conditioned to neglect our inner life of feeling. Feelings and imagination ‘do not pay the bills.’ We become too serious, too stressed because we always have worries, urgent matters that require our attention. We become lost in a cycle of despair. Yet, we can let go of it if we choose, wholly or simultaneously. All we need is a willingness to feel some degree of the joy and appreciation that lies forever within us somewhere, to flow with another part of the river that is our soul.

In the stagnant corner, the river has lost its momentum. The Sun is shining brightly overhead but when we look at all the muck and litter, we see only filth and we feel only pain. The river has not stopped flowing and the Sun has not stopped shining. It is we who have turned our attention away from these things and concentrated on the problems and discomfort in our lives. As energy follows the attention, so, to, do we find our energy sapped. While we are on Earth, trapped in the physical body, we may never truly know the eternal joy and happiness of the Sun, the spirit. It is possible through meditation and enjoyable experiences to feel some of that inner radiance. It is then that we find ourselves relaxing and flowing with the river which remains clear and uncontaminated and therefore glistens with the reflection of the Sun’s light. However (and this is a big lesson for me to learn!), by flowing with our deeper - or neglected - feelings, tuning into our souls, we might find inspiration from the Light that remains there permanently, somewhere. It is simply a matter of finding it. Although, it will come to us if we feel everything more fully, if we do not allow ourselves to lose sight of the flowing body of water altogether. The Creator never stops shining on the river. It is we who turn away and block it with our thoughts and reactions to what we are experiencing in the physical body. Releasing the soul from captivity, from concern and seriousness, we can feel more alive. We can arrive at a greater feeling of wholeness, no longer completely separate from the Sun but connected to its light through our inner beauty, our essential feelings.

Personally, I feel like I wake up each morning in the stagnant muck and don’t seem to have any choice in the matter. Fortunately, I have been provided with a rowing boat! The aftereffects of meditation are represented by the boat that raises my consciousness to a level where I am not completely at the mercy of the pain and sorrow that has built up in my unconscious. Taijiquan (tai chi) is represented by the oars, which enable me to remove myself from the status quo and attain a degree of power and confidence, joy and peace, that can then last for the rest of the day. Composing songs, playing the music on my guitar and singing, and before that spending a lot of time drawing, were methods of escape and release I enjoyed formerly. These activities and their effects can perhaps be compared to diving into the water and swimming away from the negative conditions I experienced physically and emotionally in response to childhood traumas (and from which I am never free, however much I try to be). Yeah, I’m a bit fucked up in some ways, don’t ya know! Hence I have found myself in this vulnerable position in the first place! Although, I also feel fortunate to be permanently pestered by conditions that motivate me to grow spiritually (which I would not otherwise, I expect - being English!).

Socrates (Nick Nolte): A warrior’s not about affection or victory, or invulnerability. He’s about absolute vulnerability. That’s the only true courage…The accident is your training. Life is choice. You can choose to be a victim or anything else you’d like to be…A warrior acts. Only a fool reacts.

                - Way of the Peaceful Warrior (directed by Victor Salva, 2006, based on the novel by Dan Millman).

Always, we need to be amphibious and adaptable and be able to perceive more than one state of mind or one set of facts, or one feeling or encounter. There are doors within us, as William Blake noted, that open out to other areas beyond our habitually blinkered minds: "If the doors of perception were cleansed,” he wrote, “everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thru' narrow chinks of his cavern."

The Dalai Lama on facing suffering.

“In our daily lives problems are bound to arise. The biggest problems in our lives are the ones that we inevitably have to face, like old age, illness and death. Trying to avoid our problems or simply not thinking about them may provide temporary relief, but I think that there is a better approach. If you directly confront your suffering, you will be in a better position to appreciate the depth and nature of the problem. If you are in a battle, as long as you remain ignorant of the status and combat capability of your enemy, you will be totally unprepared and paralysed by fear. However, if you know the fighting capability of your opponents, what sort of weapons they have and so on, then you’re in a much better position when you engage in the war. In the same way, if you confront your problems rather than avoid them, you will be in a better position to deal with them.’

                This approach to one’s problems was clearly reasonable, but pressing the issue a bit further, I asked, ‘Yes, but what if you directly confront a problem and find out that there’s no solution? That’s pretty tough to face.’…

                ‘That’s why I believe it can be useful to prepare yourself ahead of time by familiarising yourself with the kinds of suffering you might encounter. To use the battle analogy again, reflecting on suffering could be seen as a military exercise. People who never heard of war, guns, bombing and so on might faint if they had to go into battle. But through military drills you could familiarise your mind with what might occur, so if a war erupted, it would not be so hard on you.’…

’There’s really no avoiding the fact that suffering is part of life. And of course we have a natural tendency to dislike our suffering and problems. But I think that ordinarily people don’t view the very nature of our existence to be characterised by suffering…’ The Dalai Lama suddenly began to laugh, ‘I mean on your birthday people usually say, ‘Happy Birthday!’ when actually the day of your birth was the birth of your suffering. But nobody says, ‘Happy Birth-of-Sufferingday!’ he joked.”

– The Dalai Lama and Howard C. Cutler (The Art of Happiness. A Handbook for Living, Riverhead Books, New York, U.S., 1998, p.136 to 140).

Suffering is a dark hole in the ground from which a giant spider like spiteful and hateful Arachne in the Hercules TV series’ lures her victims. Our attention is caught and we look down at her seductive beauty. The intensity of not wanting something attracts it to us in this insane realm of duality. This sordid nightmare. She has other malicious weapons of darkness including the poison she spits at us and the sticky substances or energies, that hook us emotionally and pull us or paralyse us, immobilising us on her web of fear and chaos. We are victims of our own unconscious and we remain helpless as long as we deny our emotions and try to wriggle away from the moment. When we feel more and become more conscious and aware we eventually succeed in wading through all the squalid muck to the clarity and power of the eternal Now.

Retrospective note.

Tommy Solomon (Joseph Gordon-Levitt): Listen, I’ve got a question for you. Now, we’ve been on this planet for a while now and I was just wondering, if we were to tell someone we really cared about where we’re actually from, do you think it would be so dangerous?

Sally Solomon (Kristen Johnston): [Pleasant, jolly tone] No, not at all Tommy. In fact, I’ve already told Mrs. Dubcheck and the mail man - ooh, and that nice guy down at the minimart - because I want us all to [vicious tone, shouting in his face] die like lab rats at the hands of primitive scientists!! [Tommy wipes the spittle from his eye]

Tommy: OK.

- 3^rd Rock from the Sun (Season 1, Episode 15, ‘I Enjoy Being a Dick,’ written by Christine Zander, 1996).

Excerpt from a MySpace message to an American friend (I have more American friends than British friends these days!), 22 December 2009:

Grownups are just silly children (cool Roy Harper song). Yeah, Michael said he needed children’s energy because it was the only thing that made him feel truly alive. They have a higher vibration which is why the government tries to vaccinate them and shit to reduce it. So they are a good ascension tool for raising our own vibe. So is music of course. That pure energy of the soul before it’s tampered with and pushed down into a dark prison cell. I have that too…people remark that children respond to me. It’s not me but my Inner Child they are relating to. Somehow they know it’s there. Most adults have written off their dreams, their Inner Child, their creative energy. In my case, I always escaped from everything and everyone as a child and preserved my innocence, creativity and freedom that way but eventually had a showdown with the Shitstem and suffered for it.

His reply:

“I remember MJ saying that...escaped as a child and saved your innocence...wow dude we are a lot alike. Did the same. School, parents, life. I still am in my own world at times. My creativity is still strong though. Musically.  From what I know about you I feel that you didn't lose any of your creativity and freedom. I sense you are about to start.  But do you think that if you escaped far enough to protect that little boy that in a sense he is protected permanently? I still feel the innocence that I had as a child...did my share of Jim Morrison impersonations in my life. But still innocent. A girlfriend of my ex-wife testified on my behalf…that I would ‘get on the same level as her children when they would come over.’ Some people just don’t have that innocence left in them. Should I say the majority of people don’t. Why do you think MJ was such a recluse? My friend shot the Pepsi commercial with him when he caught fire. I got his pic and autograph. Used to work at a house right next door to his home in Encino. Anyways, rambling...When I really have time and energy to talk to you I always get goose bumps with your reply. Am I that fucking lonely? No, the Internet is an awesome place.”

My next reply (on Boxing Day):

Feels like this wounded child was seriously healed recently, perhaps even protected permanently by the angelic energies and DNA activation I received from Isis on 12:12. We’ll see. If that part of us, the soul, itself is plugged into the Source then perhaps it will start to create Heaven on Earth instead of projecting lack, limitation, monsters and nightmares onto the canvas of life! Certainly, I can feel my Inner Child now saying ‘YES!’ to life now, looking for enjoyable experiences, as if freed from the past suddenly. Even my cat has changed as if reflecting my emotional mood. Pets might well be in our lives to show us what our Inner Child is up to! I feel clearer emotionally and energised…so, sure, potentially protected by this energy itself. Yeah, I have the same thing…in a shop (‘store’) the kids look at me like I’m one of them and I look back half thinking, ‘wtf?’ Cuz that, for me, is just the emotional part of me but it seems to be all they see. Like, it means: ‘We don’t see who you are as an adult cuz none of that stuff counts for shit!’ LMAO. Yeah a window of innocence which connects us to the Goddess, pure consciousness, through which the Light can shine, through which whole worlds can be imagined, where weird and wonderful beings can come and greet us, an opening to dimensions beyond the box we’re also confined to like everyone else. An escape route. A date with Freedom. Like Charlie in his cell…dreaming, knowing…better things beyond this crazy fucked up dream, this nightmare that we need to wake up from now.

“He who sings scares away his woes.” - Don Quixote.

“Do not focus on the suffering and misery within the illusion, but focus instead on the knowledge that the illusion is to end and will be replaced by the exquisite delight of existence in the Light of God’s eternal day, where anything other than that is impossible. This of course does not mean that you do not see the suffering that the illusion causes, because while you remain within it that would be impossible. Be aware of it, help to ease it where you can by compassion, kindness, and generosity, but focus joyfully on the knowledge that it is a nightmare whose end is approaching, and when that happens the misery and suffering that it contained will be gone, having truly never existed, because nothing that is not of God could ever exist. There will be no traumatic memories, only everlasting wonder in the perfection of God’s divine Reality.” – Saul (channelled through John Smallman, ‘Do not focus on the suffering and misery within the illusion,’ 6 February 2011, www.johnsmallman.wordpress.com).

“Suffering is part of our training program for becoming wise.” - Ram Dass.

“Remember that whatever the physical dis-easement is, it is really a mirror of an emotional reaction to a belief about yourself…So very often it is a form of comfort…Also it is to look at the gift…Because no matter what you create in your life, there is a gift. There is a place of wisdom to come to. And not only for one's self, but then to be able to share this gift of wisdom with other peoples…You see, beloved, the four basic fears, the basic beliefs that everybody of your society has which are the cause of the emotional diseasement, are that I am not enough, I am not worthy; I am powerless; love equals pain; and the world is a dangerous place. So all of the fear comes down to these four beliefs about one's self and about the world. And indeed because you are so powerful, you create situations to reinforce or to show you the truth of these beliefs…And what empowers that, what draws that frequency of the situations to you, is the e-motion. That is the powerhouse that you are. The beliefs are enwrapped in that energy called e-motion and then you create, you automatically pull toward you, the situations and the peoples who show you who you think you are…The universe supports you absolutely 100%. When you change the consciousness and change the frequency of the e-motion, then you will automatically draw to you the situations that show you the new idea, the new belief, you have about yourself.” - P'taah (channelled through Jani King, excerpts from ‘The Mirror of Your Universe,’ August 2011, www.ptaah.com).

“Fear is a prison.” - Ben Jonson.

“When chaos is the order of the day, which it will be at times. When everything seems to pile on you at once, all is okay. It is only a moment of contrast, which will pass. There is a tendency to spiral downward, all the deep fears coming up, which is okay. But the answer in this situation is to breathe deeply, stop all trying, worrying, and figuring out. Go out into nature, ground yourself with Mother Earth's peace and stillness. Walk in the grass. Put your feet in the ocean. Pet an animal. Forget the world for a while. You will be amazed at the rejuvenating effects.” - Elizabeth Anne Hill.

"To suffer is a necessity entailed upon your nature. Would you prefer that miracles should protect you from its lessons or shall you repine, because it happened unto you, when lo it happened unto all? Suffering is the golden cross upon which the rose of the soul unfolds." - Ancient Khemetic Proverb (Egyptian).

“What you want is irrelevant, what you’ve chosen is at hand.” - Spock (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country).

“Don’t be upset if there are days when you seem to go backwards a bit. Life is like that! Unexpected situations often bring up a great deal of fear and may set us back a bit on our journey from pain to power. Not to worry!...remind yourself that, at the level of the Higher Self, ‘ALL IS WELL!’ A word of warning: Please, please, please, don’t take this all too seriously. Our Higher Self would definitely tell us to lighten up about life and have fun! One of my favourite sayings is, ‘Angels fly because they take themselves lightly.’” - Susan Jeffers (Feel the Fear...and Beyond, Rider Books, London, U.K., 1998, p.23).

Monstaville Book III. Chapter 4

4

“Fitting hospitality must be shown even towards an enemy arrived at the house. The tree does not withdraw from the wood-cutter the shade at its side.”

- Hitopadesa.

 

May 2008.

I have never said I don’t have an ego. My ego is one of independence, and of rebellion. I just don’t have egocentric intentions or a proud, competitive, aggressive attitude. Um, until, that is, someone else has egocentric intentions towards me and want me to fail or lose or suffer so that they can feel powerful and superior - then I react like a tiger. Then expressing power feels justified because I am defending not just my ego or my ‘honour’ but also trying to deter that person from gloating and walking all over me in a shamelessly dominant manner. I seek to dislodge the oppressive force that wants me to lie down and be a victim. And, often, my generally gentle, introverted, sensitive nature seems to send out signals that I am an easy target and therefore attracts displays of egocentric behaviour. And my struggle with attention does make me somewhat vulnerable and fearful because it’s all I can do to cope and get through the day sometimes. I can’t rely on my brain to function well enough in relation to the external environment and especially other people. I miss some of what they say, fail to absorb some information and my short-term memory can be atrocious. In social and employment settings this can lead to problems and conflicts as well as bringing out the worst in people whose savage egos ‘smell blood’ and like to go in for the kill, to assert their power and take charge.

I have free will and it is my right not to fall prey to childish monsters or to the savagery born of eating meat (this feeding the animal self). It is a choice. But that surprises such people because they recognise the signs of an easy target not realising that I have a strong will, and the confidence and power of being an individual in my own right. The truth is that they are far more insecure than me, which is why they project them on to others. I am not at Buddha’s level where I will simply direct positive energy or love towards my aggressors and, consequently, remain unaffected by their anger and aggressive behaviour. I don’t possess that kind of power (or realisation of the source of that energy, the Self). You know, life shouldn’t be a game of cat and mouse! I’m neither cat nor mouse; I just want to be myself and be free of all that insanity. But why should I suffer in silence while others are inconsiderate or aggressive?

“Be true to your heart and you will honour them: their Spirit will celebrate.” -  St. Germain (from the discourse and discussion, ‘Connecting to Your Authentic Self,’ channelled through Ashamarae McNamara, 26 June 2009, Violet Hill Studios, London).

Many people in Britain, and in the ‘West’ generally, place so much importance on the rational intellect. If that does not function very well they regard it as a weakness or a serious defect that makes one less normal or competent. There is something seriously wrong with you - with me - they assume. They do not see that there are other, more subtle, more important qualities such as depth of feeling, honesty and integrity that they themselves have not developed. The ‘silent witness,’ the Higher Self, resides within, the segment of Being that has not (yet) incarnated [Retrospective note: one of twelve segments that represents dimensional expressions of the I AM Presence].

“Why be a great composer with your rent in arrears?

Why be a major poet and you’ll owe it for years?

When crowds’ll pay to giggle if you wiggle your ears
 Be a clown, be a clown, be a clown.”

- Cole Porter (excerpt from the lyrics to ‘Be A Clown’ from the film The Pirate, 1948).

 I have no money, very few friends, no girlfriend, no house, no car, no social life, no (worldly) ‘career.’ I am simply an artist forever on the cusp of worldly life. In Western terms, in modern terms, I have nothing. And, yet, I have everything! I have a creative purpose; I have deeply fulfilling interests, especially music and dancing; I have a daily meditation and tai chi practice and more; I enjoy nature and I am highly visual and appreciative of beauty and enjoy profound feelings of pleasure and bliss. In this respect, I am unusually fortunate. I have a rich inner life. But, I struggle to survive, to be free and to avoid persecution out in the world. And, on a spiritual level, perhaps I need to surrender, to let go and relax my will more, and just allow all this insanity and cacophony to gurgle around me, and train myself not to be affected by it. Perhaps.

“Be crumbled.

So wild flowers will come up where you are.

You have been stony for too many years.

Try something different.

Surrender.”

- Rumi.

Incidentally, on the subject of British people and spirituality, I once asked an American friend in a MySpace message how she blesses food and water after she informed me that she always does this:

So it's inspiring to learn about your way of blessing! It's not as obvious as you might think and I'd hate to feel I was behaving too religiously! 'Bless this to me with pure love, light' is cool. I'll write it in my little notebook. Thanks. :) I could never say 'the father…and whatnot holy ghost.' But I wasn't raised on religion so it's not familiar. I just feel an instinctive aversion to the whole control and corruption campaign that religion in its essence is. That's not to say that some individuals don't use it wisely or even attain enlightenment though it. But, then, as Richard Bach suggested, you can find wisdom in anything, including Snoopy! You know, like you suddenly think of the fucking Pope doing something similar for God's sake! Haha. Britain's the little devil who kicked the religion 'habit' yonks ago. Pardon the pun. Now it's a dark, rational, negative little corner of the world but perhaps the Rubber Band Theory (according to Bashar: see Chapter 11) will work here: a little light and millions of people wake up (although I expect it will be mostly younger people).

“A spiritual seeker asks his master what is needed to reach true realisation or awakening. Rather than give a long explanation, the master pushes his students head into a lake and holds him there until the seeker struggles to the surface. The master then asks him what he longed for when his head was under water.

‘To breathe,’ he answers.

‘And how intense was this longing for breath?’ asks the master.

‘With all my strength,’ replies the seeker.

The master says, ‘when you will feel the same desire to reach the divine, you will be on the right track...’"

[Retrospective note: “Yet for all the benefits that the new knowledge has brought us since the watershed of the seventeenth century, there is an ever-growing disquiet. When we look around us, we see an afflicted world – we see dying rivers and oceans, forests destroyed, species becoming extinct, ever more people crowded into ugly, sprawling cities, and so many areas of modern life infected by a creeping soullessness. Leading representatives of the new knowledge assert that there is no reality other than what has material existence, and promulgate the view that human beings are merely biological machines, whose lives are essentially purposeless. From their standpoint, the cultures of the past, with their sensitivity to subtle realms and their pantheons of gods and spirits, were simply ignorant and superstitious. This, however, is far from the truth. The cultures of antiquity, like many of today’s surviving traditional cultures, were wise and knowledgeable about things of which we today are but dimly aware. Contemporary mainstream culture is still balefully ignorant of the spiritual dimension of life, rarely questioning the modern superstition that only material existence has a reality. This is why the ancient world has become so vitally relevant for us today.” – Jeremy Naydler (‘The Future of the Ancient World,’ Watkins Review, Autumn/Winter 2010/11, Issue 25, www.watkinsbooks.com).]

My friend explained that she gives voice to whatever flows through her heart. “It’s not so much the words as the way they are motivated. Does that make any sense? Sometimes I visualise white light and I bless it to my own body...or to their bodies, their water, whatever [talking about her dogs]. I have this crystallised sage...liquid. I cover my third eye with a cross with the liquid on my fingertips...haha...I have so many little traditions :) I think it is the energy of love that is most important.” She also dabs liquid crystallised sage on her third eye whilst uttering, ‘I am willing to let go of my old ideas...old beliefs which no longer serve me...and I am willing to be compassionate with myself as I progress.’ In my reply, I noted, ‘Yes, I know what you mean...you feel it in your heart, intend, and use whatever words appear to reflect that. Speaking words has much power.’ My friend was brought up a Catholic but dropped religion decades ago. Yet, wisely and intuitively, she kept such ideas and expanded on them as her spiritual growth unfolded and she learned about divine energy.

 

I am human but that is, I suppose, no excuse to remain one. Always we must strive to express our higher potential, to centre ourselves in the Divine. And, they say, in the midst of worldly activity...with all its raging ‘madness and mayhem.’ And that, I guess, is why the universe continues to place me in challenging circumstances. Power must be expressed but, always, it should be that of the true Self, not the animal ego, not the restless tiger and not even the lone leopard that simply wants to survive and be left in peace. The ego may not be active but by its very nature it is ready to take action if it feels threatened. It is there somewhere and needs to be mastered if we are to elevate ourselves spiritually.

The ego is, by its very nature, active while the soul is passive by nature. The reverse ego is a repressed one. Egocentric intentions bubble beneath the surface. The heat is there but it is under water, as it were, buried under the subconscious, under the emotions. The tiger appears to be sleeping or to have died. But it is camouflaged in the long grass, now resting when it feels safe, not prowling when it identifies prey. Its agenda - to survive - lurks beneath the surface, conditioned by childhood and hungry for life in a difficult and often dangerous world. The reverse ego cannot or does not involve itself directly and therefore appears harmless whilst accusing over displays of power - any and every kind of power, positive or negative - as being egocentric. It hides under a rock like a scorpion, seemingly quiet, peaceful, even non-existent. Yet, it will sting at every opportunity. Be careful where you tread, lest its poison kill you stone dead. It uses the water of the soul’s habitat - the subconscious - to pull you down, to dowse your fire of positive energy with negative emotion.

"There is no need of any competition with anybody. You are yourself, and as you are, you are perfectly good. Accept yourself." - Osho.

Some men (and certain women) do this, not in an entirely feminine way which is nurturing and open, but with a sharp set of teeth behind it ready to snap shut on their prey. Basically, they satisfy or empower their own (suppressed or otherwise hidden) egos by extinguishing those of others. They are enthroned in their underwater kingdoms on the river bed only when there are no other egos around to inhibit their expression. They thrive in a group of sensitive, caring people (OK, mostly women) in which they can appear to be likewise gentle and supportive whilst concealing their intentions (or deluding even themselves that they are similarly peace-loving). They criticise anyone who expresses power, anyone with a male ego, anyone who is confident or has high-esteem or a strong will. They put other people down, fearing that they will succeed, thereby making them seem even more unmotivated, uncourageous, unfulfilled and lacking purpose. This is how the ‘reverse ego’ behaves. It is active in an inactive, or indirect, capacity. It is different to someone defending their boundaries and protecting themselves from harm, although that, too, can be disguised as egolessness. People use masks to deceive both themselves and others, to deny truth and reality, to see things as they wish to and when such behavioural responses are habitual they believe the fantasy created in their subconscious minds. It is a tricky arena that of the ego!

“One nice thing about egotists: they don’t talk about other people.” – George Carlin.

Egocentric behaviour, basically, amounts to taking one’s frustration out on whoever one can target. The direct ego does this openly and brazenly (just getting on with it) while the reverse ego also satisfies itself that the target is deserving of such treatment (being pulled down). The directly-displayed ego, however, may also seek to justify its actions by looking down on those whom it seeks to trample underfoot. The reverse ego concentrates on the feeling of being superior and is therefore more subtle and passive, harbouring jealousy perhaps, for example.

The active, assertive ego and passive, receptive soul need to be balanced in order to reunite with, and express, the true Self. Fire and water must be fused in oneness and they then form a conduit, or bridge, to the creative Source. Thus, the path from Samsara to Nirvana, worldly illusion to divine reality, from frustration and suffering to peace and happiness (which is relative when isolated in the physical body) is revealed and we can find our way back to eternal oneness. How we achieve this state is generally beyond our intelligence and understanding while we are stuck in the world of matter, blinded by its sluggish energy and apparent concrete nature. Only those who guide us from beyond the veil of illusion (‘evil’ being blind and generally stubborn and fearful ignorance) really know where we need to go and how we may reach our spiritual goal. The Self knows too, of course, but until we are able to operate on that level we need assistance. Surrender rather than resistance to the experiences we encounter enables us, at least, to return the fish to the river, the soul to the sea of collective consciousness, providing us with a foundation for growth.

We should relax and play, be as innocent children, open and free, and centre ourselves in the Sun shining above - in the Creator’s Being. Unfortunately, the ego wants to be the Sun and is too impatient, too restless, too single-minded. It isolates itself from the river and flaps around on the river bank, rarely resting, except from exhaustion or injury. Always active, it even chooses intense activity to switch its brain off and feel comparatively relaxed. As Blaise Pascal observed, “Most of humanity’s problems result from the inability to sit still in a room.” The more active is our ego, our isolated spark of divine power, the more individualistic and aggressive the fish of soul is forced to become, dragged into violent behaviour by the net of physical identification and subconscious patterns, separating itself from its natural environment indefinitely by perpetuating the myth of land-loving identity. It never thinks to refresh its scales in the river, yet the soul-fish remains pure underneath the layers of trouble and disturbance. The ego fears relaxing into its more soulful feelings or expanding its self-awareness to realise its true (divine) nature lest it fall prey to other aggressive predators. Welcome to the rat race, the bizarre spectacle of stranded fishes competing and fighting for an illusory goal of success, power, wealth and happiness. Such is the foul stench of dried-out, dying fishes.

"The images of the unconscious place a great responsibility upon a man. Failure to understand them, or a shirking of ethical responsibility, deprives him of his wholeness and imposes a painful fragmentariness on his life." - Carl Jung (Memories, Dreams and Reflections).

What we fear is our own inner pain which we have blocked out. Each strand of our efforts to cope with life slowly becomes crystallised, or so entangled that the result is a tight knot. It is difficult to know where or how to start loosening it. Each becomes ‘another brick in the wall’ that divides us from this pure foundation of feeling and consciousness that is the pure soul. Osho describes a process of getting in touch with one’s feelings through his Primal exercise, of returning to “the primal pain that everybody passes through while coming out of the womb.” The ‘door of feeling’ is ‘very shy,’ he says. We judge with our (masculine) minds and this creates an obstacle to getting touch with our (feminine) feelings...which are so taboo in a patriarchal world and have been denied for millennia. Increased awareness, however, is now helping us to recognise the need for, and importance of, feeling. It is overriding the limitations of the rational intellect and affording us a higher perspective which is not confined to shallow states of mind or influenced by emotional responses. “The mind is never shy, the heart is always shy. Once the mind is looking at it, the door to feelings closes, you cave in,” he explains. “It is natural in the beginning to judge so don't be worried about it, because that worry about the judgement will be more harmful than the judgement itself. Don't judge the judgement - just take note that you have judged and that is why the door has closed. Forget about the judgement and start working. Next time the judgement comes it will not be so strong or so harmful or so certain; it will be more hesitant. Just by your being aware, by and by the judgement will disappear. Look at this: if thinking looks at feeling, feeling closes; and if awareness looks at thought, thoughts disappear. So just look, watch the judgement, and by and by it will go.” (Above All Don't Wobble, Chapter 14, 29 January 1976, Chuang Tzu Auditorium, Rajneesh Foundation, Pune, India, 1976, p.226). Prior to this explanation, he says:

“Anger arises as a protection against pain. If somebody hurts you, you become angry as a protection of your being against pain. So every pain is suppressed by anger - layers and layers of anger on pain. So just continue working on anger, and suddenly any moment you will feel the anger has disappeared, that you are becoming sad, not angry. The climate will change from anger to sadness, and when it does you can be certain that now you are close to pain; then the pain will erupt. It is just as if we dig a hole in the earth to make a well. First we have to remove the earth and many layers of stone, and then the water comes up. At first it is not clean water, it is muddy; then by and by cleaner sources become available. First anger will come - and it has many layers like earth. Then sadness will come like muddy water, and then pain, clean pure pain, will be available. And pure pain is tremendously beautiful because it will give you another birth immediately...The pain arises, or some feeling spring is touched, something uncoils.” (ibid. p.86).

The unconscious urge of the ego is legitimate. Its instinct for survival and its impulse for expression are the root of one’s growth, the stimulus behind one’s experiences and therefore the key to illumination, to blossoming as the flower. The divine spark naturally wishes to find its way back to the eternal glory that is its essential Reality. That is the purpose for which we have taken on the materialisation process. The life force that propels the fish, enabling it to move, gravitates towards the Sun. Yet, the fish cannot fly. Paradoxically, to find its way home, it must venture back down from whence it came, not to return to complete unconsciousness, but back into the water, nevertheless, into which the sunlight shines. It is as through consciousness that we arrive at the centre, the centre of consciousness. It is also by separating ourselves from oneness and knowing what we are not that we awaken to conscious Light. It is by being one with all life that we are able to become conscious of the Sun and centre ourselves in our eternal nature. But, we regard such a passive and simple, uncomplicated excursion to be a weakness. We fear re-immersion into the unconscious lest we completely forget that we are individuals. After all, we are here to attain individuation from the collective as expressions of the One Source. Until we change our habits, however, we will remain stranded in the dirt, and dried out inside, always trying to be something we are not. The ‘measure of our happiness is our unhappiness,’ and the experience of dis-ease, the frustration of living in such an unnatural and self-defeating way, is a tool that we can use to finally find our way back to Light, and to balance, flow and composure. Too much fire, excessive yang (male energy) does not bring us closer to the Sun of true Being. We end up harming ourselves and others, especially those closest to us. We imagine that the external world can offer us happiness. We search for it outside of ourselves and remain frustrated and lost. We have neglected the inner life which needs to come first, since it is the foundation from which all growth and therefore attainment in terms of consciousness, can take place. Only when we relax and feel whole can we bask in the Sun, incarnate spiritually and feel alive as Light.

This is nigh impossible to achieve in a country like Britain where we are all wrestling for space and money on the river bank (the Sun being concealed behind whingeing clouds most of the time anyway). We moan about how unfair life is. We live just to pay taxes and heating bills. The relaxed pace of countries like India is more conducive to spiritual growth should people be thus inspired (I am not suggesting that the majority of Indians are but the opportunity is more evident there). Certainly, each way of life has its value as do both the ego and the soul, masculine and feminine. It is, as I said previously, the fusion and balance of the two principles which brings us closer to God and the fulfilment of our life’s purpose both collectively and individually.

We interrupt this programme to bring you…a true story (about biscuits, so not entirely irrelevant):

“This actually did happen to a real person, and the real person was me. This was April, 1976, in Cambridge. I had gone to catch a train. I was a bit early so I went to get myself a newspaper, a cup of coffee and a packet of biscuits. I went and sat at a table. I want you to picture the scene. It’s very important that you get this clear in your mind: here’s the table, newspaper, cup of coffee, packet of biscuits. There’s a guy sitting opposite me, perfectly ordinary-looking guy wearing a business suit, carrying a briefcase. It didn’t look like he would do anything weird. What he did was this: he suddenly leant across, picked up the packet of biscuits, tore it open, took one out and ate it. ”

               Now this, I have to say, is the sort of thing the British are very bad at dealing with. There’s nothing in our background, upbringing or education that teaches you how to deal with someone who in broad daylight had just stolen your biscuits. You know what would happen if this had been South Central Los Angeles. There would have very quickly been gunfire, helicopters coming in, CNN, you know...But in the end, I did what any red-blooded Englishman would have done: I ignored it.”

                I stared at the newspaper, took a sip of coffee, attempted a clue in the crossword, couldn't do anything, and thought, what am I going to do? In the end I thought, nothing for it, I’ll just have to go for it, and I tried very hard not to notice the fact that the packet was already mysteriously opened. I took out a biscuit for myself. I thought, that’s settled him. But it hadn't, because a moment or two later he did it again. He took another biscuit. Having not mentioned it the first time, it was somehow even harder to raise the subject the second time around. ‘Excuse me, I couldn’t help but notice…’ I mean, it doesn’t really work.”

                We went through the whole packet like this. When I say the whole packet, I mean there were only about eight biscuits, but it felt like a lifetime. I took one, he took one, I took one, he took one. Finally, when we got to the end, he stood up and walked away. Well, we exchanged meaningful looks, then he walked away and I breathed a sigh of relief and sat back. A moment or two later, the train was coming in, so I tossed back the rest of my coffee, stood up, picked up the newspaper, and underneath the newspaper…were my biscuits.””

                The thing I particularly like about this story is the sensation that somewhere in England there has been wandering around for the last quarter of a century a perfectly ordinary guy with the exact same story; only he doesn't have the punch line.””

                - Douglas Adams (The Salmon of Doubt: Hitchhiking The Galaxy One Last Time, Macmillan, 2002).

Britain has much to teach the world in terms of individual responsibility, of combining independent identity and social justice in order for different types of people to live together in relative harmony. The heat has been turned up over the past couple of decades and the British people have lost faith in this sense of justice. Rampant capitalism has emboldened and empowered the egotists whilst impoverishing those less hungry for material wealth, unwilling or unable to sell their souls for a slice of the cake. We no longer feel protected by the Government from the vicious and greedy sharks of trade and industry and even the Government and councils themselves now appear to treat us like victims, demanding so many taxes and communicating with us in insensitive, unsympathetic, even sinister, ways when we struggle to pay their price for living in this marvellous free - and don’t forget ‘tolerant’ - country! We feel criminalised and marginalised. The old British principle of leniency towards those who are humble and sincere and who show sufficient respect towards the System has all but gone - as, subsequently, has the people’s trust. Unlimited immigration (out of economic ‘necessity’ through materialistic greed), overcrowding and mixing people who clearly clash culturally has meant that many British people are themselves bent on emigrating in order to enjoy a better quality of life.

I’m wont to blame everything on the Normans. The Ancient Celts used to say, "May those who love us, love us. And those who hate us, may God turn their hearts. And if he doesn't turn their hearts, may he turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping.” British people generally value their space. Didn’t the Normans eventually come to an agreement with the Anglo-Saxons on this island in order to exploit their feudal ownership of its people and lands? Demanding sacrifices of life, liberty and property beyond which they were left in peace and afforded a degree of freedom and space to do the things they enjoyed and pursue their personal interests. I mentioned this notion to an intelligent lady from New Zealand and she raised an eyebrow, saying that Britain is now so overpopulated that we no longer have the space we have always valued. Well, certainly that is true where we live and in certain other parts of the country but I’m not sure if it applies to the country as a whole. A lot of people must feel angry or want to react to the overcrowding here. It’s probably not so bad if you’ve grown up with it, if you are used to it or accept it as a price to pay for emigrating, or if, in the culture from which you hail, people don’t even want or enjoy personal space. ‘Tolerance,’ the word the Government loves to impose on our forever oppressed population, is a passive form of love but it can also be the result of feeling powerless, having no choice and being stuck.

Tensions have risen to new heights.

Public places are avoided for fear of ending up in fights.

Afraid to walk the streets at night

Lest some dark force come and turn out the lights.

Life in the U.K. is a thriller! The ‘hounds of Hell’ have risen from the dead to further inhibit our freedom and self-expression, our individual identities and celebration of diversity in which quality may or may not thrive but has some chance to survive all the same.

It seems unlikely that the balance between ego and soul will take off culturally in Britain now. We had our chance and blew it (by voting in Margaret Thatcher I expect although we Western folk needed to understand what damage right wing politics can do as a springboard for collective political awakening). It has been a social laboratory in which divergent people have lived together for centuries - not always harmoniously, of course, but largely developing and respecting some kind of genetic code relating to the principle of ‘live and let live.’ The excessive influx of outsiders who do not have this code built into their genes is bringing tension to the surface and appears to be erasing the old programme. Whether this will be resolved in the future or not no one can say, but, certainly, it is ‘for ill’ in the short-term. Fearing change can be healthy if faced with disaster! I am living in the thick of it and my instinct is to seek a solution through a more integrated Europe because we need solidarity through certain values that we simply cannot afford to see abandoned. The British Government, whatever party is in office, is evidently unable to resolve the issues resulting from gross inequality introduced by way of free-market (or corporate) capitalism. It can no sooner turn back the clock as it can unite people in future unless it suddenly finds enlightenment and seeks to learn from the example of Bhutan or something, where the gross national happiness (ever-spiritually-based) is considered more significant than the gross national product (surely this is the coolest feature on our globe at present?). I believe that encouraging people to experience and grow spiritually as individuals is the only hope for our society now. Religious identity and disciplines fuse people together on an ego-level like sparks huddled together. They divide groups from everyone else through external identity, that is, being something they are not - failing to express their own unique purpose and potential as individual souls.

Good Warriors do not arm,

good fighters don’t get mad,

good winners don’t contend,

good employers serve their workers.

This is called the virtue

Of noncontention;

This is called mating with

The supremely natural and pristine.

- Laozi (Daodejing 68, The Essential Tao, translated and presented by Thomas Cleary, Castle Books, New Jersey, U.S., 1998, p.53).

In this social laboratory, we can observe that the basic principle of individuality is a potential we cannot afford to live without. Even though we have sunk into a banal culture of shallow materialism and individualism, we islanders shun the idea of clinging together in a fisherman’s bucket. Regardless of the water available to share (in which all the other fishes have poohed!), the price is too high and we will not tolerate an autocratic regime that does not recognise our rights as individual human beings. Well, at least, I think that is where we still stand as a nation (I observe that many people seem to be willing to settle for less).

The temporary experience of individualism, of being centred in our physical egos, can serve to remind us of our individual potential, our higher purpose, as Light. If we then find our way back into the river, we are unlikely to ignore the Sun shining down from above and lighting our way, illuminating our very existence, as the One Centre that is the true, eternal Being of all. That is predominantly the value of Western secular life and culture. It is not an end in itself but a means to an end. It is an experiment from which other cultures can learn, potentially bypassing the numerous failings and imitating or using our successes (which even British culture itself seems to fail to recognise or appreciate).

“In my high school days, I was almost always late because I was interested in so many things on the way. I always started from home to reach the school at the right time, but I never reached because so much was going on along the way - some magician was doing his tricks, and it was irresistible. Just to leave that magician and go to study...some stupid teacher talking about geography...So I was punished continually, but soon my teachers realised that it was useless to punish me. Their first punishment was to tell me to go around the high school building seven times. I would ask, ‘If I go eleven times will it do?’ They would say, ‘Are you mad? This is a punishment.’ I said, ‘I know this is a punishment, but I have missed my morning exercise. So if I make it my morning exercise, you are not losing anything. Your punishment is covered, my morning exercise is complete; nobody is losing anything, both are gaining.’ So they stopped that, because this wouldn't do. They would tell me to stand outside the class. I said, ‘That's good, because I love the open air. The class is dark and dirty, and outside it is so beautiful. And in fact, sitting inside I am always looking outside. Who cares what you are teaching? - the birds are singing, the trees are blossoming...it is so beautiful outside.’ The headmaster would come on his round, and every day he would find me standing outside. And he would say, ‘What is the matter?’ I said, ‘Nothing is the matter. I love to stand outside; it is healthier, hygienic. And you can see how beautiful it is.’ But he said, ‘I will see your teacher. How is it that he allows you to stand outside?’ I said, ‘I don't know, but he tells me himself, every day...Stand outside.' So now I don't even ask him. It has become a routine, so I simply come and stand here.’ He asked the teacher. The teacher said, ‘It must have been thirty days ago! I told him only once to stand outside - since then he has not entered the class. I was thinking it was a punishment, and he is enjoying it. Not only that, he is spreading the rumour among the students that it is hygienic, it is healthy. And they are asking me...Sir, can we also stand outside?' Then what am I to do here? Then I will also go and stand outside.’

                It is a question of how you take things.”

                - Osho.

(He is showing that the ego can turn discipline on its head and turn it to its own advantage, fuelling its own pride and survival without endeavouring to learn or understand the lesson intended).

Forgiveness: These psychic assaults are a reminder to smile and laugh, and be happy. Either you go one way and respond negatively through your subconscious or t’other - with conscious effort and intent...and love, thereby centring yourself in who you truly are...an expression of the Mother-Father God deepening and strengthening the roots of your individuality in a world that challenges you to choose between what you are and what you are not.

“How very dare you!” (Catch phrase of Catherine Tate’s effeminate character Derek).

‘Life is a quest toward Self Mastery’ by Rabbi Shem (channelled by Karine Daly 30 January 2009, www.snoedel.punt.nl/?id=429553&r=1&tbl_archief=0&).

“No people, the only war you need to fight is the inner turmoil created by your ego. It's the ego that concentrates on the neighbour or on the enemy or on the person who is soon to be your enemy.

                How do you create war?

                First you find an enemy and the enemy is the person who skipped the traffic light or who was rude to you at the supermarket or even who did not greet you nicely at church, and POW! you have an enemy and now you can wage war. Remember that you are no different from any other person and on a grander scale, from any other country. It is all about the ego and the war games the ego plays. 

                So, now I am telling you to wage war, but, with the ego and the war with the ego is going to have to be subtle. The bombs you drop must be love bombs, the words you speak must be loving words and the action you take must be based on love. And then you will see the ego blossom and do the work it was always intended to do, not be the tyrant it has become.

                What is the job of the ego? Aha! Now, there is a question. The ego was created by you so that you could grow, so that you could grapple and so that you could eventually stop fighting, put back your shoulders, put a spring in your step and acknowledge to yourself that at last you are learning to control the ego. 

                You have now put one foot onto the first rung of the ladder to the long climb to SELF MASTERY.”

"Whenever you encounter a person that you don't like, or you feel is difficult, strange, different, not easy to get along with, and you may meet others who then agree with you, compounding the dislike of this person, stop, breathe and look at this person through the eyes of an Angel, and then send this person extra love and blessings, for in truth you are looking at parts of yourself that you do not like very much and want to learn to love." - Elizabeth Anne Hill.

                ’Doctor, Doctor I keep thinking I’m invisible.’

                ‘Who said that?’

                - Unknown.

Invisible by Laura, 1995