Marin Luther vs. Jesus

The big difference between Martin Luther and Jesus is that Martin Luther was all about reformation, fixing a system that was breaking/broken. Jesus was a revolutionary, a radical, who broke away from a broken system, not trying to fix the system, but creating a new one, original and truly new.

The folks who are shocked by the moral state of modern culture are reformers, wanting to hold onto a structure that once had meaning and integrity and wanting to restore it to its (perceived) perfection. And it's tempting to think that all we need is "X", to return us to whatever the good times were.

But the folks who are making a real difference in this world rocked by tension and tragedy, are the ones with a new vision, an original understanding of what is needed here and now. They don't look to the past for answers and solutions - they look to an original vision of the future, to G*d, and to the truth of what is essential to human joy and meaning: peace, love, understanding, purity, happiness.

Whoever said...

"Whoever said, 'it's not all about you,' never met me..."

Shiv-Shakti

The ancient representation of the Shiv Shakti is the combining of divine male and female energy, pure spirit made into physical matter, G*d brought to earth. And this image is powerful in that the most elevated human life is pure spirit - soul - brought into the human dimension.

The shakti, female energy, womanly energy, is the fulfillment of bringing the totality of creative energy into the physical body. The ability to create life is the most elemental and biological representation of feminine power, but only one of the ways it shows up in life.

Being a truth teller, a carrier of ancient wisdom, a holder of integrity and uncompromising values is to be a shiv shakti. Living fully into every relationship, every opportunity, every challenge is to be a shiv shakti.

Ordinary human beings are defined by their weaknesses, their fears, their limitations and their frustrations. A shiv shakti, the human incarnation of divinity, defines herself by strength, humility, grace, and by becoming a channel for divine energy to manifest itself on earth.

It's not a small undertaking, and you can't do it just part-time. You can't do it just half-way or just a little. You make a deal with the divine, and you never leave it behind. You can't go back to ordinary awareness or pretend you don't know what you know.

And you're supposed to be different because of it. You're supposed to be a different person and live a different life. And it's by being true to all of this that G*d's power becomes your power and your life then runs on magic.

A Gem

I'm just waiting and waiting and waiting for change to come, and now that Mercury is retrograde for a little while, I'd be amazed if anything will change. Unless Mercury is helping to set things in a new motion, a new direction. Which is always possible.

Otherwise, a fixed Venus at the apex of one's T-square (astrology speak, I know) means that I don't move quickly in relationship matters. I would say I move glacially slow, except that now, with global warming, the glaciers are moving more quickly than I.

And I must apologize, 'cause I've foisted the blame for the slowness on another, not seeing my own hesitation as the energy that blocks movement. I've thought I was the one wanting to move ahead, and that I was being thwarted in my natural rhythm. But more accurately, I was wanting to move so slowly that it felt like no movement at all.

It's very tricky to recognize in yourself what you've conveniently blamed another for. But seeing it, seeing your own limitations, is another kind of jeevanmukti - liberation. I figured I'd have no access to the grace of humility - the wisdom of knowing who you are and who you are not - if I didn't acknowledge my responsibility in my own life.

So, much to my relief, I am owning it. I don't know what'll happen in terms of relationship, but I know what is happening for me, and there's no downside to that. There's no downside to bringing different aspects of yourself together in one sparkling, glittering, gorgeous multi-faceted gem of a person.

Feeling, Not Finding

I don't know that we find truth so much as learn to feel it. There isn't a place on the planet where it resides, hidden away like some item from a scavenger hunt list. Truth isn't locked in a vault or buried in a secret tomb familiar to only a select few.

There is a seed of truth within us all, and like every seed it needs the right food and water and light, the right season in which it can bloom.

The seed of truth is our eternal connection with G*d, what pulls us back into relationship with Him. We want to feel the nourishment of complete belonging flowing through us, the pure desire to see the seed of truth blossom and bear its fruit in our lives.

No Love, No Truth

It's fine to invest in words and ideas, to attend classes, lectures and retreats. Words may accompany truth. But truth is most clearly communicated in the simple vibration, the pure energy, of love. No love = no truth. And no volume of words can make it so.

StoryPeople

Sometimes I feel like I've got nothing to say 'cause Brian Andreas, the genius creator of StoryPeople, already said it, and better than me. I love how much he captures in a sentence or sentence fragment. A whole world lives in just a few of his words...

Check out www.storypeople.com

Patience

I keep finding the next right direction, and it keeps dissolving into nothingness. And so I think that this is a time to invite, surrender, attract, submit. Trying to impose my will on life, on how I think things should unfold, seems the worst sort of exercise in futility.

When nothing moves forward, then perhaps what is required from me is to wait with the grace of patience. The movement is one of going deeper within, not of pushing forward. At least for now. Until the time and space continuum and I reconcile on our idea of how to move through the temporal.

Heart Surgery

It seems to me now that so much of the energy I've been putting into growth and change has been slightly, and very accidentally, misdirected. Instead of that spiritual power strengthening me, it has been diverted into a vast expanse of space that exists between me and others, reinforcing the walls protecting me and the emotional distance it provides. Behind that wall I've gotten bored and lonely, and the energy is as dead as a fire with no fuel.

That very tiny tear - that small hole in my heart - meant that however much love and energy poured in, the same was always leaking out. A broken heart, literally having a break in your heart, has long lasting consequences, invisible, imperceptible and incapacitating. What should be the vessel for containing the life force, physically, emotionally and spiritually, instead leaks out vital energy, dissipating all the good stuff you need to keep going and feel good about it.

It's healing now. My energy is returning. My confidence is sinking deep down to the center of my being, anchoring the nervous tension that defined me, calming and relaxing all of it.

Something New

I've always been clairvoyant, which is simply that I can see what's invisible. And the kind of vision I have to see the invisible is insight. I don't have foresight or hindsight. I can't tell the future or figure out the hidden past.

But with an invitation and agreement from another, I can peer deep, deep within the soul, into the realm of pure spiritual potential. I can see what is hidden from ordinary awareness, and provide a clear and undistorted reflection of that potential.

When I was young, the feelings and thoughts of others flooded my awareness, and I was too sensitive to know the difference between my reality and the emotions of others. It is only now, after more than 23 years of practicing Raja Yoga that I've learned how to use that sensitivity to help people.

I have always wanted to make things better, to be someone who helped where help was needed. And the feedback I've received for years now, is that the Divine insight that comes through me awakens the soul to its most pure, powerful and essenceful nature, freeing hidden potential and focusing energy.

Imagine peering into a mirror that reflects back beauty, virtue, talents, abilities, qualities, gifts, and opportunities. Imagine how energized and comforted and uplifted and affirmed you feel seeing yourself in a new and more clear light. This is the gift of insight.

The View From a Bardo State

Bardo states are intermediary places of transition for the soul (according to Tibetan Buddhism), which is what my life is feeling like these days. Typically this state endures between lifetimes, but I'm claiming it for my own. Everything is in transition, and I have certainty about nothing related to how my life is unfolding.

I can take no definitive action until a clear vision appears to me, and that vision is nothing I can force, create or consciously think through. It's always been that way for me. Once the image is clear, action is immediate, but until then, energies are incubating.

The best I can hope for is to use the time and energy until clarity emerges to go deep within and learn all sorts of good things about who I am so that when it is time to move forward, that movement fits me well.

I have never been able to set goals in terms of strategic planning. I find it too much of an imposition on that unfolding creative process that forms itself inside of me. If I plan, create a set of goals and come up with a 1 or 3 or 5 year plan, I am taken completely outside of a rhythm that honors G*d's magical energy at work in my life.

Work, relationships, who I am and what I'm going to do with my time and energy all elude me at the moment, so I'm sticking to taking things one day at a time. It's all just a bit too much otherwise.

Astrology

The amazing thing about astrology is that it can offer so much insight into one's energetic nature. You could be worse or better or different, but you're not. Astrology isn't about determining your worth or value, but really just designed to give you insight so you become familiar with your energies and know how to build to your strengths, meet your challenges, and fully explore your opportunities.

Self-knowledge is the key to acceptance, which is ultimately the key to fulfilling your pure potential. Once you know who you are, and lovingly embrace and accept all the energies you've come with in this lifetime, and STOP fighting yourself, then you have more fully available energy with which to make choices that honor your best self.

Healing

The most important thing I've learned about healing is that you don't have to go through the details of the past to begin moving forward. But it only works if you do it with love.

Guilt, shame, anger, frustration, disgust, regret, heaviness, all stand in the way of the good stuff, the better stuff, the best stuff.