Questions anyone ?

It is time, right now , in this moment to look fear in the eyes, smile , laugh ,embrace , and let go of.
I invite you 2  have courage .

What has your ego really done for you ? Are you satisfied with your life and how it is going for you?

Are you creating a nightmare 4 yourself ?

Are you living the life you feel you were born 2 live ?
 
What would you like to do differently right now 2 create something new ? 

Ego - The False Center

From Beyond the Frontier of the Mind by Osho       The first thing to be understood is what ego is. A child is born. A child is born without any knowledge, any consciousness of his own self. And when a child is born the first thing he becomes aware of is not himself; the first thing he becomes aware of is the other. It is natural, because the eyes open outwards, the hands touch others, the ears listen to others, the tongue tastes food and the nose smells the outside. All these senses open outwards.
           That is what birth means. Birth means coming into this world, the world of the outside. So when a child is born, he is born into this world. He opens his eyes, sees others. 'Other' means the thou. He becomes aware of the mother first. Then, by and by, he becomes aware of his own body. That too is the other, that too belongs to the world. He is hungry and he feels the body; his need is satisfied, he forgets the body.
      This is how a child grows. First he becomes aware of you, thou, other, and then by and by, in contrast to you, thou, he becomes aware of himself.
      This awareness is a reflected awareness. He is not aware of who he is. He is simply aware of the mother and what she thinks about him. If she smiles, if she appreciates the child, if she says, "You are beautiful," if she hugs and kisses him, the child feels good about himself. Now an ego is born.
      Through appreciation, love, care, he feels he is good, he feels he is valuable, he feels he has some significance.
      A center is born.
      But this center is a reflected center. It is not his real being. He does not know who he is; he simply knows what others think about him. And this is the ego: the reflection, what others think. If nobody thinks that he is of any use, nobody appreciates him, nobody smiles, then too an ego is born: an ill ego; sad, rejected, like a wound; feeling inferior, worthless. This too is the ego. This too is a reflection.
      First the mother - and mother means the world in the beginning. Then others will join the mother, and the world goes on growing. And the more the world grows, the more complex the ego becomes, because many others' opinions are reflected.
      The ego is an accumulated phenomenon, a by-product of living with others. If a child lives totally alone, he will never come to grow an ego. But that is not going to help. He will remain like an animal. That doesn't mean that he will come to know the real self, no.
      The real can be known only through the false, so the ego is a must. One has to pass through it. It is a discipline. The real can be known only through the illusion. You cannot know the truth directly. First you have to know that which is not true. First you have to encounter the untrue. Through that encounter you become capable of knowing the truth. If you know the false as the false, truth will dawn upon you.
      Ego is a need; it is a social need, it is a social by-product. The society means all that is around you - not you, but all that is around you. All, minus you, is the society. And everybody reflects. You will go to school and the teacher will reflect who you are. You will be in friendship with other children and they will reflect who you are. By and by, everybody is adding to your ego, and everybody is trying to modify it in such a way that you don't become a problem to the society.
      They are not concerned with you.
      They are concerned with the society.
      Society is concerned with itself, and that's how it should be.
      They are not concerned that you should become a self-knower. They are concerned that you should become an efficient part in the mechanism of the society. You should fit into the pattern. So they are trying to give you an ego that fits with the society. They teach you morality. Morality means giving you an ego which will fit with the society. If you are immoral, you will always be a misfit somewhere or other. That's why we put criminals in the prisons - not that they have done something wrong, not that by putting them in the prisons we are going to improve them, no. They simply don't fit. They are troublemakers. They have certain types of egos of which the society doesn't approve. If the society approves, everything is good.
      One man kills somebody - he is a murderer.
      And the same man in wartime kills thousands - he becomes a great hero. The society is not bothered by a murder, but the murder should be commited for the society - then it is okay. The society doesn't bother about morality.
      Morality means only that you should fit with the society.
      If the society is at war, then the morality changes.
      If the society is at peace, then there is a different morality.
      Morality is a social politics. It is diplomacy. And each child has to be brought up in such a way that he fits into the society, that's all. Because society is interested in efficient members. Society is not interested that you should attain to self-knowledge.
      The society creates an ego because the ego can be controlled and manipulated. The self can never be controlled or manipulated. Nobody has ever heard of the society controlling a self - not possible.
      And the child needs a center; the child is completely unaware of his own center. The society gives him a center and the child is by and by convinced that this is his center, the ego that society gives.
      A child comes back to his home - if he has come first in his class, the whole family is happy. You hug and kiss him, and you take the child on your shoulders and dance and you say, "What a beautiful child! You are a pride to us." You are giving him an ego, a subtle ego. And if the child comes home dejected, unsuccessful, a failure - he couldn't pass, or he has just been on the back bench - then nobody appreciates him and the child feels rejected. He will try harder next time, because the center feels shaken.
      Ego is always shaken, always in search of food, that somebody should appreciate it. That's why you continuously ask for attention.
      You get the idea of who you are from others.
      It is not a direct experience.
      It is from others that you get the idea of who you are. They shape your center. This center is false, because you carry your real center. That is nobody's business. Nobody shapes it.
      You come with it.
      You are born with it.
      So you have two centers. One center you come with, which is given by existence itself. That is the self. And the other center, which is created by the society, is the ego. It is a false thing - and it is a very great trick. Through the ego the society is controlling you. You have to behave in a certain way, because only then does the society appreciate you. You have to walk in a certain way; you have to laugh in a certain way; you have to follow certain manners, a morality, a code. Only then will the society appreciate you, and if it doesn't, you ego will be shaken. And when the ego is shaken, you don't know where you are, who you are.
      The others have given you the idea.
      That idea is the ego.
      Try to understand it as deeply as possible, because this has to be thrown. And unless you throw it you will never be able to attain to the self. Because you are addicted to the center, you cannot move, and you cannot look at the self.
      And remember, there is going to be an interim period, an interval, when the ego will be shattered, when you will not know who you are, when you will not know where you are going, when all boundaries will melt.
      You will simply be confused, a chaos.
      Because of this chaos, you are afraid to lose the ego. But it has to be so. One has to pass through the chaos before one attains to the real center.
      And if you are daring, the period will be small.
      If you are afraid, and you again fall back to the ego, and you again start arranging it, then it can be very, very long; many lives can be wasted.
      I have heard: One small child was visiting his grandparents. He was just four years old. In the night when the grandmother was putting him to sleep, he suddenly started crying and weeping and said, "I want to go home. I am afraid of darkness." But the grandmother said, "I know well that at home also you sleep in the dark; I have never seen a light on. So why are you afraid here?" The boy said, "Yes, that's right - but that is MY darkness." This darkness is completely unknown.
      Even with darkness you feel, "This is MINE."
      Outside - an unknown darkness.
      With the ego you feel, "This is MY darkness."
      It may be troublesome, maybe it creates many miseries, but still mine. Something to hold to, something to cling to, something underneath the feet; you are not in a vacuum, not in an emptiness. You may be miserable, but at least you ARE. Even being miserable gives you a feeling of 'I am'. Moving from it, fear takes over; you start feeling afraid of the unknown darkness and chaos - because society has managed to clear a small part of your being.
      It is just like going to a forest. You make a little clearing, you clear a little ground; you make fencing, you make a small hut; you make a small garden, a lawn, and you are okay. Beyond your fence - the forest, the wild. Here everything is okay; you have planned everything. This is how it has happened.
      Society has made a little clearing in your consciousness. It has cleaned just a little part completely, fenced it. Everything is okay there. That's what all your universities are doing. The whole culture and conditioning is just to clear a part so that you can feel at home there.
      And then you become afraid.
      Beyond the fence there is danger.
      Beyond the fence you are, as within the fence you are - and your conscious mind is just one part, one-tenth of your whole being. Nine-tenths is waiting in the darkness. And in that nine-tenths, somewhere your real center is hidden.
      One has to be daring, courageous.
      One has to take a step into the unknown.
      For a while all boundaries will be lost.
      For a while you will feel dizzy.
      For a while, you will feel very afraid and shaken, as if an earthquake has happened. But if you are courageous and you don't go backwards, if you don't fall back to the ego and you go on and on, there is a hidden center within you that you have been carrying for many lives.
      That is your soul, the self.
      Once you come near it, everything changes, everything settles again. But now this settling is not done by the society. Now everything becomes a cosmos, not a chaos; a new order arises.
      But this is no longer the order of the society - it is the very order of existence itself.
      It is what Buddha calls Dhamma, Lao Tzu calls Tao, Heraclitus calls Logos. It is not man-made. It is the VERY order of existence itself. Then everything is suddenly beautiful again, and for the first time really beautiful, because man-made things cannot be beautiful. At the most you can hide the ugliness of them, that's all. You can decorate them, but they can never be beautiful.
      The difference is just like the difference between a real flower and a plastic or paper flower. The ego is a plastic flower - dead. It just looks like a flower, it is not a flower. You cannot really call it a flower. Even linguistically to call it a flower is wrong, because a flower is something which flowers. And this plastic thing is just a thing, not a flowering. It is dead. There is no life in it.
      You have a flowering center within. That's why Hindus call it a lotus - it is a flowering. They call it the one-thousand-petaled-lotus. One thousand means infinite petals. And it goes on flowering, it never stops, it never dies.
      But you are satisfied with a plastic ego.
      There are some reasons why you are satisfied. With a dead thing, there are many conveniences. One is that a dead thing never dies. It cannot - it was never alive. So you can have plastic flowers, they are good in a way. They are permanent; they are not eternal, but they are permanent.
      The real flower outside in the garden is eternal, but not permanent. And the eternal has its own way of being eternal. The way of the eternal is to be born again and again and to die. Through death it refreshes itself, rejuvenates itself.
      To us it appears that the flower has died - it never dies.
      It simply changes bodies, so it is ever fresh.
      It leaves the old body, it enters a new body. It flowers somewhere else; it goes on flowering.
      But we cannot see the continuity because the continuity is invisible. We see only one flower, another flower; we never see the continuity.
      It is the same flower which flowered yesterday.
      It is the same sun, but in a different garb.
      The ego has a certain quality - it is dead. It is a plastic thing. And it is very easy to get it, because others give it. You need not seek it, there is no search involved. That's why unless you become a seeker after the unknown, you have not yet become an individual. You are just a part of the crowd. You are just a mob.
      When you don't have a real center, how can you be an individual?
      The ego is not individual. Ego is a social phenomenon - it is society, its not you. But it gives you a function in the society, a hierarchy in the society. And if you remain satisfied with it, you will miss the whole opportunity of finding the self.
      And that's why you are so miserable.
      With a plastic life, how can you be happy?
      With a false life, how can you be ecstatic and blissful? And then this ego creates many miseries, millions of them.
      You cannot see, because it is your own darkness. You are attuned to it.
      Have you ever noticed that all types of miseries enter through the ego? It cannot make you blissful; it can only make you miserable.
      Ego is hell.
      Whenever you suffer, just try to watch and analyze, and you will find, somewhere the ego is the cause of it. And the ego goes on finding causes to suffer.
      You are an egoist, as everyone is. Some are very gross, just on the surface, and they are not so difficult. Some are very subtle, deep down, and they are the real problems.
      This ego comes continuously in conflict with others because every ego is so unconfident about itself. Is has to be - it is a false thing. When you don't have anything in your hand and you just think that something is there, then there will be a problem.
      If somebody says, "There is nothing," immediately the fight will start, because you also feel that there is nothing. The other makes you aware of the fact.
      Ego is false, it is nothing.
      That you also know.
      How can you miss knowing it? It is impossible! A conscious being - how can he miss knowing that this ego is just false? And then others say that there is nothing - and whenever the others say that there is nothing they hit a wound, they say a truth - and nothing hits like the truth.
      You have to defend, because if you don't defend, if you don't become defensive, then where will you be?
      You will be lost.
      The identity will be broken.
      So you have to defend and fight - that is the clash.
      A man who attains to the self is never in any clash. Others may come and clash with him, but he is never in clash with anybody.
      It happened that one Zen master was passing through a street. A man came running and hit him hard. The master fell down. Then he got up and started to walk in the same direction in which he was going before, not even looking back.
      A disciple was with the master. He was simply shocked. He said, "Who is this man? What is this? If one lives in such a way, then anybody can come and kill you. And you have not even looked at that person, who he is, and why he did it."
      The master said, "That is his problem, not mine."
      You can clash with an enlightened man, but that is your problem, not his. And if you are hurt in that clash, that too is your own problem. He cannot hurt you. And it is like knocking against a wall - you will be hurt, but the wall has not hurt you.
      The ego is always looking for some trouble. Why? Because if nobody pays attention to you, the ego feels hungry.
      It lives on attention.
      So even if somebody is fighting and angry with you, that too is good because at least the attention is paid. If somebody loves, it is okay. If somebody is not loving you, then even anger will be good. At least the attention will come to you. But if nobody is paying any attention to you, nobody thinks that you are somebody important, significant, then how will you feed your ego?
      Other's attention is needed.
      In millions of ways you attract the attention of others; you dress in a certain way, you try to look beautiful, you behave, you become very polite, you change. When you feel what type of situation is there, you immediately change so that people pay attention to you.
      This is a deep begging.
      A real beggar is one who asks for and demands attention. And a real emperor is one who lives in himself; he has a center of his own, he doesn't depend on anybody else.
      Buddha sitting under his bodhi tree...if the whole world suddenly disappears, will it make any difference to Buddha? -none. It will not make any difference at all. If the whole world disappears, it will not make any difference because he has attained to the center.
      But you, if the wife escapes, divorces you, goes to somebody else, you are completely shattered - because she had been paying attention to you, caring, loving, moving around you, helping you to feel that you were somebody. Your whole empire is lost, you are simply shattered. You start thinking about suicide. Why? Why, if a wife leaves you, should you commit suicide? Why, if a husband leaves you, should you commit suicide? Because you don't have any center of your own. The wife was giving you the center; the husband was giving you the center.
      This is how people exist. This is how people become dependent on others. It is a deep slavery. Ego HAS to be a slave. It depends on others. And only a person who has no ego is for the first time a master; he is no longer a slave. Try to understand this.
      And start looking for the ego - not in others, that is not your business, but in yourself. Whenever you feel miserable, immediately close you eyes and try to find out from where the misery is coming and you will always find it is the false center which has clashed with someone.
      You expected something, and it didn't happen.
      You expected something, and just the contrary happened - your ego is shaken, you are in misery. Just look, whenever you are miserable, try to find out why.
      Causes are not outside you. The basic cause is within you - but you always look outside, you always ask:
      Who is making me miserable?
Who is the cause of my anger?
Who is the cause of my anguish?
And if you look outside you will miss.
Just close the eyes and always look within.
The source of all misery, anger, anguish, is hidden in you, your ego.

      And if you find the source, it will be easy to move beyond it. If you can see that it is your own ego that gives you trouble, you will prefer to drop it - because nobody can carry the source of misery if he understands it.
      And remember, there is no need to drop the ego.
      You cannot drop it.
      If you try to drop it, you will attain to a certain subtle ego again which says, "I have become humble."
      Don't try to be humble. That's again ego in hiding - but it's not dead.
      Don't try to be humble.
      Nobody can try humility, and nobody can create humility through any effort of his own - no. When the ego is no more, a humbleness comes to you. It is not a creation. It is a shadow of the real center.
      And a really humble man is neither humble nor egoistic.
      He is simply simple.
      He's not even aware that he is humble.
      If you are aware that you are humble, the ego is there.
      Look at humble persons.... There are millions who think that they are very humble. They bow down very low, but watch them - they are the subtlest egoists. Now humility is their source of food. They say, "I am humble," and then they look at you and they wait for you to appreciate them.
      "You are really humble," they would like you to say. "In fact, you are the most humble man in the world; nobody is as humble as you are." Then see the smile that comes on their faces.
      What is ego? Ego is a hierarchy that says, "No one is like me." It can feed on humbleness - "Nobody is like me, I am the most humble man."
      It happened once:
      A fakir, a beggar, was praying in a mosque, just early in the morning when it was still dark. It was a certain religious day for Mohammedians, and he was praying, and he was saying, "I am nobody. I am the poorest of the poor, the greatest sinner of sinners."
      Suddenly there was one more person who was praying. He was the emperor of that country, and he was not aware that there was somebody else there who was praying - it was dark, and the emperor was also saying:
      "I am nobody. I am nothing. I am just empty, a beggar at our door." When he heard that somebody else was saying the same thing, he said, "Stop! Who is trying to overtake me? Who are you? How dare you say before the emperor that you are nobody when he is saying that he is nobody?"
      This is how the ego goes. It is so subtle. Its ways are so subtle and cunning; you have to be very, very alert, only then will you see it. Don't try to be humble. Just try to see that all misery, all anguish comes through it.
      Just watch! No need to drop it.
      You cannot drop it. Who will drop it? Then the DROPPER will become the ego. It always comes back.
      Whatsoever you do, stand out of it, and look and watch.
      Whatsoever you do - humbleness, humility, simplicity - nothing will help. Only one thing is possible, and that is just to watch and see that it is the source of all misery. Don't say it. Don't repeat it - WATCH. Because if I say it is the source of all misery and you repeat it, then it is useless. YOU have to come to that understanding. Whenever you are miserable, just close the eyes and don't try to find some cause outside. Try to see from where this misery is coming.
      It is your own ego.
      If you continuously feel and understand, and the understanding that the ego is the cause becomes so deep-rooted, one day you will suddenly see that it has disappeared. Nobody drops it - nobody can drop it. You simply see; it has simply disappeared, because the very understanding that ego causes all misery becomes the dropping. THE VERY UNDERSTANDING IS THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE EGO.
      And you are so clever in seeing the ego in others. Anybody can see someone else's ego. When it comes to your own, then the problem arises - because you don't know the territory, you have never traveled on it.
      The whole path towards the divine, the ultimate, has to pass through this territory of the ego. The false has to be understood as false. The source of misery has to be understood as the source of misery - then it simply drops.
      When you know it is poison, it drops. When you know it is fire, it drops. When you know this is the hell, it drops.
      And then you never say, "I have dropped the ego." Then you simply laugh at the whole thing, the joke that you were the creator of all misery.
      I was just looking at a few cartoons of Charlie Brown. In one cartoon he is playing with blocks, making a house out of children's blocks. He is sitting in the middle of the blocks building the walls. Then a moment comes when he is enclosed; all around he has made a wall. Then he cries, "Help, help!"
      He has done the whole thing! Now he is enclosed, imprisoned. This is childish, but this is all that you have done also. You have made a house all around yourself, and now you are crying, "Help, help!" And the misery becomes a millionfold - because there are helpers who are also in the same boat.
      It happened that one very beautiful woman went to see her psychiatrist for the first time. The psychiatrist said, "Come closer please." When she came closer, he simply jumped and hugged and kissed the woman. She was shocked. Then he said, "Now sit down. This takes care of my problem, now what is your problem?"
      The problem becomes multifold, because there are helpers who are in the same boat. And they would like to help, because when you help somebody the ego feels very good, very, very good - because you are a great helper, a great guru, a master; you are helping so many people. The greater the crowd of your followers, the better you feel.
      But you are in the same boat - you cannot help.
      Rather, you will harm.
      People who still have their own problems cannot be of much help. Only someone who has no problems of his own can help you. Only then is there the clarity to see, to see through you. A mind that has no problems of its own can see you, you become transparent.
      A mind that has no problems of its own can see through itself; that's why it becomes capable of seeing through others.
      In the West, there are many schools of psychoanalysis, many schools, and no help is reaching people, but rather, harm. Because the people who are helping others, or trying to help, or posing as helpers, are in the same boat.
      ...It is difficult to see one's own ego.
      It is very easy to see other's egos. But that is not the point, you cannot help them.
      Try to see your own ego.
      Just watch it.
      Don't be in a hurry to drop it, just watch it. The more you watch, the more capable you will become. Suddenly one day, you simply see that it has dropped. And when it drops by itself, only then does it drop. There is no other way. Prematurely you cannot drop it.
      It drops just like a dead leaf.
      The tree is not doing anything - just a breeze, a situation, and the dead leaf simply drops. The tree is not even aware that the dead leaf has dropped. It makes no noise, it makes no claim - nothing.
      The dead leaf simply drops and shatters on the ground, just like that.
      When you are mature through understanding, awareness, and you have felt totally that ego is the cause of all your misery, simply one day you see the dead leaf dropping.
      It settles into the ground, dies of its own accord. You have not done anything so you cannot claim that you have dropped it. You see that it has simply disappeared, and then the real center arises.
      And that real center is the soul, the self, the god, the truth, or whatsoever you want to call it.
      It is nameless, so all names are good.
      You can give it any name of your own liking.
      From Beyond the Frontier of the Mind by Osho

Objects in mirror are CLOSER than they appear.

 I am not here to make anyone do anything. I am going to take action . I will focus on working with the free flow that is found in this eternal present moment with my connection to that which gives me life.
 I bring more to the world with the balance of my own living being, which itself is a work of art /master peace,  then if i was to run around people with a spiritual to do check list telling them what to do in order to save themselves and be enlightened .

 If we look within , we will see . Also If we observe the outside  with the play of people or events, we will realize there may be no real separation at all and that which we see outside could be  a reflection what is taking place within on some level.

I love all there is and i forgive everyone including myself for being selfish and apathetic . I forgive because i know that i know a lot of our collective body have gone into a deep sleep . 
Waking up may slow, painful and in your face intense , however if we care enough about life as we say we do , we will take care of our own balance within and our balance within the center still point will ripple out like a rock being tossed in water, or light up the dark night with light for illumination . All will begin to see when we hold space with our candle . If some want some light we will be more than willing to share.

Relationship Minefields and Mirrors

By Lisa Raphael

The realization that relationships are basically mirrors is the key to healing any and every relationship with ourselves, with others, with nature and with the universe. We are all inter- connected. What we think, feel and do affects everything around us.

This may be easier to accept as a general concept than as a truth about a particular relationship, especially an intimate one. The blame game has forever been a favorite couples’ sport. “If only he would do that,” we protest, or “if only she would be more like that.” It is always the other person that needs to change. Yet just as mirrors in everyday life reflect what we cannot see, our partners reflect back to us aspects of ourselves that we do not see otherwise. It is a ‘not easy to consider’ that the traits that irritate us in our partners are reflections of ourselves.

The role of the mirror in everyday life is to tell us how we look. Is our hair tidy, does this clothing look good on us, are our pimples or wrinkles showing, and so on. When we see something we do not like, we try to fix it. We do not blame the mirror for what it is reflecting back to us, nor do we try to correct it in the mirror. Yet when we see something we do not like in another person, we forget that they, too, are a mirror, and begin trying to fix in the other what needs fixing in ourselves.

When we understand that our partner’s behavior is a reflection or our own, it becomes easier to sort out what is his and what is hers. Close relationships are like mine fields; we never know when an innocent remark or incident will trigger a reactive explosion. We each carry imprints from the past within us, memories of how our family or friends responded to us, reactions to past trauma. When one of these memories is triggered, we react the way we did in the past. We may even say “you sound just like my mother” or “stop treating my like a child” and blame our partner for what is essentially our own childhood memory. This is OUR minefield, not something our partner is doing to us.

Knowing ourselves is essential to good relationships, and relationships, being mirrors, help us to know ourselves.

To see past the distortions of all the mirrors that reflect our reality requires discernment, and discernment requires quiet. Quiet is hard to come in a world in which there is constant noise from traffic, refrigerators and microwaves, television sets, computers, cell phones, and radios. Yet it is in the quiet that we can come to know ourselves. It is only through awareness of the flow of our own psyche that we can discern what is true in our relationships, and create healthy ones.

 http://omtimes.com/2013/04/relationship-minefields-and-mirrors/2/

101!

Creating from Higher Mind

By Chris Bourne
Contributing Writer for Wake up World

We often speak here at Openhand about the mis-information we feel is happening in spiritual circles concerning ‘manifestation’. On the one hand the beauty is that we’ve realised consciousness and matter are the same thing; that we shape and change matter from what we’re being within. In some teachings though (most notably “The Secret”), we feel this ancient truth has been taken a step too far; trying to shape circumstances to manifest a new, apparently more desirable reality. There’s simply no need to do this. Our higher selves, inline with the Divine Design, have already imagined a future far more miraculous, far more harmonious and far more loving than our lower egos could ever dream of. And all we have to do is open to Higher Mind and bring that authentic dream into reality. So how does authentic creating from Higher Mind really work? Here is a point of view from my own direct experience.

Higher Mind – channeling pure knowing
The way “Higher Mind” functions is completely different to “Lower Mind” (what our society refers to as “Mind”). Lower Mind is designed to work in harmony with its higher complement, channeling pure knowing from higher plains of consciousness into this 3rd Dimensional Realm that we may benefit from the wisdom and bring it into being. It has the power to shape our reality according to the lessons we came here to learn. At least that’s what’s supposed to happen.

For various reasons (far too many to go into here), society has shunted the consciousness of man very firmly into the realm of Lower Mind. Constant distraction, illusionary dreaming and artificial life-styles have created for us an endless amusement arcade that over-stimulates Lower Mind so that it swallows up a great deal of our Soul Consciousness. We’ve been gifted an exquisite symphony orchestra which is being drowned out by an over active base drum!

Higher Mind is much more gentle, subtle, expanded and open. It thrives on soft, abstract, very feminine contemplations; it needs no immediate solutions. It expands and opens, feeling the harmony of the moment like the sensitive tentacles of an ancient sea anenome. It doesn’t need to process, calculate, envision, plan or intention. Such activities are all Lower Mind based. All too frequently they come from a place of non acceptance – of fear.

Higher Mind works from the place of absolute trust – knowing the inevitability of the Divine Design. When it is fully open and acting as it was designed to, it can weave synchronisitic magic through the densest of places, unravel the most complex, gordian knot of tightness, it can move mountains and build a solid path across wafer thin ice. It simply knows which way the Universe is heading and what it’s shaping because it is an integral part of that flow. From my perspective, it’s purpose is…

“To shape the immediate circumstances of one’s life to bring the natural flow of the Universe through our being and therefore shape our reality according to the Divine Design so that we may evolve, learn and express our divine gifts of beingness.”

And here’s how to get Higher Mind working for you…

Let’s imagine for a moment we encounter a “problem” in our lives: for example a difficult situation within a relationship; or it could be our living circumstances where maybe a change of location would best suit our new level of consciousness; or it could be that our career no longer satisfies. Traditional thinking in society would have us rationalise, contemplate the options and then weigh the various factors to arrive at the best solution.

This is to completely disregard the limitless shaping capacity of Higher Mind. It shows lack of trust in Right Outcome and it actually closes down our connection to the higher plains where Higher Mind Functions. Instead, I’ve found Higher Mind works much more effectively from a place of surrendered openness…

“It’s all about letting go of the need for an outcome; it’s about facing our fear that the end result might not be as our lower ego would want it to be; that we might have to confront and overcome self imposed restrictions and limiting beliefs we might hold about ourselves.

From this place of surrendered openness, we may then relax, expand our consciousness and simply bring our attention to the problem; then trust that Higher Mind is shaping the situation according to our highest interests and the best interests of all life.

Having done this, all we then need to do, is ask the question “what would you have me do now?” and watch what our higher self is asking us to do; then to take the next step…that which naturally reveals itself. We will know if we’re following the right path because two things will be revealed…

1. addictive, conditioned and distorted behaviour patterns which dim our light
2. an opportunity to express and unfold our divine gifts of beingness”

This is why it’s so important to follow the synchronicities in life; because we’re attuning to the natural flow and in so doing, the stronger the flow of Right Action becomes. But we don’t have to effort to do this. Efforting turns off this limitless power. Neither will intentioning help matters; that just adds limitation to the Design. It’s as if we’re asking Higher Mind to configure a Rubics cube but with one arm tied behind it’s back!

Letting go of fear, doubt and disbelief
No, we don’t have to vision or intention the outcome. The Right Outcome simply happens. All we have to do is bring our attention to the problem, expand, relax, open and trust that Right Action is beginning to flow through the situation. We have to let go of fear doubt and disbelief. I’m reminded of a powerful incident that happened to me a few years ago…

We’d found a house in Glastonbury which was quite expensive (£695 per month), our earnings were at the time were quite low and it wasn’t at all clear how we could afford it. After the first month, sure enough we didn’t have sufficient funds to pay the rent, however I did have a car that I could live without which was worth around £700. So I felt to sell it and thought the best way might be on the internet through “Auto-trader” – that’s how I’d always done it in the past and traditional thinking would say I’d reach the widest audience.

However, just at the moment I tried to take a photo of the car, the batteries on the camera ran out! I thought to replace them but just as the thought landed in my mind a huge black cloud passed over head and it started to rain. By now it was clear to me that a greater energy was at work – I simply don’t believe in coincidences!

So at this point I completely surrendered to what I should do next. Having asked the question “what would you have me do now?”, I jumped into the car and drove to where I would normally park it – the space was full. I continued driving to the next street but as I drove up it, a car did a sudden U-turn in front of me. It had a “JC” in the number plate and I felt a pull to turn around and follow it. If the Christ Consciousness wants to help me sell my car – so be it!

I was led on a merry journey which took me onto Glastonbury High Street – and as I was driving down it, suddenly a car pulled out in front of me with its hazard warning lights on. I experienced a distinct and sudden knowing to park the car in the freed place.

Here’s where lower mind then kicked it – “maybe I should put a price on it and leave it there?” It seemed like a good idea until doubt and disbelief began to raise their ugly heads “but it could be days before anyone sees it; this all seems a bit like too much chance”. However I overcame their noisy chatter and relaxed. I found pen and paper and priced the car at £700. It was now about 5pm in the evening.

To my great surprise (I’m no longer surprised by the amazing organising power of Higher Mind!), I received a phone call the very next morning at around 9am. A passer-by had seen the car and was interested – he knocked on my door a short while later.

As we shook hands, it was clear there was some kind of connection between us that spanned the passage of time. I invited him in and a deep sharing took place about the meaning of life, the nature of the Universe, even the kitchen sink – but absolutely no mention of the car!

After about three hours, with all conversation exhausted, it seemed like it was time for him to leave and so I asked “what about the car?” We looked at each other, smiled and then doubled up with laughter – we’d forgotten the supposed purpose of our meeting! At which point, he reached into his inside pocket and handed me an envelope with £700 cash in it! He never checked the car, just simply took the log book and keys.

As he was leaving, tears welled up in my eyes. I’d rarely encountered anyone prepared to trust to this level. As he left, I asked him how he managed to come by the car in the first place? To which he replied “oh that’s simple. I thought I was looking for a new home in Glastonbury, but I also needed a car. Your car was parked opposite one of the estate agents. I just followed the pull!”

Needless say the incident was a wonderful and magical lesson for me in trust, the importance of being open to Right Action and having the courage to take the next step no matter how improbable it might seem. It was a while after that I came to realise that our Higher Minds are actually shaping these events for us – when they are open and active.

To me this is what it really means to “walk on water”. Higher Mind can help us in a myriad of ways from doing the school run, speaking our truth to the boss, to confronting a partner about their judgment of us, trusting all the while that a new pathway will be supported by the Universe no matter how unlikely it might appear. To me, this is the real meaning of “abundance” and Yes, miraculous isn’t it!!!

And how then should we best apply Lower Mind to this flowing dynamic? Should we switch it off completely? No. When we are open to the higher realms, Higher Mind begins to shape our reality which may then land in our being as “this is how to be now”. This gets translated into “this is the way to go now”, in other words a “pull” through the heart taking us in a particular direction (assuming we listen to it!). Where Lower Mind fits in, is realising what steps to take – channeling higher consciousness into our lower reality.

Re-activating Higher Mind
So how might we best re-activate Higher Mind? Here is some advice and practical steps we might take…

1. Inner Purification: In order to access Higher Mind in the first place, we must purify our lower bodily vehicles so that Soul Consciousness is liberated from the lower realms and can flow upwards. This involves purifying our diet from the denser vibrations such as meat to the lighter ones of grain, vegetables and fruit. It also involves meditation type practices to cleanse and purify our Emotional Body and Lower Mind. For more advice on raising our energetic vibration, click on this link – Tips on raising my vibration.
2. Dissolving Distortions: We must begin to cleanse the brain and Lower Mind of conditioned behaviour patterns. We must erase the programs in our lives by confronting those moments where we would succumb to them and instead follow our higher truth. This is achieved by becoming the Observer of ourselves in all circumstances, watching our tightness arising as a result of the choices we continually make and instead choosing that which is in our highest interests and that of all life – that which ultimately leaves us more expanded and open. “Openhand Approach” is a powerful method of helping achieve this. Find out more - Openhand Approach.
3. Opening the Heart: We must open the Heart as fully as possible. In other words we must begin to feel more of the natural joy and beauty of life all around us. This involves giving more time each day to those things that bring us joy, openness and expansion. Be careful here though – it’s not a case of “anything goes”. It’s all about what makes us feel truly expanded and liberated inside (without unnatural side effects!). It’s when we feel “in the groove” so to speak. You could also try our moving meditation “The Six Senses Walk - Six Senses Walk
4. Attuning to the flow: Higher Mind can be likened to a muscle; if we don’t use it, it will wither away. To exercise it, we have to give room for spontaneous acts of higher knowing within our lives. Here at Openhand we play a game called “free wheeling”, being open, asking “what would you have me do now?”, following the pull and witnessing what signs and synchronicities we then observe. It’s a powerful exercise to activate Higher Mind and attune to the natural flow. Quite apart from that, it can be great fun!
5. Contemplating Abstractions: Higher Mind can also be opened by contemplating abstract issues such as the meaning of life. The key is that there be no need of an outcome or solution. Simple enjoyment in the contemplation is the key. That’s why reading about spiritual matters can be so valuable. That’s one of the purposes of our book “Gateways of Light”
6. Cultivating humour and optimism: If we expect our lives to falter and for negativity to happen to us, then surely enough we’ll create that in our lives. Here at Openhand we believe success is measured by the degree of internal harmony, contentment and satisfaction we experience. If we’re open to a more optimistic way of looking at things, then surely enough, Higher Mind will help us realise the solution to the supposed ‘problem’ thereby yielding greater harmony. Cultivating a greater sense of humour is also paramount to Higher Mind creation – laughing in the face of life’s difficulties, always looking for the lighter side. Speaking of which, have you read our humour thread - click here.
7. Creating for the fun of it: We can begin to ‘flex’ Higher Mind by creating just for the fun of it. So for example taking up the arts, playing a musical instrument, singing, dancing, painting, writing, building or modeling. The key is that there be no effort for an outcome. So for example, if we’re learning to play the guitar, it’s not about the tune we play, it’s just about playing with sound and seeing what comes from it. If we’re efforting to learn chords, it’s likely this will constrict Higher Mind, not unleash it. It’s the same reason that so many people like to write. Have you thought about contributing your creative thoughts to our forum for example? It can help amazingly - Openhand Forum.

Feeling the way forwards
Many of society’s most successful artists also come from the place of Higher Mind channeling spontaneous higher wisdom expressed in a third dimensional way. We just know higher truth when we experience it don’t we? It’s packed with deep, heart felt feelings, stirring emotions and powerful love.

Synchronistically as I was writing this I felt moved to take a break, play some music and dance (even though it was 4am in the morning!). I took out my ipod put the music on shuffle and let higher consciousness pick the tune for me. It came up with this song “Search for the Hero inside yourself”…

“In this life, long and hard though it may seem,
Live it as you’d live a dream. Aim so high.
Just keep the flame of truth burning bright,
The missing treasure you must find.

Because you, and only you alone
Can build a bridge across the stream.
Weave your spell in life’s rich tapestry -
Your passport to a feel supreme.”

Ah yes! nectar for the soul! So why not give it a try? Open to the so called “problems” in our lives; contemplate them without efforting; trust that the weave is being woven; then simply take the natural path that reveals itself.

What have we got to lose?

About the Author
At the age of 40 Chris was involved in a life threatening car crash in which he thought he would certainly die. This precipitated total inner surrender and a rapid reconnection with the conscious life force through all things.
He found himself suddenly able to experience and contemplate through multiple dimensions of reality to see the deeper purpose of life itself. He began to remember his true reason for being here.
He explains…
“During the crash, time seemed to slow right down and I was guided back through key moments of my life. I was realising that every moment in our lives has but one underlying purpose – to reveal an aspect of truth about ourselves to ourselves. I was beginning to dissolve every belief and value our society had conditioned within me.”
“This was my initial awakening to the magical unifying consciousness of the soul. Over the eight years that followed, I was guided through four other inner ‘Gateways’ of consciousness. I have since come to know the process as the five key expansions on our journey of Enlightenment and ultimate Ascension into multi dimensional living – our divine birthright”.
Prior to the crash, Chris had a rich an varied professional career in industry, in teaching, as an Officer in the Army and finally as a web development entrepreneur before being initiated on his spiritual path. With a Masters Degree in Natural Sciences from Oxford University, participants in the work are finding his integration of grounded scientific understanding and profound spiritual realisation deeply engaging and transformative.
Openhand Foundation
Catalysing our Spiritual Evolution
http://www.openhandweb.org
http://wakeup-world.com/2012/01/25/creating-from-higher-mind/

 

5 Ways to Thrive When Life Feels Chaotic and Uncertai

By Katherine McHugh

“All great changes are preceded by chaos.” ~Deepak Chopra
A personal tempest blew through the doors and windows of my life and I am forever changed. Think major upheaval in every area of your life. Conjure Dorothy Gale, Robinson Crusoe, Job, yeah them.
In the process, I’ve learned that the disorienting storms of life are not just about survival but of learning to thrive. It is not in spite of daunting circumstances that we grow but because of them.
For three years, painful and unexpected events descended all at once. My long-term marriage, often filled with anger, hurt, mistrust, and not surprisingly, a lack of intimacy, was imploding. My teenage son, who had been very ill, was hospitalized.
In the midst of this, my three children and I moved from our family home of 20 years to a new town. When things seemed to quiet down, my eldest daughter was diagnosed with a chronic and life altering disease. Oh, yes, and I was restarting a career.
Chaos. The utter confusion left in in its wake caused me to stop and reevaluate many of my assumptions about myself and life.
What made this period even more difficult to endure was a sense of abandonment by some whom I thought would always be there, yet perhaps through a sense of helplessness or their own fears could not. Maybe they thought I was contagious. I started to wonder about that myself.
The irony of all of this was, through the lens of the outside world, my life had been seemingly idyllic before. Or had it?
I began to see that my tendency to avoid chaos at all costs lead me right into the belly of it. As humans, we desire harmony and seek order, in our surroundings, our relationships, and in our daily routines. We all crave certainty.
I found the paradox is that when you cling to the illusion of safety, you chain your ability to change.
I also discovered several anchors that kept me grounded in the midst of feeling uprooted. In fact, they never failed me.
Here is what I’ve learned that “worked’ consistently:

1. Surrender.

This is a difficult concept to grasp on an emotional level. This is because when we are experiencing turmoil, we are hard wired evolutionarily to fight or to flee. This response served us very well when we were being chased by a saber tooth tiger.
Unfortunately, it creates more conflict internally. It takes courage to allow strong uncomfortable feelings, whether they be grief, anger, or loneliness to just be, instead of trying to force them away. But acceptance brings relief.

2. Meditate.

Someone once told me to meditate as if my life depended on it. I do, because it does. Desperation does wonders. My more formal practice consists of 20 minutes in the morning and 20 minutes in the early evening, sitting quietly and focusing on my breathing. If my mind is especially active on any given day, I use my “mantra” (the word joy) as I breathe.
Throughout the day, I strive to practice mindfulness, which simply means to bring my full presence to all that I do. Conscious attention to each activity and interaction brings a calm to my mind and heart. It brings me back to myself.
Another meditation technique I found to be extremely helpful during a sea change of hard times is the meditative practice called tonglen.
Our pain can feel such a heavy burden at times. Tonglen helps by easing the sometimes intense sense of our own suffering by powerfully connecting us with the struggles of others.
Instead of primarily focusing on our own set of difficulties, we purposefully visualize and take on the suffering of others on the in-breath and release happiness for them on the out breath.
It may sound counterintuitive, but I found it relieved me of my own sense of isolation and gave me the gift of perspective. It also helps me to develop greater compassion for myself and others.

3. Observe nature.

When a storm is coming, they hunker down. They prepare the best they can. Birds’ nests and beavers’ dams are fortified. Food is foraged. They don’t foolishly (read: egotistically) try to soldier on.
They wait it out. They trust the process.
When our own personal storms occur, we simply do what we need to do to protect ourselves. For me, that means to stop rushing around accomplishing “one more thing.” I take safety in the shelter of my own home, having stores of healthy and comfort food on hand, books and magazines for fun and for personal growth to read, and the perennial elixir, bath salts, to recharge.
I do not have to fully understand in the moment why or how the storm came to be or if there is a lesson to be learned from it. I simply have to get out of harm’s way. We can analyze to no avail now knowledge that will come effortlessly to us in retrospect.

4. Lean on others.

We all know that family and friends are often a precious salve during times of crisis, change, or loss. Reach out. Stay connected. And realize that if you can’t immediately find someone to give you the kind of support you need, there are those to help you see the situation with new eyes.
People came into my life during this period, serendipitously so, who were engaging, loving, and continue to help me expand and grow. The universe opens up a host of unexpected resources when you risk being vulnerable.

5. Keep the insights.

Some amazing realizations emerge during these times of struggle. We learn what’s truly important and to let the rest go.
Cliché as it may sound, my health and well-being and those that I love are paramount and I treat them as such. It’s very difficult to be happy or effect positive changes in the world if you are in some state of dis-ease.
I’ve discovered the vitality of finding moments and experiences in life’s everyday activities that lift my spirit and make me smile. My morning cup of coffee, the soft fur on my old dog’s face, the bright pink rose bush against the white picket fence out my study window, all perfect in their simple abundance.
As I practiced healthy behaviors like meditation, exercising, eating well, and other avenues available on the road of loving self-care, I began to heal and see situations improving.
I also discovered that in order to cultivate this deeper, more meaningful life, I found I must maintain these practices. When things are going well, I tend to relax my vigilance. Some of the old behaviors of mismanaging stress creep in. Complacency has been a stubborn roadblock on the journey.
There is where change can be my friend. It doesn’t allow me to be complacent. If change is accepted in this spirit, it can be a catalyst for greatness. Buddhist nun Pema Chodron affirms that “to be fully alive, fully human, and completely awake is to be continually thrown out of the nest.” In fact, it is the only way to learn how to fly.
Looking back on my life before all the chaos, I realized I was chasing status in my work and even my family life, and choosing security (an illusion at best) over listening to my heart.
Now I listen without jumping to conclusions or searching for quick fix solutions. I enjoy strong and vibrant relationships with my children, knowing I don’t ultimately control outcomes. I am currently in a partnership where we encourage each other to grow and risk and be vulnerable.
My work is now more like a calling than a job, providing me with rare and wonderful opportunities to engage with people about their own personal journeys and how they make meaning in their life.
I am amazed by the profound ways my life has “taken off,” unimagined by me, still in mid-flight.
Photo by Eddi van W

THE WORLD'S GREATEST LOVER ╰დ╮╭დ╯

Heaven yes!

 THE WORLD'S GREATEST LOVER ╰დ╮╭დ╯

I guarantee if you follow these 8 Steps you'll become a wildly accomplished lover, able to give your woman the most mind-blowing, sheet-gripping, ear-splitting, window-rattling, multi-climactic experiences of her life, every time, time after time.


1. BE TRUSTWORTHY

Women open themselves physically to a man they trust emotionally. If you lie, cheat, rage or if you're insecure about your worth as a man or a lover she can sense it and will never fully open herself to you.

Beyond being a good human being, a decent father and a nice guy, you must know who you are and live with the conviction of your purpose, both in your work and with your woman.

*This is the key to a woman trusting you with her body.


2. LISTEN

If she doesn't believe you care about her outside of the bedroom she'll never trust you with the secrets of her erotic pleasures inside the bedroom. How you respond to the things she tells you about her concerns about work, her friends, the kids and her family will determine how secure she feels to scream out in ecstasy.

If you don't have the time or the interest to understand her mind it will remain closed to you.

*This is the key to her sharing her erotic desires.


3. HOLD HER LIKE YOU'RE A MAN

Stand in the fire of her heat and prove that among all men you're *her* man. Take it until she has cooled. Don't cower, don't run, and don't shout her down. Hold her in a way that her fiercest emotions are absorbed by the depth of your love.

Embrace her chill. Wrap her into yourself until her fear and insecurities are erased by the warmth of your unconditional love. Be the one who she can count on to accept and embrace her no matter how she's feeling and reassure her you'll be with her through to the other side.

*This is the key to opening the depths of her soul.


4. THANK HER

For everything she does that wouldn't happen if you were alone, thank her. Nothing is owed to you so take nothing for granted. A relationship isn't about score keeping. Great lovers see relationships as 100/100 not 50/50.

Thank her with your words, the occasional gift, your touch and most of all with your eyes. She reads the depth of your love through the windows of your eyes.

*This is the secret to your woman wanting to fulfill your every desire.


5. TOUCH HER

Reach over in the morning and stroke her without intent. Touch her hand, squeeze her hip, or kiss her neck when you brush by. Demonstrate by your actions that you find her irresistible.

Needy stroking to coax her into the mood is never necessary when every touch you give her is filled with confident love. Let your touch be an energy of what you give rather than a signal of what you desire.

*This is the key to making every touch one a woman responds to.


6. SEE HER

Take her in with your eyes. Steal a glance when she's not looking. Gaze at her with profound pleasure as she comes to meet you and when you hold her in your embrace look past her eyes and into the soul of the woman you adore.

It's a look of recognition, acceptance, love and understanding that defies words. It holds a power beyond the statement, "I love you". Seeing her goes deeper, it's about knowing every quirk, having seen every imperfection, living through life's stresses together and still having the peace and trust of total understanding and acceptance.

*This is the secret to her opening her eyes and connecting her soul to yours in the most intense moments of love making.


7. CLAIM HER

Overwhelm her with your love, claim her with your kiss, thrill her with the way you never stop dating her and make her blush with your compliments.

Choose a woman that makes you want to live life fiercely, whose existence in yours makes you want to be a better man and when you take her, claim her with a passion that leaves no doubt that there's nothing you wouldn't do to leave her the most satisfied woman on earth.

*This is the key to finding her open to your most intense passion and to yielding to your fiercest desire.


8. NEVER STOP

Always be trustworthy, listen to her daily, thank her for the little things, touch her when she isn't expecting it, hold her no matter what, claim her every time like it will be the last, and see her through the eyes only a lover has.

As a lover you don't stop until you have shown her over and over that you will never have your full of her and that there could not possibly be a man so adoring or consumed with passion for what she offers you.

*This is how you will discover a woman whose desire exceeds your own, whose appetite is never quenched, and who is convinced that her man is the greatest lover on earth.

༺♥༻ Graham R White ╰დ╮╭დ╯

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/7-tips-to-love-where-you-are-right-now/

I AM YOU ARE GOD IS

I am , within, above, below and center. I am everything and I am everyone.

I am without desire, without fear .

I am a reflection of you,

Do you remember ?

I met you just before sunrise

in the midnight hours of the soul

I am here . now, in this moment

providing you with insight

lighting up the darkness,

occupying space

revealing illusions

dedicating each breath and heartbeat to authentic freedom.

I invite you outside the confines of belief,

into witnessing the magic of life .

I am opening to whatever this experience brings

I have taken a stand and I have chosen to walk into the vast , the unknown ,

naked and free . I feel connected to all that is , you are and I am .

I walk down the road , meeting many , all who share with me a little about myself.

I am , within, , above, below and center. I am everything and I am everyone.

I am going deeper down into the core of my being, without desire or expectation of outcome , without fear of what may or may not happen , or what others think about me .

I am that I am

I will always be , no matter what .

mysteriousmuse 2013

Consider the awareness of your multidimensionality

Consider the awareness of your multidimensionality. You are here in a hologame on planet earth, responsible for the physical vehicle in which you dwell, confined by beliefs of the limitations of this reality. You are also connected to the galaxy and respond to the energy matrix offered. You are able to read the energy of another being, taking in data and interfacing with other beings at all times; exchanging information, ideas, and weavings of energy. You travel through time in a moment returning to the past, zooming to the future, however, you only touch the time line briefly and usually you touch it with regret or worry.
You have the ability to step into any hologame and experience that reality, with all its taste, smells, feelings and sights, and live it so to speak. However, in this current third dimension reality you have mimicked this multidimensional ability with the movies and television.
...
Use the example of the physical body as a metaphor. Image that within the body, this physical life you are now focused on, your dimension of awareness is only one cell. Your life, your NOW is only one cell. Yet you and the others you interact with are truly multidimensional. The multidimensional self creates, nurtures, and sustains the whole in a very complex delicate balance.

You as the one cell are not aware of all the others tasks or other realities the total body participates in. There is the reality of the bones, the reality of skin, the reality of the heart, the liver, the circulation system these are all just aspects of the multidimensional reality of the body. There is the brain, the thoughts, the feelings, the memories and on and on. Yet the one cell awareness is not fully conscious of all that continues to take place.

This human life is your focus, yet it is only one cell of your total magnificent multidimensional self. There is much going on at all times that you do not recognize because of your veiled awareness and belief systems. There are frequencies, matrixes, and realities that exist in which you are very active. Yet the one cell you focus on resists this expansion or does not even know of the others' existence.

Expand your awareness. It is much easier than one might imagine. You do it often, now just recognize when you have shifted.

~ Peggy Black and the Team
www.morningmessages.com

the master mason

Every true Mason has come into the realization that there is but one Lodge – that is, the Universe – and but one Brotherhood, composed of everything that moves or exists in any of the planes of Nature. He realizes that the Temple of Solomon is really the Temple of the Solar Man -Sol-Om-On – the King of the Universe manifesting through his three primordial builders. He realizes that his vow of brotherhood and fraternity is universal, and that mineral, plant, animal, and man are all included in the true Mas onic Craft. His duty as an elder brother to all the kingdoms of Nature beneath him is well understood by the true Craftsman, who would rather die than fail in this, his great obligation. He has dedicated his life upon the altar of his God and is willing and glad to serve the lesser through the powers he has gained from the greater. The mystic Mason, in building the eyes that see behind the apparent ritual, recognizes the oneness of life manif esting through the diversity of form.

The true disciple of ancient Masonry has given up forever the worship of personalities. With his greater insight, he realizes that all forms and their position in material affairs are of no importance to him compared to the life which is evolving within. Those who allow appearances or worldly expressions to deter them from their self-appointed tasks are failures in Masonry, for Masonry is an abstract science of spiritual unfoldment. Material prosperity is not the measure of soul growth. The true Mason r ealizes that behind these diverse forms there is one connected Life Principle, the spark of God in all living things. It is this Life which he considers when measuring the worth of a brother. It is to this Life that he appeals for a recognition of spiritual Unity. He realizes that it is the discovery of this spark of Unity which makes him a conscious member of the Cosmic Lodge. Most of all, he must learn to understand that this divine spark shines out as brightly from the body of a foe as it does from t he dearest friend. The true Mason has learned to be divinely impersonal in thought, action, and desire.

The true Mason is not creed-bound. He realizes with the divine illumination of his lodge that as Mason his religion must be universal: Christ, Buddha or Mohammed, the name means little, for he recognizes only the light and not the bearer. He worships at every shrine, bows before every altar, whether in temple, mosque or cathedral, realizing with his truer understanding the oneness of all spiritual truth. All true Masons know that they only are heathen who, having great ideals, do not live up to them. Th ey know that all religions are but one story told in divers ways for peoples whose ideals differ but whose great purpose is in harmony with Masonic ideals. North, east, south and west stretch the diversities of human thought, and while the ideals of man apparently differ, when all is said and the crystallization of form with its false concepts is swept away, one basic truth remains: all existing things are Temple Builders, laboring for a single end. No true Mason can be narrow, for his Lodge is the divine expression of all broadness. There is no place for little minds in a great work.

The true Mason must develop the powers of observation. He must seek eternally in all the manifestations of Nature for the things which he has lost because he failed to work for them. He must become a student of human nature and see in those around him the unfolding and varying expressions of one connected spiritual Intelligence. The great spiritual ritual of his lodge is enacted before him in every action of his fellow man. The entire Masonic initiation is an open secret, for anyone can see it played ou t on the city street corners as well as in the untracked wilderness. The Mason has sworn that every day he will extract from life its message for him and build it into the temple of his God. He seeks to learn the things which will make him of greater service in the Divine Plan, a better instrument in the hands of the Great Architect, who is laboring eternally to unfold life through the medium of living things. The Mason realizes, moreover, tha t his vows, taken of his own free will and accord, give him th e divine opportunity of being a living tool in the hands of a Master Workman.

The true Master Mason enters his lodge with one thought uppermost in his mind: “How can I, as an individual, be of greater use in the Universal Plan? What can I do to be worthy to comprehend the mysteries which are unfolded here? How can I build the eyes to see the things which are concealed from those who lack spiritual understanding?” The true Mason is supremely unselfish in every expression and application of the powers that have been entrusted to him. No true Brother seeks anything for himself, but uns elfishly labors for the good of all. No person who assumes a spiritual obligation for what he can get out of it is worthy of applying for the position even of water-carrier. The true Light can come only to those who, asking nothing, gladly give all to it.

The true brother of the Craft, while constantly striving to improve himself, mentally, physically, and spiritually through the days of his life, never makes his own desires the goal for his works. He has a duty and that duty is to fit into the plans of another. He must be ready at any hour of the day or night to drop his own ideals at the call of the Builder. The work must be done and he has dedicated his life to the service of those who know the bonds of neither time nor space. He must be ready at any moment’s notice and his life should be turned into preparing himself for that call which may come when he least expects it. The Master Mason knows that those most useful to the Plan are those who have gained the most from the practical experiences of life. It is not what goes on within the tiled lodge which is the basis of his greatness, but rather the way in which he meets the problems of daily life. The true Masonic student is known by his brotherly a ctions and common sense.

Every Mason knows that a broken vow brings with it a terrible penalty. Let him also realize that failure to live mentally, spiritually, and morally up to one’s highest ideals constitutes the greatest of all broken oaths. When a Mason swears that he will devote his life to the building of his Father’s house and then defiles his living temple through the perversion of mental power, emotional force, and active energy, he is breaking a vow which imposes not hours but ages of misery. If he is worthy to be a M ason, he must be great enough to restrain the lower side of his own nature which is daily murdering his Grand Master. He must realize that a misdirected life is a broken vow and that daily service, purification, and the constructive application of energy is a living invocation which builds within and draws to him the power of the Creator. His life is the only prayer acceptable in the eyes of the Most High. An impure life is a broken trust; a destructive action is a living curse; a narrow mind is a strang le-cord around the throat of God.

All true Masons know that their work is not secret, but they realize that it must remain unknown to all who do not live the true Masonic life. Yet if the so-called secrets of Freemasonry were shouted from the housetops, the Fraternity would be absolutely safe; for certain spiritual qualities are necessary before the real Masonic secrets can be understood by the brethren themselves. Hence it is that the alleged “exposures” of Freemasonry, printed by the thousands and tens of thousands since 1730 down to the present hour, cannot injure the Fraternity. They reveal merely the outward forms and ceremonies of Freemasonry. Only those who have been weighed in the balance and found to be true, upright, and square have prepared themselves by their own growth to appreciate the inner meanings of their Craft. To the rest of their brethren within or without the lodge their sacred rituals must remain, as Shakespeare might have said, “Words, words, words.” Within the Mason’s own being is concealed the Power, which, blazi ng forth from his purified being, constitutes the Builder’s Word. His life is the sole password which admits him to the true Masonic Lodge. His spiritual urge is the sprig of acacia which, through the darkness of ignorance, still proves that the spiritual fire is alight. Within himself he must build those qualities which will make possible his true understanding of the Craft. He can show the world only forms which mean nothing; the life within is fo rever concealed until the eye of Spirit reveals it.

The Master Mason realizes charity to be one of the greatest traits which the Elder Brothers have unfolded, which means not only properly regulated charity of the purse but charity in thought and action. He realizes that all the workmen are not on the same step, but wherever each may be, he is doing the best he can according to his light. Each is laboring with the tools that he has, and he, as a Master Mason, does not spend his time in criticizing but in helping them to improve their tools. Instead of bla ming poor tools, let us always blame ourselves for having them. The Master Mason does not find fault; he does not criticize nor does he complain, but with malice towards none and charity towards all he seeks to be worthy of his Father’s trust. In silence he labors, with compassion he suffers, and if the builders strike him as he seeks to work with them, his last word will be a prayer for them. The greater the Mason, the more advanced in his Craft, the more fatherly he grows, the walls of his Lodge broade ning out until all living things are sheltered and guarded within the blue folds of his cape. From laboring with the few he seeks to assist all, realizing with his broader understanding the weaknesses of others but the strength of right.

A Mason is not proud of his position. He is not puffed up by his honor, but with a sinking heart is eternally ashamed of his own place, realizing that it is far below the standard of his Craft. The farther he goes, the more he realizes that he is standing on slippery places and if he allows himself for one moment to lose his simplicity and humility, a fall is inevitable. A true Mason never feels himself worthy of his Craft. A student may stand on the top of Fool’s Mountain self-satisfied in his position , but the true Brother is always noted for his simplicity.

A Mason cannot be ordained or elected by ballot. He is evolved through ages of self-purification and spiritual transmutation. There are thousands of Masons who are brethren in name only, for their failure to exemplify the ideals of their Craft makes them unresponsive to the teachings and purpose of Freemasonry. The Masonic life forms the first key of the Temple and without this key, none of the doors can be opened. When this fact is better realized and lived, Freemasonry will awake, and speak the Word s o long withheld. The speculative Craft will then become operative, and the Ancient Wisdom so long concealed will rise from the ruins of its temple as the greatest spiritual truth yet revealed to man.

The true Master Mason recognizes the value of seeking for truth wherever he can find it. It makes no difference if it be in the enemy’s camp; if it be truth, he will go there gladly to secure it. The Masonic Lodge is universal; therefore all true Masons will seek through the extremities of creation for their Light. The true brother of the Craft knows and applies one great paradox. He must search for the high things in lowly places and find the lowly things in high places. The Mason who feels holier than his fellow man has raised a barrier around himself through which no light can pass, for the one who in truth is the greatest is the servant of all. Many brethren make a great mistake in building a wall around their secrets, for they succeed only in shutting out their own light. Their divine opportunity is at hand. The time has come when the world needs the Ancient Wisdom as never before. Let the Mason stand forth and by living the doctrines which he preaches show to his brother man the glory of his work. He holds the keys to truth; let him unlock the door, and with his life and not his words preach the doctrine which he has so long professed.

The Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man were united in the completion of the Eternal Temple, the Great Work, for which all things came into being and through which all shall glorify their Creator.

MASONS, AWAKE!

Your creed and your Craft demand the best that is in you. They demand the sanctifying of your life, the regeneration of your body, the purification of your soul, and the ordination of your spirit. Yours is the glorious opportunity; yours is the divine responsibility. Accept your task and follow in the footsteps of the Master Masons of the past, who with the flaming spirit of the Craft have illumined the world. You have a great privilege – the privilege of illumined labor. You may know the ends to which you work, while others must struggle in darkness. Your labors are not to be confined to the tiled Lodge alone, for a Mason must radiate the qualities of his Craft. Its light must shine in his home and in his business, glorifying his association with his fellow men. In the Lodge and out of the Lodge, the Mason must represent the highest fruitage of sincere endeavor.