Rekindling Original Passion for the Way

A message is being received via environmental archetypal interpretations. It is being sent through your nightdreams. It is this: You need to work assiduously and conscientiously. When the truth (the nature of Reality) was first introduced to you, you focused upon it with great enthusiasm, excitement, and passion! But now, it has somehow become "ordinary." The Mind is calling upon you to rekindle your original passion that you had when the message/discovery/Way was fresh and new!
Your path needs to become the allconsuming flame at the very zenith of your Mind. The specific need is to work on the cultivation and development of more emotional warmth, especially in matters of honest, fearless, nondefensive Love.

There is a strong need to stimulate or to ignite the fires of the first and original passion that you felt for Spirit in the beginning. The Spirit of Mind and Love wants to become your magnificent obsession. Working with a "shaman" is not necessarily the best way to develop these qualities. Instead, the need is for you to work with your inner and very deep Self. In doing this, a primary goal needs to be social, spiritual, and emotional independence. Developing a "cathecsis" (dependence) upon an "outer teacher" would be an antiprogressive step, moving backwards. The Center of life wants again to be your Center. Let It/Him/Her live in and through you, possess you, as gentle, tender Love.

Grab the Joy and Fun!

If there is ever any way to be kind to yourself, or to increase your fun in life, I say go for it-- as long as it doesn't hurt anyone else! Life is tough enough,and we should give ourselves little gifts and breaks whenever possible. We should make our lives as easy and convenient as feasible. For loving the self is also genuine Love, real God. Keep cultivating detachment, and that will help you get along better with the challenges of interactions with others. Using acognitive therapy (pervasive meditation) to reach the state of Teflonmind can be an enormous help! As far as being with other people in a social setting, I find that silent smiling goes a long way, and keeps interactions simple and uncomplicated.

Communicating: From Mouth to Ear

A rather subtle and obscure lesson faces us every day. We all come across it: Every message has several components. These include: the intent of the message-giver, the natural distortions and multiple meanings of words, and the interpretations of the receiver. These vary all over the place. A person seeking to be attacked, even for subconscious reasons, will find that everyone is attacking her. A person seeking praise will also find it everywhere. So will a person who looks for Love.

We have limited choices. We also are unable to express with crystalclarity. We also are equally unable to interpret everyone with similar lucidity. So, I choose to give people the benefit of the doubt, the widest latitude. Unless they make it undeniably clear that they mean otherwise, I try to accept them as doing their honest, loving best! It makes it a bit easier to live in this "crazy" world with sanity! So, coat everything with sugar, and manifest the most loving, gentle, tender, soft, compassionate, empathic responses that you can devise. Misunderstandings will still arise. For no matter how clearly you express yourself, the capacity to misunderstand and misinterpret is still greater!

The lesson is to minimize crossed wires. Yes, "neutrality" is not the answer, as it is often mistaken for aloofness, irresponsivity, apathy, or complacency. So, it often comes across as unconcern, or even hostility. It's a bit too "vulcan" for the average human being.

What people want, and often demand, is that you "take sides" and be on their side, even if there is no objective reason for you to do so. It becomes a test, not of the reason or validity of their position, but of your loyalty. And it is just easier to play this game, and soothe their feelings, than to try for supreme or consistent logic. For people pay lipservice to reason, but that is never how they run their lives. Great lesson!

The Way: A Summary

Is a mystic known by doctrines? No, she is known by behaviors--specifically, those of compassion, support, kindness, and goodness. In a word, she is known not by what she believes, but by how she loves. The word "doctrine" is a major turn-off for many people. For they were reared in a system in which "right doctrine" was more important than Love. They also equate "doctrine" with "dogma." We know that the Way is a Way of life, not a set of beliefs.

Stilll, the Way does have some teachings. This gives it intercultural cohesion, and links mystics into the same tradition over the centuries. We will here look briefly at some mystical traditions or teachings. One is that of the "grand man." It goes back to at least fifteenth-century Jewish Kabbalism. The divine "macrocosm" was embodied in the "archetype" of "Adam Kadmon." The Mind that is God has a very large "human" component, and this is what Adam Kadmon symbolized. And this is expressed in creation.

"Ego," is the major fictional construct, or obsstacle, that "separates" human nature, conceptually, from the inner Divine. But this mystical teaching of the "body of God" within Mind should never be literalized, to imply that God, the Infinite, has a measurable or limited spacetime "body." For some, ignorant of mystical symbolism, have done precisely this. The Mormons, for example, have an analogous idea that God has some kind of material structure limited by spacetime. They embrace the ludicrosity that God has a "body" made of flesh and bones only, since Paul wrote that "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom." But the truth is, of course, that God is entirely above and outside of spacetime altogether.

God is called the "One," or "one Mind." Mystics seem at times obsessed with the "one Mind." "Mind" implies the psychospiritual. Of course the analogy between "microcosm" and "macrocosm" goes all the way back to the Hermetic writings, in their most famous aphorism, "As above, so below." This implies that the physical world reflects Mind, like an accurate mirror.

The Mind is the "One" of Plotinus and overall mystical tradition. Mysticism is a subsystem of the philosophy called "monism." Stated simply, monism states that there is only One Mind that is absolutely real. Everything else flows from That One. And that Mind, often equated with God, has no real opposite. The implication is that God is all that is, all that really exists. All mystics are in fullest agreement. Thus, as the Dreamer of the cosmos, God is actually "truth" or Reality. In mysticism, "Reality" is one of the names for "God."

Buddhists were using a Sanscrit term rendered, "Supreme doctrine" for this foundational mystical teaching. This was centuries before the birth of Jesus. Since monism is the matrix teaching or core-teaching of mysticism, its opposite, dualism, is the source of every other error. What is dualism? It is the false belief that anything or anyone can exist "separate" from the One, from Coremind, Lovemind, the Absolute. Moving "beyond duality," is the very crux of the mystical awakening.

Here is how that happens: First, the mystic awakens to the fact that there is nothing real but Mind; secondly, she becomes aware that the nucleus and substance of this Mind is Love. Third, she is enlightened to the fact that, because she has a mind, she has Mind, as It has her. So, she becomes the Love-center of her own cosmos, which in effect is the cosmos. Fourth, she comes to know that this inner Mind, Reality, has no real opposite. (She becomes a monist.)

The positive respect, even awe-struck admiration, for both Hinduism and Buddhism, arises from the mystic's recognition that these are essentially mystical, rather than merely doctrinal, faiths. The deepest Unconscious, they recognize, is filled with beauty, intelligence, wisdom, and Love.

The lifegoal of the Enlightenment Tradition is the dissolution of personal identity. This is gradually to be replaced by identification with a much deeper Self of enormous beauty, wisdom, and a galaxy of Love.


In Hindu symbolism, all the gods and goddesses are symbols of aspects of the One, Brahman. Hinduism is not polytheism, but polymorphic monotheism; the difference is critical. Ganesh or Ganesha is our favorite among the incarnation-symbols of the One.

The great platinum mystical classics of Hinduism are the Upanishads. In fact, Part V of luminous Jewels of Love and Light, in Volume 2, is a commentary on these beautiful Scriptures. The Upanishads are so deep, so mystical, that just reading them can be an uplifting, cleansing, healing experience! And of course the "Lord of Love" of the Upanishads is the One. "He" or He/She is both the "manifested and the unmanifested." This reality is world and mind, cosmos and psyche.

Western religions are much more into the "externals." But they still present a rich heritage and powerful literature of spirituality that concerns itself with mysticism.

The "Buddha-nature" ("Christ-nature") lives within all of us, and Buddhism is primarily mystical psychology. Buddhism concerns how we sense, and so, co-create, our personal cosmos, and then, choose to react to that karmically-formed universe. But we must be careful not to replace the actual experience of the deep Lovemind with mere concepts about It. This is Zen, in a nutshell.

Buddhism speaks of the real Mind-nature. It alone is real. The egoself is a mere fiction. Mystics call ego a "role" or "mask" worn by the higher or deeper Self (Soul). Buddhism is a treasure of spirituality, and Western religion could indeed use much more of this.

The West has produced a gigantic codex of mystical literature. This is seen in the gnostic (Christian) and Kabbalist (Jewish) bodies of tradition, both of which are purely mystical. So has Islam, in the "jewels" of that faith, the Sufis.

Mysticism rejects both asceticism (selftorment) and dualism (separate being). This shows a deeper understanding of the Enlightenment Tradition and the Middle Way.

The "Urantia Book"

The Urantia Book is a huge book of 2015 rather large pages, written in a "style" that is almost unreadable. Ostensibly, it is supposed to have something to do with "spirituality." But, in reality, it is a book largely devoid of true spirituality. Original ideas of any kind are mostly absent. A cult has predictably formed around it as the "new Bible," or "new revelation of God for the new age." It is mostly dull rehashings of history and religion, with a touch of Medieval angelology and demonology thrown in for color. The whole massive tome could probably be written more comprehensibly and comprehensively in two hundred pages, but there's no book like a big book! More "impressive," don't you know?

It is mostly very boring. It shares nothing really new, although it does become radically speculative in parts. Its writers, who might have been embarrassed at its claims of extraterrestriality, but who more likely, saw this as a plus, are unknown. True believers swallow the idea that it has some kind of supernatural or extraterrestrial origin. I do not believe that either spooks or aliens had anything to do with its production. In fact, such a work could easily have been written by one man during a lifetime. Its loyal "followers" prefer a "golly gee whiz' aint it wonderful" approach that I fine naive and sometimes even gullible.

It shares analogs with the "Course in Miracles" book. Btw, a cult has also formed around this. Neither book is exactly worthless, but neither deserves the approbation, not to mention adoration, of sophomoric followers who elevate them to the position of divine status. If you are curious, I would recommend that you get a copy and read, at least, parts of it, for yourself. Followers used to distribute the book for a very nominal cost, and often bring it to regular Urantia conventions. Some of the cultists even bring the book to new-age fairs and festivals.

Worth reading? No, not the whole thing-- which would take days. The book never says clearly in ten words what it can say obscurely in a hundred! In that way, it is precisely like other "channeled" works. Any further questions, please ask!

Parable of the Two Inner Wolves

A Cherokee wise man taught his grandson about life:

"A fight is going on inside me, between two wolves. One is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority and ego.

"The other is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.

This same fight is occurring in every other person, too."

The grandson asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

He replied, "The one you feed."

*******
Purina Wolf Chow comes in two varieties: Love feeds the higher wolf, and fear, Love's apparent opposite, feeds the lower. Both, at any rate, feed on thoughts.

"Eternal now"

Has not the Goddess blessed us with most gorgeous and silent nights of sweet snow? It is exhilarating to be enfolded by the bright sweetness of the pristine blanket of dazzling white! She reminds us of how pure the world could be! How fresh the crystals that cover the world, how crisp, bright, and brisk!

The wedding of Tom Shumaker and Anita Owens, where we did the Six-direction Ceremony, was magnificent! Weather was absolutely perfect on the Solstice, on Tuesday, thanks to that same Goddess!

Symbolically, the Winter Solstice has always symbolized the interior awakening of the Light, for, starting on that shortest day of the year, the light of day increases by about one minute every day. So, it has always been a celebration of the renewal and resurrection of the interior Light of Love.

Love allows us to release the past. Attempting sincerely to let go of the "past" is allowing an illusion to fade. No one can thrive, or even live her life, on illusion. One of the goals of the mystical llife is to remind us that ONLY NOW is real. This continual reminder allows us to awaken to what is real ("truth"), and to invest every micropsychon of Mind in the now. Timenergy sent into the black hole of the "past" is simply a drain on our limited lifenergy, and returns inevitably with
empty hands. Craving, whether for the present or, especially, for the past, is recognized by mystics as a "hadeogenic" (hell-creating) state. So, we must often peel our sticky fingers from their terrible glue-like grip on the illusion of the past, and shake ourselves awake to reality, which is always and only now. But forgiveness is the right path, and now, must be multiplied in power by the addition of Teflonmind, through the nonstop practice of acognitive therapy.

So, instead of indulging in recycling and rerunning memories, or in fanning the fires of unrealistic yearnings, you need to go immediately into your trm, draining the clinging, attaching hadeogenic thoughts of all their energy. (All that you need to do is repeat your trm, and this will happen automatically.:) So, carefully monitor your mind (mindfulness), and don't let it "get away" with hadeogenesis!

When you find yourself "cheerful" without any external cause, this is the mind's way of signalling that it is indeed always working to create and establish homeostasis (balance). In stillmind (crystalmind), the mind uses the physical brain to create natural euphorics, powerful natural drugs, released into the bloodstream to create a natural high. But we must take the mind to that stillpoint that allows this ecstatogenic process to begin.

Yes, in the formation of any new relationship, it is important to allow truth (reality) to be the center of focus here as well. If, in a new relationship, we act and react as if it were the old relationship, we will commit not only sabotage, but will end up being unfair with everyone-- especially ourselves. For no one in relationship b is responsible for what happened in relationship a.

What you need to see here is that living in the future is as much irreality as living in the past! Projecting possible outcomes is also violently hadeogenic! Again, the "cure" is learning to live in, and embrace, the "eternal now."

When Love closes a door, on a relationship or on a friendship, It is doing the right thing. It is acting and reacting appropriately, and will enrich our lives. But when fear takes control, and closes a door, we might live to regret that, with so many tears and regrets. We need to remember that fear is the only true "enemy" the mystic ever encounters; she has no human enemies. As God is Love, so fear is the symmetric "devil" of spiritual psychology. Monitoring carefully, we can cast it away from our minds, minute by minute, and never allow it to take up residence again!

When you have a friend, it is good to live "as if" that friend will be a friend forever! Even though you realize that this might not be so, the friendship (relationship) is enormously enriched by this kind of "play within the play." It can create enormous joy, as friendship is a major face of Love, and guarantees that Its twin, joy, will come and fill the heart.

Rhyme-time

Rhyme-time
*******

Ev'rywhere that I tend to look
Looks like something out of a book.
Snow on fields, so silent and sweet
Smiling people I'd love to meet!
Christ as Love has changed the whole earth,
That's why we celebrate Its birth
In thousands of millions of hearts.
Of this Lovemind, we all are parts.

The Way of "Love Plus Nothing"

When I belonged to the rightwing, fundamentalist, and extremist cult, they tenaciously clinged to the idea that all parapsychology-- plus, in addition, all info about all other religions, even the Christian varieties-- were straight from the "devil." In fact, and this is found more often than we would often like to think, "Satan" played a larger and more active part in their worldview and theology than did God-- Who often seemed to be mysteriously impotent, or absent, or simply uncaring!

I believed in freedom of thought, and very often hid my books on parapsychology, Buddhism, Hinduism, and other subjects purportedly "demonic." Exactly like other rightwing and conservative Christians, the cult taught that you would be contaminated-- they used the word "demonized"-- taken over by an evil spirit-- if you kept or read such books. Such bibliophobia indicated to me that they were trying to hide something!:)

What they were trying to hide was the beauty and depth, and sincere Love and devotion, found in other Christian and nonchristian faiths! Btw, they were also struggling to hide their own abysmal ignorance of the faiths of the world. We were commanded to read only books published, not just approved, by the cult.

The cult was a tissue-thin facade of a worldwide publishing empire built on the backs of sincere people. These sources of slave-labor sold, every day, for the cult. This was encouraged to be their entire reason for living! These people-- largely represented in African, Asian, and other emerging communities, preyed on the alienation of people, and reinforced that alienation. This further separated people from the "unclean" and "demonic" world, ruled by Satan since the time of Eden.:)

It would be "dangerous," an invitation to "demonism," to carry on even an email correspondence with people outside the cult, especially if they were religious or spiritual types!:) And since I am an ex-member (we know all their secrets), I would be even more "dangerous." To this day, my bio-brother has not spoken with me. This makes about thirty years. Nor did he speak with our eighty-six-year-old mother, despite the fact that she was on her death-bed. He "abused" her by negligence and hurtful silence when she most needed encouragement.

A readable book about this antiagapic cult-experience is Jehovah Lives in Brooklyn: Jehovah's Witnesses as a Model of Fundamentalism. If you will send me your sma (snailmail address), I'll be happy to send you a copy.:)

Happily, the higher truth is that you do not have, and are not expected, to share my perspectives and beliefs in order to be my true "spiritual brother or sister." What a source of greatest pleasure is that fact!

Am I a Christian? Yes, I am, and Jesus is still my favorite role-model. I am, then, a "Jesus-Christian." This means that I accept him as a teacher from God, and even, as God Himself.

But I am not a historical or organized Christian. That is, I deliberately separate myself from the history of Christianity, which is a nightmare. And I do not "belong" to any organized form of the faith, with all its money, real estate, organization, leaders, doctrines, and administrivia. Mine is the very simplest form of Christianity-- the utterly sincere practice of Love. This is Love for people of all faiths, and for all sentient beings everywhere. For I am a universalist, which means that I am also a Buddhist, Hindu, Taoist, Sufi, and Kabbalist, as well as a compassionate and kindred soul relative to the nature-faiths.

So, wehn I dropped the shameful shackles of the cult, I went all the way. Jesus Christ "belonged" to no organized religion, but was formally and informally rejected by the leaders of Judaism. And he was not a "Christian," for that word had not been even invented until after his death. (He was a genetic, cultural, and geographic Jew; but he was not limited to religious Judaism.) Not surprisingly, mystics believe that he was a mystic-- a person who had uncovered his interior divinity, deification, or God-expression, buried deeply in His unconscious. We, btw, are not different from Jesus in kind, as if He were a different species. We are different in only degree.

After renouncing the cult, then, I was reborn onto a path that was by no means religious, but was entirely, profoundly spiritual. Every hour of every day, I do my honest and sincere best to immerse my entire heartmind in spirituality. The goal is total "saturation." There is not much room in this head for anything else, quite frankly, but that is okay, since I've come to earth with this single, allconsuming passion. Nothing else is really that interesting, fascinating, or captivating.

So, as a universalist, I do feel comfortable worshiping with those of other views. In fact, I've a very lovely student-teacher relationship with a very progressive rabbi. (He is my student, and teacher; and I am his student, and teacher.:) He follows "humanistic Judaism," which seeks to dissociate the faith from history, the OT, and the OT god, and we've had many fascinating discussions about the "Yahweh" of ignorance, blood, injustice, and violence.

The interpretation, that the god taught by Judaism and Islam is the same God as that known to Christianity, is the very same argument heard from every Christian to whom I've ever spoken.

But this seems to gloss over the many, many, and very deep, differences between the godimages of Yahweh and Allah and the God of pure Love. I am a monotheist. There is only one Reality called God, and He/She/It has been described in many ways in many cultures. But the idea that ancient Judaism worshiped this God, in its fullest ignorance, is a bit of a stretch. For what about the person who "interprets" God to be a lover of evil? What about the person who understands "satan" to be the same God that you and I worship? what about the primitive African who worships the closest stone?

What about all the gods and goddesses throughout history? Does not your interpretation make it "okay" to worship just about anyone or anything, as long as you explain that it is "your interpretation" of the One?

No, Occam's Razor compels me to accept the realistic historical concept that many different gods have appeared throughout history. What about the ancient gods mentioned in the old texts? Were "Baal," "Chemosh," "Molech," "Dagon," and other ancient gods really just "interpretations" of the One?

If you do believe this, we are in full agreement. But mystics worship Love Itself. We take to its logical conclusion the statement of John, made twice in his First Epistle, "God is Love." But as mystics, we must be careful never to offer veneration to darkness. we will never offer worship to anything or anyone that is antiagapic. Thus, you cannot, as a monist or mystic, simultaneously worship fear ("satan") and Love ("God).

So, in attempting to defend the false god of the ancients, one is backed into a terrible and terribly complex corner from which extrication is no easy matter. It is so much clearer and brighter, from my perspective, to make everything very simple and to say that any culture that misunderstands and actively misrepresents "God" as a servant of evil, or a source of evil, is worshiping a different, and false, god. That culture is not worshiping Love.

And if you worship any god but Love, as has been soundly and thoroughly proved by Christian, Jewish, and Islamic history, thousands of times, you can end up with atrocities and barbarities. For you can rationalize that "any" behavior is "okay" with your god. Only the being who actually worships Love is "immune" from this. Hitler and his cronies ostensibly worshiped, as Catholics, the "god" of the Jews and modern Christians. So has virtually every rapist, murderer, and warrior, in the midst of hideous, nightmarish behavior, in the history of the Western world. The pretender who claims the "throne" of America has killed, according to a Johns Hopkins report, a hundred thousand Moslems in the name of this same "god."

Religion, with all its dogma, is only tentatively, rather distantly, connected with behavior. But spirituality is, at its very essence, your actions, activities, and behaviors. This is yet another tragedy produced by the "intellectualization" of religion-- turning it into a series of "correct" beliefs about Jesus, God,and the Bible. The fruit of that tree has been toxic since the very beginning of history. And it is still so today.

Affairs and Loving Responses

It is no surprise when an insecure or aging person has a hidden sexual affair. It is much more common for human beings, especially as they age and grow bored, to have affairs than not to have them. This is sad, but it has always been human nature. This is one reason, among many, that the Way seeks to lift us above human nature.

This is really no one's concern except for the three people involved. It is foolish for an outsider to become entangled in it,or to "take sides." For this can become disastrous, rather quickly.

So, I do not pass any judgment about the lady who betrayed her husband. She is, in a way, crying out for help. But she has chosen a most catastrophic way to do that. And the tears, which are many, are shared by all three. People start affairs because they think that they will increase happiness in their selfish lives; but it never works out that way. I think that sincere Lovenergy needs to be sent to all three, what traditional people would no doubt (correctly) call "prayer."

All who love them should make themselves available for support and listening, and this is a good place and time to make that offer. If anything is needed in the way of aid or support, they can feel free to call here, or even visit, if they want.

This is the stuff of really "juicy" gossip. But I don't believe that a true friend will ever emotionally abuse this kind of info for gossip-- which itself is a form of emotional brutality. So, if there is anything that we-- you, or myself, can do, it is suggested that we make ourselves fully available-- for all three of the pain-filled people involved. If and when they need help, at least, on a psychospiritual level, it is here, waiting for them.

The Chakras

The chakras (pronounced "chuck'-ruhs", not "shock'-ruhs") are visualized in esoteric anatomy as vortices or whirlpools that draw in energy from the environment. Visualize them as the ends of hoses from vacuum-cleaners, "sucking" in energy from the environment.

There are seven. They are generally portrayed as in the front of the body, but actually extend straight through and into the physical body. So, a chakra might well have a symmetric structure, drawing force into both the front and back of the body simultaneously.

As a system of "organs" in the invisible "lightbody," each has its specific function. The "colors" associated with the chakras are "spectrum 2" colors, invisible to the unaided eye because their frequencies are too high to be perceptible to normal vision. They can be "seen" with only the inner eye (sixth chakra, called the ajna in ancient Indian tradition). So, people who try to "see" the "aura" with the physical eyes are way off-track. The aura is a plasmic field surrounding and affecting the physical body. It enters the brain through the neural path of the physical eyes, giving the illusion that it is seen with them, but it is really seen only internally.

Btw, just fyi, here is a review of the seven chakras and their functions:

1) at a point parallel to the tip of the tailbone, the first chakra gives basic bio-energy and determines how energetic you feel. Kids have much larger first chakras than adults. This is the "energy" used for running, exercising, and bouncing off the walls. (Contrary to pop mythology, sugar is a sedative, and slightly reduces the first chakra.)

2) The second is located at a point parallel with about two inches below the navel, and resonates with spectrum 2 orange. It has functions that express in the worlds of materialism, money, and sex. Overdevelopment leads to greed and to sexual excesses.

3) The third is located at a point parallel to that about two inches above the navel, and resonates with a very clear and bright spectrum 2 yellow. Its function is to sharpen the intellect, logic, reason, memory, and general data-accumulation and data-processing. (Aromatherapeutically, it can be energized by peppermint and by lemon, among others.)

4) The fourth is located close to the heart. It resonates with a vivid spectrum 2 green. It regulates all matters of Love, from Love for yourself and your pets, Love for family, Love for Love-partners, and cosmic, universal Love.

5) The fifth is at a point parallel to the throat, and regulates all kinds of communication. Good and natural speakers have a larger, more developed fifth chakra than average. It also regulates more exotic forms of communication, including telepathy.

6) The sixth is located at a point parallel to that between the eye-brows. This is called the "inner" or "third" eye, and this is the chakra used in dreams. Your eyes are closed, but you are still "seeing" many bright forms and colors. This is the one used in clairvoyance, a word from French meaning, "clear vision."

7) This is located at the top of the head, and is called the "crown" chakra. It resonates with forms of the color purple, lavender, and violet. This chakra is still not activated, or even open, in most people. It is opened, and activated, when the soulmind grants a crystal-clear understanding of the nature of reality (truth). This is the famous "enlightenment" experience. Meditation opens and activates this chakra.

Fw: That's a real trick!

That's a Trick!

*******

 

Four doctors were discussing the state of medicine.  Each was proud of his own country's accomplishments.  The British doc said, "Medicine in my country is so advanced that
we can take a kidney out of one man, put it in another, and have him
looking for work in six weeks."

The German doc said, "That's nothing, we can take a lung out of
one person, put it in another, and have him looking for work in four
weeks."

The Russian doc said,"In my country, medicine is so advanced that we can
take half a heart out of one person, put it in another, and have them
both looking for work in two weeks."

The American doc, not to be outdone, said, "You guys are way
behind.  We just took a man with no brain out of Texas, put him in the White
House, and now half the country is looking for work."

******* 

Psalm of Fools

A Psalm for the Bush Evangelical Electorate (Modified by Silmar Sanchez): 

A fool is my shepherd.
I shall not think.


 He maketh me to bog down in a quagmire.


 He leadeth me beside polluted waters.


He destroyeth my ozone.
>

 He leadeth me down paths to the extreme right,


 For his lobbyist's sake.


 Yea, though I walk through relatively safe streets,


 I fear evil (the threat level is orange),


 For thou hast scared me.


 My assault rifle comforts me.


 Thou anointest my car with oil.


 My deficit runneth over.


 Thou preparest my table with fast food in the presence of my

 Television.


 Surely paranoia and resentment will follow me


 All the days of my life,


 And I will dwell in this Empire of Fools 'til I die,


 Uninsured.

Modes of Mind

When it is said that leo needs an "audience" of only one, that "one" can be the leo herself!:) Yes, leo's playfulness, as the "perennial child," can certainly brighten the world. The spiritual application of the "play-energy" sees the world, as in mysticism, as mere "play and stage."

Re the varying aspects of heartmind: One can be very intellectually developed, and emotionally, still a child. In psych, this is usually called living out of the "inner child." It is a part of your mind that completely stopped growing when you were between the ages of five and ten. Everyone has one; but the wise uses her inner child to cultivate humor and a playful attitude, to laugh a lot. The unwise use this same inner child to express their emotions,and thus, often, wreck their lives, and those of people around them. All three fire-signs (aries, leo, and sagittarius) are especially prone to this, although a person of any combination can certainly screw up her life by letting the "child" take the controls!

Psych recognizes a trimorphic structure to the mind. This is the interior child, the interior parent (both of which are unhealthy if controlling), and the interior adult. The goal of a wise and educated life is to live mostly from the last one.

In spiritual psych, however, we have a "pentamorphic" perspective: We can live out of our interior child, parent, or adult, it is true. But spiritual beings can also learn to live out of their interior soul. And mystics want to go even deeper, and live out of the interior Spirit. This is the zenith of human being and becoming.

Selfimage and Spirit

I have gone through a tough and terrible course on earth in which I had to learn the very difficult lesson that no one can please all the people all the time! Like most libra people (I've libra rising), I thought that, if you just lived carefully and lovingly enough, you could manage somehow to please everyone. This would be "perfect," as there would be no friction,and everyone would live happily ever after! I was also naive enough to believe that once a person gave her friendship, she would always and forever be a friend!

I have learned through hard experience that both of these attractive fantasies are just that. But this learning has made me wiser and stronger. And it has shown me that I have a higher purpose than simply to "please people." I do not ever go out of my way to step on people's feelings and sensitivities, but I've realized that no one, in the whole history of the world, has ever been able to please everyone. Also, life has taught me that friendships have natural life-spans--a time to begin, and a time to end. This is how the world works. But if two people agree to maintain and keep a friendship, they can keep it alive, and thriving, forever!:) That's the good news!:)

In friendship, our weaknesses are often revealed. This can make us overly selfconscious. It is easy to see the self as "inferior." Some scorpios, for example, think that they are "worse" than everyone else, and try to keep everything about themselves hidden. Why? Because, when they see others,they see only the "public" face, complete with make-up in place and hair combed. But they cannot help but see their own "private" face, which is, in everyone, less than beautiful at times. When they see the "masks" worn by others, their inner child assumes that it is seeing the true, real person. But everyone wears a mask in public, and it is not the real person. Instead, it is thepublic mask, carefully prepared over years to present the very best within the self. If the insecure people were telepathic, or if they could follow others home, they would be shocked at seeing what contents the "average" mind contains. And not that there's anything wrong with that. It's just the human nature.

We mystics are only part human, and part Spirit. Our Spirit part is perfect and beautiful and loving, and we mystics do try to get our human part to disappear into that wonderful, magnificent Spirit. But as long as we have human bodyminds, we are going to be part human. And we are going to have imperfect, even negative, even repulsive, thoughts. This is where healthy selforgiveness comes in. We must forgive ourselves of our less-than-beautiful human thoughts, and our human side, and move on with our lives. We reach continuously to express perfectlly the perfect Spirit; but we never quite get there.

This is normal and natural, not a disorder or dysfunction. That is why we have been given Love, to compensate for the multitudes of our own imperfections, and those of others. It makes selforgiveness possible.

The egoself, the human part, is so messed up that mystics do not believe that we can repair it. So, they simply throw it away. They reject the ultimate reality of the egoself, seeing it as only a mask. ("Person" means "mask.") Then, we work hard every day to disappear into the perfect Mind of pure beauty and Love.

Christmas-thoughts

It is a great loss to all people, great and small, rich and poor, kids from nine to ninety, when Christ is left out of Christmas. We would all be so very much richer by including the King of Love in our considerations-- the Christspirit of which Jesus became the Incarnation! It still lives in your heart and mine. Christmas is also a good time to remind ourselves that true spirituality, while permeating history, is not, cannot be, limited by history. It is never limited to one culture, one continent, one society, race, or religion, but is as universal as God (Love)!

It is also a great time to think aboutJesus-- a most beautiful man, a master of the Enlightenment Tradition, and masterteacher of the Way of Love. Like him, we are all called to discover the Christ-nature deep within our own hearts!:) The truly enlightened enjoy every day as "Christmas," for the Light of Love is continuously reborn in their hearts.

Dream-interpretation and Fear

Even though yours was a fear-dream, and reflected, and used the symbols of your fear, all dreams are about the personal psyche, with very, very few exceptions. There are really precognitive dreams,and it is sensed that you might believe this one to be so. But truly prescient or "prophetic" dreams are only about one in ten thousand, and some researchers say, even rarer.

So, as in all other dreams, and as noted before, a "plane" is an archetype of a plane of consciousness or awareness. The bridge is also an archetype, and appears all the time in dreams.

The bridge demonstrates that you are in a major transition. It is up to you to decide from what condition you are emerging, and into what condition you are emerging. This can be for the better, or otherwise. The first plane that you saw was your higher or deeper Self. It was high in the sky, since spirituality makes us "high" in more ways than one.

The fact that you begin, in the dream, alone is an indication that the dream is about you, your personal path. In the first sentence of recalling the dream, you mention this fact twice, implying its importance. You say both, "I am by myself," and, "There are no other people on the bridge."

About this plane, you say it "looks kinda like a triangle, sort of like a fighter plane."

The triangle is called a "geometric archetype." It is the symbol of integration after the experience of duality. It is illumination through having experienced ignorance or illusion. For the triangle contains the separative two at the bottom, coming together at the integrative one point at the top. So, this is very promising. It indicates that, at some level of the unconscious, you are already deeply illuminated.

The fact that it seems to be a "fighter" plane implies that many internal conflicts are active, and will have to be resolved, often by conflicts or disagreements between the two internal natures, the lower (fear) and higher (Love). You describe it as "odd" because it seems so to your egonature, which might be surprised by the prescience of interior "battles."

The second "plane" is that of the ego, in fact. Or, it is at least, very close ("another plane...is coming so close to the bridge that it actually scrapes it some.") So, this lower plane of awareness, tuned to only this world, not the interior or spiritual, damages your transition ("bridge") to higher Mind. Happily, the damage is not serious, but minimal. For you say, "but it doesn't hurt the bridge any."

Tuning into the fear-nature you describe accurately as "a little scary." This could be relevant to the "food" that you feed your mind. For feeding your psyche the "food" of fear (conspiracy, negative predictions, etc.) is giving it junkfood. Instead of this, the mind craves, and needs, only positive, uplifting, joyful perspectives that are not denial, but chosen and selected positivities. Your worldview is "scary," and indeed provides the symbols for this dream.

In the dream, as in most others, "you" represent the conscious (aware) mind with ego. So, you write, "To see a plane that close-- I could have practically reached up high enough to touch it." This proves that this "plane" symbolizes the conscious mind-ego complex. But, although you could "touch it" (it is accessible to the conscious mind, and is therefore conscious), it is the high end ("reached up").

Then, the dream becomes concerned with the highest plane of consciousness. This is only potential rather than experiential, for it is on the ground. But it is indeed very high, for it is represented by the "space shuttle." This is your center of focus or attention after your transition is complete ("as I get across the bridge...").

Your narrative continues, "There are people getting off it, and I stop to see who is on it." The "people" are parts or aspects of your own mind, and this is a symbolic presentation of selfanalysis or selfexamination. You next write, "There is a sense that military people are involved..." This, again, is a friendly warning of your mind that, in your interior Journey, there is going to be conflict. What can you best do to prep yourself? You can reject instantly all fear! For, in the Journey, fear is the only enemy. So, we must not feed our fears. We must, instead, turn away from them, reject their pretend "truth," and reject them unconditionally. For fear is the "devil" of spiritual psychology. It is the only enemy of the mystic. For she refuses to recognize any human enemies. To "love your enemies" means one thing: You recognize no enemies. Although fear never serves Love, its energy can be turned to the service of Love. So, the mystic has no energy-- not a millipsychon-- devoted to fear. She thoroughly scours her mind of all fears, for fear feeds the lower nature and makes it stronger. So, it weakens our connections with the One.

You next write, "I have a feeling that they are up to no good..." You have seen through the fact that your higher Mind is being influenced by fear, and that fear is up to its old tricks, which are never good. In fact, fear threatens all goodness within the mystic, for it is thoroughly antiagapic (against Love).

Happily, this fear has not yet "taken over" the entire Mind, nor is it so powerful that it can gain control. ("But I know there is time before they are going to do what they have planned...")

So, only a part of your mind knows what is going on. That part wants to alert the whole mind. ("I am thinking that I have to warn others...") This dream is a part of that very process.

Why is this so urgent? The mind brings a dream only when it wants us to pay attention, so this part of your mind is indeed doing the warning. For the interior conflict, as long as it is fed the psychotoxins of fear, will get only worse ("They are stepping up their efforts...") What does your mind want you to do? This is your answer: "start preparing for the worst." The "worst" is the interior hell of fear. You prep for that by cultivating Love, and its sister, positivity, at every moment, and consistently, continually rejecting all messages of fear.

In dreams, messages from the Unconscious often come by "telephone," or other media. The Mind can also use tv to present messages that are not true (tv is not reality), but warning: "I hear a TV and I look around to see the newsman, who is dressed in a military uniform, tell us that we are listening to the new state-run station, and that there will be no more of the old stuff that we used to see on TV." So, even in ordinary data-processing from the world ("news"), consciousness is still pervaded by a concern over conflict ("military uniform"). The "state" here is the totality of your concerns with matters political and conspiratorial, which are "taking over" important parts of your mind, influencing messages from the outside world ("news").

It is unavoidable that this dream is a warning against possible unhealthy obsession with conspiracy-theories and other borderline or fringe worldviews that regularly knock people from the straight-and-narrow. It is further plain that the warning is that these are unhealthy, as they create hurricanes of interior conflict; plus they multiply fears exponentially, filling heartminds with the "devil" instead of the bright, warm beauties of God (Love). These worldviews are seriously antiagapic and pathological. As a steady diet, they are lethal to spirituality.

The dream closes on a somber and sobering note: For some parts of Mind, it might already be too late to reverse the pathological effects: "I realize that there really is no more time at all,..."

Yet if nothing at all could be done to reverse the total damage to the mind, it would not have bothered to have given you the dream, for nature does not waste timenergy. In this dream, Larry [pseudonym], as your husband, represents the best of your Love-nature. There is a real sense of urgency that you must keep this part of Mind intact and protected from the inner pathology by in-forming it with in-formation of the Lovemind: "All I can think of is to get to Larry, and to help the two of us remain safe, and to warn others if there is time."

Mud and Diamonds

Sometimes regrettably, much of life is waiting and planning! But life is always teaching us. Free-floating feelings of joy rise from the blessed, Lightfilled Unconscious, to let us know that we are on the right track.

Earthlife is full of diamonds, and full of mud. But you have to go through a lot of mud to find a diamond!

Prayer for soldiers and victims

Remember all of those, on both "sides," in harm's way, with a prayer:

Lord, hold our troops, and those against whom they fight, in the Power of Love. Create in all a merciful heart and compassionate mind. Help all do unto others as they would have done to themselves. Help us to love our enemies, as Thou hast told us. Protect them as they protect us. Bless them, their families, and the innocents of Iraq. Bless the medical healers and other women and men of Love, for the selfless acts that they perform for people in their time of terrible and great need. Great Mind of Love, manifest Thyself amidst the blood, terror, and ignorance of unholy war. Bring peace to all, even in the very midst of conflict, and awaken compassion and mercy in all hearts.

Change of Elevation in Dreams

Any change of elevation in a dream represents a real or potential alteration in your spiritual or emotional "height." So, when people speak of getting "high" emotionally, they are using archetypal language.

This means, generically, a series of good feelings, sometimes even analogous to the heights of rapture or ecstasy, especially inmystical literature. It does not refer to only drug-induced altered states.

Dreaming of being on a plane, for example, usually represents a higher "plane" of consciousness or being. Going up a hill, often with difficulty, suggest an elevation or "uplifting" of mind, or progress. Climbing stairs has a similar message. So can climbing a tree or rope. In many dream-cases, flying also represents transcendence, or "rising above" the problems of earth in your mind.

More Dream-symbols

Here are a few notes that, it is hoped, might be helpful:

Nothing appears "at random" in a dream. Everything means something. Let's use archetypal language to fill in some of your dream-dictionary:

The "large familiar building (mall, office building, etc.") is a large area of your longterm memory, for a large room or other area, especially if it might contain "stores," is all about memory-storage. You are "looking for the bathroom." Since you use "bath-" instead of "rest-" room, the emphasis is on interior cleansing or purification. The very first part of the mystical Way is the "Way of Purgation," which means, "purification." This is a never-ending process, for all eternity, as we continue to get contaminated or polluted in mind, and must continually repeat our many internal purification processes. Once you find it, "there are lots of stalls." This implies the many strategies and mechanisms of the Mind that can facilitate interior purification. They include meditation, deep breathing, chanting, stillness, friendship, service, selflove, and many others. But they have "no doors." This implies that there are no real barriers separating you from these purification processes, techniques, strategies, or modalities. There are also "no real toilets." This implies that your methods for detoxing yourself of psychotoxins are not present, or not effective. So, it is probably a sign that you must work more on detox, or experiment with other methods. You say that there are "no toilets that work." This is a change from "no toilets." If there are devices that are simply malfunctioning, the dream is saying that you do have some approaches, but they are simply not working.

Now, to your "curious haunted dreams": "I am in a haunted house, and the entity within wants to harm me or kill me." This is quite a common motif. It appears all the time. The "entity" is a subconscious aspect of yourself, perhaps hidden from even you, by conscious suppression or unconscious repression. Its desire to "kill you" can imply that the memories are so life-changing, so dramatic, that they will "kill"your old egoself. They might promote rebirth of yourself as a spiritual being. This can be very good, of course, but it scares the hell out of the ego.

While still in the dream, you need to find the lucidity to shout, "What are you?" For in the worlds of both dreams and magic, knowing the identity gives you power. (In ancient lore, this was to know the "name.") Also, you can go back and recover as much memory as possible, and dig around until you "strike gold." You then seem to refer to the "entity" as "she," so it might be connected with your destructive "inner child" or "inner mother" (very cancerian).

You continue, "She/it turns Rex [pseudonym] (the dog) into many little dogs..." Rex represents your undeveloped bionature. What you are doing is dividing and weakening the energies of your "animal" nature instead of directing them towards positive expression. Do not deny your animal-nature. Embrace it as a part of your Self-- a part that needs trained and guided, but is not "evil." For the animal-nature protects your biosurvival; hence, it is not only difficult and challenging teacher, but "friend." (Even when it resists our spirituality, it can be seen as a nemesis that makes us stronger.)

You next write, "in order to get Rex back, I must be willful and demand that she restore her." This means that to reintegrate your biosystems, you must be a bit assertive and demanding, approaching your biosystems as their master (mistress), not reticently, reluctantly, or trepedatiously. You must take forceful control, and make demands, not requests. For your own Master has made you mistress of the body, to some extent.

Now, to the "haunted house which is beautifully decorated with ornate mirrors gilded in gold." A "mirror" is selfreflection, selfexamination. This is the theme of the dream. But there is a superficiality to the seeing. If the frames were pure and solid gold, the meaning would be altered. But they are "guilded in gold." This is a thin layer, for appearance. Gold, as in alchemy, is the internal "sun" of goodness and Love. So the dream is discussing any activity that might be "religious" but not truly spiritual. To others, and even to yourself, certain actions might seem to be (or to reflect) the Way. But unless they emanate from your deeper Self, from your deep heart, they are invalid.

You next write, "I realize the entity within wants to harm me, or kill me, and that it can do it with the mirrors I've been admiring." Your reference to the "entity within" clues us in on the identity of the entity. It is indeed in service to the Spirit of Love. It is this compassionate Spirit that is moving you to selfreflection, selfexamination, selfcorrecting. And the "you" who are in danger of death is not You the Soul or higher Mind, but "you" the ego. (In a dream, it is not at all unusual for you to represent the conscious self or ego.) So, the earlier intuition here proves to be true: The entity feared by the ego is the Lovelight that threatens its dissolution, and the survival instinct of the ego kicks in big-time. The ego thrives on, and creates, fear. Fear is "Purina Ego-chow," and the function of ego is to block the spiritual (Love) through the manufacture of Its opposite, fear.

The identity of "you" as ego is confirmed by your next words: "I attempt to escape." This is egofear, but, since you are running from your Self, there is nowhere to which you can escape.

The Christ said, "I am the door," and the Buddha similarly represented the deeper nature as a "gate." So, next you get stuck between this world of fear and the world of interior enlightenment: "I get stuck in the door,..." So, you have reached a stasis-point in traversing the mindspace between ordinary reality and the interior Reality of the inner "world" of Mind. You then seek aid: "I call outside with a cell phone." Again,the wording is critical. You call "outside," but all your assistance and wisdom are "inside." This might indicate some outward-turning for assistance when the only real help is in inward-turning.

A masculine (yang, intellectual, assertive) part of your nature appears to come to your assistance: "A man answers."

This male-part actually is acting against your best interests in the short-run, but serves Love in the longrun. "It's a trucker." So, this is the functions of mind that carry data from one part of mind to another. It is the mental function of intracommunication (the mind talking to itself). "He is waiting for me." This mind-communication includes the structuring of larger ideas brought together from smaller ones. Like bumpers and hoods carried in a truck, to be fitted together with the whole car, this mind-connecting function has only pieces of the puzzles of existence. It is waiting to capture you in its words, concepts, ideas, and doctrines. (The universe can be understood intellectually, and operates in only this way.") "He captures me." So, this is a cautionary note against getting too caught up in ideas. If "God is truth," then, "Mind is Reality," not any or all of the ideas held by mind. Ideas and concepts can be limitations, shackles, and traps or snares.

"[He] puts me in a box under the stairs." A "box" is an idea or concept that limits new ideas or new vision. Think outside the box! It is "under the stairs" because it is all operating subconsciously ("under"), but also supports your "upward" growth to God (Lovemind; stairs).

"[He] makes me wear a leash." This part of your mind is the intellect whichlikes to be always in charge; indeed, it often wants to believe that it is the totalmind-- all there is to mind! He wants all the forces of ego to serve it, to do its bidding, follow its orders, be led around by its directives ("leash").

"[He] then slices me up into pieces like bread." This is the old archetype of Osirus, who was similarly sliced up before his integration and return as savior. This is the disconnection created by the multiplication of categories. The cosmos is one. But the intellect is convinced that if it can cutthings into little pieces, chop up the integrated and unified cosmos, it will be able to understand. In science, chopping data into small bites is the first step: The first step to understanding is the creation of categories. This "male" part is convinced that it can understand even you by picking apart and separating the data. The problem is that you, like the cosmos, are much greater than the sum of your parts!:)

In the next part, you write, "I am finally shown two homes. One is haunted and one isn't. The one that is haunted is grey, cold, empty and doesn't belong to me. The one that belongs to me is warm, filled with color and welcoming energy."

The haunted house is the self ("house" always=self) that has died. It is egoself, and is haunted by any number of bad memories, traumas, failures, negative selfimages, weaknesses, etc. On the Way, you have largely abandoned it. So it is "cold" (emotionally dead) and in disrepair. You must work to maintain a self or it falls apart. This house, in short, is old, superceded, past, outgrown selfimages full of doubts and fears. The new and warm place is your current higher (or deeper) self, bright and friendly, as the Spirit within is Love.

The next: "I am in a building." A "building" is an expanded "house," in archetypal language. So, this is an expanded or growing selfimage. In it, you are "walking up a ramp." This is "level-symbolism," in which upward movement always signifies spiritual growth, development, and evolution. As you walk upward, the dream also used "horizontal" symbolism: "ahead of me are three women." The "three" is not literal; reference is not to three parts of your nature, but to that part of your nature represented by the numeral three. Three is the triangle, which has two points at bottom, and one at top. So, this is the state of wholeness (holiness or healing) obtained by your long, hard trek through the illusionworld of duality. This is not simple intrinsic oneness, but that which has been earned and learned. It is oneness won by hard challenges. The dream is clearely saying that you are on the right path, spiritually, because you are "following" this part of your whole or enlightened nature.

Next, you write, "Along the sides are high heeled shoes that are very steep and look uncomfortable." Lao Tzu similarly writes, "Standing on tip-toe is not real standing." Shoes represent your pisces energy (pisces is the sign of the feet). The shoes are unnatural and uncomfortable. They are techniques and approaches that are not allowing for the natural Flow of your life. If you are doing anything besides reading, learning, and absorbing spiritual material, you are being warned against trying to push your self artificially to a "higher" position or "higher" Self or Mind, a "higher" level of consciousness. So, if you are doing anything but learning, the dream is warning you to stop this. Abandon "short-cuts" or ways designed to speed up your spiritual growth.

Next, "Then I notice [that] the women in front of me have no lower legs. They are walking on the trunks of their legs just above the knee." In astropsychology, this also involves the feet, which are absent. This implies that you might not be using fully your pisces (naturally intuitive, mystical) aspects of mind. It can also mean that, although a source of much good and valuable knowledge and wisdom, your interior Guide has lost "groundedness-- connections to the practical, "nuts and bolts"world of everyday reality. The goal of mysticism is to implement and uplift the practical into the spiritual. But it does not do this by lifting the mystic outside of the "real, everyday, ordinary" world. That is like trying to develop muscles without the exercise-weights that resist them. For people with aquarius in their chart, the symbolism would imply that they are not using their aquarius energy to promote or
improve their spiritual course.

Next, "Each one is wearing a different color pastel shorts-- pink, yellow, blue." These are the forces with which you are being encouraged to work right now. Pink is the first chakra [red, but purified (mixed with wite or purity)=pink], pure intellect (yellow) and communication (blue), with both yourself and others.

Next, "I wonder if [whether] they can dance." Here you are questioning your ability to express Love, wisdom, etc. through playfulness.

Commentary on Anti-Jesus Article

Here is a commentary on an article written to "expose" the "darker nature" of Jesus:

This article has an irresistible "feel" of having been written by an extreme egotist. Criticisms, often barbed, pointed at Jesus, actually seem to be selfcriticisms about the author. They are hidden between the lines, but it is clear that some "shadow projection" is occurring. (This is when a person with certain weaknesses sees them in others, but, often due to pride, never in himself.)

It is obvious to any student of human psychology that the guy who wrote the article simply does not like himself. The greatness of Jesus makes him feel small and insignificant, and increases his vitriole and vituperative bitterness. He calls Jesus names, ranging from "topnotch bullshitter" to "psychotic." He sees Jesus, and all of us, as hopeless egomaniacs because he is one. (This dangerous generalization/projection was the very same error that Freud made in psychology; obsessed pathologically with sex, he originated the view that all people suffered from this same pathology. In the end, he made a fool of himself.

This author, by focusing on the "dark side" of Jesus, and accusing the great mystic teacher of hopeless egocentricity, has also shown himself to be a fool blinded by the bigotry of his own perspective. He flies straight in the face of the Gospels and true history of Jesus by trying to present him as a nut-case with an unhealthy God-syndrome, instead of the real "Incarnation of Love," as the mystic usually sees Jesus.

It is clearly this guy's motive to stir up controversy rather than to present an unbiased, balanced historical perspective. Every accusation made by this man has his own "fingerprints" all over it. He is trying tojustify himself, or even to make himself look better, by degrading one of the highest and most noble souls in human history. Immature and cynical people are often deluded that they can make themselves look better by criticizing others who might truly be better people. (This is an elementary-school attitude.)

The author, puffed up with huge ego-pride, probably sees that pathology everywhere.

Did Jesus have a "dark" side? Yes, for he was part human. He was, as the old creed said, "true God and true man." His human part had physical, mental, and spiritual weaknesses. But, although this author's pride prevents this recognition, the great mystic became the "Christ" only when he overcame and neutralized the full dominance of his "flesh" (human nature) over his "Spirit" (divinity). He then became God, not in totality, but in nature, the incarnation of purest Love, and fear-free.

This author probably has a deepseated, perhaps unconscious, hatred or fear of women. For he celebrated the presentation of "satan" as a woman with maggots climbing in and out of her nose. The movie-maker who presented this, in "The Passion of the Christ," was also a misogynist.

And, in a couple of places, this guy was downright wrong. For example, nowhere did satan ask Jesus to accept him as "brother." Instead, the fearnature (devil) demanded his worship-- a very different situation!

This could be enjoyable, and entertaining, reading, if it were not so clouded with anger, bitterness, and sourness. But it could never be taken for a guide in life. It is too jam-packed with errors and prejudices. This guy gets much of his life-philosophy, apparently, from movies, such as "The Passion of the Christ" and "Pretty Woman," to which he also refers when presenting a life-pattern. Like all egocentrists, he takes himself far too seriously, and regards his own opinions as the last and best words on the subject. With all his bitterness and cynicism, perhaps he needs to see "Mary Poppins"!

Why "seek God"?

The reason to "seek God" (Love) is because the Love within seeks to fulfil Itself by expressing Itself to other people and other creatures. Love is Its own reward, and Its own reason. Those who seek God because they fantasize that "He" is going to give them something, or do something for them, are still in the service of ignorance and evil; their real god is the ego.

The "Hardware" and "Software" of Mind

The analogy of biomind as hardware and environments as software cast a fascinating light on the nature of biomind. This is impelling. Karma is software. But even the hardware is not identical in all persons. It is, in fact, neuroanatomical variation that provides much of the variety found in personality-expression. For karmic reasons, each is born with a specifically Souldesigned packet containing "hardware" and "software" of a specifically unique configuration. It is only on the gross anatomical level that human brains are similar, but even then, not precisely identical.

Cerebral development in the womb is a captivating branch of neuroanatomy. But it is an enormously complex process, Soulguided. It is because of neuroanatomical variation, however, that certain people have neurotransmitter-challenges. Both hardware and software are relevant here. You've probably heard the old joke about male brains costing $500 and female brains $200, because the latter are used!:)

In a dream, the "house" represents the self in stasis (just as a car represents the self in movement, progress, or transition). Your self recognizes that it is surrounded by, immersed in, infinite Mind,symbolized by the water.

You can identify dream-symbols not by what you think, but by what you feel. (The process is intuitive, not intellectual.)

The Unconscious is symbolized by "water."
Fortunately protective components of mind ("police") come to your aid, so you are not without protection.

The events of your dream are sometimes not about your waking life; they are about your inner life or world. But you have used your earthlife to create the matrix of symbols found in the dream.

Playing, and Keeping Your Center

Many psychologists have become big believers in the therapeutic value of just "getting silly" once in a while. You can do this alone, but it is much richer and more fun with a trusted friend. Capricorns probably need this even more than others; but as they get older, they will get internally younger! (This marks all capricorns.:)

But in such intimate sharing, moderate caution must be used. For even "loving" has its own boundaries. It is possible, for example, to lose entirely too much of yourself in another person. If she became the center of your whole life and mind, you started failing as your own center, and lost balance. Each of us is supposed, designed, to be the valid center of her own life. Of course, this is with full awareness that Lovemind is your only valid Center, the Center of the center. This does not imply selfishness-- not at all, but simply balance. To love another, even very deeply, should never be actually to lose yourself in her. In this, you can actually lose too much, and so, have less to give.

Playing can keep you from losing touch with your authentic Center, the Coremind of Love deep within. Anyway, playing is entirely healthy, and is good for the Soulmind as well as the conscious mind.:)

So, keep playing, keep smiling, laughing, and having fun!:)

Patriotism and the Middle Way

The centrist position, as I see it, is that you do not always bend over backwards to please foreigners, but you do work to make compassionate adaptations of the American Way when principles are not threatened. From this perspective, it is an extreme-- and they're always unhealthy-- to eradicate the words, "In God We Trust" from coins, monuments, etc., for fear of hurting the feelings of an atheist. But it is just as wrong to trample her human rights and ignore her.

When the promotion of a single religion is supported, for example, that violates the separation of church and state-- a crucial and indispensable ideal. The Ten Commandments, an ancient Jewish document, have no place in school; but they could well be "secularized" or "universalized" to be appropriate for all times, peoples, religions, and cultures.

America does have a culture, of great value, purchased by the blood, sweat, and tears of many. We should not jump on the absurd bandwagon of either the "p.c." crowd or the rightwing whackos. The middle path, as the Buddha promised, feels just fine, just right!:)

Dream-symbols

Re the creation of your own personal dreamdictionary: It's probably easiest to start with nouns, adjectives, and verbs-- major components of dreams, as of everyday waking life. List them in alphabetical order, for ease of future ref.

Example: A red rubber ball, like the one that children play with, has some pretty deep meaning. As a sphere, it is an archetype (all geometricforms are). It is the "three-d circle," and so, represents wholeness, spiritual completion, the call to inner Unity with Lovemind. Since it is red-- all colors are chakra-coded-- it implies that you are on your Way by using your natual bioenergy. At least some of your personal path to Lovemind is through using your physical systems. So, this symbol means that you need to work on, and through, your physical body to find enlightenment. This ramifies into fields such as sleep (a biofunction), nutrition, exercise, etc.

The fact that it is a toy implies your need for more "play." Do not take this life withsuch utter, unrelenting seriousness. Of course, there are times when a serious attitude is appropriate. But to take the events of this life as if they were total reality is to fall into illusion.

Natural symbols are also archetypes: oceans, lakes, stars, etc. Creatures in dreams represent our own lower natures-- bionature, still in psychological development, and still spiritually on the "launchdock," or very beginning of the inner journey. (Rain and wind symbolize mental conditions, active in the personal unconscious.)

Numbers, like colors, all have meaning: One is Unity with inner Mind, or new beginnings, or integration within the self. Two is the error of duality or illusion; three is coming to unity after experiencing illusion, and is wholeness; four is strong stability; five is the human body and senses; six is transitional between the human mind and the Mind of Spirit (Lovemind); seven is Lovemind; eight is double stability and great strength; nine is the end of a cycle; and zero is the beginning Mind, the alphamind, the Source.

Any number of two or more digits can be "reduced" by adding its digital components. For example, twenty-seven is two plus seven, and so reduces to nine.

A dream-dictionary of archetypes is on the back burner in the "someday" file.

Helping Teens to Select Friends

It's selfevident that you really care deeply about your teen. This is apparently a problem of longstanding. To be honest, it does not seem that you are going to be able to "solve" it,and to ask yourself to do this is simply not fair. Every teenager goes through exactly this same problem of friendship-selection. And with cancers and libras, with all their tenderness and vulnerabilities, these challenges and situations are multiplied. My advice is to take an hour, a full hour, out from everything else. Set it aside for only interaction with your teen. Let her know that you have set aside this important, rather large, period of time in your schedule because you truly love her. Invite your companion to join you. Then, taking your time, tell her in an unhurried manner that you love her, and want to support whatever is best for her. Explain to her the karmic consequences in which we believe, and the consequences of giving fullest, honest, sincere Love, and the consequences of ignoring or neglecting Love. So, Love is something that you do out of "alloagapic" motives (Love for others) as well as autoagapic intentions (Love for yourself).

Again, unhurried (for this is seldom heard on the first run-through), explain carefully that you want to be your teen's friend. Tell her that you have been good friends for centuries (which is true), and that you treasure your friendship, and want to make it deeper and richer. Offer your most sincere friendship, should she ever need someone to talk to. Remain detached but warm. Remain helpful, non-controlling, and non-judgmental. Don't get mushy (easy task for capricorn). Tell her that it is not part of your job to "control" her or to lifedesign for her, but that you are always ready to share the very hard-won wisdom obtained by you during your longer life. Share this with both your companion and teen simultaneously. If possible, close with a warm three-way hug.

You and your companion, no matter how sincere and deep your Love, will not be able to "save" your teen from her karma, or from life's lessons. Her lifedesign is her job and your companion's, since he is her father, and you are not her mother. This is not your problem. Only Love has "lassoed" you into this, and so, life has given you the great gift of a special opportunity to express compassion. So, you can be a powerful Love-source for your teen. This is your only "job" here: Just be there for her; don't try to solve her problems (that is her soultraining lesson), and don't try to force her to change. Encourage change, and share supportive and uplifting positivity. Encourage her to believe in the Power of Love, as we do. Make it clear that Love is lightyears beyond sex, and that Love is our God. Mystics worship Love, and so, you will do anything possible-- as long as it is not illegal, immoral, or fattening:)-- to aid and assist your teen. Then, let go and let God, trusting your teen's own personal connection with Love, which is the same as your own.

Lapidotherapy

Re the healing-qualities of stones: This is quite controversial. Metaphysicists (often wrongly called "metaphysicians") vary very much in recommendations and beliefs. They range an entire spectrum from those who say that stones have zero value in healing to those who believe that every stone is good for healing every condition.

Dogmatic statements that stone a is healing for condition b are often arbitrary; they are usually untrustworthy. This is a very "intuitive art." A mineral or crystal is, of course, a product of Mind.

It would thus appear that a stone is "programmable," to an extent. A stone, in lapidotherapy, is not like a medicine: This stone is always and only to be used for that illness. Stones are seen as directors and amplifiers of Mind. So, you need to "program" a stone for a particular task.

But do they have any intrinsic clues as to their uses? Happily, they do; a stone's natural use is implied chromatically: Red stones are used to give energy where it is lacking, and blue stones take away excess energy in the form of pain, for example. Green stones are used to amplify Love and good feelings, yellow to amplify intellect, purple for spirituality, blue for communication, etc.

How do you program a stone for a particular application? You hold it in your right hand and focus, for at least five minutes, on your intent. This "communicates" your intent to the stone, which "fixes" it within its molecular and energic structure.

After a stone is used for your intent, it is then traditional to "cleanse" it, which makes it possible to "reprogram" it for the same use or for a different one. Here are some ways to "cleanse" a stone:

Bury it in sand for seven hours; place it in saltwater for seventy minutes. Place in sunlight for seven days. Place with other crystals. Bury it in salt. Hold in your right hand for seven minutes, visualizing continuously the brightest golden light that you can imagine, again, "communicating" the message of purity. And there are a few others.

Again, most of the writing done on stones is "channeled," and is not trustworthy; you are better off learning to trust your own Mind and intuition.

I've worked with lapidotherapy for several years, and have found that crystals are the most powerful stones.

Selecting your trm

Before you can practice "acognitive therapy," also known as "pervasive meditation," your first step is to select an appropriate trm.

A "trm" is a "thought-replacement mechanism." In history, it is called a "mantra." In the design of "Teflonmind," it is a four-syllable phrase.

A trm can be in any language. No language is intrinsically "better" than any other, or "more spiritual." That is simple superstition.

The most important consideration is that your trm "feel right." It should be positive, uplifting, constructive. The best are also spiritual, although a neutral one can work.

"I am at peace," is a good generic trm, as it serves most people well. You can use a three-syllable trm by adding the simple connective "and..." to it, as in, "God is Love and..." or even, "I am Love, and..." etc.

A trm that has worked for several suffering from Velcromind (a mind that "sticks" to everything, in which everything is extremely important) is, "Does not matter."

Some trm's focus on mystical identity: "I am Buddha," or, "I am the Christ," are examples.

The trm, "joo-goo-boo-goo" would probably work if used consistently. But the use of the trm is a great opportunity to plant the seeds of positivity and spirituality in the mind, and this potential would be wasted with the use of a meaningless mantra.

In working with fears, these work well: "I have no fear," "filled with courage," "all fears are gone," etc. Where possible, delete harmful or negative words. Some would object to the use of "fear" in a trm, but we need not become logophobic (afraid of words) or fanatical.

The most important consideration-- much more important than the design of your trm-- is that you do choose and start to use a trm. Do not put it off indefinitely because you cannot find the "perfect" trm. This is just the ego's way of getting you not to use pervasive meditation at all. The ego loves control, and will do anything possible to postpone, neutralize, or cancel the practice of pervasive meditation, as it is threatened by it.

Also, once you settle on a trm, keep the same one for at least a year. This will empower it and you, for it becomes more powerful each time that it is used.

Note: A "thought-replacement mechanism" does not require thinking. For it is a
simple repetition of a simple phrase. It requires some planning and thought to "get it going," but once you start "running your trm," the process requires no thought, no linear mind-movement, no cogitation, no figuring things out. It is a very simple, almost mechanical, process.

Cosmic Christianity

To our Italian Christian Friend and Efamily,

Jesus as a man was never the main focal point of the Way. Instead, it was the eternal Spirit of Love that indwelled Jesus that made him the "Christ." The word "Christ," like "Buddha," was not a name, but a title recognizing special enlightenment. The Christ-spirit, the Spirit of Love, is still alive in your heart and mine. It is forever and timeless.

Even during his lifetime, the "cult" of Jesus had its start. What was/is the difference between the "cult" of Jesus and the "faith" of Jesus Christ? It is simply this: The "cult" of Jesus lost its way, and concentrated on worship of the historical man Jesus. He was no doubt a fine man, but was just a man. As the old creed said, he was "true God and true man."

The cult got lost in the human ego of Jesus. It became lost in geography, history, and other details. Many who truly believe that they are practicing the faith of Jesus are actually advocating only the cult of Jesus. The cult demands worship; but the faith demands imitation.

The faith of true, cosmic Christianity challenges us to renew our lives through the consistent practice of universal, unconditional Love. That is a tall order! Happily, we do it only with the help of the interior Love-nature in the Unconscious. This is Lovemind or God, and Its aid and help have been summarized as "grace."

To practice the faith of Jesus is to live in, and from, this Center of Love. It is to renew the heartmind, and continually, as far as possible within our limitations, to express goodness, kindness, highest ethics, and to create a lifedesign of "impeccable honor." This is neither perfection nor perfectionism, but an honest attempt to allow the interior Power to "take over" our minds and lives. It is total surrender to the will of the One, Who is Love.

So, it is not genuine Christianity to fall mindlessly at the feet of Jesus. And using the name "Jesus" a thousand times does not make you a Christian, or more Christian. (The word "Christian" means "Christlike," and that is Love.) So, as spiritual people, let us beware the imitation or counterfeit "Christianity" that is, in reality, nothing more than the cult of Jesus. This ego-worship was not what Jesus wanted. He did not want to be worshiped as a freak, but imitated as a prototype, an older brother, an example. Let us not waste our timenergy, then, on "blah-blahing" about "Jesus this," and "Jesus that," but instead, let us turn our full Mindpower towards sincere imitation of Jesus, the Buddha, Lao Tzu, Theresa, Catherine, Kwan Yin, and all the other great luminaries of the Way.

Taking Jesus Seriously

With much study, and I've studied this for thirty years and more, you will discover that the behavior of the churches, both Catholic and Protestant varieties, has nothing to do with Jesus. Instead, all churches are about other things-- dogma, doctrines, administrations, economics, etc. It simply does not matter to the average church-policy body what Jesus did. To take him as a personal model, to be seriously imitated, is a good idea, but has little to no place in organized religion. I like to half-joke that, "The one unforgivable sin in a Christian church is to take Jesus seriously.":)

Humortherapy

Three blondes died and found themselves standing before St. Peter. He told them that before they could enter heaven, they had to tell him what Easter was.

The first blonde said, "Easter is where they have a big feast and we give thanks and eat turkey."
St. Peter said, "No." So, she had to take more tests before she was ready for heaven.
The second blonde said, "Easter is when we celebrate Jesus' birth and exchange gifts."
St. Peter said, "No," and sent her for more learning.

The third blonde said, "Easter is a Christian holiday that commemorates the fact that Jesus was betrayed by Judas. The Romans arrested him. The Romans hung Him on the cross and eventually He died. Then they buried Him in a tomb behind a very large boulder."
St. Peter said, astonished, "Very good!"
Then the blonde continued, "Now every year the Jews roll away the boulder and Jesus comes out. If he sees his shadow, we have six more weeks of basketball."
St. Peter fainted.

Mind and "Spirits"

Does the mystic believe in "angels," "demons," and other "spirit-entities"? Mystics are very independent people, so some do, and some do not. But let's take a closer look at the Way: Forget about angels for now. The only thing in which we need to believe to find happiness and joyful lives is the inner Mind. And, since you are thinking about that, it doesn't require a rocket scientist! If Mind did not exist, you could not be thinking about it! You could not be even reading these words.

So, we know that Mind exists. What's next? Much of spirituality occurs in the "Unconscious." So, we have to determine whether the Unconscious exists. There are two powerful reasons for believing this: 1) All psychologists, specialists in Mind, believe in It; and 2) tonight, when you dream, you will touch It directly.

So, the existence of the Unconscious is really as selfevident as is that of the conscious mind.

We also know that Love exists. Yes, it might be imperfectly expressed among people-- downright crummy and lousy, in fact. But that distortion does not deny the existence of Love, and even the potential or possibility of a perfect Love. Although Love might be flawed in a thousand ways, even the most hardened skeptic, if she is a realist, must admit that Love exists. So, the mystic God is known to exist by even "atheists." This perfect Love exists, says the Way, within your own mind, deep in the Unconscious. This is God. This is the Mind that is dreaming up the universe every moment.

Why does the Enllightenment Tradition teach that the "material, external" world is neither material nor external, but all a dream? This is because you cannot prove any object actually to exist without your mind to sense or perceive it. In other words, no object can be proved to exist independently of Mind. (Proof of this is that, in a dream, the same object would seem equally real.)

So, we cannot prove the existence of the "external, material" world, but we can prove the existence of Mind. Since you have a mind, you are, says the Way, irreversibly plugged into the great Unconscious (God).

This is very good news, for, according to the Enlightenment Tradition, this Mind is Love. The Center of the whole cosmos is Mind, and the Center of Mind is Love.

Knowing these few selfevident facts, you do not need to believe in angels, demons, spirits, etc. Of course, you are free, completely and absolutely, to believe in them if you choose to do so. Mystics do not believe in rigid dogma, or "truth" set in concrete. In the mystical life, these things all become optional, not mandatory. Again, according to the Enlightenment Tradition, you are here to love as much as possible, starting with yourself. So, begin right now: Do something kind for someone else, or for yourself. Every act of Love is an act of healing, and makes you feel better!

Pervasive Meditation

If your mind encourages you to practice structured meditation, then your best bet is to follow its recommendation,and set aside fifteen minutes every day. (Every day, you have ninety-six periods of fifteen minutes.) You might need to do this.

But there is another form of meditation which might also help. As contrasted with structured meditation, this is called "pervasive" meditation, for it pervades your day. Here's how it works:

Select a mantra. Whenever, during your day, you find that you have fifteen seconds here, twenty seconds there, a minute or two when the mind is not engaged in analysis or concentration, return to running your mantra. Do this at every opportunity. Don't let the mind wander and meander through the past or the future, but keep returning to your mantra, over and over and over again. Remember, you want to use every spare second to run your mantra. At the end of the day, if you were to add up all the time spent in "pervasive meditation," you might have "meditated" for hours!

Try to cultivate the habit of always running your mantra, until it becomes automatic and habitual. This will allow the Power of Love to move through your transparent mind, your crystalmind, without impediments. (Experience has shown that the process is easier if you have a four-syllable mantra, but that is not, of course, written in
stone.:)

More Dream-symbols

According to the Enlightenment Tradition, the "material and external" world is neither, but is the dream of the great Unconscious, the cosmic Mind, working with the Soul and synergizing with the conscious mind to create "reality."

Here is an interpretation of your dream: The children are the undeveloped or uneducated parts of your own psyche (your "inner child"). Since they are playing, the dream is telling you that you need more recreation and/or humor in your life. People with capricorn in their chart can be far too serious, far too often. The boy's pants are brown (earth-energy or biomind) purified, but not completely ("Off-white" shirt). This part of yourself needs to be fed. How? By "playing' more, and by humortherapy. The dream is warning: Too much seriousness might lead to sadness. Laugh often, go crazy, get silly! (Often, you can do this with a close friend, and can feel just how therapeutic it is. In aromatherapy, orange oil can enhance this.)

There was a "pond" on the patio. Water is a symbol of the Unconscious mind, and a smallish pool indicates only minimal exploration of the inner Self. Later, you are plunged into this same Unconscious ("ocean").

This is why you were born-- to explore the inner and deeper Mind. Its surface is covered with grass and white flowers, symbolizing purity that blossoms from Love (green). This Love is your gateway into the deep Unconscious. The original fear of not being able to breathe is a normal trepidation that, in exploring the inner Mind, you might not be able to contact the Spirit.

The woman with short hair implies a condition in which your thoughts (symbolized by hair) are minimalized, as in meditation or running your trm (thought-replacement mechanism; mantra). The dark blue of her dress is analogous to Indigo, and so represents the awakening of insight (sixth chakra) by the correct use of your intellect (little yellow flowers). When you awakened with the vision of yellow and orange, you were, at the time, "located" between your second and third chakras. (That word, btw, is pronounced "chuck'-ruhs," not "shock'-rahs.") But the second chakra is not for sexuality only. It can also mean bio-energy generally, directed by intellect, reason, logic,or rational considerations.

Email, Tranquillity, and Success

It is only a matter of honor, as well as balance and reciprocity, to answer every personal email received, so long as that is possible and feasible. This does not include junkmail or gangmails. Besides, it is quite satisfying even when other work calls. For it is an act of service,and hence, of Love.

Anything that increases the tranquillity in your life can be healing. We get little enough of this elusive serenity in our lives, and so, we do not have to invite into our lives any persons or forces that we know will be disruptive. This is an act of regard and respect, hence Love, for yourself.

Everyone loves those who love her; the challenge rises when you can love people who are not able actively to reciprocate.

"Success" is your entire life, not just your economic life. A rich person who hates herself is not a success, but an utter failure. A poor person, surrounded by family and friends filled with heartlove, is a monumental success!

Keep talking, keep thinking, but keep remembering to give yourself a little downtime once in a while!:)

The house-church

It was the will of Jesus for his friends to come together regularly and visit often. In those ancient times, the word "church" referred, not to a building or structure, but to the people. The ancient Greek word ekklesia is a rough translation of the Hebrew qahal, both of which meant "a gathering of like-minded people in fellowship or brother/sisterhood."

Jesus did not care enough about buildings even to build one as a
"church." In fact, the very first church-building did not appear until nearly five hundred years after his death. Until that occurred, Christians came together in "house-churches." That is, they met in homes of kind people, and their "congregations" were very rarely larger than groups of ten or twelve. This was based, sometimes, on Jesus' having chosen twelve friends (apostles) to serve the Way of Love.

Huge congregations, of thousands, were not within the plans of Jesus. This "thinking big," but not necessarily spiritually, reflects America's obsession with largeness, and with numbers. Almost everything is rated, in this primitive thinking, in terms of size. Even human beings, each of whom is incredibly sacred, are often measured by "numbering" their accomplishments, friends, or dollars.

The house-church was completely free of corruption. Why? Because corruption is created by complexity. Here is how that worked with the church: People thought that larger congregations were "better" than smaller ones. Because of this, simple congregations (ten or so) could no longer meet in homes. This entailed the purchose of "specialized" buildings-- reflecting the "division of labor" that marked secular ways.

But a building means real estate, and real estate means money, and money attracts crooks and con-artists. This was the seed for every kind of corruption, as the ancient Christian mystic reminds us, "The love of money is a root of all evil."

If you could keep real estate out of the picture of spirituality, you would have very little to no corruption. Could this be done? Yes, it could, and here's how:

Groupings for gatherings would have to be limited to about ten regular attendees. These could easily meet in the living-room, basement, or garage of any member, as they did in house-churches in the first three centuries. (Btw, you could also meet in parks, on lawns, etc.) But another factor would have to be part of the recipe if you would avoid corruption altogether: You would have to do away with all honorifics, offices, and titles. For power attracts the corrupt almost as readily as does money.

This is what the early gnostics (mystic Christians) wanted, and it is how they arranged their "system," which was very informal and unstructured. At each gathering of friends, they would draw lots to see who was going to guide that gathering. Thus,they were assiduously cautious never to lay the groundwork for a permanent leader-system, a clergy. In retrospect, seeing the corruption of priests and other leaders, we can see the wisdom in this.

We are trying our best to imitate the set-up of the pre-coruption pattern of early followers of the Way. That is why our one Pneumarium-family meets in a garage, and our two other Pneumarium-family groups (in Columbus and Darjeeling) meet in homes. As far as leadership is concerned, we have not yet drawn lots to see who can guide a group, but we do plan to do this in the very near future.

Buying land and buildings seems logical, and harmless, enough. But the simple church of Jesus has become monolithic and enormously wealthy after two millennia of evolution, and we now seek to return to the massive simplicity of the original system.

A spiritual teacher is just that, all the time. So, gatherings need not be formal. In homes, fields, markets, or wherever she finds herself, the teacher is still a teacher, and happy to share. And whenever two or more spiritual people get together, there is a "Pneumarium-gathering," or, "family-gathering."

Will this movement grow? That very question reveals the problem of thinking in terms of numbers. We do not care whether the Pneumarium-phenomenon grows or not. Size has nothing to do with the Way, and including it among criteria of measurement only muddies the waters.