BEFORE getting into the main topic of this post, I would like to share a comment on my previous post by my poet friend, Don Hynes, along with his songful poem of blessing:
“This is a beautiful post. The historical scheme may be questioned but the vibration is perfect. In this air cycle of awakening our purpose is to accelerate human conscious-ness that it may rise with the ascending vibration of the Sun enveloping the Earth. Of course the specific consciousness is my own, the individual always, but also to befriend each other in this task, those seen and unseen, known and unknown, that all may rise in this new day. If you will allow, I’ll close with a few poetic words that might add to your masterwork:
“We are an old people, the stories say among the first, who walked the land when fresh with the Creator’s touch. Though scarred with years of trouble we still sing the blessing songs, greeting the Sun each day with the thankfulness it deserves. And so I sing for you this morning a song of your belonging, child of a distant Light and ancient Mother, may you walk in beauty all your days, and if forgotten may this song remind you.“
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THANK YOU DON. We are indeed “an old people” . . . and we live on an old planet in an even older universe. How old nobody can really know, though scientific estimates have been made. What is time anyway? Everything happens in this eternal now. There is, however, great but simple method to the ongoing unfolding evolution of the universe as it moves forward through cycles of chaos-to-order and dissonance-to-consonance.
As George Gurdjieff reminds us in his Law of Seven (also called the Law of Octaves) — which I explored in my previous post — “nothing continues forever.” Creation unfolds within an energetic and musical continuum. Or as Russell Walter postulates, “Everything that is, is of everything else that is. Nothing is of itself alone. All created things are indissolubly united”. . . and sing together the “Music of the Spheres,” as George Gurdjieff demonstrates in his “Ray of Creation.” And there’s no one more articulate and comprehensive in unpacking Gurdjieff ‘s complex and profound vision of “worlds within worlds” than Episcopal prelate and author, Cynthia Bourgeault. So I will share excerpts from her book THE EYE OF THE HEART in bringing you Gurdjieff’s cosmogony in the context of her life’s journey in search and discovery of the “Imaginal Realm”. . . and its location and function within the Ray of Creation. This first excerpt if from chapter two “Worlds Within Worlds.”
The Ray of Creation
Gurdjieff actually makes use of two cosmic maps, and to situate the imaginal sphere of operations within his teaching, you have to overlay them.
The first, and probably more widely known of these (because of its close tie-in with the enneagram and the Law of Seven), is his Ray of Creation, which, as I have mentioned already, is the Gurdjieffian version of the Great Chain of Being. In most respects this follows the standard processionary model of traditional [religious] sophia perennis metaphysics, with progressively denser and colder kingdoms emerging out of that initial fiery explosion of the divine will-to-form that sets the whole thing in motion. The counter-entropic trajectory is not at first clearly visible.
What is immediately interesting about this map, however, is that the entire ray is located within the physical universe — although of course, the word physical here must be expanded to the widest and wildest reaches of our cosmological imagination. Gurdjieff’s “Megalocosmos,” the vast celestial canvas on which his map is drawn, stretches even beyond the fourteen billion years of our present “universe story,” reaching back into that implicitly endless matrix from which big bangs emerge like virtual particles. It is on the grandest possible cosmic scale that his vision plays out.
So too, the realms on this ray are not named by spiritual or theological names, as is typical of sophia perennis metaphysics. You will not find here logoic realms, angelic realms, heaven and hell realms — or for that matter, imaginal realms. Instead, you will find actual inter-planetary locations, named in an order that some of you may find strangely familiar: dominus (Holy Absolute), siderum (all galaxies), lactera (Milky Way, our galaxy), sol (our sun),fatum (fate, our own solar system or sphere of planetary influence), mixtus orbis (“mixed realm,” our planet earth), regina coeli (queen of the heavens, the moon) — or do, si, la, sol, fa, mi, re, do. (bold emphasis added)
Wait a minute! Isn’t that our modern Western musical scale?
Indeed, it is. And this is where the second fascinating feature of the Ray of Creation comes in. According to Gurdjieff, our modern major scale actually preserves in the names of its notes and the arrangement of its intervals a vestigial memory of an ancient esoteric teaching about the “cosmic solfeggio,” not only in the way in which the created order originally came into existence but also in the way in which energy is continuously transmitted and replenished along the Ray of Creation. That knowledge is still there, hidden in plain sight in the musical scale, to be dug out by those so inclined; its articulation dovetails precisely with what in the Gurdjieff work is known as the Law of Seven, the Law of World Maintenance.
This is not the place to get sidetracked into a lengthy discussion of the Law of Seven. . . . But from the point of view of imaginal exchange, it does yield up one very interesting piece of data, again a stable feature of the Law of Seven. If you look at the schematic that follows, you notice those two lines cutting across the map, between do and si near the top and between fa and mi closer to the bottom. These correspond to the “hesitation” points on the ray — half steps on the musical scale — where a new infusion of energy, or a different kind of energy, must be introduced in order to keep the whole ray flowing on trajectory. Otherwise the whole thing will veer off track or be halted at a threshold it cannot cross. In Gurdjieffian terminologies, these are the “shock” points, the places where the entire progression is the most vulnerable but, equally, the most permeable.
GURDJIEFF’S RAY OF CREATION
In the case of the higher (do-si) shock point, that bridging energy is provided by the will of the Holy Absolute, still close enough to ground zero to easily span the descending gap. In the latter case, as we will see shortly, the shock point falls right between fa, the traditional endpoint of the so-called subtle realms, and mi, the beginning of those “dense material realms.” And this is exactly the place where traditional metaphysics and I locate the imaginal realm. In other words, the mi-fa shock point falls right in the middle of the imaginal intertidal zone. In and of itself, if you ponder it deeply, this realization will tell you most everything you need to know about the primary cosmic function of the imaginal realm and our specific human contribution to this sphere of operations. But since these ideas may be very new to some of you not previously familiar with Gurdjieffian metaphysics, rest assured that I will circle back in chapter 3 and unpack them much more systematically.
I like this first map because it is real. Not only does it accord with a more contemporary understanding of the relationship between matter and energy, it also situates the whole unfolding here (admittedly a huge and vast “here”) rather than in some mirage-like “spiritual” realm that floats “above” our visible solar system like a huge celestial theme park. It calls us to order, to a path of transformation that does not lead us away from materiality but straight into it and through it. Particularly when we enter those two lowest realms, mi and re, we are talking about our actual earth and our actual moon, and we are discussing planetary evolution along lines strikingly parallel to Teilhard de Chardin’s. Nor will Gurdjieff let us off the hook here. For him, the major vehicle mediating that mi-fa shock is the biosphere — yes, organic life on earth! — and its ultimate recipient is the moon, not our eternal souls. And yes, our conscious attention and willing participation will certainly make a huge difference in how our contribution is mediated and in which realm it is received. But willingly or unwillingly the tribute is exacted, and it is paid in the coin of this realm, in flesh and blood. Our inner work exists within the Megalocosmos and for the sake of the Megalo-cosmos, not the other way around; it is important never to forget this.
MIXED REALM
Our own Earth realm has long been known on the cosmological maps as mixtus orbis, the “mixed realm.” While the full explanation for this designation is complex, something does seem to get mixed and mingled here. We humans are curiously bilingual; we speak the language of this world with all its charms and nuances, but we also strain toward that invisible other that seems to hover right beyond us in those dazzling glimpses and visions: that intuition of “another intensity,” in the words of T. S. Eliot, to which we know we also belong. That invisible but always interpenetrating other is the imaginal realm.”
The earlier metaphysical roadmaps, as mentioned, tended to draw a sharp dividing line between matter and spirit, with the result that the imaginal, hovering just on the horizon of our mixtus orbis, often appeared to be a world in itself, with no obvious commerce with our own. As the last outpost of the “spiritual” realms, how and why would it bridge the divide into the material realms? In the previous chapter I tried to recast this traditional metaphysical habit in terms of the more contemporary under-standing that there is in fact no such “divide” but rather a single continuum of energy manifesting in various degrees of subtlety or coarseness. Transposing the metaphysical map from its original Platonic milieu to this more Einsteinian one in fact takes us far beyond traditional esoteric understandings of the imaginal, which focused on the personal and elusive nature of this realm, into a new appreciation of its collective and evolutionary importance.
It was Gurdjieff who really got the ball rolling here by adding in the key puzzle piece (undetectable through the lens of traditional sophia perennis metaphysics), which he called “reciprocal feeding.” He proposed that along the entire Ray of Creation (his equivalent term for the Great Chain of Being), there is a continuous, active exchange proceeding in both directions — not only from higher realms to lower but also from lower to higher — in order to maintain the entire ray in a state of dynamic equilibrium according to a cosmic principle to which he gives the rather unwieldy name “Trogoautoegocrat.”
Mouthful though the term may be, the idea itself is a remarkably prescient attempt to view the entire created order as what we would nowadays call a “self-specifying system,” a whole greater than the sum of its parts, whose chief metaphysical feature is no longer involution — the gradual loss of energy as the lower end of the chain plunges steadily toward entropy — but rather an elaborate homeostasis that preserves (and even increases) the energy of the total system as each realm makes its required contri-bution to the whole.
Gurdjieff referred to this system as “reciprocalfeeding” for good reason: the exchange he has in mind involves the actual transformation of cosmic substances based models—more like digestion than the simple information-sharing favored in contemporary consciousness . . . .
But the idea itself is fairly straightforward and so flagrantly timely for a planet careening toward ecological catastrophe that I believe it’s simply no longer conscionable to allow it to be held captive in a maze of Gurdjieffian Fourth Way esoterica. More to our immediate concern here, this broader vision of what amounts to a vast intergalactic bootstrapping is utterly essential if we hope to have some true feeling for what the imaginal realm is all about, beyond just some allusive bandwidth of inner guidance and bedazzling intensity. If exchange is indeed the principal business of this realm, we must picture this exchange from the outset as a two-way street. (All bold emphasis added)
WHERE IS ALL THIS LEADING?
That’s a very appropriate question to ask at this point in the series. My destination, after laying the groundwork, is the creating ground of the “Imaginal Realm” and the “reciprocal feeding” that takes place in the “exchange between the realms.” This is the realm where we’re destined to ascend in consciousness, where the two realms meet — and from whence we, as a “conscious circle of humanity,” co-create and recreate the “mixed realm” of the New Earth . . . andour moon, which is included in Gurdjieff’s Ray of Creation. Our fascination with going to the moon is significant at this time . . . but are we in position, mentally and spiritually, to take on the re-creation of our moon while our Home planet goes neglected and raped for her resources? I think not. We would treat Her Majesty no differently. But then, maybe not!
I do hope you enjoy flowing with Cynthia’s stream of consciousness as much as I do. I will share more in my next post, “Worlds Within Worlds.” As always, I welcome your thoughts, insights and inspirations. Until next time,
MY HEART IS FULL this morning as I put fingers to keyboard and mind to articulating this fullness. It’s been a turbulent two weeks mentally and emotionally . . . but a victorious hurdle-jump, Thank you Father, with an increase in the intensity of energy, especially love energy.
Just after landing this morning and a dreamy night’s sleep, Cynthia Bourgeault’s EYE OF THE HEART caught my eye from my chairside table and invited me—more like a command than an invitation: “Pick me up! I’ve got more to share with you and with your audience.” So I sat down with a cup of Earl Grey tea and read Chapter Three: THE GREAT EXCHANGE.
As I finished reading, Bonnie joined me in the living room with a fresh cup of coffee. What transpired next was sheer magic as we engaged in a most stimulating conversation about the many levels of consciousness out of which the people in our world live and express . . . from the inspiring sublime spiritual down to the grosser levels of human degradation and depletion where getting is more dominant than giving. Our interchange was initiated by what I had just finished reading . . . along with the last sentence of a passage from an excerpt I share in my previous blog post—and with which Bonnie particularly resonates:
“In this realm the fruits of our human striving—both conscious and unconscious—are offered up to the whole. From this realm, in turn, we receive blessing, inspiration, guidance, and vivifying force, which are ours to share and bestow here below. Like a Sufi dervish, we receive and bestow, receive and bestow, as we turn and are turned within the greater cosmic dance.“
After our conversation, I turned my attention to the world-radiation service hundreds of us share every morning, receiving and bestowing a unified current of Love from Heaven into the Earth and the world of human beings. Even as the radiant Attunement Current moved out through my hands and entire being, an equally full responsive current returned to ascend upward in gratitude for the blessings bestowed.
This giving-and-receiving dynamic spilled over into my breakfast time as I blessed the gifts of Mother Earth’s bounty, welcoming them into my body temple and lifting their essences of grateful praise up to the One who created them and breathed life into their forms. What an utterly delightful state of mind and consciousness, I thought, is available to us in this mansion of the Father’s House! I just have to share it with you and all who read my blog. I pray for the capacity for writing and sharing what I’m seeing in my heart. I surrender to the River . . . and the River speaks . . . through me and through Cynthia. I certainly hear the rush of many waters as I ponder what I shall write. Listen.
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“Blessed is the Lion whom the man devours, for that lion will become man. But cursed is the man whom the lion devours, for that lion will become man.” —Gospel of Thomas, Logion 7
THE GREAT EXCHANGE
In this tiny, cryptic saying from the Wisdom teachings of Jesus, we actually find the kernel of the entire complex Gurdjieffian notion of the Trogoautoegocrat* laid out in less than thirty words—Certainly the moral kernel of it. Food, transformation, upward and downward exchange between the realms—it’s all here, together with the stunningly unequivocal answer to the question “What happens when we throw ourselves into the mix? The answer is that we wind up in the eye of the needle.
In the first of these parallel, trompe l’oeil [imaginary] transformations, man devours the lion, which means that he has digested, i.e. integrated, the fire and strength of his animal nature into the higher order of his conscious humanity; and the lion, thus transformed, steps forward as a servant and a vehicle. This is upward transformation.
In the second, when the lion devours the man, the man simply loses himself in his lower order bestiality; his human consciousness and cleverness become servants for his primordial rage, and what emerges is chaos and destruction. This is devolution, the downward trans-formation. And as the saying ironically acknowledges, “that lion has now become man.” It gets up in the morning, puts on its clothes, makes breakfast, makes policy, determines the fate of the world — and fills the atmosphere around him with the psychic toxins of his rage, fear, and alienation. This is “the terror of the situation,” according to Gurdjieff. And we do not have to look far from our immediate world situation to see it playing out.
A book authored and recently released by Kyle Harper touts a telling title: Plagues Upon the Earth: Disease and the Course of Human History. In the introduction is a fairly accurate assessment of how insidiously humankind is being devoured by the lower kingdoms, particularly by the parasitic and pathogenic realms of Nature, while our sciences proclaim to be “winning the battle” over diseases. This recent pandemic is a classic case in point. The human immune system is greatly overtaxed handling a toxic environment.
The goal of this book is to tell the story of how we have acquired our distinct disease pool and what it has meant for us as a species. It is a history in which we are a part of nature, rather than apart from it.” Harper’s argument is based on four sections of humankind’s technological innovations and how they impacted our relationship with diseases: fires, farms, frontiers, and fossils. “Modernity is not a one-way street to human supremacy over nature, but a kind of escalating ratchet, in which humans have gained a remarkable but unstable advantage over an ever-growing number of parasites.” Pathogens have one goal, and that is to pass on their genetic code. Humans have crafted themselves to be the perfect hosts for this goal due to our immensely dense population and the high transmission rate of our global interconnection. Humans are a successful species, and pathogens and parasites have benefited from our success.
The truth is, we do not belong at the evolutionary level of creation, certainly not at the level of “survival of the fittest.” Our mansion in the Divine Design is several levels higher, where we were made perfect and complete “in the image and likeness of God.” Our Human forms may be evolving, but not our Being, who and what we are.
We do not offer much in the way of blessing to our earthly habitat, nor to our own and other species. Out of all species on the planet, we are the only specie that is methodically destroying our sources of sustenance: poisoning our food crops with carcinogenic pesticides, polluting our air and water with toxic chemicals, and raping our planet of its mineral resources, not to mention our proliferating toxic landfills. The metaphorical Lion is devouring man and has become man, who is consuming his habitat and is therein cursed before he is born.
This is all a reversal of the divinely-ordained purpose of transmutation and exchange between the realms, where blessings and nourishment rain down from above and refined substance ascends in currents of praise and thanksgiving to the Creator of all the realms.
This bestial devouring activity has infected the nations of the world. On the global scene, nations compete with one another for dominance. The current hegemon is the United States of America, Inc., whose apparent goal is to foist its Democratic “genetic code” onto other nations . . . whilst oligarchic elements, both here and abroad, seek to infect Democracies with authoritarianism. The Military Industrial Complex—against which President Eisenhower warned us six decades ago—is the authoritarian Lion that has devoured and become Corporate America, amassing great wealth on the battlefields of nations. War is Big Business. We may not like nor want to look at this ugly side of our nation’s—nor our specie’s—character profile; but ignoring it doesn’t change it. The Lion has devoured the man, who is in dire need of transformation.
Cynthia continues sharing her profoundly insightful vision and perspective:
“The role of a conscious human being is to provide the phenomenal earth world with energies which otherwise would not be effectively transmitted to the creations and units which make up our world,” writes William Segal, one of the most brilliant first-generation students of the Gurdjieff Work. That is the bare, perhaps unglamorous bottom line. Whatever we like to think we’re up to in our philosophical or spiritual fantasies — saving the world, saving our souls, attaining full enlightenment — in terms of cosmic exchange, we are transformers, of molecules and of meaning in equal measure. It is the cosmic function apportioned to us in the great Trogoautoegocrat. If we do it a certain way, something happens to us and to the planet; if we do it another way, something else happens.
All the world’s spiritual traditions have tried to orient us rightly here through a fundamental baseline morality: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Even in the absence of any further instructions, a simple adherence to the great moral precepts emerging from the first axial age will keep humans basically in right alignment to perform their required part in the great exchange. The transmission chain will flow smoothly. The lion will proceed toward man.
But the shadow side of these ancient moral teachings is that they tend to rely on an individualized, fear-and-punishment-driven vision of an afterlife to motivate compliance. In the pervasively secular and skeptical culture of our times, where the fires of hell hold about as much clout as Santa or the tooth fairy, the human moral compass has increasingly defaulted to unabashed self-interest. “Go for the gusto!” “Get all you can get!” “You’re worth it!” We all know the slogans; they are the mantras of our brave new world. And that is not merely a personal moral failure, claims Gurdjieff; it is an ecological catastrophe, for it amounts to a systemic breakdown, as across a broad sector of an entire pivotal species, “the lion devours the man,” and the flow of those essential energies between the realms is destabilized.
Even at the turn of the last century, Gurdjieff was already deeply concerned about what he saw to be a significant drop in the level of being required of our human species and hence of our ability to play our required part in the cosmic homeostasis. There’s little question that the past hundred years of our planetary unfolding have more than borne out his concerns. When we collectively devolve, simply using our ambition and cleverness to live as successful lions, in that same downward spiral we fall below the critical threshold needed to maintain our place as “conscious human beings,” the fundamental pre-requisite for our full participation in the great exchange. When that function goes unperformed (or gets performed in a distorted or toxic way), it is not merely “our immortal souls” that suffer; the entire cosmic equilibrium is thrown out of whack.
I think we all sense in our bones that there is a closer and more organic connection than we would com-fortably like to admit to between the kinds of energies we humans pump into the atmosphere as the fruit of our moral actions and the tangible effects of this “imaginal pollution” on the biosphere. We sense this, but we do not know why, for the traditional metaphysical maps are still based on outmoded science, and the modern scientific maps (with the notable exception of the one proposed by Teilhard de Chardin, who was at least bold enough to make a first stab at a new paradigm) do not yet integrate — or in most cases even acknowledge — the moral dimension implicit in all this. What does the handoff between radial and tangential energy actually look like? In what sense is human virtue an actual “food” supporting organic life on earth? And where and how in our own work of conscious transformation does the exchange between the realms actually get played out?
These are among the crucial missing pieces embedded in those overlapping diagrams of the worlds we started to consider in the previous chapter. In this chapter I will continue to explore this perhaps strange new way of fitting the pieces together in the hopes that it might open up a fresh angle of approach to some of the tragic impasses (intellectual, spiritual, ecological) of our own times. As we move beyond the traditional moral arguments into a closer look at the actual mechanics of the exchange that goes on here at this all-important mi-fa junction point, I think we will see with deepening resolve — and perhaps with deepening “remorse of conscience,” as Gurdjieff would put it — why our human orientation toward the good is not a personal virtue but a collective cosmic responsibility.
The operative word for me is “collective.” As we human beings continue to increase our love for one another, unconditionally, even as the Lord of Love loves us each one, that collective Body will naturally and magically come together. We all know this. All that remains is for us to consistently do it. Our Creator needs us as One Body to do the Greater Works sorely needed in our world.
I leave you to ponder these things as I turn my attention to Holy Week when Christians the world over observe Lent with ashes on their foreheads reminding them of their earthen origin . . . and destination . . . one scenario anyway. I have another to share in my next post. Until then,
Be love. Be loved.
Anthony
tpal70@gmail.com
*Trogoautoegocratic refers to an open system dependent on external, higher forces. A system under trogoautoegocratic law will submit to a process of transmutation in order to sustain indefinitely. Transmutation is the generation of heat and light through conscious works and voluntary sacrifice.
“Do not fear when the winds of adversity blow. Remember: the kite rises against the wind rather than with it.”
This saying was on a poster picture hanging on the wall of my doctor’s orthopedic clinic today. There was no credit given, however its author might well have been the doctor himself, a very personable and encouraging individual with an optimistic outlook on life—on top of being a great surgeon. The saying itself is very applicable to our time of adversity where we fear for our lives in the face of a very aggressive virus sweeping the planet and harvesting souls in such an unprecedented and untimely manner—angels ascending on “Jacob’s ladder” without a pause. Hopefully, the vaccination will slow it down . . . and, if it follows the usual path viruses take, COVID-19 will run its two-year course before mutating to a less viral version, with or without a vaccine. (See my HealthLight Newsletter for important information about the Covid-19 vaccine.)
As many are recognizing, we are on the threshold of a major reset in our way of living on the planet. Radical change is being forced upon us by dire circumstances: this pandemic, climate change, violent shifts in weather patterns—hurricanes, snow storms, floods, droughts and wild fires. On top of all that is the solar eclipse in Sagittarius on December 14. (Go to Pam Gregory for a complete astrological forecast.)
The reset underway, however, is not in a downward but rather an upward spiraling direction. A new day has dawned. A New Earth is unfolding out of the New Heaven descending upon human consciousness. Another Golden Age is at hand. Lift up your heads and face the winds of change and rise to greet the New Day!
IMAGING A DIFFERENT WORLD
Imagination is a mental activity. Imaging, on the other hand, takes place in our consciousness. My imaging lately is of an anticipatory nature. I find myself imaging the kinds of changes we will undergo as “new norms” set in—especially in the way we buy and sell services and products. With so many unemployed and lacking funds to feed their children, heat their homes and pay their rent, what are we going to do? The only solution I can imagine is to circumvent our monetary system altogether and start giving to one another according to each one’s needs and means. We CAN DO this, you know.
This I know from personal experience back along the way when I placed my healthcare services on a giving basis, as I related in the previous post. The following is the article I wrote about that pioneering event while attending an Ontology Training Class with my family in 1973 at Sunrise Ranch in Loveland, Colorado. (I was participating in a class “work pattern” at Sunrise Ranch when this picture was taken. Even as I write this post, I am putting the finishing touches on our storm-damaged floors, the last item on our list of home repairs! Yea!). Enjoy the read.
“HOW DO YOU LIVE, DOCTOR?”
This is a question that I find myself answering day after day in my chiropractic office. It comes as a spontaneous reaction to my answer to a previous question, that inevitable question that tends to crash through the air during a heart-to-heart conference with the patient: “And how much will all this cost me. Doctor?” Of course it is interestingly worded in many different and revealing ways, like: “What will the damages be?” and “How much will this set me back?” or “And what are we talking about … ?” (“In terms of cost” is implied here but for some strange reason fearfully avoided.)
My answer depends somewhat on which way the crucial question is phrased, but always leads to a basic presentation of our Cooperative Fee System: “There are no charges, as such, for our services. Our patients give each according to their individual means for our service, which is given freely. You also may participate with us in this program.” (This is basically the “GPC Service Principle” which was initiated by Dr. George Shears some thirty years ago and which has become the basis of service for many chiropractors across the continent. The initials stand for: God-Patient-Chiropractor.)
The reaction to this different approach has overtones of mystification. The immediate interpretation of it usually implies that the good doctor is either participating in some government sponsored research program, or is independently wealthy. If neither of these, then he is certainly a generous Christian man, but he doesn’t know how dishonest people are—and how can he survive if he doesn’t ask a fee for his services! So the question forthrightly pops up: “Well, how do you live, Doctor?”
I always appreciate this benevolent concern for the doctor’s welfare as well as the patient’s lack of immediate comprehension of the full implications in my answer to his simple question. After all, his mind is geared to receive dollars and cents signs and I give it the cosmic creative principle of Giving and Receiving. Nevertheless, it is interesting to see this underlying error in human thinking: that health, and therefore life, is a matter of dollars and cents. On one occasion, a gentleman who simply could not wrap his brain around this principle, vehemently insisted I charge a fee for his care. When I refused to back down, he got up and walked out of my office. I felt compassion for him, understanding well the challenge I had placed before him.
Being aware of this disproportion in human minds, mainly because I’ve dealt with it in my own, I’ve learned to look beyond it and to see a sincere innate curiosity in the patient’s question—-an inner knowingness, latent perhaps but very real, that there must be a right way of doing things in all facets of our living. So I address myself to this truth in them and gladly oblige to let them fill this void in their hearts with a true response to a genuine offer. These moments always lead to a most warm and relaxing conversation and exchange of honest feelings. As far as I am concerned, the healing processes go into action here in these relaxed moments of agreement and insight.
One day, as I was explaining to a new patient how this approach allowed me to be free to do whatever might be needed and right for the patient’s return to health without being limited by a set price on my services, he was so taken with delightful surprise that he burst out laughing. I asked him what it was that amused him so. He replied, “Well, to be honest, I was not sure at first that I was hearing correctly. I thought I was the oddball in my thinking about service and money. This has been my exact attitude for years. When I service an engine, my mechanics are constantly encouraged to work on the basis of integrity and honesty, and we do the job right or else the customer doesn’t pay for it until it is right. And you know, that’s the only way to operate a business successfully. Just be honest and open with your customers and take pride in doing the job right, just for the sake of doing it right and preferably the first go at it.”
Well, as you can imagine, I was thrilled to meet such a man and I’ll always remember the intense feeling of agreement we shared together in those few moments and the subsequent rapport that even now continues to grow between us. I think it was then that I stopped trying to measure the immeasurable rewards of true and noble service.
Integrity, honesty, nobility, kindness–when demonstrated openly, these qualities of man’s true nature always engender the same character in those with whom we have our daily transactions. And I think we need to deliberately put this to practice in our every moment and aspect of life by beginning to be perceptive and sensitive enough to see the rightness in others. Even if others do resist giving it forth in their expression themselves, we know that it’s there in them because we know it is true in us. So we can learn to really serve by giving one another an opportunity to release our inherent sense of rightness–addressing ourselves to that in one another and trusting that we will touch what’s right and beautiful. We can learn to be patient in this and masters in the art of true living. This IS the real business at hand for all men and women of Earth in these momentous times.♥
ABOUT THOSE “LOAVES AND FISHES”
In my gut feeling, the “miracle of the loves and fishes” was about sharing and not about multiplying. The biblical story portrays the Teacher manifesting food for the crowd. I rather believe that when the people saw His disciples sharing their bread and fishes with others, those who had brought food with them began sharing it with those who had not. Thus the crowd was fed, and there were even leftovers. That, to me, was the real message of the story—a story about the abundance of provision in the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Wealth is to be shared around and not hoarded.
“IMAGINE”
Attunement colleagues and friends reminded me today that this year marks 40 years since John Lennon left this earthly sphere after being gunned down. I leave you, then, with the lyrics of his legendary signature song, IMAGINE.
As I look back to the 1980’s, we had just completed a fourteen year cycle practicing our profession on the GPC no-fee system. I say “we” because I was joined by two other colleagues seven years later when I moved my practice to Baton Rouge, Louisiana from Denham Springs. So, we were unknowingly modeling a way of serving and living as John Lennon imagined it could be. I suppose we were dreamers as well—and I’m still dreaming, imaging a New Earth. Enjoy the lyrics.
Imagine there’s no heaven
It’s easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us, only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there’s no countries
It isn’t hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will be as one
Dreams do come true, and images do materialize in season. I think this is their season, John Lennon. Thank you for dreaming.
I welcome any thoughts readers wish to share. Drop me a line or two at my email address. Until my next post,
“The Law of Balance is the Law of Love upon which the universe is founded.” (Walter Russell)
I’ve been away from my blogging for a few weeks due to preparations for a workshop that had to be cancelled for close family health reasons. I hope you enjoyed my last posts on this blog and on my Health Light Newsletter on the theme of balancing and harmonizing the chakras and endocrine energy fields. If you haven’t had an opportunity to read those posts, they are still available in the archives.
In this post we will continue our consideration of human relations, sharing some of the wisdom of Walter and Lao Russell. In Part 1, we started addressing the question: What is Love? In this post I will focus the consideration on balance, the essential ingredient of all successful, creative, and, therefore, healthy relationships.
Reading Walter and Lao’s books – THE MESSAGE OF THE DIVINE ILIAD and GOD WILL WORK WITH YOU BUT NOT FOR YOU respectively – I was profoundly touched by this couple’s powerfully creative and fruitful relationship. They were truly in Love together. I would like to take this opportunity to share with my readers excerpts from these books that will give you a feel for the cosmic basis of their relationship. I hope you will enjoy reading them as much as I do. Rarely does one find clear expressions of universal truths in timeless words. I love that about Walter and Lao’s writings.
Walter Russell
THE LAW OF BALANCE
THE LAW OF BALANCE is the Law of Love upon which the universe is founded. This law is given to man for his coming renaissance of greater comprehension. It is, of all laws, the inclusive and the most simple. It consists of but three words. These three words are the very foundation of all our material existence, all phenomena of matter or interchange between humans, economically, socially and spiritually.
I will read to you from THE DIVINE ILIAD:
“Great art is simple. My universe is great art, for it is simple.
“Great art is balanced. My universe is consummate art, for it is balanced simplicity.
“My universe is one in which many things have majestic measure; and again another many have measure too fine for sensing.
“Yet I have not one law for majestic things, and another law for things which are beyond the sensing.
“I have but one law for all My opposed pairs of creating things; and that law needs but one word to spell it out, so hear Me when I say that the one word of My one law is
BALANCE.
And if man needs two words to aid him in his knowing of the workings of that law, those words are
BALANCED INTERCHANGE.
If man still needs more words to aid his knowing of My one law, give to him another one, and let those three words be
RHYTHMIC BALANCED INTERCHANGE.”
Balance is the foundation of all human relations, of the universe itself. The stars of heaven move in obedience to it. They cannot do otherwise. Cosmic disaster of untold dimension would follow such disobedience. The starry universe is so absolute in its balance that the movement of a dewdrop on anyone planet necessitates the readjustment of the orbits of all the stars of heaven to that microcosmic event. Because of that law all happenings are universal. Any action anywhere is extended for repetition everywhere. All motion is as omnipresent as the Light of God is omnipresent. All effect is universal.
God is balance. From the stillness of His balance in the unconditioned One Light, He extends His balance to the conditioned universe of motion as two opposite unbalanced conditions of two lights which seek balance through each other.
“NATURE NEVER TAKES THAT WHICH IS NOT GIVEN”
Oppositely-conditioned pairs in Nature seek balance through each other by repeatedly giving all that each has to give to the other in rhythmic sequences. In Nature this process continues perpetually because in Nature all givings of one are perpetually balanced by equal regivings of the other. Nature never takes that which is not given.
This universe is founded upon love as manifested in the giving of one opposite to the other for regiving. The earth gives its forests to the heavens and the heavens give them back again to earth for equal regiving. Every dewdrop given by the heavens is equally regiven to the heavens by the earth.
Equal interchange between opposite conditions manifests the love principle of balance upon which God’s universal body is founded. Whatever is true of God’s universal body is true of man’s body. It is the equality of balance between the giving and regiving of Nature which makes its transactions perpetual. The lack of the love principle of rhythmic balanced interchange in the transactions of men is the reason for the ills of the body and for the disasters which make continuance of relations between men impossible.
The seller of goods is also a buyer. If the seller gives less to his customers than the value of what he charges, he deprives his customer of the ability to regive that which the seller needs to again become a seller. By sacrificing the good-will which is the foundation of continuance in any business, the love principle has been subtracted from the transaction in the measure of inequality of interchange.
Neither man nor nation can continue an interchange of relations upon a harmonious basis of multiplying power when the universal love principle is violated. The law of balance is absolute. He who breaks that law will be equally broken by it.
If each of the two conditions which forms the basis for every transaction between pairs of opposites in Nature can be kept in balance with the other, the resultant effect is good. When they are out of balance with each other, the resultant effect is bad.
Good and bad — sin and evil — measure the degree in which all pairs of oppositely-conditioned effects of motion are either in balance with each other or out of it. In all our human relations we, ourselves, make our own good and bad, or evils and sins, by our desires and decisions to act either in or out of balance with Universal Law.
There is no sin or evil in Nature, for Nature observes the law of balance. Every unbalanced effect in Nature is balanced by its opposite unbalanced effect.
The play of Creation consists of dividing all ideas into two opposite parts. What each half does in relation to the other half constitutes the play. Such divisions into halves are male and female—buyer and seller—positive and negative—compression and expansion, and countless other divisions of ideas into unbalanced pairs for the purpose of expressing those ideas.
Whatever these opposed pairs do in any transaction results in an effect. All human relations are thus divided, and transactions between humans results in either good or bad effects which we call happiness or misery in accordance with whether the transaction is balanced or unbalanced. Man can make whichever he chooses. He can make happiness, success, wealth, friendship and health only by obeying the law. He can never find them by disobeying the law.
For aeons mankind has been breaking the law in an endeavor to find happiness, wealth and power. Civilization has been built by the unbalanced power of might-over-right. Nations have enriched themselves by impoverishing other nations, expecting to find happiness by giving misery—expecting to attain power by depriving others of power. Without any exception, those who have broken the law have been equally broken by the law. This war-broken world of today is the result of yesterday’s breaking of the law.
IT’S ABOUT CONSCIOUS LIVING, ISN’T IT?
It is a challenge to be consciously aware — “mindful” is the word these days — of what I am doing day in and day out. For example, we go to the grocery store so frequently that it has become part of our routine in life. So routine is this activity that it can almost be done without thinking. I simply read my grocery list, collect what I need into my cart and check out at the cashier’s counter. I bring my groceries home, put them away and take them out later to prepare a meal. I sit down to eat my meal then rise to wash my dishes and clean up the kitchen. All this I can do, have done, without giving a single thought to all that has gone before, all the people who make my daily meals at all possible.
For example, there’s the farmer who grew the vegetables — which come from our own garden this time of year, “Thank you Mother God and the good earth and worms and microorganisms!” — the packager who shipped them to the super market, the truck driver who drove all night to get the produce to the grocer, the grocer himself who provided the store and stocked it with groceries. Then there’s the stock boy who placed the apples and oranges on display, the company who made the grocery cart for me to gather my groceries and cart them up to the cashier. Then there’s the cashier who checks me out and collects my payment, and the bagging boy who puts my groceries into bags so that I can carry them home. Then there’s the ” butcher, the baker and the candlestick maker,” along with the workers who packaged the bread, the meat and the candlesticks — all of this done for my convenience, to make my life enjoyable and less stressful. And we could go on to include the transportation system — our automobiles and the petroleum needed to run them — but I’ll stop there. It’s called “Community.” How many people am I consciously aware of who are in some small and large way involved in just my daily meals? Well, if I am consciously aware of them, whoever they are, when I give my money to the cashier for my groceries, then that act of paying for what has been given to me can take on a much larger meaning that isn’t otherwise in my consciousness when I am acting mindlessly out of habit and routine, and maybe complaining about the rising cost of things. How much more fun there is in being mindful! And thankful!
Sometimes I think of all this and a deep sense of appreciation whelms up in my heart. It can’t help but whelm up. My payment, then, becomes a means of giving so that the grocer and so many others can continue giving — never mind whether or not they are mindful of the Law of Balance and of their participation in it or lack thereof. If I am, then they are too, because what I do here is done everywhere. We are one Body of humanity! Let me be conscious for the whole Body.
Our needs are not that great. Our wants are what get us into trouble with the Law of Balance.
I practiced for fourteen years back in the 1960-70’s, along with other colleagues, without a fee for our services. It was called the “GPC Cooperative Fee System.” The acronym stood for “God–Patient–Chiropractor.” The rationale was that God gives life freely to the patient and the chiropractor alike, so what right does the chiropractor have to charge a fee for helping his patients increase their experience of life? That’s what true healthcare does, or is at least supposed to do: increase the expression of life in human beings. What price could we honestly place on that?! Health and life are priceless. So we didn’t charge for it, and God came through in providing for our needs. (And when you stop to think about it honestly, our needs are not that great. Our wants are what get us into trouble with the Law of Balance. Think about it. )
We practiced this way in order to align ourselves with the Universal Law of Giving and Receiving. In order to awaken my patients to the this law, I would often say “The patient just leaving the office paid for your services today. You can pay for the person following you, if you like.” Well, it wasn’t true, at least not in a conscious sense. But it was the fact, nevertheless, that we were able to continue giving our services to others because the ones who went before gave to us financially so that we could keep the clinic open and buy groceries in order to sustain our bodies. Those were the best years of my entire career as a healthcare practitioner. We had so much fun waking people up to the truth and spirit of the Law of Balance. It was also an education in how little value people in general placed on our services and, more to the point, were willing to invest in the health and wellness of their own house of being. Far more value is placed on the kind of automobile one drives, and keeping it in good running condition, and the quality and comfort of one’s domicile. We averaged around $9 per office visit — but we saw and blessed between fifty and a hundred patients every day! Just thought I would cap this post off with a little story of my own. We are missing out on a marvelously rewarding experience mindlessly giving just to get something for ourselves from others. We can’t actually do that, you know, for there are no “others.” There’s only the One I am.
Until my next post, in which I will share some of Lao Russell’s wise words on personal relationships, I wish you well.
Anthony Palombo, D.C.
Read my Health Light Newsletter online at LiftingTones.com. The theme is balancing our energy fields. Very interesting reading.
Walter Russell tapped into the secrets of the Universe. He was able to do this because he lived his life in the Light. His intense desire for knowledge was the key that opened his heart and mind to receive knowledge directly from God. His writings and revelations indicate clearly and repeatedly that each one of us can access knowledge directly from God just as easily as he did, echoing words the Master Jesus reportedly uttered: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth in me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.” (John 14:12) That is a promise worth exploring and receiving.
In THE MESSAGE OF THE DIVINE ILIAD Russell answers questions concerning life and universal truths in the Light. I will share some of these questions and answers in the next few blog posts. As always, you comments are welcome and encouraged.
QUESTIONS ANSWERED
Q. Why is it you are able to answer all of our questions upon any subject so easily?
A. Because all knowledge exists and one can have all knowledge by desiring to have it. To quote from THE DIVINE ILIAD: “All questions are answerable in Light. Thou art Light. Thou can’st answer them.” You can answer them as well as I if your desire for knowledge is sufficiently intense. Let me call to your attention, however, that I cannot answer questions which are not knowledge. I could not tell you the date of Julius Caesar’s birth, for that is not knowledge; that is but information. Knowledge is limited to cause. Information concerns effect. Effect belongs to the sensed electric universe of motion. Motion cannot be known. It can but be comprehended.
Q. What is the underlying principle of motion?
A. The universe of motion is founded upon a very simple principle, as simple as your heartbeat or your incoming-outgoing breath. All effects are the result of the two desires of the Creator for expression of His idea. One desire is for division of oneness of idea into multiple forms of ideas. The other is for a return to oneness for repetition of multiplicity through rest. Each of these desires is expressed by half a cycle of two-way motion between two opposite points of rest to other opposite points. Each opposite voids its other opposite, but our senses do not detect this fact. If they did, they would sense the illusion which the universe of motion is.All effects of motion are the result of either balanced or unbalanced interchange between the pairs of opposites which manifest God’s two desires while on their respective journeys to and from the rest points in the Light from which each is extended.
Q. Have you any simple key, or formula, which helps you answer questions?
A. Yes. My knowledge of the wave is the key.
Q. Tell us about the wave.
A. The wave is the foundation of God’s creative expression. By means of light-waves God expresses His two desires. There can be nothing more simple than the wave principle of equal giving and regiving for the purpose of repeating the giving and regiving. Complexity lies only in multiplying simplicity. The principle that two times two are four is simple, but the same simple principle applies when you multiply 5648 by 4872. All you have done is to create the idea of complexity by multiplying simplicity. That in no wise alters the simple principle.When you learn to think in terms of the wave, you will find yourself living in another world. The more you know the light-wave which records God’s thinking, the more you will be enabled to think with Him. The more you think with God, the more you will know, for God is all knowledge and His knowing will be your knowing.
The wave is the key. Until the next post, may the Wave be with you. 🙂Anthony Palombo
Read my Health Light Newsletter online at my other blog LiftingTones.com. The current post is a five-minute video clip entitled “BOUGHT” in which Jeff Hayes, author of the film “DOCTOR,” shares information he gathered while making the film that shows how our health care system and our food supply are bought and controlled by Big Pharma and the Chemical Corporations. A very timely and important piece of research. (Scroll down a bit and receive a quick sound attunement for your pineal gland.)
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In a previous post I related how at our clinic in Baton Rouge, La. years ago we offered healthcare on a “giving basis,” allowing patients to give within their means for services received. We had a high volume patient flow with a low volume cash flow. The compensation wasn’t always balanced by the priceless worth of the services we offered. Health in itself is priceless. In an effort to help patients understand the spirit of our Cooperative Fee System, often I would say “Your visit was paid for by the person who just left. You can pay for the person coming behind you.” Precious few really caught the vision; most couldn’t quite make such a radical shift in their customary way of paying for services received.
One peculiarity I noted was how people tended to place more monetary value on a chiropractic adjustment than on an attunement, which was viewed as a form of “spiritual” healing and was therefore somehow exempt from monetary consideration — quite understandably, I will add. The experience of sharing an attunement is priceless. We simply do not know how to measure priceless spiritual gifts by material standards — and in truth we really can’t. How do you reciprocate to God, for example, and compensate Him for the gift of life, other than with the spiritual currency of a life well lived in expressed love for God and one’s neighbor?
On the subject of reciprocity and compensation, my friend and follower I mentioned in the last post offered this perspective in his comments to a previous blog post, referring to a question the founder of the attunement service, Uranda (Lloyd A. Meeker), once posed:
From the divine standpoint, I don’t think reciprocity in kind is the rule and more importantly there is a vertical dimension to this which is negotiated only by an exchange of spiritual substance. Your article caused me to remember Uranda’s pointed question, “How much is an attunement worth?” And he went on by degrees to suggest there really wasn’t compensation enough in human terms for an attunement. But, of course, according to our response, so is it established unto us. Some may give much but it is little enough of what they have to give; some may give little but it is all they have to give. The considerations are not material but spiritual substance.
If I look at my own life from human appearances it’s easy to suppose I gave up far more materially than I ever gained by reason of spiritual expression. . . . What [one has to] understand is that I have spent my life ‘laying up treasure in heaven.’ That’s the vertical dimension of divine economics and it can only be understood in terms of the generation of spiritual substance as the primary purpose for our being in this world.
We generate spiritual substance when the spirit of God is allowed to move upon the face of the waters of our consciousness — out hearts and minds. When that happens there is Light. As it was in the Beginning, so is it now and will always be. Another word for Light is Life. In other words, when we put Life, the real and lasting currency in divine economics, into our exchanges between one another, we generate spiritual substance, and that spiritual substance is stored in our consciousness — our “heaven.” With his permission, I will share the rest of my friend’s comments, as he accurately articulates a very pivotal perspective from his own life experience, one with which I resonate deeply at many levels based upon my own experiences in serving the health needs of my patients.
Lest I be misunderstood, life long there has been an appropriate translation of that spiritual substance into the just fulfilling of material necessities — never extravagant, only fitting to the need; no more, no less. What I’ve noted about exchanges in the material world is that the thing itself exchanged — money for this or that object/service, etc — is not the primary concern. A true exchange in spirit — even if from outer appearances you may look to be receiving the ‘short end,’ as they say — always results in an increase of substance for both concerned. So my lifelong commitment to [my spiritual path], apparently getting the short end so far as outside observation is concerned, was really an exchange of substance which resulted in laying up treasure in heaven for whatever purpose the Lord has and has yet to reveal.
The reference here is to something the Master Jesus is recorded to have said in his Sermon on the Mountain. “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt , and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will be your heart.” (Matt 6: 19-21)
“AN ECONOMY THAT WORKS THROUGH THE WHOLE”
This vertical dimension is where the real balance has to come; the earth responding in kind to the impulse of the spirit so that what rises up meets and corresponds to what is coming down from God out of the Heaven. That truly is out of balance in the world and it is the vertical dimension that brings balance to the horizontal give-and-take on the plane of materiality. And it is this vertical dimension that has been largely ignored creating an inflated state of affairs in the world with ‘things’ being demanded and/or exchanged without regard to spiritual substance. But man won’t discover this until he gets beyond the two dimensional currency of the earth and discovers the vertical dimension of spiritual substance.
The interesting thing about the generation and use of spiritual substance for spiritual purposes is that what you give and what comes back may have an entirely different complexion. It’s an economy that works through the whole.
My friend, who was a university professor, cited an incident in his career which demonstrates an important misunderstanding of the principle of reciprocity.
I remember a circumstance years ago when I had very little and lived for a period of several months “rent free” with an acquaintance, for which I was very grateful. He agreed I shouldn’t pay rent (though I picked up the cost of food for him and me) but at the end of that time he made the comment to me with a sigh, “Well, I guess that rent will come back to me some other way,” implying it should have come from me. What he didn’t realize was there was a divine exchange going on. He had been a student of mine when I was still a graduate student and teaching assistant. He’d had some difficulties and I excused him a final paper so he could graduate. I had also introduced him to [my spiritual path] and lifted him up out of a very difficult circumstance. In other words I had extended spiritual substance to uplift him, and yet, apart from the ‘rent,’ he couldn’t see the outworking of divine reciprocity except it be in financial terms. What he had done was ‘given back’ bread I had cast upon the waters, but for him it was another matter.
APPRECIATION AND DEPRECIATION OF THE ECONOMY
This opens up, for me anyway, a entirely new and fresh perspective with regard to paying for goods and services. If I only pay what they are worth in material terms, then I have given nothing more than what the merchant has invested into his business. I have not appreciated, added to, his worth. As my friend put it, I only returned the “bread” he had cast upon the waters of life in hopes, and perhaps with faith, that he would receive it back with “interest,” or “lagniappe,” as we call it here in the South. The “lagniappe” is usually given by the merchant in goods or services. How about it being given by me for a change? And it doesn’t necessarily have to be in material or monetary terms, although a “tip” is always appreciated.
Giving with a thankful and generous heart, for example, appreciates the value of the transaction. Complaint, on the other hand, depreciates its value. We may well wonder if complaint about the state of our economy is not the root cause of the recessions and depressions we bring upon ourselves. I personally have never felt good when I’ve allowed my complaint over prices to be voiced toward the cashier, who had nothing at all to do with pricing the goods I was purchasing. My words, to my regret, only left a dissonant vacuum behind me. The wise admonition “Never underestimate the power of spiritual expression” my spiritual mentor reiterated, non too often for me, applies to all spirits we express in life, both loving and resentful. The spirit of thankfulness always uplifts the situation. My friend concludes his comments with these timeless words:
We live in this realm of divine exchange constantly, allowing the interactive nature of spiritual substance to give shape to whatever is appropriate in the current of the spirit, and those gifts we give and gifts we receive are not to be measured against human standards of valuation. This is the true meaning of Christ having given his life for the flock; of true love being the laying down of one’s life for one’s friend, of the gift [great spiritual messengers like Uranda] gave us at the expense of their own “personal fulfillment” that many might come and know what it means to lay up treasure in heaven to the restoration of divine balance to the human race.
This is what we had accomplished in our Baton Rouge clinic serving on a “Giving Basis.” Together, through our passion and agreement to serve from a spiritual state of consciousness, we had generated quite a rich atmosphere of spiritual substance. In such a buoyant atmosphere of rich spiritual substance, miracles of healing took place. Results were forthcoming with little effort. Spirit had created a healing matrix in our clinic and human flesh rushed to respond to the love with which we imbued and truly enriched our services. This is what I am talking about — laying up riches in heaven.
Those riches we laid up in heaven back then have continued to bring blessings into my life, and through me into the lives of those who have come to me for healing over yea these many years. I celebrate my Golden Anniversary as a Chiropractor this year. It’s been an incredibly rich and rewarding career and journey spiritually and, consequently but modestly, materially. As my friend pointed out in his comments, the provision of the Lord is always just perfect for the need of the day. Never too much nor too little. I suspect the Lord has the same attitude toward His provision as my late mother-in-law had, God rest her soul, “Waste not, want not” — a legacy, I am thankful to say, her daughter faithfully carries forward. I think of it every time I brush my teeth and turn off the running tap until I need to rinse. The provision of life is really abundant. As wise stewards of that provision, we can enjoy the riches of heaven without wasting the wealth of the earth.
In closing, let me thank my friend for taking the time to write and send me his comments. Through his words and shared insights, he really did add to (appreciate) the depth of our consideration. I trust his commenting will inspire and encourage other readers to not be shy is sharing their thoughts with me and with others through my blog.
I’ll share more from Walter Russell’s Messages of the Divine Iliad next post. Until then,
Be love. Be loved.
Anthony
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For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Every ounce that is given is “regiven” so that it can be given again and again and again forever. If the Human Race would adopt such an economy, our current financial crisis would soon cease to exist. The only – and perhaps painful – catch is we would have to let go of our credit system. In God’s universe there is no such thing as credit; only “Rhythmic Balanced Interchange.”
Walter Russell has a wonderful chapter in his 1948 book THE MESSAGE OF THE DIVINE ILIAD — reprinted in 1971 by The University of Science and Philosophy — in which he details how God operates his “business” of running the Universe on a balanced budget — so balanced, in fact, that credit and debt aren’t even allowed for. I’m going to excerpt the bulk of the chapter and publish it here in my blog over the next few posts — it is that good and pertinent to the times we are in of global economic ruin and immanent collapse.
I am doing this because I believe that we the people of planet Earth can save our economy from utter collapse simply by how we view and handle our daily business transactions and interchanges of goods and services between us at a grassroots level. Never mind those at the top who own and run the world’s banking industry. They will meet their due demise — along with the monetary system they are destroying — and quite soon as some are predicting. Let us be ready, then, to replace the monetary system, which is based on credit and debt, with a system that works throughout the Universe.
We can do this without “they” — and we must do it if we are to avert a global catastrophe — in the not too distant future if the current trend continues. So, without any further commentary on my part, let’s read a little from Walter Russell’s chapter “THE LAW OF BALANCE.” This is divine revelation. He didn’t get this from research or out of his head. This was given to him from the CEO of the Universe. You see, Walter Russell lived his entire life in a close partnership with God. It’s uncanny and true. Everything he ever undertook and accomplished — and he undertook and accomplished much in his lifetime — he did working with God, and God worked with him. These messages are expressly intended for Mankind. They only came through Walter Russell.
Walter Russell
Chapter II: THE LAW OF BALANCE
THE LAW OF BALANCE is the Law of Love upon which the universe is founded. This law is given to man for his coming renaissance of greater comprehension. It is, of all laws, the most inclusive and the most simple. It consists of but three words. These three words are the very foundation of all our material existence, all phenomena of matter or interchange between humans, economically, socially and spiritually.
I will read to you from THE DIVINE ILIAD:
“Great art is simple. My universe is great art, for it is simple.
Great art is balanced. My universe is consummate art, for it is balanced simplicity.
My universe is one in which many things have majestic measure; and again another many have measure too fine for sensing.
Yet I have not one law for majestic things, and another law for things which are beyond the sensing.
I have but one law for all My opposed pairs of creating things; and that law needs but one word to spell it out, so hear Me when I say that the one word of My one law is
BALANCE.
And if man needs two words to aid him in his knowing of the workings of that law, those words are
BALANCED INTERCHANGE.
If man still needs more words to aid his knowing of My one law, give to him another one, and let those three words be
RHYTHMIC BALANCED INTERCHANGE.“
Balance is the foundation of all human relations — of the universe itself. The stars of heaven move in obedience to it. They cannot do otherwise. Cosmic disaster of untold dimension would follow such disobedience. The starry universe is so absolute in its balance that the movement of a dewdrop on anyone planet necessitates the readjustment of the orbits of all the stars of heaven to that microcosmic event. Because of that law all happenings are universal. Any action anywhere is extended for repetition everywhere. All motion is as omnipresent as the Light of God is omnipresent. All effect is universal.
God is balance. From the stillness of His balance in the unconditioned One Light, He extends His balance to the conditioned universe of motion as two opposite unbalanced conditions of two lights which seek balance through each other.
Oppositely-conditioned pairs in Nature seek balance through each other by repeatedly giving all that each has to give to the other in rhythmic sequences. In Nature this process continues perpetually because in Nature all givings of one are perpetually balanced by equal regivings of the other. Nature never takes that which is not given.
This universe is founded upon love as manifested in the giving of one opposite to the other for regiving. The earth gives its forests to the heavens and the heavens give them back again to earth for equal regiving. Every dewdrop given by the heavens is equally regiven to the heavens by the earth.
Equal interchange between opposite conditions manifests the love principle of balance upon which God’s universal body is founded. Whatever is true of God’s universal body is true of man’s body. It is the equality of balance between the giving and regiving of Nature which makes its transactions perpetual. The lack of the love principle of rhythmic balanced interchange in the transactions of men is the reason for the ills of the body and for the disasters which make continuance of relations between men impossible.
The seller of goods is also a buyer. If the seller gives less to his customers than the value of what he charges, he deprives his customer of the ability to regive that which the seller needs to again become a seller. By sacrificing the good-will which is the foundation of continuance in any business, the love principle has been subtracted from the transaction in the measure of inequality of interchange.
The converse is also true: if the buyer gives less to the seller than the value of the goods or services, the seller won’t be able to stay in business — something I leaned first hand in my career as a healthcare practitioner.
Neither man nor nation can continue an interchange of relations upon a harmonious basis of multiplying power when the universal love principle is violated. The law of balance is absolute. He who breaks that law will be equally broken by it.
A PATH TO BANKRUPTCY
That last sentence is prophetic as well as accurate: “He who breaks that law will be equally broken by it.” If one continues to live beyond one’s means, his finances will end up broken and he will end up “broke,” as we accurately say in pecuniary slang
I know first hand that this is how it works. I lost my business twice in bankruptcy because I ran it outside the Universal Law of Balance. The first time I lost it I had over $30,000 on the books, credit extended to my clientele so they could “afford” my care — in effect, live beyond their means. That was not at all offset by my $100,000 in accounts payable to businesses who allowed me to run my business beyond its means. You work with the system handed to you.
When the oil industry in Bell Chasse, where I practiced for five years, went bust and all the oil personnel evacuated the area literally overnight, my accounts receivable went with them. I had worked outside the Universal Law of Balance and I went “broke.” The second time was when I had bypass surgery to save my life. I was extended credit by the hospital, only my means did not match my debt. Again, working outside the Law of Balance by extending credit and incurring debt, the system broke down. I do carry a relatively small amount of credit card debt, which I am slowly paying down. Yet, even though it is acceptable to have a credit card debt, I always feel the unbalancing effect of being out of line with my integrity when I can’t pay my credit card off at the end of each month. Credit and debt are simply not natural in this Universe of Rhythmical Balanced Interchange.
SERVING ON A “GIVING BASIS”
I practiced for fourteen years with a number of colleagues where we used what was called a “Cooperative Fee System” which allowed patients to pay within their means for services rendered. This included exams, x-rays and treatments. This was before insurance companies began paying for chiropractic care. It was also called “GPC” which stood for “God-Patient-Chiropractor.” The principle was sound enough: God gives life and health to the patient freely, the chiropractor facilitates its reception and release through his services, aligned with God’s generosity, and the patient gives within his or her means to the doctor in a spirit of gratitude for his services freely given — and so that he can continue delivering his services. That’s how it was supposed to work — and by and large did — only many patients didn’t always prove to be as aligned with God’s generosity as we endeavored to be. I had an old and wise black man as a patient who frequently reminded me how generous God is: “You jes can’t beat God givin,’ ” he would say in his all-knowing laughter as he gave his honest best within his means.
I did get a rubber-on-the-road education as to where many place their health on their list of priorities and it’s not up top. But there’s a complex social-politico-economic context in the human psyche in which this aberration is taking place, which I won’t get into now. It also has to do with our basic sense of unworthiness — our lack of self-worth.
That being said, nearly everyone thought we were being very generous — and “Christian,” as some called us. Some thought we were a bit crazy to be so trusting of people. This aberration would show up when someone would ask, quite innocently and with genuine concern for my welfare: “But, how do you live, doctor?” (I wrote an article for a magazine by that title years ago. Maybe I’ll reprint it in a post.) In actuality, we were challenging the Law of Balance, and I always felt a knot in my stomach when the money received at the end of a day didn’t really equal the value of the services we had rendered. I definitely felt out of my integrity, although my spirit was thankful. God IS generous! Life IS freely given to all! Health IS priceless! But the rent and utilities and supplies were not free, although we somehow, by the grace of God and very wise management, were always able to meet our expenses. The system worked in that we had a very high-volume of patient visits. We didn’t take a lot home, but we learned to live within our means. We had put our lives and our services on a “Giving Basis” and that felt right and wholesome. God IS good. Yet the Law of Balance has its consequences when disobeyed, even with the best and noblest of intentions and motives. “He who breaks that law will be equally broken by it.” I would love to use the Cooperative Fee System again, and maybe there’s been enough of a change in consciousness for it to work. Serving on a giving basis is much more fun than working on a getting basis, mainly because it allows for a full release of one’s spirit of generosity, of God.
THE DISHONEST CREDIT AND DEBT SYSTEM
Now, everyone in the working class buys on credit. The rationale is: “Everybody does business this way.” I was convinced of this myself, that is until I started reading Walter Russell. How else would we be able to buy houses and automobiles, and the real estate and automotive industries be able to remain in business? Nevertheless, based on the Law of Balance, we and these industries are operating beyond the safety of the law, and we’ve seen both the housing industry and the automotive industry broken over and again by this practice.
Of course there’s abuse of the system, on both sides. But the system itself is dishonest and invites dishonesty and greed. Doctors have a double fee system, although it’s illegal. Yet they are not arrested and convicted of the crime because of a “discount” loophole in the law. I played that game for years by “discounting” my services — not to the insurance carrier, mind you. That would have been the bone- honest thing to do — although insurance is an abused and not entirely honest system also, which I’ll talk about in another post. Auto repair shops have a double fee system: one fee for the insurance company and another if you pay cash, even if you cashed the insurance check. It’s illegal, yet it’s the way we do business in this discount, dishonest and greed-ridden business world. We all know that stores jack their prices before applying a “discount” during sales. We need to find our way back to honesty and integrity in our financial and business affairs. We CAN do it.
That’s what I will write about in my next few posts – and work at myself by walking my talk, if for no other reason than to be able to write with authority about how things CAN and DO work when we’re within our integrity with the Law of Balance. If you have any constructive input, here’s my email address: tpal70@gmail.com. Let me hear from you. Until then,
106 countries visiting my blogs. Recently I had 3 visitors from Vanuatu in the Pacific Islands. Welcome!!! I had to Google it to see where it’s located. Here’s what I found about this beautiful island:
Location
Vanuatu is located about three-quarters of the way from Hawaii to Australia. It is west of Fiji and north of New Caledonia in the area known as Melanesia.
Principal Islands
The four major islands which make up about half of the land area are in order of size – Espiritu Santo, Malekula, Erromango and Efate. Other large islands are Ambrym, Tanna, Epi, Vanua Lava, Gaua (Santa Maria), Ambae, Maewo, and Pentecost.
Land Area
4709 square miles (slightly larger than Connecticut) 12 main islands, 58 inhabited islets, numerous uninhabited islets
Sea Area 262549 square miles. The beach is Eratap Beach on Vanuata island. The islands below are the provinces of Vanuatu
This saying was on a poster picture hanging on the wall of my doctor’s orthopedic clinic today. There was no credit given, however its author might well have been the doctor himself, a very personable and encouraging individual with an optimistic outlook on life—on top of being a great surgeon. The saying itself is very applicable to our time of adversity where we fear for our lives in the face of a very aggressive virus sweeping the planet and harvesting souls in such an unprecedented and untimely manner—angels ascending on “Jacob’s ladder” without a pause. Hopefully, the vaccination will slow it down . . . and, if it follows the usual path viruses take, COVID-19 will run its two-year course before mutating to a less viral version, with or without a vaccine. (See my 
crash through the air during a heart-to-heart conference with the patient: “And how much will all this cost me. Doctor?” Of course it is interestingly worded in many different and revealing ways, like: “What will the damages be?” and “How much will this set me back?” or “And what are we talking about … ?” (“In terms of cost” is implied here but for some strange reason fearfully avoided.)
Healing Tones 