Healing Tones

“UP FROM BELOW THE BOTTOM”

Dr. B.J. Palmer, Developer of Chiropractic

Have you ever wondered about the history of Chiropractic? How did it begin? Who started it all? The roots of chiropractic care can be traced back to as early as 2700 B.C. and 1500 B.C. in writings found in China and Greece. The writings mention spinal manipulation and moving the lower extremities in an attempt to alleviate low back pain.

Hippocrates, the Greek physician, who lived from 460 to 357 B.C., also published texts detailing the importance of a chiropractic-like philosophy and treatment. He is quoted in his writings as saying, “Get knowledge of the spine, for this is the requisite for many diseases”. In 1895, Daniel D. Palmer founded the Chiropractic profession in Davenport, Iowa. Palmer was well read in anatomy and medical journals and was known as a magnetic healer. He had this idea about chiropractic, where your health could be improved by allowing the spinal nerves to work as they were designed. (From “The History of Chiropractic”)

“THE SUBTLE SUBSTANCE OF THE SOUL”

CHIROPRACTIC’S DISCOVERY 130 years ago this month, and its journey to date, are a recognition and celebration of “the subtle substance of the soul,” as BJ Palmer describes the innate healing currents of Life coursing through the nervous system of our human anatomy in one of his books. Giving credit and paying homage to the Creator of the human temple of the Living God, he wrote in his philosophy text book, “The Power that made the body can heal the body.” (The picture above is my graduation picture from Chiropractic College in 1963)

This slogan is one of several framed and hung on the walls of the hallowed halls of Palmer College of Chiropractic (PCC) in Davenport, Iowa, reverently referred to as “The Fountainhead,” an apt title for the hallowed grounds from which sprang the second largest healthcare profession in the world, second only to medicine . . . and the largest drugless healing science and art in the world. PCC was the first of several more Chiropractic schools and colleges that sprang up both here in the US and abroad. There are some fifteen chiropractic colleges here in the States.

Chiropractic’s early philosophy was rooted in vitalism, naturalism, magnetism, spiritualism and other constructs that are not amenable to the scientific method, although Palmer tried to merge science and metaphysics.

A “RELIGIOUS PRACTICE” ?! . . . A “WORSHIPFUL OBLIGATION” ?!

During the period just prior to his death, D. D. Palmer was leaning toward making his discovery into a religion rather than a professional healing art—a suggestion that sent turbulent waves throughout the infant profession. However, whereas it aroused much criticism from “a few chiropractors,” it brought “greater applause” from his students and audiences than he had received with any of his other lectures. D.D. was keenly aware, even then, of how easily the vision of the spiritual, or “vibrational,” aspect of healing could get lost in the chiropractors’ preoccupation with bones and nerves, pain and relief therefrom, and that his healing art might become just another palliative therapy. The rationale within which he gave an adjustment was much larger than the patient’s medical condition or spinal subluxation, and his service was much greater to him than a hand-manipulation of the spine. It was a ritual, a religious practice, a worshipful obligation.

“. . .We deal with the magic power that transforms common food into living, loving, thinking clay; that robes the earth with beauty, and hues and scents the flowers with glory.” But it’s the first sentence of this famous quotation that is the clincher: “We chiropractors work with the subtle substance of the soul . . .” (B.J. Palmer, The Bigness of the Fellow Within, Ch. 11, “The Inner Power speaks.”).

[D.D. Palmer further declares the reason for wanting to make Chiropractic a religion.]

I hold it to be self-evident that all men and women who have acquired sufficient knowledge and skill to remove the nerve tension which prevents physical, mental and spiritual development, are engaged in a work of a higher order than that ordinarily required of, and performed by, the physician. They are practically the moral duties and obligations of reli­gion and any attempt to prevent such acts by law is an unmit­igated crime against humanity.

Chiropractic science, its art and philosophy, deal with human and spiritual phenomena. The conscientious reverent acknowledgment of the phenomena, in sentiment and act, connects the spiritual with the physical, and constitutes in its fullest and highest sense a religion….

By correcting these displacements of osseous tissue… I claim that I am rendering obedience, adoration and honor to the All-Wise Spiritual Intelligence, as well as a service to the segmented, individual portions thereof—a duty I owe to both God and mankind. In accordance with this aim and end, the Constitution of the United States and the statutes personal of California confer upon me and all persons of chiropractic faith the inalienable right to practice our religion without restraint or hindrance. (D. D. Palmer, The Chiropractor, “The Moral and Religious Duty of a Chiropractor,” 1914.)

Daniel Palmer was obviously onto something much larger and vastly more significant than the correction of pinched nerves, and I think he just wanted some time to let the fullness of what was emerging come forth. I believe he was protecting what was emerging and didn’t want the world to come in on his discovery until he had had time to finish for­mulating things in his own mind and prove them out in practice. He also foresaw the battle that surely lay ahead of him with the medical and legal systems, at a time when medical practice acts were being enacted by the states, and in a climate where “quacks” were being arrested, fined and thrown into prison. (Excerpted from REDISCOVERING THE SOUL OF CHIROPRACTIC by the author)

QUACKERY AND CHARLATANS

Speaking of medicine as the largest healthcare profession, another popular slogan hanging in the same hallowed halls of Palmer College was, and probably still is, “Iligitimati non corborundum,” liberally translated from the Latin as “Don’t let the bastards get you down.”

You see, Chiropractic was ignominiously dubbed quackery and its practitioners charlatans by the medical profession in those early years as it made its competitive debut into the heath care arena, and as chiropractors began opening up offices to practice this newfound healing art. Needless to say, its invasion into their fiercely guarded territory was not with warm welcome by the medical community. The public soon got wind of this drama and people began chanting “quack, quack, quack” as they walked by chiropractic clinics. I’m not making this stuff up folks. Many chiropractors were arrested, tried in courts of law for “practicing medicine without a license” and told to cease and desist. When they didn’t cease and desist, as many as thirty or more chiropractors in Louisiana were arrested and thrown into jail. Somehow I escaped notice as though my office had some protective shroud hanging over it. Hmmm.

But that didn’t stop patients from seeking out Chiropractic care as many of them went to the jail houses for their spinal adjustments. Right here in my own state of Louisiana chiropractors went to jail where they continued seeing their patients, giving spinal adjustments on portable tables they were allowed to set up in their jail cells. This drama went on until one strong soul among us stood up to the medical monopoly and shouted “ENOUGH OF THIS INJUSTICE!”

This famous chiropractor took his pivotal case all the way up to the U.S. Supreme Court to finally settle the issue once and for all: that Chiropractic is not the practice of medicine. It came to be called “the England Case,” named after the late Dr. Jerry England who was the defendant representing a collective of about thirty or more doctors here in Louisiana. But that’s another classic and dramatic story altogether, which incidentally took place just as I was starting up my first practice here in Louisiana. The memorable date was 1963-64.

This all took place here in the South as Louisiana was the last state in the USA to license chiropractors, which finally came to fruition in 1974 with a lot of organized pressure exerted upon the legislators by the patients of chiropractors themselves. They had formed a coalition under the heading “Louisiana Chiropractic Patients Association,” headed up, not by a chiropractor, but by a layman and chiropractic patient, Dave Saunders. They had even erected billboards along the highways entering the state from all directions that blatantly announced “Welcome to Louisiana! The only state that has failed to license chiropractors.” They went so far as to stage a funeral procession with hearse and mourners, even a coffin with a poster that read “The Death of Chiropractic in Louisiana” which they and several chiropractors (yours truly included) carried into the House of Representatives in Baton Rouge, then in session, to make our point and in particular to attract the news media, which it surely did.

In the end, it was by the political influence of the Labor Union, headed up by Louisiana Senator Victor Bussie, then president of the AFL-CIO, that finally got a licensing bill passed in 1974 for the Chiropractic profession in Louisiana. That put an end to the abusive persecution of chiropractors, not only here in Louisiana but throughout the entire Nation. The “Fight to Climb” had finally brought chiropractic to the top of the healthcare mountain, if you’ll allow me this metaphor.

There’s a lot more to this drama, as state and national organized efforts by professional associations had formed and played crucial roles in shifting and abating the tides that threatened to wash the profession of Chiropractic out of the healthcare field and clear off of the planet itself. You younger folks reading this may be in disbelief. We elders, however, remember those days all too well. In a wonderful way, they served to bring us chiropractors in the state together in our fight for a common cause and against a common enemy.

As we settled back into our practices however, with medical insurance now covering chiropractic care, the fire in our bellies subsided as each one returned to his and her isolated practice, only to mingle with colleagues once a year at conventions where we earned required credits for license renewal, updated adjusting techniques and methodology of service . . . and especially to keep abreast of the best way to file claims for prompt insurance reimbursement. It was a good day for our patients as well with insurance companies now paying for their care.

The struggle to rise and survive the opposing forces of the monopolizing medical profession in those days, among many interesting stories, are immortalized in the iconic “Green Text Books” and in DD’s and BJ’s several published works, among which are such titles as THE FIGHT TO CLIMB, UP FROM BELOW THE BOTTOM, CONFLICTS CLARIFIED, THE CHIROPRACTOR 1910, THE BIGNESS OF THE FELLOW WITHIN and other publications.

I will continue sharing the story of Chiropractic’s origin and early years in my next instalment of this series, GET THE BIG IDEA.” Until then,

Be love. Be loved.

Anthony Palombo, D.C

130 YEARS AGO TODAY, on September 18, 1895, the healing art of Chiropractic was given birth through the magnetic healing hands of Dr. Daniel David Palmer. He corrected a “lump” (a subluxated vertebra) that had appeared in his deaf janitor’s neck as he was bent forward and some boxes fell on his head. As the story goes, Dr. Palmer pushed on the lump (subluxated vertebra) to restore the vertebra to its proper alignment in his neck, and Harvey Lillard’s hearing returned. Since he had performed this vertebral adjustment with his hands only, he came to call his spinal manipulation “Chiropractic,” which derived from the phrase, “done by hand.” “D.D. Palmer asked a patient and friend, Rev. Samuel Weed, to help him name his discovery. He suggested combining the Greek words cheiros and praktikos (meaning “done by hand”) to describe Palmer’s treatment method, creating the term “chiropractic.” (Wikipedia)

“DD’s son, “BJ” (Bartlett J. Palmer) — while his father wanted to keep his newfound healing technique private — took up his father’s discovery and developed chiropractic into a professional healing philosophy, science and art. BJ came to be known as the “Developer” of Chiropractic, in that he expanded the field, emphasizing research, education, and public outreach. He introduced X-rays and other scientific methods into the profession and was instrumental in developing the Palmer School of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, as an internationally recognized institution. His efforts helped standardize chiropractic education and broaden public acceptance of chiropractic care. This succinctly sums up Chiropractic’s humble beginnings. For more details of its history go to www.cedarhealth.ca+2.

What BJ really focused on and gave voice to in his many books was and is the science and “Innate Philosophy” of the art of adjusting the subluxated vertebrae of the human spinal column to remove the interference to the flow of innate intelligence through the spine and nervous system and to the malfunctioning part of the physiology, bringing the healing currents of life from “above, down, inside and out.” This came to be called “Palmer’s Law of Life.” BJ was a very ambitious, if a bit arrogant, individual.

I will focus on the science and philosophy of the art of Chiropractic in this blog series. Chiropractic has a most colorful and dramatic history, which I write about in my booklet Rediscovering the Soul of Chiropractic. My article had made its debut in the year 2000 issue of TODAY’S CHIROPRACTIC.

I’m looking forward to sharing with you some of Chiropractic’s colorful and often turbulent history, along with my experience, often seemingly miraculous, as a chiropractor and “carrier of the torch,” of the philosophy of this wonderful healing methodology. Until my next post,

Be love. Be loved.

Anthony Palombo, D.C.

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ARTISTIC RENDITION OF ATLANTIS

“Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it” *

“Let’s end hunger and poverty! Let the abundance of this bountiful planet Earth be freely shared by all who dwell in the fullness thereof!“

THE US ECONOMY IS TOP HEAVY. “The top 1% of American earners now control more wealth than the nation’s entire middle class, federal data show. More than one-quarter of all household wealth, 26.5%, belongs to Americans who earn enough money to rank in the top percentile by income, according to Federal Reserve statistics through mid-2023. The top 1% holds $38.7 trillion in wealth. That’s more than the combined wealth of America’s middle class, a group many economists define as the middle 60% of households by income. Those households hold about 26% of all wealth.” (USA TODAY)

In order to eliminate elitism and level the playing field, the 1% “haves” that own 99% of the nation’s wealth will need to stop taking from the 99% “have-nots” and less-fortunate in order to enrich themselves. It’s almost as simple as that — almost because there’ s always free choice in how we live life. Let’s take a look back at the origins of this post-diluvian modern civilization and recall some of our past we have been destined to repeat . . . and have done so.

I will enlist the assistance of a rather voluminous book I’ve just started reading by historian Susan Wise Bauer, THE HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD ~ From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome. The book itself is a pleasure to read as it is written more like a story or a novel than a college text book. For an example of what I mean by story, here are the opening paragraphs of Chapter One:

Many thousands of years ago, the Sumerian King Alulim ruled over Eridu: a walled city, a safe space carved out of the unpredictable and harsh river valley that the Romans would later name Mesopotamia. Alulim’s rise to power marked the beginning of civilization, and his reign lasted for almost thirty-thousand years.

The Sumerians, who lived in a world where the supernatural and the material had not yet been assigned to different sides of the aisle, would not have choked over the last part of that sentence. On the other hand, they would have found Alulim’s placement “at the beginning of civilization” extremely hard to swallow. In their own minds, the Sumerians had always been civilized. Alulim’s kingship, recorded in the Sumerian king list (perhaps the oldest historical record in the world), “descended from heaven” and was already perfect when it arrived on earth.

But looking back, we see the coming of the first king in different perspective. It is a sea change in the condition of man, the beginning of a whole new relationship between people, their land, and their leaders . . . . ” After kingship had descended from heaven,” the king list tells us, “Alulim reigned 28,000 years as king; [his heir] Alalgar reigned 36,000 years.” The length of these reigns may suggest that both of these kings are actually demigods, drawn from mythology rather than history; or perhaps, simply that Alulim and his heir ruled for a very long time. According to Sumerians, eight kings ruled before the enormous catastrophe of Sumerian history occurred and “the Flood swept over” the land.

Historian John Bright suggests that the Deluge took place before 10,000 BC, “when hunters migrated across the Bering Strait.” Skipping forward to chapter five, “The Iron Age,” I came upon the topic of this post. I’ll try not to make this too boring, as it is important, I feel, that we as a collective body of humanity account for our past errant ways and remember how we came to our present state of economic and social imbalance with debt being the basis of our current economy. You are well off if you have borrowing power granted you by a credit card enterprise. Well before credit cards became so freely available, I learned early in my chiropractic practice that I could not use my accounts receivable as collateral for a bank loan. Banks may be able to count loans out as part of their assets, but I couldn’t. The stark reality is this civilization is bankrupt. The rich are getting richer and the poor poorer, as we say these days. . . and as it’s been since the Fathers fell asleep. When and where did this imbalance have its start? Here’s what I came upon.

THE “WICKED” IRON AGE

The roots of elitism and poverty can be traced back to the prehistoric Iron Age of the fourth millennium, around 3102 BC. Spiritual awareness had begun to diminish by a quarter of its previous strength, according to Indian cosmology, as early as the ages of Gold, Silver, and Copper (Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, and Duapara Yuga, respectively). The Iron Age, being the fourth (Kali Yuga), is when materialism began to corrupt the moral fiber of those who traded in these natural resources. It was “the most wicked of all.”

A Yuga lasts for a duration of 12,000 celestial years, so we are still in the Iron Age of Kali Yuga. The decline of morals, then, was rather gradual after man’s exit from Eden. The Great Deluge pretty much wiped out the ancient world, taking any remnant of Paradise with it:

There is no way of knowing what was destroyed by the waters. But like many other peoples, the Sumerians had a tale of a lost paradise. In the very ancient Sumerian poem “Enki and Ninhusag,” this paradise is described as a place where “the lion does not kill, the wolf does not seize the lamb, the wild dog, devourer of kids, is unknown, he whose eyes hurt does not say: “my eyes hurt.” He whose head aches does not say, “My head aches.” But this dream city, filled with fruit trees and watered by fresh streams uncorrupted by salt, is lost to man.

The water that covered the land was salt water which made the soil basically baren.

AFTER THE WATER, the earth dries out. Man starts again, in a world redder in tooth and claw than it was. Something has been lost. In Genesis, Noah is told that it is now acceptable to kill and animal for its meat; in the Sumerian flood story, the gods lament the destruction of the world that was: “Would that famine had wasted the world Rather than the flood. Would that pestilence had wasted mankind Rather than the flood.”

Floods occurred regularly in the Indus River Valley and water began to be greatly feared. The many and varied flood stories make for interesting reading; they are all comparable to the story of Noah and the Great Flood told in Genesis in the Bible. [We saw the recent Guadalupe River flood in Central Texas in which 135 perished, mostly children.) The Creative Force of Water, always active at the beginning of creative cycles, appears in all of these stories and myths.

As the population of the ancient post-diluvian world grew, a need for governance became apparent. This gave rise in the very distant past to the origin of Kingship in ancient Persia, and later of Aristocracy in Sumer (3600 BC), and later yet of Empire in the Nile river valley (3200 BC).

The villages near the Indus, in the Northwest, grew into towns first. The earliest houses in the Indus river valley were built on the river plain, perhaps a mile away from the river, well above the line of the flood. Mud bricks would dissolve in river water, and crops would wash away. The first reality of life in the Indus valley — as in Egypt and Sumer — was that water brought both life and death.

This was the setting in those ancient days when civilizations began to rise out of the flood waters, literally, and as man began to long for the Garden of Paradise and set about trying to recreate the bountiful and safe world the flood waters had wiped out so thoroughly and so finally. They began to harvest wood from the forests and to bake their clay bricks in kilns which made them more resistant to dissolution by the waters — and floods became less severe and destructive.

Turquoise and lapis lazuli, brought from the plains of Mesopotamia, lie in the ruins of the richest houses. The townspeople had left their valley to trade above the Tigris and the Euphrates, with those same merchants who supplied semiprecious stones to the kings of Kish an Nippur and Ur.

But despite the growing prosperity and reach of the Indus towns, the epics of India tell not of advance, but of decline. The floods had washed away the previous age and begun a new one; the age of towns was the Kali Yuga, the Age of Iron. It began when Manu Vaivaswata [the first king of India] descended from the mountain, and it was an age of wealth and industry. It was also an age in which truthfulness, compassion, charity and devotion dwindled to a quarter of their previous strength. In the Iron age, the sacred writings warned, leaders would commandeer the goods that belonged to their people, pleading financial need. The strong would take property from the vulnerable, and seize hard-won wealth for themselves. Rich men would abandon their fields and herds and spend their days protecting their money, becoming slaves of their earthly possessions rather than free men who knew how to use the earth.

Given the relatively late date at which these dreadful warnings were put down, they probably reflect the worries of a more mature society — one which had a large, unproductive bureaucracy draining the national coffers. But the storytellers themselves put the beginnings of this declination all the way back to 3102, the year when villages along the Indus began to grow into towns.

Note on sources of Indian history: Historians of India work in a fraught political arena. The written sources which we have, including those which tell of the mythological Manu and the Ages of Gold, Copper, Silver, and Iron, are oral traditions which were set down, much later, in the language Sanskrit . . . the Sanskrit writings represent the thought of a small, elite group of Aryan immigrants. In terms of history, this would mean that the written accounts of Manu and the Age of Iron have practically no continuity with the earliest civilizations of India. Manu is clearly mythological; his relationship to India in the fourth millennium remains extremely uncertain.

Manu himself, kneeling down by the water that will soon wash away the previous age and bring on the decline of the Kali Yuga, finds himself speaking to a little fish forced to beg for protection from the larger and stronger who prey upon the weak. In India, the journey towards civilization had just begun; but as in Sumer itself, it was a journey which took its people that much farther from paradise.

Mythologically speaking, we are still in the Kali Yuga, the Age of Iron (3102 BC – present). The biblical saying “The sins of the Fathers are visited upon the children unto the third and fourth generations” is applicable here — only the children of the Fathers, as fathers themselves, have been repeating the same old sins of greed and coveting stealth — and poverty continues to be the lot of those who lack the motivation to improve their lot, as well as the desire to accrue wealth. Balance must be restored and the practice of usury and the monetizing of just about everything of value on this planet and in this mind-made world — including human labor — must cease. The Earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof; the world and they that dwell therein.” (Psalm 24)

We cannot recreate the Paradise we lost eons ago. However, we can turn around and see the Paradise at hand and all around us — and begin taking better care of it than we have been. We can return to the LORD God awaiting our repentance in humility and ownership of our Fore Fathers’ original sin of separation from Him and our rejection of His ordinances for life on Earth in lieu of our own self-centered designs and fancies.

Let us remember our past lest we repeat it to our ultimate extinction. The virtues of the Fathers are passed down as well to future generations. Therefore, “Blaze forth pure virtue. Depart false ambition’s restless schemes.” — as Lord Martin Cecil commands in his sacred poem “Thus It Is“ — Let the hoarding of material wealth on earth cease! Let greed, usury, and coveted stealth cease! Let man stop monetizing the gifts of Mother Nature’s resources and the fruits of human labor — including human labor itself, which is bought for a ludicrous minimum wage, barely enough to live on in these days, and not enough in too many lives to afford even a place to call home. The homeless stand out as an indictment against this civilization. Let the elite share their hoarded wealth and restore balance to our economy and our top-heavy social structure. Let’s end hunger and poverty! Let the abundance of this bountiful planet Earth be freely shared by all who dwell in the fullness thereof! Let love, peace, and generosity reign in the hearts of men and women everywhere! “Let love command! Let wonders form. Let Heaven’s beauty shine. Let every living breath sing praise to Light Divine.” Selah!

I invite you to join me in sending forth this edict. Until my next post,

Be love. Be loved.

Anthony ~ tpal70@gmail.com

*CREDITS: “Those who forget history are condemned to repeat it.” —George Santayana, American Philosopher.

“Let love command! Let wonders form. Let Heaven’s beauty shine. Let every living breath sing praise to Light Divine.” From: SONGS OF PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING, hymnal of Emissaries of Divine Light.

The Andromeda Galaxy

What Began With Light

by Don Hynes

Cloud breaks reveal the moon
as light spills across the water,
rousing the quiet land.
Old roots stir, ancient trees
and stone canyons
find their voices.
Island folk emerge
from shelter
as whale song fills
the saltwater evening.
What began with light
is renewed in radiance,
and from sea depth and cavern
rise the breath of earth’s joy.

~~~0~~~

HOW DOES IT ALL FLOW TOGETHER SO SMOOTHLY AND SO QUIETLY ?

I AWOKE ONE MORING last week to the image of a Galaxy in my mind spinning around ever so quietly and ever so massively, such that it gave me pause. I mused, “How does it do that? What makes the Universe go round so peacefully? By what principle or law are its movements governed?”

This wasn’t the first time I have been entertained by the same sort of image and the same curious query. Then I remembered that I had written about this same cosmic wonder in my book, ATTUNEMENT WITH SACRED SOUND. So, I reasoned, I’ll just share what I wrote in today’s post. After all, this grand cosmic theater is still featuring the same phenomenal drama, and I think you will not be put upon imaging it with me today.

The Working of the “Law of One“

The word “Uni-verse” means turns as One. In his monumental tome THE UNIVRSAL ONE, “illumined” genius Walter Russell (1871-1963), celebrated by biographer Glenn Clark as “the man who tapped the secrets of the Universe,” elucidates the explicate workings of “The Law of One.”

During the same era, contemporary spiritual explorer and enlightened teacher Lloyd Arthur Meeker (Uranda 1907-1954) called this principle “The One Law” because it governs all of life, from the tiniest atom to the spiraling galaxies of the cosmos.

MAGNETIC DESIGN AND CONTROL

In the atom, negative (-) electrons orbit around a positive (+) nucleus made up of positive (+) protons and neutral (o) neutrons.  Planets orbit around a central sun, and satellite moons around their planets.  Solar systems orbit in response to the positive galactic centers that gave them birth. This is what Isaac Newton called the “Law of Gravity,” only the apple didn’t “fall” to the earth; it was drawn to it by this magnetic principle of positive action and negative response. All of creation responds lovingly and gladly to the Creator, and the Creator abides at the core of every part of His creation.  This is the Law of Love. It is Love, then, that makes the Universe go round.

This law contains principles that govern coordinated movement throughout the explicate order of the cosmos.  Uranda saw these principles in a spiritual context as “positive” and “negative” forces or energies. His formulated principle states: Positive radiation — negative response — attraction — union — unified radiation. In this expression of the One Law, the following principle may be stated:

“A positive and a negative are attracted toward one another.  Two positives repel one another.  Two negatives have no affinity toward one another.

This is one perspective of this principle and the one that is commonly agreed upon. Walter Russell presents a scientific perspective and a radically different understanding based on the dynamic interface and interaction between positive and negative electrical currents. This is an electric Universe, as has been discovered exploring the sun itself. Long thought to be a massive ball of fire, the sun is now understood to be a six-layered furnace of nuclear fusion that fuses hydrogen atoms to create helium, releasing a tremendous amount of electromagnetic energy . . . which, through modern technology, can be converted to electricity via solar panels. As I say, we live in an electric Universe.

RUSSELL’S UNIVERSE

At the risk of alienating some of my Emissary friends who were “baptized” by the waters of Uranda’s inspired and insightful vision . . . and who hold fast to his teachings . . . I venture into scientific waters . . . stirred and disturbed by Walter Russell. Whereas Uranda was an inspired and illumined modern day prophet, he was no scientist. He was a profoundly insightful visionary and spiritual teacher; a great being incarnate in a guileless and passionate soul whose divinely ordained commission was to articulate the truth of life as it relates to the Divine Design of Man. Walter Russell’s bestowed commission was to rectify inaccurate scientific pronouncements in order to clarify human understanding of the laws and principles of science and the Universe. Russell’s formula of THE LAW OF ONE states:

Two positive charges are attracted toward one another. A positive charge and a negative charge repel one another. Two negative charges repel one another.

In the cosmos, all heavenly orbiting bodies have a positive radiant and magnetic core that draws the material of their bodies together, by design in the shape of a sphere.  This “masculine energy” is how they hold together.  Also by design, they are constantly being attracted toward and repelled from one another, the amount and intensity of their radiation determining their proximity and orbital paths.  Russell calls this the function of the feminine principle. Positive masculine charge is magnetic and integrates form. Feminine charge is radiant and expressive, disintegrating form by releasing the masculine positive energy holding form together. They work in absolute harmony as partners in creation.

For example, our sun is attracted toward and repelled from its greater Sun at the core of the Milky Way Galaxy. Further, due to their positive cores, suns are attracted toward one another.  What holds them apart and from colliding with one another is the intensity of their radiation, a negatively charged energy which repels negatively charged energy as well as positively charged energy.

The entire cosmos is thus held in a dynamic state of balance and harmony by the principle of resonance between lesser charged core energy (planets) and greater charged core energy (suns), the lesser charged cores seeking their full potential by drawing near to greater charged cores until they reach their full propensity of radiant energy; at which point they release their energy as light, often in explosive manner. One can easily see this creating principle as the basis for harmonious co-creative function in human relationships.

Our planet will in season become a star like the sun, as will all the planets orbiting our sun.  It’s the inevitable and natural working of the Law of One, as Walter Russell refers to the One Law in THE UNIVERSAL ONE in which he states “All things come from the ONE and return to the ONE.” All planets come from their sun and return to their sun. The implications in this procession of cycles are profound.

What moves this massive Universe of visible tangible matter in a coordinated control and design is an omnipotent, omnipresent and penetrating invisible electromagnetic power that holds inviolate unalterable Divine Law orchestrating and governing this vast and infinite Universe. As a curious young novice, I often asked “Where is the Universe? Where is it located? Where does it begin and where does it end? Is it just going in circles? If so, around what?” Oh, I wanted to know the secrets of this Universe into which I was born.

There’s an ancient proverb that says “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” Decades later I apparently was ready to hear and appreciate the answers to my quests as teachers, in the flesh and in books, began to appear, and I consumed their words and teachings ravenously for several years. The book that answered all my questions about the Universe came into my hands spontaneously through a friend during an Attunement With Sacred Sound workshop I was presenting at a retreat center he and his circle of friends managed and hosted. That book is Walter Russell’s signature work THE UNIVERSAL ONE, in which he shares generously his inspired knowledge of and insight into the secrets of the Universe. I learned the meaning of the Biblical passage, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.” (Matt 7:7)

What makes the Universe go round? The Radiant Light shining through the Creative Principle at work: Positive Action – Negative Reaction – Attraction – Union – Unified Radiation. Glorious Light. The Light out of which the entire Universe is created . . . and hidden in the Light is the Image of God the Father and Creator in which we are made co-creators. The secrets of the Universe are hidden in the Light. Look up into a cloudless starlit sky and all you see are countless stars of light . . . the first creation of the Great Creator . . . and their light is a radiant shout for JOY! If you listen in the silence of your heart you can even hear them singing. The earth and all of Nature resounds in joyful celebration. How can we not join in the chorus and sing our parts?!

“What began with light
is renewed in radiance,
and from sea depth and cavern
rise the breath of earth’s joy.“

Thank you beloved poet. Until my next post,

Be Light. Be Delightful

Anthony

Email: tpal70@gmail.com

CREDITS: Poem by Don Hynes, author of Something Will Change Me – Poems of Soul and Spirit”

“When you understand yourselves you will be understood. And you will realize that you are Sons of the living Father. If you do not know yourselves, then you exist in poverty and you are that poverty.” —Jesus, from The Gospel of Thomas

APOTHEOSIS OF WASHINGTON

“The Apotheosis of Washington is the fresco painted by Greek-Italian artist Constantino Brumidi in 1865 and visible through the oculus of the dome in the rotunda of the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The fresco is suspended 180 feet above the rotunda floor and covers an area of 4,664 square feet.” Wikipedia

APOTHEOSIS simply refers to the state of being one’s fullest, highest and truest essence of Self, in form and expression, ultimately as Divine Being incarnate. It also refers to the process of becoming divine: deification. “I Am that I Am” . . . the unspeakable Name of God, as Moses himself realized during his transformational experience as a burning bush during which his own Inner Divine Self spoke to his outer inquiring mind that asked “Who shall I say has sent me?”

There’s much implied in this biblical story. Moses had ascended to a high place, Mount Sinai—symbolic of the high place in consciousness where one can receive answers to life’s often troubling and imprisoning questions—seeking an answer to his quandary over an inner calling to do something about freeing the Israelites and leading them out of bondage in Egypt, from which he had just been freed. He didn’t just “see” a bush burning but not being consumed. He was that burning bush himself!

Have you ever had a burning-bush experience? Surely you have. I have, and the fire of passionate desire to know the truth and to find out who and what I Am didn’t stop burning until someone came along and awakened me out of my forgetfulness. He simply said “You are not a Catholic! You are a Human Being made in the image and likeness of God. You are not merely human, you are being! Wake up and stop being who and what you are not! Be your Self!” What a rush of cold North wind he was! Literally. He was from up North come to the warm and lazy South to awaken sleeping souls to their true identity. “You are gods!”

Leaders of nations and Pharaohs were once deified in the eyes of their subjects . . . and, at a level higher than that of their human personage, they were more correct than they most likely realized.

(I published this post in October of 2023 and it moves me so profoundly that I want to bring it forward now and share it anew.)

“YOU ARE GODS“

In John’s Gospel (10:34), the Jews were ready to stone Jesus for his claim to divinity, to which Jesus responded: “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, you are gods?’ [Psalm 82:6]. If he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the scripture cannot be broken, say ye to him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world ‘Thou blasphemest’ because I said, I am the Son of God?”

I realize this is a sensitive time to be referring to the Jews, even in biblical texts, so I will keep my comments limited to the issue of our divinity as “sons of the Most High,” as the psalmist proclaimed in song.

CATHOLICS DIDN’T STUDY THE BIBLE

Did I miss something during my seven years in seminary, or was I perhaps asleep when this Psalm and Jesus’s words in John’s Gospel were discussed in theology class . . .or preached from the pulpit ?

Actually, we didn’t even study the Bible in Catholic seminary, and, except for passages from Paul’s epistles and excerpts from the Four Gospels inserted into the liturgy and used in homilies, in my Catholic upbringing, the Bible was not really studied, or even read. These words were shoved to the back of the theology section and shrouded by a cloud of dogmatic and religious interpretation — and “priestly lore,” to borrow a phrase from the Gita. If we are truly divine, then what purpose does religion serve in our intimate relationship with our Creator . . . other than its own agenda and existence.

“YOU ARE GODS!!!” Shout it from the pulpit! Shout it from the housetop! “You are not sinners! You are not merely human! You are divine beings! You are the sons and daughters of the Most High! You are God, the Living Word, incarnate in flesh, blood, and bone!”

HOW SHALL WE GIVE GOD GLORY?

My dearest friend and colleague “angel of sound,” PenDell Pittman, offered a song of worship and praise several decades ago that lifted my heart in praise to the One with Whom we all share our very being and divine presence. The lyrics were written by another dear friend and angelic colleague, Hugh Malafry, inspiring author of “BLUE SHAMAN trilogy. With PenDell’s permission, I will close this post by sharing his beautiful and heartful offering upward. It celebrates the Incarnate Living Word in our Humanity. Enjoy and receive his gift of blessing.

“How Shall We Give Thee Glory?” Soundtrack Listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_JuLJ4ZU1I 

How Shall We Give Thee Glory, Who art the Living God? Power – Who art the very Flame of Love? Kingdom – When the Universe of Stars is but a Cloak to Thee?

Thou art All Things, All Things Come from Thee, Return Again unto Thee, and Abide Always in Thee.

We are Thy Kingdom, Power, Thy Glory Shining, We are Thy Bone, Thy Blood, Thy Flesh Singing Praises unto Thee.

To Know Thee as Thou Art: Almighty God and Living Word Made Flesh.

We give God glory by providing Him a Body, drawn together by His Love for us, here in the Kingdom of Heaven on Earth. I invite you to join me and hundreds more in extending your arms and opening your hands for several minutes every morning to let your love, which is God’s love, flow through you and out to embrace and to bless the world He loves so much. We do this as God Beings incarnate. Until my next post,

Be love. Be loved.

Anthony

tpal70gmail.com

WE BECOME THAT WHICH WE LOVE

INVARIABLY, after writing and publishing a post, I have afterthoughts that flow in its wake. Implications arise from the topic considered. This afterthought arose from the opening words of a recent post; Love is an irresistible force that draws us into oneness with what we love. What, or Who, do you love most? Your spouse? Your children? Your career or job? Perhaps your new car. Some love money and wealth. Others love poverty and even take a “vow” of poverty, such as a monk or priest. Even the Pope, living and serving in a gold-plated world, takes a vow of poverty.

We become that which you love, and that which you love becomes you. It’s simply the nature and power of love.

Many identify with their jobs or careers. But you are not your job nor your career. You are the One who has a job or a career. To say one is a teacher, for example, or a salesman, or a doctor perhaps, or even the Pope, is simply not the truth of one’s identity. One is the One who lived before taking on a job or a career or high position in the world; the nameless One before a name was bestowed upon the infant form; the One who took possession of the infant form and was born out of “nowhere” into “now-here”. . . out of the invisible Realms of Light and into the visible world of humus flesh.

In truth, I am the One who IS the image and likeness of God and who created my incarnating capacities in the image and after the likeness of the Divine Creator Being I Am, in order to facilitate my mission and purpose here in this world . . . why I incarnated. In a word, I Am Spirit not form. My form has a name, but it is not who I Am. My mind is busy channeling and thinking thoughts and ideas, but I am not my mind. My heart is constantly feeling and emoting, but I am not my heart nor my feelings. One may say “My feelings are hurt” and yet truthfully say “But I am fine.” The One I Am and you are cannot be hurt or become confused or get sick. I Am the soothing balm of my hurt feelings, the clear light of my oft confused mind, and the healing balm for my ill body. This is what I Am: Spirit not form. I am the life animating my body, the light shining through my mind, and the love glowing in my heart.

This utterly confounds one who dwells in a state of darkness wherein one is ignorant of the Truth of one’s Self. Such a one cannot comprehend the Light of truth and reality. I know because I’ve been there . . . and I’ve seen others who are there . . . just recently, while offering guidance to a young person seeking wisdom in the throes of a failed relationship. Seeking wisdom in his particular situation was in itself a wise move. His blank expression, however, let me know that he had absolutely no comprehension of what I was offering him. “What do you mean I am not who I think I am?” Identifying with our outer form can stand as a barrier to discovering who we truly are. Wisdom comes with such discovery . . . and as we live and express out of our true identity.

The call in our day is to come out of the darkness of ignorance and into the Light of knowing who and what we truly are: “Bearers of the Sun,” as my late friend and fellow author Christopher Foster wrote about in his beautiful and uplifting book by the same name. Some love the darkness even as they are perishing in it. It’s peculiarly comfortable not having to think and question what we’ve been programed to believe.

Love the Light and become the light of your world. This is why we came here to this planet. Why we incarnated. We came here to shine our unique light into the world. SO, SHINE ON . . . AND THRIVE! It’s a delightful experience! Until my next post,

Be love. Be loved.

Anthony

Email: tpal70@gmail.com

STILLNESS SPEAKS

SHIFTING GEARS A BIT — or a whole lot — I have been pondering a Biblical event foretold by the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 38 of his book in the Old Testament. He speaks plainly of a show down between God and Satan, and between good and evil, in the last day, when the enemies of God shall be destroyed and sin will be forever ended. Now, this is a colossal and controversial topic . . . and I may get in over my head in my interpretation and application to current world events.

(Before I get into the history of the phrase “Gog and Magog,” bear in mind that the only place in the Bible where the two names are mentioned together is in Revelation 20:7-9.)

Ezekiel, a prophet and priest in Solomon’s temple, records the greater part of the story; Genesis and Chronicles record its origins; John of Revelation brings the saga to a dramatic climax, the likes of which film director and producer Cecil B. DeMille would have enjoyed dramatizing on the big screen.

I would invite you to read Ezekiel’s entire chapter 38 and into a bit of 39, along with John’s chapter 20, having in the background of your mind current events in the Middle East. Of course the characters and peoples in this story have been waring since the beginning of their journey through the Old Testament when Cain killed his brother Abel. Upon a bit of research on the internet, I found this:

Gog and Magog are figures mentioned in the Bible and the Qur’an, often associated with apocalyptic prophecies and eschatological themes.

“Gog and Magog are mentioned in four books of the Bible—Genesis, 1 Chronicles, and Ezekiel in the Old Testament and the Book of Revelation in the New Testament. They have become linked in our minds so that we actually think of them together as an inseparable pair—or at least individually who lived at the same time. But a careful look at the verses in which they appear indicates otherwise.”

The first mention of one of these characters is in the Book of Genesis where Magog is mentioned as one of Noah’s grandsons. There’s no mention of Gog.

“Now this is the generation of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth. And sons were born to them after the flood. The sons of Japheth were Gomer, Magog, Madai, Javan, Tubal, Meshech, and Tiras.” (Genesis 10: 1, 2) So, Magog was a real person, born after the flood to Noah’s son, Japheth.

1 Chronicles 1:5 simply repeats what Genesis says word-for-word. That is the last we hear of Magog until he appears again in the Book of Ezekiel and later on in the Book of Revelation.

Gog’s name appears a few chapters later in in a detailed genealogy of Jacob’s sons—the forefathers of the twelve tribes of Israel. Listing the families of Reuben, 1 Chronicles 5:4 says: “The sons of Joel were Shemiah his son, Gog his son Shimei his son. . . .” So, according to this verse, Gog was the grandson of someone named Joel, who was a descendant of Reuben, the son of Jacob.

Gog and Magog: Hundreds of Years Apart

Now Jacob and his twelve sons lived a long time after the flood—centuries later, in fact (see Genesis 11). So Gog, a descendant of Reuben, would have been born later. Therefore, Gog could not have been living at the same time as Noah’s grandson, Magog; they were separated by hundreds of years. So how did the two become linked in our minds—and in other Bible verses.?

What Ezekiel Says About Gog and Magog

Chapter 38 and 39 of Ezekiel refer to Gog several times but mentions Magog only twice. God told the prophet Ezekiel: “Son of man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, ‘Thus saith the Lord God: Behold I am against you, O Gog'”

The Prophesy went on to say of Gog:

“You will come up from your place out of the far north, you and many peoples with you, all of them riding on horses, a great company and a mighty army. You will come up against My people Israel like a cloud, to cover the land. It will be in the latter days.” (Ezekiel 38:15, 16).

God also says that He will bring Gog “to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed” for his attacks against God’s people (verse 22).

Ezekiel 39 continues to describe the destruction that will come to Gog and his forces when they make war and attack Israel. Verse 6 mentions Magog again: “And I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands [Gaza?]. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.”

Ezekiel lived during the time the Jews were carried captive to Babylon. He told his fellow Jewish captives that their exile in Babylon was God’s punishment for turning away from Him. But he assured them that God would restore them when they repented and followed Him faithfully. He prophesied that Gog and his enemies would attack a restored Israel, but that God would destroy Gog and preserve His people. Who was Ezekiel talking about — this “Gog of the land of Magog” (Ezekiel 28:2)?

Ezekiel’s prophecies could not be referring to the characters mentioned in Genesis and Chronicles, as the Babylonian exile took place much later than either Noah’s grandson, Magog, or Ruben’s descendant, Gog. In fact . . . and being more specific . . . looking closely at the two verses from Ezekiel 38 and 39, they suggest that they may not be referring to a person at all but to a place or a nation. Verse 38:2 refers to “the land of Magog,” and 39:6 says that God “will send fire on Magog and on those who live in security in the coastlands.”

There is no historical record of a war or Israel being attached by the forces of a ruler named “Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal” (Ezekiel 38:2). But whoever or whatever Ezekiel may have been talking about, it’s clear that he was talking about a force that was opposed to God and His people—an enemy who would fight against Israel only to be destroyed by God. And that’s what we also find in the last book of the Bible that mentions Gog and Magog. I will cite the entire section in Revelation 20 related to Gog and Magog.

“And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years. And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that be loosed a little season. . . . And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison. And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breath of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them . . . .” (Rev 20:1-3, 7-9)

BACKGROUND HISTORY

The phrase “Gog and Magog” has more to do with territorial disputes and conquests than warring between God and Satan or good and evil — land, territories and property ownership. The Jews in Europe had become a people without their own land to occupy as an independent nation. England played a pivotal role in giving the Jews a “homeland” of their own. Here’s a little history from Wikipedia, well worth reading for clarity around how this all emerged out of the ancient dramatic history of the Jewish Nation.

During World War I, the British government issued the Balfour Declaration, favoring the establishment of a homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine, and captured it from the Ottomans. The League of Nations gave Britain mandatory power over Palestine in 1922. British rule and Arab efforts to prevent Jewish migration led to growing violence between Arabs and Jews, causing the British to announce its intention to terminate the Mandate in 1947.

The UN General Assembly recommended partitioning Palestine into two states: Arab and Jewish. However, the situation deteriorated into a civil war. The Arabs rejected the Partition Plan, the Jews ostensibly accepted it, declaring the independence of the State of Israel in May 1948 upon the end of the British mandate. Nearby Arab countries invaded Palestine, Israel not only prevailed, but conquered more territory than envisioned by the Partition Plan. During the war, 700,000, or about 80% of all Palestinians fled or were driven out of territory Israel conquered and were not allowed to return, an event known as the Nakba (Arabic for ‘catastrophe’) to Palestinians. Starting in the late 1940s and continuing for decades, about 850,000 Jews from the Arab world immigrated (“made Aliyah”) to Israel.

After the war, only two parts of Palestine remained in Arab control: the West Bank and East Jerusalem were annexed by Jordan, and the Gaza Strip was occupied by Egypt, which were conquered by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967. Despite international objections, Israel started to establish settlements in these occupied territories.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian national movement gained international recognition, thanks to the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), under Yasser Arafat. In 1993, the Oslo Peace Accords between Israel and the PLO established the Palestinian Authority (PA), an interim body to run Gaza and the West Bank (but not East Jerusalem), pending a permanent solution. Further peace developments were not ratified and/or implemented, and relations between Israel and Palestinians has been marked by conflict, especially with Islamist Hamas, which rejects the PA. In 2007, Hamas won control of Gaza from the PA, now limited to the West Bank. In 2012, the State of Palestine (the name used by the PA) became a non-member observer state in the UN, allowing it to take part in General Assembly debates and improving its chances of joining other UN agencies.

My Take: A Land Grab

Essentially the “battle” between Gog and Magog is all about land gabbing: nations coveting border lands for their various riches or just simply to expand their territories. Russian President Vladmir Putin invaded Ukraine for land access to the waters of the Black Sea and beyond, along with its Lithium mines. He’s hellbent on creating an empire. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in an act of retaliation, has laid waste the Gaza strip and pushed its inhabitants into a state of homelessness and starvation, ultimately bent on driving the Palestinians out of Gaza, with eyes set on the coastlands and access to the waters of the Mediterranean Sea and a potential commercial seaport. U.S. President Trump has his eye on the same coastlands for entertainment purposes and to fill his burgeoning coffers. The Biblical battle between Gog and Magog is nothing more, or less, than a land grab, the inhabitants sacrificed to the god of mammon. Money is the god of the mind made world.

It’s a fool’s endeavor, however, as the land cannot be bought, sold, or stolen, as Native American Chief Crazy Horse so eloquently stated when the US offered to buy their land. “How can we sell what is not ours to sell? One does not sell the land upon which the people walk.” He saw and respected the sacredness of the land and the importance of protecting it. As the psalmist proclaims: “The Earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein; for He hath founded it upon the seas and established it upon the floods.” (Ps 24:1).

We live on a water planet, the land providing boarders to contain its seas and floods. Man is a thief for stealing the land from its rightful Owner and Creator for real estate development and for its oil and mineral riches. The subtle serpent operating through the mind of man, male and female, endeavors to steal or destroy God’s Garden of Eden. The Earth is sacred. Let me remove my shoes as I walk with awe and profound respect upon this hallowed ground of our Home among the stars. Until my next post,

Be love. Be loved.

Anthony

Email: tpal70@gmail.com

THE TREE OF LIFE

IF YOU WOULD GO UP . . .

. . . YOU MUST FIRST GO DOWN AND OUT . . . having kept the First Great Commandment of utter love for the “LORD thy GOD.” The second, love of neighbor as self, being like unto the first.

Just as a metaphor, consider the rocket. It goes up as the fire generated by its engines thrust downwards, giving it lift. Your heart is your spiritual engine, so-to-speak, that generates and channels power. This power is available to whatever spirits reside there and seek expression. Spirits of the world, such as hate, envy and resentment, when harbored and expressed, bring us downward and closer to the world and its loud and dissonant voice. Spirits of Love and gratitude, on the other hand, lift us upward and closer to Heaven, where the voice of the world is not heard.

If we would go up and in, we need only express the power of love downward and outward toward our world; the Earth and Her inhabitants . . . keeping the second Great Commandment of love of neighbor as self. If you would go up you must first go down. It’s the experience of “praying unceasingly.” It’s also the experience of fully incarnating as a Creator Being, an aspect of God the Creator of Heaven and Earth. It’s what we do as angels incarnate. We pray unceasingly. In such an ascension, the voice of the world is no longer heard.

I will share a timely story from my legacy work, SACRED ANATOMY. It’s about the “Tree of Life” in the midst of the Garden planted eastward in Eden, where we live and have our being, only oblivious to it. Here’s the story:

“The Great Tree”

       There is a beautiful and relevant story about a “Great Tree” in The Gospel of The Beloved Companion – The Complete Gospel of Mary Magdalene, translated from the Greek by Jehanne de Quillam.  The gospel itself is part of several scrolls of early Christian and Gnostic texts found in a cave near the upper Egyptian town of Nag Hammadi in 1945. 

       Mary Magdalene – or Miriam as Jesus called her – was one of the women who traveled with Yeshua (Jesus) and helped support his ministry. She was probably wealthy.  She rose to the level of “Apostle of apostles” due to her depth of understanding of her Master’s teachings.  He called her “The Migdalah” which means “tower” in Hebrew.  The name also means  “leader, visionary, powerful.”   

       The story tells of an interchange between Mary and Yeshua shortly after his ordeal and resurrection. In the mournful wake of their Master’s ignominious crucifixion, Mary Magdalene comforts a gathering of his disciples and shares with them what, in the author’s opinion, is one of the most profound teachings of this entire Gospel.  Can one, in this noisy world, ever come to a place where one can no longer hear the voice of the world?  My short answer is “Yes.” The story tells the long answer.

     Miriam:  My Master spoke thus to me. He said: “Miriam, blessed are you who came into being before coming into being, and whose eyes are set upon the Kingdom, who from the beginning has understood and followed my teachings.  Only from the truth I tell you, there is a Great Tree within you that does not change, summer, winter, and its leaves do not fall.  Whosoever listens to my words and ascends to its crown will not taste death, but know the truth of eternal life.” 

     Then he showed me a vision in which I saw a Great Tree that seemed to reach unto the heavens, and as I saw these things, he said, “The roots of this tree are in the earth, which is your body. The trunk extends upwards through the five regions of humanity to the crown, which is the Kingdom of the Spirit.”

Yeshua described this Great Tree as having eight boughs that bore their own unique fruits which he told Miriam to fully consume. The fruits, he told her, would grant her “the light of the Spirit that is eternal life.” On each bough stood a guardian at a gate leading to the next bough who would challenge her worthiness to pass. 

Now, the lower boughs were thick with leaves that prevented the light from reaching them and illuminating the way upward. Assuring her that He Himself would provide the light, and that as she ascended the leaves would thin out, allowing more light through from above, Yeshua told her, “Those who seek to ascend must free themselves of the world.  If you do not free yourself from the world you will die in the darkness that is the root of the tree. But if you free yourself, you will rise and reach the light that is eternal life.” 

As the story goes, Miryam’s soul ascended to the very top of the Great Tree where it was consumed by the fire of the Spirit. On the way up she met each challenge and gained access to the fruits. The fruits of the first bough were love and compassion, “the foundation of all things.” To eat of it she had to come free of all judgment and wrath, which she did, allowing her to pass the first of seven guardians, each one tempting her to fall for their lure.

The second bough was laden with the fruits of wisdom and understanding, of which she partook, having freed herself of ignorance and intolerance, which she did and proceeded upward to the third bough. This bough bore the fruits of honor and humility, which she was able to enjoy after coming free of duplicity and arrogance.  She then moved up to the fourth bough as the light increased. Strength and courage were the fruits of this bough, which she was able to enjoy having freed herself from the weakness of the flesh and overcome the “illusion of fear.” The “Master of this world” tried to claim her as his own, but she denied him.

Before moving on up to the fifth bough, Miryam had to reject the “deceiver” in order to pass through what her Master told her was “the hardest gate of all.” Here she partook of the fruits of clarity and truth, and in doing so she came to know herself “for the first time” as a child of the Living Spirit.

As her soul ascended to the sixth bough, the voice of the world became silent, and in the increased light she saw the fruits of power and healing, the power to heal her own soul and prepare it to ascend to the seventh bough.  The seventh bough’s fruits were light and goodness “that is the Spirit.” Consuming them she was filled with “a fierce joy” as her soul “turned to fire and flew upward in the flames.” Her Master then showed her the eighth and final bough, “upon which burn the fruits of the grace and beauty of the Spirit.”

Upon ascending to the eighth bough, her soul and everything she could see dissolved and was absorbed in a brilliant light, in the midst of which appeared “a woman of extraordinary beauty, clothed in garments of brilliant white.” At this climatic point, her soul melted into the extended arms and embrace of the woman in white raiment, and in that moment she was free from the world.  The vision thus ended.

Then from a distance she heard the voice of her Master telling her, “Miryam, whom I have called the Migdalah, now you have seen the All, and have known the truth of yourself, the truth that I AM. Now you have become the completion of completions.”  From that moment on through her remaining days, the story says, Miryam lived in silence, no longer hearing the voice of the world.

“JUDGE RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT“

Silence, in my experience, is a state of being rater than of not talking or doing. I can talk from out of the silence in my heart. It’s always here in my heart when my mind is not paying attention to and judging the voice of the world . . . my heart engaged with the Beloved and divorced from the world. I love being here. It’s where I am intimately aware of being an angel incarnate.

Judgment of good and evil is an ever present trap that can get one involved with the world and the abusive ways of men. Jesus taught that we should not judge lest we be judged, for what judgment we cast toward others will come back to find its measured mark in us. He went on to say that if we judge we should “judge righteous judgment.”

I’ve learned an uncommon meaning of that word: right-use — to judge by the right and wrong use of things, which is usually obvious. One would not use one’s automobile for any other purpose than to convey one from one place to another. That’s the purpose for which it was designed and built to serve. Any other use would be abuse.

The inherent design and purpose of anything and everything indicates its right use. Money was invented as a way of measuring and recording the value of exchange of goods and services. Any other use of money would then be abuse, or wrong use.

Closer to home, my mind and heart, as well as my body, have their unique designs that determine their right and proper use. To use them for any other purpose would be abuse or wrong use. When anything created is put to abuse and used for any other purpose than that for which it was created, it will break down and become useless, at best, and destructive at worst . . . as we’ve all experienced and observed in our own lives and in the world where people use and abuse one another and the things they create.

A blatant case in point is how we have created guns and bombs, which serve one purpose only: to kill and destroy the forms of life. I can’t think of any other purpose guns, bullets, bombs and army tanks serve. These are the evil fruits of the wrong and self-righteous use of human intelligence and free will. It is said by those who have been there that war is hell. War makes a hell out of heaven. Hell is here and is the experience of living in the Kingdom of Heaven while ignoring Natural and Divine Laws. “Thou shalt not kill” is an ancient but active Divine Command . . . to which I will add “with bullets or words.” Let those who have ears hear.

I would love to hear your thoughts. Until my next post,

Be love. Be loved. — Anthony

Email: tpal70@gmail.com