Healing Tones

For you must realize that earth unfolds its properties and powers in union with Heaven aloft above us, and there is one Heart, one Being, one Will, one God, all in all.”  -–Jacob Boehme

I AM WORKING ON A FOURTH EDITION of my book SACRED ANATOMY—which was written some 30 years ago, the first edition published in 2005. In creating and publishing this Fourth Edition—I might add at the whelming request and encouragement of friends and associates, and with the generous editing gift of my friend and Attunement colleague John C. Gray—besides making updates and corrections, along with a couple of insertions like the story of “The Great Tree”—I’ve taken the opportunity to share some of the wisdom and inspiration published in this blog. My insight and outlook, as well as my understanding of things spiritual, have undergone change and radical transformation over the past thirty years.

To accomplish this objective, I have simply added a new part under the heading “Instrument For Creation,” which is part of the subtitle of my book. I will share excerpts from this new section to give you a sneak preview. I hope you will enjoy the content of this added section and glean bits of wisdom, insight and, most importantly, enlightenment and inspiration.

Empowering Our Sacred Anatomy

“For behold I create new heavens and a new earth…”  (Isaiah 65:17)

Our Father’s business is the radiation of love, the power that creates and sustains the Universe.  Man was created to bring the Father’s love into this world that we created with Him.  Man fell out of harmony with the Father’s love and left the Garden of Eden, a paradise, and created this fallen world. The Father’s purpose ever since has been the restoration of Man to a state of harmony and oneness with Him, and through Man the restoration of the world to a place of beauty, peace and harmony.  In this day of awakening to our true identities as divine creator beings, this work calls for our cooperative and co-creative participation. We are, after all, creator-beings, made in the image and likeness of our Creator. Through us and by us God is in action creating life on earth.

As I have labored in love to share my inspirations and meditations on the wonder and beauty of the human body as a temple of worship, it is also clearly evident that our sacred anatomy is designed and purposed to be an instrument for creation. We created and endowed our remarkable human forms with creative capacities just for the purpose of carrying out our Father’s business—which is our business.

Spirit, moving through and encoding hormonal chemistry, for example, informs and empowers cells to carry out their roles in the body temple in concert with billions of other cells. Communion with Source is strengthened as the silver cord of spiritual substance (pneumaplasm) connecting our body-mind-heart continuum with our angelic spirit increases, thus joining our human nature with the divine being we are.

Our sacred anatomy is nourished and empowered by love divine when, like a river, it is allowed to flow from above, down, inside and out through it into expression in our living. The fine substance of pneumaplasm that accommodates the ordinances of the new heaven for the new earth and for our creative activities is generated by our expression of the spirit and attitudes of divine being. Without such rare pneumaplasm in our hearts, the truth and beauty in Heaven cannot manifest on earth. With it and through it, the Music of the Spheres bursts forth. The beauty of a New Earth is born.

SEVEN STEPS FROM THE TEMPLE OF LIGHT

The intoning words of Uranda at the beginning of this book, speaks to this beauty and creativity:

“The physical body is Real and beautiful beyond words to describe; wonderful beyond all the imaginings of mankind. In it are revealed the secret things of God. Through it work the Cosmic Forces of the Universe.”

These Four Cosmic Forces symbolized by Water, Air, Earth and Fire operate in this specific order in cycles of the Creative Process. This is seen as a cyclical pattern of radiation, response, attraction, union and unified radiation. The four forces also overlap one another as they phase in and out of successive predominance. This requires care and preparation in order for them to work creatively on our lives.

The preparation initially focuses in the creation of a heaven. Before starting on a new creative venture, we first prepare the heaven with quiet stillness in an atmosphere of patience and thankfulness. One spiritual author, whom I will introduce shortly, has called this heaven the “imaginal realm,” due to its function as a place of conception for images of the forms to be created. As images begin to appear in this realm, we can begin to apply our hearts and hands to the task of creating the forms that appear in our heaven and fill our imagination. Artists work with and in this unfolding process of image to analogue in their creations, terms we shall soon consider.

Rightly, as we prepare for a creative venture or project, we move radiantly out of heaven into the waiting void in our creative fields on earth.  It is in heaven that we abide as creator beings in our Temples of Light above the “veil.”  It is here alone we have the power to create, and where we receive inspiration to create beauty. This place in our sacred anatomy is above the Crown Chakra and beyond the Seventh Seal of the pineal body, which is the first step into our field. It’s the seventh step upward into the Temple of Light where the Spirit of Love is radiantly present and focused. From here we speak our word into the void: “Let there be light!” This command of love opens the way into our field of creation. Opening this seventh seal of Love, all else follows. The next step in our creative venture opens up to clear and successful creativity and accomplishment.  Our radiation of love draws forth response from our creative field as elements offer themselves into the creative process.

WATER CYCLE: The second step of the sixth seal, where truth and wisdom await our next command:  Paraphrasing Genesis, “Let the responding waters gather together into one place and let the true design and control factors appear.” Water is a symbol of truth, and we always start a creative cycle with the truth, with what is right and never with what is wrong and needs fixing.  Healing, making whole that which was before fragmented, is about drawing together  all the factors that are right and which belong together to make a creation whole. The Spirit of the Womb, operating in and through the pituitary, establishes in our heaven an atmosphere of containment in a shroud of darkness, enfolding the emerging design in a protective and nurturing womb for its initial stages of development.  We begin gathering the various materials needed for our creation, as images and ideas are attracted into the void of creative potential.

WATER-AIR CYCLE: The third step is where the Spirit of Life working through the thyroid begins to bring viability and radiance to the images in our consciousness. Lights begin turning on in the mind as creative ideas and possibilities run through it—visions for what could appear in and through our creation. We begin to prepare the materials we’ve gathered and put our minds and hands to the task of laying out our plans.

AIR CYCLE: The fourth step becomes visible at the crossover point of the heart where the thymus gland provides a crucible for the clarifying activity of the Spirit of Purification.  Assurance that the design and control factors for our creation will work as we remain true to our integrity and don’t cut corners for quicker outcomes, keeping our intentions pure and worthy of ourselves and our creation. We keep our mental hands off of the evolving cycle and let our pure heart lead the way forward, doing what we love doing. We begin assembling the various parts together.  Union begins to be established as embryonic forms start to develop.

AIR-EARTH CYCLE: The fifth step, the third ascending step to the Temple of Light, begins to reveal how our creative endeavor can and will succeed, as the Spirit of Blessing turns on lights of inspiration and encouraging realization in our spirit and attitude. Thankfulness for the blessings of the Spirit fills our hearts and pours out through our expression. We may feel enthusiastic and curious about what our creation will look like and how it will serve us and perhaps a greater purpose. 

EARTH CYCLE: The sixth step of the second Seal focused in the adrenal glands opens up to the Spirit of the Single Eye’s gift of mental clarity and sharp focus. Power becomes available to move forward and achieve our goal step by step, not pushing the river to speed the developing and birthing process up, but remaining tranquil and patient to still the consciousness where creative seeds are still being sown by the creator beings we are.  Our creation begins to emerge from the creative chaos of assemblage to completion of the first form.  We enfold it in our love and care.

EARTH-FIRE CYCLE: Finally, with the patience and optimism of the Spirit of the New Earth, working on the ground floor of your sacred anatomy, we see our creation completed. We put the final touches on what we have brought forth through the creative process. There’s joy and celebration in the birth of the new creation out of the womb and into the light of day. We have achieved our goal and can now relax and enjoy the fruits of our labors and put our creation to its intended use and service to the One and to our continued creative work.  A unified field of radiance envelopes us and our new creation, and the world is blessed.

All this perfect process unfolds naturally and easily as we maintain our presence above the veil in Heaven. The moment we become reactive to or impatient with something in our field, the creative process is aborted or at least stalled until we remember who we are and where we have our being in heaven.

SACRED ANATOMY — Temple of the Living God. A contemplative study of the human body as a temple of worship and an instrument for creation.

We have a saying in healthcare: “Impatience wrecks results.” Patience is the first step to the Temple of Light. Six more steps follow, as Uranda’s “Seven Steps to the Temple of Light” reveal so beautifully. Having ascended the steps and entered our temples of light, we are now in the “Place of Creation” from which we may descend and go forth to create the beauty and wonder of the New Earth now coming down from God out of Heaven “as a bride adorned for her husband.” Let us go forth together. Until my next post . . .

Be love. Be loved.

Anthony

tpal70@gmail.com

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I HAVE GOOD NEWS about my book SACRED ANATOMY: with the encouragement and generous editing expertise of a long-time and dear friend, we are co-creating an updated Fourth Edition of this insightful contemplative study of our sacred anatomy. So stay tuned and look for a future announcement of its release.

Continuing with this series of considerations on the subject of co-creating a peaceful world, I present in this post another excerpt from Ervin Laszlo’s book THE SURVIVAL IMPERATIVE — Upshifting To Conscious Evolution, A Guide to Returning Peace and Harmony to the Planet. I think you will appreciate the author’s optimism with his seeming utopian vision. Enjoy!

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AN ACHIEVABLE VISION: DATELINE 2050 — PEACE ON THE PLANET

Expecting that people abide by the new moral code does not call for people to become selfless . . . . Living in a way that permits others also to live does not mean that everybody could live in the same way with the same material standard of living. There are differences in wealth and standards of living, but these differences are moderated by the moral injunction regarding the limits of how we can live our lives.

The new morality respects the right of all people to live a life of dignity, spared the deprivations that plagued the poor in the recent past. Being moral does not call for being self-denying – it allows everyone to strive for excellence, beauty, and personal growth. But in the context of an interdependent and finite planet, the enjoyments and achievements of life are to be defined in relation to the quality of enjoyment and level of satisfaction they provide, and not in terms of their monetary cost and the quantity of materials and energy they consume.

BELIEFS

I will continue sharing Laszlo’s vision of a peaceful world in my next post. I wish you each one a HAPPY THANKSGIVING — and offer you my deep thankfulness and appreciation for your faithful following of my Healing Tones blog — and for sharing my weekly posts with friends and family. Until my next post . . .

Be love. Be loved.

Anthony

tpal70@gmail.com

“War itself is, of course, a form of madness. It’s hardly a civilized pursuit. It’s amazing how we spend so much time inventing devices to kill each other and so little time working on how to achieve peace.” ~Walter Cronkite*

THE PARADOX OF THE 2023 HOLIDAYS is this unholy war being waged in the Holy Land between Israel and Hamas in Palestine, the land where the Messiah, the Son of God, incarnated on the first Christmas Day — with heavenly hosts singing to shepherds in their fields watching over their flock, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men.” Also the land where He was crucified for His “claim” to being the Son of God. He is recorded as having said, “What you do to one of these the least of my brethren you do unto me.”

But peace has been a long time coming . . . and is yet to arrive in the land where Jerusalem, the “City of Peace,” is established. But that’s not going to be the topic for this blog, as enough is being said about this ancient conflict between two nations with parallel biblical histories. I simply wish to acknowledge it and bring it into my Healing Tones blog for enfoldment and uplifting.

WHAT WILL IT TAKE TO ACHIEVE PEACE?

There’s a powerful scene in the movie GANDHI that speaks a thousand words to this question. Gandhi, a Hindu, is on a fast to end the war waging in India between the Hindus and the Muslims. A Hindu father whose son was killed by a Muslim, for which atrocity he had slain the Muslim, leaving a boy without a father to raise him, approached Gandhi in tears of grief and begs Gandhi to tell him what he should do to make amends for his murderous act and end Gandhi’s fast. Gandhi (played by actor Ben Kingsley) looked at the grief stricken sonless father with compassion and told him without hesitation to take the man’s son and raise him as his own . . . “but only as a Muslim.”

This scene always brings tears to my eyes knowing that what Gandhi is suggesting in this movie is what is needed . . . and will likely never come about, at least not in my remaining years . . . and that’s all I have to say about the war waging in the Holy Land.

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“THE SURVIVAL IMPERATIVE”

I LOVE BOOKS with a positive message, and authors who articulate the thoughts of my heart without using long and unfamiliar words that send me too often to the dictionary. Ervin Laszlo is such an author, and his book THE SURVIVAL IMPERATIVE: UPSHIFTING TO CONSCIOUS EVOLUTION is easy to read as it speaks plainly to the primary transformative issue of our times: the evolution of human consciousness. I think you will find this new series of posts as enlightening to read as I did reading Ervin’s book. I will dive right into it with this excerpt, taken from Part 3 in his book, “PEACE ON THE PLANET—THE VISION”

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AN ACHIEVABLE VISION: DATELINE 2050

It is time to complete this guide to promoting our conscious evolution on the planet with a vision that lends a wider and deeper perspective to this enterprise. The vision proposed here may appear utopian on first sight, but will prove relevant as we focus on the diverse tasks of an upshift to conscious evolution.

Here is an “achievable vision”— the image of a peaceful and sustainable world emerging by the middle of the twenty-first century in the conscious embrace of the web of life on the planet.

The Vision of the Social Order

The decisive feature of the world of 2050 is that it consciously seeks harmony with life on the planet. In this regard, it is essential that the new world is clearly oriented to evolution in nature and the universe. It is neither an undifferentiated totality nor a sequence of separate elements. It is a world that is globally whole and locally diverse.

Sovereign nation-states, the inheritance of the Modern Age, have given way to a transnational world where nations are only one, even if an important, level of the social order, without laying claim to sovereignty.

The human world is networked, but not monolithic. It is structured as a Chinese box of administrative and decision-making forums, where each forum is embedded in each higher forum but has its own sphere of authority and responsibility. The political world is not a hierarchy, for the decision-making forums at the various levels have their own autonomy and are not subordinated to higher levels.

In some areas — including trade and finance, information and communication, peace and security, and environmental protection — decision-making is entrusted to global forums. This, however, allows a Significant level of autonomy on local, national, and regional levels. Taken
in its totality, the political world is a “heterarchy”: a multilevel sequentially integrated structure of distributed decision-making aimed at global cooperation combined with regional, national, and local spheres of authority and leadership.

The diverse yet cooperative world is a sequence of self- reliant communities with multiple links of communication and cooperation. Individuals join together to shape and develop their local community. These communities participate in a wider network of cooperation that includes, but does not cease at, the level of national states. Nation-states are themselves part of regional social and economic communities, coming together in the United Regions Organization, the global-level body created through the reform of the United Nation s Organization. Its members are not nation-states but the continental and subcontinental economic and social unions that integrate the interests and programs of nation-states. These include the European Union, the North American Union, the Latin American Union, the North-African Middle-Eastern Union, the Sub-Saharan African Union, the Central Asian Union, the South and Southeast Asian Union, and the Australian-Asia-Pacific Union.

The principle of subsidiarity holds sway throughout the multilevel system: decisions are made on the lowest level at which they are effective. The global level is the lowest level in regard to ensuring peace and security and regulating the global flow of goods, money, and knowledge. It is also the level for coordinating the information that flows on global networks of communication. Its objective is to harmonize policies dedicated to ensuring the integrity of the processes that maintain equilibrium in the biosphere.

The regional level is indicated for the forum for policies that coordinate the social and political aspirations of nations. Regional economic and social organizations provide the forum for the representatives of member nations to coordinate their interests and aspirations in view of resolving the problems of their people

The national level is appropriate for the local tasks and functions traditionally entrusted to national governments. National organizations operate without claiming unconditional sovereignty for themselves; they are embedded in the regional and global-level forums and take due account of the decision made by them.

On the local level, forums bring together the elected representatives of urban as well as rural communities. They coordinate the workings of the social and political institutions of towns, villages, and rural regions within the framework of the administrative and decision-making system composed of forums on the national, the regional, and the global levels.

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“The decisive feature of the world of 2050 is that it consciously seeks harmony with life on the planet.” This is certainly a worthy vision. Can we realize it by 2050? We can . . . provided Humanity rises to a level of consciousness that is large enough and noble enough to truly encompass it from a heavenly point of orientation. From a heavenly perspective, the planet and all of life on it rightly seek to harmonize with Man, the appointed steward of creation. We have it backwards.

In order to rise to that level, human consciousness must be oriented in Cause rather than in effects. Noble as it is, this vision is oriented in the world of effects . . . unless it includes an orientation in Cause. Seeking harmony with life on the planet implies an outward orientation. Seeking harmony with the Life of the planet, with the Great Spirit who created the planet and maintains its order and harmony, requires an inward and upward orientation . . . as well as a return to our commission as stewards.

An about face on our part is what is required in order to restore the true and original order and harmony between peoples and nations . . . and between Man and his planetary Home among the stars . . . and war was never a part of that original design for life on Gaia. Human beings oriented in the material world of effects brought the insanity of war to this planet. Man alone can restore the peace and harmony that all of life on earth long for. What are we waiting for? Let us be at peace with one another and with our planet.

Let’s read further in Laszlo’s book to see if he expands his vision to include an orientation in Cause. We’ll do this in the next installment of this series. Until then . . .

Be kind and thoughtful to one another . . . and to our Mother Earth.

Anthony

tpal70@gmail.com

* Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009) was an American broadcast journalist who served as anchorman for the CBS Evening News^[1] for 19 years, from 1962 to 1981. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was often cited as “the most trusted man in America” after being so named in an opinion poll.

Light Divine The Great Creator of the Universe

Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.

These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer: I have overcome the world.” (John 16:32-33)

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“I HAVE OVERCOME THE WORLD.” Can you say that? Or has the world overcome you? This world has nothing of value to offer, as it is all transitory. Perhaps you have had the same or similar thoughts and impressions of this world. Nothing material impresses you. I have of late. Perhaps it’s my body’s ageing and tired brain. Then again, perhaps it’s my spirit emerging more fully after years of pressing forward yearning to be known and expressed. I spent most of those years serving as a holistic practitioner . . . during which I met lots of people, many of whom I came to know as friends, and some adopting me as part of their family. I am deeply thankful for those years and for the many clients and friends who came to me for help with their health.

The world may indeed be “too full to talk about,” as Rumi’s poem speaks of it. In truth it is passing away, simple by reason of the fact that the state of human consciousness which created and maintained it is passing away, making room for a new state of consciousness and a new world. The best counsel I have to offer is: Get over it. Let it go. Just let it all go. It’s only an illusion anyway. Let go of the unreal and let go to what’s real and everlasting: Love, Truth, Life , . . and creativity. These treasures are the essences of your Spirit, your very Being. They are the core qualities of the Creative Forces that brought forth the natural world, including our physical bodies.

The First Force is WATER, representing TRUTH. The Second Force is AIR, which represents SPIRIT. The Third Force if EARTH, representing LIFE. The Fourth Force is FIRE, representing LOVE.

REMEMBER THY CREATOR

There’s a passage in the twelfth book of Ecclesiastes in the Old Testament of the King James Bible that speaks to the declining years of a man, as well as to the youth of the upcoming generation.

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them.

What follows this call to remembrance is a blow-by-blow portrayal of the undoing of the human being:

“While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: in the days when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, and the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all of the daughters of musick shall be brought low;

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets:

Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

“Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit return unto God who gave it.

Vanity of vanities, saith the preacher, and all is vanity.

Quite a detailed portrayal of what are ironically called “the golden years.” I think the author’s point and purpose, however, lie in the first lines of his message: “Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth . . .”

The spirit of our youthful years lives on into our golden years . . . when we remember our Creator in the days of our youth. Although my physical body has slowed down, my spiritual body remains ageless and quite agile and active. Besides, I live and have my being in heaven where creation is vibrational, requiring no mental or physical exertion of energy . . . and where the yoke is easy and the burden is light. I never stop creating the new earth and the new world in my imaginal heart, where our living takes place. Then I watch it manifest and unfold out in the larger creative field of the world, particularly through the younger generation. I dream of better and brighter days in a new world.

I hold great hope and optimism in my heart for today’s youth, which includes our sons and daughters — who in one generation have transformed the role of parenting, guiding their children, our grandchildren, to be who they are rather than who they are expected to be, and to discover what they love doing in life rather than what they are “supposed” to do in order to “make a living.” Creativity emerges through our youth, even without a college degree. Living doesn’t have to be made. It happens while one is creating. True creativity is always fruitful as it is done in love. What is done in love returns in kind tenfold. It’s the One Law of Life’s Creative Process.

Remember now thy Creator — even as life’s evolving cycles move you toward your golden years of eldership. Never stop dreaming creation in your heaven, which is one with God’s Heaven . . . and God never ceases creating. It’s just what creators do. The word “creator” itself implies a creation. You can’t have a creation without a creator, nor a creator without a creation. The Creator is one with Creation.

Above all, let your creations be things of beauty, things that last and that you can be proud of. It’s what the world needs plenty of now. Remember now thy Creator while you are young . . . and then never grow too old to remember how to be creative in your imaginal heart, for somewhere some young person or persons will tune into your creative imaginings and achieve on earth what is conceived in heaven. We are One Body, One Mind, One Heart. There are no “others” in this world. There’s only the One I Am. Be who you are at all ages in your days, and your elder days and years will always give you much pleasure.

I take much pleasure in gardening, for instance, preparing the soil, planting the seeds and seedlings, watering the soil and watching the sprouting seedlings break through the ground and proceed to grow and bear fruit. Just doing what I can and sitting as my aching back requires. My partner in life, Bonnie, takes much pleasure in growing flowers. Together we co-create our little haven of paradise here in the sunny South.

I took a creative writing course early in life because I love writing and sharing my thoughts and inspirations . . . and this is something I can do in my elder years, along with reading. Creating is just what we all love doing naturally.

This is what I’ve learned and know, and now take pleasure in passing on to the next generation. What do you take pleasure in? Share your thoughts in the comment feature. I love reading my readers’ comments. Until my next post. . .

Be kind and generous to one another.

Anthony

tpal70@gmail.com

“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 a divine being incarnate. It also means the state of becoming divine: deification. Leaders of nations and Pharaohs were once deified in the eyes of their subjects . . . and, at a level higher than that of the human personage, they were more correct than they most likely realized.

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, YE ARE GODS?’ If he [Asaph in Psalm 82:6] 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 Asaph says in his psalm.

“YE ARE GODS!”

Did I miss something during my seminary schooling, or was I perhaps asleep when this Psalm and Jesus’s words in John’s Gospel were discussed in theology class? Or shouted from the pulpit in church services?

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.

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

HOW SHALL WE GIVE GOD GLORY?

My friend and “angel of sound” colleague, PenDell Pittman, offered a song of worship and praise several decades ago. The lyrics were written by another friend and angelic colleague, Hugh Malafry. 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, Thy 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 giving Him a flesh 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 thirty minutes every day 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 incarnate. Until my next post,

Be love. Be loved.

Anthony

tpal70gmail.com

Lord Krishna and Arjuna

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SINCE MY LAST POST . . . and on the very day I published it . . . Israel was bombarded and invaded by Hamas militants who slew hundreds of Israeli citizens in an early morning surprise attack. The devastation in the Gaza strip—where over a million Palestinians live under the rulership of Hamas—following the initial attack is apocalyptic as Hamas and Israel exchanged rockets and bombs in aggression and retaliation. Today Israel has issued an evacuation order for the Palestinian people as it positions its military forces for a possible ground attack on Gaza City with intent to eradicate Hamas from off the face of the earth. A colossal humanitarian crisis is now in progress as the people scramble to get out of harm’s way; an impossible feat for hospitals. May God be with the innocent civilians and children in their travail.

All one can sensibly do is come to a peaceful place of stillness and hold a steady current of love and compassion for those caught in the middle between these two nations’ disdain for one another, a hatred that fills the air globally with fearful and angry emotional energy.

For my readers I offer words of caution to withhold reactive thoughts and feelings. As the Gita counsels, “Govern thy heart.” Know that this, too, is encompassed by the Creative Process that is bringing about the disintegration of the old heaven and old earth to make room for the New Earth, whose heaven is already established in human consciousness. Look upon what’s happening with radiant eyes only, and with radiant hearts. Let love radiate without concern for results, as love never fails.

A CHANGE IN MIDSTREAM

As announced in my previous post, I will share an excerpt from the last chapter of SACRED ANATOMY, captioned “The Rainbow Body,” only at another time.

In light of what’s playing out in the Middle East . . . and as the moon eclipses the sun partially even as I make this shift in midstream . . . my thoughts turn to a passage in the Bhagavad Gita, “The Song Celestial”—as revised by Lloyd A. Meeker (Uranda) several decades ago—that holds words of wisdom spoken by Lord Krishna to Arjuna which may bring comfort to anxious hearts, tempering to over-heated emotions, and critical thinking to minds quick to judge. This excerpt is quite pertinent to the times through which we are moving, in which life in this unravelling and chaotic world often seems like a battlefield. See what you think.

Arjuna: How can I, in battle, shoot with shafts on Bhishma, or on Droja—O thou Chief!—both worshipful, both honourable men? Better to live on beggars bread with those we love alive, Than taste their blood in rich feasts spread and guiltily survive! Ah! were it worse—who knows—to be victor or vanquished here, when those confront us angrily whose death leaves living drear? In pity lost, by doubtings tossed, my thoughts—distracted—turn to Thee, the Guide I reverence most, that I may counsel learn: I know not what should heal the grief burned into soul and sense, if I were earth’s unchallenged chief—a god—and these gone thence!

Servant: So spake Arjuna to the Lord of Hearts, and sighing “I will not fight! held silence then. To whom, with tender smile, while the Prince wept despairing ‘twixt those hosts, Krishna made answer in divinest verse:

Krishna: Thou grievest where no grief should be! Thou speak’st words lacking wisdom! For the wise in heart mourn not for those that live, nor those that die. Nor I, nor thou, nor anyone of these, ever was not, nor ever will not be, for ever and for ever afterwards.

All, that doth live, lives always! To man’s frame as there come infancy and youth and age, so come there raisings-up and layings-down of other and of other life-abodes, which the wise know, and fear not. This that irks—thy outer-life, thrilling to the elements—bringing thee heat and cold, sorrows and joys, ’tis brief and mutable! Bear with it, Prince!

As the wise bear. The soul which is not moved, the soul that with a strong and constant calm takes sorrow and takes joy with equal peace, lives in the life undying! That which is can never cease to be; that which is not will not exist.

To see this truth of both is theirs who part essence from accident, substance from shadow. Indestructible, learn thou! the life is, spreading life through all; it cannot anywhere, by any means, be anywise diminished, stayed, or changed.

But these fleeting frames, which it informs with Spirit deathless, endless, infinite, they perish. Let them perish, Prince! and fight! Life cannot slay. Life is not slain!

Never the Spirit was born; the Spirit shall cease to be never; never was time it was not; end and beginning are dreams! Birthless and deathless and changeless remaineth the Spirit for ever; death hath not touched it at all, dead though the house of it seems!

Who knoweth it exhaustless, self-sustained, immortal, “indestructible—shall such say, “I have killed, or caused to kill”? Nay, but as when one layeth his worn-out robes away, and, taking new ones, sayeth, “These will I wear today!” So putteth by the Spirit lightly its garb of flesh, and passeth to inherit a residence afresh.

I say to thee weapons reach not the Life; flame burns it not, waters cannot o’erwhelm, nor dry winds wither it. Impenetrable, unentered, unassailed, unharmed, untouched, immortal, all-arriving, stable, sure, invisible, ineffable, by word and thought uncompassed, ever all itself, thus is the Soul declared! How wilt thou, then—knowing it so—grieve when thou shouldst not grieve? How, if thou hearest that the man new-dead is, like the man new-born, still living Being—one same, existent Spirit—wilt thou weep?

The end of birth is death; the end of death Is birth: in the fallen state! and mournest thou, Chief of the stalwart arm! for what befalls. Which could not otherwise befall? The birth of mortal things comes unperceived; the death comes unperceived; between them, beings perceive:

What is there sorrowful herein, dear Prince? Wonderful, wistful, to contemplate! Difficult, doubtful, to speak upon! Strange and great for tongue to relate, mystical hearing for every Son! Nor wotteth man this, what a marvel it is, When seeing, and saying, and hearing are one!

This Life within all living things, my Prince! hides beyond harm; scorn thou to suffer, then,
for that which cannot suffer. Do thy part! Be mindful of thy name, and tremble not!
Happy the warrior to whom comes joy of battle—comes, as now, Glorious and fair, unsought; opening for him a gateway into Heav’n here on earth.

But, if thou shunn’st this honourable field—If, knowing thy duty and thy task, thou bidd’st
duty and task go by—that shall be sin! And those to come shall speak thee infamy
from age to age; but infamy is worse for men of noble blood to bear than death!
The chiefs upon their battle-chariots will deem ’twas fear that drove thee from the fray.
Of those who held thee mighty-souled the scorn thou must abide, while all thine enemies will scatter bitter speech of thee, to mock the valour which thou hadst; what fate could fall
more grievously than this? Either—failing thou wilt win blessings of peace, or victor thou wilt reign a king on earth. Therefore, arise, thou Son of Kunti! brace thine arm for conflict, nerve thy heart to meet—as things alike to thee—pleasure or pain, profit or ruin, victory or defeat: so minded, gird thee to the fight, for so thou shalt not sin!

Thus far I speak to thee as from the “outer view”—unspiritually. Hear now the deeper teaching of Reality, which holding, understanding, thou shalt burst thy limitations, the bondage of desiring results. Here shall no end be hindered, no hope marred, no loss be feared: faith—yea, a little faith—shall save thee from the anguish of thy dread. Here, glory of the Kurus! shines one Law—one steadfast rule—while shifting souls have laws many and hard . . . .

. . . . But thou, want not! ask not! Find full reward of doing right in right! Let right deeds be thy motive, not the fruit which comes from them. And live in action! Labour! Make thine acts thy piety, casting all self aside, condemning gain and merit; equable in good or evil: the Central Way brings release in true nobility!

Yet, the right act Is less, far less, than the right-thinking mind. Seek refuge in thy soul; have there thy heaven! Scorn them that follow virtue for her gifts! The mind of pure devotion—even here—casts equally aside good deeds and bad, passing above them. Unto pure devotion devote thyself: with perfect understanding comes perfect act, and the right-hearted rise—
more certainly because they seek no gain—forth from the bands of the outer, step by step,
to highest seats of bliss.

When thy firm soul hath shaken off those tangled oracles which ignorantly guide, then shall it soar to high neglect of what’s denied or said, this way or that way, in doctrinal writ. Troubled no longer by the priestly lore, safe shall it live, and sure; steadfastly bent on understanding service. This is Reality—and Peace!

Arjuna: What is his mark who hath that steadfast heart, confirmed in holy service? How know we his speech, Krishna? Sits he, moves he like other men?

Krishna: When one, 0 Pritha’s Son!—abandoning desires which shake the mind—finds in his Soul full comfort for his soul, he hath attained Reality—that man is such!
In sorrows not dejected, and in joys not overjoyed; dwelling outside the stress of passion, fear, and anger; fixed in calms of lofty understanding—such an one is Muni, is the Sage, the truly Radiant One!

He who to none and nowhere overbound by ties of the outer, takes evil things and good
neither desponding nor exulting, such bears wisdom’s plainest mark! He who shall draw as the wise tortoise draws its four feet safe under its shield, his five frail senses back under the Spirit’s buckler from the world which else assails them, such an one, my Prince, hath Wisdom’s mark! Things that solicit response hold off from the self-governed; nay, it comes, the wrong responses of him who lives beyond depart—aroused no more.

Yet may it chance, O Son of Kunti! that a governed mind shall some time feel the sense-storms sweep, and wrest strong self-control by the roots. Let him regain his kingdom! let him conquer this, and abide in Me, intent. That man alone is wise who keeps the mastery of himself! If one ponders responsively the objects of the outer, there springs attraction; from attraction grows desire, desire flames to fierce passion, passion breeds recklessness; then the memory, all betrayed, lets noble purpose go, and saps the mind, till purpose, mind, and man are all undone.

But, if one deals with objects of the outer not loving and not hating, making them serve his free soul, which rests serenely lord, Lo! such a man comes to tranquility; and out of that tranquility shall rise the end and healing of his earthly pains; since the will governed sets the soul at peace. The soul of the ungoverned is not his, nor hath he knowledge of himself; which lacked, how grows serenity? and, wanting that whence shall he hope for happiness?

The mind that gives itself to follow shows of sense seeth its helm of wisdom rent away, and, like a ship in waves of whirlwind, drives to wreck and death. Only with him, great Prince!
whose senses are not swayed by things of the outer—only with him who holds his mastery, shows wisdom perfect. What is midnight-gloom to unenlightened souls shines wakeful day to his clear gaze; what seems as wakeful day is known for night, thick night of ignorance, to his true-seeing eyes. Such is the Saint!

And like the ocean, day by day receiving floods from all lands, which never overflows; Its boundary-line not leaping, and not leaving, fed by the rivers, but unswelled by those—

So is the perfect one! to his soul’s ocean the world pours itself responsively, leaving him as it finds, without commotion, taking its tribute, but remaining sea.

Yea! whoso, shaking off the yoke of the outer, lives lord, not servant, of his life; set free from pride, from fear, from the sin of “self,” toucheth tranquility! 0 Pritha’s Son!

That is the state Divine! There rests no dread when that last step is reached! Live where he will,
Die when he may, such passeth from all ‘plaining, to blest Nirvana, with the Gods, attaining . . . .

. . . . Within the Hedge he lives; restraining heart and senses, silent, calm, let him express Reality, showing pureness of soul, abiding on the Rock, tranquil in spirit, free of fear, intent on Me, expressing thought of Me.

That Faithful One, so devoted, so controlled, comes to the peace beyond—My peace, the peace of highest Heaven!

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So do we now, with strong hearts and radiant love, face the challenges to which our calling brings us. I welcome any thoughts and inspirations you may have and wish to share, either in the comment feature of by email. Until my next post then . . .

Be love. Be loved.

Anthony

tpal70@gmail.com