Something old and something new...

Okay, I hope this picture downloads properly! What is it about holding a newborn in your arms? Your complete attention is focused on this precious little tiny being. The simple, timeless rhythms of feeding, changing and rocking take over. I find myself singing little nursery rhymes that I sang for my own kids. Maybe a little bit of French thrown in so she will hopefully have an ear for that language when she gets older. The past, present and future seem to coalesce in these bright blue eyes. I once said that my church gives me hope for the future. This baby seems to be a physical manifestation of that hope. It's very hard to explain, but is a part of the process of becoming an "elder". All of a sudden, new possibilities open up. All I know is, a new chapter is opening up in my life - or perhaps even a whole new book! Somehow she gives me courage to take on new challenges. Whatever has happened in the past seems to fade in importance. Being a grandparent is different from being a parent. I don't have to worry about the economics of providing for her. She has 2 very wonderful parents to do that. There are now other responsibilities, that are also a part of eldering. I can offer advice if asked, I can offer my time to help out. If allowed, I can pass on some snippets of wisdom based on my own experience. If given the chance, I may be able to teach my grandchild something about nature, or perhaps some old fashioned values, as my grandmother taught me. I can offer support to her mom and dad. The part about nature is especially important - valuing and protecting the Earth and all life. This is something that can and should be a focus for retired people. Find a project or a cause and go for it - we have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. It's about creating a bridge between the past and the future. It's about standing up for truth, freedom, justice, the environment. If I seem to be rambling, I hope to bring everything together more logically in my next blog, but in the meantime, find yourself a little baby to hold onto, and see what happens! Cheers Sparky

OBSTACLES

What are the obstacles in making your vision a reality? On this plane of existence, we know that the 2 big ones are Time and Money. In business, it is even said that Time is Money. Most excuses go along the line of, I don't have the time, or I don't have the money. This is the obstacle of Thinking. Something cannot be brought into being, because it is not logical, or it does not compute. Intellect comes into play, as does Ego. It is the rational point of view. It cannot be done because... One of the things I love about Reverend Susan Locey is that she rarely says no to an idea. More often that not, she will say, Okay, let's do that! In rare instances, she may ask how? or who? HOW IS THIS TO BE MADE POSSIBLE? This is a human question heard often in the Bible. The other one is WHO AM I THAT I HAVE BEEN CHOSEN TO DO SUCH AND SUCH? The answer is given time and again, Have Faith. Know that I am God, and I make all things possible! This is not Logic. It is Eternal Wisdom. It is opening up onself to possibilities, becoming the vessel. Another obstacle is emotions. These can play for or against your idea. The big one is, I'm afraid to try this. We are conditioned from birth to avoid things that may cause us pain - emotional, physical, psychological; however, pain and suffering, can also open the door to compassion and insight. Quiet contemplation and meditation can allow one to put things in perspective. Through Right Meditation, one may reach the Right Standpoint or Balance. One can find oneself going like a ping pong ball from emotions to unproductive thoughts, and back again, over and over. By striving to attain Balance, it opens the door to seeing what Can be done and what Is possible. It may take time, effort, knowledge, money, resources that are not currently available. It's an interesting thing that if you are doing something out of love, or loving what you do, time and money don't matter so much. Aboriginal people call this relationship between thinking, emotions, the spiritual and the physical, a medicine wheel, and has probably been known for thousands of years. I would like to quote a few lines from a wonderful article I found recently on the internet, by William Bento, Ph.D., called "True North: The Compass of the Heart". Google it and you will find it, and this is another reason why I love The Sacrament of the Consecration of Man: "The doing is our collective prayer, our ritual of communion with the beautiful, the truth and the good. By doing this inner work as sacrament, we increase the power of love in the world, the only power to eradicate the evils loosened into this post-modern world of ours. In Christian esotericism this Culture of Love is referred to as the Future City of Jerusalem." Whatever your vision or idea is, if you are striving to create something beautiful and good in the world, you will attract the resources needed to make it a reality, if not right now, certainly in a future time. Think back to the great artists of the Renaissance, and the great composers. Were they appreciated in their time? Rarely. They lived often in poverty, hand to mouth, but their works of love and beauty will exist for all time. I hope I have sparked some interest and the reader will follow up with their own research. Now back to the phrase, Time is Money. I will add another one: Silence is Golden. Switch this around a little, and you have, Time is Golden. This will be the subject of my next blog, including some thoughts on grandparenting, and a lovely book I just found at a book sale: From Age-ing to Sage-ing, a profound new vision of growing older, by Zalman Schacter-Shalomi and Ronald S. Miller. This discusses the concept of "Eldering". Oh, and don't forget our Strawberry Tea on June 23rd, in celebration of our Elders! Cheers Sparky

MANIFESTING

As promised, a short discussion on manifesting. This is a very old fashioned word. It means to make something obvious or evident to the eye, or to one's understanding. After the crucifixion, Thomas could not believe that Christ had overcome death, until he could see and touch His wounds. On the spiritual side, we may have a vision or inspiration, that we then want to try to create in the physical world. It could be something very specific, or only an idea or concept that we have to try to work with and be guided by to see how it will take shape. The idea is to try to focus one's energy to bring something into being. The greater the vision, the more likely it will be a long term project, sometimes not completed in one lifetime. Usually it starts out as a tiny seed for which the ground must first be cultivated. Planting has to occur at just the right time. Then it must be carefully nurtured. At first there are roots, then a small sprout, then leaves. Eventually there may be a flower and even fruit. These in turn produce more seeds, and the whole process starts over again. In the plant kingdom, depending on the type of plant, there can also be a dying away, or sacrificing, of the old plant. Also for some types of insects, fish, etc. Sociologists and anthropologists have also documented this process in different cultures, civilizations, and empires. What exists today is the result of thousands of years of history. What we create today will be the foundation for the future. What kind of future do we want for our children and grandchildren? What can we do to help bring this about? What obstacles have to be overcome? What can get in the way of bringing the spiritual into the physical? That will be the subject of my next blog. 'Til next time, and Happy Mother's Day to all.

DREAM TIME

Dear Friends: Today I want to talk about dreams. I do a lot of this in the summer, when the weather is warm and sunny. It makes me drowsy, and I like to sleep as much as I can. We know that through prayer and meditation, we can enter sleep with openess, and even intent. We know that as we sleep, our physical and etheric bodies are refreshed and nourished. Just as important, we may receive a dream or a vision. We may also receive answers to questions, or clarity. It is possible to move out of our subjective, earthly experience, and obtain some objectivity, or larger picture that helps put things into perspective. Sometimes we may even get a quick glimpse of something that may happen in the future. Day dreaming or envisioning, is something that we do with even more intent. We might do it as children, dreaming of what we want to be when we grow up. We might do it as adults, usually wishing for something good, either for ourselves or others that we love. Exploration and migration happened because poor people wanted a better life for their children, a life of opportunity and real possibilities. That is partly why lotteries are so popular. "If I only had a million dollars, I could do this or that." These are not always selfish wishes. Sometimes people wish they had the money to do some good in the world. To raise people out of poverty. To end world hunger. To provide free education and medicine. All these good wishes will never happen through a government. Unfortunately, all governments are corrupt, even in what we call "free" and "democratic" societies. It doesn't matter which party is in power. Politicians, no matter how good their intentions, eventually will succumb to the realities of politics. You simply cannot be a person of integrity, and a politician, at the same time. Nevertheless, we can still dream of a better world for our children. We can still envision and work towards a future where there is no hunger, poverty, war, illness. Our Living Gold conference last year on Vancouver Island was a great gift. For me, it was like a dream, a chance to suspend reality, a chance to receive spiritual nourishment. Ultimately, it was a planting of seeds for the future. It's a very interesting thing that 9 months later, my daughter is about to give birth to her first child, and my first grandchild. Next blog: MANIFESTING

Little Miracles

Dear Friends: My last blog was about miracles. In springtime this is especially evident. Everywhere you look, nature is bursting forth, not just with the plants but also with the animals. It seems everywhere you look also, babies are waiting to be born, who were conceived in the auspicious year of 2012. While everywhere around the world, there can be found stories of great concern politically, economically and environmentally, still there is the promise of new life. If you are privileged to hold a new baby in your arms, there is no question in your mind what is most important, or what has the most value. You are the richest person in the world at that moment. Nevertheless, this kind of wealth, or new life, is achieved only through sacrifice. My own daughter, who is due very soon, has already had more than her fair share of worry and pain. So far, she has had to have 2 blood transfusions. There is still the labour and delivery, and perhaps after that, a bone marrow transplant. The baby's future is yet unknown. Today, however, I heard of a little baby, about 5 months old, who is struggling just to live. This baby's family lives in Kamloops, about a 4 hour drive from Vancouver. His name is Karter. The family made the journey down to Vancouver for his birth, and he had to have a pacemaker shortly afterwards. Now it seems that the mother had stomach lupus, which passed on antibodies into his blood, now affecting his heart even more. He is currently undergoing surgery here in Vancouver to add another lead to the pacemaker, and he will be put on the list for a heart transplant, which will give him a better chance for the future. We are thankful that we live in a time and place where such surgery is available. This is not the case yet in many countries. Heart surgery, especially for children, was in its infancy when I had my own congenital heart defect repaired, so I have a good idea of what a family goes through. I hope you will spare a moment to think of little Karter and his family. Perhaps you also know of a special child facing serious challenges. In a time when we are facing so much uncertainty, it is important to remember what should take priority.

Miracles

Passiontide is, for me, probably the most deeply meditative time of the year. This is likely in part due to the color (black), and the words, that we are presented with from the altar for these weeks before Easter. It is the time of year when we are called upon to really consider the act of sacrifice. Each small or large thing we are willing to give up, even temporarily, aids in the ultimate creation of something good, sometimes even a miracle. Everything truly good, beautiful, and long-lasting comes from sacrifice. We can see this in nature, too. The plants that last Fall died and gave up their seeds, are getting ready to sprout up anew in Spring. The Animal Kingdom, too, is getting ready to give birth to new life. Nature's annual rebirth, however, is becoming ever more difficult, due primarily to our thoughtlessness and selfishness. Every year we lose more species of plant and animal life because their habitat is either polluted, or gone completely. Through the Act of Consecration of Man and the transubstatiation of earthly substance, we work together with the Spiritual World to heal not only ourselves, but in fact our entire community and ultimately, the world. Another process that works in a similar way, is the work of Dr. Masaru Emoto. After years of research, he has found that it is possible to heal polluted water with prayer, words of love, gratitude. This works in our bodies as well, since we are primarily made of water. Once a year, he visits a different place in the world to hold a special healing ceremoney for the waters of the Earth. This year, today, it will be on the Big Island of Hawaii, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. Even if you are not there physically, you can be there in spirit during this time. Ideally, if you can set aside some quiet time, and set a glass of water in front of you on a table, concentrating, and repeating a prayer expressing love and gratitude to the water, it can be a truly amazing experience. His heart, of course, has a special place for Japan. Tomorrow, March 11, marks the 2nd anniversary of the tsunami that took so many lives and resulted in a nuclear reactor meltdown. At 2:46 p.m. in Japan, (or 10:46 p.m. Vancouver time March 10, due to the international date line), he will hold a special prayer for Japan. Again, we can join in by sending our our thoughts and prayers at precisely the same time, from anywhere in the world. Here is an excerpt from his blog: "I speak of this well known Einstein theory at my seminars: E = MC2 Mass–energy equivalence by Albert Einstein I believe the true meaning and power of this equation is ENERGY = # of people x CONCSIOUSNESS2 The amount of energy or power of the prayer is determined by amount of people who collective connect their pure hearts at the same time. Therefore, I would like to request the everyone around the world to join together for a Simultaneous Global Prayer at exactly 2:46pm Japan time on March 11th. Together we will collectively send our sincere prayers with the following words. To the victims lost in the oceans and to the water in Pacific Ocean which has suffered radioactive contamination from the nuclear accident in Fukushima. “I am sorry, please forgive me, thank you and I love you.” (Repeat 3 times) Where: Right from where you are. When: Match 11, 2013 Time: 2:46pm Japan Time *** Use this Time Convertor Link to find out what time 2:46pm Japan time is in your time zone. http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html My sincere love and thanks to each and every one of you for your simultaneous participation in collectively connecting to your heart for this powerful global prayer." Interestingly, this corresponds to the ancient Hawaiian tradition of ho'oponopono. This is an ancient Huna healing tradition, or practice of reconciliation and forgiveness. Visualizing a person or thing that is troubling you, you use the same phrase as above: I am sorry, please forgive me, thank you, and I love you. Through water, all peoples and places of the Earth are connected. Together, we can work miracles. Sparky

The Black Madonna

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1865436395/the-black-madonna-journey-of-the-human-heart?ref=live Dear Friends: In these troubled times of uncertainty and unrest, when most of the news in the media is downright depressing, and it seems many parts of the world are being hit by one calamity after another, we need to search for messages of hope. Not only must we be seekers, but when we find something good, we need to spread the word and share these messages with others. The link above will introduce you to a project that is waiting for your help. A lady in California has spent years searching for a way to bring the message of the Black Madonna to others. In her own right a healer, this book is a compilation of years of research, and reflects Stephanie's own personal journey. I was able to attend her workshop last summer on the Virgin of Guadalupe, and it was very beautiful. Her research and presentation was inspiring, and Stephanie herself is irresistibly delightful and witty. This book would be a wonderful gift for yourself or anyone you know. With your help, we can make it a reality. Pssst - pass it on...........