Version: October 10, 2004
Emil Giel, 1909-2000
On April 27, 2000, Emil Giel, the National Chancellor of the German Community of the Temple of the People, passed away after a brief stay in a care home.
Born June 22, 1909, Emil was devoted to the cause of Theosophy and the Temple throughout his life. A skilled printer, he printed the Temple materials and books in his print shop and saw that they were circulated widely in the German speaking world.
I had the good fortune to travel to Berlin three times and see this wonderful man in action. Self-effacing, he had a radiance of commitment to a cause that was the core of his life. During those difficult years in a divided postwar Berlin, Emil stood for Truth and its dissemination. He lived the things he believed in: that Truth is eternally the same, but as we -- soul and body -- evolve, our concept of truth changes from age to age, becoming deeper, wider and more universal as we comprehend the essential unity, relationship, and interdependence of all life on all planes of being.
Emil demonstrated that we have the responsibility to be actively engaged in the evolution of our consciousness, not through intense coursework or marathon prayer sessions, but rather through inner listening and quiet, determined action. Over the years he helped to forged close ties with the Center in Halcyon and all other Temple groups. These inner links provide the power for all of us to touch the soul, thereby feeling the peace that will help us connect with the Light within ourselves to lift up all created things into truer, clearer living.
As we honor Emil's gifts to us, I urge everyone to find those moments when we can allow the Peace That Passeth Understanding to enter into our lives and help to nurture, strengthen and bless our world. We must learn to "Be still, and know that I am God." Emil's selfless devotion and humility will always be a beacon of light for us.
With the passing of Emil Giel into the inner planes, comes the necessity of filling his place, that we can continue close cooperation with our brothers and sisters in Germany.
As Guardian in Chief of the Temple of the People, I have appointed Otto Sanft to the office of National Chancellor of the German Community of the Temple of the People. Working together, I know we will continue our strong devotion to the Great White Lodge of Masters and their work for humanity.
The Masters have given us a simple assignment: to choose to put into practice the things we say we believe in. With practice we learn to achieve a sense of balance between the CHANGELESS TRUTH within our own hearts and those incessant changes of the manifesting world about us. In turn, with this balance comes the ever-increasing ability to move with grace and joy, with insight and love, with compassion and sympathy throughout the ceaseless, pulsing changes of our daily world.
Together, the Temple members around the world can effect momentous changes, one small step at a time. At this time of transition we open our hearts to our brothers and sisters in Germany and send them our inner support. May we walk together in Peace and Light, born of wisdom gained through interaction, experience, and Love.
- Eleanor L. Shumway
Guardian in Chief
-- Edwin Eberman
Recently I received a wonderful story by email that embodies all I want to say this morning. I will share the story and then go on to share my thoughts triggered by the story.
The first day of school our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn't already know. I stood up to look around, then a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to find a wrinkled little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being.
She said, "Hi, handsome. My name is Rose. I'm eighty-seven years old. Can I give you a hug?"
I laughed and enthusiastically responded, "Of course you may!" and she gave me a giant squeeze.
"Why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?" I asked.
She jokingly replied, "I'm here to meet a rich husband, get married, have a couple of children, and then retire and travel."
"No, seriously," I asked. I was curious what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age.
"I always dreamed of having a college education, and now I'm getting one!" she told me.
After class we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months we would leave class together and talk non-stop. I was always mesmerized listening to this "time machine" as she shared her wisdom and experience with me. Over the course of the year, Rose became a campus icon and easily made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up.
At the end of the semester we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I'll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three by five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed she leaned into the microphone and simply said, "I'm sorry I'm so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent, and this whiskey is killing me! I'll never get my speech back in order so let me just tell you what I know. " As we laughed she cleared her throat and began: "We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success.
"1. You have to laugh and find humor every day.
"2. You've got to have a dream. When you lose your dreams, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don't even know it!
"3. There is a huge difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don't do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn't take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding the opportunity in change.
"4. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don't have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do. The only people who fear death are those with regrets."
She concluded her speech by courageously singing "The Rose." She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year's end, Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago.
One week after graduation, Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it's never too late to be all you can possibly be.
I am sure that all of us can remember people that were special teachers for us, teaching by example rather than by words. In the Temple Teachings, we are told that there are no mistakes, no mischances, no misplacing of even a single atom of the universe. Each one of us is placed by universal law where we belong in the scale of being at any moment of our lives. But we are individually responsible for the conditions we make for ourselves in any position we hold in that scale. The lines of life are mathematically true, whether or not we passed math in school. Grand ideas, majestic in scope, timeless, universal in application, and eloquently simple. In fact, these lines of life are so simple that we often overlook them, convinced that it must be difficult. What does this mean to you, to me, to us today? It means that instead of yearning to be somewhere else, or doing something else, we need to focus on the joy of NOW, the job at hand, trusting in that power that lead us to this moment, sitting here in this room, committed to the ideals that each of us perceives as embodied in the Teachings of the Temple. In that focusing process, we need to ask, "What shall I DO to embody the things I believe in?" I am speaking of DOING, not as frantic activity, but more as practice that enables us to BE.
We have been given rich treasures of teachings filled with techniques for daily living and we must choose to use them. They are not in rule books, they are not legislated from On High. That these teachings are presented in a form that requires mining with the intuition, with understanding, love and tolerance is a testimonial to our spiritual maturity. With that maturity also comes the responsibility to DO it, not just talk about it. The doing cannot be put on hold until a more convenient time, or only with people we love, or only with some people and not others. Remember: "To each and every one of us the Christ speaks today. Before each and all of us He stands, face to face. Beside and among us, one and all, He walks daily, hourly, looks toward us with entreaty infinite for recognition, companionship, understanding, sympathy, and love. With hands outstretched He extends to us the Priceless Gems of Truth and Wisdom, of Opportunity and Power; and we pass Him by, we know Him not."
The same Master's message says that "Truth, the Christ, does not precipitate Itself, is not spectacular, loud, sudden, bombastic. It walks in the silences, dwells within, breathes, lives, loves, gladdens, brightens, purifies, strengthens, lifts, around and about, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute, each second and interval of time, calling you into Itself, Your Self, Self of the King from whom all shadows have disappeared, and in whom there is naught but Beauty and Holiness."
-- Edwin Eberman
So what do we do? We must strive each day to walk in the silences in the middle of the noise and strife of our daily lives. We tend to take each other for granted. We assume that the other people in our lives know how much we love them, know that we imply "Please, and Thank You" when we make a request, know that we notice what is happening in their lives. We must practice the simple, common courtesies of life toward everyone we meet throughout the day. The kind of courtesy that gladdens, brightens, purifies and strengthens. The kind of courtesy that quietly stays the hurtful word, that bears with and does not provoke, that withholds rather than gives ridicule or criticism, that uses empathy to lift the heart of others with no thought of return. The next step in this kind of self-discipline is to translate it into soul courtesy and spiritual chivalry. This involves obedience to the Highest, service to the Lowest.
Pursuing the idea of "What do we do?", I would challenge each of us, as we move through our day, to bring a spirit of reverence to everything we do. Reverence: honor or respect shown; profound, adoring, awed respect. Reverence is not a quality reserved for prayer time or church time. Reverence is an inner attitude of soul, of recognition of the unity of all life. Reverence is built into the very fiber of our lives as we gradually develop, through service, the power to recognize and obey the call of the Masters, even in the swirl of passion, of labor, or the world's most inhibiting vibrations. Tall order, but we CAN do it. Our teachers would not expend the energy to spell out these goals for us if they did not know the we are able to follow them and to incorporate Brother/Sisterhood into our every act. Of course, we do have the power of choice and we think we can choose NOT to learn. However, learn we will, for under the Higher Law every atom in the Universe is learning, evolving, growing. The choice we have is really WHEN we will learn and the qualities of the experiences we will have AS we learn! But the act of choosing to learn consciously by putting the spiritual dimension into every -- and I mean every -- single action in our lives can bring a radiance into our lives that is indescribable. Dr. Dower told us the one essential requisite for us as Templars is that we be earnest students of life and believers in the occult statement that progress is the law of life. We must be willing to work with mind, heart and strength for the upbuilding of the Temple of Truth, composed of all Humanity -- past, present and future.
So what do we do? We simply give abundantly of our spiritual radiance each day, every day, to every single person we meet. "How," you ask? A smile, a glance to one who needs it. A handshake, a hug, a compliment. A heartfelt prayer, a holding in the Light of Divine Love, an asking that the Divine purpose be served. We do not need to tell the other person what to do; indeed, we must not. We just need to be there for him, or her, trusting that they will ask if they have need and feel safe with us. We build that place of safety within ourselves for others, small act by small act, in our interaction with those others. We can give of our radiance to the entire world by attending the Noon Healing Service. If circumstance of time or distance preclude that attendance, we can, with reverence in our hearts, participate interiorly. We give of that radiance when we turn the eyes of our souls towards the throne of our God every morning and evening, as we offer prayers of gratitude, love and devotion. We give of that radiance when we act with kindness, compassion and responsibility toward the Earth and the other kingdoms with whom we share it.
We can beware of intolerance and avoid crystallization and rigid forms of any kind whatsoever, for, while truth is changeless, its manifold expressions on the outer planes are subject to incessant changes while matter itself still works for higher and higher expression of the true and beautiful. With practice we learn to achieve a sense of balance between the Changeless Truth within our own hearts and those incessant changes of the manifesting world about us. In turn, with this balance comes the ever increasing ability to move with grace and joy, with insight and love, with compassion and sympathy throughout the ceaseless, pulsing changes of our daily world.
We can do as the Master beseeched us in this paragraph: "Do not despise the homeliest, most repulsive exteriors in your comrades, those most foreign to your own tastes and aspirations, but seek instead to discover and to understand their interior attitudes, motives, struggles, and efforts. Bear in mind most carefully that in your intense desire to attain the Diamond of Rare Brilliance it may elude you because it lies embedded beneath that jagged stone that tries you most in climbing, even as for another it may be difficult to stand because of the smoother surface of your own personality. It shall not escape you _ the Lighted Diamond. You shall surely find it, you shall wear the Shining Gem upon your breast if you seek it not for yourself, if you look for it within your brother's or sister's life and heart. There is its home and yours.'"
We can do as He tell us in this passage: "If I would give you the advice you most should heed in form most concentrated for steady, instant use at any moment foreseen or unforeseen, I would embody it in the one word Hold. Hold that which you have gained, hold your defenses strong, secure on every hand. Hold your arms in readiness for surprise attack at any time. Hold your passions, emotions, reserve force. Hold your consciousness, your spirit high and glad, attuned to the highest principles you can conceive. Hold to the beauty and truth of life in every capacity and concern."
He goes on to say that if we would read these six sentences once a day and then, honestly, sincerely examine ourselves in our inmost hearts as to our commitment and endeavor to do that kind of holding, we will win the spiritual power to transform our lives. As we transform our own lives, which is the most difficult task to do, we will transform all about us. He is very practical in his suggestion of technique: "Test yourselves by the tone of voice you hold during the situation in question, by the quality of your thought before and after the occurrence has taken place. In any point pertaining specifically to the work and the group as such, lay it upon the altar of your own heart and leave it there until you are called to carry it forth. In that which may pertain to your own Heart of Hearts my hands are outstretched to receive whatsoever you may wish me to protect or to have me receive for any impersonal reason."
What shall we do? We could be still, be silent within and without. To listen, truly listen to the small still voice within; to listen, truly listen to the voice, words and feelings of our neighbor, friend, stranger, loved one, or enemy. We are told that the Secret of Secrets is whispered to us clearly from within, and it should be resounding around the world as a result of our steadfast listening. The Masters find it lost from our possession many times and "instead we find you napping, criticizing, and disturbed. You may not wish to acknowledge that such is so, but I repeat, it is fact." We can choose to be awake, accepting, serene.
We need to Do to and for ourselves, to and for others. We must look past differences to the truth within. The Master tells us again and yet again we have been given rare and wonderful tools, that we must not withhold from any of other dress, design and color just because they are different than our own. In a special message entitled "To My People," he says, "I am the world's. The world is mine, as you are mine indeed. All people draw I to my heart, call all to my hearth-stone. Upon you I depend to greet them with me, to give welcome with arms of soul outstretched in understanding embrace. [Try] to put them at ease, see that they feel at home. Speak with them in language of their own when possible to you. Better to assume certain customs of theirs while they are becoming acquainted with you and their new surroundings. Do not turn them from you with lack of cordiality or appreciation." He states that true hospitality reconciles differences through study and consideration. Start with a handshake, a smile, words of welcome that project genuine interest and joy.
With such simple acts we are working with the divine and natural purpose of the Master-Builder of the Temple of the Universe. I quote from the lesson in Volume 2 of Teachings of the Temple: "This [work] means strong search and effort, aspiration and sacrifice. There is no royal road. Whatever of lasting good comes, we pay the price for it in some way. If we gain spiritual wisdom we have paid the price in material sacrifices of some kind. If we gain the inner life, we have paid in some degree in terms of the outer life. In other words, we must redeem matter, our outer selves, as we near the goal of eternal light. We must be nourished daily perhaps on the fruits of injustice and misunderstanding, and be silent in the fire while the transmuting flames do the purifying work. Then the dross is burned away and the pure life remains a fit foundation on which to base spiritual responsibility."
What shall you do? What shall I do? Most importantly, what shall we do together?
-- Eleanor L. Shumway
I will endeavor to realize
the Presence of the Avatar
as a living Power in my life.
Through the senses, we contact the different grades of universal substance, material and spiritual. By the material senses, we contact the material world. By the spiritual senses we contact the spiritual world. Therefore by contact of the polarities, these "pairs of opposites", we sense pleasure and pain, gain and loss, victory and defeat, all of which impart what is called experience. By experience, we arrive at knowledge, by knowledge we win the power to discriminate between good and evil. We enter into the light of Wisdom. To strike another key, in the beginning the evolving pilgrim soul possesses the innocence of ignorance. Then at the end, by traveling the Path, which is our self, and by contacting its shine and shadows, we evolve through the gateway of Experience to the innocence of Wisdom. We have consciously identified with the Highest Good, which is another name for God.
-- Teachings of the Temple
-- Edwin Eberman
Man is made in the image of God. Therefore, as the drop of water from the ocean contains in itself all the elements, forces and potencies of that ocean, so man includes in his being, actual or latent, all the planes, forces, powers and possibilities of a god. Truly has it been said by the sages of old, "Man, know thyself, and thou shalt know God." We know God by traveling the path that leads to Him, which Path, as said, is ourselves. Traveling that Path means to contact consciously every point, line, surface and dimension on all the planes of being from the lowest material to the highest spiritual. It is with coincident realization of all corresponding qualities and forces in light or shadow, positive or negative.
As we may know the phenomenal world -- the physical -- by means of a physical body, so may we know the noumenal, real worlds -mental, astral and spiritual -- by means of corresponding bodies or principles. Hence the wonderful possibility of sometime making the complete correlation between all the planes of our being -of sometime, while in the physical body, consciously knowing, sensing and realizing the cosmic planes to the very highest. It is a divine possibility because the corresponding planes are in us or, to put it more truly, are us. We must make this divine correlation ourselves. No man, no Master, no God can give us this divine status.
-- Teachings of the Temple
O Thou! Beautiful illuminating Star of Faith, lighting the quiet stillness of the lonely Path of weary feel.
Guiding and sustaining each step of learning -- Thy beams penetrating deeply into the lurking shadows of doubt and fearfulness, that the pilgrim soul may serenely walk through their deceptive guile while Faith grows, and thrives, and lives forevermore in its true home -- the heart of man in the Heart of God.
-- From the Mountain Top
On the great foundation stones of Love, Wisdom, Strength, and Beauty is the true Temple, Cosmic or Human, being built. In building on those foundations we win our Crown of spiritual power in the Universal Lodge of Life. The radiant jewels of eternal truth gemmed in the Diadem of the Soul are the perfected qualities evolved by strong search, sacrifice and effort, life after life in the cause of truth and the service to Humanity which means service to our Higher, Greater and Larger Self, the Christos.
Because of a fundamental moral and spiritual Unity with the All, this identification with the interests of All gives final conscious immortality in the Universal I.
Search for hidden causes in the hearts of people and things. Stand on your own mental and soul feet and realize that no other can grow for you, no other can live for you, no other can eat for you. Try to realize unity with God, the Omnific principle of Life and Love, NOW. No need to wait until this body is dust. If we have spiritual or material wealth and do not know it, of what use? To get acquainted with our real selves, the God within, and which we are in reality, is and should be the divine purpose of life. To that end all else should be subordinated. When we do realize it, then we shall know what to do next, how to help the other fragments of our Greater Self to realize it, to point out as far as the Great Law will permit the true Path that "winds uphill all the way," at the end of which is the Goal of Light and Life Eternal.
-- Teachings of the Temple
No effort for good is ever wasted. It disappears from your view, but only to fall into the world of causes, into the soil of wisdom, to be watered by love and again brought forth to bloom.
-- Beacon Fires
I have looked in a lot of places for information regarding the subject of money. I found a lot of information about how to get it, how to spend it, where to send it for more information, but no one, in the resources I used, could tell me what it actually is. It makes sense to me that if everything on the physical plane is brought into form from somewhere else, it must have a spiritual aspect to it. And if we look for, and find, the connection to its physical application, we can understand what we don't know about any subject we wish to pursue and, consequently, how to use what we learn to understand life on the physical plane better. So I asked myself the question and this is the information I got.
We spend a lot of time studying, talking about, and trying to figure out what God is, what He looks like (if he even is a He) and where He? She? lives. In most cases, we put God "out there" or "up there," or somewhere except exactly right here, in our midst. We tend to separate the abode of God. We talk about the Spiritual Plane, the mental plane, the emotional plane, the astral plane, and the physical plane. It's true that these are each very separate planes, but, combined, they constitute one whole unit. They are all pieces of one whole, the same thing--which is God.
I have a small plaque in my house, on my wall, that says, "Reality is the best fantasy of all." I quite agree. It's the one plane where we can design something in our mind and actually create it, or cause it to manifest in "real" life, and we do, constantly, whether we recognize it or not. We cannot live on the physical plane without creating. It's the most amazing thing.
I've heard the physical plane called the plane of illusion. To some, this means that the physical plane is not real. This is a mistake. Illusion does not mean that something is unreal. An illusion is simply a "false interpretation" of what one sees or where one is. The physical plane is very real. In fact, it's the most "real" of all planes. This plane is the only plane where matter exists. It's the only plane where one can manifest something; that is, to cause it to appear or show itself, to manipulate energy until it creates some kind of matter.
The physical plane is sometimes said to be disordered -- chaotic. This is not true. Everything about the physical plane is precisely ordered. It is in Divine Order. It is a Divinely ordered, exquisitely designed, precisely tuned, participant in the scheme of things and has, like all planes, very particular "ways" of conduct. These ways of conduct have been marked and mapped from every angle we have been able to perceive. Everything is possible, and all possibilities have been formulated to date as to the easiest, fastest, most economical way to achieve any destination we wish to reach. These formulas are found in our schools, in our universities, in our libraries, and in our religious teachings.
One of the formulas that seems to interest everyone is that of Money. Money seems to be the single most pressing of all issues. Everybody wants some, yet it is said to be a main reason for all the ills and evils in the world today, one way or another -- either too much or the lack of enough.
The word "money" seems to elicit all kinds of responses, depending on whom you say the word to. What is money, really, anyway? Aside from being dollars and cents? Think about it. Money is the symbol chosen on the physical plane to represent energy. Different pieces of money represent different degrees of energy. People who understand this realize that it's just another word for energy. People who don't understand this, think it's an actual thing. Here, we exchange money for someone else's energy, or we accept money in exchange for our own energy. Money is not exchanged on any other plane or for any other reason.
Being on the physical plane requires certain essentials, the most important of which is money. Money is energy, power, the "matter" of life on the physical plane. If you don't have any, you must die. If one has no energy, no power, no life, on the physical plane, one cannot stay alive. It's not that you won't be allowed to live, it's that it's impossible to live without energy. Now, I'm not talking about how you get money, just that you must have some. Make it, beg it, inherit it, steal it, borrow it, use your parents, use your friend's -- however you get it, get it you must.
-- Edwin Eberman
Some people say money is not necessary to be happy. I say, "Yes, it is." Now, if those people said, "A lot of money isn't necessary to be happy," I might agree. But one does need money to be anything: alive, first; then fed, sheltered, clothed, and for the ability to acquire medicine. No one is happy if they're hungry; no one is happy if they're cold; no one is happy if they're naked; and no one is happy if they're sick. Now, some might say one can get these things without money, but that's not true. Money was used by someone to get them; money was exchanged somewhere at some time, by someone. Charity consists of giving money, or the things money was exchanged for, to someone else. It's a very simple concept. We are energy, and when we're born, or let's say when we materialize onto the physical plane, we must rely on someone else's energy to stay alive and be nurtured until we grow to a certain point where we are expected to start increasing our own energy level, making our own money to exchange for the other necessities of life we require when we are capable of surviving on our own.-- Barbara Ricardo
There is a three-fold entity of great power for evil, and it works in three different ways on all who open themselves to its admittance. It corresponds to the forces of distrust, inquisitiveness, and impurity. Wherever one opens his or her aura to it by dwelling on any of the three forces mentioned, it takes possession of the whole organism and blinds and deceives in every possible way. There is no more satanic power in manifestation than that of this three-fold entity, for it is so prone to deceive all who come into contact with it by throwing a brighter though a false light on things, by making people see through colored glasses, as it were.
-- Master Hilarion
Theosophy is not a creed
It is the Grace of God in one's life;
It is the power of God in one's work;
It is the joy of God in one's play;
It is the peace of God in one's rest;
It is the wisdom of God in one's thought;
It is the love of God in one's heart;
It is the beauty of God in one's dealing with others.
-- William Quan Judge
Within the dreaming vision of the Gods,
Who made a human seed to live and grow
Into the home of all the powers of Heaven
And radiant with the glamour of that Dream,
There is a Temple, vast with halls of Light;
Builded it is upon great Human Hearts,
Its roof-tree riseth level with the stars,
And all its doors are open to the world.
There come the sick and weak and halt and lame,
The thief and scoundrel to the Lord of all.
Into His heart they creep and nestle in His arms;
None are refused who come; His arms are long.
And we would build a Temple here for men.
The open gate must bide before our halls;
The helping hand must answer to our heart,
And all the world be reckoned in our love.
Turn we away a tramp, we turn away the Christ;
Then all we build is vain and all our gain is loss.
And if we hurt the thief and make the poor a scoff,
We build upon the sand and shall be swept away.
But if we open wide the portals of our heart,
To all the evil ones who live and breathe and die,
Then shall our Temple live, then shall our Temple grow,
With roof-tree in the stars and vast with Halls of Light!
-- John Varian
The trained ear of the Seer automatically catches the Universal Rhythm -- the exact beat of the Universal Heart -- as it rises and falls in perfect time with the movements of the sun and planets of a solar system, with the tides of the oceans, the pulsing of the blood through the arteries of a living body. In the songs of the birds, the voices of all living creatures, the rhythm is established with the sounding of the keynote of creation, and all other sounds, all discords as well as harmonies, are subject to that Universal Rhythm. He who hears with the inner ear will catch that Universal Rhythm through all musical compositions, whatever the time, the technique, the theme, however numerous the performers or the instruments on which the compositions are performed. They must all fall into the beat of one measure, the cyclic measure of the age in which the key-note has been struck -- the rhythm established for that age.
To the purely mechanical ear of a man, a sound may seem to travel in a straight line, but to the ear of the Seer, it takes a circular course and returns to the point of its delivery, bearing something back to that starting point. It is no longer the same sound when it starts out again to form another wave. It has been raised or lowered in vibration according to the power -- the purpose of the Energy which set it free -- the motive power. All its overand undertones carry the sound into other planes and states of life and set free forces locked deep in the denser forms of life. But whatever their number, whatever their combinations, they are all subject to the control of the Universal Rhythm.
Blessed is he who can so attune his consciousness to the Universal Rhythm that no discord of life has the power to move him from his set purpose. Blessed is he who can resolve the discords into harmonies as he listens to the beat of the Universal Heart.
-- Blue Star
Once again many friends and members have come to the Center to celebrate holidays, to quicken their spiritual roots, and to meet old friends and make new friends. During the past three months we have welcomed Heidrun and Carlo Karrenbauer from Konstanz, Germany; Sigrun Franz and Eugene Plath from Munich, Germany; Sergey and Rita Moiseyev and family from Novato, California with their friend, Boris Aronson; Elena and Alona Pletneva-Veller from Sacramento with Elena's mother and father, Oleg and Tamara Pletnev from Moscow; Cathy Greer from Riverside; Simon and Olga Bokman from San Francisco; Joe Brown from Tennessee; and Joyce McDavid from Santa Barbara.
Others have come to live here in Halcyon: Greg and Beth Ganick with sons Ian and Joe; Kenneth and Susan Reed; Mary and Tim Foley; Bruce Autolitano and India Mace; Marcie Ann Fast; Mike and Josephina Perez. Easter holidays were celebrated by a children's party to color eggs which appeared magically the next morning at the annual Easter Egg Hunt at the Central Home. Even now we are finding eggs that were missed! The morning service in the Temple was followed by a Pot Luck in Hiawatha Lodge with much good food and visiting with friends.
Ivan Segura was honored by a going away party at the Colendich home. In the two years he has been with us, Ivan has endeared himself to all. We will miss him. Long-time resident Brad Carroll moved to the San Fernando Valley. Janice Freeman married her childhood sweetheart, Charles Bell, and moved to Sacramento. Bill and Gloria Quale moved from Trail's End to Denver after five weeks here in Halcyon. We wish them all well.
Many residents from the Center have carried our good wishes far and wide. Annie and Will Dunbar spent three weeks on the East Coast visiting family and friends; Mary Orcutt spent her birthday with Mary Workman in New York City; Bill and Marla Lowman saw family in Texas; Missy Lowman and Kristel Thyrring took the train to Santa Barbara for the day; Eleanor Shumway spent a week in Denver with family; the Carlsons spent several days with friends and family in Laguna Beach; Willy Gommel visited sister Cathy Greer in Riverside; Sandra Strohman spent a week in Phoenix with her daughter; Chris and Margaret Thyrring attended the funeral of Chris' dad in Fairfield; and Linda and Alex Rollison spent most of June in Moscow and London.
Mike Clark and Kimberly Salcido were married in Cozumel, Mexico, on April 29. Attending the wedding from here were his son, Tyler; Kimberly's daughter, Jamie; Mike's mother, Susie Clark; sister Barbie, sister Jennie and her family, aunts Nora and Marlene, and friends. Another wedding took place at the Center in Karen White's garden as her cousin Carolyn became the bride of Richard Kuhn.
It is graduation time, and Mindee Thyrring graduates from Arroyo Grande High School, Kristel Thyrring from Paulding Middle School, and Kenneth Reed from the Hancock College Police Academy.
Opal Stenquist is recovering from a stroke at the Arroyo Grande Care Center. Opal's goal is to return to her home here in Halcyon. Being the determined lady she is, we have no doubt she will be back with us soon.
Memorial Day was celebrated by gathering together at the Central Home for a picnic and afternoon of visiting. In the evening, Olga and Simon Bokman treated us to an impromptu concert in the Temple, with Olga on the viola and Simon at the piano.
Temple groups: There are groups in New York City and London, England, as well as several in locations in Germany. Anyone wishing more information about these groups can call the Temple offices in Halcyon. William Quan Judge Library serves Temple members, residents of Halcyon, and friends with an interest in Theosophy, or who are doing research involving some of our special collections. Our library is staffed by volunteers; hours are Mondays, 9-11 a.m. and 6-8 p.m., and Fridays, 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Other hours are by appointment through the Temple office.
William Quan Judge Library serves Temple members, residents of Halcyon, and friends with an interest in Theosophy, or who are doing research involving some of our special collections. Our library is staffed by volunteers; hours are Mondays, 9-11 a.m. and 6-8 p.m., and Fridays, 9 a.m.-12 noon. Other hours are by appointment through the Temple office.
The University Center Gallery is open by appointment. Please call the Temple office at (805) 489-2822 for information. This year the exhibition consists of paintings by Harold E. Forgostein, fourth Guardian in Chief of the Temple. This exhibit, "The Song of Hiawatha," features 12 of the series of 24 four-by-four-foot oils depicting the life and legends of Hiawatha and the League of Six Nations, along with their working watercolor sketches. The sketches give the viewers a glimpse of the creative process Forgostein experienced as he developed the final compositions for the larger paintings. Also on display are many interesting articles and artifacts accumulated through Temple history.
The Temple Healing Service is held at 12:00 Noon each day in the Temple. All are welcome to attend. A Meditation Meeting is held in the Temple on Sunday evening from 7 to 7:30.
Study Classes under the auspices of Temple Officers and various Temple Orders are held regularly in the University Center on Tuesdays and Fridays at 5:30 p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend.
Sunday Services are held at 10:30 a.m. in the Temple. The Feast of Fulfillment (the Communion Service of the Temple) is celebrated on the first Sunday of each month. The last Sunday of each month is a prayer and meditation meeting. Other Sundays are speakers meetings. The public is cordially invited to all services.
Speakers in the Sunday services were: March 12, Eleanor Shumway: Four Voices; March 19, Marti Fast: Joyce Hedin's Vision; April 9, Istvan Balogh: The Temple of Dreams; April 16, Eleanor Shumway: What Shall We Do?; May 14, Eleanor Shumway: Ella Young, In Halcyon; May 21, Chris Thyrring: Harold Forgostein's The Chance of Man.
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