Version: October 10, 2004
The days grow shorter in the northern hemisphere, the calendar year comes to a close, and men and women everywhere find themselves, even briefly, taking stock of the year in terms of goals met or not met. This is a valuable process. However, we must remember two very important aspects of this self-examination.
The first might be clarity. This means to take a look at ourselves from the viewpoint of a loving, firm observer, with no need of rationalization or self-justification. What lessons do we see that have been presented? How did we incorporate them into our lives? What new directions might we follow? All we need to do is try and try again. The clarity must include the knowledge that we are truly doing the best we can with what we have right now. We can change. We can learn. We can grow.
The second aspect involves gratitude. As we involve ourselves in the pressures of the holiday season, of more to do in seemingly less and less time, of the stress of more, more, and ever more, it is time to stand still, even if for only five minutes, a time in which to express heartfelt gratitude to the Universe for what we truly have -- perhaps not just what we want, not things, not position and titles, but for shelter, food, joy, relationships with friends and family, sunshine, starlight, challenges and opportunities. Then, sometime during the day, we can offer another five minutes of gratitude, another application of that gratitude to those around us and to the Power of the Universe: a simple assignment, a powerful force to guide our lives.
May the coming year bring a growing awareness of the Love, Light, Joy and Peace that is truly within us all.
-- Eleanor L. Shumway
Guardian in Chief
As I have told you time and time again, I cannot live life for anyone else, I cannot force you to believe as I do. But, whenever I get a moment of "Aha!" or some profound insight finally percolates to the surface of my consciousness, I can share it. You may be able to work it into the fabric of your experience in a way that enlarges and nurtures your life, as your shared moments enlarge and nurture my life. As I see it, part of my "job" is to continually look to, and talk about, the ideals that we all hold sacred. It goes without saying that such ideals and aspirations are things that we continually reach toward. We oftentimes do not achieve the heights all in one bound, but the reaching, the striving, and the focusing develop strength in each of us. As you gain strength and insight, so do I, and vice versa in a nurturing, golden circle. We are connected in all ways; all it takes is a recognition of that connection to bring us more strength. So here are some "Aha!s" I have experienced recently.
It is up to each of us to look within, to find the place where something is singing, and to bring into action on all planes that song. Each must do it for himself or herself, but in the doing we enrich everyone. Truth, in all its guises, shines like a beacon light from the heights of our aspirations, leading us on if we keep our eyes uplifted and ears open. It is our responsibility to make these connections. Dr. Dower once said, "Search for hidden causes in [your own heart and] 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. 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, and to that end all else should be subordinated. And 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 and at the end of which is the Goal of Light and Life Eternal."
We have such richness of Masterly Love, Wisdom, and experience to draw from as we walk that true Path. Three parts of this richness might be affirmation, aspiration and prayer. These help us in the process of knowing ourselves, and as we know ourselves we begin to more deeply understand and love ourselves and others. Let me examine these parts in light of our Temple Teachings.
Affirmation is an act of positive assertion, of validation and confirmation. Aspiration is more a desire to achieve something high or great, a feeling of ascending or soaring to heights indescribable, a pledge of the very best within ourselves to the very highest we can imagine. Prayer is an act of petition, an entreaty or a request to God, to the Infinite Spirit, to All That Is, or to whatever we term the Universal Consciousness from which we came and in which we have our being. Affirmation, aspiration, prayer: all three are aspects of the same indwelling, upwelling search for unity with God, each having a little different aspect of this universal Truth -- different, yet blurring as they approach each other, intermingling and bearing with them our inmost essence.
We hear a lot about the power of affirmations and the material things we can manifest in our lives by simply affirming what we want. What isn't often mentioned in the popular press about the power of affirmation is that as we access the power of certain latent inner forces or elementals through our affirmation, we also set in motion the negative aspect of the force invoked. We probably do not have the training or the power to handle these pairs of opposites. After all, even the Masters of the highest degrees are still in training.
The process of labor and growth involves separating the Ego from the physical body one tiny step at a time and merging the personal consciousness with that of the Absolute. Only at this height of evolution is it safe to call into action the unified forces of the "I Am" and direct them toward the accomplishment of a personal desire. The stumbling block below this height is "personal desire," because even if we can justify a desire by assuring the universe that such desire is pure and undefiled, the fact remains that the element of self enters into the picture in some way, more and more subtly as we advance. That we will gain this power over self is a given under the laws governing the evolution of consciousness. This power is gained "through the quiet, unostentatious movements of the slower process of normal growth." I have found the following statement from Master Morya's writings particularly helpful. "Knowledge for the mind, like food for the body, is intended to feed and help to growth, but it requires to be well digested, and the more thoroughly and slowly the process is carried out the better, both for body and mind." There are no shortcuts.
Perhaps not many of us sit around focused on affirming such things as "I am power" or "I am wealth" or "I am -- [whatever I want just now]". But in my own life I am paying more and more attention to the affirmations we make every day in a variety of ways. Sometimes the distinction between affirmation and prayer, both of which seem to be propelled by aspiration, becomes blurred. For instance, let us consider the Consecration Hymn. We sing it frequently, usually struggling with trying to sing that high F note with some degree of accuracy and wishing it could be in some other key.
But how often do we pay a lot of attention to the words we are singing? "Holy Father, only Son, Holy Spirit, three in One. Filled with trust we bow to Thee, Power and Force and Majesty." There is no doubt who or what we are addressing. There is no possible way that we can be separated from this Power, Force and Majesty. Our responsibility is the trust part. Next comes a very simple, very powerful affirmation, prayer, and statement of our highest aspirations: "All we are or hope to be, here and now we offer Thee. Take and use it for Thy Child, sinless, pure and undefiled." Finally comes an entreaty, a prayer: "Pour Thy Spirit on us now, as with lowly hearts we bow At Thy footstool seeking Love, Truth, and Knowledge from Above." Not to a God, sitting on a throne, do we plead, but to the three-fold aspect of all creation. Not outside of us, but within each heart, do we say, "All we are or hope to be here and now we offer Thee." That Universal Spirit listens, accepts, records, and then holds us absolutely accountable for delivery. And we make this promise EVERY time we give voice to that song. Think about it! This is the thing that thrills through my being every time, the trust that the Universal Spirit has in me to be responsible for my choices, for my commitments. Remember the three R's: Respect for self; Respect for others; Responsibility for all your actions.
In this process of becoming one with the Father we have so much help, so much Love, so much encouragement, and so much responsibility. A part of this responsibility is to express the force of gratitude. This force is powerful, closely allied to the law of supply and demand. We need to set free this force of gratitude, thankfulness, for the tremendous supply of everything we receive, all we have demanded of the Universe. The force of gratitude serves to complete the circuit. We are told, "simply turn your thoughts inward to Omnipotent Love, and cultivate the will and desire for awakening this force within yourself, which, when cultivated, will flow forth as naturally as does desire for the accomplishment of wish or purpose."
In this light, consider the words of our Hymn of Thanksgiving in which we affirm, "All thanks to Thee, Thou power Supreme, Father and Mother, Son in One. To all the Blessed Sons of Light, guiding our wandering souls aright. Humbly and gratefully we raise songs triumphant in Thy praise. Glory and honor be to thee, Christ of God, Eternally." We take too lightly the power of words. We often use too many, thus becoming insensitive to their effects on the worlds within and around us. By turning our thoughts inward, our words expressing all thanks to Thee, Thou Power Supreme, we are releasing that force of gratitude that helps us complete the circuit with the Father-Mother-Son in One. If we keep this power in mind, the daily giving and receiving of "thank you" becomes a conscious act of attunement with the Divine and blends the spiritual world with the physical world in a fresh way.
-- Eleanor L. Shumway
What matters it to you, of hungry heart and mind confused, whether the story of the birth of Christ be a myth founded on the dawn of the Winter Solstice, or whether it be the genuine record of the birth of a human being with divine potentialities? What matters greatly is that that gnawing hunger be appeased and that the mind confused by argumentative discussions of other men shall be satisfied and at peace.
You cheerfully accept the findings of Science anent the etheric medium by means of which alone can the mysteries of Electricity be even partially interpretable, and you so accept these findings because there is no other means by which the action of that universal energy can be made manifest and applied to the needs of mankind. Those needs do not even compare with the need of a human soul for Christ, and there is far more evidence for the existence of that Christ, whether you name that Christ a principle or a man, than there is for the existence of the Ether. The ideal of Christ is very dear to humanity because it appears to embody all that is true, beautiful and compassionate in divine or human nature, and wherever one perceives a true, beautiful and compassionate character among men, that ideal Christ becomes as manifest to the "open eyed" as the Ether is made manifest to the scientist by the action of electrical energy. The crying need of the human soul for the true, the beautiful and the compassionate is far more evident to the intelligent mind than is the need of electrical energy, so far as its outer expressions are concerned.
You are taught that Nature's Storehouses contain all things which are requisite for the evolution of humanity, and if it be granted that the true, the beautiful and the compassionate are requisites for the growth of the Soul, there can be no doubt of the existence of a Christ. Could any cause for rejoicing be greater than the reputed birth of a Christ, whether that birth be capable of proof or not, for in the celebration of such an event the ideal and the real come very close together. The charity, unselfishness and tender memories evoked by such a celebration within the hearts of countless numbers of celebrants does more to keep the soul in balance through the year which follows than can be expressed in words.
So open your hearts to that influx of joy each 25th of December, and crush out the doubt and unbelief which cloud the intellect and press an unbearable weight on the heart. The Christ is coming, has come and will come so long as the human soul needs Him, and that will be eternally; but by unbelief you can prevent your recognition of that Christ at his coming, whether it is in the form of a man or a divine influx of love.
-- Hilarion
Day by day the years slip by, bearing the records of all conscious lives into the eternities and indelibly imprinting those records upon the ever-widening screen of futurity. This is no trivial matter to humanity as a whole.
Still less is it trivial to you, to whom much has been given and, therefore, from whom the law of equilibrium will require much in return.
If but the memory of a single act remains out of a countless number of acts; a single picture you have limned and hung in your individual picture gallery during the yearly cycle now passing -- if a single act stands out preeminently in your consciousness, that act should furnish you with a key to your life's puzzle, an answer to the questions I now ask you to put fairly and squarely before your own Higher Selves. Have you made any appreciable growth in character building during the past year? Have you taken an upward or a downward step on the hill of attainment you started to climb the moment of your acceptance as a disciple of the Initiates of the Great White Lodge?
These are questions you must answer, a puzzle you must solve by means of the key I give you. The desire, determination and motive of the act which created the aforementioned picture, the method and means of accomplishment and the uses to which you have put or are putting the completed picture are all parts of the puzzle which you must put together, if you would answer my questions aright, and they are most serious questions to all of your number who have taken upon themselves the quest of the Holy Grail -- the liberation of your souls from bondage to matter.
The record of your acts in perfect sequence has been carefully kept by the Lords of Karma, who have seen to it that memory shall fix the finished product of the most far-reaching act of every cycle so vividly upon your screen of consciousness that it cannot be forgotten or thrust aside. Therefore, they have fixed the most vital, far-reaching act of the year now closing, with its effects so far as those effects have culminated, indelibly in your mind.
The final achievement of the desire behind the act, or the failure to achieve such desire, the methods and means used in carrying out the desire, will indicate the measure of the development of each one of the seven vital principles of life within your individual aura -- the principles which make for character building, or the measure of failure to develop any one or all of those principles. Therefore, they will indicate the status of growth or of degeneration in the case of any disciple during that yearly cycle, for that one act does not stand alone. It is the sum and substance of all acts which have preceded it in the many lives of the Ego.
Unless the measure of the development of any one of those Seven Principles equals the measure of the development reached in each one of the other six at a given point in any cycle of time, the disciple is incapable of passing the test requisite for advancement, during that particular cycle. This is due to the action of a law of discipleship as exact in action as is the law of physics which determines that a definite amount of confined water, raised to vapor by heat and operated in the form of steam, is capable, under right conditions, of exerting a pressure -- a power far in excess of that exerted by the same amount of unconfined water.
The changeable watery character of a lower desire, confined by purpose, raised to the nth degree by the heat of motive and then exercised by act -- pressure of will is capable of destroying the effects of higher desire. The desire which has produced the particular act to which I have referred has been the essence of unconfined desire -- the principal essential to the most powerful form of action and therefore the most potent for good or evil.
We, your Guides and Masters, have done what we could by word and deed during the years that have passed to impress upon your minds the importance of the present age and the present human race and your relationship and responsibility thereto. If you have permitted hatred, jealousy, indifference, indolence or any of that brood of demons to blind and so incapacitate you for perceiving your real status in your line of life, the status fixed by such acts as those to which I have referred, you will also be unable to even perceive the heights you have missed and which some other may have gained, all unknown to you.
The lower self has a method of self-hypnosis all its own, by means of which it is able to practice a phenomenal degree of self-deception. Overweening self-appreciation burns out every detail of the figure of which it forms a part save such as minister to its vanity or worldly interests. Consequently, it deprives itself of the help it might otherwise have gained to reach an altitude far beyond its present imaginings.
What I have once said I say again: Comparatively speaking, it is of no consequence what you were or what you had done before you took your first pledge to your Higher Self and the Guardians of the Path. But it is of infinite importance to you what you have since done, may do today or next year, for you have been placed, by your own desire, in the bulwark 'twixt the conscious evil of the world and the cradle of the spiritual good -- the Light of the world now on its way here. If the materials of which that bulwark is built are poor and faulty, it will be breached at the first onslaught of the enemy.
Think of this, you Templars who are lukewarm, indifferent, untrustworthy and indolent. Think of this, you Templars who are one-pointed, steady, faithful and industrious -- you who stand with a lighted torch in one hand and a tool of service in the other. It is of incalculable importance to each to the two mentioned divisions. It means much to you individually.
-- Your Father, Hilarion
Convention of The Temple Of The People
Halcyon, California, August, 1914
COMMENTS BY BLUE STAR
ON THE MESSAGE "THE RECORDING"
In view of the character of the message from the Master Hilarion which you have just listened to, it seems like presumption in me to comment upon it in any degree, but that part of the message which I sense was a most vital part in the Master's mind will bear all the consideration we can possibly give it, namely, that part which refers to our ability or lack of ability to sit as an unprejudiced Judge on the throne of the divine Ego -- the Higher Self -- and look the personality, the lower Self, straight in the face and determine its present status by means of the Key given to us.
If we have something more than a mere theoretical idea of the minutiae of life and the method and manner in and by which the little things of our lives fall into the special forms our desires have molded, it is not difficult to see how persistence in disobedience, indifference, indolence, and all the other supposedly minor offenses of the disciple may, little by little, kill out the ability to function some one or more of the high principles we have formerly considered essential to discipleship; and when some act, great or small, as the case may be, calls for the exercise of those principles, we may Iiterally fail to appreciate the fact that we have lost the ability to do so, and, what is still worse, be perfectly oblivious to the truth that our whole nature has changed for the worse as a result of such loss.
The evolutionary law and the cyclic law are two aspects of a still higher law -- the controlling law of the principle of Desire -- the law of Generation. According to the Master's statement, the one most vital, far-reaching act of a single yearly cycle is an indicator of the stage of development reached by the disciple up to the end of the yearly cycle in which the act occurred. As I understand it, this is due to the fact that at the exact center -- the point at which energy has reached its acme of power -- the evolutionary forces for that one specific division of time have reached a similar degree of power. The development of the Seven Principles in man must be subject to the same cyclic law. Consequently there must be a time and place when and where the effects of an act, and the very action itself, have infinitely more power and reach much farther in space and time than at any other time or place. The same rule must apply to the dominant action of a day or even of an hour that could apply to the year. Consequently there is as much occasion for looking ourselves squarely in the face at all times.
Yet this must mean slavery to one idea were it not for the habit-building power of the Inner Self, which would soon make conditions for involuntary action by means of which the habit of doing the right thing at the right time and in the right place would be so formed and fixed in the consciousness that there would be no occasion for specific conscious effort. This habit of self-analysis would slowly but surely connect man with the ruling power of the Cosmos, and render him conscious of the identity of soul and Higher Self.
Our Thoughts and Acts are now too often purposeless and involuntary, and as a rule the underlying motives of these acts are forgotten and the principles involved are unconsidered. Consequently, we do not consciously touch even the garments of the great entities who rule the different divisions of universal life and who hold all the secrets of life which we so urgently desire to solve.
-- Francia A. LaDue
Live broadly, reach high!
May Stability of purpose, Light of Truth
bring many happy New Years to you.
THE SEED AND THE FLOWER
The extension and unfolding of the stored-up life in the seed of every living thing and creature brings into outer expression the one concentrated consciousness that will impinge upon or touch every other thing and creature within its sphere of radiation.
As each stalk, twig, leaf or flower, and every organ of a physical body, unfolds and expresses a different phase of that consciousness -- as well as the cyclic infolding, the reabsorption -- those various expressions and the mass as a whole gradually assume a homogeneous condition. This is always guided by the same consciousness and conveys one of the deepest lessons to the open mind. The law of periodicity, the unfolding and infolding, the evident wisdom, these are exemplified in the choice of environment, rejection and acceptance of proper and improper nourishment. All are used by the individual consciousness of each living thing and creature and are the natural guides to the understanding of the laws of super nature and the evolution and involution of the soul.
-- Teachings of the Temple, Volume 2
A short time ago I chanced upon a paragraph in an article I was reading which I determined to quote in my message to you because of the simple truth so graphically expressed. It ran as follows:
"When you add up your ledger of life and deduct all outstanding claims from all that the world owes you, there is left only the little love or affection for somebody or something to balance the account. It is the only wealth that is universal."
Never has the fact therein expressed meant more to the human race than it does today; for amidst the clashing of new ideas, the wars and rumors of war, the crashing of material foundations, the restless search for new religious ideals, there is a deep soul hunger in humanity which must be satisfied to some degree, or actual soul starvation will be the fate of the human race.
Think of this, my co-disciples: ask yourselves the questions, "To what degree have I cultivated the most priceless possession I own?" "Is there anything in the world that can begin to compare in value with the power to love, unselfishly, some individual or some cause, to such a degree as to make me gladly sacrifice life itself?" The love some other individual bears to you may be a very precious possession, but its value does not compare with the value of the love you may bear to that same person or to another.
Is it at all surprising that we are taught that God is love? Is there anything else, however great, that can convey to our minds such a satisfactory idea of the nature of such a wonderful spiritual being? Yet how little we know of love as an actual state or condition of life. We can feel its effects to some degree, but we can neither touch, taste nor handle it. It is only a chimera to many people who have had no personal experience of its reality. Notwithstanding the general belief in the value of this mysterious force or principle, and the natural longing for its experience, are we doing anything to retain the power to give love? Are we considering it from the standpoint that we have no responsibility for it, and that it is something as free as air "that goeth where it listeth," and therefore requires no effort on our part to cultivate or retain?
If so, believe me, we are mistaken, and the proof of my statement lies in the fact that with the coming of old age, injury to the brain, imbecility, etc., the power to give love in the average human being is abrogated to a greater or less degree. This is not due to the breaking down of brain tissue or injury to other physical organs; the sense of feeling, of hunger and thirst, of heat and cold remain to the end of life. It is due to the neglect of the seed which God planted in the human heart in the beginning of life. Man has made but little effort to develop the seed during the ages that have passed. His efforts have been directed mainly to the satisfaction of his sensual desires, desires which are the antithesis of the universal love to which I refer. One is utterly personal and selfish, the other is universal and unselfish. One is a perversion of the other; one is sexual, the other sexless.
Man is well aware that if he is to profit by any natural gift -- for instance, music -- he must spend long years in all but unremitting labor before he has developed the gift to the necessary point of excellence. He must accept the instruction of others more highly gifted than himself as to methods and means of accomplishment; yet this greatest of all gifts, the power to love aright -- the power to love God -- is left to chance or environment and only too often to the false conceptions of other men who have misunderstood or misinterpreted the teachings of the Christs of all time on this all-important and mysterious subject.
To bring this subject down to a concrete illustration, we must learn to make room in our hearts for God by expanding that seed of love planted in our hearts in the beginnings of life on this plane, and that expansion must come by deliberate, untiring effort on right lines. Figuratively speaking, the seed must be watered, the soil enriched, the plants cultivated and pruned, in order that the fruit shall appear in due season. As a rule, man has been content to confine that seed in a narrow groove by exercising it on some one person or purpose, regardless of the nature of the energy so expressed, and now it looks as though the Karmic reaction of that despised or neglected gift was upon us, the gift which might have saved the world from such disaster as now threatens it. The result of our neglect is now evidenced by the widespread arousing of the force of Hate -- hate of individuals, hate of nations, hate of everything that does not conform to individual ideas of government, religion, or habits of life; and countless people are deceiving themselves by believing that the demoniacal results of their hate are in reality the results of Love.
I firmly believe the greater part of all the calamities which have come or are coming upon the world are the direct results of our ignorance of the nature and offices of universal love -- Christ Love. If we made the effort and used the means at our command to develop that seed of love in our hearts and teach others to do the same, we would be the greatest benefactors to our race that it has ever had.
By the application of the word Love to the instincts or qualities of Sex or Passion -- making no distinction in common conversation when the subject of Love is introduced -- the masses of humanity have but little opportunity to learn the nature of universal Love or the method and means of its cultivation.
The imagination must first be used in forming a mental concept of a form of energy pervading the universe and every living thing and creature within it, as does the Ether. Then meditate on the attributes of Love -- its unselfishness, its power of sacrifice and devotion -- and associate them with that energy. Form a mental picture of a family, an organization, a nation and a world, as they might be if governed entirely by the principle of universal Love. These are some of the first steps we have to take toward realization of our desire. Until we have a clearly defined mental picture of the object we desire to attain fixed in our Auras, we cannot work systematically toward that end. If our desire is not strong enough, our wills set toward attainment, and the privation of form or mental picture fixed in our minds, it is difficult to meditate to any purpose. It seems necessary to build a bridge, as it were, of Universal Love between mental and spiritual energy before the individual mind can pass the natural barrier between any two planes.
If we can awaken the necessary desire in our hearts we will have taken the first step in the attaining of Universal Love.
In all tenderness and devotion, I am
Your sister, Francia A. LaDue
August, 1919
The miracle of Beauty in the adornment of our daily lives will exalt mankind. Uphold thy light. Illumine the beauties of My Temple. Teach the Joy of Beauty. Teach the Happiness of Wisdom. Teach the Bliss of Love. Teach the Glory of Unity with God.
-- From "Leaves of Morya's Garden"
There are no two people built alike in the universe. Consequently, the possibility of agreeing on all questions is impossible; but all true men and women are agreed upon main issues, and if we stop bickering among ourselves, there is nothing to stand in the way of final success. For instance, if we were to take one issue upon which all who understood were agreed, and dropped all differences of opinions on all other lines, and worked for all we were worth for that one, we would ultimately get all the others we were wrangling over.
Philosophically, if we were to take one command of the greatest Teacher the world has ever known -- "Do Unto Others As You Would They Should Do Unto You" -- we should find the Spirit of Truth had come to dwell among us, and the differences that now prevail would vanish like the dew before the sun. So long as we split hairs, we are doomed.
-- William Quan Judge
For the love of heaven do not take any tales or information from one person to another. The man who brought news to the king was sometimes killed. The surest way to make trouble is to tell about it from one to another. Construe the words of the Gita about one's own duty to mean that you have nothing to do in the smallest particular with other people's fancies, tales, facts or other matters, as you have enough to look out for your own duty.
There is too much trying to force harmony. Harmony comes from a balancing of diversities, and discord comes from any effort to make harmony by force.
-- Temple Teachings, Volume III
Days come and days go, but if thou watchest thou shalt see:
THE LOAD thou hast laid on the heart of a friend will God transfer to thine own heart; heavy as it presses on the heart of thy friend, heavier will it press on thine own heart in the days to come.
THE STONE thou hast cast from the path of the blind will smite the adder lying in wait for thee.
THE WEIGHT thou hast clamped on the feet of another will drag thine own feet into Hadean desolation.
THE SHELTER thou hast given the wayfarer will protect thee from the fiercest of life's storms.
THE JEWEL thou hast stolen from the strong-box of another will burn and torture the breast wherein it is hid.
THE BREAD thou hast given the hungry holds the substance of many loaves for thee.
THE LIE whereby thou hast gained an end will eat out thine own vitals.
THE TEARS thou drawest from others' eyes will mark deep furrows down thine own face.
THE SHOE-LATCH thou hast fastened for the halt and lame will bind the hands of thine enemies.
THE FIRE thou dost feed to scorch another will consume thee in its flames.
THE LAW of right can ne'er be thwarted long.
THAT WHICH thou hast sown, that shalt thou gather, whether it be in joy or sorrow, pain or peace.
THOU MAYEST plan the hour of planting--the hour of gathering must needs be struck by the hand of God.
I have said.
-- Temple Teachings, Volume I
Comings and goings seem to quicken during the
summer and fall. Carl and & Glenda Carlberg spent three weeks here doing
special maintenance on their property; Eleanor Shumway visited Bill and Gloria
Quale in Denver; Jerry Sabol visited relatives in the Seattle area; sisters
Jennie Foremaster and Barbie Clark vacationed in Hawaii -- Barbie has just
moved back to the Central Coast from Boulder, Colorado; Marti Fast and Kathy
Headtke drove to Wisconsin to visit family; Maryalice Mankins went to Europe,
with special emphasis on Wales where her grandfather came from; Ron and Nashoma
Carlson enjoyed two weeks in Arizona; Cathy Greer rested for a week here at the
Center; Karen White experienced the joys of her home and garden during a
three-week vacation; Beth and Greg Ganick spent several days in Las Vegas; and
Susie Clark relaxed at Mammoth Lake.
Other notable events include Aureliano Rodriguez being sworn in as an American citizen; Alfredo Arciniaga and Patty Ghorley offering their art studios for the annual Open Studio Tour; Harmony Hollingsworth opening her own beauty salon in Shell Beach; Natalie Grantham managing a coffee house in Shell Beach; Barbara Ricardo relishing Thursdays with her small granddaughter, Amanda Calmere; Cari Calmere celebrating five years of treatment, recovery, and wellness from leukemia; and the Brkovich and Lowman houses sporting new paint jobs and patios!
Rita and Sergey Moiseyev with children Julie, Alex, and Anna moved to Halcyon in November. Also Igor and Elena Pletnev-Veller and children Alena and Konstantin moved into a home next door to their friends. We welcome them all.
The beautiful 16"x20" poster of the Temple (photo on page ) is available for $18, which includes postage and handling. The photographer is Dirk Kenyon of Kenyon Studio, Arroyo Grande. There are very limited quantities.
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.
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: October 8, Zelma Colendich reading Eleanor Shumway's Sharing the Aha!s; October 15, Eleanor Shumway reading Ernest Harrison's Blue Star Memorial Temple from 1930; October 22, Ron Carlson reading Ken Schussman's Perspective; Nov. 12, Richard Lentz, Building Supportive Community; November 19, Connie Collier, Alive, Awake, Alert; December 10, Eleanor Shumway, The Reason for the Season.
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