Version: October 10, 2004
With the mounting wave of fear of all kinds of events surrounding the coming millennium, we are challenged not only to find the "Place of Peace" within ourselves, but to hold it fast. As we are able to do this step by step, by functioning serenity and balance in our lives, we can help others do the same.
This "Place of Peace" is not found by ignoring the events of today, or by hiding in an illusionary world of nothing but goodness and light. I would suggest that we find this place by enfolding the darkness in the world in the Light of Spirit. We can do this in our meditation and prayer work, we can do it actively in our daily lives by reaching out to our neighbor with a smile, a heartfelt "How are you?" We can do it by making eye contact with the checker at the store and acknowledging our common humanity with a smile. We can do it within our own homes responding with courtesy to our family members. Whatever the circumstances, we must consciously function the Light in a natural, giving manner.
As we share our inner Light, the brightness grows and spreads. We are charged with the responsibility of sharing this radiance every hour of every day. The wonderful thing that happens as we share is we in turn are enfolded in the Light.
Let us make 1999 a year of Light that brings us closer to the real millennium of true Brother/Sisterhood and Peace on Earth.
- Eleanor L. Shumway
Guardian in Chief
-- Ulla Sonntag
On November 15, Master Hilarion gave us precious words of love and a sacred charge to continue the Temple work by becoming better fitted for it within ourselves. What better time to examine those words than now in the first part of January. The name of this month came from the Roman god, Janus, who had dominion over gates, doors, and new beginnings. He is depicted artistically with two opposite faces. We are beginning the next hundred years from one point of view. From another, we are beginning the next moment, the NOW in which we truly live. This is indeed the time of new beginnings.
The Master tells us: "My Dear Children: For one hundred years I have been beside you as you labored to bring into manifestation a new step in the work of the Great White Lodge. Through this Lodge Center I have poured forth the message of the coming of a Great Spiritual Light to help all of humanity raise itself out of the darkness of the material self. As you look over the past years, you can see this Light impressing itself more and more upon every plane of being. Dark corners everywhere are being cleansed and the refuse of centuries is being brought into brightness. Now more than ever, everyone is being asked to help transmute this darkness of ignorance and despair into the realms of greater light, intelligence, power, and wisdom. My children, you are asked to hold firmly to your faith in our message of the Light of Truth even when you cannot see the myriad ways in which your faith furthers our work."
How do we do this? The paradox is that we cannot hold firmly to our faith in the Master's work unless that faith is challenged, tested, and reapplied. We often ask, as we read the papers, see the nightly news on TV, or hear the radio, how can I help, there is so much that is bad, I cannot do anything. I may as well give up, enjoy life now because it will all destroy itself soon. Those dark corners are indeed being cleansed as the Light penetrates deeper and deeper. We are learning more than we ever wanted to know about those corners. This period of seeming overload of communication through the many arms of the media has a bright side as well. Even when the newsmen and women have agendas and biases, they still carry the light of public scrutiny into the dark corners. Our responsibility is to stay centered within ourselves, as serene as possible in the Light, rather than being consumed by the darkness. Our inner task is to embrace the darkness, accepting that this too is a part of the human condition. In that embrace we can bathe the particular aspect of darkness we are working on with the Light of the Universal Consciousness, and see wholeness where now there are only dark parts. It is through our increasing focus and understanding that we are becoming instruments of transmutation.
When we are in a position on the physical plane to take an active part in working for such transmutation, there are organizations and groups across the socio/political spectrum that welcome dedicated, committed workers for change. Any small effort helps in this transmutation process of turning the darkness of ignorance and despair into realms of greater light, intelligence, power, and wisdom. Whether we work on inner planes, outer planes, or on both, the bottom line of our work is to maintain our faith that anything and everything we do helps someone somewhere, somehow. The old saying, "it is always darkest before the dawn," takes on new, fresh meaning in this context.
"At this important time I bid you hold strong in allegiance, faith and trust to the Lodge and to each other. I ask you to reaffirm both your pledges and your recognition and acceptance of the Lodge, myself, and our agent. With conscious self-endeavor you must focus your mind, your body, your soul on the Temple work imbuing every aspect with mutual understanding, voluntary yielding, and helpful interchange with each other on all planes of being. This will bring you truer adjustment, greater activities, purer transmission of finer forces, and with wider and broader dissemination of spiritual powers. Individually and as a group you have constantly sent us your appeals, efforts, ambitions and aspirations for closer, more intense relationship to the Lodge. Be still and listen in the Silence and you will know beyond all shadow of doubt what you must do."
Master Hilarion tells us specifically what to do when he emphasizes the need to focus our minds, bodies, and our souls on our Temple work, and yet he trusts us to work out the details. It might appear to us that it would be much easier if he could get even more specific in the details -- a check list, as it were -- then we could get right to the problem and not waste any energy in trial and error. However, we are being trusted to do the focusing of our lives, to do the learning that comes in trying, failing, and trying again. It is the process of growing up, becoming an adult. It is this process that builds our strength, tries our character, challenges our courage, and moves us forward.
The specific assignment of imbuing every aspect of our lives with mutual understanding, voluntary yielding, and helpful interchange with each other on all planes of being is the very heart and soul of our Temple work. Remember, when He speaks of The Temple, He not only refers to the Temple of the People, but the Temple of Humanity, and the Temple of the Universe. This Temple work therefore is the work of all humanity, which is the evolution of human consciousness. We are privileged to have a special kind of Light or tools given us to use in the understanding and implementing of this work. Our inescapable responsibility is to use that Light, and to use it with increasing power and insight.
We will not gain any insight into this work with the brain-mind alone. We must use the heart and intuition in partnership with the brain-mind, understanding that as all three parts of ourselves come into balance, we begin to know our Real Selves. Through the discipline of study, illuminated with the light of the heart and intuition, comes the perception of righteous course. One of my favorite quotations is, "Knowledge put through the crucible of experience becomes wisdom." One of the hardest tasks is to remember the desirability of wisdom when you are in the hot seat of the crucible.
"Again and yet again I have given you the answers you crave. If I were to remain silent, irresponsive, closed, and deaf to your demands and prayers, you would consider me a faithless guide, servant, and father. Shall I expect less of you by asking for anything short of your full faith and following? This will tax your powers of flexibility, obedience, and balanced unity, but it lies within your own hands, hearts, and souls entirely. The evolution of the entire human race lies in the balance. It is your responsibility to act, and some small act of yours may very well prove to be the critical one for all humanity. This may seem to be a heavy task, but you are fitted for it."
We have been told countless times that we must be careful what we ask for, as we will surely get it. It never occurs to us that the response to our demands seldom comes in the terms we expect, or in words that are pleasing to our ear. Here we are informed that we have a part to play in the evolutionary process that is ours alone, not our neighbor's, not our mate's, not our child's, only our own. It is not a part we can choose to pick up for a while, not a part from which we can sort out only the pleasant bits and leave the rest. It is wholly ours. We have been brought to this place, at this time, and in these circumstances, to do something no one else can do. William Quan Judge tells us it is in the trials of everyday life that our true mettle is tested -- not by great and wonderful events, not by forewarned temptations, nor by flash of light or approach of demons. We cannot escape by not acting, and by some small act of ours we could very well change the course of human consciousness. This is an awesome responsibility.
In the face of my own self-questioning and doubts about my abilities, I find comfort in the words, "This may seem to be a heavy task, but you are fitted for it." The total plan is not ours to know. But we are given to see as much of it as we can possibly understand. After all, the Master sees much further than we do at this time in our unfoldment. We might do well to take his word for it; in other words, have faith in spite of all, and work on developing a growing awareness of the Divinity within.
As you leave this Temple tonight, I ask you to enter The Temple of your own Inner Being. In this place of Light and Silence will come the realization that each of you is charged to truly see the Spirit of God within yourself, your friend, neighbor, stranger, and family, as well as every other part of the manifested universe, and your response to every atom must be from Spirit to Spirit. Become a conscious example of the priceless gems of Truth and Wisdom, of Opportunity and Power held inviolate in your innermost selves.
-- Ulla Sonntag
Most of us run most of the time on automatic pilot, taking our bodies as well as our Inner Being for granted until something forces our attention to come back to those inner and outer bodies. This physical body is sacred and is symbolic of the sacred inner Temple of our beings. For better or worse, it is both our house and our home. There is the story about a little girl telling her teacher how the family consisting of herself, her three small brothers, and her mommy and daddy had to live in a two room motel. "My goodness", the teacher protested, "You do need a home." "Oh, no," replied the little girl, "we have a home, we need a house to put it in!"
Considering our physical body as sacred implies a host of positive responses in terms of loving care: proper food, rest, respect, exercise, breathing, cleanliness, and protection. By extension, all these aspects of care are applied to the inner bodies and involve such things as proper thoughts, prayer, meditation, and honor of the Spirit that moves within us. This Spirit is who we really are. We are working to blend the brain-mind, the personality and Spirit together to make a conscious whole. We sometimes forget that this takes lifetime after lifetime of committed work.
The Master asks us to take a more active role in this blending process, which is the evolution of consciousness taking place whether or not we cooperate. If we begin this cooperation by identifying the parts of our true selves, by seeing the Spirit of God within everything, then and only then can we begin to manifest the priceless gems of Truth and Wisdom, of Opportunity and Power contained within our beings. We must do this not just once, but every minute of every day. In the words of the Mountain Top message entitled "Ask Each Day," we hear this point emphasized: "Thinkest thou the cyclic law, immutable, will be repealed for thee, in that each day will bring thee nourishment for soul, unasked for and unsought by thee, or asked amiss?
"Ah, No! A full supply of Christly bread awaits thine asking, but thou must ask each day, and ask in faith, or suffer in thy Soul as now thy body suffers from the lack of food when thou dost not provide."
His message further states: "I want you all to realize the importance of the present. Never mind the past or the future; they will be cared for. It is now that is of greatest importance. Every day, and yet one moment at a time. Dig deep and lay the foundations well, lest any shaking of the upper beams loosen the underlying stones of the outer Temple. Do not allow yourself, or others if you can help it, to miss the sweet humble blossoms lying close by your side in reaching out for the larger, less fragrant blooms in the distance, and listen when I speak. Sink your very souls in the great Father-Mother heart, the beats of which vibrate through your own with every pulse of the same. Remember that I am one with you, not outside of you. It is my privilege to be your guide; it is your privilege to be an integral part of the Great Plan to build into The Temple a greater measure of joyful endurance, holding power, peace, and awareness of My Love for you."
Do you ever find yourself not paying strict attention to what is going on in your life at any given moment? Do you find yourself planning the next hour, the next meal, the next telephone call, the next -- the next -- until your whole being is projected into the near or far future? Or perhaps you yearn for times gone by, simple times, golden-hued times, happy times, past times. Up to a point both past and future projections and yearnings do have their place in our consciousness as we strive for balance. The past contains lessons of importance, plans for the future help give shape to the direction of our lives. But, as we are reminded, the real arena for our lives is in the NOW. We probably operate mostly on one or two levels at any given time, when there are seven times seven such layers available to us. As we dig deeply through these layers in each moment, we can indeed build well the foundations of our inner and outer Temple. Everything we need lies close at hand, if we choose to listen, to see, to feel, and to allow our soul to synthesize all.
In our pursuit of the goals at hand, we may often lose sight of the fact that we are constantly bathed in the Master's Love, Wisdom, and Guidance. He reminds us, "Remember that I am one with you, not outside of you. It is my privilege to be your guide; it is your privilege to be an integral part of the Great Plan to build into The Temple a greater measure of joyful endurance, holding power, peace, and awareness of My Love for you." How can we ask for anything more? What can we do to be a part of it? Look within.
-- Eleanor L. Shumway
The space between all continents
We, the forces of Light occupy
The space between all seas
and watery areas, we occupy
The space between earth
and fire, we occupy
The space between fire
and air, we occupy
The space between heaven
and earth, we occupy
The space between the elements
and the Creator, we occupy
Speak with fire of me
In Beauty, in Truth and Good
Speak of me when you awake
and go to sleep,
Speak of me in the Silence
of the night
Speak of me
-- Claire Fleurant
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.
Life is wonderful. We ride the crest of pleasure, satisfaction, fun, plenty, excitement, and we know we are blessed. We endure difficulties, pain and suffering, and then solve the problem that besets us, and realize again that all is well and that we are blessed. We see the suffering of others, and know that we are more fortunate than they are, and know that we are blessed. We have periods of depression, dullness, waiting for we know not what, and then the way opens before us and we know that we are blessed. Or do we? Do we really realize how guided and protected we are every moment of our lives? What are our real goals, and what do we do to achieve them? How often do we try to see our own little lives in comparison with the larger life, that of the family of man, and get some perspective on the relative importance of what we consider essential to our happiness, compared to the bigger picture?
We live in an age of instant information, more information than we can sometimes process, and are constantly deluged with images, facts, opinions, and speculations about every facet of life on our planet. Many times what we see or are told seems trivial and meaningless, and if we stop to think about the amount of sheer verbiage that passes for information, we may think that it is all useless and even silly. What is the purpose of knowing many times over the details of some event that happens in another city and doesn't affect anyone we know? Why should we be interested in the plight of some tribe of people that live a life entirely different from ours, in a place the name of which we can't even pronounce, and will forget the moment we stop thinking about it? What difference does it make if some tiny species of insect is about to become extinct because its habitat has been destroyed to make way for the construction of a housing project? And how can we be sure that the information we receive via the media is even true? And finally, what does all this endless information have to do with our individual lives?
We might feel that it is essentially useless, nothing more than entertainment, or diversion from the more important issues of daily life, as we sit in front of the TV watching the news commentators debate yet again about what they think is likely to be the outcome of some current issue, or as we read in the newspaper about some atrocity taking place in some far-distant location. We might even get annoyed, hearing on the radio some talk show host spouting opinions that differ radically from our own ideas. It may seem at times that there is nothing but meaningless trivia bombarding us from every direction, every time we try to find out what is happening in the world.
And yet, every once in awhile, the persistent pursuer of knowledge and pertinent information comes across some offering of the media that piques his interest, and even holds him spellbound. It may be a documentary about rare animals, or a live broadcast of some event that future historians will consider worthy of mention, or even a particularly well-expressed opinion that differs from his own but holds some new point of view that he hadn't previously thought of. For a moment he loses all thought of criticism and censure, and absorbs the information offered with total concentration, and then tells all he meets about the new thing he has learned. The new subject fills his mind for a time, and seems to relate to everything that happens in his life, making clear other issues that had seemed previously to be unrelated to the subject of his current interest.
It is noteworthy that not all of this seeker's acquaintances will share his fascination with the subject of his thoughts. Some will think his ideas as trivial as the nightly news, and will be soon bored listening to him discourse on all he has learned from his media experience. One man's meat is another man's poison, so they say, and in the same way, one man's bliss is another man's ennui. Considering this phenomenon, the idea occurs that maybe this is true of everything. Maybe every subject, even those that we feel are inconsequential, finds a sympathetic ear somewhere. Maybe even the most banal idea has the power to spark the creative mind of someone, somewhere in the world.
What is it that happens when we find ourselves interested in some subject, or some event, which was previously unknown to us? We are driving down the road, listening to the car radio, and we hear some strange-sounding music. Then the composer/ performer is heard to explain that this is the traditional music of the Berber people, nomads of North Africa who have developed these musical forms over 35,000 years of culture in that vast region. He goes on to name the several tribes and mention some of the languages they use, and talks about the sophistication of the musical tradition. He says that the Berber people do not consider themselves citizens of the North African countries, but adhere to their tribal affiliations; that their lives are much the same today as they have been for all those centuries; that they have suffered much from political upheavals but have retained their identity through it all.
More music is played, and suddenly we find that it doesn't sound strange at all, but rather is something we would like to hear more of, and we marvel at the fact that a people numbering in the thousands could survive in our technologically sophisticated world in a lifestyle that has no connection to what we know, speaking languages that we never heard of, not affiliated with any known political group, content and proud of their culture and art. We begin to imagine what their life must be like, cudgeling our brain for some remnant of information that could relate to what we have heard, come up with images of a vast desert and camel trains and tents and blue-garbed people with fierce mustaches and flashing eyes. We realize that this is a culture that has existed since before the Roman Empire, before the Pharaohs of Egypt, and that to its members, constitutes the fabric of their daily life, as common and normal to them as freeways, fast food and rock and roll are to us. We may wonder why we find this so interesting, why this exotic music sounds so familiar, why we happened to stop at this particular place on the radio dial, why we received this particular piece of information at this particular time.
We believe that we have all lived many life times in many different places and eras, and it may be that we have some atavistic memory of the Berbers, that the music strikes a chord of experience that is a part of our larger self of which this lifetime is only a tiny fragment. It may even be true that something we are going through in our present life is the playing out of effects caused by actions in a lifetime lived in some long-ago desert. If this moment of media exposure stays in our imagination for a time, we may find that we relate it to other thoughts, or events, or conditions, which occur to us during our daily lives. In fact, that few moments of seemingly accidental listening become a part of us, to do with what we please. Another listener may perhaps have kept turning the radio dial, and never heard the program that we heard, but for us, this information has become something that we use to help us understand our own existence, if only in some small way.
Understanding ourselves is one of our biggest duties as conscious and responsible seekers on the path of knowledge. We cannot know others until we know ourselves, and we cannot accept others until we accept what we know of ourselves. We know there are no coincidences in life, that all is part of a huge plan, directed by the Lords of Karma, to further our evolution, and the evolution of the human race. There are no little things, we hear over and over again. No sound bite is too small to be of importance in our conscious search for truth and wisdom. We never know when we will hear the word that will unlock the door to a whole new room of understanding of our lives, our fellow human beings, and ourselves.
Maybe we could take a cue from the Native Americans, who some say have lived on this continent for 10,000 years. They teach that every act of nature is a message to men from the Great Spirit: every bird that flies across one's view, the form of the flames in the fire, the clouds in the sky, every waking and sleeping moment of consciousness an open book of information for those who know how to read it, filled with the truth and wisdom of God.
-- Ulla Sonntag
The Native American lived in close contact with Nature, outdoors, with God's natural living creations as his constant companions and inspirations. Every moment of his life was a spiritual experience, and his cultural traditions constantly informed him of the enduring fact of the Unity of all Life and the overshadowing of the Absolute. He knew nothing of the other peoples of the world, having no media to inform him of anything outside of his own sphere of occupation. But we live largely in a man-made environment, with comparatively little exposure to the forces of nature. Our mundane surroundings, and the media of the messages we receive from "Nature," are products of our own invention.
On the surface, it seems that we are alienated from the integration with Nature forces that characterized the life of the Native American, and certainly we are vulnerable to a kind of intoxication with the products of our own ingenuity which fill our lives to overflowing, and sometimes seem to take on a life of their own, separate from ours. The new owner of a computer knows the compelling fascination with all the opportunities it offers to surf the cyberworld to the exclusion of most of his former occupations. And most computer owners would subscribe to the saying of a friend of ours, that computers are "90% voodoo and 10% technology," especially if they have read the instruction book enough times to know that they did everything it recommends and the program still won't run. Right now we are in a cycle of such rapid change that such a familiar thing as making a phone call from a pay phone can be confusing, since the procedure has changed since the last time we used one, and will probably change again before the next time we use one.
However, what happens if we take a few steps back from the immediate appearance of the world we live in? If we think about the fact that electricity is the force that runs many of the machines that we use in our daily lives, we can realize that electricity is one of the divine creative fires, a Nature Force if there ever was one, and that every moment of our lives we are in close contact with a spiritual reality, even by the act of turning on the lights in our houses. The oil and coal tar products that our technology uses to make our lives easier, faster, warmer, lighter, and healthier, are the refined remains of life forms that walked and grew on the earth many eons ago, and if we believe the Theosophical definition of evolution, we may have the idea that in some sense those life forms were intimately connected to some form of our own past lives. Their remains are filled still with the dormant life force that gave them breath as organic entities in past times. Our use of them releases that life force to function for our modern comfort and welfare.
If we step back farther still, and endeavor to see our world as a cog in a wheel of a perfectly constructed and perfectly functioning universal machine, powered by Infinite Love and guided by Infinite Will, we can begin to realize that we, mere specks of atoms of dust on that cog, nevertheless have a part in the work of that machine. Of course, in order to accept this idea, we have to have faith in the knowledge that the Logos of the Absolute is perfect, and it may be that we sometimes lack that faith. We sometimes feel that some of the things we are made to endure are unnecessary or wrong, and we complain bitterly about the fate that has dealt us such a blow. Or we look at some situation in the world, global warming, corporate welfare, government atrocities, the list goes on, and we wonder how such injustice could exist in our world.
Difficult as it is to keep our balance on the slippery slope of the life path of the seeker of the almost 21st Century, we have many signposts and directional signals to help us on our way. One of the most useful tools is to develop an attitude of acceptance. When we try to regard all our experience, whether painful or pleasurable, as necessary and beneficial, when we suspend judgment and censure of information or of the acts of others, whether near or far, we begin to be able to read the messages that come to us, from whatever source. It is our resistance to what we imagine to be wrong or bad that blinds us to its real meaning. And when our consciousness is blinded we are rendered powerless.
But we are potentially very powerful to affect all the many problems of our human family in a positive way. Once we suspend judgment and accept that this is our world, the world we made, and the world we deserve, our faith in the wisdom and guidance from the Powers that Be becomes stronger. We realize that a Power which can keep all the vast starry bodies moving in perfect harmony and balance through immeasurable eons of time can surely direct the petty affairs of a few weak human beings wisely. Free of the need to worry about whether the actions and words of others are right or wrong, we can devote our energy to our real task as healers of the world, offering our desire to be of service to the Source of all Help and Sustenance, with the knowledge that our offer will be used in the best possible manner. We can begin to see that our real goal in life is much larger than the achievement of some modicum of ease and pleasure, or simple freedom from annoyance and pain. We can realize that everything we know becomes in some way our responsibility, that every piece of information, every video image, every opinion expressed, is in some way a part of the fabric of our own lives, and that there is nothing that is unimportant or meaningless in the whole vast world of our modern experience.
This greater dimension of awareness brings with it a firmer grasp of the truth that all Life is One, and that knowledge is the most important achievement a person can make. Any problem held up against that measuring stick presents its own solution. The veil of separateness dissolves, and suddenly everything we know about is a part of us as well. All we need to do then is imagine how we would feel if we were in the situation we contemplate, to get a quick and organic understanding of the right attitude to hold toward any situation.
Knowing that we are only a tiny part of a huge entity, the human race, the planet Earth, the solar system of our Sun, the galaxy of the Milky Way, the Universe which has no beginning and no end, we can develop the desire that no part of our larger self should suffer from any thought word or deed of our personal self. Realizing that every perceivable phenomenon is in truth just a part of our own self, we can develop the ability to receive and decipher personal messages from all the sources of information that surround us, and use them to further our understanding of ourselves, to increase our power of self-control, to stimulate an attitude of altruism, the concern for the welfare of others, instead of just for ourselves. We can purify our own hearts, relinquishing the demand of our lower ego to be right and to control others, and make of ourselves instead receptacles and transmitters of compassion and love.
When we devote our lives consciously to the pursuit of Truth, we ask for the opportunity to tread the timeless Path that leads to perfect knowledge of all manifestation. Our world is as full of signposts and directional signals as any world ever has been or ever will be. If our goal is to live lives of devotion to all that is excellent and fine in the higher reaches of human nature, we will find contentment to be our constant companion. We will have found the eternal key to living the good life.
-- Linda Rollison
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 has 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 has 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 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 has 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.
-- The Master
If we knew that tomorrow all opportunity would be gone to give the tender word, the loving smile, the gentle forgiving glance, the strengthening hand of helpfulness, would we, think you, be so critical, so slow to respond, so hasty to reprove and to reject the oft-times truest, deepest approaches of those we contact day by day?
Would we, if we knew that father, mother, brother, sister, wife or child, or faithful friend, maybe, were to be taken from our sight forever, in the passing of the night, would we close one day's record, would we allow our good night parting stand as many times it does?
When we know how a word of praise, of recognition, of true enthusiasm, of even casual interest from another counts with us when striving with some problem, when cast down with some despair, why is it so difficult for us to express a sympathetic word, to bestow a cheering smile of encouragement on others?
Why is it, ask yourselves, so difficult to lead a life of gallantry toward those closest, nearest, most faithful and devoted to us for days and years and periods of time?
What is it, can we say, do we ever stop to think, that makes us sometimes almost revel in precipitating forces that are most unworthy our higher, better selves, upon those to whom we owe the most, who have given their best and holiest to us?
Can you answer this for yourselves? You can if you will. Shall I give you indication from the standpoint of longer, higher, better and deeper experience than your own; experience from which deductions have gradually been derived and merged into spiritual victory and understanding sympathy? Because I have gained some little step beyond you, along with the desire to help you, as we know in actuality you long to be helped, shall I speak plainly with you?
Beloved Ones, Children Mine, I say to you it is the World Dweller, called by you the Disintegrator, a very demon, giving vent to itself in most cowardly manner in endeavor to throw you from the Higher Throne of your spiritual acquisition obtained through sweat of blood, toil and labor in long sequence of incarnations. It is, in other words, to the degree you permit it to seize hold on you, your own Dweller also seeking entrance to the Threshold of your Divine Sanctuary.
Give open door and room if it be your choice. Let it continue in its censure, its constant vituperative abuse if you must. It will do you naught but harm even though it be against your worst, most determined enemy or betrayer. You will be the greater loser, for you know the Law.
No man, no power can loose its hold upon your Threshold but yourselves. It must be taken by the throat and throttled by power from within. Little by little, inch by inch, swoop by swoop will it take possession until your entire being come under its sway and you will no longer have power to throw it off.
It is from one standpoint like the inhaling of an anesthetic. For a brief moment you yield, then find relief, because the sensibilities are numbed and the hold is loosed from the higher, inner Self. The difference lies, however, in the fact that you must wake to responsibility and greater suffering than before because you have allowed the negative pole to indulge itself in temporary release from its higher pole and guide, to ease or gratify your selfish emotional nature and feeling; when in case of sickness resort to sleep through anesthetic is obtained, the higher Self grants release temporarily for definite constructive purposes that finer more powerful forces be liberated to tide over a crisis and make recovery possible. Thus are healing influences liberated and the higher and lower poles reunited with beneficent result.
Let no one or few among you anywhere think these lines are directed to them in particular. The curse I mention is at the present time almost universally present. It comes from the tension abroad in the inner and outer atmosphere of the world, in both private and public life. It springs from anxiety, prolonged responsibility, fatigue and despair thrown upon the nervous system of mankind, and must be checked before it crosses a certain line or its harvests will ravish the strongest constitution.
It is a great mistake to think only the weak or the spiritually unevolved may have such struggles to meet and overcome. It overtakes all alike wherever conditions have made or make it possible to obtain slightest entrance. And that conflict may come into action entirely without fault or intent of the one contending with it. Especially is this true in the case of those in public eye, who must stand against opposition, attack and false play. In sworn friendships where trust has been broken and the inner man exposed and wounded unawares by broken faith and affection, great damage can be done if the system cannot throw the poisoned forces off promptly.
There, wounds take time to heal, and sometimes do serious injury to the astral emotional self. Great patience, sympathy and firmness should be used. The higher the personage, the more spiritually inclined the individual, the greater the glee on the part of the Disintegrator if indenture or cleavage can be made upon the aura. The deadly force, the wreckage to finer sensibilities and relationships which attends it and which follows in its train, its futile effect upon all constructive effort, its wholly destructive attitude to health, happiness and inner contentment is completely at variance and antagonistic to any possibility of help or reinforcement from us in any way. It can only increase greater and greater demolition of things beautiful unless it be recognized, and determined and steadfast will be exercised to vanquish it for good.
You who are suffering with its demonical force, take one brave step toward staying its advance, toward routing its hold, and you will immediately feel the Lodge forces pouring in and through you to help you. It will at once be easier for you to take the next step, and so on the finish. You have no idea how important a matter this is to you.
-- Ulla Sonntag
It is not hopeless. There is no strain, no burden too great for us to help you eliminate, if you will but work with us. But you must make the first effort, must indicate the initial desire.
You will recall how we repeatedly warned, pleaded with you, shall we say, for several years back, in the annual message most particularly, to take note and advantage of the power and strength, the light and gladness of kindly living, sympathetic understanding one with another. It has been for your own good we have done this, as well as for the impression and effect upon others, complete strangers perhaps looking to you for example. We have wanted to save you from the suffering entailed through the straits you are bound to find yourselves ensnared in by allowing careless, loosely directed flow of forces to become gradually emotional habit to establish itself in your daily rounds and duties with one another.
It may pass as incidental and unintentional at first, but repetition wears until it becomes unbearable. The delicate constitution breaks first and the stronger only a matter of time, rougher ones later.
Surely you do not want to be known as critical, whimpering, dictatorial, unsympathetic, rough and selfish. You do not want the weak to fear you, the helpless to turn from you trembling because of the gruffness, the apparently unlimited strength and inconsiderateness of your animal nature. We know it is not so, but that you are caught in the intrigues of the negative side of living, and must jerk yourselves up positively, if you would be free from its grip.
You may not like to read or listen to what is given herein, but it is the kindest advice we can offer at the present time, and knowing your hearts, the longing that lies within them in reality to overcome the things of darkness that weigh you down, and instead to lift the shadows of the personal self that the Kingliness of Your Royal Line may shine abroad upon all, I have dared to bring these points to your attention once more in trust and hope that they will aid and strengthen you. Remember -- until you have given service in actual joy, nothing of value is really accomplished. "The Lord," it is said, "loveth a cheerful giver."
Remember also that as the old adage reads, "True Charity begins at home," so for Charity can be substituted -- Chivalry (the stamp of Knighthood), and we shall have True Chivalry begin around the hearth stone, the sacred altar of home and the soul.
Even though the rains have been light this winter, the emerald green grass is a sure sign of spring. Aureliano has been on the tractor, disking the invasive rye grass under in an effort to encourage the wildflowers.
We have had visits from the new babies during the holidays. Zoe Rollison and Bjorn Thyrring brought their parents to Halcyon to visit grandparents, families and friends. During the weeks that the Rollisons were visiting from Virginia we had a Naming Service in the Temple for Zoe. We wish them all joy in the years to come.
Chris McCoy, son of Dick Lentz and grandson of Herb Lentz, announced that he and his wife Jan are the proud parents of Benjamin, born on December 18. Dick tells us that they will come from Denver to visit in March.
January 31 was the occasion of the marriage of Rick Augenstein and Shandi Linneman in the Temple. A large crowd of friends and family wished them well.
We have had visits from Sergey and Rita Moiseyev and children Julie, Alex and Anna; Tatiana Axionoff from San Francisco; Olga Fedosova from San Mateo and her mother Eugenia Velichko from Moscow; Elena Pletneva-Veller and daughter Alyona from Sacramento; Natasha Rykman from Florida; Nita Engle from Michigan; Lee and Ella Ellis from Berkeley; and Cathy Greer from Riverside.
Halcyon residents visiting in other places include Eleanor Shumway to Carmel; Linda and Kaety Rollison to San Francisco; Istvan and Irm Balogh to Germany and Switzerland; Susie Clark to Colorado and Los Angeles; Chris Thyrring to Fairfield; Marti Fast and Kathy Headtke to San Francisco; Mary Orcutt and Maya Dela Luna to Spain; Sandi Strohman to Grand Caymans; and Aureliano Rodrigues to Santa Cruz and Del Monte.
The Guardian in Chief was asked to give the invocation for the opening of Wal-Mart in Arroyo Grande. She prayed for peace, understanding and tolerance in our communities.
Valentine's Day was celebrated with a Potluck Dinner in Hiawatha Lodge, with wonderful decorations thanks to Tatiana and delicious food thanks to all the great cooks in town.
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Temple groups: There are groups in New York City; and London, England, as well as several in locations in Germany, Lithuania, Russia, and Ukraine who meet regularly to study and discuss the Temple Teachings. Anyone wishing more information about these groups can contact 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.-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: November 11, Marti Fast: Service; December 13, Eleanor Shumway: Living the Paradox; January 10, Eleanor Shumway: One Hundred Years of Love; January 17, Eleanor Shumway: On Behalf Of; January 24, Linda Rollison: The Good Life; February 14, Eleanor Shumway: A Slight Change of Focus; February 21, Eleanor Shumway: Signs of Success.
The Mantrams
I believe that in me dwelleth every good and perfect Spirit. Believing this, I will show forth this day, by thought, word and deed, all that perfection that dwelleth in me.
I am one with God and all good. Evil hath no power over me.
Though clouds and darkness seem to be about me, yet dwell I eternally in the Light.
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