When I was young, I watched the pile of gifts beneath the spruce tree in the living room grow day by day and wondered whether Santa had gotten my list in time to shop properly.
On Christmas morning, my brothers and I bolted out of bed to partake of the annual sweeptakes. We'd haul in the loot, then race outside while our folks prepared dinner and see what all the neighbor kids had hauled in.
I must confess that I am still well aware of the gifts beneath the tree with my name on the tags.
However, I'm more excited by those I put there with others' names. When I was tearing wrapping paper off my gifts as a kid, I thought that it couldn't get any better than that. I was as yet too young to experience the time beneath the tree from my parents' point of view.
They shared their lives with my brothers and I in every way that they knew how and that was where they found their joy. The gifts beneath the tree were the tip of the iceberg, a symbolic representation of the yearlong gift of themselves.
The journey will change us in ways we've never dreamt of. Who knew years ago in the happy rush of childhood that sharing brings greater riches than receiving?
Some say--and I believe them--that on holidays of spiritual significance, our memories and traditions are important as cues and symbols to greater things. Like lightening rods, they attract a great deal of energy to those who are open to it.
Tomorrow, when we experience the pleasure of watching others open the gifts we've placed beneath the tree, a fair amount of that pleasure transcends the warm and fuzzy. In fact, a true "electrical" circuit is completed and Light flows through our veins.
Saturday, December 24, 2005
Wednesday, December 21, 2005
Service Before Self
Several months after The Sun Singer was published in the summer of 2004, I gave a short talk about the novel at a meeting of the Jefferson, Georgia Rotary Club. This was my first talk as an author and I had no clue what I was doing. Fortunately, I had an enthusiastic audience that wanted me to do well.
Every Tuesday afternoon, the club meets at the Jefferson Club House and every Tuesday they welcome guest speakers into their fellowship for 30-minute talks that range from hobbies to investments to local social-service programs to politics. And every Tuesday, club members give the each speaker their full attention and want him or her to do well.
Rotary's motto is "Service Before Self" and this viewpoint shines through everything that Rotarians do. Service entails sharing, whether it's time, ideas, money, ideas, or information. The weekly 30 minute talks are sharing opportunities for, regardless of subject matter, the talk represents shared information that club members can use to improve their lives and further share with others.
I am reminded of the Kabbalists' view that one transforms himself and enhances the world around him only through a desire to receive in order to share rather than through a desire to receive for self alone. Everything within Rotary comes down to one point: sharing what one has with everyone else.
During my 30-minute talk, I shared my ideas about dreams and the hero's quest and read a few pages from the book. Club members shared their time, their best wishes for my success, and--in dozens of little ways--their living and breathing committment to "Service Before Self."
This committment can be summed up through Rotary's four-way test:
The Four-Way Test of the things we think, say, or do.
First...Is it the TRUTH?
Second...Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Third...Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Fourth...Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
Every Tuesday afternoon, the club meets at the Jefferson Club House and every Tuesday they welcome guest speakers into their fellowship for 30-minute talks that range from hobbies to investments to local social-service programs to politics. And every Tuesday, club members give the each speaker their full attention and want him or her to do well.
Rotary's motto is "Service Before Self" and this viewpoint shines through everything that Rotarians do. Service entails sharing, whether it's time, ideas, money, ideas, or information. The weekly 30 minute talks are sharing opportunities for, regardless of subject matter, the talk represents shared information that club members can use to improve their lives and further share with others.
I am reminded of the Kabbalists' view that one transforms himself and enhances the world around him only through a desire to receive in order to share rather than through a desire to receive for self alone. Everything within Rotary comes down to one point: sharing what one has with everyone else.
During my 30-minute talk, I shared my ideas about dreams and the hero's quest and read a few pages from the book. Club members shared their time, their best wishes for my success, and--in dozens of little ways--their living and breathing committment to "Service Before Self."
This committment can be summed up through Rotary's four-way test:
The Four-Way Test of the things we think, say, or do.
First...Is it the TRUTH?
Second...Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Third...Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Fourth...Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
Monday, December 12, 2005
The Middle Way
“It would be wrong to think of the ten Sefirot [in the Tree of Life] as external to ourselves because, paradoxically, they are both levels to be attained and also are all contained within us in potential form to be awakened and mastered through our transformative spiritual work.”
--P. S. Berg, The Essential Zohar
“I knew of the three branches of the tree—the three staffs. Your grandfather carried the Staff of Wisdom; Dohver stole it to seal the portal at Lightning Falls. We expected you to bring the Staff of Equilibrium to Pyrrha. David Ward the Lightdancer is in possession of the Staff of Intelligence.”
--Gem (to Robert Adams), in The Sun Singer
Many disciplines highlight the “middle way” or “balanced approach” to spirituality whether they are speaking of the path chosen or the meditations and techniques used while following it. In Kabbalah, the middle pillar (or middle column) of the Tree of Life represents this balanced approach.
The Sun Singer includes a variety of Kabbalistic symbolism. The three staffs, for example, represent the three pillars of the Tree of Life. The neophyte Robert Adams, the novel’s main character, carries the Staff of Equilibrium, indicating that he has been urged to follow a balanced approach on his hero’s journey.
The Tree
The middle, or balancing pillar includes, from top to bottom, the Sefirot Keter, the pseudo-Sefirah called Da’at, followed by Tiferet, Yesod, and Malchut. These are also thought of as Crown, Abyss, Heart, Foundation and Kingdom.
The right-hand pillar, masculine attributes and positive polarity, includes Chockmah, Chesed, and Nezach. These are also thought of as Wisdom or Universal Father, Mercy, and Victory.
The left-hand pillar, feminine attributes and negative polarity, includes Binah, Gvurah, and Hod. These are also thought of as Understanding or Universal Mother, Judgement, and Glory.
The Lightning Bolt
The “natural” route taken by the Light or spiritual energy is a zigzag path through the Tree of Life from the Tree’s crown to the roots. (Via Keter, Chockmah, Da’at, Binah, Chesed, Gvurah, Tiferet, Nezach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut) This path is represented by a lightning bolt symbol, showing that nourishment and information pass through all of the Sefirot (dimensions) en route to the physical world as represented by Malchut. Reiki healers and students of Buddhist mysticism will also recognize this same lightning bolt in their Raku symbol.
Middle Pillar Exercise
When the middle way, or balanced approach is used to refer to one’s path, it generally indicates lack of extremes as well as the integration of spiritual concerns into a life that includes family, friends, career and hobbies.
There are numerous ways to meditate and utilize Light (energy) in a balanced approach. Some people use Yoga. Some use advanced Reiki concepts. Some visualize energy, often called Kundalini or Ki, flowing up and down their chakras or throughout the body along the Hara Line.
Here is another balanced meditation for your experimentations known under various names including the Middle Pillar Visualization. The following public-domain version of it here first appeared in Israel Regardie’s classic book The Middle Pillar first published in 1938.
1. Visualize a sphere of white light about the size of a tennis ball just above your head. An illumination in a dark space. Keter, 'the crown.' Feel your way into the infinity that Keter represents. See if you can make the sphere glow more brightly with each exhalation.
2. Visualize a sphere of purple light in the area of your throat. Da’at, knowledge.' Imagine looking down at the Milky Way galaxy from outside, for instance, while also feeling your way into the idea of 'force' beginning to come down into 'form', from Keter to Da’at, and from the white sphere above your head, in a shaft of whiteness down into the sphere at your throat. See if you can make the sphere glow more brightly with each exhalation of breath.
3. Visualize a sphere of yellow light at your heart. Tifiret, 'beauty.' This is the sphere of the sun, at the centre of the solar system, just as the heart is also at the centre of your physical being. Visualize the sun pouring out energy to everything within the solar system. And visualize the tennis-ball-sized sphere of yellow light in the region of your heart with it's own healing energy, drawn down from the spheres above through the shaft of the 'middle pillar' that connects each of these spheres.
4. Visualize a silver sphere in the groin area. Yesod, the foundation. This is the sphere of instinct or emotional intelligence and it's connected with the moon, and with dreams, and what occultists might call the 'astral plane'. Again, try and foster the sense of the energy coming down from Keter through each of the spheres, down the middle pillar to here. See if you can make the sphere glow again as you breathe, and see the energy going down yet further to
5. Visualize a sphere of earth colors, greens/browns at your feet. Malchut, the kingdom. Try and maintain the sense of the energy moving down the planes from Keter all the way to Malchut, from the 'universal' to the particular, down the middle pillar to the sphere of Malchut beneath your feet and your physical body.
6. Imagine all of the energy broadening out into a spherical cocoon of yellow-orange light centered on the heart, and surrounding your entire body, extending some distance beyond the limits of your physical body. Relax, and let all parts of the system be integrated and energized. Let this happen of its own accord without forcing anything too much.
7. Slowly return your physical awareness. State: let the fruit of this meditation be stored for right usage.
Recent Praise for The Sun Singer
“The Sun Singer is an enjoyable read of just more than 300 pages. Thirteen chapters make about 45 minutes of reading per sitting, which I did each night before retiring. Of course, if you read about Robert Adams’ adventurous battles and journeys just before going to sleep like I did, you’ll probably find yourself waking up to remembrances of wild, nocturnal, mystical explorations within your own mind.”
--Richard Stafford, Northeast Georgia Living Magazine, Holiday 2005/Winter 2006
--P. S. Berg, The Essential Zohar
“I knew of the three branches of the tree—the three staffs. Your grandfather carried the Staff of Wisdom; Dohver stole it to seal the portal at Lightning Falls. We expected you to bring the Staff of Equilibrium to Pyrrha. David Ward the Lightdancer is in possession of the Staff of Intelligence.”
--Gem (to Robert Adams), in The Sun Singer
Many disciplines highlight the “middle way” or “balanced approach” to spirituality whether they are speaking of the path chosen or the meditations and techniques used while following it. In Kabbalah, the middle pillar (or middle column) of the Tree of Life represents this balanced approach.
The Sun Singer includes a variety of Kabbalistic symbolism. The three staffs, for example, represent the three pillars of the Tree of Life. The neophyte Robert Adams, the novel’s main character, carries the Staff of Equilibrium, indicating that he has been urged to follow a balanced approach on his hero’s journey.
The Tree
The middle, or balancing pillar includes, from top to bottom, the Sefirot Keter, the pseudo-Sefirah called Da’at, followed by Tiferet, Yesod, and Malchut. These are also thought of as Crown, Abyss, Heart, Foundation and Kingdom.
The right-hand pillar, masculine attributes and positive polarity, includes Chockmah, Chesed, and Nezach. These are also thought of as Wisdom or Universal Father, Mercy, and Victory.
The left-hand pillar, feminine attributes and negative polarity, includes Binah, Gvurah, and Hod. These are also thought of as Understanding or Universal Mother, Judgement, and Glory.
The Lightning Bolt
The “natural” route taken by the Light or spiritual energy is a zigzag path through the Tree of Life from the Tree’s crown to the roots. (Via Keter, Chockmah, Da’at, Binah, Chesed, Gvurah, Tiferet, Nezach, Hod, Yesod, and Malchut) This path is represented by a lightning bolt symbol, showing that nourishment and information pass through all of the Sefirot (dimensions) en route to the physical world as represented by Malchut. Reiki healers and students of Buddhist mysticism will also recognize this same lightning bolt in their Raku symbol.
Middle Pillar Exercise
When the middle way, or balanced approach is used to refer to one’s path, it generally indicates lack of extremes as well as the integration of spiritual concerns into a life that includes family, friends, career and hobbies.
There are numerous ways to meditate and utilize Light (energy) in a balanced approach. Some people use Yoga. Some use advanced Reiki concepts. Some visualize energy, often called Kundalini or Ki, flowing up and down their chakras or throughout the body along the Hara Line.
Here is another balanced meditation for your experimentations known under various names including the Middle Pillar Visualization. The following public-domain version of it here first appeared in Israel Regardie’s classic book The Middle Pillar first published in 1938.
1. Visualize a sphere of white light about the size of a tennis ball just above your head. An illumination in a dark space. Keter, 'the crown.' Feel your way into the infinity that Keter represents. See if you can make the sphere glow more brightly with each exhalation.
2. Visualize a sphere of purple light in the area of your throat. Da’at, knowledge.' Imagine looking down at the Milky Way galaxy from outside, for instance, while also feeling your way into the idea of 'force' beginning to come down into 'form', from Keter to Da’at, and from the white sphere above your head, in a shaft of whiteness down into the sphere at your throat. See if you can make the sphere glow more brightly with each exhalation of breath.
3. Visualize a sphere of yellow light at your heart. Tifiret, 'beauty.' This is the sphere of the sun, at the centre of the solar system, just as the heart is also at the centre of your physical being. Visualize the sun pouring out energy to everything within the solar system. And visualize the tennis-ball-sized sphere of yellow light in the region of your heart with it's own healing energy, drawn down from the spheres above through the shaft of the 'middle pillar' that connects each of these spheres.
4. Visualize a silver sphere in the groin area. Yesod, the foundation. This is the sphere of instinct or emotional intelligence and it's connected with the moon, and with dreams, and what occultists might call the 'astral plane'. Again, try and foster the sense of the energy coming down from Keter through each of the spheres, down the middle pillar to here. See if you can make the sphere glow again as you breathe, and see the energy going down yet further to
5. Visualize a sphere of earth colors, greens/browns at your feet. Malchut, the kingdom. Try and maintain the sense of the energy moving down the planes from Keter all the way to Malchut, from the 'universal' to the particular, down the middle pillar to the sphere of Malchut beneath your feet and your physical body.
6. Imagine all of the energy broadening out into a spherical cocoon of yellow-orange light centered on the heart, and surrounding your entire body, extending some distance beyond the limits of your physical body. Relax, and let all parts of the system be integrated and energized. Let this happen of its own accord without forcing anything too much.
7. Slowly return your physical awareness. State: let the fruit of this meditation be stored for right usage.
Recent Praise for The Sun Singer
“The Sun Singer is an enjoyable read of just more than 300 pages. Thirteen chapters make about 45 minutes of reading per sitting, which I did each night before retiring. Of course, if you read about Robert Adams’ adventurous battles and journeys just before going to sleep like I did, you’ll probably find yourself waking up to remembrances of wild, nocturnal, mystical explorations within your own mind.”
--Richard Stafford, Northeast Georgia Living Magazine, Holiday 2005/Winter 2006
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