The Sacred Art of Manifestation: This School of Earth

How many times have we heard that the “Earth is a school” and that we are in a process of learning?  But how many times have we refused to take the course?  The idea that manifestation is a process of consciously desiring, a conscious way to “get what I want” is immature at best and pernicious at worst, for it assumes that “man is the measure of all things.”  In fact, we cannot even remember what we did yesterday, not to mention our birth, or lifetimes past.  

Who are we, really?  Where do we come from?  Why are we here with one another?  Is it not, ultimately, to learn how to love, and to love more fully and powerfully? 

And what if, in this process, what we want is what we already have? This does not have to be resignation or fatalism.  What if we are being asked to work skillfully, lovingly, intricately, and mindfully with the exact circumstances given to us, with every detail from taking a drink of water, to tying our shoes, to fixing the car, to opening to our pain, to accepting the depth of our feelings, to working energetically for change?  

An ordinary day can become an eon.  A simple walk outside can be a walk into blazing glory. Can we love our life, the one we have been given, so much that we may be inspired to use it well? 

Can we receive so deeply that every exhale is an offering? 

Can this very day be the day, the time of our awakening? 

RJ

The Politics of Abundance

The Politics of Abundance: Should We Care Who is Elected?

First, this is not a “political” statement, this is about the Practice of Abundance, but if Abundance is to be real, it must manifest across the board, and that includes in the political arena.

On one hand, it does not matter who is elected, be it through big tobacco, oil, pharmaceutical money, or the like. The politician is the product of the cultural vibration and not its source. And it is a bit foolish to expect elected officials to “change things,” the middle moves slowly, human evolution moves extremely slowly, and public work takes patience and humility.

From the point of view of “the work,” we are the ones who must change. But why do we get hooked, as a people, into the drama of it? Why is politics such big news? After all, if the other guy had been elected president, would gas prices be any different?

A Light on the Hill: Accomplishment in Flow

Among other things, we have been exploring on the BLOG the relationship between “loving what is,” and moving toward “what can be.”

Recently, I had the privledge to spend some time at Light on the Hill, a wonderful retreat center in Van Etten, New York, run by Larwence Muscat and Alice McDowell. I have been coming regularly to Light on the Hill for over 12 years, and during that time, I’ve witnessed an extraordinary manifestation: the conception, construction, and execution of a wonderful building, the “Inner Light Lodge,” that holds a powerful sacred space for workshops, can comfortably lodge over 30 people, has a first class kitchen, a breathaking view, and a palpable aura of luminescence all around it. Since the Lodge was completed over a year ago, various groups have flocked to the center, which is powerfully facilitating high quality of consciousness transformation work.

I know how many people dream of building holistic centers, and I know that Omega Institute’s workshop, “How to Start a Holistic Center,” draws huge numbers of participants each summer. But I also know how few of these dreams ever materialize, and how those that do materialize often wind up struggling with, and cowtowing to, the money economy that they wished to rise above. One thing I have noticed about Alice and Larry over the years is that even as their center grew, they were not consumed by it. They remain relaxed, open, and receiving to all who come by. So I asked them one evening about this question of manifestation in terms of the Lodge. 

Savoring the Present

“There is a moment in each day that Satan cannot find.
Nor can his Watch fiends find it, but the Industrious find this moment and it multiply.
& When it is once found, It renovates every Moment of the day…”

~ William Blake, Milton

At some moment every day, we perceive the mystery. At some moment every day, we are gifted with its presence. But all too easily we are brought down by the tide of circumstances, and by the great rush to nowhere that our lives have become.

“Living in the Present” has become a cliche, unfortunately, but what if one were to realize that the “present” is “a present,” a gift? What if, instead of all the vain efforts at meditation, or purity, or health; one could stop and receive the gift that appears “at some moment every day,” and reconstruct the day around that grace?

This is not an exercise in sentimentality, this is an exercise in opening the doors of perception, of breathing in deep appreciation, of acknowledging those minor moments of revelation. Last night, we were in circle and someone was chanting powerfully in an unknown language. Instead of closing my eyes and trying to go somewhere else, I kept my eyes and ears open to receive the gift. And for a brief moment, the bowl of water in the center altar of the earth became the center of everything, and everything and everyone fit beautifully and perfectly into that pattern emerging from the great center both ever full and empty at once, a miracle in a blink of an eye. But acknowledging these moments, by writing about them, sharing them, affirming them, we move into the world of renewal as opposed to the world of strife and loss. There is a moment in each day….

The Community of Acceptance

The search for community is often a long and hard one. We all desperately want, and need, to belong to something, somewhere, somehow, and yet we have also fought desperately for our freedom and are legitimately fearful of backsliding into group dynamics that suffocate individual expression and creativity. 

This, in essence, is the problem around the desire and need for both community and freedom, for arguably, we cannot have one without the other. The late 70’s and so called “me-generation” 80’s perhaps witnessed the apex of individualism in unbridled capitalism, the quest for endless sensation and experience, and ultimately (as Philip Slater entitled it) the pursuit of loneliness.  

Ironically, as the “glory of me” ideal was cracking through various forms of addiction, existential despair, and loss of will, the ideal of the commune was also falling apart. The construct of any collective willing to sacrifice the individual for its group mind was revealed as stultifying and oppressive.  And as one communal experiment after another grew up, and then disbanded, through the counter-culture, the challenges of our living together were painfully revealed.

Radiant Spirit (final): Ten Practices of Abundance

 

Note:  This is the final installment of Rick’s “Radiant Spirit” article, featuring practices 8-10, that we can work with daily.  Previous installments posted below (starting on April 4); comments welcome.

Worship is the Ultimate Art Form 

We have forgotten worship. We were oppressed with it, and it became a chore. But receiving the continuous overflow of fullness engenders awesome response. Worship is the art-form that anyone can practice with anything that is at hand. You can create your own style of loving life, of giving back the overflow – flowers, water song, dance, altars. Make altars wherever you go, indoors or outdoors, in the back yard, in the living room, and in the office. The altar of the earth, the altar of the sea, the altar of the desk, the altar of the soccer field, allow your inner artist to burst forth in praise and glory!

Radiant Spirit (cont.): Abundance Practices 5, 6 & 7

 

This is the fourth installment of Rick’s “Radiant Spirit” article, featuring practices of abundance 5-7, that we can work with daily.  This series began on April 4.  

Radiant Spirit (cont.): Abundance Practices 3 & 4

 

This is the third installment of Rick’s “Radiant Spirit” article, featuring the third & fourth practices of abundance that we can work with daily.  This series began on April 4.  Comments welcome!

Radiant Spirit (cont.): Abundance Practices 1 & 2

This is the second installment of Rick’s “Radiant Spirit” article, featuring the first & second practices of abundance.  The first installment was posted on April 4.

The Radiant Spirit: Ten Practices of Abundance

Note: Rick is immersed in a particularly busy flurry of activity currently, so I am posting a recent article of his, in installments.  I hope you enjoy it.  Following is the introduction; the ten practices have been subsequently posted in manageable bytes.  

The Radiant Spirit: Ten Practices of Abundance

The Practice of Abundance is a doorway into secular enlightenment, the non-denominational openness to the free flow of Spirit in our lives. It is not to be confused with feel-good prosperity programs and romanticized new-age proclamations that deny economic and social realities. Rather, the practice of Abundance allows us to develop an open flow and compassionate awareness through these very realities. It asks us to be clear, alert, and awake enough to transform every interactive moment into an opportunity for the expansion of consciousness. In this way, the temples of truth and beauty take up their residence in our shopping malls and offices; and if we are willing to practice, there is no real need for a meditation cushion. The life you are given becomes your meditation, and the cushion just helps to prepare you for the true challenge of living every day in source and heart connection with everything and everyone.