Water and Spirit     |     Blessed Unrest    |     Meditation on the New World    |     Beyond Attraction      

Photo by Gordon Davidson

WATER AND SPIRIT

 © 2007 by Corinne McLaughlin

Droughts, floods, hurricanes and melting ice caps are increasing everywhere as global warming shakes up our planet.  Can we affect the weather by prayer or meditation?  The Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard, thinks so, as his country is experiencing a six year record drought.  When asked what should be done, he asked the whole country to “pray for rain” and told reporters he made the request without a hint of irony.  And guess what?  It actually started to rain—but not enough yet. Perhaps they need to pray more. 

Is this surprising?  It reminded us of the Hopi Indian creation story, where their tribe wandered over the continent until the Great Spirit guided them to the arid desert of Arizona.  Living there, they’d have to remember their connection to Spirit and do their prayers and sacred ceremonies regularly if they didn’t want to perish from drought.

Although global warming is being caused by human pollution, is Spirit allowing these crises to wake us up and remind us of our connection to Spirit and to all living beings?

In many spiritual traditions, water symbolizes Spirit.  Our planet is a water planet, and our own bodies are more than 60% water.  Lately we’re noticing how many messages are coming to us through our connection to water.  Japanese researcher Dr. Masaru Emoto has found that human thoughts and prayer affect water.  When it is frozen and photographed under a microscope, beautiful or ugly crystals result, depending on the quality of the thoughts projected onto it. 

As we went through airport security on a recent international trip, everyone’s water bottles were taken from them. We were told this was to stop explosives, and that we could buy more water on the other side of security before we boarded the plane.  However, we noticed that the only bottled water available at any stores after the security point was ordinary filtered tap water bottled by the same big corporation.  We couldn’t help wondering if there was something else behind this latest security fear.

As we flew into Greece, we found these same plastic water bottles are ruining the crystal clear beaches, as plastics are carried by wind currents and pile up on the shores.  We saw this as a message that each individual citizen can do something to help protect their national environmental treasure--simply by recycling plastics and picking up litter in natural places.  A beautiful, pure environment begins with each of us.

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BLESSED UNREST:
How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and
Why No One Saw It Coming

Excerpted from a ground-breaking new book by Paul Hawken

I have given nearly one thousand talks about the environment in the past fifteen years, and after every speech a smaller crowd gathered to talk, ask questions, and exchange business cards. The people offering their cards were working on the most salient issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation, human rights, and more. They were from the nonprofit and nongovernmental world, also known as civil society. They looked after rivers and bays, educated consumers about sustainable agriculture, retrofitted houses with solar panels, lobbied state legislatures about pollution, fought against corporate-weighted trade policies, worked to green inner cities, or taught children about the environment. Quite simply, they were trying to safeguard nature and ensure justice.

After being on the road for a week or two, I would return with a couple hundred cards stuffed into various pockets. I would lay them out on the table in my kitchen, read the names, look at the logos, envisage the missions, and marvel at what groups do on behalf of others. Later, I would put them into drawers or paper bags, keepsakes of the journey. I couldn’t throw them away.

Over the years the cards mounted into the thousands, and whenever I glanced at the bags in my closet, I kept coming back to one question: did anyone know how many groups there were? At first, this was a matter of curiosity, but it slowly grew into a hunch that something larger was afoot, a significant social movement that was eluding the radar of mainstream culture.

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My solemn proclamation is that a new universe is created every moment.

            —D.T. Suzuki

Spiritual Practice

MEDITATION ON THE HARMONICS OF THE NEW WORLD
 
© 2007 Corinne McLaughlin
 

Begin by taking a few deep, relaxing breaths…
Going more deeply within,
Letting go of awareness of your body as a temporary expression of who you are….
Letting go of your feelings as temporary expressions…

Feel yourself becoming lighter and lighter, more expanded and free.
Raise your vibrational frequency to resonate with your soul, invoking the Divine presence within you.

Imagine yourself journeying into the future, a few years from now, and from that vantage point, look back at today’s world.

Observe the dysfunction and destruction of the old world as if from a detached distance…notice the dissonant sound it creates.
Notice what spiritual lessons are being learned from the breaking down of the old world.

Now raise your frequency higher still, so you can resonate with aspects of the Plan of Light, the Divine Plan….the big picture.
Notice its beauty and harmony….its all-encompassing synthesis of life.
Hear a new note being sounded, the note of heaven being brought down to earth, Spirit into matter…and experience its
harmonic frequency.

See the seeds of new life growing up everywhere, positive solutions to problems being created by people all over the earth…like radiant points of light…building a new culture, a new world.

See these new seeds being enlivened by Spirit and nurtured with love, supporting the courageous pioneers who have planted them.

Visualize these seeds growing in strength and maturity….see them linking up with other radiant seeds around the earth, forming a latticework of light and new life.

Experience the beauty and the joy of this new world in your own heart.
Recognize your own contribution to this new culture….What can you do to help—in your thoughts and in your actions?

Then slowly return to the present, committing yourself to doing your part to help create this new world…taking the next step you need to take.

Slowly, as you’re ready, open your eyes and write down any insights you had from this meditation.
 

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"AWAKE!
The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep.
You must ask for what you really want.
Don't go back to sleep.
People are going back and forth across the doorsill
Where the two worlds touch.
The door is round and open
Don't go back to sleep."  

                                -- Rumi

BEYOND ATTRACTION

© 2007 by David Spangler

The law of attraction is a powerful force in manifestation and life-shaping.  But what exactly is it?  What is the law of attraction?  We could sum it up by saying that “like attracts like,” but we know from experience that “opposites attract” as well.  If I hold a particular thought or image in my mind, will it actually attract the physical manifestation of that thought or image to me?  Maybe.  Certainly we have experiences in which this is so. But we also have experiences where this does not work.  And if we think about it, this is a good thing, for we may well not want to attract everything that passes through our thoughts and imaginations. 

A friend of mine once said that worrying was praying for what you didn’t want. If the law of attraction is as powerful as it is sometimes made out to be, then indeed I should worry about my worry thoughts, for they will likely bring to me what I’m worrying about!  But a little reflection shows that this doesn’t happen.  In fact, I know several people who are classic worriers, but they never actually manifest or experience the things about which they are concerned or which give them fear.  On the other hand, there are those whose worries really do come to pass, just as the law of attraction would suggest.

This same thing happens in a more positive vein.  Sometimes, we do attract exactly what we have been imagining, visualizing, or thinking about (and when that happens, we may discover it wasn’t what we really wanted!).  But other times, all the positive visualizing, imagining, thinking and feeling doesn’t have any effect at all.

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Letters from the Editor....
 

“Thank you for your article on violence. In your final suggestion, I would also hold the perpetrators of violence in my prayers. As per today’s San Francisco  Chronicle, it is quite shocking what the VT killer underwent at the hands of his fellow students. This does not in any way excuse his actions. It merely highlights the tragedy in a larger, more inclusive context. We are all God’s children.  I appreciate your work and that of “The Center for Visionary Leadership.” –Cornel Barnett

“Thank you very much for this very enlightening article on The Inner Causes of Violence. As it happens I am giving a lecture tonight on almost the exact same topic--how our minds affect our health and the health of the people around us, and how it is our responsibility to guard what we give out and what we take in and nourish. Funny that this common field inspires on the same level in different parts of the world.” --Uffe Rudebeck, Copenhagen, Denmark

“Your articles in this newsletter are fabulous, particularly the ones on shaping politics through consciousness, and on films as spiritual fodder.  Thanks for keeping on with the work, even with how demanding it is!”-- Pat Palmer, San Rafael, CA

“Here's a belated gift in support of your continued efforts in so many areas- as evidenced by your latest newsletter.  Spacious and encouraging, your articles and practices- again and again- reflect the beauty and wisdom of the emergence we witness.” --Alice Erickson, Minneapolis, MN

"Great ideas on violence.  Thank you.  Unfortunately, since people are not personally affected (yet) we will not see much action.   However, MADD (mothers against drunk driving) did set a model for some success.--Ivan Temes

“Thanks for the insightful article.  I’m forwarding it to my brother who’s been teaching at Virginia Tech since ’88.  It’s been extremely difficult for them with the media’s strong hunger to capitalize on the situation.  On another note, I’ve spent many years working from heart’s draw to this felt sense of interconnection. Oftentimes, I’ve been involved and have created groups with the word “peace” in them.  It seems peace has become a four letter word, almost creating a violent response from so many.  I’m thinking of changing my vocabulary from peace to “healing”, since everyone seems to want this.  The terminology used to express our interconnection is so delicate.  I’m now in a group called “Horns for Peace” and considering calling it “Horns for Healing”.  I think Congressman Kucinich would have more success with a Dept. of Healing, funded not only for preventative measures, but for dealing with our return to wholeness from violence. We could put emphasis to stewardship in the care of those hurt from our addictions to conflict.”—Randy Johnson

“Thank you so very much for this thoughtful piece on violence. I especially think your seven recommendations at the end were excellent.  What we focus on we often become, especially if we constantly focus on something.  That's why it is so very important to focus more on solving problems than just resisting or trying to stop them.  I've been trying to get this point across to peace activists for decades.  Although it is true that energy follows thoughts and emotions [energy of motion] which lead to, reinforce, or change previous beliefs and values--they do not create anything by themselves in the physical world. 

Psychological research indicates that each person has over 50,000 thoughts a day and God-only-knows how many "feelings'.  Until these thoughts/feelings, beliefs, and values lead to an intention and/or a commitment to take action--nothing new can be created.  Behavioral action must be taken.  We can see, however, the power of thoughts, feelings, and visual media in its dramatic impact on arriving at our intention for taking that action.  I'm not sure, however, that not watching or reading about any violence is what we want to be doing.  If we disconnect ourselves from the reality of violence are we trying to escape from it,--and our responsibility to help face it and correct it?  Many people refuse to look at the violence that global warming is causing with species annihilation and habitat destruction and the violence being prosecuted by large-scale-corporate capitalism on both the environment and billions of people.  If we refuse to face this violence and think/feel its pain--I seriously doubt if we will be moved to work for significant inner and outer changes in our world.  Avoidance is rarely the answer, but how we choose to focus and what we decide to do with that which we are focusing on. 

Studies have shown that constantly focusing on violence may contribute to people becoming more violent--especially young children who are so vulnerable. If it is true that the inner consciousness leads to outer creation—it’s also true that the outer world impacts and influences the inner consciousness.  The arrows of creation go both ways here.  Many people avoid the reality of deleterious violence in the world and refuse to become activist (and I've heard all the reasons and excuses) --yet it is major activism down through history which has resulted in monumental and momentous changes to reduce violence and make the lot of human beings much better.  Besides Gandhi's famous mass march to the sea for salt, we also have the hundred year womens' suffrage movement, the Civil Rights movement, and the social justice labor movement.  Prayer, meditation, and contemplation are all valid and valuable,--and they are also not enough.  We must be physical activists as well.  That's why we've been given this physical medium or reality to work with and within--because it's really a spiritual medium when seen correctly.  Einstein said, “It's really not energy or matter, but the realm of interchange between the two.”  --Doug E. Wight

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© Copyright 2007 The Center for Visionary Leadership
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