|
|
|
|
JULY/ AUGUST 2006
|
 |
Themes include: |
|
|
How time clarifies values and reveals power relationships |
|
|
How to master time by changing your vibrational frequency |
|
|
Using synchronicity as guidance |
|
|
How time and karma are synonymous |
|
|
How you can get more organized and use time effectively |
Pre-registration: $79 ($95 at the door); call 415-472-2540 or email corinnemc@visionarylead.org for more info. Restaurants are nearby or bring a bag lunch; call for nearby hotel information; nearest airports are San Francisco (1 hour) or Oakland (1 ¼ hours).
YOUR SUPPORT IS NEEDED
Call (202)237-2800, email us or send in your contribution with the donation form and a check or credit card number.
Please send your donation to:
Dear Friends,
Recent events have brought to mind an experience we had with Tibetan Buddhists when we spent five days with the Dalai Lama at his home in Dharamsala, India. They demonstrated for us Westerners a most interesting practice called “Dialectics” where practitioners debate the teachings in a public space while other students and teachers observe. When someone makes a successful argument, they perform a unique ritual of slapping their hands together and sliding one hand up the other arm while making a verbal exclamation. Then another practitioner makes an argument for the opposite view, and if successful, the same slapping and exclamation occur. As an example, they demonstrated a debate about whether the mind is in the body, or the body is in the mind.
But rather than keeping score, as in a scholastic debate or legal courtroom proceeding, the Tibetans said the true purpose of this exercise was to help practitioners realize that our minds can quote scripture and build a case to support either side of an issue in a debate. They told us that the whole point is to appreciate the need for transcending the duality of the lower mind, and instead strive for an enlightened mind which realizes a higher synthesis.
Join us for our annual meeting to hear about our latest projects and share your ideas for future directions and activities. Meet our heartfelt community of visionaries, with professionals active in many fields. (Refreshments will be served). Please RSVP to corinnemc@visionarylead.org, or call (415) 472-2540. A list of nearby hotels is available.
We’re reminded of this practice every time we’re tempted to engage in heated debates over religion (whether they are traditional or new expressions), when scripture is quoted to support each side’s beliefs, but underlying agendas are often hidden. And we recall this practice every time key political issues are angrily debated, or when a public figure is arrested for wrongdoing and lawyers on each side spin their defense to the media. We think it’s crucial today with so much religious and political conflict and violence that we each avoid contributing to this negative energy field.
Fortunately, in the midst of this increasingly polarized world, some sanity is emerging and practical tools are being developed to heal divisions. Facilitated multi-stakeholder, interfaith dialogues and interest-based negotiations leave past history and rigid positions behind in favor of addressing mutually supportive interests and a higher purpose. And increasing numbers of people are learning to meditate, becoming more peaceful as they transcend the illusion of duality.
This issue we feature an article on key Principles for Illuminating the New World and transcending duality, an article that reveals America’s Mission Statement as common ground amidst all our diversity, and an inspirational meditation on nature. We hope you are all taking time off this summer to appreciate the beauty of nature and be more fully in the present moment.
With love and best wishes,
Corinne McLaughlin, Gordon Davidson and Ginger Young
NOTE: Your feedback is very important to us! Please send us your comments.
“The more we take the welfare of others to heart and work for their
benefit, the more benefit we derive for ourselves.”
~The Dalai Lama
If you have explored many spiritual paths and are purely motivated and open-minded in your quest, you will eventually penetrate behind the veil of any conventional religious tradition to the inner, esoteric core at its heart. There you will discover the deeper teachings of the Ageless Wisdom.
The Ageless Wisdom is called the “Golden Thread” that connects the inner, hidden teachings at the heart of the world’s religions, East and West. It’s often referred to as the “Perennial Philosophy” because it’s been present on earth in some form since the beginning of recorded history.
In ancient Greece, for example, behind the popular religion of gods and goddesses with human foibles, there were the deeper Mysteries of Eleusis. In Buddhism, there are the Vajrayana and Kalachakra teachings; in Judaism, the Kabbalah; in Christianity, the Gnostic Gospels and the Essenes; in Hinduism, Advaita; in Islam, Sufism, etc. As you penetrate to the core of any of these, you’ll find remarkable similarities—all emphasize the inner light within each human being and teach the qualities of compassion, justice and service. This core is the Ageless Wisdom, and it has profound insights about the inner Self and the true nature of the universe. Over entrance to the temple of Delphi in ancient Greece were the words: “Man, know thyself and thou will know the universe and the Gods.”
The following meditation can be done inwardly anywhere, or you can sit outside in a place of natural beauty and practice this awareness:
Begin by relaxing....and breathing in peace and stillness...exhaling any tension or worry…release all your cares...
To harmonize with nature, you must drop your burdens, and become child-like and light....
Align with your soul or higher self, as this is the gateway to the soul of nature….
Imagine yourself in a beautiful meadow on a sunny, peaceful day...feel the warm sun on your body...feel the gentle breezes on your skin....breathe in the fresh air, and the perfume of the flowers...feel the grass beneath your feet… experience a sense of oneness with all life...
Tune into nature until you feel the love flow...
Observe the grass, the trees, the flowers...Now look more deeply, beyond their outer form, and see them all as different expressions of light…
As you think in terms of light, you add more light to what already exists, and your energy field aids the growth of plants…
Give free reign to your imagination, yet keep a sense of detachment, as you observe what is occurring…
Now make contact with the life that ensouls one of the flowers you are observing, or one of the trees....attune to its inner essence and feel a sense of oneness with it....
Inwardly express your appreciation of the beauty of nature...Consciousness of beauty in any part of the universe brings you into oneness with the whole...
Now experience a healing energy returning to you from nature...blessing you...energizing you...
Affirm your willingness to cooperate with nature in your garden and/or the plants inside your home...
Reflect on what you can do to help protect the beauty of our shared environment...
End by sending your light and love to the earth, to bless and heal it, restoring it in every way.
"I abhor war and view it as the greatest scourge of mankind... Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy, and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it."
~Thomas Jefferson
Uncommon Sense
by Errol Strider
Buried in our national literature, usually glossed over, taken-for-granted, casually crossed off as so much hyperbole is our national mission statement. Yes, we have a clear, concise mission statement that identifies six very specific goals (agendas) for our country…to which we are called to manifest. In fact it is the active participation in achieving our six goals that truly makes us Americans. And to the degree that we are participating in achieving these goals, we can proudly call ourselves, Americans.
So I hope that by now, I have piqued your interest and you’re asking, “Okay already, what is the mission?” If this occurs to you, take a second to notice whether or not you even know what it is. No blame. Neither do most of the rest of the many people I’ve asked. It’s a question of positioning. When you see what our mission is, when you hear it spoken, when you feel the energy of the mission as our shared purpose as Americans, you will appreciate that it is the great dark horse of our collective American Soul.
So what is it already?
“We, the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity do”…
"I want to appreciate your May-June issue, and I delight in the quote from Kahlil Gibran on keeping “your heart open in wonder at the daily miracles of your life.” A dozen or so years ago at Findhorn, I saw a wonderful bumper sticker: LET PEACE BEGIN WITH ME."—Mike Goldberg, Jerusalem, Israel
"These are nice thoughts. Of course, each person has to do what their can in their own environment. The bigger picture makes it appear overwhelming." — Ivan Temes, Palo Alto, CA
"You have created one of the most inspirational newsletters on the planet, and you are fully living the life that supports creating heaven on earth. Thank you for your faith and commitment. If there is ever a way I can be of service to you, please call on me." — Julianne Hanson, Maui, HI
|
|
