LOVELIGHT
Magazine
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January 2010*** Vol. 6, no.1
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Managing Editors: Adamaria Francis and a Franciscan taoist
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Special thanks, and public acknowledgements to, the
following contributors to this issue (our ÒstaffÓ): Barbara Baty, Jim Dwyer, Maureen Dwyer, Pat Fields, Mick Gallagher, Steven McDaniel, and Ty
Scharrer
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LOVELIGHT
MAGAZINE: WHAT WE'RE ALL ABOUT
Lovelight magazine is free, coming to your inboxscreen
monthly, to announce the beauty of Love!
And we love to laugh!:) So,
if you discover any good chuckles, please send them along!:) But no bigoted, prejudiced,
scatological, geruntological, low-quality, or poor-taste humor, please.
Still, life is not all laughs.
So, we hope also to share pleasant and happy thoughts. Lovelight wants to promote peace and
harmony, among all diverse peoples, and to aid you to feel good!:) If you are working on any religious,
psychological, or spiritual issues, we encourage you to read the ezine, and to
write to us at rmfrancis@juno.com
Also, if you come across any wise or touching pieces, not copyrighted,
fairly short, please share them with us!
Also welcome are practical tips, short pieces on personal philosophies,
interesting facts, wordplays, and general spirituality (but no religion or
"preachy" dogma, please.:).
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This is "light" reading.
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A collection of magazines is produced once a year, in a single paperback
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*****
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REMEMBER: Cell
Phone Numbers Go Public, sent in by Pat Fields
REMEMBER: Cell Phone Numbers Go Public this month.
REMINDER: All cell phone numbers are being released
to telemarketing companies and you will start to receive sales
calls. YOU WILL BE CHARGED FOR
THESE CALLS. To prevent
this, call the following number from your cell phone:
888-382-1222. It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take
a minute of
your time; it blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call
from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call
from a different phone number.
Please help OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON! It takes about 20 seconds.
https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx
*****
*****
LAUGH IT AWAY: Humortherapy
PRICELESS, sent in by Ty Scharrer,
A man worked for the Post Office to process all the mail that had illegible
addresses. One day, a letter came addressed in a shaky handwriting Òto God,Ó
with no actual address. He opened it to see what it said.
The letter read: ÒDear God,
I am an 83 year old widow, living on a very small pension. Yesterday someone
stole my purse. It had $100 in it, which was all the money I had in the whole
world. Next Sunday is Christmas,
and I had invited two of my friends over for dinner. Without that money, I have
nothing to buy food with, have no family to turn to, and you are my only
hope. Can you please help me?
Sincerely, EdnaÓ
The postal worker was touched. He showed the letter to all the other workers.
Each one dug into his or her wallet and came up with a few dollars. He had collected $96, which they put
into an envelope and sent to the woman.
The rest of the day, all the workers felt a warm glow thinking of Edna
and the dinner she would be able to share with her friends. Christmas came and went. A few
days later, another letter came from the same old lady to God. All
the workers gathered around while the letter was opened. It read:
ÓDear God,
How can I ever thank you enough for what you did for me? Because of your gift of love, I was
able to fix a glorious dinner for my friends. We had a very nice day and I
told my friends of your wonderful gift. By the way, there was $4 missing.
I think it might have been those bastards at the post office.
Sincerely, EdnaÓ
*****
It is a good thing that we do not perform acts of kindness
to be acknowledged by human beings, but to heal the soul and to receive good
karma.
***
AN ITALIAN BOY'S
CONFESSION, sent in by Jim Dwyer
ÒBless me Father, for I have sinned.Ó
Ó I have been with a loose girl.Ó
The priest asks ÒIs that you, little Joey
Pagano?Ó
ÒYes, Father, it is.Ó
ÒAnd who was the girl you were
with?Ó
ÓI can't tell you, Father. I don't
want to ruin her reputation.Ó
"Well, Joey, I'm sure to find out her name sooner or later so you might as
well tell me now. Was it Tina Minetti?Ó
ÒI cannot say.Ó
ÒWas it Teresa Mazzarelli?Ó
ÒI'll never tell.Ó
ÒWas it Nina Capelli?Ó
ÒI'm sorry, but I cannot name
her.Ó
ÒWas it Cathy Piriano?Ó
ÒMy lips are sealed.Ó
ÒWas it Rosa DiAngelo then?Ó
ÒPlease, Father, I cannot tell
you.Ó
The priest sighed in
frustration. ÒYou're very tight lipped,
and I admire that,
But you've sinned and have to atone. You cannot be an altar boy now for
4 months. Now you go and behave
yourself.Ó
Joey walked back to his pew, and his friend Anthony slid over and whispers, ÒWhat'd
you get?Ó
ÒFour months vacation-- and five good leads!Ó
***
THE BAGPIPER, sent in by
Jim Dwyer
As a bagpiper, I
was asked by a funeral director to play at a graveside service for a
homeless man who had no family or friends.
The funeral was
to be held at a cemetery in the remote countryside and this man would
be the first to be laid to rest there. As I was not familiar with the backwoods area, I became
lost and (being a typical man), did not stop for directions.
I finally
arrived an hour late. I saw the backhoe and the crew who were eating
lunch, but the hearse was nowhere in sight. I apologized to the workers for my tardiness and stepped to
the side of the open grave where I saw the vault lid already in place. I
assured the workers I would not hold them up for long but this was the proper
thing to do. The workers gathered around, still eating their lunch. I played
out my heart and soul.
As I played the workers began to weep. I played
and I played like I'd never played before, from ÒGoing HomeÓ and ÒThe Lord is My ShepherdÓ to ÒFlowers of the
Forest.Ó I closed the
lengthy session with ÒAmazing GraceÓ and walked to my car. As I was opening the door and taking
off my coat, I overheard one of the workers saying, ÒSweet Jeezuz, Mary 'n Joseph, I have never seen
nothin' like that before, and I've been puttin' in septic tanks for twenty
years!Ó
***
THE BUS,
sent in by Jim Dwyer
|
FROM THE OLD SITCOM
ÒCHEERS,Ó sent in by Barbara Baty
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THE
AFGHAN QUARTERBACK, sent in by Ty Scharrer
|
The coach had put together the perfect team for the
Detroit Lions. The only thing
that was missing was a good quarterback. He had scouted all the colleges and
even the Canadian and European Leagues, but he couldn't find a ringer who
could ensure a Super Bowl win. Then one night while watching CNN he saw
a war-zone scene in Afghanistan . In one corner of the background, he spotted
a young Afghan Muslim soldier with a truly incredible arm. |
|
He threw a hand-grenade straight into a 15th story window
100 yards away. KABOOM!
The young Afghan was hailed as the great hero of football, and when
the coach asked him what he wanted, all the young man wanted was to call his
mother. "I don't want to talk to you,Ó the old Muslim woman said. "You are not my son!Ó "I don't think you understand, Mother," the young man pled. "I've won the greatest sporting event in the world. I'm here among thousands of my adoring fans.Ó
"No! Let me tell you!" his mother retorted. "At this
very moment, there are gunshots all around us. The neighborhood is a pile of
rubble. Your two brothers were beaten within an inch of their lives
last week, and I have to keep your sister in the house so she doesn't get
raped!" The old lady paused, and then tearfully said, *** |
SIX TIMES,
sent in by Jim Dwyer
Last Thursday Night Around Midnight, A Woman From Houston ,
Texas Was Arrested, Jailed, And Charged With Manslaughter For Shooting A Man 6
Times In The Back
The Following Monday Morning, The Woman Was Called In Front Of The
Arraignment Judge, Sworn In, And Asked To Explain Her Actions.
The Woman Replied, "I Was Standing At The Corner Bus Stop For About 15 Minutes,
Waiting For The Bus To Take Me Home After Work.
I Am A Waitress At A Local Cafe... I Was There Alone, So I Had My Right Hand On
My Pistol,That Was In My Purse, That Was Hung Over My Left Shoulder.
All Of A Sudden I Was Being Spun Around Hard To My Left.
As I Caught My Balance, I Saw A Man Running Away From Me With My Purse. I
Looked Down At My Right Hand And I Saw That My Fingers Were Wrapped
Tightly Around My Pistol. The Next Thing I Remember Is Saying Out Loud,
"No Way Punk! Your Not Stealing My Pay Check And Tips."
I Raised My Right Hand, Pointed My Pistol At The Man Running Away From
Me with my Purse And Squeezed The Trigger Of My Pistol 6 Times!
When Asked By The Arraignment Judge, "Why Did You Shoot The Man 6 Times?
The Woman Replied Under Oath, "Because, When I Pulled The Trigger The
7th Time, It Only Went Click."
The Woman Was Acquitted Of All Charges. She Was Back At Work, At The Cafe, The
Next Day! Now that's Gun Control.
***
THE POWER of LOVE,
sent in by Jim Dwyer
A very old man lay dying in his bed. In death's doorway, he
suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite chocolate chip cookies wafting up
the stairs. He gathered his
remaining strength and lifted himself from the bed. Leaning against the wall,
he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and with even greater effort forced
himself down the stairs, gripping the railing with both hands.
With labored breath, he leaned against the door frame, gazing into the
kitchen. Were it not for death's agony, he would have thought himself already
in heaven.
There, spread out on newspapers on the kitchen table, were
literally hundreds of his favorite chocolate chip cookies. Was it heaven? Or was it one final act
of heroic love from his devoted wife, seeing to it that he left this world a happy
man?
Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself toward the table. The
aged and withered hand, shaking, made its way to a cookie at the edge of the
table, when he was suddenly smacked with a spatula by his wife.
"Stay out of those," she said. "They're for the funeral."
***
THE POWER OF A BADGE, sent
in by Jim Dwyer
The DEA officer stopped at a ranch, and talked with an old
rancher. He told the rancher, "I need to inspect your ranch for illegally
grown drugs."
The rancher said, "Okay, but do not
go in that field over there," as he pointed out a specific location.
The DEA officer verbally exploded, saying,
" Mister, I have the authority of the Federal Government with me."
Reaching into his rear pant's pocket, he removes his badge and proudly displays
it to the rancher. "See this badge? This badge means I am allowed to go
wherever I wish . . . on any land. No questions asked or answers given. Have I
made myself clear? Do you understand?"
The rancher nodded politely,
apologized, and went about his chores.
A short time later, the old rancher
heard loud screams, and saw the DEA officer running for his life chased by the
rancher's big Santa Gertrudis bull . . .
With every step, the bull was gaining
ground on the officer, and it seemed likely that the man would soon get gored
before he reached safety. The officer was clearly terrified. The rancher
threw down his tools, ran to the fence, and yelled at the top of his lungs
to the petrified officer, "Your BADGE! Show him your
BADGE!"
***
FUNNY
BUMPERSTICKER, sent in by
Barbara Baty
HONK IF YOU LOVE JESUS
Text while driving if
you'd like to meet him.
*****
*****
AMERICA WITHOUT A MIDDLE
CLASS, sent in by Barbara Baty
Can you imagine an America without a strong middle class? If
you can, would it still be America as we know it?
Today, one in five Americans is unemployed, underemployed or
just plain out of work. One in nine families can't make the minimum
payment on their credit cards. One in eight mortgages is
in default or foreclosure.
One in eight Americans is on food stamps.
More than 120,000 families are filing for bankruptcy
every month. The economic crisis has wiped more than $5 trillion
from pensions and savings,
has left family balance sheets upside down, and threatens to put ten million
homeowners out on the street.
Families have survived the ups and downs of economic booms
and busts for a long time, but the fall-behind during the busts has gotten
worse while the surge-ahead during the booms has stalled out. In the boom of
the 1960s, for example, median family income jumped by 33% (adjusted for
inflation). But the boom of the 2000s resulted in an almost-imperceptible 1.6%
increase for the typical family. While Wall Street executives and others who owned
lots of stock celebrated how good the recovery was for them, middle class
families were left empty-handed.
The crisis facing the middle class started more than a
generation ago. The regime of
George W.Bush still further weakened our country. Even as productivity rose,
the wages of the average fully-employed male have been flat since the 1970s. But
core expenses kept going up. By the early 2000s, families were spending twice
as much (adjusted for inflation) on mortgages than they did a generation ago --
for a house that was, on average, only ten percent bigger
and 25 years older. They also had to pay twice as much to hang on to their
health insurance.
To cope, millions of families put a second parent into the workforce.
But higher housing and medical costs combined with new expenses for child care,
the costs of a second car to get to work and higher taxes combined to squeeze families even harder.
Even with two incomes, they tightened their belts. Families today spend less
than they did a generation ago on food, clothing, furniture, appliances, and
other flexible purchases -- but it hasn't been enough to save them. Today's
families have spent all their income, have spent all their savings, and have
gone into debt to pay for college, to cover serious medical problems, and just
to stay afloat a little while longer.
Through it all, families never asked for a handout from anyone,
especially Washington. They were left to go on their own, working harder,
squeezing nickels, and taking care of themselves. But their economic boats have
been taking on water for years, and now the crisis has swamped millions of
middle class families.
The contrast with the big banks could not be sharper. While the middle
class has been caught in an economic vise, the financial industry that was
supposed to serve them has prospered at their expense. Consumer banking --
selling debt to middle class families -- has been a gold mine.
Boring banking has given way to creative banking, and the industry has
generated tens of billions of dollars annually in fees made possible by
deceptive and dangerous terms buried in the fine print of opaque,
incomprehensible, and largely unregulated contracts.
And when various forms of this creative banking triggered economic
crisis, the banks went to Washington for a
handout. All the while, top executives kept their jobs and
retained their bonuses. Even though the tax dollars that supported the bailout
came largely from middle class families -- from people already working hard to
make ends meet -- the beneficiaries of those tax dollars are now lobbying Congress
to preserve the rules that had let those huge banks feast off the middle class.
Pundits talk about "populist rage" as a way to trivialize the
anger and fear coursing through the middle class. But they have it wrong.
Families understand with crystalline clarity that the rules they have played by
are not the same rules that govern Wall Street. They understand that no
American family is "too big to fail." They recognize that business
models have shifted and that big banks are pulling out all the stops to squeeze
families and boost revenues. They understand that their economic security is
under assault and that leaving consumer debt effectively unregulated does not
work.
Families are ready for change. According to polls, large majorities
of Americans have welcomed the Obama Administration's proposal for a new
Consumer Financial Protection Agency (CFPA). The CFPA would be answerable to
consumers -- not to banks and not to Wall Street. The agency would have the
power to end tricks-and-traps pricing and to start leveling the playing field
so that consumers have the tools they need to compare prices and manage their
money. The response of the big banks has been to swing into action against the
Agency, fighting with all their lobbying might to keep business-as-usual. They are pulling out
all the stops to kill
the agency before it is born. And
if those practices crush millions more families, who cares -- so long as the
profits stay high and the bonuses
keep coming.
America today has plenty of rich and super-rich. But it has far more
families who did all the right things, but who still have no real security.
Going to college and finding a good job no longer guarantee economic safety.
Paying for a child's education and setting aside enough for a decent retirement
have become distant dreams. Tens of millions of once-secure middle class
families now live paycheck to paycheck, watching as their debts pile up, and
worrying about whether a pink slip or a bad diagnosis will send them hurtling
over an economic cliff. America
without a strong middle class? Unthinkable, but the once-solid foundation is
shaking.
***
Elizabeth Warren is the
Leo Gottlieb Professor of Law at Harvard and is currently the Chair of the
Congressional Oversight Panel.
*****
*****
TEST FOR
BABYBOOMERS sent in by Mickey Gallagher
01. 'Get your kicks,
__________________.'
02. 'The story you are about to see is true. The names have been changed to
___________________.'
03. 'In the jungle, the mighty jungle, ________________.'
04. After the Twist, The Mashed Potato, and the Watusi, we 'danced' under a
stick that was lowered as low as we could go in a dance called the
'_____________.'
05. Nestle's makes the very best .
. . . _______________.'
06. What takes a licking and keeps
on ticking? _______________.
07. Red Skeleton's hobo character
was named __________________ and Red always ended his television show by
saying, 'Good Night, and '________ ________. '
08. Some Americans who protested
the Vietnam War did so by burning their______________.
09. The cute little car with the
engine in the back and the trunk in the front was called the VW. What other
names did it go by? ____________ & _______________.
10. We can remember the first satellite placed into orbit. The
Russians did it. It was called ___________________.
11. One of the big fads of the
late 50's and 60's was a large plastic ring that we twirled around our waist.
It was called the __ ______________.
ANSWERS :
01.On Route 66 02. To protect the
innocent. 03. The Lion Sleeps Tonight 04. The limbo 05. Chocolate 06. The Timex watch 07. Freddy, The
Freeloader and 'Good Night and God Bless.' 08. Draft cards 09. Beetle or Bug 10. Sputnik 11.Hoola-hoop
BLOODCLOTS AND
STROKE: THEY NOW HAVE A FOURTH INDICATOR—THE TONGUE, sent in by
Barbara Baty
STROKE: Remember
the 1st Three Letters.... S.
T. R: STROKE IDENTIFICATION: During a BBQ, a woman stumbled and
took a little fall; she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered
to call paramedics) .she said she had just tripped over a brick
because of her new shoes.
While she appeared a bit shaken up, Jane went about enjoying
herself the rest of the evening. Jane's husband called
later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital
- (at 6:00
pm Jane passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had
they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Jane would
be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless,
hopeless condition instead. It only
takes a minute to read this. A neurologist
says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally
reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick
was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the
patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.
RECOGNIZING A STROKE: Thank God
for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STR .
Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to
identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke
victim might suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to
recognize the symptoms.
Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three
simple questions:
S:*Ask the individual to SMILE.
T: *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE
(Coherently)
(i.e. It is sunny out today.)
R: *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.
If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these
tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to
the dispatcher.
New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your
Tongue
NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other, that is also an indication of a stroke. A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people, you can bet that at least one life will be saved.
*****
*****
SMELL THE ROSES,
sent in by Jim Dwyer
For those of you who might be music lovers like me. This is
a sad but true story.
Violinist in the
Subway
Washington, DC
Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007: The man with a violin played
six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time approx. 2 thousand
people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3
minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his
pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.
4 minutes later: The violinist received his first
dollar: a woman threw the money in the hat and, without stopping, continued to
walk.
6 minutes: A young man leaned against the wall to
listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.
10 minutes: A 3-year old boy stopped; but his
mother tugged him along hurriedly. The kid stopped to look at the violinist
again, but the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his
head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every
parent, without exception, forced her children to move on quickly.
45 minutes: The musician played continuously.
Only 6 people stopped and listened for a short while. About 20 gave money but
continued to walk at their normal pace. The man collected a total of $32.
1 hour: He finished
playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there
any recognition.
No one knew this,
but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the greatest musicians in the world.
He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth
$3.5 million. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where
the seats averaged $100.
This is a true
story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized
by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste
and people's priorities. The question is: in a common place environment at an
inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we
recognize talent in an unexpected context?
One possible
conclusion reached from this experiment could be this: If we do not have
a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world, playing
some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful
instruments ever made.... How many other things are we missing?
Stop a while
and breathe in the life all around you for 20 seconds. That could change your day
completely.
*****
*****
Ecstasy, sent in by Steven
Encyclopedia of the Unusual and Unexplained :: Religious Phenomena
"All that the soul knows when it is left to itself is nothing in comparison with the knowledge that is given it during ecstasy. When the soul is raised aloft, illumined by the presence of God, when God and it are lost in each other, it apprehends and possesses with joy good things which it cannot describe. The soul swims in joy and knowledge." (Angela da Foligno, mystic, quoted by Father A. Poulain in The Graces of Interior Prayer [1910])
Many students of spirituality describe the ecstatic experience as the mystic state parexcellence. Mystics from all traditions agree in regarding ecstasy as a wonderful state—the one in which the human spirit is swept up and into an immediate union with the divine. As Evelyn Underhill points out in her Mysticism (1911), the word has become synonymous with joyous exaltation: "The induced ecstasies of the Dionysian mysteries, the metaphysical raptures of the Neoplatonists, the voluntary or involuntary trance of Indian mystics and Christian saints—all these, however widely they may differ in transcendental value, agree in claiming such value, in declaring that this change of consciousness brought with it a valid and ineffable apprehension of the Real."
Ecstasy differs from meditation—one of the stages that may precede it—both in character and development. In all the lengthy preliminary training of the mystical consciousness, a constant exertion of the will is required. But when at last the new and long-desired experiences come to the mystic "like a flash" into the psyche, he or she knows that there is nothing more to do than to accept that which has been given.
Fredric W. H. Myers (1843-1901) observed that the evidence for ecstasy is stronger than the evidence for any other religious belief. "Of all the subjective experiences of religion, ecstasy is that which has been most urgently, perhaps to the psychologist most convincingly asserted; and it is not confined to any one religion," Myers said. "From the medicine manÉup to St. John, St. Peter, and St. Paul, with BuddhaÉ on the way, we find records which, though morally and intellectually much differing, are in psychological essence the same."
Evelyn Underhill states that ecstasy "represents the greatest possible extension of the spiritual consciousness in the direction of Pure Being: the blind intent stretching here receives its reward in a profound experience of Eternal Life. In this experience, the consciousness of 'I-hood,' of space and timeÉall that belongs to the World of Becoming and our own place thereinÉare suspended. The vitality which we are accustomed to split amongst these various things, is gathered up to form a state of pure apprehensionÉa vivid intuition of the Transcendent."
Underhill goes on to explain that in the perfect unity of consciousness that comes in a state of ecstasy, the mystic is so concentrated on the Absolute that his or her faculties are suspended and he or she ceases to think of himself or herself as separate from the "All That Is." The mystic becomes so immersed in the Absolute that "as the bird cannot see the air which supports it, nor the fish the ocean in which it swims, [the mystic] knows all, but think naught, perceives all, but conceives naught."
In addition to the passive nature of ecstasy, another characteristic of its content is its relative unity and the narrowness of its conscious field. To a large extent, the outside world is shut out, and the five senses are completely closed to external stimuli. Every other thought, feeling, or emotion is pushed out of the mind but the idea of God and the emotions of joy and love. These fill the mind to the exclusion of nearly everything else, and are themselves blended into a single whole. The mystic does not believe God to be present; he or she feels God united with his or her soul, so that this intense awareness and its strong emotional accompaniment leave no room in his or her consciousness for anything else.
A story is told that St. Ignatius (1491-1556) was seated at the side of a road, looking at the stream that crossed it, absorbed in contemplation, when the eyes of his soul were opened and inundated with light. He was able to distinguish nothing with his five senses, but he comprehended marvelously a great number of truths pertaining to the faith or to the human sciences. The new concepts and ideas were so numerous and the light so bright that St. Ignatius seemed to enter into a new world. The amount of this new knowledge was so great that, according to Ignatius, all that he had learned in his life up to his 62nd year, whether supernatural or through laborious study, could not be compared to what he had learned at this one ecstatic experience.
The knowledge that one receives while in a state of ecstasy is immediate and
leaves the percipient with a complete sense of the noetic, an inner knowing and
awareness that what was shown to him or her in the ecstatic vision is the way
things truly are. The knowledge received in such a state often has very little
to do with conceptual or representative knowledge about things. To the mystic, true
reality does not lie in such knowledge. Only in an immediate experience, a
visionary ecstatic experience, which stands for itself alone, can one find true
reality—and most certainly of all, there alone can one find the ultimate
reality with God. [This is the
altered state indicated by both the Greek gnosis and the Sanskrit jnana.]
St. Teresa of Avila (1515-1582), the esteemed Spanish Carmelite nun, mystic, and writer, referred in her last great work, the Interior Castle (1577), to four degrees of the mystic union with God:
Perhaps the most dramatic characteristic of the ecstatic experience is the occasional phenomenon of visions, often of Christ, Mary, various saints, or angels. Since so many of these visionary encounters are compatible with the ecstatic's religious beliefs, certain researchers maintain that the visions of the mystics are determined in content by their spiritual orientation and are set in motion by the imagination working in dreamlike fashion upon the mass of theological material which fills the mind. Some researchers also find it likely that the vision, much like a normal dream, originates from some sensational stimulus which the imagination proceeds to interpret and elaborate.
Mystic ecstasy, to the percipient of the experience, reveals a genuine truth. He or she is brought face-to-face with ultimate reality that is experienced with emotions and intuition. A transcendence of the self is achieved. The mystic returns from the experience with the certainty of having been somewhere else where a revelation of some remarkable truth was given, a truth such as reality is unitary and divine; even ordinary human experiences are phenomenal; the soul, which is the key to reality, may rise to oneness with God; that God's presence may be found everywhere hidden in the midst of daily life.
In her Ecstasy: A Study of Some Secular and Religious Experiences (1961), Marghanita Laski lists five principal manifestations of the ecstatic mystical experience:
Laski states that ecstatic experiences can never be satisfactorily explained if it is suggested that ecstasies are "Éonly this or only that—only a phenomenon of repressed sexuality or only a concomitant of some or other morbid condition." In her examination of the recipients' convictions of the value of the ecstatic experience, she came to believe that such manifestations must be "treated as important outside religious contexts, as having important effects on people's mental and physical well-being, on their aesthetic preferences, their creativity, their beliefs and philosophies, and on their conduct.É" To ignore or to deny the importance of ecstatic experiences, Laski contends, is "to leave to the irrational the interpretation of what many people believe to be of supreme value."
Bach, Marcus. The Inner Ecstasy. New York, Cleveland: World Publishing, 1969.
James, William. Varieties of Religious Experience. Garden City, N.Y.: Masterworks Program, 1971.
Otto, Rudolf. The Idea of the Holy. New York: Galaxy Books, 1958.
Suzuki, D. T. Mysticism, Christian and Buddhist. New York: Perennial, 1971.
Tart, Charles T. Altered States of Consciousness. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1969.
Underhill, Evelyn. Mysticism. New York: Dutton, 1961.
*****
*****
The following is an excerpt from Journey to the Center of
the Soul, Part 1
Chapter 3/
Who Do You Think You Are?
The Nature of "Self" and "Soul"
***
It'll knock your socks off exploding like a supernova! It will fill you with light, and change
your life forever. It is the
experience of enlightenment. It is
"entheognostic," which means that you discover the infinite Mind
within yourself, and "enagapognostic," which means that you discover
illimitable sources of Love within yourself. The mystics say that it is not an achievement. It is a discovery.
Amazingly, mystics do not find It by selfimprovement. The most astonishing spiritual quantum
leaps do not arise from improving the ego or social self. [Instead of being authentic (derived
from inner sources), this egoself just reflects the views of others.]
It is fake because it is otherdefined, not selfdefined. This "ego" is symbolized by
your name, with all that implies.
If your name is Mary Smith, it is everything encompassed by that
name—history, limitations, selfimage, family, memories, etc.
But all the qualities collectively represented by your
name do not constitute Your whole or true Self. This is the view of spiritual/mystical (entheognostic)
psychology. If your name is Mary
Smith, then that is simply a "role" that You (as deeper Self or soul) are
playing. It is a costume, a
disguise. It is a persona, from which we get "person." In Latin, that word means
"mask."
Please print or write your
name here:
This
is not your true Self, but a "game" or "role." This is just who you are pretending to
be. You are wearing a mask. This is the name, not of Your whole
Self, but of only that mask. The
crucial question is, Who is behind that mask, playing this role of ego?
Study your name for a
moment. Then, we will discuss it.
That name represents the identity that you received from
your parents, who gave it to you.
But even before you were born, before you had that body, say mystics,
you existed as a "soul."
But that soul was not called by this name. The ego is bodymelded, or tied in with your
body. You did not have an ego at
all before that body was born. So
also, when you are finished with playing the "earthgame," that will
no longer be your name. You will
drop your ego when you drop that body.
The "person" who has that name will have died. For that name identifies a
bodymind. And the bodycomponent
will begin the process of returning to the elements. "Ashes to ashes, dust to dust."
"Adam" symbolized, in the Eden allegory, this
human nature. In the Greek
Christian Scriptures, this was called the "dusty nature," and was
contrasted with a higher "soulical" nature. (First Corinthians fifteen) ("Adam" means "dust" or
"clay," implying earth-origin.)
In old Hebrew tradition, Adam was told, "Dust you are, and to dust
you shall return." So, while
still alive, he bore within his bodymind the imprint of earthly mind, the
"lower nature" of mysticism.
When you die, in the same way, the Adam-nature, or Adam-aspect of your
soulmind will also perish.
But You, Your Self, will survive death, as a soul. You will adopt a new identity. Or, more literally, you will remember
your truest, deepest "secret identity."
For you are not a body; you
are a mind.
You exist outside of time;
your deeper Self, at death, will continue to live, in lightform. This will all occur in a very deep
inner space or Mindarea, in the Unconscious. This space is another universe. In fact, it can be seen as a "You-niverse." It is a dimension, "world,"
or reality. When you arrive there,
that reality will be every bit as real as this one. For you will also "exteriorize" it, so that you
will be dreaming that you are living in an "external"
environment. Mystics teach that
this is exactly what you are doing right this moment. They also teach that all worlds, all realities, are
Mindevents. The world is
"created" only because it is sensed/perceived. This world is a profound dream. The only world that ever existed, or
that will (can) ever exist, is the one inside your "head," or Mind. When you die, you have completed one
dream, and then, when it ends, you begin another, just as real. Your old life implodes into the psyche
at death, and another reality, just as real and convincing as this world,
explodes from the depths of that same psyche. This afterlife world is just as real and solid as the
previous (present) one. After all,
from the view of previous lives, this current one is the "afterlife."
The idea of survival is hardly radical. For centuries, most of the population
of our planet has believed that death is not the end of consciousness. Now, for the first time in history, we
have good, solid, medical evidence that it is true. For thousands of people have actually died, and been
resuscitated, through neobiomedical technology. Anyone who remembers anything about her afterlife experience
tends to give a report that is substantially the same as those reported by
thousands of others who have also died.
Also, Christians, Buddhists, and atheists tell the same story.
This afterlife event has been incorrectly called the
"near death experience," or nde, but those involved in the nde will
proclaim that they were not "nearly" dead. They were actually dead. (The term "nde" is actually a concession to, and
compromise with, the rigid materialism and mechanism that rule modern
medicine. It is an implicit way of
ignoring, even denying, the possibility of life after death. This is in direct, clear contradiction
to much recent evidence, showing how stubborn a paradigm can be.)
So the "rde," or "real death
experience," actually supports an idea that used to seem scientifically
incredible. Happily, younger, and
better educated, physicians are more open to the spiritual view that death is
not the end. In the future, the
term and concept of the "rde" will gain wider acceptance and
recognition—a step towards greater realism.
Yes, there are still plenty of "archenoiacs"
(old thinking people). They still
believe that the brain is the origin of all thought, and so, that no
consciousness can exist outside the physical body.
But as the new enermeds (branches of
"energymedicine") develop, it is becoming more evident that we
consist not only of the physical, cellular, molecular, chemical body. We are also made up of several
overlapping, interacting energic systems, fields, or "bodies." Consciousness is pure energy. The force-lines in these structures
form a permanent matrix. These
organize electrical impulses, and form circuits. So, we have a theoretical mechanism to explain the
continuity of thought after death.
Even rigid mechanist concede that thought is an energic
activity, consisting of "microsparks" of electricity. These are sent from one
"microwire" (neuron) to another, in a series of circuits. If that same microelectric impulse can
continue without the hardwiring, neurons, or wetware, then thought could also
continue. This is no radical
concept.
If this very mild interpretation is true, then the deeper
Self can more easily be embraced.
But spiritual psychology is far more radical than merely to suggest that
the soul exists after death. It
suggests that it exists before birth.
This pre-birth Mind also coexists with the aware (conscious) mind during
life, as a deeper level of the Unconscious. This deeper Self has gigapsychons of data and experience,
culled from other lives, times, and places. This is all stored in the unconscious Mind. It is not in the "personal
unconscious," but even deeper, in the soulevel. (See "Chart of Mind.") It is dazzlingly more bright, brilliant, profound, and wise
than the conscious mind.
In altered states, conscious communication can occur with
this deeper Self. But, at a level
much deeper than even this soulevel, exists a more luminous Mind. It is also unconscious, but it is not
the subconscious (personal unconscious) usually described in psychology. It is the deepest Mind, often called in
metaphysical psychology the "Superconscious." It is the "Spirit" of
religion. It is the indivisible
Coremind, the "nuclear Unconscious," "Center," "inner
Fountain" of mysticism, the Source, Lovemind. It has traditionally been called the indwelling Spirit, holy
Spirit, the Absolute, or simply, God.
It is the Source of all knowledge, supreme compassion, and wisdom. Communication with It is called
"Communion." In this
work, the word "Interflow" will be used synonymously with this deep
Communion.
*****
*****
Chapter 4/ Dreaming Beneath the Moon: The Dreamworld and Illusion
***
The fire of Godlove shines radiantly into the Mind
illuminating the dreamworld; in the deepest Mindlevels is the
Creator/Dreamer—the builder or projector of it is a part of the indivisible
Core of Mind. It is a subsection
of "Spirit." (See
"Chart of Mind".)
God did not create the world the way a carpenter builds a
table, or a potter makes a clay jar.
Instead, "creation" is an ongoing, never-ending
dreamprocess. It is happening now,
and again now, and again now.
Instead of forming the world from mysterious primeval
"stuff," God creates it from His/Her own inner
"substance." This raw
material is Mind. All matter is
Mind. God dreams the world into
being.
The Creator creates the world in exactly the way a dreamer
dreams her nightdreams, forming the world, through a mindnervousystem. Thus, the "Mindview" is
fantastically more advanced and sophisticated than the homely and primitive
view of a Creator who "makes" things with hands, out of primal
"stuff." This new vision
of creation has dazzling and stunning ramifications. Ancient mystics invented this view. So, the world was a dream. None of it was absolutely real. So, they described it with the Sanskrit
word maya or "illusion." The cosmic unconscious creates through
dreaming. He/She uses the human
Mindnervousystem as the medium of creation.
But the world is selfevidently "real." Commonsense, science, observation, and
continuity confirm and verify it.
But before we leap to careless conclusions about rigid reality, let us
examine objectively what exactly we can prove.
Prove the independent existence of this book. How can you do this? How could you prove that this book
would exist without a mind?
How can you show that it would still be, even without anyone's sensing
or perceiving it? If no one's
reading, does a book still exist?
We now take a minor excursion into detour. Nobody denies that the world
exists. Mystics live in it, and
deal with it, every day, just as you do.
They know that it exists.
But the questions up for grabs are really, "Does the world exist as
a collection of independent objects?
Or does it exist as a series of dreamimages?"
The answer that we all learned in school was the typical,
Western, mechanistic, materialistic view here called the "nbc
cosmos." ("Nbc" is
"Newtonian-Baconian-Cartesian."
Newton, Bacon, and Descartes were the men who established the common
view of reality.) The usual,
ordinary ("nbc") view says that the world consists of solid,
independent objects interacting at random. The world does, and could, well exist if no mind existed
anywhere; it is Mind-independent.
Nothing really "means" anything; the process is only chaotic,
random, coming from nowhere, and things dissolve into nothingness when boulders
fall upon them.
In the nbc cosmos, objects, such as that boulder, are
solid and selfreal. That is, they
have existence in themselves, and can exist without Mind. They exist whether or not anyone ever
senses/perceives them. (Their
existence is not "relative," but "absolute.")
Deep problems haunt and contradict this view, but it is
beyond the scope of this book to go there. So, let's just keep it light, simple, and fun.
This view says that all minds could disappear tomorrow,
and the universe would go mindlessly "ticktocking on," just like the
Ever-Ready bunny. Mystics say that
this is wrong. A cosmos cannot
exist without Mind. Nothing exists
until it is perceived or sensed.
So, your mind and mine "cocreate" the cosmos by cooperating
with the deeply unconscious Dreamind.
In a real sense, It needs us.
If all perceiving, sensing minds were suddenly snuffed out, the cosmos
would disappear.
Like the old saw about the "tree in the forest,"
this implies that any reality has two aspects: an object, and a subject (Mind
to sense/perceive that object.)
Each person lives in her own unique universe, different from those of
all others; this is what I have dubbed the "tpr" effect: If there are ten people in a room,
there are actually ten different rooms.
When anyone dies, her entire personal universe will blink
off, imploding into the Unconscious, and a new cosmos will immediately emerge
from the Creator/Dreamerlevel of the unconscious Mind.
*****
*****
Chapter 5/
The MindÕs Worldance
***
Only void, silent vacuum exist in the spiritual desert
with no Mind. Happily, this
ghastly illusion has no reality.
As in the philosophy called "acosmism," Mind, say mystics, is
even more real than the world. For
Mind causes world.
The old conundrum of tree and forest is not, "If a
tree fell in the forest, and no one heard it, would it make a sound?" The genuine puzzle goes something like
this: "If a tree fell in the
forest, and there existed no minds to perceive it, would it make a sound?"
You must be breathless with suspense and
anticipation. So, let's cut right
to the chase: The answer is
no. For "sound" is an
energywave that must be interpreted by a mind before it actually becomes
sound. The most obnoxious, loud,
and dirtiest nitty-gritty bands do not really make music. No arguments there. But neither does the Philadelphia
Philharmonic. Musical instruments
make only sound; the Mind alone makes music. But one step more fundamental: It is also mind that makes ÒsoundÓ out of energy!
Musical instruments, like falling trees, create only
energy-waves, not true sound. In
order to become sound, those waves must be interpreted by an
"earmindsystem" as "sound." So, there can be no sound without Mind. So, the tree falling sends out
energywaves when it strikes the ground, but those waves are not
"sound." What makes them
"sound" is their interpretation/processing by an
"earmindsystem."
Sound does not exist independently of Mind. Commonsense implies that forms and
colors follow the same path. An
object cannot have form without a mind to "impose," or at least,
sense that configuration. As sound
is the interpretation of naked energy, so is color. That energy must be filtered by, or flow through, an
"eyemindsystem" before anything has color.
"Synesthesia" verifies this. This odd condition causes you to see
sound as colors. The world has not
changed, but the brainmind has shifted.
Neural circuits have transposed.
This inner change completely alters the "outer" world. Drug experiences can, like realistic
dreams, radically transplant a person into an entirely different universe
(perceptionsphere). To find out
just how much mental input affects the worlds in which we all live, just ask
anyone who has "dropped acid."
The quality of the world depends wholly on the state or clarity of Mind.
Mystics took this question deeper: What if the existence, not
just the quality (sound and
sight), of the world depended on Mind? They said that it did. Any object detected "in the
world" was actually a mindobject.
For the Mind, it was seen, was not just a passive receiver, but an
active "cocreator," serving as a lens for unconscious dreaming. The world, they said, did not just flow
INTO the mind, but also OUT of It.
A subsystem of this is the division of the cosmos into the
bicosmos. Two universes exist in
your life: 1) everything that you
perceive, sense, and experience, called your "experiential cosmos" ("perceptualÓ
sphere), and 2) everything else,
called the "theoretical cosmos." Drive away from a beautiful forest, and within minutes, it
has slipped from your experiential cosmos into your theoretical cosmos. Read a book. When you place it back on the shelf, its contents have moved
out of your experiential cosmos into your theoretical one. Nothing exists for you until or unless
you are experiencing it. Place a knife in a drawer and close the drawer. The knife has just left your
experiential cosmos and entered your theoretical one. Commonsense says, of course, that the knife is still in the
drawer. But since this is not
something that you can verify through your own senses/perceptions without
opening that drawer, the knife has indeed moved into your theoretical cosmos.
In practical terms, this indicates that you are
responsible for only what is in front of you, or what is within your perceptual
sphere, your Mindfield. This makes life much simpler. You don't have to deal
with the great big "world," but with only your little slice of it.
Since nothing could exist without the interpretation of
(a) Mind, the world is literally in the Mind. We all live in only a Mindworld, "caught" in a
dreamscape. So, if your mind
disappeared, this book would vanish.
[Recall that, with the tpr effect, this book is dreamed into being
through you (by Dreamermind), and is quite different from any other book with
the same title.]
Each sees the cosmos differently, due to a
"one-of-a-kind" brainervousystem. The "material" cosmos is actually altered by the
ways that we perceive it. The
ultracomplex perceptive and interpretative system is different for each of
us. This means that each of us
must live in his/her own universe.
For, if any two beings were to live in identical universes, their
brainervousystems would have to be exactly alike, and no two are.
Even the systems of identical twins are not. Each inhabits his/her personal
universe. If five people read this
book, then they are reading five slightly different books. This is the tpr effect in action. To complexify, each perceptive system
is altered by every microevent.
So, not only are we born carrying the heritage of vastly varying
personal nervoustructures, but their complexity is increased exponentially by
lifevents.
How, then, does anyone ever agree about anything? Our shared language and education
create senses, perceptions, and even interpretations so parallel that we can
agree about much. A simple
statement such as, "A ball is round," will create agreement among a
diversely wide population. Almost
no one, for example, will argue that the ball is cubic, or pyramidal. Few will argue that a plastic ball is
made of concrete. But still, you
cannot know that "ball" and "round" mean the same precise perception
to another as they mean to you.
The same situation ensues when we say, "The ball is
blue." Can you ever be
absolutely certain that what you call "blue" is what another calls
"blue"?
Such variations in color commonly exist that, when
something is teal, some will define the color as "green," others as
"blue-green," others "aqua," Òteal,Ó and still others
"blue" or Òbluish.Ó But
again, few will claim that it is bright Chinese red, or lemon yellow.
Due to interpretative brainstructures and responsivity of
cone and rod cells in the retina, "blue" might mean different things
to different people "Different
strokes" applies to worldcreation.
To a colorblind person, red and green might represent the same stimulus.
So, each of us lives in a unique "psycosmos"
(psychecreated cosmos). The more
complex the object perceived, the greater the variability. Psychological events are exponentially
more complex than agreements about the "material" world, about blue
balls. And psychospiritual
occurrences, such as the enagapognostic heartflowering ("mystical
experience") are again exponentially more complex than these. Now, you can begin to get a handle on
just how convoluted, involved, and ultracomplex is the study of mysticism.
Another fascinating complexity: When you leave this "material" world, your dream
will be over. This entire universe
will then move from your experiential cosmos into your theoretical cosmos. This world will sink deeply into your
unconscious Mind, until it falls below your perceptual horizon, and is lost to
sight. But the Creatormind will
kick in, and you will begin an entirely new dream. That new dream is the "afterlife." It will be every bit as solid and real
as this dreamworld or Mindreality.
When you stop dreaming at night, you do not believe that
your nightdreamworld continues on without you. The same is true when this worldream is over. When you die, your entire cosmos will
"implode" back into the unconscious Mind. You will awaken to the startling realization that your
previous life (this one) had all been a dream.
At death, instantly, the inner Dreamer will start another
dream—just as real as this present reality. Like the ending of one film, and the beginning of another,
at a cineplex, so when the "film" of the present reality has played
out, a new film will instantly start playing. There is zero gap between this life and the afterlife. The next "feature" will
begin. And there is no reason to
suspect that this process cannot go on forever.
But are we always stuck in a dream? Do we never awaken to a reality beyond
the images of the dream? All
worlds, all consensus-realities—whether this world or the worlds to
come—are Mindevents, or dreams.
But it is possible for you to wake up. This occurs when you directly touch the Core of Mind, the
Absolute, the Supermind at the Center of being. In fact, "Reality" is His/Her nickname. Mystics call this Lovemind ÒReality,Ó
or ÒTruth,Ó because It is the only truly real thing in the cosmos!
*****
*****