As I said in my previous post the information or guidance from the Higher Self can take many different forms. In the early stage when we are not really open to the words, feelings and pictures from our Higher Self, much of this guidance can come from something in the world outside ourselves. Things such as a book that falls of a shelf; the sign on a bus driving past or the words of a stranger. There are an infinite number of ways that the information can come to us.
The key is to be open to the information when it presents itself. In the early stage of your journey you will miss much of the information from the Higher Self because of the influence of your ego/subconscious mind and you will misinterpret what you have seen heard or felt. Don't lose heart, it is like learning any new skill, it takes time. Even now after 30 years I still miss the messages.
At the moment I am going through a flat spot in many areas of my life, whereas in others, especially creatively, things are great. I was walking the dogs early in the morning when I asked the question of why things were not working as well as normal or in the flow as I call it. No sooner than two minutes had passed when along came a tram with a large sign on the side which said Convert Your Thinking. As I reflected on that sign I realized that in the areas of my life that were not working I had allowed negative thoughts to appear and my outer world was only reflecting what I was experiencing on the inside. It was time to convert my thoughts. Obviously the best way to do that is only have positive thoughts, but for most of us that is impossible; so if your are like me and the odd negative thought creeps in then immediately replace it with something positive. A simple example of this was this was when I was at the park with the dogs and a woman let her dog loose and it ran around annoying all the other dogs, while she proceeded to talk on the phone and ignore the dog. I found myself judging her and the lack of discipline for her dog. It was a small judgment but one of many that I had been letting creep into my life. Rather than deny what I had just done I converted my thinking by looking at the positive and saw that she was taking her dog out for exercise and socializing. Who knows what else was going in her life and who was I to judge. The moment I changed my energy the dog relaxed and seemed to be more social and less annoying and became one of the pack.
Interesting. How many times in a day do we have these negative thoughts? And so what I hear you say, they are not hurting anyone, but in fact they are hurting you the thinker of these thoughts because they begin to create a world where more and more seems to be negative. So rather than see the immense beauty this world has to offer we see only weeds. Convert your thinking by changing a negative into a positive. When you see something negative look for the positive within it. If your are open the positive is always there.
To me the first step on my journey was to realize that there is an energy within all things and this energy never dies. To look at this topic I have chosen a section of my upcoming book (The Way of the Initiate) when the young disfigured boys goes off on the apprenticeship with the old Chinese sage.
After a long walk, the Sage and his new apprentice stopped to make camp by a river. The sun was beginning to set and the air around them was beginning to cool rapidly, as it was the night before the Winter Solstice. They set about creating a fire to warm themselves. The crackling of the fire was a good sound that highlighted the beauty of the element of Fire. In a balance, it could keep you warm and provide life, but out of a balance it could destroy, as the young boy had already experienced many years ago. In their time together, the old sage would teach the boy many things, but the most important teaching would be to understand and work with the power of the Elements.
They had not talked at all during the day, both preferring to keep to their own counsel, which for a young boy would normally be very difficult; but this young boy was different. On their journey, he watched the forest coming to life and how the different animals and insects appeared at different times during the day. Each of the creatures of the forest seemed to have their own cycle of when to be active and when to rest. The dragonflies that had landed on his shoulders in the village had seemed to follow him throughout the day, and every now and again they would appear in tandem to keep up his spirits. The long walk had been tiring, but on an emotional level he felt a joy he had not felt in years. He did not want to dwell on it, though, as it would have made him remember his parents and the pain of losing them, which was still very much alive. Better he enjoyed what the day and the forest had to offer.
The old sage prepared for them a simple meal of rice and the few vegetables that they were given by the people of the village. It was enough food to last them a few days, but the old sage was not worried; nature always seemed to provide what was needed.
They were eating in silence when it was broken by the gentle tones of the young boy's voice. "What do I call you?"
The old man smiled; he was not used to having company and had never really thought about introducing himself. "My Name is Chung Fu. It was the name given by my old master when I was about your age. It is the 61st hexagram of the I Ching, and it means ‘Inner Truth’. I suppose we will have to give you a new name, a name that will represent this new journey that you are on. I have thought long and hard about what we should call you, and the same name or picture kept appearing to me all day. It was a picture of a fire, a fire that was here to warm the world. From this day forward, you will be known as Huo shi wennuan: 'The Fire that Warms’.”
The young boy nodded to the sage; he could not speak, as his eyes had filled up with tears. Although it was a great honor to be given a name by an old sage, the name itself brought back memories of that fateful day when his parents died in the fire. He sat with his head bowed, reliving the horrible event as more tears escaped from his eyes, coming in ever increasing volume. Then there were the sighs of grief upon the realization that he would never see his parents again.
The old sage, who had the gift of inner sight, understood what the boy was feeling; he could see it in the astral field that surrounded his body. "Nothing ever dies," he said with such gentleness and tenderness that the boy could not help but look up into the eyes of the old sage, who was also crying. He could feel the young boy's pain, and he wished he could just wish it away, but as in everything, there is and was a teaching.
"What do you mean, ‘nothing ever dies’?" said the young man as he wiped the tears and snot from his face.
"Tell me about you parents. Can you describe them?"
The tears flowed again as the young boy described his parents. He described them in such detail and with such emotion that the old sage could see that they were still alive in his heart. They were the sort of memories that would never die; memories filled with emotion, memories that lived forever.
"That is good. The memories you have will be with you always, but just like your memories, the energy that is your parents will never die. Their physical bodies may no longer exist, but their eternal, immortal, and infinite spirit will live on forever." The boy looked a little confused, so the sage changed tack. "Put your hand up in front of your face. Now move it away from your face, slowly, so that you are still looking at it as it moves away from your face. Now I want you to soften your sight; don't look at your hand directly, but almost look at it out of the corner of your eye. What do you see?"
The boy did as the sage told him. He held the hand in front of his face, then as he began to move it away from his face, he softened his look and turned his head slightly, as if trying to perceive it without his direct vision. At first he saw nothing, but then his focus changed to the point where he was not concentrating too hard or too little. Then it happened. At first it scared him, then it disappeared. He tried again, but in the trying, nothing appeared. Without really knowing what he was really doing or why he was doing it, he released the need to see - and of course, the moment he released it was the moment it reappeared. Watching his hand and moving it ever so slightly, he could see the aura as it wrapped itself around his hand. Even as he moved his hand, the aura changed shape but stayed with him.
"That is the energy that some called God; others call it the Tao. It is the energy that gives life to all things, and when our physical bodies die, this energy moves on." He picked up a rock and held it out to the boy. "Even this rock has the same energy running through it. Once you realize that this energy is in all things will be the moment you begin to realize that you are a part of all things. You will begin to see that you and the Great Tao are one. It will also be the moment when you realize that the word ‘Tao’ is only a pale rendition for the energy itself, for the Tao is unknowable and indescribable. It is everything, and again it is nothing; it is the highest, and also the lowest. It is the 'I am that I am.'
"Now, lift both your hands up and put them in front of your eyes. Put your pointer fingers a couple of inches apart, hold them there for a moment, then move them a little closer. Use the same soft vision that you used when you were looking at your hand. Relax, and allow the magic to happen."
The young boy did as he was told. For a moment nothing seemed to happen, then almost involuntarily he took a deep breath, held it for a moment, then breathed out. A smile lit up his face as first he saw the energy envelop each of his fingers, then shoot from the finger on his right hand and connect with the energy in his left hand. For the next two minutes, he played with the energy, watching it dance between his hands. The more he played with it, the stronger the energy became.
The dragonflies that had followed the young boy on his journey moved closer to the light and became part of the game. Seeming to sense the energy passing between Huo's fingers, the dragonflies played their own game, spiraling in and out of the energy that connected his hands. There was a moment when the aura of the dragonflies connected with Huo's aura. It lasted only a few seconds, but in those seconds Huo felt a strong connection with the dragonflies, so strong that it not only enveloped the boy and the dragonflies, but the fire, the old sage, and everything within a hundred metres as well.
The old sage smiled to himself; he had chosen well. Huo was the one who would eventually take over his role as the 33rd Sage; already he was connected at a deeper level with the Tao or Godforce than any other child he had ever seen. His biggest challenge was to go beyond the ego and see the death of his parents for what it really was, but there was plenty of time for that. It would not be easy, but there would come a point in the teaching where Huo would be able to pull back from the ego's view of the world and see his and his parents’ lives from an infinite view; by being able to detach, he could allow the healing process to occur.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and the teachings imbedded in it. For next couple of days why not practicing seeing the energy that exists in all things and play around with the exercises in the story above. When I first tried I almost collapsed in shock when I could clearly see the energy around a tree and then around a person. It was the day I opened up to this wonderful quest I am on.
Blessings and peace and my you spiritual journey always be playful and filled with joy.
Geof
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The 33rd Sage and the 33rd Sage and the Initiate are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris and a number of online book stores.
The Way of the Initiate will be published mid 2013
Twitter @GeofSpalding
Official Author Blog - the33rdsage.authorsxpress.com/
Translatable Author Blog - 33rdsage.blogspot.com.au/
Book Websites 'The 33rd Sage,' at www.33rdsage.com
'The 33rd Sage and the Initiate,' at www.the33rdsage.com
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