Life is Sacred - Higher Self 17

Today's blog is about life being sacred. As I write this I am waiting for an open casting for a television miniseries. It is amazing when you can see the beauty in the mundane that life can lead you off in many directions. Never did I ever think I would be writing screenplays let alone acting but here I am doing both. The acting, like many things I am doing at the moment is so I can better understand the film making process and improve in my writing and screenwriting skills.

I love film, because of its immediacy and also the impact a good or great film can have on a person's life. In many cases this impact is at the subconscious level. How many of you have walked out of a great film and been a different person than the one walking in?

I felt that way when I first saw Star Wars, or Casablanca or Lost Horizons. Each of these films impacted in ways that even today many years later are still evident. Books can do it as well but usually on a more conscious level.

"Use the force Luke," has always been a part of who I have become and sent me off on my on mystical journey. The concepts of the force or the Tao has been concepts which I have been searching and researching for all my life. Each of those moments from those film have been sacred in my own life and probably for many others who have seen these and other films.

It is now later in the afternoon and I am sitting in the front garden As we near spring, the flowers are starting to bloom and the rain now falling and the heat in the air will only see this marvel of nature increase over the coming weeks. My dogs are with me for company as the sun breaks through the rain clouds. Beatrice my muse sits proudly on the chair beside me, nudging me every now and again for a pat or to stop writing and give her more attention. The other dog Horatio sits by the front door waiting to go back inside. Just like people all animals have their own distinct personality.

I am not a vegetarian but sometimes wish I could be. If you have ever looked in the eyes of a cow or a pig you will see their own distinct personality shining through. My wife will tell you that I don't even like picking flowers because I like to see them in their natural beauty. I tried vegetarianism for about seven years but it did not suit my body type. I do my best to see all life as sacred and express gratitude for each little blessing that I receive.

The rain has stopped and the birds are now out chirping. Both the dogs have gone to sleep and in my current state I might soon join them for a nap in the sun and reflect on the magic of this day.

Life Is Sacred

Huo wandered through the countryside for many months with one goal in mind: to find the Forest of K'an and journey to the mystical Lake of Li. The old sage had talked often about this magical lake and the forest. Over the last two days, he had found the Forest of K'an, and now he was heading towards the lake. He knew intuitively where the lake was; he could feel her presence with every part of his being.

On the journey to find the lake, he had many adventures and had met many strange people, the strangest being the badger that could talk; well, talk was not quite right, but he could communicate with Huo in the most unusual way. It happened over a month ago, when Huo first thought of finding the Lake of Li in the Forest of K'an. He had been sitting by a stream, meditating, when a picture of the Lake of Li came into his mind. He knew it was the Lake of Li because of the description that he had received from the old sage. He could even see the large rock that Chung Fu used to sit on when he was teaching his students. In the meditation, Huo could imagine himself sitting on the rock and staring into the Lake of the Li. The more he stared, the more real the picture became; it was so real, if Huo had wanted to, he could have transported himself there in an instant, but of course, he was not yet aware that he had those abilities. He opened his eyes with the knowing that came from deep within that the next part of his journey would take him to the lake the old sage had talked so much about.

He returned to his camp to the find a badger, a big fat badger fossicking through his pack for what little food he had left. Years ago, he would have become angry to lose the little food he had, but he was different now. He understood that the Tao gives and the Tao takes away; so, rather than express his anger, he sat down on a log of wood and watched the badger, for the inner part of him knew that the badger had a message for him.
Badgers are very independent by nature, and this one was no exception. The badger turned to look at Huo, but the look was brief, and he went back to eating the food and destroying Huo's pack. He was certainly an individual. Huo knew that badgers were very different from most animals in the forest, and they did not seem to care what humans and other animals thought about them.

Huo sent a molecule of himself into the badger, and what returned did not surprise him. He could almost hear the badger talking to him.

"Walk your own path at your own pace. Don't defend yourself. You are what you are, so be proud of it. If someone attacks you, don't defend; just walk away. You are an infinite spirit walking your own journey; be proud of yourself, but at the same time do not judge others because you do not know what their journey is or where it will lead. You don't have to explain to anyone what you are doing. You are following your inner spirit, and to explain it would be impossible; allow it to lead you in ways that you would not think possible."

Huo was not sure if the words were coming from the animal or just the workings of his own mind. It did not matter, though, for the teaching was the same. It was time for him to go back into the world and take what he had learnt to the people who were drawn to him.

He looked down at the badger and offered thanks for its teaching. For its part, the badger gave him what appeared to be a grin, then scurried off into the forest without any apology for destroying Huo's worldly goods.

No longer encumbered by any Earthly goods, Huo continued on his journey to the Lake of Li in the Forest of K'an.

Blessings and Peace
Geof

************

The 33rd Sage and the 33rd Sage and the Initiate are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris, a number of online book stores and on my websites.

The Way of the Initiate will be published late 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

The Tao Owns Everything - Higher Self 16

We have almost reached the halfway point in the Way of the Initiate which is based on the 33 steps that my old Chinese teacher shared with me. I wonder if those of you who have been reading my blogs have been practicing some of the steps like Huo in the story. If you have I would love to hear feedback on what has been happening in your world.

As I write this I have finished the first draft of my screenplay The Merlin Key and as I look back I can see the amazing changes that I have experienced in my own life since taking the first steps on the path of the Initiate. A path that will continue till the day I either walk out of this dimension or become food for the maggots. One of the greatest changes that occurred on this journey has been the need to express my inner creativity. If this was the only reward for the years I have spent on the path then that would have been enough, for in tapping into my own inner creativity I have experienced a joy, a connection that is almost impossible to explain.

If you are reading these blogs and you have just read  the chapters of The Way of the Initiate as a story, then hopefully you have enjoyed it and on some level it has touched you deeply.

Today Huo begins to understand that everything is owned by the Tao and that we have it on loan, so rather than hold onto it, enjoy it and share it, for one day it will go back to the Tao.

The Tao Owns Everything

As he walked from the town, he understood he had lost nothing because everything belonged to the Tao. Everything he had experienced had been given to him by the Tao; it was as if it had been on loan. Also, because he was able to release everything he had, he knew more would be given to him, so there was no need to hold on to anything. He walked into the forest a rich man, rich in the knowledge that he was abundant in all areas of his life.

He soon came to a fork in the road. He looked off down the left fork and felt nothing; however, when he looked down the right fork, he noticed the road seemed lighter. He closed his eyes and sent his energy off in the distance to feel a royal carriage coming towards him. He turned and walked down the right road; the spirit wanted him to go in that direction, so who was he to disagree with the feelings coming from deep within his inner self?

About a half-mile down the road, he came across a carriage carrying members of the Emperor's family. As with everyone he met, he showed his respect, giving a short bow from the waist. Immediately, a woman called out for them to stop the carriage, then called the young man over. As Huo walked slowly towards the carriage, the woman dressed in beautiful silks with her jet black hair tied in a bun on her head, attached with a jade pin, addressed the young man.

"Sir, can you tell me if there is a healer in the town up ahead? My son is gravely ill and needs immediate attention."

"Great lady, my old Master Chung Fu is in the town ahead, and he is a great healer." Huo caught sight of the young man in the carriage and knew instantly the boy would never make the journey; he could see that his inner spirit was about to leave his body.
Huo was at a loss regarding what to do. He did not want to infringe on the young boy, as he did not know what lesson he had come here to learn. Maybe he had incarnated to die early and teach his mother the great lesson of loss, for he understood that some highly evolved spirits came in service to die in their first thirteen years. What he did know for sure was that the child would never make it to the town. For a brief moment, he went within his inner self for an answer, only to meet the spirit of the young boy. The young boy was confused and not sure what was happening, so Huo went inside his inner self and asked him if he wanted help. The boy said yes, and in that moment Huo could see the future of the young boy, particularly how he would grow up to be a mighty ruler who would be loved by his people.

Huo turned his focus back into the outer world and said to the Emperor's wife, "Your Highness, I fear that your son will never make it to the town. If you allow me, I will give him a healing right here that will enable him to travel to town, where my master can finish the healing process."

The Emperor's wife was beside herself with fear. She looked down at the young man who was dressed in little more than rags, but there was a plum red sash around his waist that brought back a childhood memory. When she used to go with her father into the Emperor's garden, he would often meet a monk who also wore a plum red ribbon around his waist. It was the monk that helped his father build a garden that pleased the Emperor so much, she was plucked from her life of servitude to now be one of the most powerful women in the court – and she eventually to became the number one wife of the Emperor.
She faltered for a moment, but it was just a moment. "Please, help my son."

She opened the carriage door, and Huo, dressed like a beggar, climbed in. He went straight to the boy, who had a very high temperature, then looked to his mother, who said, "He came down with the fever last night, and I was at a loss what to do. We have tried everything. He has a bite mark on his left arm."

Huo examined the wound with his eyes, but with his inner senses he saw that the young man had been bitten by a spider. He reached into his pack, took out some herbs, and made a poultice to put on the boy’s arm, then used some other herbs to make a drink for the young man to sip while they made the journey to his old master at the Pagoda. He held his hands over the young boy and allowed the energy from his own being to enter the young man and take on the poison. It was not something he had been taught; it was just something that happened naturally when he inhabited the body of the young boy.
In only a few minutes, the young boy opened his eyes; the fever had been broken. Huo felt the shock of the poison in his own body, but he soon released it through his breath to the air that surrounded them.

The Emperor's wife had never seen anything like it. She worried that Huo was not a healer, but a black magician. It is funny how even when people see something with their own eyes, they cannot believe it to be true.

Huo smiled at the Queen, and somehow his smile put her at ease.
"What is your charge for healing my son? I will pay anything."
"My Queen, it is an honour to do it for you. I do not require any payment, as I have everything I need."

The queen looked at the young man before her, dressed in little more than rags with no carriage, no money, and only a poor pack to carry his herbs. "You say you have everything you need, but surely some money would help you on your journey? Or I could give you a servant to look after your needs, or you could come back to the palace where you could be my personal physician?"

"Thanks for the offer, my Queen. It would be a great honour, but I am on a great journey, the journey of the inner self, and I have all I need. Look around: I have the sun, the forest, the animals, and the seasons to keep me company. If I want food, I will find it in the forest or in a stream. If I want companionship, I can walk into any village and find someone to talk to. If I need a bed, I can rest wherever I choose. As you can see, I have everything I need."

"I can see that you are a strange man, a man who I will always be grateful to. If ever you need my help, just come to the palace, and I will give you what you need."
Huo thanked the queen for her offer. Then, just as he was about to take his leave, a thought crossed his mind. "Your Highness, there is something you could do for me."
"Name it," she said, hoping it was not a ploy by the young man to get more than she was willing to offer; she need not have worried.

"My Queen, there is a young girl in the village by the name of Qing. If you could give her a small piece of jewelry and tell her I love her, that would be a most special gift."
The queen pulled the green jade pin from her hair, which allowed her blue black hair to cascade over her shoulders. "Will this be a suitable gift?" she asked.

"Thank you, my Queen. Now take your son to the next town and ask for my old Master Chung Fu at the Pagoda, and he will ensure that your son is fully healed."
Huo bowed to the queen and winked at the young boy, then took his leave of them both and continued on his journey.

The queen, her son, and the long retinue of servants watched as the strange young man walked back into the forest.

The queen took her son to see the old sage, who professed he could do no more for her young son and that if he continued to drink the herbs given by the young man, he would soon regain his full strength.

The queen fulfilled her part of the bargain, and much to Qing's delight, she gave her the green jade pin and words of love from Huo. What Huo did not know was that the queen took such a shine to Qing that she gave her a position as her own personal servant, a position that would see wondrous things happening for the young girl - but that is another story, one I am sure will be told one day.

Blessings and Peace
Geof

************

The 33rd Sage and the 33rd Sage and the Initiate are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris, a number of online book stores and on my websites.

The Way of the Initiate will be published late 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

Discipline Is The Doorway To The Infinite Self

In my stories the lead character goes through the process of transformation. What they believe their dramatic need to be changes as the story develops. In the end the character is different from the one who starts the story and many times these differences are internal. They are the differences that allow us to enjoy the adventure that is life. I am currently writing a screen play about a young boy who believes that other worlds and dimensions exist. It his dramatic need to prove these worlds exist, even though his parents and friends do not believe him and he has become an outcast, he continues to believe. As he moves through the story the dramatic need changes where he ends up is a far different place than he would have believed. This concept of transformation is what drives all our lives. We have certain dramatic needs that we want from life and they are the basis of what we are and do. Have you ever stopped for a moment and thought about why you are here and why you do and act the way you do? Just like the character in my screenplay I have always believed these other worlds existed and now I spend my life sharing these stories with others.

In the screenplay the entrance to the mirror world is a energy that my old friend Stuart Wilde called the Morph. He described it like misty rain falling. People and objects that go into the morph disappear and then reappear. I have seen the morph on many occasions but as yet I have never stepped into it. Not from fear but because I am not quite ready. In the past it has always moved away from me, but over time it has come closer and closer. When I opened my eyes after a meditation it was directly in front of me. I stretched out my hand only to see the morph collapse in on itself.

If there is one thing that I have learnt on this journey it is that the only way to know these other worlds is through discipline. There are many who take the easy way through drugs, but ultimately these drugs drag them into what some have called the astral worlds. I personally believe that the drugs take them into the shadow self and because they do not have the training or the discipline they ultimately get stuck in these worlds and live a life of hell.

So if you want to experience aspects of your Higher Self or have a window into these other mystical worlds I would suggest that you learn to discipline your mind and body. In today's chapter of the story the young Huo learns that discipline is the doorway to the infinite self. I hope you enjoy.

Discipline Is The Doorway To The Infinite Self


It was just after 4.a.m when the old sage shook the young man awake.
"Huo, after what happened yesterday, I want to change your training. Rather than continue to work on connecting you with your inner self, which seems to be taking on a life if its own, I believe it would be best to work with your physical self. Today, we will begin your lessons in martial arts, as well as in meditation. If your inner life continues to develop at the current rate, it is important that you learn physical and mental discipline to be able cope with the changes."
"Master, how will martial arts help with my inner life?"
"Your inner world expresses itself in your outer world, and unless we discipline your mind, body, and emotional responses, then you will create your outer world based on your childish reactions to what you perceive as external influences. Everything in the outer world is only an expression of what is first created in the inner worlds. As you open yourself up to the inner worlds, you will get messages from your higher self, and if you are not a clear channel, then these messages will be distorted by your ego and emotions. When the  message tells you to go forward, your ego may tell you the opposite. It is only through discipline that we can quiet the ego and clear the subconscious mind of its previous programming.”

The old sage moved into the horse stance, took a deep breath, then closed his eyes. "Now, Huo, I want you to attack."
"But, Master, you have your eyes closed, and you are so old. I am afraid that I will hurt you, as I will be too quick for you."
The old sage smiled; the young man was much like he had been those many years ago.
"Yes, you are probably right, but please do this as a favour to an old man. Attack me."
Huo faltered for a moment, then he moved forward, dancing around the old man, flicking out an odd punch; it was more of a test to see if the old man would respond, rather than trying to hit him.
The old sage never moved.
Huo's confidence began to grow. He decided that he would not hit the old man hard; just a light tap on his head to teach him a lesson and show him how fast he was. Before the fist reached its target, however, Huo could feel himself being thrown in the air. As he struck the ground, feeling every bruise, he replayed in his mind what had happened. His fist was about a hand’s length from the old man when the old sage moved inside the fist, grabbed his arm - and in what seemed like an impossible move, went underneath him and launched him into the air.
"Teach me," was Huo's only reply.
And that was when his Martial Arts training began. Each day, well before sunrise, the nocturnal animals would gather around in a circle to watch the old man and his young apprentice practice, using stances the animals themselves used and working with the energy of the elements to understand how to read your opponent. More importantly, though, Huo learned how to understand and observe himself, ultimately moving to the stage where there was no reaction; for it was in the reaction that the old sage knew that you moved out of the flow.
Month after month, they practiced. First it was Martial Arts, then it was daily meditation, one minute of meditation for each hour of the day. At first the young man could not hold his emotions in check as he reacted to the strikes of the old sage, which always ended up with him getting another bruise or landing on his backside. He was progressing well with the physical aspects of the training, but he could not move beyond his emotions, which was something he would need to do to move on to the deeper aspects of the old sage's teachings.
The old sage was not worried, for "it was what it was; it was neither good nor bad." He knew the young man would move beyond the ego in his own good time. It just meant that he would have to slow down on the inner work.
It was after a particularly bad session when the young man had received far more bruises than normal that the Sage's inner voice suggested they do their daily meditation by a stream that ran a few hundred meters from their camp. As soon as he saw the stream, he understood what his inner voice was trying to tell him. Even after all these years, it was the inner voice from his Higher Self that was always there when needed. The key, as always, was to be open enough to listen.
They sat beside the stream, only this time the old sage asked Huo not to close his eyes, but rather stare into the water and allow it to take him into a meditative state. The young man watched the stream, not quite sure how this was going to help him go into a meditative state. All the same, after a few minutes he found himself very calm, and he released the frustration he had experienced from the early training session where once again the old man had made him look stupid. It no longer mattered, for he began to understand that he was not fighting against his Master, but himself. That one realization released any anger he had stored up in his body, and all at once his body healed itself, the bruises disappearing along with the aches and pains. He even noticed that his paralyzed left arm was now completely free from any pain and that he now had full use of it. He looked to the old sage for an answer, but the old sage had disappeared. Unperturbed, he looked back into the water, for in that moment he knew that it was his teacher that morning.

He watched as the water flowed on by kissing the bank and giving its life force to the plants and animals that lived along the stream. He looked into the middle to see a large rock rising out of the water. The water did not seem to fight against it, but simply flowed around the rock. It did not need to react; it just found another, simpler course. He understood that in time the water would defeat the rock, but it would be done in a calm, balanced way. The water had so much power, yet at the same time it gave life to everything around it. He had never looked at the elements in this way before, but from that moment on he would begin to observe more, for there was far more to this world than he had previously thought possible.

Blessings and Peace and may you become the water and may your essence give life to those around you.

Geof

************


The 33rd Sage and the 33rd Sage and the Initiate are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris, a number of online book stores and on my websites.

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

Moving Beyond the Ego - Higher Self Part 8

It has been a few weeks since my last post and I am not sure why. Everything was going brilliantly for me creatively and now everything has seemed to stop. Even my work on my first screenplay was going well. It seemed that every time I would ask a question, I would meet someone with the answer, or I would find it in a book I picked up or a bus passing by. It was like I had a direct connection to my higher self, but sadly over the last few weeks it feels like that connection has broken. Since the death of one of my old teachers Stuart Wilde I no longer feel the Higher Self in and around me. It has got to the point that even when I am about to go somewhere on a bus or tram they do not even stop for me any more. It has even got weirder with the first draft of my screenplay completed I am not even able to open the document and even my back up copy is corrupted.

Having been ranting and raving a bit since, having tried everything I know to open the document, I thought it was time to take time out and write this blog post. Interestingly the next part of the 'The Way of the Initiate,' I was to share was about moving beyond the ego. Perfect timing because I am stuck right in my own ego and that is why I cannot hear the voice of my Higher Self. They say we always teach what we need to know. Maybe spirit is telling me to take a step back and allow the next step in my journey to be unveiled.

Have a read of the short chapter below and I will hopefully meet you on the other side.

Moving Beyond

Before sitting down to dinner, the old sage sat cross-legged on the ground. He took a few deep breaths, holding each one for a moment, then released his breath, and with it energies from the day that he did not want to hold onto.
"What are you doing?" asked the young man.
The old sage smiled and opened his eyes, turning all his attention to his young apprentice. "I am moving beyond the ego. At the end of each day, I play the day back in my mind's eye, and when I come to an event when the flow of my energy is stopped by my ego, I take a deep breath, reflect on it for a moment, and then release it into the ether."
The young man returned the Sage's smile, but he was still confused, a state he was experiencing a lot since he began his journey with the old man. "What do you mean by the ego, and how does it stop your energy flow?"
"There are those that say that the Ego is the mediator between the conscious and Subconscious minds. There are others who say it is our identity, while some say it is what gives us our sense of self-worth or self-importance. In a way, it is all those things, but for me, its greatest weakness is that it stops the flow of information from our higher selves and disconnects us from everything else in this beautiful universe. Think back to the other day when you woke and found me gone. It was your ego that went into a panic. It was only when you calmed yourself down and reconnected with the spirit that you became part of all things, and at that moment you knew where I was."
"Sage, why do we have an ego if it limits us?"
"The ego gives us a sense of ourselves. It is important in our first few incarnations, when we are here to learn lessons of a more Earthly nature. It is only after our sixth lifetime, when we begin on our spiritual path, that we begin to move beyond the ego. The ego is the source of most of our weaknesses. Most of our weaknesses come from the various manifestations of the ego's fear of death. Fear is the ego's weapon that stops us from moving forward in our lives. The ego is lazy. It does not want to try new things. It would rather stay in the negative state it has grown comfortable with than take a chance on a better life. Change is the death of the ego. Once you start to realize that the ego is holding you back, then little by little you can move beyond it to a life where you are in the flow, where it does not matter what is around the next corner. Whereas the ego will stop you from living, being in the flow will allow you to experience opportunities you would never think possible."

As I thought I have allowed my ego to take me out of the flow. When I look at what has been happening such as the death of Stuie, and thinking about my own future I have allowed the fear of death and the fear of the future to creep into my own life. Time to have a chat to my ego and tell him kindly to piss off and open up to the flow that courses through all of us. Time to take my own advice and be open again to what the universe has to offer.

See you again soon.
Blessings and Peace and may the real you manifest what it needs, to take you where you need to go..

************


The 33rd Sage and the 33rd Sage and the Initiate are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, Xlibris, a number of online book stores and on my websites.

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

Connect with the Wisdom of your Higher Self - Part 2

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
*************


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

Connect with Your Higher Self

Some people who read the original post asked me to go into more depth about the Higher Self; what is it and where does it exist? I will do that but I have included the original post for those who have stumbled upon it for the first time.

In the 1970's and 80's there were many channelers, channeling information from a number of great teachers such as Seth, Ramtha and Old Chinese. When the channelers went deep into trance these energies would come through them and teach the students that were drawn to them. For the most part when they came out of trance the channelers would have no idea what information had been channeled.

It is my belief that these beings were coming through their Higher Self and as Old Chinese once taught that when a message comes from our higher self that the ego or subconscious mind would have no memory of what was coming through. If the channeler had a fully memory of what had come through then it was because it was created by his ego to make him or her more special.

In the twenty first century there seems to be many individuals who seem to be channeling information from the gods, Angels, beings from other planets and other dimensions or from great teachers of the past. What makes them different from channelers of the past is that in many cases they have a full memory and understanding of the channeled information. Normally I would have let these teachings go as manifestations of the ego, but I have seen and met many of these, so called, channelers and modern day mystics who have access to the inner worlds. Although much of this information appears to be coloured by the thoughts and belief of the channeler, there appears to be wonderful information that is coming from the area of their Higher Self which is connected with everything.

My old teacher quite often talked about the spiritual quickening which was going to take place on the planet in the last twenty years of twentieth century and on into the twenty first century. I wonder whether this quickening includes greater access to the information that is stored in our higher selves.

Old Chinese was an energy that came through Marshall Lever to teach a group of students who wanted to move beyond the ego and the Earth plane. His teachings required discipline because he believed it was necessary for discipline for the individual to move beyond the ego; for the ego doesn't like discipline because it wants to have its own way. By providing it discipline it tends to quiet and let the higher self come through and around the subconscious mind. This energy from the higher self allows the individual momentary glimpses of the divine. In those moments when we have this connection with the higher self we are connected to all things. The challenge is that as soon as we recognize these moments of pure creativity coming from the higher self; the ego tries to hold on to it, but in the process of hanging on to it, all that is left is the ego and its self importance. Like the Tao the Higher Self is an energy that is indescribable. We have moments of it enlightening our lives or a situation, but because in most cases these moments are so brief we cannot describe them and in the end the higher self withdraws into itself and our ego believes that it does not exist and that it was an epiphany from our own wonderful goodness or intelligence.

You can recognize that it was your higher self because, it is an energy that you cannot put your finger on. You have a wonderful insight and then it is gone; most times you don't even have a memory of what the insight is.

Through discipline, such as meditation, fasting and time spent in nature you can slow down your ego to the point where these insights increase. You can even ask a question and an insight is immediately given; sometimes in the form of a feeling or a single word; sometimes these insights come from something in the outside world such as a sign or a word that would not normally have this effect on you.

Another discipline that allows your higher self to come forward is the discipline of creativity. It would seem funny to use the words creativity and discipline in the same sentence, but to be truly creative, you must have discipline. It is one of those strange quirks of fate that when you are at your most creative, whether a writer, painter, sculptor or anything that is creative, that in that moment of creation your are extremely focused and yet also in a meditative state. People who meditate regularly will tell you that in those moments when you are in your deepest meditation are the moments when you are connected with everything around you. If you want to feel the energy of the higher self then find what is your stick, what it is that drives you creatively. For me I am at my most creative in three situations; firstly when I am writing, secondly when I am teaching spiritual or metaphysical concepts or when I am meditating. In all these situations it is like there is a little voice that I am not aware in my normal life that comes around my subconscious mind and shares its wisdom. The trick I find is not to try and hold on to the little voice, but allow it to share what it needs to share and let it go. When you try to hold onto the little voice or the concept that is coming through it is only your ego which is feeling full of itself as it believes it was the creator of the idea or concept when in reality it comes from the higher self. But I hear you say that if it is from the higher self does that mean that we cannot create by ourselves. My answer to that would be it is the act of creation that we allow a window between ourselves and the higher self. If we could keep our ego out of it and continue in the act of creation like a little child then these moments of connection with the higher self can become longer.

Interestingly last night I had one vision and one dream. The vision occurred during my meditation. When I was completely relaxed what appeared to be a tunnel could be seen off in the distance. At first I thought it was the tunnel to what some have called heaven, but which is in reality a tunnel which can take you to the spirit world and a number of other dimensions based on our belief patterns. Unlike the normal tunnel which usually appeared right beside me this one appeared off in the distance and I found myself just staring at it - not sure whether to go towards it or not. It was then that my spirit guide Bartholomew (great name for a guide - he is also sometimes called Nathaniel, but that is a story for another time) entered my meditation and told me that the tunnel in front of me was the connection to my higher self. Connection was not quite the right word though because we are all connected to our higher self. What Bartholomew explained was that each of us has the opportunity to open up and enter into our higher self, where we will have the knowledge and understanding of what we have ever been and ever will be. I immediately felt nauseous and was almost spat out of the vision. As I opened my eyes I had a feeling that we are not meant to strive towards this connection with the higher self, but through our work on ourselves we draw the higher self to us.

That same night I had a dream where their was a group of us sitting around a table and I was teaching them how to connect with their higher selves. It was fascinating as I was sharing stories and teachings that I had been receiving and yet most of what I was teaching was from my upcoming book 'The Way of the Initiate,' a book that was written in parable form about a disfigured young boy who becomes a wise old sage and an Initiate of an ancient brotherhood.

As I have described elsewhere the higher self is like a library in which each of our lives are equivalent to a book. The Higher Self is an eternal, immortal and infinite energy with the role to grow in knowledge by having experiences in this and other dimensions to allow its knowledge to grow and further add to the knowledge and the experiences of the all that there is or as some would call Tao or God.

The Higher Self does not differentiate between what is good or bad because, like the Tao, it has no understanding of those concepts, because to do so would stunt its own evolution and it would then only choose experiences that fit in with it's own biases. So wherever you find yourself is where you are meant to be, because where you find yourself is the greatest opportunity for you to learn and or experience the lessons that you came to the earthplane to learn. If we came with knowledge of these other life's and experience then we would not achieve what we have come to learn. There is an opportunity given to us in our incarnations where we can experience aspects of the Higher Self and that is when we have memories of who we have been before, but they are only dream like glimpses or the feelings of deja vu when we experience something that we have experienced before. Like walking through a city we have never been to and immediately knowing where everything is or memories of having walked these streets before.

There is even a point in some of these incarnations when due to work on self you open up a doorway between your individual aspect and the Higher Self. In the beginning this door will appear off in the distance but energy will leak from the higher self and you will experience more and more insights about this and other lives or experiences across this an other dimensions. It is difficult to describe the experience because it is one of those things that can only be understood by doing the inner work and having the experience itself.

What I am sharing is what I have learnt from my teachers and glimpses I have had beyond what one called the hidden doorway. My experience will not be your experience because it is clouded by my own belief patterns. The cool but frustrating thing in the early stages of this inner work is that you will suddenly have insights or epiphanies from your higher self, but then you cannot remember what happened, other than strange recollection that something important happened.

After thirty years of working to open up the doorway to my Higher Self I have realized that it is always open; it is just that we are not open to the information coming from. That is why it is important to work on your inner self if you really want to see and connect with what was always there. Of course in the early stages of your journey you will have to believe in an energy that you cannot see and probably do not understand.

It is for this reason that I have written "The Way of the Initiate," it is based on the techniques and teachings that I have followed over the last 30 years. Although it is written as a parable, I have tried to simplify each of the steps so that anyone could follow them for you don't need a great intellect to connect with your Higher Self. All you need is the courage to take the road of the Initiate.

Over the next few months I will share with you some of the steps that I have used along the way. Although these steps have been helpful on my journey and I believe they will be helpful for others on the path, they are not the only way, but one of many.

Blessings and Peace - may your higher self give you a hint of its and your magnificence


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

Your Higher Self

In the 1970's and 80's there were many channelers, channeling information from a number of great teachers such as Seth, Ramtha and Old Chinese. When the channelers went deep into trance these energies would come through them and teach the students that were drawn to them. For the most part when they came out of trance the channelers would have no idea what information had been channeled.

It is my belief that these beings were coming through their Higher Self and as Old Chinese once taught that when a message comes from our higher self that the ego or subconscious mind would have no memory of what was coming through. If the channeler had a fully memory of what had come through then it was because it was created by his ego to make him or her more special.

In the twenty first century there seems to be many individuals who seem to be channeling information from the gods, Angels, beings from other planets and other dimensions or from great teachers of the past. What makes them different from channelers of the past is that in many cases they have a full memory and understanding of the channeled information. Normally I would have let these teachings go as manifestations of the ego, but I have seen and met many of these, so called, channelers and modern day mystics who have access to the inner worlds. Although much of this information appears to be coloured by the thoughts and belief of the channeler, there appears to be wonderful information that is coming from the area of their Higher Self which is connected with everything.

My old teacher quite often talked about the spiritual quickening which was going to take place on the planet in the last twenty years of twentieth century and on into the twenty first century. I wonder whether this quickening includes greater access to the information that is stored in our higher selves.

Old Chinese was an energy that came through Marshall Lever to teach a group of students who wanted to move beyond the ego and the Earth plane. His teachings required discipline because he believed it was necessary for discipline for the individual to move beyond the ego; for the ego doesn't like discipline because it wants to have its own way. By providing it discipline it tends to quiet and let the higher self come through and around the subconscious mind. This energy from the higher self allows the individual momentary glimpses of the divine. In those moments when we have this connection with the higher self we are connected to all things. The challenge is that as soon as we recognize these moments of pure creativity coming from the higher self; the ego tries to hold on to it, but in the process of hanging on to it, all that is left is the ego and its self importance. Like the Tao the Higher Self is an energy that is indescribable. We have moments of it enlightening our lives or a situation, but because in most cases these moments are so brief we cannot describe them and in the end the higher self withdraws into itself and our ego believes that it does not exist and that it was an epiphany from our own wonderful goodness or intelligence.

You can recognize that it was your higher self because, it is an energy that you cannot put your finger on. You have a wonderful insight and then it is gone; most times you don't even have a memory of what the insight is.

Through discipline, such as meditation, fasting and time spent in nature you can slow down your ego to the point where these insights increase. You can even ask a question and an insight is immediately given; sometimes in the form of a feeling or a single word; sometimes these insights come from something in the outside world such as a sign or a word that would not normally have this effect on you.

Another discipline that allows your higher self to come forward is the discipline of creativity. It would seem funny to use the words creativity and discipline in the same sentence, but to be truly creative, you must have discipline. It is one of those strange quirks of fate that when you are at your most creative, whether a writer, painter, sculptor or anything that is creative, that in that moment of creation your are extremely focused and yet also in a meditative state. People who meditate regularly will tell you that in those moments when you are in your deepest meditation are the moments when you are connected with everything around you. If you want to feel the energy of the higher self then find what is your stick, what it is that drives you creatively. For me I am at my most creative in three situations; firstly when I am writing, secondly when I am teaching spiritual or metaphysical concepts or when I am meditating. In all these situations it is like there is a little voice that I am not aware in my normal life that comes around my subconscious mind and shares its wisdom. The trick I find is not to try and hold on to the little voice, but allow it to share what it needs to share and let it go. When you try to hold onto the little voice or the concept that is coming through it is only your ego which is feeling full of itself as it believes it was the creator of the idea or concept when in reality it comes from the higher self. But I hear you say that if it is from the higher self does that mean that we cannot create by ourselves. My answer to that would be it is the act of creation that we allow a window between ourselves and the higher self. If we could keep our ego out of it and continue in the act of creation like a little child then these moments of connection with the higher self can become longer.

Interestingly last night I had one vision and one dream. The vision occurred during my meditation. When I was completely relaxed what appeared to be a tunnel could be seen off in the distance. At first I thought it was the tunnel to what some have called heaven, but which is in reality a tunnel which can take you to the spirit world and a number of other dimensions based on our belief patterns. Unlike the normal tunnel which usually appeared right beside me this one appeared off in the distance and I found myself just staring at it - not sure whether to go towards it or not. It was then that my spirit guide Bartholomew (great name for a guide - he is also sometimes called Nathaniel, but that is a story for another time) entered my meditation and told me that the tunnel in front of me was the connection to my higher self. Connection was not quite the right word though because we are all connected to our higher self. What Bartholomew explained was that each of us has the opportunity to open up and enter into our higher self, where we will have the knowledge and understanding of what we have ever been and ever will be. I immediately felt nauseous and was almost spat out of the vision. As I opened my eyes I had a feeling that we are not meant to strive towards this connection with the higher self, but through our work on ourselves we draw the higher self to us.

That same night I had a dream where there was a group of us sitting around a table and I was teaching them how to connect with their higher selves. It was fascinating as I was sharing stories and teachings that I had been receiving and yet most of what I was teaching was from my upcoming book 'The Way of the Initiate,' a book that was written in parable form about a disfigured young boy who becomes a wise old sage and an Initiate of an ancient brotherhood.

Blessings and Peace - may your higher self give you a hint of its magnificence


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.

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

Healing and the Subconscious Mind

Healing and the Subconscious Mind

"In Old China an emperor stood upon a very high hill. Spread through the valley below him was all of his great army. He could see where a battle would be fought and where the other armies waited. He had developed an intricate system of commands for the generals and officers of his army and the battle beganThe emperor could signal to the right, and the right would attack. He could signal to the left, and the left would attack, or the middle. With another signal, each would retreat then attack again. The battle went on for hours. When the emperor saw a weakness he sent troops to that area and eventually they overcame the other army."

Chung Fu

This analogy fits your conscious and subconscious minds. Your conscious mind is the emperor and your subconscious, the army, does not see what is going on.

When we are talking of healing what we are really talking about is the subconscious mind. When we look at the physician analogy in my previous blog it is important to understand that our subconscious mind is a wonderful, natural force. It is how we exist in this world. It allows us to have memories of past situations and it is the place where the conscious mind implants all it's belief and knowledge. This can can either be a positive or negative experience. If we place in our subconscious the thought that the world and it's people are filled with great beauty, then that is what we will see. On the other hand if we focus on the pain and suffering in the world all we will see is pain and suffering.

Many of my readers will have an understanding of what I mean by the Subconscious Mind or the Subconscious as it has also been called. Before we go into more detail on how to get the best out of and work with the Subconscious I would like to give my quick explanation of what I believe it is and why it is so important.

When we incarnate into our bodies before birth or shortly after. What is is that incarnates? Some have called it the Soul others have called it the Subconscious and I would guess that if you look into many of the religions it will be known by many other names. For me I will call it the Subconscious. It is my belief that our higher self sends of aspects of itself in the form of the Subconscious to inhabit a body to increase its experiences in this plane. When the subconscious takes residence in the vehicle it is blank and has no knowledge of other lives or of the Higher Self. This is done so that went it incarnates it comes without any knowledge; so that it can work through the issues that it came here to experience. It is not a hit and miss exercise as the higher self and the aspect which incarnates understands what are probabilities for it in the first thirteen years of its life. It understands the parents weaknesses and strengths; it understand the culture it is being born into and it understand what is happening on the world at this time. Yes for it's own experience it chooses to live in Africa, Indonesia or America. It is only our misunderstanding of the wonderful opportunity that we call life, that we judge people for where they are born, the colour of their skin, their culture and their parenting. Mark my words it is the choice of the incarnated to where and when they choose and it is only our lack of understanding that makes us judge others to be different or less than we are.

When we incarnate we even choose what Element we will incarnate into as this elemental bias will allow us the best opportunity to experience what we came to earth to experience. When people start to learn about the Elements or deeper understandings of the Subconscious mind it is because they are ready for it. It is time for them to go beyond their Subconscious Mind.

But what is there to go beyond and how do we do it? Although our subconscious is an empty book when we arrive it comes programmed with our elemental perspective. We have also chosen our genetics because that will offer us the right environment in disease and health patterns to experience what we came here for. Incarnation into the Earth-plane is all about experiences; whether we are human, animal, plant or mineral. If you are attracted to these writings then you have done at least six lifetimes as human and many in all the other dimensions.

Even before your are born your subconscious is taking in impressions from your world. The Subconscious mind takes in everything; hundreds of thousands of inputs every minute. As the old computer saying goes, "Garbage in, garbage out." Before you start feeling guilty for the garbage that you have fed yourself or your children. Stop for a moment, breathe and understand that with regards to yourself you can become like the Emperor in our story and start to take control of your Subconscious mind through Conscious Mind. With regards the children you will have to wear that one. Sorry only kidding. Remember that your children chose you for all the crap that you and the world around you has given them. They understood what they were coming here to experience; they chose it. They get their revenge though. Every child feeds back to their parents and society what it taught them in the first thirteen years. We always blame the teenagers, but maybe we should look closer to home and be thankful that our loving teenagers are giving back to us what we taught them, so that we can deal with our own stuff. Scary thought that. Remember there are no victims. This is one concept that I have had the most difficulty understanding as I watch people in pain and suffering.

The subconscious mind has the ability to create in your world whatever you program into it and whatever you program into it is what you will get in return. The key if you want to change your life is to start taking care with what you program into your subconscious.
Begin today by becoming the observer. Watch how you respond to people and situations. When you meet someone new do you react positively or negatively and why?

When you get angry. Why are you angry, is it something they did or are you projecting your weakness onto them? Often I find it is when we meet someone who shows what we don't like about ourselves or a weakness we have that we can react.
If something makes you sad - why?
If you judge something or someone - why?
If you are fearful - why?

Don't be too tough on yourself; just observe; as you begin to become the observer you start to understand why you respond and then you can rise beyond it. Sometimes it can be a great challenge when you have believed these things for many years. Remember you are here to go beyond your Subconscious mind and have it work for you. It is time to understand your Element and then go beyond it to the Element of Ether. If you want to learn more about the Elements my first book 'The 33rd Sage,' is filled with the teachings I received from my old Chinese teacher.

We live in amazing times when all of us have the opportunity to be the creative essence we were meant to be.

Blessings and Peace and May your god give you the strength to realize how wonderful you are. One day you may even discover that the God or the Godforce that you seek has always been inside you.

**********
The 33rd Sage and my second book The 33rd Sage and the Initiate are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository, Watersons, and a number of online book stores. Bricks and mortar stores can order the books through my publishers, Xlibris and Dog Ear Publishing.

Twitter @GeofSpalding

Official Author Blog - the33rdsage.authorsxpress.com/

Websites www.the33rdsage.com and www.33rdsage.com

Translatable Author Blog - 33rdsage.blogspot.com.au/

The Legend of the 33rd Sage - Chapter 31

Chapter 31 - Riding the Dragon

Time seemed to speeding up and yet he was not aging. The old sage was now in his late sixties and yet if you met him he would have appeared to be a man in his early to late thirties. It was not his diet that made the difference, although these days he needed to eat little to maintain who he was. As he made the journey from Ego to Spirit he realized that he no longer had any real needs. He accepted life for what it was; somedays he would eat, other days he would not. Some days he would stay in a Pagoda, other days he would sleep under the stars. To him it mattered not; from the quieting of the ego he understood that he was all things and he would draw to him what he needed on his journey. Of course there would come a day when the journey ended and he would shake of his mortal body and enjoy the freedom and lightness of being that he experienced in the spirit world.

There was a part of him that would have been quite happy to go to sleep one night and for his physical body not to wake up; for he knew that he was Eternal, Immortal and Infinite. It was with those thoughts that he went to sleep next to an open fire, with the full moon and all the nocturnal animals for company.

He drifted down in his levels of consciousness to the point where he was in a deep sleep. It was the level he experienced in his deepest meditations; the level where all things are connected. It is the level where the heartbeat that can be felt is the heartbeat of creation, which is accompanied by a song not unlike that of a bird song. Some mystics had called it the sound of the earth, but it was far deeper than that and Huo had remembered hearing the sound when he went up the tunnel and into the spirit world.

In what appeared to be a dream he was once again sucked up the tunnel and spat out into the spirit world. For a few moments he floated around the world and reconnected with some of the places and people he had seen and met previously. It was such a freeing experience to throw off the physical body, part of him wondered why we ever incarnated in human form. He knew the answer was to experience a life of emotion and the ego; to understand its strengths but also it's weaknesses and ultimately to transcend the human condition.

In many ways he was already more spirit than ego; he had seen the energy beyond the form; had experienced the wonders of the Tao and been one with nature. But deep in his heart centre he knew that his journey was not over. There was much more that he had to do in this world. Maybe this journey to the spirit world would give him some more answers or at least send him on the next part of his journey. In his inner self he asked to be shown where to go next on his journey.

He stopped floating through the air when he came to lake which reminded him very much of the Lake of Li, in the Forest of K'an. He floated down to the shore of the lake and there to greet him was the old log, from the real Lake of Li; the log where his students would sit when he would teach them.

He sat upon the log as if he was visiting an old friend. To him the log was very sacred. It reminded him of all the students he had ever taught and how their faces would light up when he told them one of his stories; stories which often came from so deep within him that he did not know the story himself until he began to tell it.

He was sitting on the log when he heard a sound coming from the water of the Lake of Li. The sound was off in the distance from the other side of the lake. He watched as a wave of water rushed towards him. Rather than being scared, he was mesmerized by the rising wave of water. Beneath the sound of the oncoming wave he heard another, deeper sound, it was almost guttural like the sound of an animal clearing its throat.

He watched in awe as the wave crashed over the top of him. Drenched, he did not try  to move or run as he could feel the energy in the wave. When the wave crashed back into the lake there left behind was a twenty foot dragon. Huo could not believe it. In all his wonderful life he had never seen a dragon. The dragon was red in colour, with shinny skin that glistened in the sun; skin that kept changing in colour from red to blue, brown and green. It had five claws on each foot.

The dragon seemed to be smiling at him.

He could sense its power. Rather than be scared of it the sage moved towards it. By the time he had reached the dragon it was sitting, relaxed as it did not fear him.

Anybody watching from a distance would have thought the sage and the dragon were sizing each other up, ready to strike. That could have not been further from the the truth, for within both of them was a deep respect for the other. Normally the dragon would put the person, who came before them, through a number of trials to see if they were worthy. The dragon knew this one was worthy; he could feel it with every ounce of his being.

He wondered why the sage had called him into being, for he could see that the sage was already well on the way towards his spiritual goal. The dragon opened up its feeling centers and allowed itself to enter into the old sage.

The sage could feel the energy as the dragon entered him. He opened himself up to allow the dragon to see all of him; even those aspects that he had hidden from the rest of the world.

In moments the dragon was reliving the sage's life. It was an ability that dragons had, so it was fruitless to try and hide anything from them. Everywhere the dragon looked there was a lightness to the Sage's being. The dragon could feel that Huo had wanted something but he could not feel what it was. In all the lightness there was one small shadow. This must be what the sage wanted help with.

He sent his energy into the shadow. It was as if a bright purple light was shone into the darkness revealing all there was to be seen.

The sage felt as if his heart was being ripped apart. The intensity of the pain forced him to look deep inside his heart. Without the purple light he would not have been able to do it; it was as if the purple light somehow made it more bearable. What the purple light was really doing was to increase his own vibration for a few short moments so he could become one with his shadow; for to go to the next stage he would have to be free of his shadow, his ego, otherwise the energy would destroy him.

Huo stepped into his shadow and there waiting for him were his parents and the love of his life Quing. All four of them embraced and Huo experienced a great release as he realized that he had was still feeling guilty for what had happened with his parents in the fire that many years ago. He could see that they were still very much alive and the guilt just fell away. It was in that moment that he understood the true power of forgiveness was to forgive yourself.

He turned to face Quing, although older she still looked beautiful. They stared into each others eyes for the longest time, seeing other lifetimes they had shared together and lifetimes in other dimensions yet to be shared. "Till we meet again," said Quing.

Huo watched as the loves of his life moved out of the shadows and back into the light where they belonged.

Huo awoke far calmer and more peaceful than he had ever felt in his life. Although it may have only been a dream, he realized that there had been a great release of energy while he slept and he was now different from the man who went to sleep.

He looked around himself and everything seemed different, lighter somehow. It was not just the landscape which looked lighter, he felt lighter himself, like he had been released by a burden which he had carried for years.

He put his hand inside his robes and removed the dragonfly pendant that had given him so many good memories. He looked at the pendant and a smile came to his face. In his mind's eye he could see his parents, Quing and Chung Fu they were all smiling and laughing and with a gentle wave they all turned and walked away from him.

The old sage was overcome with joy, rather than lose the greatest influences in his life he know understood they were always with him. All he had to do was look inside his heart; they were always there. There was no more guilt; he was what he was and in doing so he had taken the most courageous journey that anyone can take the journey within, the journey of the warrior sage. His life was sacred and he was dedicated to his own journey.

He stood, gathered his pack and continued on, free from the voices of the ego which had always tainted how he had seen the world.

As he walked away anyone watching would have seen him hang the dragonfly pendant on the branch of a tree.

Later that day spirit would ensure that a young girl on her own journey would walk past the tree that day and the pendant would come into her life.

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My new book the 33rd Sage and the Initiate is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and many other wonderful bookstores and online sellers. If you want to read more about 'The 33rd Sage and the Initiate,' have a look at my website on www.the33rdsage.com or my translatable blog at http://33rdsage.blogspot.com.au/

The Legend of the 33rd Sage - Chapter 30

Chapter 30 - Spiritual Discipline

After a year of listening to other philosophers and their philosophies the old sage found he was becoming even more silent; it was not that he did not disagree with what others said, he found it easier for him to be just what he was. He understood that he was not his mind or his body but an eternal, immortal and infinite being who had chosen this lifetime to evolve. From day to day he continued to wander the land every now and then he would sit for a while and teach or tell stories or just talk to people. Wherever he found himself was where he was meant to be.

He understood that he was an infinite being who had cloaked himself in a body to experience life in the earthplane. His daily discipline was focused on what he could do to transcend this experience and be able to understand his journey better. He would open himself up to where spirit wanted him to be on this day.

As he wandered he thought about writing down some of the stories he told to his students and others that sat and listened, but he soon realized that the story itself was the key and it was a story that should evolve over time. In this way it would keep the essence of the story alive but allow for the story teller to share it through their own instrument. This would allow the story to grow and evolve in ways that the original storyteller would not think possible. Huo thought to himself that it was very much like what happens to humans who incarnate to add to their own story to the library of the Godforce; a story that is written each time on an empty soul adding to the Godforce in ways that the Godforce may not even have thought possible. Here we all were insignificant in our own way and yet at the same time without us the universe would be different. As Huo pondered this he was both humble and overawed at the same time.

Who would have thought a poor disfigured boy would have grown into a humble sage who travelled the countryside telling stories, teaching and healing. He wondered where the Tao would lead him next, but he didn't need to wait long as his next journey was as close as his next decision.

As he contemplated where to go next he was overcome by a feeling of nausea. At first he thought it might be the rice he had eaten night the night before, for it had been in his pack a long while, as he had not met anyone or had any fresh food for many days. As the nausea waves enveloped his whole body, he felt a strange shift in his being and all of a sudden his consciousness was ripped from his physical body and transported through a long tunnel into a place of exquisite beauty. The bright light and the sheer beauty was almost too much for him that he had to close his eyes. As he became used to the energy that surrounded he opened his eyes again and surveyed the landscape.

The picture before him reminded him of one of the landscapes painted by prince Heng, for there was a flowingness in all objects that could not normally be seen with the naked eye. In the past the sage had only been able to perceive this aliveness or flowingness out the corner of his eyes. Now he could see it with all his being as his consciousness was no longer weighed down by his physical body.

He floated around the new world. He could have walked but with is new found lightness of being it seemed more appropriate to float and allow the energy of heaven to lead him through this new land. He wondered for a moment where he was, but it did not matter it was just one more experience given to him by the Godforce. Some would have called this place heaven, others might have seen it as a resting place between lifetimes.

Just when he stopped to contemplate where he was, he was picked up on a beam of light and transported out into the universe. He looked back to see the earth rushing away from. It was a humbling experience. The earth which had seemed so big was now less than the size of a pin head as his consciousness continued its journey across the galaxy. He soon could see galaxies by the millions rushing by. The universe was far bigger than he could ever comprehend. In his feeling centre he could feel voices talking to him, telling him that there was an infinite number of universes and he himself was existing in all of them at the same time.
The words, images and feelings continued to flow into him at such an extraordinary rate that he could not keep up with them. He tried to understand what he was seeing, hearing and feeling but it was all too much. The nausea increased and he was shot back into his body.
He opened his eyes.

He was back on earth, on the side of a mountain, sitting in a lotus position, trying to comprehend what just happened. He realized his ego was trying to hold on to the experience, so he turned his focus away from the experience and onto the feelings of nausea that he was still experiencing. The feelings were not unpleasant. It was like there had been a shift in who he thought he was and the nausea was either a reminder of the change or his resistance to it.

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My new book the 33rd Sage and the Initiate is available from Amazon, Barnes and Noble and many other wonderful bookstores and online sellers. If you want to read more about 'The 33rd Sage and the Initiate,' have a look at my website on www.the33rdsage.com or my translatable blog at http://33rdsage.blogspot.com.au/