Podcast – Ursula LeQuin Steering the Craft

I wake to the ache of discovering new possibilities.

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Enjoy walking with me backwards.

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There is one thing I can do that changes everything,
All I have to do is remember to do that one thing,
persistently practice that one thing
and its practice will empower me
to change myself, my moments, my minutes, hours, days, years and life destiny.
That one thing is to keep my attention at the point between the eyebrows.
That point is the physiological center in the body,
the center of will power in the body,
and the site of the mystical spiritual eye.

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We must continue to make more effort,
followed by more effort,
until we overcome,
until the best is won.

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When we use our intuition and initiative
to establish beneficial trends
in the emotional and intellectual culture of our minds,
we make an extraordinary impact
on the contemplative climate of the world

By chance I will not allow,
but make a grand effort to plow
The fertile fields of inspiration.
And forthwith the creative flow
Shall trickle or flood through
My mind, ever receptive am I
To concepts, that deep, and meaningful
Will alter the destiny of my
Meditative ministry.

1. The Earthquake dream

I lain in bed for too long a time trying to calm my nerves so that I could go to sleep. Looking over the pile of books near by, I considered whether reading a book on abstruse science, or philosophy, would settle me into dream land.
I was dreading my meeting the next day with Plack, the security administrator.
A passage from a book of philosophic poetry, appeared to be a good way to instill fuzzy thinking, but I wanted something I could easily wrap my mind around, and not lose it in speculative pondering.

In a deep chamber of the universal mind,
dwelt the answer to the conundrum of  life,
wrangled with infinite ingenuity,
and consummating eternity.

I then turned to Trek’s Tome of Transcendent Travel, literally more practically focused on the rudiments of interstellar travel theory. I knew that space jaunts were possible. My father and mother had both voyaged to other planets in other solar systems, but I hadn’t been attracted to study temporal physics, until now. Of course, a lot of things changed when my father disappeared.

Whenever I began reading about temporal tunnel transference theory in the past, my mind would feel stretched, squeezed, pulled and drawn through an imaginary galactic passage way. In this instance, the same experience gripped me, but I managed to tolerate it and continued reading onward about the inversion of time sequencing. At that point, my conscious imaging was turned inside out, leaving me floating in a contented and confused nether land of incomprehensibility. Psychic floating was as close to sleep as I thought one could get, but my disembodied intellect managed to connect this numbing exposition with the mundane knowledge that I had learned as a child. The anti-gravity trance creates a time tunnel that shortens one’s journey through space proportionate to the depth of the trance. Pondering the intricacies put me under.

My next recollection was of being in a meeting with Plack in a dream. Sitting in a soft billowing cloud-like chair, I felt a slight pressure on the top of my head. My legs and arms were available, but not doing much. A pounding heart opened my eyes wide to behold Plack standing in front of me gesticulating frantically and probably shouting something as his face contorted and his mouth rhythmically opened and closed.
“There’s a earthquake, we must leave the building” the thought penetrated my awareness. Things appear in dreams, but I can’t say that I’ve heard anything in a dream, that is, not a dream generated sound. With that in mind, I realized how to put into words what I already knew about everything I’d “seen” or “heard” in a dream. Probably every sight or sound in a dream is only as clear as our experience in the waking state.
Something told me the glass in the dream window was oscillating. Did Plack tell me that? I wondered. That idea didn’t make sense, then I was aware of an undulating wall surface not far from where I sat. My heart jumped in fright and I was out of the chair. I’d been through dreams, where I would let catastrophes happen to my dream self, because, after all it was just a dream experience. But after numerous terrifying dream scenarios of debilitating falls, flames and fixes, where I experimented with being either passively or actively engaged, I resolved to made concerted efforts to avoid injuries and calamities.

In true earthquake fashion, my dream form was thrown against the wall. My reflexes had prepared my shoulder for the impact, but not for the bounce off the wall to the floor. My legs were obviously not ready for the sudden change of direction. The guard was also knocked about, so I didn’t feel so inept. First he hit the door, then crashed forward toward me. We barely missed each other on our way to the floor again.

The room continued to shimmy and shake for what seemed a frighteningly long time, but was in all probability less than a minute or so. Even though in the waking world, we had been experiencing quakes on a regular basis, this nightmare was considerably more violent than any I’d experienced in the waking state.
When the shaking stopped, Plack’s face contorted, and his blurry mouth opened big again, as the thought “Quick, let’s get out of the building, before the aftershocks,” prompted me to follow him and his guard through the doorway.

As we hurried our bruised and pained bodies into the hallway, our paths converged with many other people who had the same idea, to get out of the structure, before it fell on our heads. Galana, my heartthrob of lifetimes, was among them. I could see her bright red hair, in a group of black and white smudges rushing along ahead of me. I didn’t shout out to her, I knew a strong thought worked better in a dream. Too bad it didn’t work so well in the waking state. I didn’t enjoy shouting, unless it was absolutely necessary. She caught my thought, and turned her sweet face toward me. My heart soared, until it registered her fear. She appeared to want to wait or turn back for me, but in sharp contrast to my feelings for her, were my feelings for Durf, Plack’s son, who was next to her in the surging crowd. He turned around also, took her at the armpit, almost lifting her up.  Then the emotional focus of my attention disappeared into the swirling chiaroscuro crowd, red hair and all. Often times, in a dream, I can sometimes consciously replay the action back and forth, change the outcome, stop and review the possibilities. Yet in other dreams, I become the helpless observer, merely called upon to master my emotional responses, learn what I can and wonder what it all means. This time my impulse and choice was to follow them. Perhaps I’d have a chance to workout a different outcome later.

Now wait a minute, I thought, she was the helpless one in my dream, not I. This was my dream. But no, the surging panicky group would not let me stand and ponder the dream lawfulness of what was happening. As my consciousness was carried along in the crowd, her woebegone, helpless look haunted my powerlessness.

The situation was devastating my will power. I had to overcome this temporary weakness, even if I had to wake up. But wait, this might be one of those prophetic dreams, and maybe that’s why I couldn’t change it, at least in the dream. In real life, if I know what’s coming, I may be able to do something about the outcome.

Durf had always been after her. To compete with him, the biggest, strongest, meanest guy my age, was a daunting task, even in a dream.
Even though all injuries in a dream were dream injuries, still any emotional scars could create problems in the waking world. And sometimes a persistent problem in the world just pointed to a karmic problem, something carried over from another life.

I knew I had a mutual affinity with Galana that was a force to be reckoned with. Even the dream pain in my hip and shoulder from hitting the wall, and a twisted knee, didn’t stop me from hobbling along after them as best I could.

Keeping my balance amidst the panicked crowd was challenging. Several times, I was nearly pushed off my feet, by those behind or ahead of me. I quickly learned how to use the congested mass of moving bodies surrounding me, to prevent myself from being thrown to the marble floor and trampled. After much uncertainty, fear, and frustration, the homogenous throng eventually reached the plaza outdoors, where they converged with others, and then fanned out toward several exits, everyone trying desperately to get clear of the tall building columns from fear that they would soon crumble and fall on them.

A tall marble stature of Meghnad the Great, the empath turned emperor, had already been shaken off its pedestal, and crashed to the marble surface below. The huge pile of rubble formed a barrier that everyone circumvented on their way through the plaza. The head of the stature, miraculously still in one piece, rested on its neck atop its fragmented body. A crack ran down the bust, through the center of the forehead, past the nose and through the natural smile that Meghnad was famous for. As if feeling guilty that it was still in one piece, after its torso had been destroyed, the head suddenly split, the two halves tumbling down opposite sides of the debris heap.

I caught another glimpse of Galana’s red head, before she was swallowed up again by the bustling horde as it made it’s way through the last archway.

I abruptly sat up awake in bed, my light shirt clung to my sweaty chest and back. My disaster dream and accompanying helplessness to reach Galana still persisted in my mind, waiting for a resolution, and left me hoping for a miraculous climax.

I do believe that I clearly understand the concept of reincarnation. I would, of course, be the last person to attempt to convince anyone of its validity.
It does, however, in some ways, pose a romantic, poetic, even dreamlike quality to the nature of reality.
What, you might ask, actually reincarnates.
The answer to that question, is usually answered at the risk of stepping on the metaphysical sensitivities of avowed anti-religionists. Reincarnation in my view, is more of a spiritual concept, literally.
If what I understand is true, we are all spiritual beings, non-corporeal entities of light and energy. Being of that nature, our existence and identity would not depend on a physical body, and mind that disappears after a lifetime of lessons, relentless efforts to learn from our mistakes and a variety of repetitive experiences meant to teach us something.
There are two ways you can look at this. One is it’s either poppycock, or it’s absolutely true. What else would make sense?
Then on the other hand, we could ask, what if?
What if we were beings of light and energy, occupying one body after the other. What if, we were progressively learning from our experiences, and more and more growing in wisdom and serviceful inclination, until all our selfish and dark inclinations had been vanquished forevermore. Then, according to spiritual teachings,  we would be eternally reunited with our absolute creator and source. As paraphrased from Revelation 3:12 “…we will go more out…”

A reincarnational view of life would help us to let go of the sadness for the loss of our loved ones. We could then live with peace of mind knowing that the souls of our friends and family have literally moved on into greener pastures, greater possibility and happiness, and will one day be afforded new opportunities to live fulfilling lives.

There’s been some talk that a “smart” phone makes us stupid. Of course that’s a point of view. And like anything else, it has that potential, as well as other potentials. It’s wise to be aware of the downside of anything, but don’t stop there There’s also a bright side or silver lining, even if it’s not obvious. So whether you’re feeling “smart” because of the resources on your phone, or “stupid” because you’re not using your mind as much as you could or believe you should, probably has less to do with your phone, than it has to do with your own self image, or how easily you allow or disallow circumstances or other people’s opinions to affect your emotional or psychological state. So weigh the pros and cons of having a “smart” phone. Learning to think intelligently and wisely for yourself will help you to develop your opinions or philosophy based on your own experience.

I thought that I could accomplish miracles.

I thought great and marvelous things 

I thought of love, and conquest, I thought that life had some redeeming qualities.

I thought that I could find the silver lining in a storm cloud.

I thought of the rose instead of the thorn, 

I thought that time could stand still when I really needed it too,

I thought that every condition was relative and when I was still, really still and quiet, I could summon whatever courage and hope I needed to confront the challenges with confidence.

I thought of many beautiful things, and I tried to emphasize them in the midst of tears, madness, worry, and fear.

I thought, heard, believed that I was equal to or more than equal to any task, all I had to do is believe that and set my mind to overcoming, conquering, figuring it out with superhuman patience, and calmness. 

And with the empowering peace of calmness, I thought that the world could be an oyster, but I had to ignore everything and anything to the contrary. 

I thought I could’t allow the negative prognostications of hasty anxiety spoil the possibilities that were potentially available for the taking.

I thought that the positive quality of my thought could change my perception of what would manifest and how effectively obstacles could and would be handled. 

I thought that thinking was a quality that I could use to save myself from disaster, although it had to be used, exercised, disciplined, with persistent, optimistic, realistic, idealistic, rigorous, and all encompassing vigor. 

I thought that creative thinking was my superhero power, enabling my mild mannered average persona, to become a transformative master of circumstances, and destiny. 

I thought that with the right guidance, the right influence, the right environment, and the right goals, creative thinking could be my secret weapon. 

I thought that I could be an invincible wielder of insightful revelations unaffected by inhibiting beliefs, and self imposed limitations, ever able to design perfect opportunities in this life.

Is there a purpose that far exceeds who and what I am today that I would want to harness myself to, a purpose that will, can and must define, inform, and magnify me, my heart, my mind to the maximum limits of creative satisfaction?

We’re finding our way
We’re doing better
We’re doing better
We’re doing better and better
We’re doing so much better
We’re doing so much better it’s remarkable
We’re doing what we can do better
We’re doing what we do better
We’re doing our best to do better
We’re keeping tabs on how we’re doing so that we can continue to do better
Our better ways contribute to the overall betterment of mankind
Our better ways are best built on being our best
We understand what infinite resources are, we know what infinite resources are
We yearn to be better in that respect
We love God, that makes us better
We are better at expressing our highest aspiration
We are better than they think
We are better than most think
We are thinking of the greatest betterment
We are thinking far out ahead of the crowd
We are exceeding expectations
We are far beyond what is expected
We are much better than people expect us to be
We are attuned to the power of empowerment
We are looking for attunement
We are striving for attunement
We are striving to attune our selves with a greatest source
We are aware of infinite resources
We feel that we already have what we need before we have it
We can be persistent in getting what we want
We are persistent in finding what we need
We are persistent in attracting what we need
We are always asking how can we have what we want and need
We are look forward to manifesting what we need
We are already feeling the excitement of having already gotten what we want
We are intent on doing our best
We will do our best
And our best involves attuning our selves with the infinite source, feeling the fulfillment of our needs, and celebrating our attainment of what we sought
We look intently, but we see with ease exactly what we need, our needs are easily met because we are constantly attuned to the infinite resource that is ever present
We know how to be better, we will continue to be better, we will find our peace of mind easily
And our efforts to manifest abundance will be in direct proportion to the success of our effort to tune in with the infinite resource.
The constant reality of our eternal nature is ever present in our God tuned minds and hearts
The more we exercise our faith and experience of having what we want, the sooner we will actually manifest what we need on this physical plane because we already have what we need on the etheric plane

I thought I understood that
I thought I understood this
I thought of nothing else
I thought of nothing but my self
What is my purpose?
What is my lofty purpose, what is my actual purpose?
What are my gifts, actual, imagined, hoped for?
What is the purpose of my life?
What should I do next ?
What should I do now?
What will I do then?
What matters the most to them?
What matters the most to us?
What matters when nothing else matters?
What matters when your life matters, to me? to them?

Take your leave far away
Take it where it has never been and do not return the same
Return a new and better person
Set the stage of the world on fire with your enthusiasm
And allow the gold of your mind to shine and inspire all who come within the range of its glow
Find your path with heart uplifted and true and be a beacon of light for all those who venture forth with happy spirits and magnificent visions of new possibilities.
Let those marvelous sparks of that transcendent consciousness imbue your beings with experiences beyond the mundane conditions that hem you around.
When your mighty soul triumphs over all trials, victorious over all obstacles, then the life within will radiate a light of power that will heal the world of dumbness and disease.
O great possessor of incredible energy, and etheric light shine within with all your might.

We looked deeper and saw something vast and endless, stretching in all directions,
Heir to none and father and mother to all,
The infinite, eternal void attracted and repelled, its essence foreign and familiar
And so it was, all was not lost, and all was found in one state or another,
Forever and anon, we lived with invigorated hope that springs forth merrily from wells never to be exhausted, and beautiful perceptions forever glimmering behind transparent veil after veil of peace, love and everlasting joy.

Never wrestling, never fought, the fine wrought blissful moors of tranquil tracks,
Fathomless and true, born to none, never dying with an eternal presence without definite state, an elusiveness playing with thought and will, presenting the viewer, experiencer with
Magical moments of mindfulness.
We shall find ourselves forever, and completely dissolved in a greater self.
A self that can and will be untethered to tyranny and test.
There’s only a minute before the life we lead is spent in a moment of preconceived misconceptions,
Frozen not in a world of bewitching whirlwinds, we will captivated by a loving embrace that encircles the heart and mind completely healing them of old and persistent ailment and error.
We’re close to the final act of this stage play. Our weary oneness will merge in a greater myself and be lifted out of what it considered to be an expanded state of being and birth.
If you can understand this, then you will find your freedom in another world, and if you find that there is something beyond your comprehension, then don’t worry, you will have another opportunity to explore that lesson, and pass that test at a later time.