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#1786 - Monday, May 3, 2004 - Editor: Jerry
The following are excerpts from Dancing in the
Mirror: Inspirations on Peace and Joy, by Bryan
Walton. Walton lives in Canada and was trained as
an electronic engineer. He currently conducts
seminars on project quality management. It is a
nearly channeled book of random readings, each of
which straightforwardly restores your connection
to reality, whether you are experiencing fear,
confusing love, disturbed energy, difficult
emotions and feelings. This book is designed to
be opened and read at random. There is even a
system, using a deck of playing cards, which
insures randomness.
The influence of three works mentioned by the
author is evident: the Seth material, A Course in
Miracles, and Eckhart Tolle's The Power of Now.
This is a gentle, peaceful, warm and loving,
insightful book. It is not of the nature of
radical nonduality or even a qualified
nonduality. It's a useful book about
understanding personal reality.
Excerpts follow. A couple are from the website
(where you can read more pages from the book) and
a couple I typed from the book. This is a very
good book for someone who wants a gentle, loving
reminder about the nature of reality and how to
guide the attention to where there is a greater
truth.
This is the book's website:
http://www.centrelinepublications.com/
On Guilt
Feeling guilty about feeling guilty is a classic
exercise to make things complicated. Consider
that you actually enjoy feeling guilty and
justified at the same time; this appears to have
the energy you crave. That this is another kind
of illusion, a “story”, is obvious. so you have a
choice. Initially, the choice to go after peace
may appear to be the opposite of peace. Stay with
it, for it is the source of your power.
Remember, your feelings only guide you to the
gap, otherwise, they don’t matter. They can also
confirm your peace. The point is not to go on a
delusional rampage of self-justification and
projection, or self-indulgent guilt and remorse.
Uncomfortable feelings are only to tell you to go
back to peace and joy.
~ ~ ~
On Sadness
Feelings of intense sadness well up to be
processed in the light of day. This is the very
beginning of a big process of opening and being
in your heart. Although you won’t always feel
this sadness, it is still there. Yet, you will
note that when you “tilt” slightly to imagine
information coming to you from the Spirit, your
heart feels buoyant. This tilt is the key shift
for you to feel the heart energy. It is not to
deny the pain and sadness. In fact, you will find
that with practice, you will be able to embrace
them both. Just allow yourself to feel the joy of
our contact and the sadness that is also yours.
The sadness is in process of transforming—to move
into a powerful expression of love. Let yourself
understand that all parts of your psyche are in
this state right now. The trick is to welcome it
with a gentle question mark. The question is not
intellectual knowing; it is a far deeper
repatriation of self. At one level, you could see
it as the pain of birth. The birth of a fuller
expression of your selfhood, with all parts or
aspects loved, accepted, and none distorted by
denial.
The process may be a bit uncomfortable for you
because of lifetime habits. It is quite all right
for this to show up as the sensation of sadness.
How to rejoice in the feeling rather than
thinking that something is wrong is somewhat of a
challenge. These energy flows are healing. As you
change your relationship with these feelings and
stand away from judgement, they will gracefully
open their petals to allow the beauty to shine.
~ ~ ~
On the Heart of Possibility
Where the tides flow easily, so does the energy
of the universe flow. Easing this opening through
the heart will allow the energy of wisdom, the
energy of love, the energy of presence, to
manifest itself in ways that were no possible
before.
The practice of being in the heart is the
essential step from which all other steps follow.
The heart state allows the opening of
possibilities, the limitless expression of the
greater self. In practical terms, this will
enable the magic of probability to work in the
favour of all and allow you the perception of
knowing that any event will tend to meet the
criteria of the heart.
Even if it appears not to be what you desire, the
heart gets into the "nitty gritty" of your true
intent -- a rather enormous "nitty gritty." The
heart gives you a broader perspective based on
trust.
What a marvellous concept. "Trust!" It can, and
will, actually become your experience. It will
add a zest and exuberance that will delight you
and help others along the way. For this is your
intense desire.
~ ~ ~
On Flashes of Inspiration
Operating from the passion of your intent is far
more powerful than trying to overcome your
perception of failure.
This is the point of
always seeing life as a new beginning -- Now!
The whole idea of starting over again is the
basis of all the exercises. The urging for
frequent repetition is to get around your
tendency to prolong any state, to elongate way
beyond its momentary nature. For that is what
these inspirations are, momentary flashes
followed by the dulling blindness that has you
stumbling around believing in the perpetuation of
the initiating state. This life is made up of a
series of flashes and then you operate in the
variations of memory of the flash to sustain and
give substance to the void between flashes.
How about using the same method by seeking
flashes of illumination on a frequent basis? That
is exactly what is offered to you in the hourly
remembrances. In this way, you constantly
regenerate yourself as a beacon of love.
So rest easy. As you open up to love's
beneficience, so will your joy grow and your
vitality for life. By life, we mean the glimpse
of the eternal reality -- the truth of whom you
are radiating through the fog of illusion to burn
off the haze and bring vivid clarity to
perception.
http://www.centrelinepublications.com/
Here is commentary on another book...
Book Review
by Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
The Knitting Sutra: Craft as a Spiritual Practice
Susan Gordon Lydon
HarperSanFrancisco 02/97 Hardcover $18.00
ISBN 0-06-251202-1
Here is proof positive that crafts are much more
than creative outlets —they can be catalysts of
our personal transformation. Susan Gordon Lydon
shows how knitting has played a major role in her
life as prayer, passion, inward journey, stress
reducer, source of renewal, and service of
others. Throughout the book, the author presents
wonderful insights into this ancient craft,
especially the important role it has played in
aboriginal societies.
Knitting has led Lydon into ever-expanding
circles of understanding. It is the lure that
enables her to delve into the spiritual riches of
Native American spirituality, Arica, Sufism, and
Judaism. It has been a spiritual teacher during
periods of illness and depression. And as a
result, she concludes, "The purpose of craft is
not so much to make beautiful things as to become
beautiful inside while you are making those
things." The Knitting Sutra shows how craft can
be a spiritual practice which facilitates an
appreciation for the connectedness of all things.
Purchase the book at http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062512021/spirituhealth-20/103-8046650-4021423
Finally, here are some excerpts from My Driveway You Can See The Moon, by Jerry Katz.
i went with my brother's family of four to the
krispy kreme in los angeles.
they gave each one of us a free donut while we
waited to order.
we ordered a dozen. so we got 17.
and we ate them all.
i loved the girl who handed out the free donuts
warm from the deep fryer and glaze shower.
she has one of the great jobs humanity has ever
known.
her handing out of one donut is as inspirational
as any human gesture ever was.
~ ~ ~
The question to ask, for me, is not what the
meaning and purpose of suffering is, but, What is
the ultimate division that I harbour, what are
its manifold expressions and how are they
reflected in the universe? Before trying to
explain what I see, I need to see what I see.
~ ~ ~
People read these things looking for ... what?
Sometimes you need to come home to a homemade hot
meal, apple pie with vanilla ice cream melting on
top of it, and to relax for a couple of hours.
Then you go off to a nice comfortable bed for a
good night's sleep. In the morning everything
looks different. And there's left-over apple pie
for breakfast.
Download the e-book for free at http://nonduality.com/ndsp1.zip