Right after I wrote the piece about Mother Earth today I found this on yahoo the very same day:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20090127/sc_afp/uswarmingenvironmentclimate

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Climate change is "largely irreversible" for the next 1,000 years even if carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions could be abruptly halted, according to a new study led by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The study's authors said there was "no going back" after the report showed that changes in surface temperature, rainfall and sea level are "largely irreversible for more than 1,000 years after CO2 emissions are completely stopped."

NOAA senior scientist Susan Solomon said the study, published in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences journal, showed that current human choices on carbon dioxide emissions are set to "irreversibly change the planet."

Researchers examined the consequences of CO2 building up beyond present-day concentrations of 385 parts per million, and then completely stopping emissions after the peak. Before the industrial age CO2 in Earth's atmosphere amounted to only 280 parts per million.

The study found that CO2 levels are irreversibly impacting climate change, which will contribute to global sea level rise and rainfall changes in certain regions.

The authors emphasized that increases in CO2 that occur from 2000 to 2100 are set to "lock in" a sea level rise over the next 1,000 years.

Rising sea levels would cause "irreversible commitments to future changes in the geography of the Earth, since many coastal and island features would ultimately become submerged," the study said.

Decreases in rainfall that last for centuries can be expected to have a range of impacts, said the authors. Regional impacts include -- but are not limited to -- decreased human water supplies, increased fire frequency, ecosystem change and expanded deserts.

Question: Mother Earth the entire planet's weather system is out of kilter.  The scope of this is frightening and at times it feels as though you are angry with us, and lashing out at us.

My Children:

You have it all wrong.  I am not lashing out at you in spite of all you have done to deface me and poison me.  No my Children you have it wrong.  Yes my Body is responding to the damage you have done.  Yes the climate is warming, the polar icecaps are melting.  Yes there are stronger tornados, and yes there are issues with rain, lack of it, extreme heat, and other natural disasters.  This is not because I am lashing out my Dearest Ones. 

Let us look for a moment at the process of cancer produced by cigarettes in your own bodies.  When you choose to smoke the lungs are damaged by cancer producing agents.  They are blackened, and tar from the cigarettes impedes their ability to deliver life sustaining oxygen to the vital cells that sustain your life.  Eventually the body responds by producing cancer cells.  This is immunity gone wild, and it is the body's reaction to an unnatural and unhealthy product that should never have been there to begin with.  Now would you say your body hates you in this case?  Of course it doesn't hate you.  Is it lashing out?  No, in essence the body is trying to protect itself, but the mechanisms have been so damaged that instead of protection the body ends up attacking itself and killing itself. 

In the same manner Children my body is responding to the damage you have done, and continue to do.  Unfortunately I cannot control the response of my body and you are feeling the results.  You cannot poison the waters of life I have given you, the air you breathe, the very ground you were born from and end up going back to without consequences.  This is not because I am angry, but because my body is a living thing.  It is its own living ecosystem with checks and balances just as your own body is.  If you were to stop drinking water you would die.  If you were to stop eating you would die.  In the process of life, there are delicate systems that keep you alive.  If those processes are disturbed then pandemonium and ultimately death is the result.  These are choices my children, your choices.  You have made the choices, and these are now the consequences of them.

Some have asked Me, is this reversible?  Yes however the time is fast approaching when it will not be reversible.  Just as people become terminal due to poisoning their bodies, or neglecting their health, so am I fast becoming terminal.  Once that point is reached no there will be no return, there will be no coming back.  If there is a time to reverse this trend it has to be now before the damage is so extensive that no one will survive, no life on Earth will sustain itself as we now know it.

I have nurtured you Children but I am old and feeble now from continued abuse.  I am sick in body, and the poisons are rapidly diminishing my ability to recover, recoup, and fight back to health.  I love you; I have given myself in my body and my Spirit to ensure your continuance.  I cry tears in the acid rain that falls.  Bitter tears for what have I done my Children that I deserve so little respect?  I burn in the mounting heat, and as the icecaps melt, so does my determination to recover from it.  I rumble and move in tsunami's, earthquakes, and see the devastation my body causes and the lives it takes, and I cry my Children.  I cry for you, for myself, and for all that I have done that goes unnoticed. 

Wake up my Children before it is too late...Wake I say.  With love Mother Earth.

In the days before Creation there was nothing but the Creator.  In this void one day Creator decided to create a masterpiece that would give glory to who and what Creator was.  First Creator made all the stars, planets, and the sun and it was good.  Creator basked in the beauty for a while, and then decided that life was needed to fill up the beauty of creation.  Creator gathered together all in heaven and many came to Creator with lofty ideas and goals to help create life.  In this process first the rabbit came to Creator and said, "I am quick and I am smart.  I can bring down your Spirit to what you have created by my wits and my quick feet."  Creator thanked the rabbit and said, "I will think on this."  Then the deer approached Creator and said, "I can bring your Spirit by my gentleness and softness.  I also move quickly and I am very intuitive."  Again Creator thanked the deer and said, "I will think on this."  Then the Lion approached and said, "Creator I can bring your Spirit with a mighty roar.  I am tough, I am swift, no other stands before me."  Creator replied, "Thank you Lion I will think on this." Finally the turtle approached Creator.  "Creator I am a simple creature.  I am slow, and I do not have quick wits or quick feet.  I am both of land and sea, but I am a simple turtle.  All I can offer you is the shell on my back.  This is my home, but more than my home, it could be a resting place to bring your Spirit down and populate your creation.  If you allow me to go down, I will mate with your creation, and everything in it.  In this way a piece of your Spirit that resides in my shell will become a part of everything you have created.  Your glory will be expressed from the smallest to the largest.  More importantly because I am just a simple turtle, and simply Your vessel, the glory of it all will go to you, and not to myself."  Creator smiled and said, "Turtle because you were humble and willing to be My vessel, it shall be you I will send."  With that Creator put Its spirit in the shell of the turtle, and turtle was indeed sent to populate the new creation.  And this is how Creation came to be here.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

What is the difference between Reiki and the faith healing as in the laying on of hands? As well who or what are you calling on when you are facilitating Reiki?
Thomas Payne
Frederick, Maryland 21703

When one is attempting faith healing it's usually done with specific prayers in the name of God. For example in the fundamentalist Christian movement, one would lay one's hands on someone and pray in the name of Jesus, often quoting scriptures and or in some way activating faith in God. Depending on the faith involved there are often route prayers, and sometimes anointing a person with oil along with the faith of the person praying that facilitates the healing.

With Reiki you are not praying any specific prayers, nor are you calling to any specific God. In this sense Reiki is non religious. On the other hand Reiki is very spiritual in that you are not just dealing with the body of a person, but their mind, and their spirit. In Reiki we are calling on the same force that has created our physical universe and holds it together. This force does not have a gender, nor does it have any specific way to approach it. It is the creative force of life itself. While it is a spiritual concept this is not necessarily a religious concept or a dogmatic one.

In faith healing there are no symbols one must concentrate on. There are no specific hand positions. One simply has faith, and it is this faith that is supposed to move mountains. Faith then in this case is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things unseen. It is calling on the promises of healing in whatever faith or religion one aspires to, and believing sight unseen that the things that have been prayed for are being manifested into reality through faith.

In Reiki healing we use symbols as a catalyst for the Universal Life force to channel through us and help the patient heal themselves. As one progresses in Reiki, often symbols become unnecessary because each symbol has a specific "feel" or energetic signature which can be then called on or channeled. There are specific hand positions in Reiki. These hand positions are aligned with something called an energetic chakra system. Chakras are points along the spine where the human energy has created little whirlpools of energy. When we place our hands along these areas, the idea is to align the energetic system which helps to facilitate wellness and healing.

As to what we call on, we call on the Universal force of life itself, or what is known as the force of Creation. Again there is no particular Deity involved, and no set rules of how to approach such a Deity

Thursday, May 15, 2008

When One is Struggling

Recently someone I know had gone to a weeklong intensive residential class in "Shamanism" directed at healing and counseling. (I put this in quotes because the description after the fact would not be considered core Shamanism). Before they went they explained to the director that they had some physical challenges that had to be considered. A form was sent to them which they filled out, and they were then assured their needs would be met. The facility was a long way from home on the West Coast, so once the commitment was made there was no turning back. As well there were no refunds. When the person got to facility it became clear that there was no special consideration for them there at all. In fact the person had to hire someone at the facility to help them, and then go out on their own to get the things they needed.

What ended up transpiring is that basically the person was ostracized from the rest of the group. It was apparent this person was struggling, and it became clear that the others in the group were turned off by the struggles. In several conversations it was implied that perhaps there was something this person had "done" and that these struggles were "lessons" to teach this person or "correct" them in some way. This added a layer of stress to an already stressful situation. While the person got through the class, it was difficult and lonely emotionally for them.

My reaction to this is sadness and disappointment at the people involved with this. Here is a group of people who are in a class to learn how to heal and counsel, and right under their noses is someone they could both help heal and counsel! Instead of seeing this as an opportunity not only to learn, but to practice what they are learning, and in effect practice what they preach, they ended up ostracizing the person, and as well blaming them for their struggles instead.

I have spoken about this before but I will reiterate that pop psychology should not be excused or tolerated to shame, blame, or in any other way suggest that someone is responsible for their struggles. There is no excuse to ostracize, invalidate, or in any other way diminish someone simply because they are having challenges. In fact personally I applaud this person for their courage and persistence. They not only took a long airplane trip, but they withstood all that was thrown at them and stayed through until the end. They did not let their struggles stop them, nor did they give up. This is the mark of true courage. I do not believe that they did anything wrong. Furthermore I do not believe there was any reason or justification for the behavior of others in that group. If there was a "lesson" at all, it was not for that person but for that group of people. This group failed the lesson in my opinion. The lesson would have been to reach out to this person, to be a support, and to be humbled by the opportunity presented to be the healers they ostensibly were learning to be.

We must practice not only healing and compassion but common sense. Instead of pseudo psychology, blame, and shame, we have to practice unconditional love and acceptance. Common sense would dictate that if someone is having challenges, we should not add to those challenges but instead attempt to ease them with understanding and compassion. There seems to be this assumption that if one works with healing, then one must be healed themselves and have little to no challenges. This is an absurd notion and a harmful one. As long as we live in human form we will have challenges. Unless the day comes where there is no such thing as death, dying, decay, sadness, and challenges, we will all have our moments and battles with these things.

Let us then remember to practice compassion and leave pseudo psychology and the ideas of shame and blame at the door where they belong.

Pig in a Waller

I was praying last night about forgiveness, and what to do when someone refuses to respect your boundaries, or continues to insult you with their actions or deeds.  What came to me is the analogy of a pig in a waller:

A pig by nature loves it's waller.  In fact a pig is not happy unless it is literally immersed in mud and guck.  They eat the garbage and refuse no one will touch and are perfectly content in doing so.  They are the most innately perfectly unclean animals that we've domesticated. 

Now can you imagine if we got angry at the pig for its nature?  What if we held anger, bitterness, resentment against the pig for wanting to live in a waller?  Taking it further, some have even tried to create a pet out of the pig.  They dress it up, clean it, train it, even potty train the thing especially the small little asian pot bellied pigs.  Talk about making a silk purse out of sow's ear!  No matter what you do, a pig is still a pig.  Either you live with its nature in harmony and forgiveness for what it is, or move on to another animal.

By the same token those who continue in shameful or despicable actions in my mind is equivalent to a pig in a waller.  This has absolutely nothing to do with me or anything we have done, or will do in the future.  Their desires are their own.  What they do, and what they choose to fill their soul and spirit with is not something we need to take responsibility for.  While it's normal at first to be upset and angry at the disrespect, I've come to the conclusion that the person most disrespected in this is not me, but the person themselves. 

We are what we feed ourselves through our minds, our eyes, and our body and spirit.  If someone wishes to feed themselves dirt and muck, or continue fill their soul with that, then we do not need to take that to heart as a personal affront. Their choices will lead to consequences emotionally and spiritually not to mention psychologically. 

In short we need to just walk the path in forgiveness recognizing that such a soul is just being true to their nature.  These are their choices to evolve out of the waller, or remain in it.  Our job is not to be dragged down into it with them.  Creator made it clear, channel the Light, be the Light, walk the path you are called to walk, and let Creator deal with that particular soul and their waller.

With spring around the corner many people take to cleaning up and sprucing up their homes. It's almost as if with the birth of spring there is a desire to get rid of things that no longer serve us. There is something that drives us to renew our surroundings. Feeling clean outwardly, planting pretty flowers, all those things seem to generate a feeling of health and well being.

What came to my mind concerning this, is that spring is also a good time to do a spring cleaning of our soul. It's interesting that while we take pains to clean the outward surroundings, often we forget to cleanse the inner self.

Take the time to sit down, meditate, and breath. Ask yourself, what is there in my life that needs cleansing emotionally, spiritually or mentally? What can I let go of that no longer serves me? Where have I been spinning my wheels, and how can I regain some traction in my life?

Letting go of all those extraneous things that we either can't control or fix releases energetic resources that can be better spent elsewhere. In that light here are some spring cleaning exercises for the soul:

1) Find a calm place somewhere around or near nature. Sit near a tree, a lake, or on a rock and allow your mind to still itself. Breath deeply in through your mouth and out of your nose. Listen to the sounds around you and begin to deliberately relax your muscles. Start with your feet and go all the way up to your head. Breath in Universal Light, (God), or whatever your particular belief system happens to be.
2) Create a diary. Ask yourself what you need to let go of, and make a set of goals for yourself. Envision the things that no longer serve you as dead leaves. Watch them blow away in your minds eye all the while breathing deeply. With each outward breath you blow away the hinderances in your life. Remember not to pick them up again. If you do repeat this exercise and be patient with yourself.
3) Find daily positive things to focus on. There are all sorts of positive intentions, prayers, and even rns feeds with daily meditations.
4) Do some sort of daily exercise. This releases endorphans and helps your mind and body to let go of stressors.

Be a human being, not just a human doing.  Live, breath, and move in the moment.  Place fear and doubt on the back burner.  Walk in love, forgiveness, and integrity with yourself and others.  Have faith and try not to question so much.  Live less in your head and more in your heart and spirit.  Feed  your spirit with spiritual pursuits.  Water your spirit and soul with positive intentions.  Sing, pray, meditate, dance, do something joyful every day.  Slow down and limit distractions.  Take time each day to  recoup and rejuvenate.  Be kind to your body.  Eat healthfully, exercise, get out  in nature.  Remember to breath.  Breath is the foundation of life.  It is the fodder that nurtures the fire of life.

Faith and fear are two sides of the same coin.  Fear is simply negative faith in action.  Faith is simply positive energy in action.  When we realize this then we can flip fear around to become positive manifestation.  Fear is paralyzing because many people get into the what if syndrome.  They end up awful-izing and find themselves unable or unwilling to move.    It stands to reason then we can take that negative faith energy and harness it the way we harness electricity to produce light.  This is a moment to moment  process.  Each moment that we utilize our energy to produce  positive thought processes and or positive intent is one less moment based on fear.  Our future is made up of such moment by moment choices.  Our past is  done and stagnant and it can't be changed or altered.  Our future depends on our ability to harness our thought processes  one at  a time and overcome negative fear filled faith by filling our lives with positive hope filled faith.  Many people want a quick fix.  They want to have a once and for all cure of negativity, fear, and things that no longer serve them.  What is not realized though is walking through the valley of fear or the shadow of death is part of our earthly realm of experience.  As long as we are human we will fear.  The idea is that if we do experience fear we have the ability to walk through  it, stand in it, and overcome it.  That is the very essence of courage.  This is what makes a true hero.  Hero's are not those who have no fear, although there are some reckless souls that seriously have little fear.  Hero's are those that have their Achilles heel but triumph in spite of that. 

One of the most heart breaking aspects of this is that people tend to blame themselves when they are fearful or imperfect in their manifestations.  They begin to believe they have done something inherently wrong and despise what they view as their own weakness.  What needs to be understood is that there is no judgment or shame in fear.  There is nothing that someone can do to "deserve" a poor outcome.  We are living in an imperfect and fallen world in which many things are not necessarily fair or equitable.  This has nothing to do with the person themselves, or even the quality of their manifestations.  Instead of flagellating oneself, one needs to be forgiving of oneself, loving and kind to oneself, realizing that all of life is one large lesson that is learned step by step.  We take one step forward, two steps backwards, but always with the goal of attaining what it is we desire to manifest. 

What is our motive for seeking Spirit?  Are we seeking it simply for monetary gain and or physical gain?  Do we seek Spirit because we truly love and wish to serve Spirit, or are we seeking Spirit because we believe we will be enriched monetarily or with the physical things of this world? 

Spirit is our Parent, and should be sought because Spirit is the Creator, both Holy and Loving.   It should not be sought simply because we wish a bigger car, or the newest, latest or greatest gadget. 

Let's put ourselves for the moment in the role of a parent.  What parent only wants to hear from their child when they need money or when there is some gain to be had in the contacting?  Parents want the pleasure of hearing from their children because that parents is loved and appreciated for who and what they are.  Parents want to be respected and to be honored for their sacrifices, their wisdom, and to be acknowledged in this.   

In the same way Spirit wishes to be loved and acknowledged as our Parent, our Creator, that which is Holy, Wise, and has our best interests at heart.  Again going with the analogy of a parent, what parent would want their child to come to them petulant and demanding?  Can you imagine a child saying, "You owe me, you brought me into this world, it's your fault your responsibility so give me what I want now!"  What would the reaction be to such a demand from any normal parent?

While we do have the ability to manifest things into our lives we also have to realize that Spirit is neither a Heavenly butler nor a vending machine.  Our manifestations should not so much be about self gratification and wealth as it should be about manifesting change in the world at large.  Our manifestations should be about bringing in hope, Universal Love, health, compassion, wisdom, and good will.  When our manifestations become selfish and self involved we've not only missed the entire point of manifestation but we have misused our gifting.  

Having said this there is a balance.  Of course we should manifest things for ourselves, but within reason and within the context of what is for our highest and best good.  Is it really in our highest and best good to drive a BMW or Porsche convertible when another less expensive mode of transportation is available for us?  Is it really in our best interest to go to Spirit demanding and hungry for the things of this world rather than hungry for a relationship with Spirit?

When my life reaches it's natural conclusion ( and I don't intend to go anywhere for a good long time) I would like it to be said that I was not so much into Ithe pursuit of manifesting things, but more in the pursuit of being a conduit for Spirit more and more each day.  There is a scripture that resonates with me in the New Testament in this:  Seek ye first the kingdom of God (Spirit whatever you want to call it) and it's righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.