July 2009 Sydney Goodwill Newsletter
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S Y D N E Y G O O D W I L L N E W S L E T T E R
PO Box 627, Caringbah NSW 1495
Tel: (02)9540 2391 Fax: (02) 9524 0025
www.sydneygoodwill.org.au
No 267 / July 2009
Dear Friends,
It’s often the simplest and smallest happenings that bring the greatest joy, the deepest impact in our lives – perhaps a brief smile that communicates and strengthens a heartfelt connection and lingers in memory through a lifetime; a dear friend’s way of laughing that lifts the spirit when remembered; a revealing phrase spoken by a beloved parent; or any moment when something deeply moving pours towards and through one’s heart, mind and soul. The tiniest flowers often radiate the most beauty; the subtlest sounds may speak most deeply to the inner ear; a feather touch may awaken all the senses to the totality of wonder in our world. The things that house lasting power may not be the biggest, loudest or most obvious – as psychologists so often find.
Large public events, while powerful in inclusive scope, may have less impact on human consciousness than a collective resonance to something deep which flows through and touches in a unique heart-sharing moment. At such times we may be lifted beyond the ordinary into a greater wonder until the old pattern of self-awareness tugs us back into the commonplace, though perhaps leaving us altered in some way since, from that moment, a planted seed grows towards its inevitable flowering. Master Morya writes:
“In the sacred evening of the Greatest Holy Day,
In the Name of the Universal Symbol, I say to you:
You have been admitted to the task of building the New World.
I say to you: Strengthen your eyes, that you be not blinded
when I raise the hem of the veil of the Future.” [The Call, verse 428]
Our life-changing moments are often not a matter of words but perhaps what is instantly conveyed in a gesture, a smile, a sharing of the intensity of life in a single timeless instant. And, as realisation settles around us, the world becomes re-organised into new patterns of meaning and a new reality emerges. We must, perforce, work in the world as currently perceived and may benevolently seek to impose our current view of betterment, yet it is the unlooked for moments of sudden inspiration that truly create a new world. We may have been surprised when the “Berlin Wall” came down, when peace broke out in various places long torn by warfare, when human rights became accepted as a global standard – but all came about through those timeless moments of inspiration. It is through our radiant presence, when we are open to the inner glory that shines through us all, that the world is re-made. The Master recounts:
“Broadly has spread the praise of daring. The least the praise of daring. The least of the disciples have turned to the path of searching and have approached Us, asking that We judge their striving. Each brought his dreams: ‘I will destroy all earthly temples, because Truth needs no walls. I will water all deserts. I will open all prisons. I will demolish all swords. I will blaze all trails. I will wipe away all tears. I will travel through all lands. I will inscribe the book of humanity.’ But the least one of them turned to the shining stars and said, ‘Hail to you, brothers!’ And in this salutation of daring his ego vanished. Let the path of the Universe be acknowledged in this daring greeting!” - from [Agni Yoga, verse 12]
While we may focus on one or other apparently separate events, our home, the Earth, is dynamically living through all the events unfolding around, in and through it. In one quarter we may see ignorance, oppression and the cruelty born of a desperate hold on that which is surely passing away. In another we can see the sacrifice of generous hearts in order to aid those who suffer in dire need. In yet another, we may witness the judgemental exclusion of all that is yet to be understood as it damns up towards a flooding release into reconciliation, rapprochement and deeply connected relationship. And perhaps we may see all the atomic lives which comprise this great macrocosmic world working out their destined paths according to the rhythmic energy-flows that circulate the life-sustaining force throughout. We may see works of beauty constantly reflecting back the one inspiration pouring through the many artists, luminaries and visionaries. For it is they who show the way for us as we journey out of the land of shadow towards enlightened and enlivened living.
Our eyes are not strengthened by looking only to the past for guidance. Certainly the strands of our history can be seen weaving through time and space, but the pattern is undecipherable until we follow through into the future, unbound and unconditionally, towards the fulfilment of that arcane purpose, the originating impulse, and begin to understand the Master’s injunction:
“Truly, do not divide the world into north and south,
or east and west. But everywhere distinguish between the old world and the New.
The old world finds shelter in all parts of Earth. The New World also is born
everywhere, but beyond boundaries and conditions.
The old world and the New World are distinguished through
consciousness, not by outer evidence. Age and circumstance bear no importance.
New banners are often raised by the hands of the old world, still filled with
prejudices. But often in solitude beats a heart filled with the radiance of the
New World. Thus, unwaveringly, before our eyes, the world divides itself. The
new consciousness grows, unskilled, but full of daring. Despite its experience
the old thinking loses strength. There is no power that could hold back the
tide of the New World. We regret the useless waste of energy of the expiring
consciousness. We welcome with a smile the daring of those who realize their
right to expand new achievements. Each mistake, if committed for the cause of
the New World, becomes a flower of valor. No matter how skillful the effort to
embalm the old world, it remains a skeleton of horror.
The old world rejected the Mother of the World, but the New
World begins to perceive Her lustrous veil.”
- from [Agni Yoga, verse 55]
There are many realisations through which to pass as the vistas of our future open before us. This future is not so much about new things or new forms of expression, though these assuredly will emerge, but is rather a new consciousness which will be reflected through all our creations and endeavours. Each forward step returns us to the centre of life and our identification with or our immersion in it. The Master Djwhal Khul tells us that:
“The greatest problem … is that of comprehending the nature of identification. This concerns … the relation of the self to the Self and of all selves to the all-inclusive SELF. It involves the mystery of duality with which they are occupied, and the very moment that theory as to essential unity becomes definite realisation, then the realm of synthesis is entered. For that type of realisation, language as we now have it has no words … Identification (to use the only word available for our purpose) is connected with dynamic life, with conscious enhancement, with completion and with creative sharing, plus process. It is a process of participation—consciously and constructively undertaken—in the life actions and reactions of the One in Whom we live and move and have our being; it is related to the network of life channels which keep the form aspect of the planetary Logos functioning as a ‘Divine Representation.’ ... It is connected with the circulation of that ‘life more abundantly’ to which the Christ referred when dealing with the true nature of His mission. It might be said that as He uttered this phrase this mission dawned on Him and He made a preliminary effort to serve Shamballa, instead of the (Spiritual) Hierarchy of which He was even then the Head. Later, He enunciated as best He could the extent of this realisation, in the words … ‘I and the Father are One.’” - from [The Rays and the Initiations, page172-3]
Modern scientific investigation takes us deeply into the universe of the sub-atomic life only to reveal that its experience of the universe is the same as that of an aggregation of atoms we might call a human being, a nation, a world, a solar system. From the ancient understanding of the enlightened:
“All … serves to demonstrate the oneness of the tiniest unit with the one great informing Life, and shows the integral beauty of the scheme. The life of the greatest cosmic Lord of Love pulsates in infinitesimal degree in the heart of His tiniest reflection, and for this reason the atom man can likewise say ‘I too am God; His Life is mine.’ …
…Thus the potentialities latent in the incarnating jiva are stupendous, and he can become as God, provided he submits to the evolutionary process, and does not ‘refrain from being stretched upon the wheel.’ Thus the expansions of consciousness, which will admit an individual point of spiritual life into the councils, and the Wisdom of the Deity, are no idle promise but are guaranteed by the very constitution of the vehicle employed, and the place in the scheme of the ‘developing Point,’ ... Naught in time and space can hinder, for every form being simply an expression of energised life, tends to serve every other form. … As the system, or the body of the Logos, is carried forward through the energy in all its parts, so is each infinitesimal part speeded on to its similar individual glorification. The many which form the All, and the units which constitute the One, cannot be differentiated as the consummation is achieved. They are merged, and lost in the general ‘beatific light,’” [A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, pages 1115- 1117]
“…When the glory of a man's inner God is seen, when his radiance shines forth then will it be said of him as of those who have preceded him along the Path: ‘Then shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings.’” - from [A Treatise on Cosmic Fire, page 1123]
The Festival in Cancer will be celebrated at a meditation meeting to be held at 8pm, Monday, 6 July, at the YWCA, the “Y On The Park”, 5-11 Wentworth Avenue, Sydney. For details see: sydneygoodwill.org.au . The keynote for reflection is:
I build a lighted house and therein dwell.
Southern Highlands Goodwill Unit of Service will hold a Full Moon Meditation for the Festival in Cancer at 8pm, Monday, 6 July, at The Highlands Healing Connection, 7 Wattle Lane, Bowral. To enquire – please phone (02) 4861 3574.
Visit our Website at www.sydneygoodwill.org.au for information on literature, books, meetings…