Daily Question:
If I were not afraid, what would I do?

To-days “Word of the Day”

We did not ask for this room or this music; we were invited in. Therefore, because the dark surrounds us, let us turn our faces toward the light. Let us endure hardship to be grateful for plenty…We did not ask for this room or this music. But because we are here, let us dance. STEPHEN KING

Now I am going to assume the the Author of those words, “Stephen King”, is the same as the quoting wikilcnks… “Stephen Edwin King is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy. His books have sold more than 350 million copies,”

And , because I am “not afraid”, I won’t hesitate to point out that this King statement….. “We did not ask for this room or this music”….is completely incorrect.

.O’yes We did Mr King! We very much did ask for Every bit of this “earthly experience -the room and the music” ! We are making it, it is an exact reflection of who we are.

We, as Humans, are Archangels are experiencing this Human form, because we were/are part of the, “Let us make Man in our own likeness” as recounted in the Bible.

But I do agree with your invitation to “lets dance”….. but lets cut out the rough stuff, OK Mr King?

What is a cultural/family tradition that I cherish?

Ultimately, there is but one “family”, the “family of Humanity”.

And the “Family of Human” tradition I focus on is the Essenes and their close brotherhood the Sufi ( specifically, the Sufism which existed long before the Abrahamic religions ).

In these traditions ALL Humans are truly equal, no matter which stage of consciousness any particular member is in. Their fundamental approach to Life is that we each are here (in mortal form) helping one another to advance in conscious development.

Put simply, “All we Humans truly have is each other.”
Be Well Be present

EdS

What splendor could I appreciate more fully today?

The ‘Word of the day’ points to the key “life-light-splender-giver” I intend to tune my awareness towards always, every day. That word is “Grace” – in all its “mysteries”. And by “tuning in” to grace I mean …be aware AND keep it flowing.

“I do not at all understand the mystery of grace–only that it meets us where we are but doesn’t leave us where it found us.”
ANNE LAMOTT

The ]Word of the Day’ also contains “appreciate” a word originating from old Greek root word “Appa” …hands/wings….they maintained that “where you put your hands is who your are”.

And I lke to put my “appa” on the words of Gatefullness.org’s honorary founder at least once a week. and honour his works. He includes quotes of ‘likeminded’ authors which point to keep “flow” or, as in the poem below says it …..”Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces; ”

Quoting from “Deeper then Words – Living the Apostle’s Creed”

“The poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins is rich in imagery and tight in structure. This demands a certain effort from readers. But I trust that you will want to reread in its entirety the sonnet I have quoted so extensively, and that you will find your effort rewarded.

As kingfishers catch fire, dragonflies draw flame;
As tumbled over rim in roundy wells
Stones ring; like each tucked string tells, each hung bell’s
Bow swung finds tongue to fling out broad its name;
Each mortal thing does one thing and the same
Deals out that being indoors each one dwells;
Selves—goes itself; myself it speaks and spells,
Crying What I do is me: for that I came.

I say more: the just man justices;
Keeps grace: that keeps all his goings graces;
Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he is¬—
Christ-for Christ plays in ten thousand places,
Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his
To the Father through the features of men’s faces.

What image in this poem speaks to you personally? How would you express the gist of the poet’s message in your own words? What does “justicing” imply in your own daily life? How does the perspective of this section compare with other perspectives on Jesus Christ with which you are familiar? END Quote

My reply to Br David’s question is …”justicing” is Living in the mystery of Absolute Beingness’s Divine Grace.

What if I asked each person I encounter how they truly are? And listened?

We live on a street where
everyone asks “How are you?”

But no one asks,
“How are you not?”

RUMI

Rumi’s verse is as true today as it was seven centuries ago. The standard Western question, or greeting between friends or stranger, store clerk, taxi driver and so on , of “how are you”? can become lifeless if not played with from time to time.

So personally I make a point of taking Rumi up on his wisdom…when someone asks me, “How are you”? I reply with short but not overly detailed way, such as ….”Fine Thank You”….then wait a moment for any responses …..then I ask the questioner …..”And how are you not?”

This always causes a pause….two or three seconds …and then a smile…another pause ……then either an indication, unspoken, of…OK I know what you are up to, or, if it is a young person, a response such as “Good question!….well lets see, I am not….” and then they go into details.

Rumi’s example is just a simple way of “breaking the patterns” of social behaviour and re-entering the awareness that “listening”, in fact, occurs at many many levels of human communication ( in just that 3 to 4 seconds ), sound, body language, unspoken but never the less conscious ‘vibrations’ on the psych-noetic levels,…etc etc…So I though I would respond to to-day’s question with this working example of “listening”.

freehugs

Every Human Being is / was / always will be / complete and whole.

What is changeable is the Present day/ temporary / self with its wanting to try to preserve itself by convincing its host that “something” has to be “done” or “waited for” before the burden, which it acknowledges is causing anxiety, ( after all, it HAS the acknowledge it has a “burden” because it created it in the first place! ) can be lifted off of itself!

Be Well Be Present

EdS

Antoinette

Ty for your Energetic reply.

And yes as a Essene practicing and a Researcher of Truth …I have a selection of 30 to 40 exercises that that coordinate the breath ( unified with the Pulse of Life / Heart beat ) and …adding here to your suggestion of “visualization” , moving the colours/light energies of the Holy Spirit and Logo and the Holy Archangels of the Elements therefore inducing Etheric Vitality into the “Etheric Energy centres” of the three bodies , physical, Psychical and Noetical bodies. Focusing these light colours, plus intensifying the Etheric Vitality, ( creating elementals) clears the centres of the three bodies as they are as perfectly aligned and attuned as possible to the original “Idea of Man”. In our pray we say “enlighten our mind to know you as the truth, clear our hearts to know you as the truth”.

This is all done over the “Symbol of Life” ( NOT to be confused withe the Tree of Life which Moses copied and converted for his own “uses”) which is an Ancient – Archetypal symbol we are bring back to life by applying the above breathing-visualization, plus mediation-introspection. Using this we have the added power of having all the Previous Enlightened Ones who have used this same Symbol of Life before us….right there to help us.

Dear OseOne

I would say you are spot-on (imo) wrt to the sonnet’s opening line but we must keep in mind that the true talent of this type of ‘flow’ is unique in that it speaks to many level consciousness. Even the straight laced Victorian interpretations of Hopkins times are fine, IF that happens to be ones, “cup of tea”, consciousness wise..

But, as you have yourself expressed it, there is way more to Hopkins images going on there and you are very much resonating with Br David’s sentiments of focusing on Self and the internal / transformational / “Fire”.

I intentionally kept my interpretation of “Dragonflies” in an external mode but your reply leads me to say more on this line.

I am sure you are familiar with the traditional images of Archangel and their Angels, the ones showing them as having bird like wings? Well that is a bit of laziness I am afraid. Christian mystics laugh and say, “They are not birds! those are “Wings of Fire” behind them! So now here is a better connection to “dragonflies” …..those multi-changing colours on the multiple wings of a dragonfly are much closer to the ‘Archangelic fiery Wings’ described by Mystics. ( If you look at the images painted on the tomb walls in ancient Egypt ….there is another more accurate depiction of the “fiery wings”. )

So again the second line really does contain the same as the first , …..as you say it ..”it is to allow the internal fire of Spirit to fully catch fire to rise beyond and intensify the fire” Yes indeed……more and more,……… like spontaneous combustion happening in every line!

Be Well Be Fire

EdS

Dear Ose ( spell checker here prefers to call you “One” 🙂 )

I am grateful for your sharing …I hadn’t seen/heard the particular and VERY ENERGETIC rendition …interesting that when young persons read .”When Kingfishers catch Fire” …they put lots of Enthusiasm into it….middle agers more analytical ….old…more mellow-ness.

I first became more interested in Br David’ works ( I come from a Roman Catholic background so have an allergy to most Catholic authors 🙂 ) for what he shared in his take on this Hopkins poem and how much he is inline with what I consider the Essene knowing/treatment of “Self” and “Christhood” .

But I will leave it up to reader to read the Br David version ….here is the response from the first two line ….as I hear Hopkins

First Line
“As kingfishers catch fire”…..very cleaver of Br Hopkins!…starting the meal of images with the God-man Joshua Emmanuel, who said, “I shall make thy fishers of men” and combining it with another name given to him so often “King” …and coming up with “Kingfisher”. I will tell that to every Kingfisher-bird I see from now on, Perhaps it explains why they are such proud birds?

“catch fire”…fire ( internal fire of Spirt ) is synonymous with Angels, as in Psalms “What makes his Angels Spirits and those who serve him ….flames of fire.”

And then his “dragonflies draw flames”, caught hold of me personally, because when I do meditations / contemplations during the summer by the lake …dragonflies Will come and land on my right hand….as if to say ..” I’ll have some of that fire too, Thank you.” So I read that as …OK, Hopkins experiences that about dragonflies too! Adding more to the “fire” of Self.

Second line

“As tumbled over rim in roundy wells”

to an Essene the primary energy centres of the three bodies are of enormous importance ….on the material body they are disks and with proper training one becomes very aware of the Energy fields around these “rounds well” ( but not interfering with it ) as the Etheric Vitality from the Holy Spirt and its Archangel “tumbles into them”…feeding fuel to the flame the dragonfly and I like to “draw” in.

OK enough from me.

Be Well Be Present

EdS

Hi Barbra and ‘Thank Us’ too!

Yes, it is a proof of how fragile all stereotypes are when they can be turned inside out with a simple “re-working” of standard repetitious greeting.

Many cultures have fun with words, triggering humour. With the Welsh for example, weather becomes “hat and feathers, a pin I.D. becomes a “Huckleberry Fin”. There are many ways say to one another …

“lets not take life so seriously that we can’t stop and enjoy it just as we are”.

Be Well Be Present

EdS

Smiling here, Thanks Barbra! 🙂

because you are pointing to an aspect of the “Feeding the Wolf” in the articles section of Gratefulness website.
In it Ferial Pearson explains that “Every evening in quiet meditation I think of things I am grateful for. Then with my children, we do something called High “Low Hero.High Hero”…which .means you think of your high for the day, your low for the day, and who was your hero for the day, and why. Then we try to tell our heroes that they were our heroes. Kind of teaching them that they should look out for and what they should be thankful for every day.”……

The wise practice is effective simply BECAUSE the egoism of the present-day personality is tired ( of itself mostly ) and then that is just the right opportunity for the ‘Self’ ( capital “S” ) which Br David writes about so often, (which is the Truth Selfhood aka “Christhood” ) within which never gets tired, or angry, or proud, etc etc …to come and have a loving conversation with the “tired” egoism …It can ask egoism…”what did you say that you shouldn’t have said”…”what didn’t you say that you should have said”………and on to ……did do /didn’t do ……….did feel/didn’t feel.

It is the opportunity for a real house clearing t happen. The ego is tired therefore defenceless and that makes it the perfect time to catch it, remind it what it is and isn’t. It can feel that it to is part of something much greater and that it can put down its defensive behaviour and become a partner with its Greater Self.