Tears of Gold ( "Jesus Wept" )

 “Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep; for not all tears are an evil.” 

Gandalf to the Remnant of the Fellowship

There are several different kinds of tears; tears of sadness, tears of anger & tears of Joy. The first two tend to go together, because most often, anger is a symptom of sadness, which is itself a symptom of a more deep-seated issue. Then again, Joy is often mixed with sadness, as witnessed at many tearful partings, such as the final breaking of the Fellowship in the final & monumental Lord of the Rings movie. The Joy of heading for what might be called 'a better place' is most often intermingled with the sadness of those left behind. 

When Jesus wept, as recorded in John 11:35; He did so for several reasons, most obviously for the unbelief of His fellow Jews, who had become so blind as to ignorantly disbelieve that Lazarus could rise from the dead. They, of course, thought that He wept for His dead friend, which was not totally beyond the pale, but it should be noted that Jesus, knowing that Lazarus would indeed soon embrace his loved ones again, wept also for the Joy that was before Him! As a human being, yes, He pleaded for that cup to be taken away, but as More than Human, He knew that, in order for His Joy to reach its Height, He must drink that cup to its dregs!

Tears of Sadness, like all tears, are temporary. In this Life, things just seem to happen, sometimes, for no good reason. These things are most often outside of the realm of our control, like the death ( I won't say 'loss' for they are ALWAYS with us ) of a loved one. I have, in the course of over half a century, this go 'round , experienced this a number of times, though, I dare say, not as much as many, or most! For some, those in particular who believe in some kind of afterlife, whether it's '72 Virgins', or strumming harps in some otherworldly 'Paradise, this Sadness comes because of attachment issues, but at the same time, this Sadness is often tempered, to varying degrees, with Joy; Joy, not only because the one who has passed is in 'a better place',  but also because they believe they will see their loved one ( s ) again. This is not to say that they won't, but maybe not in the way they think!

I'll be honest; as I was going through my Facebook this morning ( pretty much my morning routine; that & COFFEE! ), I read a post from a friend of mine with the picture above, which inspired me to write the one you're currently reading. Her post was along the same lines, but I wanted to elaborate & throw in a few of my own thoughts to boot! The loss, as the overwhelming majority of people sadly term it, of a loved one is truly a sorrowful affair, if for no other reason than this; we will most sorely miss their bodily presence, along with all the comforting constituent elements. However, it is also a joyful affair for, not only are THEY in a better place, so to speak; such a time also gives us a chance to grow, to determine within ourselves, for one thing, whether we will allow our grief to define us & also, to discover for ourselves what we truly believe, or know. 

As Human Beings, it is only natural that such an event would cause us emotional pain, for as such, we are emotional creatures. No matter how evolved we become, no matter the higher frequencies in which we begin to vibrate, we always, as long as we inhabit this 'meat vehicle', will have to deal with this issue!  Neither is this a bad thing, for tears, as many have learned, are cleansing. I always say; "they're in there; they gotta come out!" Most often, I'm speaking of the emotions themselves, though these usually involve tears, but as the case may be, there is a healing effect when we release our emotions. Without this emotional release, in fact, they usually act in a cancerous way. They even have the power, one might say, to rewrite DNA!  I'm no scientist, of course, so that may not be factual, but I would propose that the rewiring of our brain would not be out of the question when it comes to the power of our emotions!

Sadness happens to the best of us! Okay, so maybe that sounds a little cocky, but hey.............'if the shoe fits', right?! But seriously, the point is that EVERYONE has their moments: "As above, so below"; no matter how far you are along the 'Ascension Path', no matter how well you've learned to practice 'mind over matter' ( MOM ), when Life 'happens', it WILL, to whatever extent, knock you on your ass ( either that, or you're not as far along as you thought, i.e., you're not being honest with yourself )!

I wish to recount for my readers my own first 'real' experience with death. At the time, 'as luck would have it', I happened to be attending an Independent Fundamental Baptist church & the 16 year old daughter of the deacon of the church had experienced immediate 'cessation of life' in an unfortunate four-wheeler accident. I'm not proud to say, nor am I embarrassed, that I actually broke down & sobbed at least once at the funeral! 'Why did I cry?" Well, yes, even though I was not close with this young girl, I was a good friend of her father & mother, so much of my sadness was for their 'loss'. They, however, were more stalwart than I, or so it seemed, maybe because they had more experience in that area. Though they, of course, were saddened by the early departure of their youngest child from this life, they held dearly to the 'fact', as they saw it, that their daughter was now 'in the Arms of their Lord', or 'Heaven'. This was yet another reason for my sadness; their misplaced faith that they would see their daughter again when they themselves died & went to 'Heaven'. As I write these words, it occurs to me that their faith, misplaced as it was, was not far wrong! As the case may be, however, the emotions that were at the root of my own sadness had their own healing effect, though they were only the beginning, you might say, of the troubles I have experienced in my own Journey!

My own sadness was, in essence, misplaced, for though I had barely begun my own Journey, I was a preterist, believing that Jesus had returned in the first century, as I, along with many others, perceived the Bible taught He would. As such, I believed their faith, their Hope was misplaced. Even though I now know that my own hope, such as it was, was misplaced, I believed at the time that they were wrong while I was right! Though I like to believe that I'm past such pettiness at this stage in my own Journey; this is in itself a cause for some sadness. No regrets though; I'm thankful for where I came from, humanly speaking!

If I had kept this sadness inside, I shudder to think of the emotional wreck I might be right now! One thing I can say about my personal Journey is that I HAVE progressed this far at least; that I'm not as afraid as I was to let my emotions show, to let my tears flow! Although I know I still have a long way to go, I have learned the healing power of tears! I realize too, that much of my current existence is dependent on a 'trauma response'. I say this, not to justify my actions, but to acknowledge that I still have a lot of healing to do. I foresee many, many tears in my future!

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles

Embracing the Metaphor ( The Great Divorce )

"What's it matter, really?" Joe & Charlene had just been discussing the age of rocks & when Charlene found herself in between.................... a rock & a hard place; as she usually did, she capitulated without, you know..........'capitulating'! Of course, it DOES matter, though to your average Joe, it might seem to make little to no difference. Charlene had been brought up to believe that the Earth, our Mother, was only 6,000 years old, that all the geologic wonders around the world were evidence of Noah's Flood & that humanity itself found its genesis in a Middle Eastern man & his mate that, interestingly enough, DID have belly buttons ( BTW, they were created to look approximately 30 years old too ). Then, of course, there WAS that episode with the talking snake; crazy, right?!

Joe had heard the Story before, from many different perspectives. Being a world traveler, he knew that, though the versions were all different, to a lesser or greater degree, the Story was the same from culture to culture. He also knew that, in order to understand this startling truth, one had to open their mind to the notion that no one religion, much less person, had 'the truth, the whole truth & nothing but the truth'. Charlene knew all this, but still had a hard time acknowledging his findings, for even though they DID make all the sense in the world, the facts, as she had learned them, did not jive with what Joe was reporting. 

Charlene was more or less familiar with the term, but when it came to understanding metaphor, she'd always thought of it as referring only to those parts of the Story that the Bible didn't necessarily elucidate, as such. For instance, in her understanding, even a historical occurrence, such as the Great Flood of Noah's day spoke to a greater spiritual truth, where the Ark, through which Noah was saved along with his family, pointed forward to the salvation that came through the Christ, or the Messiah of the Hebrews. Not that she'd learned incorrectly, there was more to the Story, metaphorically speaking. 

The Story of the Bible IS the Story of Humanity, as Charlene & so many others like her had been taught, but not quite in the way she or her teachers thought! According to the biblical Story, Adam & Eve were the representative scions of Israel, the chosen people of a certain Canaanite/Hebrew god named 'El' ( Elohim ). Of course, Charlene had been taught the version that we outlined earlier, wherein Adam & Eve were the first human beings on planet Earth, being representative, not of the genesis of the Hebrew people, but of Humanity itself. Though she had never really thought about the implications of such beliefs, hanging around with Joe had begun to remove the scales from her eyes. In essence, Charlene was beginning to see, grudgingly though, that what she'd known so dogmatically all her life was not the whole Story!

The Story of Israel, as elucidated in the Hebrew & Greek Scriptures, beginning with the metaphorical choosing of Adam & Eve, though from a different & much older culture than ours, still represents the struggles of humanity, sadly enough, even to this day. Much like Israel was finally divorced by this 'El' after many instances of unfaithfulness, subsequent trial, hardship & repentance, so Humanity has been divorced from the Knowledge of Divinity, for much the same reason, in fact of the matter! This is not to say, of course, that Humanity is therefore fucked & that the Divinity is well represented by this 'El', be he Hebrew or Canaanite! Humanity is itself endowed with what is often called the Spark of Divinity! 

The Divinity, though known by many names around the world & taking many different forms, is really One Being ( if one can even correctly call It THAT! ). Humanity is a denser form of this Divinity, yet part & parcel with It! Arguably the smartest man who ever lived, someone once said "Everything is Energy" ( or something to that effect ); In this case then, this Divine Being is pure Energy. As previously discussed in this blog, our Essence, our 'Spirit' if you will, embodies this same Energy, though for biological purposes, this Energy vibrates or operates at a lower frequency. Though humanity, or so it would seem for the greater part, has been divorced from their own Divinity, it is not as though we cannot be reunited. Unlike Israel of old, it is not some petty god with which we need reunion, rather it is within ourselves that we suffer this division, or separation. Fortunately, Humanity seems to be awakening, in the past decade or so, to the Glorious fact that the Salvation we have been taught to seek without is in fact Within!

Charlene, though grudgingly, had begun to accept the Truth as reported by Joe. Her Great Awakening began long before she even had an inkling of her own innate Power, her own Divinity! Under Joe's patient & gentle tutelage, the eye of Charlene's understanding was gradually opened to the fact that the geology of our Mother Earth was far more ancient that she had been taught. Even the absurdly simple story that Adam & Eve were the first human beings on Planet Earth became more & more ridiculous to her, to say nothing of the talking snake!

Joe had a similar Story; that's why he empathized with Charlene. He'd been brought up to believe much the same way she had, but with the important difference that he had been allowed, or enabled, one might say, to open his mind up to different possibilities, different Stories, so to speak. Even now, Charlene's progress mirrored his own Journey, for Joe began to note & then explore the glaring consistencies of the Story as he had learned it. 'As above, so below; as without, so within'. Joe had learned, as Charlene was beginning to see, that just as the Story they were both taught about the materiel world & the Universe itself was lacking in many areas, so the Truth about our own Divinity had been stifled to the point that it was all but lost on the overwhelming majority of Humanity. Again though; all is not lost: the Story here represented is true of Humanity in general! Though fairly quietly, gently, one might note, the Great Awakening is occurring as we speak & it's only going to get louder!

Namaste' & Blessed Be!

Sage Charles

Doorway to the Divine; the Moon as Mediator

February's Full Moon, the Snow ( 'Candles' in Europe ) Moon has just passed Her peak as I begin to write on this beautiful Day on which we pay our due worship to the Sun, or in some cases, 'the Son'! The Moon, as we have learned, from Day One, you might say, has no light of her own, but merely reflects the light from our solar system's greatest star, the Sun. As the saying goes, "As Above, So Below"; so one might see this as metaphorical of our own situation. In this sense, particularly as Christians, we are taught that we are mere reflectors of the glory of 'God', but, as we have come to know; this Glory is not something that shines upon us, like the relationship of the Moon to the Sun, but rather; a Light that shines from Within, as We will It, consciously or unconsciously ( some haven't learned yet, what a Light they ARE )!

In the West, even in the Near East, religiously speaking, the Moon is perceived as Female while the Sun is perceived as Male. Perhaps this is one reason for the ascendancy of the patriarchy, since the female is viewed as receptive, while the male is viewed as proceptive. In matter of fact, the male & female sexual organs seem to bear this out. As such then, the female has been supposed to be the submissive one, 'the weaker vessel', as She has often been called. This, as any man who has ever had the good fortune to come face to face with a woman should know, could not be further from the Truth!

The Divine is Within every living Creature, both Male & Female! Some have even proposed that It exists within ALL Creation, even what we often refer to as 'inanimate'! As such, we may know that upon whomever we happen to rest out gaze, we are looking into a Mirror; Divinity stares back at us, even into our very soul, as some have said. In this sense, we may be seen as reflectors, though certainly not 'merely'. I must give this caveat, however; the Divinity is easier to detect in some than in others, in fact, It might seem nearly impossible to perceive in certain people!

No matter how deeply buried under the human psyche It might be, however, this Spark of Divinity, as it is often termed, DOES exist in ALL of humanity! Again, It is buried deeper, under more layers, in a manner of speaking, in some more than others, One may be assured though; It IS there! All that we must do is patiently coax it out of hiding. Whether we're speaking professionally, as is growing ever more popular, of therapy, or simply of meditational practices, which is therapy in itself, there's nothing better than self-therapy, much like self-medication. Along those lines, professional therapy could be likened to institutional religion, in that it seeks for healing from an outside source, rather than, as with meditation, searching Within for the Answer. This is not to say that either of these, institutional religion or professional therapy, are without worth, just that both of these tend to detract, or distract from our own Worth. This, of course, depends largely on the practitioner!

One of my favorite lines from the move 'The Matrix', is "I can only show you the door; you must walk through it". Note how similar this is to the old adage, "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink". Come to think of it, along with the ascendancy of the patriarchy, maybe trying to force the horse, so to speak, has been one of the major societal issues we have to recover from! However one chooses to perceive it, much less act on it, Divinity, like righteousness, cannot be forced, or legislated. We must go within ourselves first, to find our own Divinity, before we can ever hope to see it within the other, much less reveal it to them as the Reflector we are. To some of us, these words might sound almost familiar, as "first remove the beam from your own eye, then you may see clearly to remove the speck from the other's". ( yes, I purposely removed the patriarchal reference ) 

As Reflectors then, We function both as Receptive & Proceptive, Male & Female. First, We act out both the Male & Female aspect, proceptively searching out our own Divinity, then birthing, or revealings ( receptively ) within ourselves said Divinity, after which we may be receptive to the Divinity of the other ( for until we recognize It within ourselves, how will we recognize It in the other? ). If I may borrow from something I just read, we are, in this sense if no other, both 'the Alpha & Omega, the Beginning & the End ( Goal )'!

To unbury the Divinity within ourselves is both as easy ( 'simple' might be a better way of putting it ) & more difficult than it might seem at first glance! Depending, of course, on the level of instruction that one has received over the course of their lifetime, or even lifetimes, with the layers that any one of us has to dig through, carefully sifting out what is useful from what no longer serves us can be a very painful process. For those of who feel the pain of others as well as our own, this process can feel almost unbearable at times!

"As Above, So Below", the Spark of Divinity resides within All Creation! We may not force this Divinity to reveal Itself ( though we may gently coax It ); no, the best we can do is just BE. In our role as Reflector ( Moon ), we may be able to alert them to their own Divinity. As a warning, our Reflection can be a double-edged sword, so we must take great care how we exercise It, for, "Let's face it; everyone has their moments!"

In our Roles as Reflectors, We must remember that as Receptors of the Light, We are no less than the Light ourselves. The old saying, "this town isn't big enough for the both of us" surely doesn't fit here! The Light, like the Energy from which It emanates, indeed, which It IS, is Infinite. In order for the Other to perceive the Light within themselves, it must have a Reflection, so that they can see this Light & recognize it as coming from themselves. On the other hand, if we do not reflect It back to them, or reflect it wrongly, with the Ego, they may never perceive their Light for what It is. 

As such then, it might be truthfully said that we signify both the Sun & the Moon, being the embodiment of both the Female & Male Principle! "As Above, So Below"; we have been given to understand that the Moon simply reflects the light from the Sun when She shines, however brightly ( or not ) at night, but are we to understand this to be Her ONLY Power, that of a Receptor? The Answer should be more than obvious, just as any man who has had the good fortune to meet a woman face to face knows that they are most definitely NOT the weaker vessel!

Namaste' & Blessed Be, 

Sage Charles