Revealing the Light Within

“If you would be a real seeker after truth, it is necessary that at least once in your life you doubt, as far as possible, all things.”  -Rene Descartes

How Do You Reveal the Light Within?

East - Detection (Paying attention to everything - Awareness of what inspires you)

South - Reflection  (Journaling/Writing - Take your own council first)

West – Contemplation  (Drawing cards, reading dreams & signs, conversations with others)

North –  Devotion (Service to Soul/Self - Tending the body in a way that honors body/mind/heart)

Center – Inspiration (Service to Others - Gratitude & Appreciation)

There is a secret, private moment, sort of an in-breathe that happens just before you can start the process of Detection and open to a deeper Awareness of what inspires you. It's called Surrender. But surrender doesn't mean what we might think it means.Think of it as surrendering to your soul and your Higher Self. And the reality is that there is that secret moment of surrender before we delve into any one of these aspects. Some of us are willing to engage in some of these, and already do. So the surrender comes in the realization that any one of these things without the other can lead to addiction and blockages.

“If you do not tell the truth about yourself you cannot tell it about other people.” -Virginia Woolf 

Yet, It's no wonder many people have difficulty connecting with the ability to surrender. It is difficult to surrender to something that makes you uncomfortable. You can take a look in the dictionary and get a sense of what the mass consciousness thinks about the word surrender. It's a fairly negative view. But it doesn't have to be that way!

Main Entry:  abdicate

Definition:  give up a right, position, or power

Synonyms:  abandon, abjure, abnegate, bag it, bail out, cede, demit, drop, forgo, give up, leave, leave high and dry, leave holding the bag, leave in the lurch, opt out, quit, quitclaim, relinquish, renounce, resign, retire, sell out, step down, surrender , vacate, waive, withdraw, yield

It is important to trust your feelings. And if you do not feel like surrendering, perhaps the true call is to think about what you DO WANT and surrender to that, instead of focusing so much on what you don't want. That is the call of the times as we turn into this new age. We are stepping into our creative powers in ways that can lead us to our soul unlike ever before.

"Blessed are the cracked, for they shall let the light in.” - Groucho Marx  

What the powerful process above does is ask you to surrender little by little to the different aspects of yourself. It's not asking you to even surrender to something outside of yourself. If you can reveal the Light within you. Where that leads you is indescribable! 

“Every man stamps his value on himself... man is made great or small by his own will.” - J.C.F. von Schiller 

Facing Your Light

You must come into divine union with yourself.

You are the one that you have been waiting for.

True love is within you.

You are the keeper of this treasure.

You love without reserve

Because you are unafraid to experience loss.

For nothing that has become a part of you

can ever truly be lost.

You are a creator.

You are here to widen the lens

of your perspective on your world

And to imagine and manifest

the magnitude of all that is you.

Embrace the dance of life.

Look on in wonder

at all the possibilities

with stars in your eyes.

See the brilliance

of Universal Law

And understand it’s power.

It is your birthright.

© Renee Bledsoe, May 28, 2006

www.AddictionAlchemy.com

“Your vision will become clear only when you look into your heart... Who looks outside, dreams. Who looks inside, awakens.” -Carl Jung 

Notes from Sunday Talk - March 11th, 2012 - Rev. Renee Bledsoe (Church of Spiritual Light)

21 Ways of the Peaceful Warrior - Make that 22

Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. ~ Kahlil Gibran

Peaceful Warrior. At first glance, it seems like an oxymoron to nestle the two terms together. There is a great paradox in the notion of fighting for peace, yet as we see the importance and hear the call to make way for peace we do find it possible to hold this juxtaposition of two opposing forces in our mind if we are willing to re-think our position. As we pause and reflect upon both terms, we see that each highlights the need for the counterbalancing of the other.

Courage, trust, belief, self-acceptance, self-esteem,  compassion, forgiveness, non-judgment, non-attachment and an open heart  lead to peace within. Yet we can take little direct action upon these things. Like peace itself, we must foster their emergence. And this is the way of the peaceful warrior. For when the decisive, disciplined part of our psyche can learn to do battle on behalf of that silent, still small voice within, we have truly become the hero of our own life.

Ways of the Peaceful Warrior

1) Breathes consciously
2) Eats consciously
3) Meditates regularly
4) Examines dreams
5) Journals frequently
6) Uses Visualization, visioning and quantum affirmations
7) Rests and sleeps appropriately
8) Identifies, commits and stays focused on important decisions
9) Surrounds with supportive community
10) Asks for help and receives it graciously
11) Makes Self-care a priority
12) Moves the body
13) Participates in soul enriching activities and practices
14) Engages in holistic healing
15) Engages in self discovery and creates personal boundaries
16) Says no, by saying yes to priorities
17) Uses ritual to communicate with unseen aspects of the self - such as  burning bowls for releasing, written intention ceremony, prayers and blessings, candles, incense/sage/holy wood, annointing with oil/balm,  altar  making, yantras/mantras/mandalas
18) Communes with nature and balances personal& environmental elements
19) Practices energy clearing and healing techniques
20) Becomes the Tracker - reads spiritual signs and symbols, uses divination
21) Sends and receives Light Consiously into the body, mind, heart and soul

We take up these practices not just because they physically calm us. But because they also energetically calm the cosmic anxiety of not knowing who and what we truly are…they put us in touch with our true nature. Understanding our true nature permanently anchors peace in our lives. Knowing thyself – doesn’t mean you do everything “right” – knowing thyself means you take into account what you understand about yourself, and the complexities of being human on this path and allows you to  come into acceptance of some of the things you have thought were your worst character defects…thus turning your base metal into precious gold.

I gave this as the Sunday Talk at Church of Spiritual Light on October 2, 2011. As I was reading it over again and preparing to publish it on this blog, I was given a new item for this list. It is one that is so important that I can barely comprehend how it didn't come with the other 21. But I think, this was on purpose so that I could see the message in the pattern. For 22 is the number of mastery...and if this last item had come before it wouldn't have been situated in the number 22 spot and I might have missed just how important this last piece is to the fortification and nurturing of the Peaceful Warrior. Message received! So here it is, perhaps the most important of them all:

22) Have fun! - Do things just for the sheer joy of it to keep the vibration of delight and enjoyment alive in your being.

Source: Rev. Renee Bledsoe 2011

Every Warrior of the Light has felt afraid of going into battle. 
Every Warrior of the Light has, at some time in the past, lied or betrayed someone.
Every Warrior of the Light has trodden a path that was not his.
Every Warrior of the Light has suffered for the most trivial of reasons. 
Every  Warrior of the Light has, at least once, believed he was not a Warrior of the  Light.
Every Warrior of the Light has failed in his spiritual duties.
Every Warrior of the Light has said 'yes' when he wanted to say 'no.'
Every Warrior of the Light has hurt someone he loved.
That is why he is a Warrior of the Light, because he has been through all this  and yet has never lost hope of being better than he is.
~ Paulo Coelho

The Union of Spirit and Flesh

Here the spirit and soul become one, mind and matter merge into an indistinguishable continuum, God and Goddess unite within us, and the new realm of love and peace is ONE.

THE GREAT SCROLL: THE UNION OF SPIRIT AND FLESH

"The union of spirit and flesh is the 'one thing' spoken of by Hermes Trismegistus, who was also known as Mercurius, in his Emerald Tablet; it is the aqua vitae and quintessence of Alchemy; it is the Qi of Chinese Qigong; it is the Tao of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu; it is the Mysterious Female and tenuous matter of mystic Taoism; in Hinduism it is represented by Ardhanarisvara, who is the union of Shiva and Shakti, of being and non-being; it is the Great Way into Zen stillness, the Mother Luminosity or Rainbow Body of Dzogchen Buddhism, and the enlightened body of Buddha; it is the Tree of Life, linking Heaven and Earth; it is the transfiguration of the canononical Gospels, and the 'rapture' of Revelation; it is "of movement, and of rest", as declared by Christ in the Gospel of Thomas, and "The Word become flesh", of the Gospel of John; it is the ascension to unity spoken of in the New Age movement, and it is the eternal OM of the Goddess Lakshmi; it is the foundation of the Kabbalah; it is the unified wave structure of matter, of the new physics, and dark matter of astrophysics; it is the body electric of Walt Whitman, and the body divine. In short, the union of spirit and flesh is the essential component of all progressive cosmologies, for it is the true enlightenment.

Historically this 'oneness' has be called advaita (non-dual). However, the non-dualists of history seem to have overlooked the flesh as being part of that oneness, and continually declared that the body, and all matter, were merely illusion. Fortunately humanity is at a point in its evolution where the flesh can be known to be divine, and a new advaita in which emptiness and fullness are one can come into being. For some people there must be a healing of the pain caused by division in order for them to return to the original harmony of the cosmos.

The use of Tibetan singing bowls and Crystal singing bowls can assist in the re-union of our harmonic oneness. This eternal unity is well documented by Masaru Emoto, and Helena Blavatsky. One of the key players in this re-union is the Green Man. In traditional Buddhist spirituality this profound unification is known as Maitreya. In Hindu lore this new vibration is known as Kalki. In Taoism this union is practiced by the circulation of the light. Ken Wilber calls it the one taste, which in Tibetan Buddhism is known as Yab-yum. Sri Aurobindo and the Mother spoke of the divine body.

It is through this new, and absolute, unity and oneness that the true ascension of Sophia, our cosmic being, occurs. This is when the vibration of flesh is raised into the vibration of spirit, and the vibration of spirit descends into harmony with the flesh. Within this new and holy oneness, nothing shall be alien: matter is mind, will is consciousness, and flesh is now holy ground! A truly Pagan event: the divination of matter has occurred. This unification is the actual intent behind the Christian Eucharist and the Catholic communion; the word 'catholic' means 'universality'- or, that which is without limits. Communion is thus the integration of the body (flesh) and the blood (spirit), of Heaven and Earth, of form and formlessness, of Creator and Created, and of He and She.

The Aquarian Age is upon us, and Love is the one and only Law. And, as in the Jeweled Web of Indra- in which the entire cosmos is made of hollow gems, each filled with nothing but the reflection of all other gems- we must now know and feel that separateness is an illusion and we are all actually an interdependent, multidimensional, infinite oneness. Each of us is everything. A great silence. A new vibration. An holistic ascension. This is the Aquarian Awakening into the Cosmic Christ."

Blessings on your journey.

"To become light, bodily, is the destiny of man."

Adi Da

Consciousness is matter. Body is mind. Spirit is flesh.
Everything is everything. Everything is the same thing.
Everything is the same one thing. One. Flesh is now holy ground. Amen.

Source: www.spiritandflesh.com