This morning I read an interesting section on the symbolism of the phoenix in the book “The Divine Plan“, by Geoffrey A. Baborka, a commentary on The Secret Doctrine. Googling this information, I found that the book is also now published in German. I bought it 4 years ago after a seminar of my spiritual teacher, Sri K. Parvathi Kumar, on the Secret Doctrine by H. P. Blavatsky. The book is part of my Saturday morning reading, and I just read 2-3 pages, so the progress is quite slow, but sure

Baborka writes that according to ancient Greek and Roman writers the phoenix represents the reincarnating Ego: Gathering twigs from spice-trees the bird fashions a nest. The next bursts into flames consuming the body of the bird. From the ashes a young phoenix springs into life, and when strong enough, flies to Heliopolis, the city of the Sun, dropping the remains of the nest upon the altar of the sun: From the ashes of the old personality springs the new personality. The fiery nest is of the same essence as the sun. The city of the sun is the citadel to which the divine spark of man returns when the old personality is consumed. When reincarnating like the new phoenix, the Skandas, the seeds of the personality, spring into life again. So the old personality isn’t lost, but remains a pearl on the Thread of Life, the sutratma (the thread-soul), which carries the imperishable records of the reincarnating ego.

A most sublime image. It made me think of the death and rebirth of the phoenix in the volumes of Harry Potter. In the last chapters of the 7th volume there is a great scene of near-death experience, when Harry is going through the sacrifice of his life on his way to the final overcoming of his bond with the evil Voldemort, a very occult scene.

The reborn phoenix Fawkes with Albus Dumbledore, from the Harry Potter Wiki (copyright note)

The present month of Scorpio is precisely related to the mystery of death and rebirth, of the fight of the eagle (the spirit) with the serpent. I found a picture on the web with a Scorpio and a phoenix, for copyright reasons I can’t show it here. But here are some other photos related to this myth, and a third one, a  nice one of Blavatsky, which I found this morning.

Painting of a phoenix by Barthélémy de Glanville  (”Le livre des propriétés des choses”, Manuscrit (Burgundy, XVth c. Bibliothèque municipale d’Amiens, France)

End of a fire ritual – like the nest of a phoenix

Blavatsky (photo: London 1889) calls the phoenix “the bird of resurrection in Eternity”. “The death and revival of the Phoenix exhibit the successive destruction and reproduction of the world, which many believed to be effected by the agency of a fiery deluge.” Through the work of H.P. Blavatsky the eternal wisdom teachings reappeared to the world like a phoenix from out of the ashes.

Communication is a main topic in my life – establishing good relations through a fluent, transparent communication. It is not by chance that I’m working in a communication job.

Communication is not just speaking to others, but to be open-minded and inclusive, and trying to eliminate blockages in the way of a good flow of energies. I yesterday came across a situation where insufficient information caused wrong ideas in my head and shed a wrong light on the situation. I observe this again and again. It can only be cleared by asking and speaking about your perceptions.

This morning I found a beautiful passage about communication in the book “Uranus – The Alchemist of the Age“, by Sri K. Parvathi Kumar, which I would like to share:

“Men tend to be islanders, they build walls around them and do not let others transmit energies nor do they share their problems and sorrows through communication. … From telegraph to telephone, from telephone to cell phone, from cell phone to e-phone there is a progressive invention for most rapid communications. To feel lonely in an age of communication is to fall into a loophole. Try to be communicative and be sharing. …

Men of ego who are highly individualistic and full of pride suffer from self blockage of energies by not communicating adequately with respect to various aspects of life. Catharsis is the need of the hour especially at the emotional and the mental plane. Through the so called privacy and secrecy man built unhealthy but strong forts which do not let even air or life from without to within. Jumping out into the common stream of life, coming out of the fetters of pride and separativity is the true solution of this age. If one tries to sit on the top of the pyramid, the stream of life that flows at the base cares not. Such a one has to climb down to quench the thirst of life. It should be so with a teacher of wisdom, it should be so with the rulers, with the healers, with the specialists, intellectuals, aristocrats and the like. Support of the group though seemingly not strong, is the strength. Uranus drives one towards it.”

In order to get beyond the barriers and fix ideas in your mind communication is of utmost importance.

When listening to the inner, there are sometimes tunes coming up from encounters with people. Qualities assume shapes stimulated by the impressions given by these friends. With some of them I am in an actual present exchange, and the subtle impressions reflect thoughts stimulated by these contacts. But there are also exchanges with persons, where for the time being there is no outer exchange, but nevertheless an inner exchange is going on. I call them my “inner circle of friends”.

It often takes to the form of qualities these persons represent to me, like subtle echoes of encounters. This is mostly not in form of mental articulations, but in form of qualities or feelings associated with the persons. Often they have touched certain strings in my inner and the thought of them causes a resonance of feeling linked to the experiences with these persons.

It reminds me of an Aeolian harp where the wind blowing across the strings produces sounds. The resonances are sometimes linked to undissolved emotional situations, where there seems to be no way to dissolve them in the present. Some I have gone through myself, some I have just witnessed with my friends. The echoes of their processes, often only hinted at but not clearly expressed, leave these imprints resonating from time to time. It gives a melody of a certain mood.

When inner light streams through these forests of resonances, there is an upliftment happening. It reminds me of the beautiful sentence from “Occult Meditations” by Sri K. Parvathi Kumar (Meditation 31):

“Vena, the Gandharva, is wiping off the pictures of the subconscious mind on the walls of my nature with the hieroglyphs of sound from his seven stringed lyre.”

Gandharvas are the musical intelligences beyond the creation. They are the blissful ones and bestow the bliss causing the muse of the souls with the Super Soul.

Here are some autumn impressions, which the last weekend brought:

A wall near our house

View from a hospital window

Autumn scene on the table of the hospital’s visitors room

Lamas – since several years new guests on Swiss farms

Curious calves

A goblin greeting from the wayside

A playful farmer’s tree monster

The last times were full of intense processes, which I tried to reflect in the form of poems I wrote on my observations. I try to translate two of them:

Unsettled thoughts,
kept back and unrecognized
in their haze of interwovenness,
block like stones
the stream of life
pressing forward
and form dangerous rapids,
which threaten to carry away
the swimmer of consciousness
and to drag him under the waters.
The passage between
Skylla and Charybdis
is difficult
and every word surfaces
like a whirl in the current
to be steered around
so that the boat of the freeing idea
doesn’t get dashed
against a rock
and emotionally charged spindrift
doesn’t obstruct the view.
During such transits
utmost vigilance is needed and
a calm eye of the steersman,
who sees the shallow depths and,
navigating with a firm hand,
brings the boat
nearer to the next harbor,
knowing about the distant goal.

Iguaçu, Argentina 2008

Towers crumble,
when the time-ground
lets its eroding movements
work slowly.
Even the plates of the continents
dance on the fragile ground
of the rhythmical movements
of the Great Mother.
It is the love towards new life,
which makes the old one
collapse
to give way to
virginal striving.
However, change gives pain,
if we hold on to stones falling down
or
seek stability
on the wavering ship
at times of tempest.
But where shall I
cast my anchor?
How can I
offer you a supporting hand,
when the dark clouds
seem to hide for you
the rays of the sun?
Dancing with firm steps
the rhythm of unbridled change
gives joy,
when the hold
in the salvaging silence
is the anchorage
and gives protection
in the deep ground.

Iguaçu, Brasil 2008

A friend from Spain sent today the following wisdom thoughts in Spanish, which my automatic translation program got over into English, with a little manual polishing:

Although you don’t write books, you are the writer of your life.
Although you are not an artist, you can make of your life a work of art.
Although you don’t understand anything of cinema, your existence can become a successful and extraordinary film.
Although you sing out of tune, your existence can be a beautiful song.
Although you don’t understand music, your life can be a magnificent symphony.
Although you have not studied in a school of communications, your life can become a model report.
Although you don’t have great culture, you can end up being a great sage.
Although your work is humble, you can transform your day into a master teacher.
Although you have 40, 50 or 60 years, you can be as young as you want.
Although the wrinkles already mark your face, you can have an extraordinary interior beauty.
Although your feet bleed in the obstacles and stones of the road, your face can smile.
Although your hands conserve the scars of the problems and of incomprehensions, your lips can be grateful.

An old Mongolian man in his tent drinking tea. Photo of a friend, 2006

The last weeks, even months, had been a time of deep inner and outer processes, where not much time was left for reflection in the blog. The work in my office brought some transitions: Last Tuesday I presented to the management board the final report of the introduction of the new intranet, after over two years of work, and at the same time the proposal for the next big step, a pilot project for the new document management system. There were some intense discussions in the board – but in the end I was given discharge for the first project and green light (and money) for the new pilot project…

There had been a lot of work beforehand, not only in preparing the papers for the presentation, but also setting things in a good way: Though the launch of the intranet had been already in December 08, there had been a number of technical troubles in March and April, and though there is quite a progress with the new Sharepoint-based system, some adaptation works are still causing some problems. When two weeks ago I had been talking things out with the head of the agency who had done the implementation of the system, I came to know: on that very day they had fired their project manager with whom I had had problems from the very beginning… Their new project manager is a very competent person from their management board. Two days ago I cleared all the open points with him to set a good basis for the future collaboration.

A second agency is involved, who are delivering a software for the document management system. In my office I had a number of talks to explain the questions facing us at to set up the new team. It is quite a complex matter and not so easy to “translate” the different aspects into a form which can be understood by the persons concerned.

In a way it is a very spiritual process: Weaving together all the different aspects of a complex matter, which will deeply affect the way of working of all collaborators in the house, is a very fascinating process. Many things are still hazy, but planning, meditating, asking questions, putting together the information from different sources and trying to construct the “final view” is building a way into the future. Never before I was left so much left to my own pre-decisions and laying down the structures, taking responsibility for the process. Others, the “decision makers” followed the prepared path, supporting the indicated direction. At the same time I feel that it is not “me” doing this weaving, but that there is an underlying “process intelligence” which has to be discovered and brought to manifestation. So from my viewpoing things sometimes take a sudden turn, but seen from the thread going through the “tissues”, a deeper sense is unveiling.

A friend just sent me this remarkable article about the touching speech of a father who lost a daughter at the Columbine High School massacre, the 10th anniversary of which will be on April 20th:

Guess our national leaders didn’t expect this, hmm? On Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee’s subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.

“Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women.. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out for answers.

“The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain’s heart.

“In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA – because I don’t believe that they are responsible for my daughter’s death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel’s murder I would be their strongest opponent.

I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy — it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.

Your laws ignore our deepest needs,
Your words are empty air.
You’ve stripped away our heritage,
You’ve outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question “Why?”
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!

“Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational systems for most of our nation’s history. Many of our major colleges began as theological seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when something as terrible as Columbine’s tragedy occurs — politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws that contribute to erode away our personal and private liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. Eric and Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within our own hearts.

“As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA — I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the first stone!

My daughter’s death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!”

Old daggers. Photo of an exposition by my son.

The last weeks I encountered several situations, where I observed the importance of giving and getting confirmation – about feelings, about observations, about what I had been doing. My wife explained to me a situation from her youth, where she had experienced a difficult situation without getting the confirmation of her feelings. It was only 25 years later that the confirmation was given, releasing her from an inner pressure. I experienced similar situations in the last weeks, which first irritated me for lack of confirmation. To come out of this uncertainty I directly asked for clarification, and as soon as it was given, the feeling of irritation ceased. When talking about it my wife commented that not getting a confirmation or  getting an erroneous one can cause crises, despair and even deep wounds.

Many people are not aware about the importance of giving confirmation or feedback. It not only helps the other one to whom you respond, it also clarifies your feelings.  When you give someone a confirmation, you help establishing a good flow of interrelatedness. When you don’t do it, out of lack of thought, you create a subtle tension. This is also the case with e-mail exchange: When somebody doesn’t respond to thoughts you expressed to him or her, it can be blocking the energy exchange. On the other hand, obtaining a confirmation gives you a feeling of reliability in the relation, thus strengthening the bonds of friendship.

A similar effect is interest. In the last two months I experienced situations where the interest shown by some friends to certain situations in my life opened an inner flow. It gave me the occasion to get into touch with deep sources submerged for a long time. The interest and attention created in me such a joy that I could pass on certain things valuable to me. When no interest is there, the hidden treasures cannot unfold.

I just read a text (unpublished) of a conference by Dr. E. Krishnamacharya about preparation for death and the importance of elder people to give orientation for the younger ones. He said, it is a catastrophe for the industrialized countries that the link of continuity between the elder generation and the younger one is broken. The grand-parents often don’t have the occasion to educate the grand-children and pass on their experiences and spiritual guidance to them. Passing on is only possible, when contact and interest are there. Only then the co-existence of life through different generations can express as a living flow.

Flow and blockages: River in the Alps / Kiental near Berne

An Indian friend just sent me the following text:

Our Birth is our Opening Balance!
Our Death is our Closing Balance!
Our Prejudiced Views are our Liabilities
Our Creative Ideas are our Assets

Heart is our Current Asset
Soul is our Fixed Asset
Brain is our Fixed Deposit
Thinking is our Current Account

Achievements are our Capital
Character & Morals, our Stock-in-Trade
Friends are our General Reserves
Values & Behaviour are our Goodwill
Patience is our Interest Earned
Love is our Dividend
Children are our Bonus Issues
Education is Brands / Patents

Knowledge is our Investment
Experience is our Premium Account
The Aim is to Tally the Balance Sheet Accurately.
The Goal is to get the Best Presented Accounts Award.

Extract of a statue in front of the Swiss Federal Government building

Over the last six months deep inner and outer processes had been going on, the content side of which are not “bloggable”. On the energetic side it was a time of a multi-dimensional crisis, where the central theme was encountering experiences of refusing and being refused. During the process, while trying to observe and understand it, I came into contact with analogous situations in other persons, where pain was linked with inner blockages through experiences of refusal or non-acceptance. It seems that the experience of refusal creates inner dams, wounds, that normally you don’t dare to touch. You do inner “workarounds”, expressing in subtle fears and, on the outer side, behavioural imbalances.

The relations to other people reflect the imbalances, and it seems you attract “karmic pattern states” by way of resonance. The strange thing I observed is that this is mostly accompanied by veils in the mind, unclarities and blind spots. You try not to see the wounds inside, not to touch the “dark side of the moon”. But you put up defence walls and argumentative justifications, stings which hurt others. You have been harmed, and now you harm others with your harsh words and reactions – often below conscious perception of what kind of harm you are causing.

In the process of opening to the pain I had a “catalyst” experience of love triggered by encounters, breaking up the shells of rejection. The related pain structures were shaking to the core of individual existence, reflecting on the outer in witnessing turbulences.

An image – not a symbol, but an energetic experience – of an unfolding lotus accompanied me: The wisdom teachings describe the 12-petaled egoic lotus, the energetic structure of our “I Am”.  The lotus consists of 4 layers of 3 petals each, at the centre of which there is a radiant spot of light, the core of our “I Am”. The petals are veiling the core, as long as the unfoldment hasn’t yet taken place. Like with the flowering of a lotus, the outer petals open first, and later the inner ones. The more the petals are closed, the more the energy flowing in through the “I Am”-core is being blocked by subtle dams, being coloured and deformed. Most people are not aware that these “block structures” are the causes of behavioural imbalances and instabilities on the more outer sides.

It seems the petals get opened when love breaks a way through the dams of the inner blockages. By consciously going into the experience of the deep pain without trying to  make anything seem better than it is or hiding so-called “negative” emotions, you get in touch with the hidden sides, and you can integrate them consciously. The awareness touches and releases them.

Photo of a friend

In a seminar on “Agni” (1991) our spiritual teacher Dr. Parvathi Kumar described this egoic lotus with the following words (unpublished, extracts):

“You have for instance this light here. It also has five petals representing the mind. Suppose, we have these five petals made up of iron. And they close further. Even if there is light inside, there is no chance of feeling the light. Suppose, we have these petals made up of transparent glass, then the light shines forth better through the petals. So, with what material these petals are made decides what kind of illumination we carry. The illumination or lack of illumination depends upon the encasing, but not upon the light within. If the encasing is transparent, the light shines forth. And if the encasing is very gross and very thick with material, the light remains very much in the same vibration, but is not useful for being spread. But nevertheless, the light remains. …

Now let us understand how these nine petals gradually unfold. You must have all seen the beautiful twelve petaled-lotus which is propagated by the Arcane School. If we have a poster like that, it is useful to explain instead of my drawing a lotus of nine petals, because it is a beautiful representation.

Extract of the poster of the Arcane School (c)

Understand that the nine petals are the three triangles. Three petals make one layer. You can visualize the lotus as it is distributed by Arcane School. You would see three most exterior petals, and then, there is another triangle of three petals interior to the first one. The first triangle has three petals, over which the second triangle of three petals is imposed. Over that, there is another triangle of three petals. These are the nine petals of the three triangles. Over that, there is the fourth triangle of three petals. And in the centre of it, there is the bud. It is a small ball-like appearance. So, each triangular layer of petals carries energies relating to each kingdom.

Let us take one triangle for example. One petal is called the petal of love, and the 2nd petal is the petal of sacrifice and the third petal is the petal of knowledge. Like this, there are three triangles superimposed one over the other. Those are the nine petals of the Egoic Lotus, and each triangle has its own understanding of love, sacrifice and knowledge….

Where from the light is emitting? From the centre of the egoic lotus, and that is what the Master calls ‘the jewel of the lotus’. It is called ‘the gem of the lotus’ which shines forth. We have to know that the gem is not a physical gem over there. It is a gem-like formation of the waves of light. That means the light waves in a gem-like form, and hence it can pierce through any matter. And then the formation through light waves of the gem has its own source again. Who has kept it there? Who has prepared this light inside? Did you ever imagine that it is given by some other functioning? If we say that in the egoic lotus, in the centre of the lotus, there is a brilliant gem, we take it for granted. But who has prepared it and how it has come to stay in the centre of the lotus? It is not like the light in this lotus-like lamp. It is objectively kept here. The light in the heart lotus is different. It stamps from a root. It is a glow which is within the stalk of this form. Suppose, we keep a very powerful tube-light inside this tube, and the tube is not projecting beyond this stalk. It goes only up to this point, but it is brilliantly glowing inside. Then, if you see in the centre of the lotus, you find that there is some brilliant light in the hole. It is not some kind of settlement of light on the periphery of the hole, it is very useful that we have this instrument here to explain.

Like that, from a source, there is the focusing of light through the centre of the egoic lotus. That is what is appearing as the triangular flame through the three petals. So, that is what is described in the scriptures as ‘the electrical blue light’. (Now follow some Sanskrit words.) It says: “In the centre of the flame, there is a rice-grain-like formation of electric blue light. And on the top of the rice grain, there is such minutest spot-light which is so brilliant that, if we see, our eyes will grow blind. And it is that which is called ‘the three-fold fire’, which manifests as fire by friction, solar fire and as the electric fire.”

Photo of the sculpture of a friend showing the egoic lotus, in the house of Sri Kumar