Last Friday evening there was the third and last meeting of our series of public evening themes on „The Call of the Soul“. We were a group of nine persons, most of them members of our group a a few newbies. Before the meeting I felt quite groggy, for the last week at my office was very turbulent – the final sprint before the launch of the new intranet next Monday. But hardly we had started singing an invocation to the unity of all existence, all fatigue was blown away and the thoughts came flowing in.

I had prepared a powerpoint presentation on “The Fellowship” – a play with the title of a volume from the trilogy Lord of the Rings, but of course with a quite different content. It is about the persons and things coming across our way on the spiritual path. At a first glance it might not be obvious what this has to do with “my spiritual path”, seen in subjective individualistic terms, but the theme is of great importance, especially in the long run:

On the journey we don’t walk alone, we move in a group, in many groups. There are countless groupings travelling on the planet and they are going through their path of development. We are surrounded by many kinds of groupings, with which we connected and which accompany us. Very rarely we select the people with whom we are together on our journey, but it is no accident who the fellows are. They come together according to the law of resonance: We learn together and from each other. We learn to cooperate, to support or receive support.

When the taste of subjective living grows, the spirit of being together becomes stronger and the power of the lower nature decreases. Each one adds his stone to the building of a group, and an energetic temple is being constructed, where with a a loving understanding the hearts can meet.

Have a look at the presentations of this series.

A mosaic in Corinth, Greece – a beautiful representation of the energy field of relationships.

Today I came across the blog of “Don Croner’s World Wide Wanders“, with impressions from Mongolia and Buddhist monks and monasteries, Thangkas and people (scroll through the blog…). He has published a book on Zanabazar, (1635-1723) the son of one of the rulers of seventeenth-century Mongolia, and a distant descendant of Chingis Khan, whose spiritual propensities were apparent almost from birth and in 1639, while still a small boy.

Wikipedia says about him: “In 1640, Zanabazar, was recognized by the Panchen Lama and the Dalai Lama as being a “Living Buddha”…. Miraculous occurrences allegedly took place during his youth... Zanabazar has been called the “Michelangelo of Asia” for bringing to the region a renaissance in matters related to spirituality, including theology, language, art, medicine and astronomy. He composed sacred music, mastered the sacred arts of bronze casting and painting, created a new design for monastic robes, and invented the Soyombo script in 1686….

“He is probably best known for his incomparable sculptures, which rank among the greatest works of Buddhist art ever created.” These are really very beautiful sculptures of Buddhas and stupas. There is a short online biography of Zanabazar. and more information about him.

In his blog Don Croner wrote today from Mongolia about the beautiful Venus-Jupiter constellation which can be seen in the sky. Also here I saw it yesterday evening as a beautiful, clear picture over a nearby mountain. Don Croner is also running an interesting website on “The Legend of Shambhala“, with photos of stupas in the Taklamakan desert.

Zanabazar, from Wikipedia commons

Last weekend when traveling to Germany I found some time to read in the book on Religious Communities in the Canton of Berne. I found some interesting descriptions of today’s esoteric culture or new religious communities, confirming or clearing several observations of mine. In general most people don’t want to commit themselves to an organisation or structure, and the new groups are often also not so organised like the traditional religions – though there are other examples, too.

In the book it says that degree of organisation is not an adequate criterion for people, and often they don’t want any organisation at all, or structures are of a fleeting character. This is a really Aquarian mode of expression – decentralisation and issue-focus is more adequate. Many groups don’t define themselves even as religious, but prefer terms such as spiritual (like I do), philosopicial or esoteric, or even “scientific”.

Last monday I read in the New Zurich Newspaper an interview with Dorothea Lüddeckens, professor of the University of Zurich on Comparative Religion, about a meeting on changes in the new religious movements. She said that now 30 to 40 per cent of the Swiss population think that reincarnation is possible – a question denied by orthodox Christians. She pointed out that even many church goers today appreciate the offers of the churches, but are also interested in other spiritual ideas and practices, thus changing the popular Christian religiosity. Esoteric literature has invaded the main stream bookshops or alternative therapy systems the therapy market.

Many people don’t want an all-inclusive system, but take specific offers, like a patient using alternative medicine, a manager going for a time-out into a monastery, parents searching an alternative school for their children… It is a kind of self-determination, where people take what they value and leave away what they don’t. You can compare it with a shop, where you select what you are interested in – you don’t buy the whole shop.

Seeing the sun through the forest is like seeing the truth through a multitude of concepts.

Friday evening we had the second meeting of our series of evening themes on „The Call of the Soul“, in a seminar room of a nearby hotel. The theme of this evening was “The Journey” (will be translated soon) Several of our friends weren’t able to come, and so we thought it would be a small round. Three newbies dropped in – an elderly lady, and two younger persons – and some friends of us, all together a group of eight persons.

We started with singing an invocation to the unity of all life, as a reminder to keep the awareness connected with it. There was a good energy of presence to be felt, and when I started talking a smooth flow of thoughts came in. I had prepared a powerpoint presentation with beautiful pictures, mainly from a series from a journey of friends to Ethiopia. The presentation was about basics of the spiritual path, about possible challenges and how to overcome them, and about entrance into the realms of the subtle worlds. After a little paus my wife conducted a meditation, starting with singing 21 times OM, and then some guided visualisations.

Afterwards we had an exchange about the experiences. Again it was astonishing how people had deep and similar experiences, though it was neither induced by us nor did we know each other before: There is a path to the inside, to the experience of inner experience – consciousness diving into itself. In his Mystic Mantrams Master CVV calls this “Dip deep” – dipping into one’s own awareness.

The next morning a photo of the presentation came into my mind: I had spoken about how it needs discrimination and mostly also help to orient on the path, not to get lost. And that it isn’t easy to discover the signs, which we easily fail to see. On the photo you see a scene from a street in Hyderabad, with people and motorbikes crossing – just a street scene. But when you have a closer look at the picture, you see on the walls occult signs, a most sacred symbol, the Swastika. It is a symbol of the “Wheel of Life”, the power of progressive evolution. But it is also a message about how these signs can get distorted and their sense perverted, like it has been done with the Nazi system, and so it became a symbol of power and dominion. Now it is seen in the West as a forbidden symbol, highly emotionally charged by pros and cons. You cannot just look neutrally on it in public without stirring partly violent reactions.

On the photo from the street in Hyderabad you hardly perceive it. It is the same with the messages from the subtle world, which you easily miss to note in everyday life, but which can help you open the doors to the inside when the awareness is open.

Yesterday evening I discovered a parcel in the mailbox – a book I had ordered some weeks ago. It is about the “Religious Communities in the Canton Berne” (Switzerland). The author, Stefan Rademacher, from the Institute of Religious Studies of the University of Berne, had come for a talk in summer 2006. At first I was a bit sceptical, but his impartial approach to work out a “map” of the different religious groups in our area was somehow fascinating. He is avoiding the word “sectarian”, since it is emotionally charged and stigmatising. We had quite an indepth conversation about the Circle of Good Will and our backgrounds. A week after the talk he sent me the draft of his article, which I reviewed, and he included the corrections. And now it is a section in the book, in a chapter on theosophy and its offsprings…

My thoughts went back to the days of my study of religious science in the 70ies in Germany. The academical and distanced approach to a topic which deals with inner transformation and relation to one’s deepest roots is somehow a paradox. A systematized approach to deeper realities is of a great importance, but you can’t stay at a distance to yourself when going through a process of transformation. As long as you do, you stay in the intellect and out of the experience. You only have a shallow aftertaste.

An Indian friend living in the States just sent me the following text:

Absolutely amazing!

1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432
123456789 x 8 + 9 = 987654321

1 x 9 + 2 = 11
12 x 9 + 3 = 111
123 x 9 + 4 = 1111
1234 x 9 + 5 = 11111
12345 x 9 + 6 = 111111
123456 x 9 + 7 = 1111111
1234567 x 9 + 8 = 11111111
12345678 x 9 + 9 = 111111111
123456789 x 9 +10= 1111111111

9 x 9 + 7 = 88
98 x 9 + 6 = 888
987 x 9 + 5 = 8888
9876 x 9 + 4 = 88888
98765 x 9 + 3 = 888888
987654 x 9 + 2 = 8888888
9876543 x 9 + 1 = 88888888
98765432 x 9 + 0 = 888888888

Brilliant, isn’t it? And look at this symmetry:

1 x 1 = 1
11 x 11 = 121
111 x 111 = 12321
1111 x 1111 = 1234321
11111 x 11111 = 123454321
111111 x 111111 = 12345654321
1111111 x 1111111 = 1234567654321
11111111 x 11111111 = 123456787654321
111111111 x 111111111 = 12345678987654321

Now, take a look at this…

101%
From a strictly mathematical viewpoint:

What Equals 100%?
What does it mean to give MORE than 100%?

Ever wonder about those people who say they are giving more than 100%?
We have all been in situations where someone wants you to GIVE OVER 100%.
How about ACHIEVING 101%?
What equals 100% in life?

Here’s a little mathematical formula that might help
answer these questions:

If:
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Is represented as:
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26.

If:
H-A-R-D-W-O-R-K
8+1+18+4+23+15+18+11 = 98%

And:
K-N-O-W-L-E-D-G-E
11+14+15+23+12+5+4+7+5 = 96%

But:
A-T-T-I-T-U-D-E
1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

THEN, look how far the love of God will take you:

L-O-V-E- O-F- G-O-D
12+15+22+5+15+6+7+15+4 = 101%

Therefore, one can conclude with mathematical certainty that:

While Hard Work and Knowledge will get you close, and Attitude will
get you there, It’s the Love of God that will put you over the top!

Precision and divine beauty also in other fields of nature

Concerning the present stock market crash there was a nice anecdote from the times of the crash of 1929 in our local newspaper:

In the States an immigrant built up a little business. He worked hard and slowly met with success. Years later he was asked if he didn’t have problems during the time of the crisis.  Depression?, he answered. Oh no, he didn’t feel anything. In the beginning he didn’t understand any word of English and therefore didn’t read the newspapers. So he didn’t know that there was a crisis…

The same “imperceptibility” is true with the path of light: For most people it simply doesn’t exist. They go on making their experiences in the outer world and go through the related difficulties. Some are using the occasion which time offers now, they align with the soul and discover their inner potentials. For them the Aquarian age is becoming a reality – for the others the time of darkness continues. You might like to have a look at the Lunar Messenger on “Meditation for the Aquarian Age“.

The entrance of the Swiss National Bank in Berne, where a great amount of gold is stored in the basement. The money of the bank is now also used to counteract the present crisis of the UBS bank.
Inspired by an initiative of an American group of meditators I planted a little rose quartz heart into the flower-bed right in front of the bank about 10 years ago, with the thought that the energies of money and gold might be directed to evolutionary purposes.

Some days ago I got an e-mail from a friend in Venezuela who wrote (lightly adapted):

“I assisted to a conference with the Tao people in Caracas, and they talked about how the human beings, when they die and disincarnate, there are different way  they do this work.
They said, if it is done by the  ajna center (in the middle above the eyes) they will have some special work to do, but if the soul is going out by the eyes, in their  next incarnation they will come as a bird, by the nose they will be an insect, by the ears a mammal,  by the mouth a fish, and by your navel you are again coming as a human being….
This part in the conference was a shock to me because I do not know anything about it, only with our teacher we really are doing a work in order to establish a different style of life with the work to do, in this incarnation, and  looking to continue an ascent to live with the soul and liberate the personality in order to use only our soul and participate with it in the social life, …”

I anwered her:

“Many people talk many silly things in spirituality. This with the bird, insect etc. is absolute nonsense. The Masters of Wisdom teach that you should go out through the higher centres, from heart onward, and the higher the better. I try to go by what I know from their teachings. You quickly get confused with people talking about spirituality and the like… Don’t let yourself get confused and try to help people to get out of the clouds of spiritual confusion, this is a big maya.”

She answered: “Those people of the Tao look so nice, but I really was shocked with the information they talked about….”

I replied: “Yes, there are many nice people in spiritual groups, but this doesn’t guard them from getting lost into wrong concepts.” It is a great test on the path to work out a right understanding and not to let yourself get confused by the many irritating concepts.  The mind is often compared with a mirror full of deformations and dirt. It is important to clean it and restore its original purity. This is a scientific process, and the age-old science is called the path of yoga or union. For this path a wise teacher is very helpful.

The mirroring globe in the Cité des sciences de de l’industrie in Paris. Photo of a friend

Two weeks ago we were in Engelberg at a seminar. The meaning of Engelberg is Mountain of Angels, and throughout the village you could see angel sculptures like an invasion of beings from another sphere. The sculptures of the exposition were basically the same polyacrylic forms decorated in different ways – and thus reflecting different attitudes towards the sublime:

Some of the figures were ridiculising the idea of angels, some were playfully using them as decorations, some reflected a spark of the underlying mystery. A friend of mine sent me a photo CD with some of these angels – a good study, not so much about angels but more about man or the artist’s attitude. The angels are for sale… The titles under the pictures are given by me:

The Shopping-Angel with a sad look, his head being a black gift box – symbolic of man lost in commercialism.

The Fashion Angel, disguised in decoration, his light being the false light of a lamp and not from above.

What do you find inside the drawers? Spiritual inspiration or emptiness?

The Angel of a “beautiful apartment / nice dress dream” – instead of striving to the lofty spheres

The Angel of Time – reminding us of the good use of every moment for upliftment. It is also Chronos-Saturn, the Lord or Time, in green, related to the 3rd ray of Active Intelligence.

The Angel of Broken Mirrors – symbolic of broken dreams or of the many reflections of the One light in the dense spheres of the gross material world.

The Tourism Angel, inside three branches of a dead tree – looking for “higher experiences” in the mountains

The Angel of the integration of heart and hand, of loving action

The Angel of the Warm Heart, radiating silently his light at the corner of a shop, inspiring hope and strength

Today my wife and I had a talk on how difficult it sometimes is not to be able to tell a person what one would like to tell him or her. When the person is not ready to listen or doesn’t have an open mind, you come upon an invisible wall, even if there is a cordial relation. Often it is the question of an over-active mind: People are busy with their thoughts and concepts, which keep them tied down into a certain direction. The narrowed focus is shutting them off from other viewpoints, which might bring in a larger perspective.

In spiritual matters I observe this very often: It takes so long, often years, for a right and deep understanding to grow. People are straying at the periphery, not coming to the center, the essence of their being or the path. For many it is very difficult to get into a regular practice, and it seems it is even more difficult to pick up some selfless service activity – not just some goodwill activity, but an intelligent activity done with responsibility over a long time, in cooperation in a team. There are so many obstacles on the way – other interests, the so-called “having no time”-syndrome, which mostly is a missing focus in life. In spirituality there are many who consent, but only few who apply.

At the seminar on the occasion of 25 years of WTT-Global of last week Dr. Kumar mentioned that Master EK made long 4 tours from India to the West in the 70ies (1972-1977) without getting any right contacts. People seemed not to be open enough to assimilate the teachings he wanted to give. He waited 4 more years before taking up again his tours to the West in 1981, and then slowly he met people with whom the work could start.

At the jubilee celebration a book was published, where Dr. Kumar’s (Master KPK) work of group-building over 27 years was outlined. There was a section with the titles of all his lectures – several hundred ! – he gave on most different topics all over the globe during nearly 50 international tours. It gave me a frisson to see the tremendous work and how slowly and steadily it proceeded. It is not a big and quick foam, but a silent, focused persistence.

How long it takes to get people into a rhythm of group work, overcoming the personality barriers! There is a saying by Master Morya that consciousness grows slower than grass.

Candles at the seminar in the form of white lotuses – symbols of unfoldment and purity