The Braided Way
I find this message speaking to me deeply in my understanding of where I am and where I come from on my spiritual journey. I am not quite comfortable with the "prophetic voice" of the message yet I can respect the contents. I "braid" many traditions into my own spiritual practice and have found related expressions of every one in Christian practice. In my exposure to Quaker practice I heard of George Fox saying something like, lead them to Jesus and he will be the teacher. The Truth speaks for Itself.
Enjoy, Jim
Transcript – The Braided Way for Christians
May 30, 2007
Jen and Michael Olin-Hitt
Upper Room
Transcribed by JOH
Edited by FCR
1
Messenger: My children, your perspective is widening. It shall be disorienting – continually so, for you must balance your ways with the others in the Braid. But you think it is disorienting to you -- how much more so to those who only follow and acknowledge one strand among the many? But how inviting to those who have felt rejected by a single strand, and have been attracted by the way of the barren path to the Holy! It is a time of expansion, my children. It is a time of expansion. For the ways of singularity are an illusion and are destructive. The Spirit of G-d had been disturbed by the fight among the people based on one strand neglecting and refusing the validity of another. There are strands even within individual faiths. What is a strand, my children, and what is the Braid? I shall provide a lesson that will be understood by yourselves and the masses, the seekers, the open, the mature, the Awake.
The Braided Way is a way of following a single strand and knowing the strand is inter-related, interwoven to all strands. A strand is a faith tradition, ceremony, a way of living to the faithful within a religion. My children, what is religion to the Spirit of G-d? For G-d cannot be confined within a religion, and each religion provides limited avenues to know the fullness of G-d, the complexity of the Holy Whole. Combined, however, there is depth, strength, vitality, multiplicity. There is both loss and much to gain for those who enter the Braided Way from a single tradition as you do, my children.
2
A strand rises out of a culture. A religious tradition rises out of an experience of the people. The ways of expressing that experience, the ways of nurturing that experience, the rituals of creating heightened spiritual awareness, and those who have those experiences of heightened spiritual sight know it is only a single avenue. And those without the heightened spiritual awareness are those who deny such a state of awareness, are those who are not trained to understand their own potential for an awareness and cling not to the avenue, but to the ritual. Such a way becomes an inhibition. How then do you follow a single stand as one who knows it is a constructed approach to reach heightened mystical, paradoxical, multiple awareness of the Spirit of G-d? This is the avenue you are embarking upon. Each strand pulls upon the other in a Braid, a Holy Braid, one Braid after another. And there are many who can only follow their strand to the first Braid, for when It becomes intertwined in other Braids it seems to be altered beyond comfort. And my children, it is altered in a very positive way for those who can ravel through the Braiding, the Twisting.
So here you are entering a Braid, wondering how to stay Christian as you see such validity, productivity, beauty in other traditions. You do not need to reject your strand. You must only see that your strand relates to, intertwines, crosses over the other strands in the experience of the Sacred. And the other strands will enable you to see other avenues. It will strengthen your way to the Holy. You will not be trapped from the Way of the Holy, but it will indeed alter your understanding of your singular strand. For the singular strand will suddenly become an avenue to multiplicity at the first Braid.
3
My children, before the first Braid at the beginning of your journey, your tradition teaches you discipline, relationships with the Holy, spirituality, the beauty of scripture, the unity of a Way. One can live their whole lives in such a way and be holy. But my children, the time has come when the many must see that they are one. For when the many do not see that they are one, they attempt to cut out a strand, to end a strand, to annihilate a strand because of difference. And the Braid, therefore is weakened, the sight is limited., Civilizations have been crushed because their Way is different, but they come into awareness again, for the ways of G-d are eternal.
So there is strength in seeing that the many are the one. None need be rejected. All may be celebrated. There is much to learn as the braid intertwines from level to level until finally they become one. The many become one. And by the time the many become one in the Holy Whole, they converge to an awareness beyond singularity. My children, from where you are the journey must begin in singularity. It is all that can be understood, followed, grasped. It is the only way to be trained to see beyond the singularity. All the training leads to the same conclusion – that G-d is beyond understanding and that relationship with G-d is to be emphasized, that the Spirit and the human are intimately related. That the Spirit and the universe are one. That the Spirit of God sweeps through Creation through your body, through your souls, through your spirits, through the earth, through the creatures. And then the Walk becomes altered, for the singularity of the Way and the individual broadens.
So here you are, my children, at the place of broadening, and you fear losing your connection to the Holy known as Christ, to your Guide, to you Savior, to your Example, to your Comforter, to your Wisdom Teacher, to the Chosen One. Sophia Incarnate, to the Child of G-d. I tell you, my children, do not abandon this tradition. It is fundamental to who you are. It is your background. It is your training. It is your Holy Way. But as you enter the first Braid, you will see that the Holy Way, the multiple Ways bring depth, clarity, alternatives to be added to the awareness of the relationship between the people and the Divine, the human and the Holy.
4
Christ is available to you. Will continue to be available to you. Was aware of the many and the One. Was aware. He lived the many through the One. It was the many that gave him the insight of the limitations of his faith, the limitations of his ancestors. Thus he added to, altered the faith from which he was raised. And it was not to create a new strand that he did so. It was to create a deepening of the strand of his faith. And yet, a new strand was created. A new strand resistant to the original strand from whence the Christ rose. The site of Spirit, the site of the One, the site of the Holy Whole, known as the Home, known to Christ as the Father, the Head, the Owner of the Mansion, the Intimate and the Vast, the Singular and the Multiple, the Holy Whole.
My children, the Way of Christ is a good Way, a sacred Way, one to be honored, one to be followed. Very few have been such teachers, have been able to live in such focus, have been so intimately connected to the Holy Whole, the Father-image, have been so connected as to be called the Son of the Holy Whole. So aware of his connection, able to say “I am the Way.” “Live as I do, and you shall live in the way of G-d.” No one comes to the Holy Whole without living the Way of G-d.”
I tell you, Christ came to Earth knowing the Braided Way and attempted to lead the people beyond the first Braid to an awareness of the limitation of the faith and the need to expand.
So my children, travel this Road, the Road of Christ. This Path. This Strand. It is your training. It is your background. It is your origin. It is the tradition that brought you to an awakening, a sight beyond the tradition into the whole, and as you enter the Braid, as your Strands intertwine with other Strands, you will see, you will see similarity and difference. You will see compatibility. You will see thickening and strengthening. You will see that the Holy Way is greater than your Strand, is strengthened by the many ways.
6
How shall you honor the Earth but to follow the tribal? How shall you know meditation but to follow the Eastern? How shall you know the deep patterns of living if not to follow the ancient Story that brings depth and awareness, to communicate to the people, to communicate to the people. But if you deny that you come from the Christ, if you deny that you are with Him, then my children, you abandon that which is most Holy to you. Do not be Peter, my children. Do not deny your Path, your Savior, your Example among the people who do not understand. But stand firm and say, “Yes, I am a disciple. And I am with you because the Lord G-d has broadened my view. Through the path of the Christ I have gained sight. The ways of the Christ are not the ways of singularity and judgment. No, the ways of the Christ are to embrace, To be like Christ I must embrace, that the many become -- lead to -- the One, the Holy One, the Holy Whole.”
It is an important message. The followers of Mohammed know there is a good way in their faith, but it intertwines, intertwines. The discipline. The prayer. The focus on practical living are in other faiths. What other faiths bring the Mystical to the individual, the Power of Connection to the individual?
The followers of Buddha know a good Way of living, of meditating, of going beyond the self, of entering the Selfless Self which is all Holy Understanding. But what of the activity of the Sacred One, of the multiplicity of the Spirit of God, the Holy Whole?
The Hindu who embrace all, are they not following the Holy Way? My children, the Origin is clouded by the many within their One. Certainly it is a good representation of the multiplicity of a faith, for there is multiplicity in the Holy Whole, There are Messengers, there are Angels, there are Spiritual Workers. But they are not equal to the Wholeness. They contribute to the Wholeness. So how does one celebrate the multiplicity, and also the Wholeness? Is this not something that can be learned in the Braiding. And in the Braiding, is there not Wisdom in the Ways to live a faith? To acknowledge the discipline of the individual, the need for community and intimacy, basic human needs expressed in the other faiths.
A time of awareness of the validity of the many is a necessity for the survival of the Holy Way. A single strand, my children, is weak. And when the people climb upon it, it can break without the strength of the many. I tell you, even those who rely on the single strand are benefited by the strength of the Braid without even knowing or acknowledging. For the Braid is an avenue, and the avenue is wider than a single strand. And the single strand is supported by the many. And still, my children, the Holy Way is always the narrow way. But how much narrower is a single strand? And if all were to climb upon it, it would snap.
7
Go make disciples of aaallllllll the nations. Let us emphasize the all. Let us think about what a disciple is. It is a student of the Way. All the nations have many students and many Ways to the Holy. If all the souls, my children, were to gather as droplets of oil upon the Christian Way, the Christian Way could not sustain the droplets. So many would drop off. But the Braided Way invites the many, invites the multiple into the One, is strong. Do you see? Follow your Christ, my children. Follow your Chirst. The Way of Christ is a Holy way, a good Way. But celebrate the strength, the things that can be learned from the many Ways. Do you think Christ did not meditate? Do you think Christ did not see the wholeness of God? Do you think his mind did not raise above his singularity to a Self beyond self, a Selfless Self. Do you think he did not have visions or trance experiences? Do you think he does not live in a world knowing it is not permanent, mindful of the possibilities of the moment. My children, he lived in the many ways of holiness. It gave him the power to heal, for the Holy Energy to flow through him freely. It gave him spiritual sight. It gave him the ability to live in the Now, to be mindful of all things, and in so living to see the possibilities of transcendence, renewal, salvation, transformation.
So, my children, if Christ lived the many, if he embraced the many, should you not also do this? Did he see that nature itself has a voice, a spirit, that the rocks will cry out?
8
There was a time when the people of Israel were warned against intermingling with the other faiths around them. It was a necessary prohibition at the time of human consciousness. People were walking before the first Braid. But my children, the commands to destroy the other were not from G-d, but from the fear in the human mind. It was taking the Holy prohibitions to an extreme. It still happens, my children, because the awareness of the strength of the Braid has not been brought to the people.
Do you know it was important for you to follow the single Way, was it not? For when you were a child, you thought as a child. But when you are grown and deeply aware of your faith, deeply aware, painfully aware of the limitation of those who cling to the faith, the rituals, the ceremonies, the organizations. You are primed. You have already been in the first Braid. Did Jesus offer this prohibition? Did Jesus criticize those who stuck too closely to the prohibitions of the past because they were blocking the Holy Sight? My daughter, the people must change as human awareness changes. The others (in the time of the Old Testament) were too different. One could not combine. One had to choose, do you see? And in choosing, one would lose direction, grounding. But you have been raised in the grounding. So to raise a child grounded in a faith tradition is a necessary first step, except for those born with Spiritual Sight. Christ. Have you noticed?
Hang onto the peace and know that you will not abandon the ways of Christ. And the Spirit of Christ will not abandon you. Claim It with gentleness, but with firmness. Your Way happens to be the Christian way, the Way of the Christ, the Way of the Holy Spirit, the Way to the Mansion with Many Rooms. Are there many rooms for the many souls? Many rooms for the many ways? Think on it.
Read it, and decipher for yourself.
Enjoy, Jim
Transcript – The Braided Way for Christians
May 30, 2007
Jen and Michael Olin-Hitt
Upper Room
Transcribed by JOH
Edited by FCR
1
Messenger: My children, your perspective is widening. It shall be disorienting – continually so, for you must balance your ways with the others in the Braid. But you think it is disorienting to you -- how much more so to those who only follow and acknowledge one strand among the many? But how inviting to those who have felt rejected by a single strand, and have been attracted by the way of the barren path to the Holy! It is a time of expansion, my children. It is a time of expansion. For the ways of singularity are an illusion and are destructive. The Spirit of G-d had been disturbed by the fight among the people based on one strand neglecting and refusing the validity of another. There are strands even within individual faiths. What is a strand, my children, and what is the Braid? I shall provide a lesson that will be understood by yourselves and the masses, the seekers, the open, the mature, the Awake.
The Braided Way is a way of following a single strand and knowing the strand is inter-related, interwoven to all strands. A strand is a faith tradition, ceremony, a way of living to the faithful within a religion. My children, what is religion to the Spirit of G-d? For G-d cannot be confined within a religion, and each religion provides limited avenues to know the fullness of G-d, the complexity of the Holy Whole. Combined, however, there is depth, strength, vitality, multiplicity. There is both loss and much to gain for those who enter the Braided Way from a single tradition as you do, my children.
2
A strand rises out of a culture. A religious tradition rises out of an experience of the people. The ways of expressing that experience, the ways of nurturing that experience, the rituals of creating heightened spiritual awareness, and those who have those experiences of heightened spiritual sight know it is only a single avenue. And those without the heightened spiritual awareness are those who deny such a state of awareness, are those who are not trained to understand their own potential for an awareness and cling not to the avenue, but to the ritual. Such a way becomes an inhibition. How then do you follow a single stand as one who knows it is a constructed approach to reach heightened mystical, paradoxical, multiple awareness of the Spirit of G-d? This is the avenue you are embarking upon. Each strand pulls upon the other in a Braid, a Holy Braid, one Braid after another. And there are many who can only follow their strand to the first Braid, for when It becomes intertwined in other Braids it seems to be altered beyond comfort. And my children, it is altered in a very positive way for those who can ravel through the Braiding, the Twisting.
So here you are entering a Braid, wondering how to stay Christian as you see such validity, productivity, beauty in other traditions. You do not need to reject your strand. You must only see that your strand relates to, intertwines, crosses over the other strands in the experience of the Sacred. And the other strands will enable you to see other avenues. It will strengthen your way to the Holy. You will not be trapped from the Way of the Holy, but it will indeed alter your understanding of your singular strand. For the singular strand will suddenly become an avenue to multiplicity at the first Braid.
3
My children, before the first Braid at the beginning of your journey, your tradition teaches you discipline, relationships with the Holy, spirituality, the beauty of scripture, the unity of a Way. One can live their whole lives in such a way and be holy. But my children, the time has come when the many must see that they are one. For when the many do not see that they are one, they attempt to cut out a strand, to end a strand, to annihilate a strand because of difference. And the Braid, therefore is weakened, the sight is limited., Civilizations have been crushed because their Way is different, but they come into awareness again, for the ways of G-d are eternal.
So there is strength in seeing that the many are the one. None need be rejected. All may be celebrated. There is much to learn as the braid intertwines from level to level until finally they become one. The many become one. And by the time the many become one in the Holy Whole, they converge to an awareness beyond singularity. My children, from where you are the journey must begin in singularity. It is all that can be understood, followed, grasped. It is the only way to be trained to see beyond the singularity. All the training leads to the same conclusion – that G-d is beyond understanding and that relationship with G-d is to be emphasized, that the Spirit and the human are intimately related. That the Spirit and the universe are one. That the Spirit of God sweeps through Creation through your body, through your souls, through your spirits, through the earth, through the creatures. And then the Walk becomes altered, for the singularity of the Way and the individual broadens.
So here you are, my children, at the place of broadening, and you fear losing your connection to the Holy known as Christ, to your Guide, to you Savior, to your Example, to your Comforter, to your Wisdom Teacher, to the Chosen One. Sophia Incarnate, to the Child of G-d. I tell you, my children, do not abandon this tradition. It is fundamental to who you are. It is your background. It is your training. It is your Holy Way. But as you enter the first Braid, you will see that the Holy Way, the multiple Ways bring depth, clarity, alternatives to be added to the awareness of the relationship between the people and the Divine, the human and the Holy.
4
Christ is available to you. Will continue to be available to you. Was aware of the many and the One. Was aware. He lived the many through the One. It was the many that gave him the insight of the limitations of his faith, the limitations of his ancestors. Thus he added to, altered the faith from which he was raised. And it was not to create a new strand that he did so. It was to create a deepening of the strand of his faith. And yet, a new strand was created. A new strand resistant to the original strand from whence the Christ rose. The site of Spirit, the site of the One, the site of the Holy Whole, known as the Home, known to Christ as the Father, the Head, the Owner of the Mansion, the Intimate and the Vast, the Singular and the Multiple, the Holy Whole.
My children, the Way of Christ is a good Way, a sacred Way, one to be honored, one to be followed. Very few have been such teachers, have been able to live in such focus, have been so intimately connected to the Holy Whole, the Father-image, have been so connected as to be called the Son of the Holy Whole. So aware of his connection, able to say “I am the Way.” “Live as I do, and you shall live in the way of G-d.” No one comes to the Holy Whole without living the Way of G-d.”
I tell you, Christ came to Earth knowing the Braided Way and attempted to lead the people beyond the first Braid to an awareness of the limitation of the faith and the need to expand.
So my children, travel this Road, the Road of Christ. This Path. This Strand. It is your training. It is your background. It is your origin. It is the tradition that brought you to an awakening, a sight beyond the tradition into the whole, and as you enter the Braid, as your Strands intertwine with other Strands, you will see, you will see similarity and difference. You will see compatibility. You will see thickening and strengthening. You will see that the Holy Way is greater than your Strand, is strengthened by the many ways.
6
How shall you honor the Earth but to follow the tribal? How shall you know meditation but to follow the Eastern? How shall you know the deep patterns of living if not to follow the ancient Story that brings depth and awareness, to communicate to the people, to communicate to the people. But if you deny that you come from the Christ, if you deny that you are with Him, then my children, you abandon that which is most Holy to you. Do not be Peter, my children. Do not deny your Path, your Savior, your Example among the people who do not understand. But stand firm and say, “Yes, I am a disciple. And I am with you because the Lord G-d has broadened my view. Through the path of the Christ I have gained sight. The ways of the Christ are not the ways of singularity and judgment. No, the ways of the Christ are to embrace, To be like Christ I must embrace, that the many become -- lead to -- the One, the Holy One, the Holy Whole.”
It is an important message. The followers of Mohammed know there is a good way in their faith, but it intertwines, intertwines. The discipline. The prayer. The focus on practical living are in other faiths. What other faiths bring the Mystical to the individual, the Power of Connection to the individual?
The followers of Buddha know a good Way of living, of meditating, of going beyond the self, of entering the Selfless Self which is all Holy Understanding. But what of the activity of the Sacred One, of the multiplicity of the Spirit of God, the Holy Whole?
The Hindu who embrace all, are they not following the Holy Way? My children, the Origin is clouded by the many within their One. Certainly it is a good representation of the multiplicity of a faith, for there is multiplicity in the Holy Whole, There are Messengers, there are Angels, there are Spiritual Workers. But they are not equal to the Wholeness. They contribute to the Wholeness. So how does one celebrate the multiplicity, and also the Wholeness? Is this not something that can be learned in the Braiding. And in the Braiding, is there not Wisdom in the Ways to live a faith? To acknowledge the discipline of the individual, the need for community and intimacy, basic human needs expressed in the other faiths.
A time of awareness of the validity of the many is a necessity for the survival of the Holy Way. A single strand, my children, is weak. And when the people climb upon it, it can break without the strength of the many. I tell you, even those who rely on the single strand are benefited by the strength of the Braid without even knowing or acknowledging. For the Braid is an avenue, and the avenue is wider than a single strand. And the single strand is supported by the many. And still, my children, the Holy Way is always the narrow way. But how much narrower is a single strand? And if all were to climb upon it, it would snap.
7
Go make disciples of aaallllllll the nations. Let us emphasize the all. Let us think about what a disciple is. It is a student of the Way. All the nations have many students and many Ways to the Holy. If all the souls, my children, were to gather as droplets of oil upon the Christian Way, the Christian Way could not sustain the droplets. So many would drop off. But the Braided Way invites the many, invites the multiple into the One, is strong. Do you see? Follow your Christ, my children. Follow your Chirst. The Way of Christ is a Holy way, a good Way. But celebrate the strength, the things that can be learned from the many Ways. Do you think Christ did not meditate? Do you think Christ did not see the wholeness of God? Do you think his mind did not raise above his singularity to a Self beyond self, a Selfless Self. Do you think he did not have visions or trance experiences? Do you think he does not live in a world knowing it is not permanent, mindful of the possibilities of the moment. My children, he lived in the many ways of holiness. It gave him the power to heal, for the Holy Energy to flow through him freely. It gave him spiritual sight. It gave him the ability to live in the Now, to be mindful of all things, and in so living to see the possibilities of transcendence, renewal, salvation, transformation.
So, my children, if Christ lived the many, if he embraced the many, should you not also do this? Did he see that nature itself has a voice, a spirit, that the rocks will cry out?
8
There was a time when the people of Israel were warned against intermingling with the other faiths around them. It was a necessary prohibition at the time of human consciousness. People were walking before the first Braid. But my children, the commands to destroy the other were not from G-d, but from the fear in the human mind. It was taking the Holy prohibitions to an extreme. It still happens, my children, because the awareness of the strength of the Braid has not been brought to the people.
Do you know it was important for you to follow the single Way, was it not? For when you were a child, you thought as a child. But when you are grown and deeply aware of your faith, deeply aware, painfully aware of the limitation of those who cling to the faith, the rituals, the ceremonies, the organizations. You are primed. You have already been in the first Braid. Did Jesus offer this prohibition? Did Jesus criticize those who stuck too closely to the prohibitions of the past because they were blocking the Holy Sight? My daughter, the people must change as human awareness changes. The others (in the time of the Old Testament) were too different. One could not combine. One had to choose, do you see? And in choosing, one would lose direction, grounding. But you have been raised in the grounding. So to raise a child grounded in a faith tradition is a necessary first step, except for those born with Spiritual Sight. Christ. Have you noticed?
Hang onto the peace and know that you will not abandon the ways of Christ. And the Spirit of Christ will not abandon you. Claim It with gentleness, but with firmness. Your Way happens to be the Christian way, the Way of the Christ, the Way of the Holy Spirit, the Way to the Mansion with Many Rooms. Are there many rooms for the many souls? Many rooms for the many ways? Think on it.
Read it, and decipher for yourself.
posted by Jim B | 2:05 PM
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