song

There is a call to song I am feeling. That the song is trying to sing me and I am not quite hearing it yet. I first noticed this when doing prayers at the preparation for fire at the beginning of sweat lodge. The directions, the elements, the spirits and the land have a music to them, a song to be sung and it is time for me to sing them. I am not a singer though and it will be interesting to see how this works. It is like worshiping without a priest to guide. Connecting directly to the song, the music and letting it vibrate through me. A form of expression that I am not entirely comfortable with. I can't really tell how I sound and I think I should sound good if I sing. So I am afraid to sing, or at least self-conscious about it. I know sometimes I feel it when I hit the right note. But do I? I may try recording myself and listening to it. Or maybe I'll just sing and let it sound how sounds. Ooooh, that's scary!

Peace Jim

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.

mirror of light, dark

I came across an interesting concept in a novel I am reading, Kushiel's Scion, that struck a chord for me. It talked about a group or person being a mirror of the light or of the dark for a person. That someone can even be both. It would take an awareness of self to look and a courageous heart to keep looking into that mirror. It reminds me of the path to growth where resistance must be confronted and allowed to move through it. What also got my attention was the group part of that mirror concept. Who mirrors groups I belong to? How about on a large scale, my country? How about for religious groups? An example I see of that comes from a blog, Quaker-Pagan Reflections, and its writers' interactions with more typical Quakers. I see the two groups, Quakers and Pagans, being mirrors of both the light and the dark for each other. Pagans can unabashedly embrace the ecstatic connection to the divine which Quakers appear to struggle to keep quiet. Quakers are much more willing to put the "leadings" of the divine to the community to test their truth whereas Pagans can go with individual "spirit told me" ideas and not test their truth within community. I think Zen has something to say about these kinds of mirrors and I just picked up a book last night that speaks to it, The Zen of Creativity, thanks wife for bringing it home. I will continue reading both and see what I find. Also I will look in the mirror.

Peace, Jim

patterns

The patterns that weave through existence are becoming clearer. Activating these patterns with the spark of the divine, connected to my divine spark, shows me a possibility for connecting to all. I saw a group of grackles chasing a coopers hawk and wondered at how they coordinate their actions to get the hawk to leave the territory. I then wondered how people can do it? There is language, obviously. But there are deeper, more subtle ways I think. Rupert Sheldrake speaks of biogenetic fields that all of existence operates in and creates. The patterns I am beginning to see may be the foundation of these fields. Perhaps humans can communicate through these means. Language is so fraught with distortions and mis-communications it can be more of a distraction than help. If we, those who can, those who want to, can learn to put our intentions, directions, and actions into these patterns in a conscious way, as in certain kinds of prayer, we can give ourselves an option to language to communicate with. This is not intrusive as some technological signal sent out might be, since one can simply ask,"is this for the greatest good?" and it will be in alignment with that, and we can allow it in. It can be accepted or rejected. The messages are really already out there. People have been putting out their stuff for as long as we have thought beyond ourselves. Like Sheldrake talks about, the more of something out there the more it can be picked up on. I think I am seeing a possibility to do this directly, finding the pattern, setting the thought or idea into it and letting it go. This goes further than what I understood as prayer in that it is directed to a specific place in a pattern I can perceive. As opposed to a thought or idea sent to a general address like "the divine" or "the highest and best of all." Now to test the hypothesis. Come up with a good double blind and see what happens.

Not for Cats

Here again

It's been a while. Some growth. Some change. Mortality. Healing. Rebirth moment by moment. Quite a year. Marriage. Work. Love. Travel. Learning. Forgetting. Transmutation, transformation, translation and change. The path of healing. I didn't know what healing really meant to me or how it could be accomplished with lasting effect. It is beginning to make sense. Unfortunately I don't see anybody doing it all in their healing practices. Now I haven't known what to look for until recently and have no idea if other people have figured this out. I would expect yes. It will be the path to peace also I suspect. I will work on making it effective for myself. And see what happens.

Peace, Jim

Active in me, peace?

In "peace is active," I see I have written about my own quest for peace within. What is the relationship in tension within me? How does the balance between violence and peace play out in that conflict? Am I taking an active position one way or the other? Am I blowing where the wind will take me? It appears that my understanding of justice is not much developed. I think of legal justice and I get an inkling of a higher form of justice, but I have no way of grasping it yet. I'm getting love and compassion and compassionate honesty as foundations to justice. But these are personal. Perhaps it starts personal and moves out from there. Just like all politics are local. When I think of a relationship in tension and at peace I think of a loving marriage. Each in the couple has desires, dreams, challenges and pain to live in, each must bring those to the marriage as fully as possible even though it be easier to let them be unknown. That can be done in love and honesty or in something else, fear and violence. Many times they come in both and that is where the balance of peace is evident, the active pursuit of love and compassion in the relationship. Could that be the definition of peace I seek? Clearly I must treat myself and my partner as equals while not expecting my partner to value my issue as I do, nor myself to value my partner's issue the same as my partner does. I can take this deeper and make it more personal by moving within, to the internal tension of daily life. Do I read or do the dishes? The value of each option can vary depending on the circumstances, such as reading for pleasure and a sink full of dishes or an article for business and a couple of glasses and plates that could go in the dishwasher. It is the way I treat my own identity, the needs of existence, growth, spirit, comfort, etc. All are equal within yet the actions involved in satisfying each can depend on my circumstances. The peaceful choice is the loving and compassionate choice. Here, I think, is where non-attachment comes in. And the discipline and freedom that are required to make such a choice. So is justice a word for loving compassion? As is peace? But in different contexts? Justice in the context of others in conflict and peace when it is me in the conflict? Perhaps that is why I said in "Peace is Active" that there can be no justice in peace since when one becomes aware of our interconnections then there is no "other" in conflict, all are always involved. Active loving compassion can only be peaceful, indeed, can be nothing else. Justice, in the veiw I am seeing, allows a separation that is illusion and can lead to only more illusion, the illusion of justice "being done." Only when there is no "other" and all "are" can there be peace.

Peace is active

Not for Cats
I've been thinking about peace lately. How illusory the meaning and even the expression of peace is. Peace can only exist within a relationship in tension, or conflict. The same as violence or war. So there is no peace without conflict. Not that peace exists either before or after conflict, but only during. So does this make peace active? A choice not of avoidance or denial but of assertive confrontation. Forcing all involved to be active within the conflict as equals. The circumstances of those involved may not be equal, nor the reasons for each being involved in the conflict be equal. Even the value to each will not be equal, yet all must get beyond the issue and treat with all in an equal manner. From there and only there can successful solutions to the conflict be reached. Fairness and justice cannot enter into the equation of peaceful resolution. They presume greater or lesser value for those in conflict. If the circumstances were fair and just there would not likely be conflict requiring peaceful action. The resolution cannot be expected to be fair or just as each often requires revenge or punishment to bring the issue to resolution making it not peace but violence. Here the results of devalueing the other show their meaning for peace, it becomes impossible for peace to be a true action if any one is devalued. Violence and war result, and when the action of violence is done, peace can still not be active until the value is equalized between those in conflict. Hence there is no peace after war without reconciliation and amnesty. There is also no peace if the actions of the conflict are not treated with the same concern regardless by whom they were done. Good intentions don't change the results of the actions, nor can they excuse or validate the actions themselves.