The Catholic Political Season Is Ramping Up

Clerical Whispers is carrying a number of articles concerning Catholic positions in the coming US elections. There are two on abortion. This one by Archbishop Chaput, and this one by Bishop Robert Herman of St Louis, the temporary replacement for Archbishop Burke. Bishop Herman must be padding his resume in order to turn temporary into permanent.

In both cases the bishops attempt to paint Catholics who have turned away from the historical approach to the abortion issue, which has been to vote Republican, as deluded at best, and damning more probably. Here's some of the flavor of this from Bishop Herman's pastoral letter:

Judgment Day is on its way,” the bishop wrote in the St. Louis Review. “We cannot stop it. We don’t know when it will come, but just as surely as the sun rises daily, the Son of Man will come when we least expect.”
“For many, this coming election may very well be judgment day, for this election will measure us,” he continued, referencing Christ’s words of judgment in Matthew 10:32-33:
“Everyone who acknowledges Me before others, I will acknowledge before My heavenly Father. But whoever denies Me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

Bishop Herman seems to have assessed the current swing to Obama as the result of the economic meltdown and advises Catholics that economic issues pale in comparison to abortion:

“The right of our children to be protected from destruction is greater than my right to a thriving economy,” Bishop Herman continued.
“My desire for a good economy cannot justify my voting to remove all current restrictions on abortion. My desire to end the war in Iraq cannot justify my voting to remove all current restrictions on abortion.”

I really hate it when bishops start distorting facts. A vote for Obama does not mean the removal of all current restrictions on abortion. A vote for the McCain/Palin ticket doesn't mean that Roe v Wade will be overturned anymore than a vote for Reagan, Bush I or Bush II did. In light of this fact, Bishop Herman is not engaged in spiritual advice, he is engaged in political speech making for the McCain/Palin ticket, and like them, he is stretching the political truth to make his point.

Archbishop Chaput takes some of the same lines of reasoning as Bishop Herman, while making great pains to point out his statements are just his personal point of view. Although the remarks are taken from a speech he gave serving in his official capacity, they are apparently not coming from his official positions as head of the Archdiocese. He does however, also pull the judgement card:

Chaput also disputed the charge leveled by some, including Prof. Nicholas Cafardi, who claim that the struggle over abortion is legally lost. These people “are not just wrong; they’re betraying the witness of every person who continues the work of defending the unborn child. And I hope they know how to explain that, because someday they’ll be required to,” he said.

There are other parts of Chaput's speech that attempt to defuse the arguments used by Catholics who are fed up with the lack of action on this issue from the Republican party. One of those is Dennis Kmiec and he is the target of special attention from Archbishop Chaput:

“Despite what Prof. Kmiec suggests,” he continued, “the party platform Senator Obama runs on this year is not only aggressively ‘pro-choice;’ it has also removed any suggestion that killing an unborn child might be a regrettable thing. On the question of homicide against the unborn child – and let’s remember that the great Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer explicitly called abortion ‘murder’ – the Democratic platform that emerged from Denver in August 2008 is clearly anti-life.”
Chaput also addressed Kmiec’s assertion that there are “defensible motives” to support Obama. “Speaking for myself,” he said, “I do not know any proportionate reason that could outweigh more than 40 million unborn children killed by abortion and the many millions of women deeply wounded by the loss and regret abortion creates.”

Abortion wasn't the only political topic of the day. Archbishop George Neiderhauer weighed in on California's Proposition 8, encouraging Catholics to vote yes. (Voting yes, is actually voting no to gay marriage. Some people, and I'm one of them, think this voting yes to mean no, was purposeful confusion on the part of the group that wrote the proposition). In the email Neiderhauer says to vote yes on Prop 8 "because public schools would have to promote gay marriage."

Again this is not true, and the use of the word 'promote' makes that lie evident. There is nothing in the California Supreme Court decision which legalized gay marriage, that says one word about education in public schools. This statement is essentially exaggeration in the cause of fear mongering. Not much different from Herman threatening us with hell for voting for Obama, or Chaput's convoluted repudiation of the entirety of Douglas Kmiec's reasoning in voting for the Democratic ticket.

There are times I am embarrassed to the extreme by our Catholic leadership. It's pretty telling Herman and Chaput feel they are in a losing battle when they have to sink to the judgment card to make their point. It's pretty telling about Chaput's political motivation when he goes to great pains to assure us all that his is not being political:

“I’m not here tonight to tell you how to vote. I don’t want to do that, I won’t do that, and I don’t use code language -- so you don’t need to spend any time looking for secret political endorsements.”
Moreover, Chaput emphasized that what he had to say was “as an author and private citizen” and not on behalf of “the Holy See, or the American bishops, or any other bishop, or even officially for the Archdiocese of Denver.”

I don't think Archbishop Chaput was given a podium to speak at the event in which he gave these remarks because he is a 'private' citizen. The group is a Catholic women's group -ENDOW - dedicated to the spread of John Paul's vision of gender complementarity whose president is a major contributor to the McCain/Palin campaign. I recognize ENDOW's right to have whoever they want to speak to them do so, but the article I'm quoting doesn't indicate that Chaput had much to say about gender complementarity.

I told a friend of mine the other day that I wish this election was over, principally because I think the worst is yet to come. I think that's true for Catholics as well. I think certain bishops will do all they can to scare and guilt Catholics into voting for McCain/Palin. I also think these tactics are demeaning and reprehensible, completely at odds with the Gospel message. Christ did not teach through fear and guilt.

In my book when people resort to fear, guilt and distortion, not just their arguments, but their position has no basis in reality. As to abortion, we don't know when human life is life in God's eyes. The Church's official position is an official opinion.

There is no reputable evidence that gay marriage will have a disastrous effect on heterosexual marriage, but plenty of evidence that stable gay partnerships have great positive effect on gay lives. But I guess the proponents of Proposition 8 know this, or they wouldn't have resorted to scaring us with dire mistruths about how gay marriage will impact the educational system by promoting gay marriage to straight kids.

This is not just silly season, it's sad season.

Benedict Talks Stage III Science and Technology

I have a two day conference I will be attending today and tomorrow so will put off the discussion on Homo Transcendance for a couple of days. In the meantime it seems Benedict is on the same wave length regarding Homo Techno, so for today I leave you his words.

Revelation ‘purifies and exalts’ reason, Pope says

Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday declared Pope John Paul II’s encyclical Fides et Ratio to be of “constant relevance” during an address to participants in a conference marking the tenth anniversary of the encyclical’s promulgation.

The encyclical, Pope Benedict said, is characterized by its “great openness to reason” at a time when some speculate about reason’s weakness.“The truth of Revelation is not superimposed on the truth achieved by reason,” Pope Benedict explained. “Rather, it purifies and exalts reason.”

The conference marking the encyclical’s anniversary was organized by the Pontifical Lateran University in collaboration with the Pontifical Academy of Sciences and the World Conference of Catholic University Institutions of Philosophy, the Vatican Information Service reports.

Participants in the congress were received by Pope Benedict in a Thursday morning audience. Speaking at the audience, the Pope described how John Paul II’s encyclical “underlined the importance of uniting faith and reason in a reciprocal relationship” while respecting the autonomy of each.

The encyclical addressed an “emerging need” of modern societies by defending “the force of reason and its capacity to arrive at truth” while presenting the faith as a “specific form of knowledge” which opens us to the truth of Revelation.

“The encyclical says that we must trust in the capacity of human reason and not set overly modest goals,” Pope Benedict explained."Who can deny the contribution the great philosophical systems have made to the development of man's self-knowledge and to the progress of various cultures?” the Pope asked, continuing: “Indeed, these cultures become fruitful when they open to truth, enabling those who participate in them to reach objectives that make social life ever more human."

Pope Benedict said there has been a shift “from a prevalently speculative form of thought to a chiefly empirical one.”“Research has turned to focus above all on the observation of nature in the attempt to discover its secrets. And the desire to understand nature has then been transformed into the desire to reproduce it,” he explained.

“Scientific and technological progress, which 'fides' (faith) is increasingly called to confront, has altered the old concept of 'ratio' (reason); in some way it has marginalized the reason that sought the ultimate truth of things to make way for a reason that satisfies itself with discovering the contingent truths of the laws of nature.”

The Pope affirmed that scientific research “certainly has a positive value” when the applied sciences “are the fruit of reason and an expression of the intelligence with which man manages to penetrate the depths of creation.”

He emphasized that faith does not fear scientific progress and its developments “when their ultimate focus is man, his wellbeing and the progress of all humanity.”However, he noted, “science is not capable of establishing ethical principles.”

Here, theology and philosophy are an “indispensible aid.”“This does not mean limiting scientific research ... but in keeping alive the sense of responsibility which reason and faith must have towards science, to ensure it remains at the service of man,” the Pope said.

“Reason,” he continued, "discovers that beyond its own achievements and conquests there exists a truth that can never be discovered by using its own parameters, but only received as a gratuitous gift. The truth of Revelation is not superimposed on the truth achieved by reason. Rather, it purifies and exalts reason, enabling it to expand beyond its confines to become part of a field of research as unfathomable as the mystery itself."

Pope Benedict concluded his audience by saying that the “passion for truth” impels us to examine ourselves to discover “the profound meaning of our lives in the interior man.”“True philosophy must lead people by the hand and bring them to discover how fundamental knowing the truth of Revelation is for their own dignity.”

Whither Goest Mankind?

Yesterday I wrote about Scott Peck's four stages of spiritual growth and ended by stating that today I would tackle the problem of getting stuck in Stage III and why that could very well spell the end of Homo Sapient.

The problem with Stage III spirituality is that it very frequently results in an almost total left hemispheric approach to life, and does not deal well with paradox or have the ability to be comfortable with both/and thinking. It can be as judgmental as stage II, but in an opposite way by judgmentally rejecting the myth and illogical statements of stage II spirituality.

Although a necessary stage in that it opens up a persons ability to question the status quo and look for better answers, it can get stuck with a particular better answer. In the West, this is demonstrated by a fixation on the scientific method as the best way to determine truth. It's a good way to determine some truths, but not all truths, and taken to it's extreme it has no room what so ever at all for most of the truths of Stage IV spirituality---quantum physics not withstanding.

Stage III spirituality seems to characterize the secular west. The scientific method has resulted in Techno Sapient which to me seems to be a dead end evolutionary stage. The problem with the technological developments of the West is it's not stage III or IV people who control corporations and governments. It's ambitious stage I and stage II people who take leadership positions and advantage of the technology. I don't know how many more examples of how dangerous this is the world can afford. Mindlessly producing technology because we can and then not caring how it's used or what the repercussions of it's use might be, is not enlightened. It's stage I stupidity, and it's killing this planet.

People in stage III are also often leaders of important secular organizations dedicated to important causes because part of the concept of stage III spirituality is the internalization of the ethical and moral identities they have previously learned from stage II. This is a good thing for humanity if not so good for Stage II religious institutions.

What Pope Benedict can't afford to admit is that Stage III is not necessarily a bad thing, that on the contrary, it's a necessary stage from which to find Stage IV spirituality. But Benedict should be attempting to do something else if he's afraid of godless secularism, and that's figure out a way to bring Stage II people to Stage IV people without the need for Stage III. That would be a miracle of the first order. The problem is firmly rooted Stage II people don't like change because Stage II is fear based. One has to overcome the fear before one can talk stage IV spirituality. That's more or less an impossible task for a Church firmly married to atonement theology.

The technological artifacts created by Stage III scientists and theoreticians in many respects mirror the capabilities of what Jesus showed is possible for Homo Transcendent. The difference is in the delivery systems. Technology breeds dependency on others, while Christ taught personal empowerment and self responsibility.

TV is probably a good example of this. Most of us have zero input into programming which limits our personal power in that all we can do is channel surf until we find something that might hold our attention. We are dependent on others for the content of television programming. Turning off the TV does not change the content of programming unless enough of us do it.

Technological artifacts by their nature induce dependence on others, if only for the power to run them. Any form of dependency is by it's nature dis empowering and dis empowerment leads to irresponsibility. I can be quite irresponsibly wasting my time watching someone elses idea of what I might like to watch, while those who really control most of my life are perfectly content to let me waste my time.

This dependence and dis empowering is one of the major reasons I see a Stage III culture as a dead end path for humanity. Failure to break through to Stage IV leaves a person in an impersonal disconnected individualistic state. Group cohesion is lost in favor of personal individuation. The shadow side of this is too frequently manifested in selfish indifference. We in the West can be very good at selfish indifference as we walk around with our plastic water bottles in our Nike athletic shoes on our way to Walmart.

The problem is that our institutional religions are not effectively leading Stage III people into Stage IV experiences any better than they are Stage II. They are dropping the ball because people will not spiritually regress and telling us that Stage III is a regressive state, demanding we conform to Stage II dogma, is not going to work.

In some respects I think Benedict gets this because in his official pronouncements and writings he is taking a stage IV approach to Christology. It not particularly effective because he's doing it from the trappings of a Stage II stage. There is a huge disconnect between the words and the presentation. I suspect this is why he most profoundly effects people in small groups in an informal setting. While he may be well on his way to Stage IV, his church is not, and there for institutionalized Catholicism has less and less relevance for a secularized west.

If Stage III technological culture is an evolutionary dead end, what about Stage IV? Everything any spiritual mentor I've ever had says the same thing, without an experiential understanding of the inner connectedness of all men and all things, and the true Power of Love, one can't move into Homo Transcendent.

Homo Transcendent represents the unleashing of quantum humanity---a human being capable of doing what Christ did and more. It represents a human capable of manifesting from the quantum field, one unrestricted by linear time, totally empowered, totally self responsible, able to tap into the 96% of the knowledge of the universe we don't currently possess, and literally quite capable of leaping tall buildings with a single bound. And best yet, Homo Transcendent can do all this while embodied or just by conscious projection. Home Transcendent represents a truly Brave New World and it's in our grasp if we have the courage and the vision to grab for it.

Tomorrow I'll discuss more about Homo Transcendent.

Rest Areas On The Spiritual Road

I believe I actually zoomed past this very spot on the Texas, New Mexico border. You can't miss the cross and it wasn't the only one of it's kind I zoomed by.

The last three weeks seemed to highlight difficulties I have had dealing with people who maintain different spiritual points of view. Sometimes it seems as if we are speaking an entirely different language, and very often topics I might discuss with some people are strictly off limits for other people.

Leon's funeral brought this point home in context of Native American spirituality. I don't think I had been at Leon's home very long before his Native contemporaries and confidants took some of us aside and told us which subjects could be discussed safely with everyone, and which ones should remain amongst ourselves.

The reason for this was that some of what we discussed fell very much outside the boundaries of Native American Spiritual practice. Essentially, this self censoring was no different than what I would engage in around more fundamentalist Christians or Catholics. There are certain topics you just don't discuss, or certain ways of stating things which fall safely with in a Catholic context but only hint at the totality of one's understanding. This can get frustrating, but I also understand that raising existential fear in people is not conducive to either real conversation or community building.

One of Leon's contemporaries told me that what made Leon such an incredible spiritual teacher is that he constructed his teachings to the audience in front of him, and mostly he was very successful with this approach. Leon understood, for instance, that the creation stories of the Navajo could be approached on multiple levels and so he taught which ever level his audience was at.

Contemporary Western psychology/spirituality has identified a number of stages in the spiritual development of a person. I think it's important to go over these stages, at least somewhat, in order to make some serious points about where Roman Catholicism seems to currently be, and why so many of us seem not to fit. This is important because it is being played out in our politics and it is also currently being played out in other spiritual traditions around the world.

James Fowler of Emory University has identified six stages of spiritual development, but I kind of prefer the thinking of Scott Peck who uses four stages. In Peck's system he calls the first stage "chaotic/antisocial". By this he means people who are basically driven by their own wills and appear to us to be manipulative and antisocial, bouncing from one thing to another, mostly by whatever opportunity presents itself. In this sense it is chaotic, but people with self discipline, many times the self discipline needed to pursuit personal ambition, may rise to prominent positions with in a community.

Non disciplined people in this stage frequently wind up in prison, institutions of other sorts, or on the street. This group will experience conversion to stage two as direct spiritual interventions which they can recount with unbelievable precision. Or as I used to say, Someone throws a major wrench in the wheels of their usual thought processes. At this point they turn to religious institutions for the secure boundaries they need.

Stage two folks Peck calls "formal/institutional". This stage is characterized by a sense of an external supreme being, who organized humanity around a set of dogma and laws, and is essentially up there or out there somewhere keeping track of all of us, granting some of us entrance into the celestial kingdom, while sending most of the rest of us to hell.

In this view people are either "in" or "out" of the Divine loop. This makes perfect sense given that the definition of God is external. For Christians this stage sees Jesus as having come from outside our reality to bring salvation to us through His death and resurrection. Jesus brought us a salvation which we don't deserve and are unworthy to approach unless we follow a spate of stringent rules. Atonement theology is the epitome of the logic of this reasoning.

The third stage is the "Skeptic/Individual" person who has rejected formal institutional religious doctrine and has begun a quest to internalize many of the same ethical concepts taught by formal religions without the myths and illogical propositions. Many of the scientific bent are in this stage, as well as many young people who have been raised in stage two homes but exposed to secular and scientific education. Benedict would call people in this stage victims of godless secular humanism.

Stage four people Peck calls "Mystical/Communal". In this stage people very frequently find out that behind the myths of their stage two religious indoctrination are universal spiritual truths which focus on the inner connectedness of all people and all things, and that the Divine connection is internal and eternal. This stage can involve numinous experiences which don't lend themselves to language but never the less have profound effects on the individual who experiences them. For the stage four Christian, Jesus is not a source of personal salvation, but embodies the Way one lives the truth of inner connectedness and touches the Christ within.

This is short and too the point, but you can read more of Scott Peck's thinking here. I think this gives enough of a picture to see why we have some of the divisions in this country and with in Catholicism.

In my opinion Vatican II was attempting to emphasize stage four Christian spirituality over stage two Christian spirituality. The problem was that VII was truly speaking a different language about a different spiritual experience and Institutional Catholicism had never laid much groundwork for stage four spirituality. Why would it? In order to reach stage four, one has to go through stage three and stage three spirituality is a monster threat to a stage two institution, even though it can lead to highly gifted spiritual people who eventually return to the Church.

In this context it's easy to see why John Paul's retrenchment to a more Vatican I style church has resulted in the mass exodus of people in stage three and stage four spiritual modes. In the secular West it's just about emptied the pews.

Catholicism is not the only major religion which can't bridge the stage three gap between stage two spirituality and stage four spirituality. Islam doesn't do it well, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Indigenous spiritualities, etc, etc. None of them do it well and it maybe that they aren't supposed to do it well. This in spite of the fact all of them have multiple levels of spirituality with in their core teachings. It may be that a real community can't function without all the levels of spiritual development because communities must reflect the balance all organisms strive to achieve, be they biological, social, or spiritual.

As I started out with this post, I experienced this conundrum in abundance on this trip, and not much differently than we seem to be experiencing it in our political and economic lives. The question we need to think about is what kind of future do we want as a sentient species. I personally think it's time to yank the balance forward to a position in which we aren't dealing with stages one through four, but perhaps stages two through five. The fifth being homo transcendent. I think homo transcendent is what Jesus was laying the groundwork for in most of His teaching and where the inner dimensional angelic realm has always been pointing humanity.

Tomorrow I will write about stage three in more detail and why that may truly represent our collective dead end, rather than a necessary stage in which we must pass through. In this respect I agree with Benedict about technological secular humanism.

The Long And Winding Road

First off I want to thank Carl for all his work of the last three weeks. I really appreciate the fact he was willing to keep Enlightened Catholicism up and running while I was off and running. The nice thing for me was that his expertise and understanding of prayer filled a huge hole in my own inability to articulate a lot of how my talent seems to work. I found myself reading his posts and thinking "yea, that's it exactly. That's the nuts and bolts of how all this prayer thing works." So thanks again Carl. You've given words for what I couldn't articulate because I couldn't break it down. I sincerely hope you enjoyed writing for this as much as I enjoyed reading your efforts.

As to the last leg of the trip, it was loooong. We woke up in Rapid City to snow which only got worse the further west we went. By the time we hit Gillette, Wyoming I 90 was closed. At this point we got out the road atlas and opted to take an alternate route to Sheridan. Us and six other cars all started out having no clue what to expect, but also having no desire to wait an unspecified time in Gillette. What we found was 107 miles of decent pavement and no semi trucks. Thank God.

We made excellent time into Sheridan and from there on home---all but the last twenty miles which were a major test of my patience. I kept remembering this commercial from years ago which said most fatal traffic accidents happen in the last twenty five miles from home and I managed to stay safely behind the old motor home doing 45 miles an hour. Since visibility was nil, passing (no matter how badly I wanted to) would have been playing Russian Roulette. I arrived home seven minutes later than I originally estimated.

Then it was time to reacquaint with my two cats and pass out souvenirs. The crystals and the Wall Drug baseball cap were a big hit. I was the big hit for the cats. For the next two hours they followed me around like dogs, then when they were sure I was for real, they ignored me.

I had to stop at Wall drug. After 400 some miles of advertising I was thoroughly conditioned to stop. It was kind of worth it. Until you get past Wall Drug, Mt Rushmore, and Sturgis, South Dakota is wall to wall billboards. It's amazing how all the billboards stop after Wall drug. I don't know what that says, but the difference is like night and day. Unfortunately for us, visibility was so poor there was no point in stopping at Mt Rushmore or Devil's Tower, so Wall Drug it was.

One of the other observations I had as I crossed through all the red states is that there is very little political advertising on either side. All the money must be going into television commercials. This lack of advertising wasn't just on the national level, but also on the local level. I rarely saw a road sign for any congressional or senate candidate, much less a state level candidate. This held true for all 14 states I passed through. One would hardly know there was a heated presidential race going on unless one watched television.

I also found out the US is a big country. I put 6800 miles on my truck, making a large triangle with almost equilateral legs from Helena to New Mexico to Indiana and back to Helena. I became a real interstate road warrior and experienced all the weather this country has to offer.

Driving through St Louis in torrential rain was every bit as exciting as driving I 90 on four inches of slushy ice. In either case you were blind passing semis, and at this time of year, that's all there seemed to be on the highways--endless lines of tailgating semis. The economy maybe crashing, but the trucks are sure still rolling---especially Walmart and Fed Ex trucks.

Speaking of the economy, this was a good time to take a long trip. Gas is way down all across the country. From the time I started until I returned gas dropped a good fifty cents a gallon in some parts of the country. It was nice to pull up to many a pump and find the cost under three dollars. I saved a lot of money on gas which I promptly turned into souvenirs much to my daughter's delight.

Tomorrow I'll begin to write about my spiritual experiences, but today it was necessary to get the road out of my head and get caught up on all that I've missed. When I was able to get internet access I didn't spend much time staying up on all things Catholic. The one thing I did manage to catch was the fact that Cardinal Newman's lack of earthly remains thwarted the hijacking of his grave. I thought that was too cosmic for words. Cardinal Newman always was on to the least savory aspects of institutional Catholicism. The man should be made a saint--body or no body.

Until tomorrow.

THE GENESIS REVELATION

[THE EYE OF GOD - aka Helix Nebula ]

In the beginning was God.
All that was, was God.
God was "ALL THAT WAS".
As God experienced Himself as "ALL THAT WAS",
He experienced awareness that He was not complete.
For though He knew "THAT HE WAS",
He did not know "WHAT HE WAS".

To fulfill His desire to experience the fullness of Himself,
God chose to know "WHAT HE WAS", ....
and the universe manifested.

In the boundless infinity of the universe,
in the swirling symmetry of the galaxies,
in the magnificent beauty of the spectral rainbows
and in the majestic sounds of the universal symphony,
God experienced the fullness of "WHAT HE WAS".

As God savored the fullness "THAT HE WAS" and "WHAT HE WAS",
He was pleased. But ....
God still experienced the awareness that He was not complete.
For though He knew "THAT HE WAS" and "WHAT HE WAS",
He did not know "WHO HE WAS".

To fulfill His desire to experience the fullness of Himself,
God chose to know "WHO HE WAS", ...
and man appeared in the universe.

As God experienced the loving and harmonious interactions of His children,
He was filled with awe and wonder.
Now God knew "THAT HE WAS", "WHAT HE WAS" and "WHO HE WAS".
God was pleased, and declared this experience to be "THE GOOD THAT IS GOD".

But God still experienced the awareness the He was not complete.
For though He knew "ALL THAT HE WAS",
He did not know "ALL THAT HE WAS NOT".

To fulfill His desire to experience the fullness of Himself,
God chose to know "ALL THAT HE WAS NOT" ...
and the universe plunged into the chaos of duality.

In the darkness of the duality, God experienced "ALL THAT HE WAS NOT" ...
and He was not pleased.

God now knew "ALL THAT HE WAS" and "ALL THAT HE WAS NOT",
but He still experienced awareness that He was incomplete.
For in the darkness of duality his beloved children did not know Him.

To fulfill His desire to experience the fullness of Himself,
God chose to be known to His children ...
and a LIGHT appeared in the universe.

Radiant and powerful as the midday sun, soft and gentle as an autumn moon,
the LIGHT was the "GOOD THAT IS GOD",
and the "GOOD THAT IS GOD" was the light.

As the light began to spread though the universe,
the darkness retreated into the abyss.
A great joy and excitement filled the hearts of God's precious children.

As the final remnant of the duality retreated into the abyss,
the abyss was sealed, and darkness disappeared from the universe.
God experienced the fullness of "ALL THAT HE IS" ...
"ALL THAT HE IS" experienced the fullness of God,
and the revelation of God was complete.

God declared "AND SO IT IS" ... and so it is.

----------------------------

This was my first channeling, my first experience with true mysticism. It was totally unplanned and unrehearsed, and it was presented ad lib in front of a group. The words you just read flowed in a manner that captivated everyones attention. People walking by the open door into the hallway stopped to listen. One of the people tried to record it. The tape had two minutes of static after the words "in the beginning".

As the words flowed through me, there was a part of me that felt like I was there at the beginning, experiencing the process that was unfolding. It was as if I were observing and describing the events as they unfolded. Over the years, I have come to realize that the process described here describes our spiritual awakening and evolution as well, our journey from doing into being.

---------------------------------

This will probably be my last post. By now, Colleen has made it home safely and will soon be sharing her wisdom and experiences with us. I am looking forward reading those posts.

I have enjoyed the opportunity to serve each of you here in this capacity. It has been a pleasure and I sincerely hope that the snippets I have shared have been of value.

If we remember nothing else, then at least remember the one foundational truth of the Universe ....

Each time we affirm:
--- WHEREVER WE ARE, GOD IS ALWAYS WITHIN US
Each time we affirm:
--- GOD ALREADY KNOWS EVERY NEED,
Each time we affirm:
--- GOD ALREADY KNOWS EVERY DESIRE OF OUR HEART
Each time we affirm:
--- GOD ALWAYS PROVIDES FOR EVERY NEED, EVERY DESIRE
Each time we affirm:
--- GOD ALWAYS PROVIDES THE VERY BEST, NOTHING LESS

--- HE DOES!


Namaste
Carl

TAPPING INTO OUR NEW BEGINNINGS

Things are shifting and sorting, all in readiness for a move forward the second half of October.

The process of re-wiring or re-connecting to a higher vibrating home involved a tuning up within, as well as a tuning up without. The economy here in the US is undergoing a similar process, which will affect the planet as a whole. And as we tune up within, we will affect the planet as a whole as well.

This is a massive transition…but as many of us are far ahead of the masses, we will be nearly untouched, as all our needs will be met with ease.

If you are one who has recently let go of connections to the old, you may now be finding yourself in a space of self-exploration, perhaps considering a geographical move, and wondering what your new role might be. Being still, exploring new options and passions, re-connecting to what it is that you really and truly have always wanted, and allowing things to unfold oh so naturally are your keys.

During these times, we are always taken care of. If we are in a phase where we are re-connecting to our authentic selves, or allowing that process to unfold, the universe is always behind us, supporting our needs until we are complete with our self-exploration. There is a road map for this process in Stepping Into the New Reality (more about it at the end of this energy alert), as this process is a key component of ascension, and will continue on for many who are on various rungs of the ascension ladder.

If your re-connection process is complete or near complete, you may find yourself in states of busy-ness, with too many projects to tend to, perhaps feeling overwhelmed, and with a seeming inability to complete just one. All in varying states of being half-finished and scattered. What is occurring here, is that we have one foot in one reality and another foot in another. And the realities are about setting our foundations, beginning those new projects, and tending to our supports until the new has arrived in full.

Because we have created our new connections, this begins then, a new phase or new energy current that wants to be utilized, while at the same time, we may still need to finish up some of the old in order to be ready and prepared for the new.

Another common scenario of moving from one vibrational level to another, is having an experience of seemingly everything breaking and needing to be repaired or fixed. What is occurring here, is that there is now a vibrational mis-match, and things need to be adjusted, or “fixed.” We have to set up new alignments for the new, and this is simply part of the process.

If nothing is happening for you right now, and everything seems still and dead in the water, then know that your new connections are still being lined up. You will connect when all is ready and in alignment. We are all in differing stages of this process, but in the end, our new connections will arrive when they will! And oh so perfectly indeed.

During this time of new connections, we are experiencing a new unity as well. As the veil thins on a regular basis, we ultimately begin to see our neighbors, brothers, and sisters for who they really are. The masks begin to fall and we are once again united with more of our memory intact. If you are one who has seen beyond the masks for a long while, it can be wonderful to have others now join you in recognition of each another!

This new unity is occurring because the time is right. All is in divine and perfect order. We are beginning the stages of supporting each other. And as we choose to let go of what is rapidly falling now, we will then find ourselves in groups of like-minded people, all willing and able to connect in beautiful ways.

As I have mentioned so many times in the past, we are embodying so much more light now within ourselves, that we are the ones we need to defer to. We need no longer ask for wisdom or support outside of ourselves. We are at an evolutionary level now, that allows us to dictate our next steps and the next phase. Enough of us are ready. We have morphed to a new level of becoming angels on Earth. A space ship is not going to arrive and save us, the darkness is not going to take over the planet, and any horrible scenario of the end times WILL NOT OCCUR. These illusions come from an old 3D mentality and are not necessary, nor can they exist in the higher vibrations we now find ourselves in.

Continuing to focus upon darkness during this process of transition will only serve to fuel an unwanted scenario of complete illusion, as well as placing one in that reality…a reality that is being created and maintained by those who are buying into it and bringing attention to it.

The reality is this: We are transitioning from the old to the new. We are now existing in a higher vibrating reality. Anything that is not vibrating at this new level, will cease to exist, as there is no energy left to sustain it. Thus, it crashes. In this way, the old cannot be held up or saved. It is not possible. No new blood or attention can bring it back. This is what we have been waiting for, so it is actually a time to rejoice if one chooses to focus their attention in this way. Connecting to the new or a different shore is what will sustain us now. The reason we are experiencing the re-connections is because of the fall. So you see, we are always being taken care of, and know as well, that we are the ones creating and implementing the plan. This is why we are always right where we need to be. We would not create a scenario or plan that would jeopardize those who are here to assist. That would not make sense.

At higher levels, everything is always going in the same direction. There is no polarity…there is no darkness. So-called darkness is only here to spur us on to create something new and different. The darkness is in reality, the light as well, as everything is always light. Here in the US , if we had not had George Bush as president for the past eight years, we would not be where we are now. And where we are now, is in a space where enough individuals are willing and ready for change…for a new and higher way of being and living. George Bush had to shake things up for us. He did a wonderful job, and he did his job well. He was just part of our ascension process, and at his soul level, he knew exactly what he was doing. We are all in this together.

So then, the so-called “darkness” is not trying to take over. It is showing us the way. There is not a war here between dark and light, as everything is in on this together. The best thing to focus on now is the new, and simply leave the so-called “darkness” behind for others who still need a wake-up call. It is not for us to try and bring it down. It has its’ purpose. Our job is to hold the light, to create the new in our own sanctuaries of choice, to allow the old to fall.

We are in an incredible space now, during an incredible time. Letting go of the old, staying centered and still, and tapping into who we really and truly are, will automatically place us in the higher realms. Focus is key as well. Looking in a new and different direction, focusing on a different perspective, or simply thinking about something else when times seem tough, will automatically catapult us into a new reality created simply through thought.

We have an opportunity now to create what we have always wanted. We have an opportunity now to come together in communities of choice. We have an opportunity to offer our own special gifts and talents to others in order to create a whole. These are awesome times indeed…

So get ready, as the latter part of October will rev things up, cement things in, and connect us so much more securely to a very new beginning! Which side will you choose to be on and what will your new beginning be?

by Karen Bishop
http://www.whatsuponplanetearth.com/latest.htm

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The process we are in now reminds me when my son and I used to play legos.

We started with a box full of all different kinds of legos. When the box was dumped, (his favorite part) there was chaos on the floor, with pieces everywhere. Or so it seemed. However, when they were in the box, there was really no way of knowing what was there, or what the potentials were. Out of the box, on the floor, even though they were no longer neatly stored, everything was out in the open and easy to see. Nothing was hidden anymore.

The pieces that didn't fit into whatever we were building went back in the box. Not discarded, but rather returned to the box to be recycled into a future project. From the chaos that remained on the floor, we always created a marvelous structure of some sort, with all of the seemingly unrelated pieces fitting together neatly into the whole.

It truly is a marvelous time, an exciting time. There is work to do, changes to be made, old ways of being to release, new ways of being to embrace. Within all of it though, there is one constant and unchanging certainty, and that is the Holy Spirit within us. As we solidify our intention to align with all that is light, all that is the "Goodness that God Is" everything else will be provided. Each time we reaffirm "GOD ALWAYS PROVIDES FOR EVERY NEED", He does.

Tomorrow:
"The Genesis Revelation"

Namaste
Carl

On The Road From Rapid City, Dakota

Decided to stop for the night in Rapid City, and check on the forecast for tomorrow's last leg. I was ever so thrilled to see that the Weather Channel indicated heavy snow for the entire leg between Rapid City through Butte on I-90. I also noticed that New Mexico is under tornado and flood watches. It's kind of weird to see really bad weather in the two places from which I began and will end this trip.

On the good side, gas has been way cheaper than I planned on. I've actually had a half a dozen tanks cost me less than three dollars per gallon. That makes a big difference on a trip of this length. The other thing I've noticed is that in general the motels don't have enough business to keep themselves open. Last night the motel we stayed in had 50 some rooms and four total cars in their parking lot. It seems travel at this time of year is way way down. I have visited national and state parks where we have been the only people there. It's kind of weird, but it does give one the freedom to see things at their leisure.

Today we stopped in Pipe Stone, Minnesota. This is the quarry in which the red stone used for ceremonial peace pipes in most North American tribes is quarried. Although it's a national park, only blood native Americans can quarry the stone. There is a long waiting list. I have some great pictures of the place, but down loading photos from my camera is an issue. Apparently this Google program has trouble with photos that have large mega pixel values. The camera I'm using on this trip takes 12.3 mega pixel photos which is great for maintaining magnified close ups, but not for this blogsite. I got so excited about Pipe Stone, I forgot to dumb down the photos. Oh well.

The interesting thing about Pipestone is that many, many plains tribes considered this a sacred site, and pipe bowls made from this stone were considered very sacred. In order to quarry stone, natives would undertake three day purification rituals before entering the area, and weapons and attitudes were forbidden. There is a very serene quality to the place to this day. It really does feel sacred.

I was given a Pipe Stone pipe some time ago, but have never used it. I fully understand what smoking a peace pipe means, and have resisted accepting the responsibility of being a pipe carrier. Being a pipe carrier is similar to being a priest. One is a servant to the needs of others for prayer and ceremony, and right now my life is a little too chaotic to actually activate the pipe I keep. Being a pipe keeper is different. This essentially means I just keep the pipe until I am given a message to pass it on to a pipe carrier. I seriously doubt I'll be given a message to pass this pipe on, but I also haven't been given a clear message to have it blessed and activate it.

I think this trip is preparation for activation. It's funny sometimes how you find yourself dragged into commitments you wouldn't normally make. Activating a pipe can be a big commitment.

On a less personal level, it seems that Pipe Stone pipe stone has a similar kind of otherside connection capability that crystals do for the south western tribes. Holy persons of south western tribes can activate a crystal and see what amount to videos in the crystals. Pipe stone seems to have an auditory rather than visual connection for the Plains tribes. In both cases these specific earth articles have very specific spiritual properties and psychic enhancement attributes. In that sense they are spiritual tools.

In Catholicism our tools would be consecrated bread and wine and blessed relics and other objects, but our tools don't have the same connections as crystals or a very specific stone for sacred pipes. Tonight I am just too tired to go into the thinking I did while passing the hours it takes to drive the entirety of South Dakota and most of Minnesota. I'll tackle this when I get home.

In the meantime, getting home tomorrow may take more effort than I originally thought, and if I have to get into four wheel drive, a lot more time. So it may be a few more days before I post my thinking. Until then may we all have safe journeys.

ONE PICTURE - A THOUSAND WORDS

On The Road From Des Moines, Iowa

Am finally on my way back home, and depending on the weather, which is supposed to be snowy and cold in Wyoming and Montana, I should be back home late tomorrow or sometime Sunday.

It seems like I've been away for months, not weeks. I think that might have a lot to do with all the people I've met, conversations I've had and things I've seen. My knowledge base is much larger about many things and that in itself has been challenging. I sort of wish I could have concentrated in one or two areas, rather than get thrown head first into so many different topics.

My traveling partner and I made a stop today in Illinois at the Dickson Mounds. This stop had been suggested by a Cherokee elder who had been at Leon's funeral. The Mississippi Indian culture represented by these mounds is eerily similar to the culture of the Mayans, and the Anastasi of the South West United States, right down to the fact they too abandoned large settlements of thousands of people around 1000 AD. It seems as if three disparate American cultures all got the same message around the same time, leave your large settlements and disperse to other areas.

In this journey we have been to the ruins of Chaco canyon in New Mexico, Cahokia outside of St. Louis, and finally Dickson Mounds south of Peoria. In all three cases the native populations erected large cities based in corn agriculture with large temple areas, and all three left these well developed settlements about the same time. The Mayans were also doing the same things at the same time. What went on? Was this an example of collective conciousness, or was something else going on? Were these cultures, with so many similarities, influenced by the same inner dimensional entities?

If one listens to the keepers of their spiritual wisdom and creation stories, one could reach that conclusion. Then the question becomes, just who were the Holy Ones the shamans of these cultures were in contact with, and what were their cryptic messages really about.

This seems to be part of Leon's life mission, and why he wound up in contact with so many indigenous cultures on four different continents. Even the Dalai Lhama spent three weeks with Leon comparing the differences and similarities between Tibetan and Navajo spiritual practices and they found many similarities. Leon also went to Siberia and found he was able to understand their native indigenous language because it was eerily similar to Navajo.

As I listened to the elders and their stories, I couldn't help but reflect on the influence of angels on the religions of the Book, and also the stories about angelic like beings which are all over the cultures existing previously to the Hebrews, like the Sumerians and Babylonians.

All of this leaves me with a lot of questions, but the really fascinating thing to me is that all of us spoke about the same spiritual goals. Those goals go directly to what Carl posted earlier this week. The underlying message is not what does the body/ego want to have, but what does the soul want to be. What does humanity want to BE?

These aren't easy questions to understand or answer. First we have to know who we are, and what we're really capable of as concsious sentient beings. None of our spiritualities have those answers individually, but collectively we might discover more about our capabilities and truths than we ever dared imagine. That seems to be part of Leon's dream. Apparently it will become part of my dream as well---to find out who we are really, and just who has been influencing our development. I'm beginning to suspect the answers go beyond the usual concepts.