“You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever.” Psalm 30:11-12

My friends, I know I have been rather silent the last couple of days. I assure you I am still active and excited about the Word. My schedule has been hectic this week with work and family responsibilities, and I have found myself exhausted in the evenings. I don’t like to write in that state of mind, as it often does not make any sense .

Still, I am grateful today for God’s word and for a moment of peace. I will be back posting “Thoughts on…” hopefully this evening, as it is now the holiday time. Praise God for all he has provided.

I have many friends and people with whom I have been in contact over the last month, who are in desperate need of prayer. I know you may not know them, but if the Lord puts it on your heart to include them in your time talking with him, I am sure they would appreciate it very much. You can simply reference them as “Donna’s Friends”.

Thank you so much, and I encourage you to seek God’s face every second of the day, read his love letter frequently, and be diligent in prayer always.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

I’m reading Jeremiah 51-52 and Colossians 1 tonight.

Again, I’m veritably buried with a special project at work this week, so I’m not writing my full Thoughts posts until after Thursday, but still keeping up with my reading.

Tomorrow’s passages are Lamentations 1-2 and Colossians 2. Find a moment of peace with God today. Be faithful in your prayer time and in receiving what God has to say to you by reading his love letter to you.

God is so amazingly wonderful.

There isn’t enough time to explain everything that’s happened.

In summation, God has done some pretty incredible things.  When it strikes me how close I am to losing everything we have, including a roof over our heads, food, and the ability to continue looking for a job, sometimes I panic.  I panic a lot.  I started freaking out about it on a more consistent basis, and finally dove into prayer (yeah, I keep losing that part in the shuffle).  I begged the Lord to say yes, to please save us, to please grant us some respite from the constant, hounding fear.  And in my mind’s eye — I do this a lot, by the way — I threw myself into a pacing fury before Him, begging for help, pleading, heart racing and sweating.

And, in that same mind’s eye, I saw Him stop me in mid-motion.  He took me by the shoulders, looked into my eyes, and said, “What if I already have?”

And I collapsed on Him, in a flood of relief and gratitude.  It gushed out of me in a geyser of sudden understanding and realization.  Whether it’s true or not, I learned something.  Even if it’s only the machinations of my over-active imagination grinding against my fear and worry, I learned something.

When I pray, when I ask the Lord to do something, to grant something, to heal something, to speak to me, whenever I ask Him to do anything, He already knows what it is, how it will turn out, and what if any action He’s going to take in it.  He knows the end from the beginning, and he accomplishes the plans He lays and what pleases Him (Is. 46:10).

I’m begging for His aid and succor (my terms for the week), and did so as if He hadn’t decided yet what to do.  In my heart I think I saw my prayers as petitions to a God Who hadn’t yet acted, hadn’t decided how to intervene, or whether to intervene, and I’m pleading my case to Him as a … I don’t know … convincing plea? inciting petition? motivational begging?  Who knows?  All I know is, I took it upon myself and my heart trying to get Him to do something.

It never once occurred to me that He may have already done it.  It may be He’s already resolved the situation, already set up the things necessary to get the request fulfilled.  He might’ve done it before I ever asked.  The point is, I don’t see with His eyes, His perspective, and I was again reminded how small and insignificant my tiny worldview is compared to His magnificence.  His magnitude, His ability to stand outside time … I felt I understood for the first time how He looks ahead of us and sets things along the timeline.  All we have to do is run into them and be prepared to do what He wants us to do.

I don’t know what that is for me, but I can tell you this: For days — days — after that experience, I was at calm, at peace.  I felt not so much God had told me it was all going to be okay, but to calm down because I can’t see down the road.  He can.

That’s one thing.

Then there came the strange phone call.

About a month ago, or whatever, I was referred to a contract agency who works with writers.  Technical writers, mostly, but they connect authors with clients and get things written.  Not fiction, but the pay can be really good.  And when I spoke to the rep about the possibilities and what I can and cannot do, I hung up the phone feeling pretty much like it was a “don’t call us, we’ll call you” situation.  Which it is; I just didn’t expect to get a call.

Then I did.

The man pitched a book to me.  He wants me to complete a table of contents for that book by Monday.  I panicked.  I prayed.  Nothing.  I asked my loving wife to pray with me, and she did.  The problem is, I’ve never seen the software for which this book must be written, and know nothing to speak of about it.  I can’t put together a TOC for a software package I’ve never seen or used and can’t get.  We prayed for a few minutes.  And when we finished, she looked at me and said, “Moses stuttered.”

I had no idea what that meant.  She felt it meant go forward.  I continued in agony.  Then I found out Microsoft has some information about the software on the Internet.  Not a lot, but some.  And there’s a place where you can (and I did) sign up for the public beta release.  And there are videos.  And then I realized maybe, just maybe, I can write that TOC after all.

So I may end up getting the assignment, the advance, and a publishing credit for both my resume and my query letters, all at the same time.  Nothing’s assured, of course — it seems the TOC is going to be a screening tool — but I have a chance.  And it’s a very weird occurrence.  It made no sense.  It was so out of the blue.

Finally, I’ve been agitated and antsy and edgy for a couple of days now.  I have no idea why.  But I prayed and prayed, and it won’t go away.  I don’t know why, but it just … lingers.  I don’t know what’s wrong.  Interestingly, my wife is also feeling a bit antsy, but in a more positive way.  She’s completely confident — at least to my face — that we’re going to come out of this just fine.  She doesn’t know if God is going to provide us a job or something more, but we’re not going to go through what we’ve been through before.  She describes the sensation as a child anticipating Christmas.

Could my anxiety be something like that?  Could I be misidentifying the antsy feeling as negative when it’s really just anticipation of something great happening?  Could the excitement be what I think is stress?  Is it possible to mistake those two things?

¹⁰Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, ‘^(A)My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure’;
¹¹Calling a ^(B)bird of prey from the ^(C)east,
The man of My purpose from a far country
Truly I have ^(D)spoken; truly I will bring it to pass.
I have planned it, surely I will do it.
Isaiah 46:10-11

I honestly don’t know the answer, and I’m pretty confident He’s not going to tell me.  But there are always new possibilities, and with God nothing is impossible.

SPIRITUAL KNOWLEDGE A MANUAL OF THEORY AND PRACTICE

Spiritual knowledge – A manual of theory and practice may be quoted for non-commercial use in any form (written, visual, electronic or audio) up to and inclusive of 1000 words without the express permission of the author, providing that the quote does not amount to more than 25% of a complete chapter or more than 25% of the total text of the work in which they are quoted. With regard to commercial publication, all rights reserved. No part of this manuscript may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, or by any means, (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the author. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. COPYRIGHT ROBERT LAYNTON 2009

CONTENTS

1.01Foundations

1.02 The Unknowability of the Divine

1.03 Cultural forms of the Divine

1.04 Religion and orthodoxy – the extrinsic path

1.05 The Divine in and across all

1.06 Imagination, metaphor and analogy

1.07 Spirituality – the intrinsic path

1.08 The Prime Source of Knowledge

1.09 Many pathways 1.10 Religion revisited

1.11 What lies beneath

2.01 Preparation

2.02 Spiritual mind-set

2.03 Spiritual place

2.04 How many are on this journey?

2.05 Music 2.06 Clothing

2.07 Commitment

2.08 Exercise 1

2.09 Continual practice

2.10 Exercise 2

3.01 Keeping a spiritual Journal

3.02 Guided Imagery – Its uses

3.03 Guided Imagery – The approach

3.04 Guided Imagery and Free Imagery

3.05 Images are passively received not actively created

3.06 Inner seeing

3.07 About the superconscious and subconscious mind

3.08 Interpretation

3.09 Techniques of interpretation

3.10 Aids to analysis

3.11 Cautions on using guided imagery

4.01 Six guided imagery sessions

4.02 What next?

4.03 The imaginal path – Further reading

4.04 A walk not a talk

5.0 Conclusion and summary

1.01 Foundations

As we begin to approach the whole subject of spirituality, we have to concern ourselves with the ground or foundation of our spiritual ‘building’. If our foundation is for example, that there is no God, then what we build from that: our world view, our perspective, our understanding of the fundamental nature of reality is informed by this foundation and is only as strong as this foundation. If our foundation is that God exists in the form of a heavenly Father who is looking down on us and organising the affairs of this world according to His good pleasure and glory then in the same way, what we build from that only as strong as this foundation. As the Christian parable says, the foolish man builds his house upon sand; and the storms, wind and floods come and the house cannot stand, but is swept away. The wise man builds his house on a solid foundation so that when the ravages of storm and flood come, the house is able to withstand these elemental forces.

1.02 The Unknowability of the Divine

However, there are a number of problems. Most people who subscribe to the view that the Divine exists will also accept that the Divine is ultimately unknowable. The most ardent and sincere disciple usually ends up at a point where they have to acknowledge that they cannot understand the mind and workings of their God and have to surrender as it were, in trust and faith to their God, because their understanding of the workings and nature of the Divine does not seem to adequately explain some particular circumstance or event. I take the view that the Absolute cannot be known or encompassed by the mind. The Absolute Divine is transcendent of concept and form, rendering the Absolute as Unknowable. This means that running through spirituality, at its very foundation, is an Uncertainty Principle: spirituality is uncertain because of the Unknowability of the Divine. It does not necessarily follow that this Unknowability means that the Absolute does not exist. Neither does it follow that the Formlessness of the Divine means that the Absolute does exist. Atheists and others mistake this Unknowability of the Divine for non-existence of the Divine. At the very heart and foundation of any spirituality then, is an uncertainty and unknowability. Unlike the materialist view, we cannot go out and perform repeatable experiments to demonstrate or prove the existence or workings of the Divine. This whole idea of ‘proof’ and evidence is mistaken when it comes to spirituality because we are trying to apply empirical methods to an ultimately spiritual, non-material domain.

1.03 Cultural forms of the Divine

Another problem in approaching a foundation of spirituality is that of culture. Whoever and wherever we are, we are an encultrated people – we have been brought up and surrounded by cultural practices and norms of behaviour, and part of our culture is religion and spirituality. If we live in Western Europe, the culture in the early 21st century is one of secularism – a dependence upon rationality, science, and logic, a belief in evolution and a perception of religion and spirituality as regressive, childish or primitive – something to be tolerated as long as it does not interfere too much with people’s way of life, which tends to be morally fairly liberal and dominated by political correctness. The previous cultural tradition of Christianity together with its influences is being eroded away and is often seen as outmoded and irrelevant. It is in turn being threatened by a militant form of Islam together with a milder form of Islam practiced by many immigrants to the area, which is equally dismissed by the secular majority as an outmoded superstition. Others embrace New Age thinking – which seems to have a mild following, especially in the areas of health and well being yet which may also be seen as eccentric if it intrudes too much on every day life. In other countries around the world of course, the context in which a person lives is quite different: Christianity may still be the dominant norm, or Islam may be the prevalent spirituality and so on. Perhaps we are fortunate individuals who have lived in two or more cultures for some time in our lives, thus broadening our perspectives and horizons. But what I am concerned to indicate is that our personal forms of spirituality are heavily influenced by the cultural context in which we have lived. Religion and spirituality may not be dominant in our culture but even this produces a context that affects and influences our understanding and approach to spirituality. This context produces in us certain assumptions about the Absolute and these assumptions are often unquestioned by us. Indeed, we are often unaware of their presence, because they have been there nearly all our lives. For example, the very mention of the word ‘God’ to a British person, up to the end of the 20th Century would generally produce ideas of ‘Big-man-in-the-sky’ looking down on the world and organising it for His purposes. This kind of unquestioned form and concept of the Divine is present in all of us due to the context of our upbringing – our culture.

1.04 Religion and orthodoxy – the extrinsic path

This leads us specifically to the problem of religion. Religion highlights a major division in spirituality: the external or extrinsic as opposed to the internal or intrinsic. Religion is an extrinsic or external spirituality. It is true that religion may concern itself with the individual and their relationship with the Divine, on the individual being ‘right with God’, but it does so within an external or extrinsic framework of orthodoxy. The history of Christianity is a fine example. In the first century of Christianity there were a number of differing groups who functioned under the name of Christianity. There was a Jewish, Jerusalem group who had lived with Jesus, seeing him as a prophet; there was a Gentile or no-Jewish group influenced by Paul, who had not seen Jesus except through a vision and who saw Jesus as Saviour of the world, and there were other groups, such as Christian Gnostics. Differences of opinion and viewpoint meant that it was felt that some sort of uniform teaching and practice was necessary. Adopting the Jewish idea of having an authoritative, Divinely inspired set of writings; a canon or rule of authorised writings became established by councils of Bishops – what we know today as the Bible. Some writings were excluded and banned. Thus, early Christian leaders developed an orthopraxy and orthodoxy – one right practice and one right belief – and with it, the idea of heresy. Heretics were those who refused to follow the creeds of the new orthodoxy. Bitter arguments developed with heretics being outcast and even murdered because of their refusal to conform. Orthodoxy eventually won the day and groups such as Christian Gnostics became almost extinguished, even though at one point, one of them, Valentinius, almost became Pope. What we are concerned with here is the imposition, under various penalties, of one form of the Divine. I have already indicated that the Absolute transcends form and is Formless, but in orthodox religion, one single ‘right’ form of the Divine is imposed. In orthodox religion, the authority that is appealed to is external: it is the approved set of writings which are considered Divinely inspired and therefore are not to be questioned. Such writings are capable of a number of interpretations, but in orthodoxy, the external authority of orthodox Bishops or Teachers or other authority figures is appealed to. Thus the religious institution determines the correct understanding and interpretation of authoritative writings. Thus in Christianity in the Middle Ages, Scripture was not available to the common layman, but only to priests, and then only in Latin, and not in the common language of the people. The ordinary layperson only had access to Scripture through what the Priest taught. Even in the Middle Ages, heresy was an offence punishable by death. So to have contrary ideas to the prevailing cultural norm of one religious doctrine and practice was potentially very dangerous. Running counter to this extrinsic, external appeal to creeds and writings and teachers is the intrinsic approach. In this approach, such external ‘authorities’ are downgraded, but not dismissed. Here, the emphasis is on a personal encounter with the Divine – personal, individual insights, understandings, revelations even. In Christianity, this might be understood as being taught and led by the Holy Spirit who dwells in every Christian. This is the mystical strand of Christianity: here we find Gnostics and charismatics and so on. This of course leads to a tension: what if the individual insight given by the Spirit of God is different or contradictory to views portrayed in orthodox Scripture, church elders and church teaching? The answer for the orthodox minded person was simple – the individual insight was wrong and to persist in it was to be guilty of heresy with all that this implied. Of course orthodoxy won the day – it gained the power and influence and mystics and Gnostics were increasingly seen and treated as dissenting heretics. Thus, even in the Middle Ages, the Dominican Christian mystic Meister Eckhart had to couch his teaching in orthodox guise lest he be branded as a heretic. Even when reactions by the orthodox establishment were not as strong as this, those who followed the intrinsic path were to be dismissed as ‘enthusiasts’ – a negative term implying excessive emotion and lack of rational thought. Those following the non-orthodox intrinsic path were reduced to hermits – to living a more solitary existence outside of the mainstream religious community. Other ideas which were unacceptable to the orthodox establishment, such as sexual mysticism had to remain underground and disguised. We are more fortunate in Western Europe today: the loosening of the grip of orthodoxy and Christianity, together with other developments means that such individual mystic thought can be expressed without fear of reprisal. The authoritative nature of traditional scriptures is open to considerable question thanks to scholarship in textual analysis and studies as to how and why the canon of Scripture was formed.

1.05 The Divine in and across all

This leaves us with a question: ‘If God exists, where is God? Is God distant and ‘out there’? Or is God in me?’ The view that I propose is that God is both out there and in here, in me. Whether I look outwards at the world and universe (extrinsic) or inwards, in myself (intrinsic) God is there. To put it more technically, God is transcendent: above or across all things, and simultaneously Immanent: in all things. The word used to describe this idea is Panentheism. I have already suggested that the Divine is Formless. But if the Divine is in all things, then this means that the Divine appears in many different forms. The technical word for this is Theomorphism – God in may different forms. From the outset then, I am suggesting a spiritual foundation of Theomorphic Panentheism – of the Divine being in and across all things manifest in many different forms. But how can I say this? What is the foundation of such a statement when we have already said that the Divine is Unknowable? How can I make any discoveries of the Divine?

1.06 Imagination, metaphor and analogy

Though the Divine cannot be encompassed by the mind and the Formless cannot be formulated, what we can use is analogy and metaphor. An analogy or metaphor stands between that which is Unknowable and that which is known. It uses known forms and says in effect that the Unknown is ‘like this form’ or ‘like that form’ but at the same time it also denies that the Unknown IS ‘this’ or ‘that’. We are creatures of form and we live in a universe of form. The distinguishing boundaries of form help us to function in the universe of forms in which we exist. We need form to orientate and function, to communicate and organise. Metaphor uses form but recognises that the Divine cannot be encompassed or limited to any known form or concept. We can explain it like this: metaphor may say that the Divine is like a Father and draw out certain features of fatherhood to help us orientate to the Divine. But this approach does not adopt a position of there being a literally existing ‘Big-Spirit-Father-in-the-sky’. In the metaphorical approach, if we literalise the metaphors, if we turn these metaphorical forms into concrete, literally existing ‘things’ and ‘objects’, then we have fallen into a mistake. The technical term for this mistake is reification. In our example of reification, we formulate the Divine as Father, then imagine a big grey bearded fatherly spirit figure ‘up there’ looking down on us approvingly and disapprovingly, rewarding and punishing and we consider that such a being is literally ‘up there’ in some spirit or non-material form, and is actually ordering our world, literally punishing us when we do something wrong, and we begin to explain the actual problems, discouragements and mishaps that we face in these literal terms. This is the mistake of reification. The metaphor of Divine as Father is just that: a metaphor, a symbol, a more or less useful concept that uses forms that we know to help orientate us to That which is beyond knowledge and Formless. It was Freud who argued that dreams were the ‘royal road’ to the unconscious: a main route for discovering the workings of the unconscious mind. In a similar way, the imagination is a ‘royal road’ to the Divine. The imagination acts as an isthmus or peninsula to the Divine. An isthmus is a thin piece of land, like a finger, attached to the mainland which juts out to the sea. In the same way, the imagination reaches out to the ocean of the Formless Divine and presents to us forms and concepts which serve as metaphorical forms of the Formless Unknowable Divine.

1.07 Spirituality – the intrinsic path

Earlier in this essay we considered orthodox religion. We saw that orthodox religion uses creeds formulated by religious leaders, summarising the one form of belief and practice which should be adhered to. That it uses writings selected by religious leaders and declares them to be Divinely inspired writings and therefore unquestionable, rejecting other writings as secondary or heretical. We saw that it appeals to the religious founders or fathers as men of great repute who should not be contradicted lightly. In this and other ways, religions create an external or extrinsic authority for their one ‘right’ form of the Divine and their one ‘right’ practice – orthodoxy and orthopraxy. To dissent from these is to face censure, rebuke, alienation, punishment, excommunication, even at some points in history, death as a heretic and apostate. Those who followed an intrinsic path, for example, the path of being led by the Holy Spirit, risked such censure, unless their views conformed to the orthodox position. However, it is clear that the path of Divine Knowledge which uses the imagination in the creation of metaphorical forms of the Divine, is such an intrinsic path. Moreover, we have seen that the Divine presents in many diverse forms – Theomorphism – and thus is not constrained to ‘one right form’.

1.08 The Prime source of knowledge

The chief source of knowledge of the Divine is the Divine. This must be so. The Absolute knows the Absolute fully and knows the universe fully and thus is the Absolute Source of knowledge. The Divine Absolute is the Ultimate source of knowledge concerning Spirit. The Divine is in all things, therefore, all things serve as a potential for understanding the Divine. However, ‘things’ or objects are secondary in that they are limited forms. The very forms that make up the universe serve then to both reveal and mask or hide the Divine. Though the Divine is expressed in all things, all ‘things’ necessarily delimit the Formless because of their limited form and thus they veil the True Essence of the Divine. What we can note from this is that wherever we look, there the Divine is. Sometimes we may gaze upon a beautiful scene: grass blowing in the breeze, a sunset, the ocean waves, a mountain and so on and perceive the Divine Immediately. Potentially, anything that we look at may plunge us into an immediate experience of the Divine, or place us in a state of Unity with the One.

1.09 Many pathways

Contrary to the orthodox viewpoint, we are arguing that there is not just one ‘right’ form of the Divine, nor one ‘right’ practice in approaching the Divine, nor one ‘right’ path to the Divine. When we look across world religions and spiritual practices, we find a number of different approaches or pathways: paths of servant-hood and submission, paths of devotion and worship, paths of meditation and contemplation, paths of retreat and asceticism and so on. It is important for us to note that there are these different paths to Divine Knowledge and that different paths suit different people. Indeed, taking this to its proper depth, each person’s path to the Divine is unique and no one else comes along it, because each person is unique: with their own unique context, development and personality. It is probably fair to say however that these unique paths can be grouped into various styles or aspects of emphasis such as those that I have just outlined. What this means for us now is that the path I am going to outline in this essay is not suitable for all. Some people will have no success along this pathway at all. The pathway will be too hard for them and will not suit their constitution. This is not a criticism of them in any way at all. Some of the paths outlined above do not suit me; I have had no success with them and indeed, in some cases they may even hinder my journey. In approaching a pathway to Divine knowledge, we have to consider our own unique personality and follow the path most amenable to us. In so doing, we are not rejecting other paths per se, rather we recognise their validity but also recognise that they do not suit us personally.

1.10 Religion revisited

Thus, though I have been critical of orthodox religion I want to make it clear that I am not rejecting religion. To do this would be a big mistake – it would be to throw the baby out with the bathwater as it were. The world’s religions are a rich repository of spiritual tradition, writing, thought and experience. What I have been critical of is orthodoxy and orthopraxy – the imposition of a particular set of ideas and practices as though they alone are right and all others are heretical. Placing one’s spirituality in the context of a religion and religious group may be very helpful in providing fellowship, companionship, guidance and gaining access to resources. What must be rejected is that in some way any particular religion has the monopoly on truth and practice, and that all other approaches are heretical. I am also arguing that religion is secondary to spirituality. Spirituality is concerned with the individual’s relationship with and experience and knowledge of the Divine, which is intrinsic. Religion is an extrinsic, external set of structures, institutions and communally shared ideas about the Divine. Religion provides a more – or less – useful community framework for individual spirituality. Such religious forms tend to be firmly established and inflexible, resistant to change and thus may not easily accommodate the fluidity of form in spirituality that I am presenting here. Nevertheless, the views presented here are drawn from Christian, Hindu, Islamic, Buddhist and other religious traditions and thinkers as well as contemporary Transpersonal psychology academics.

1.11 What lies beneath

I am suggesting that one of a number of paths by which we can understand and gain knowledge of the Divine is through the use of the imagination. It has been suggested that the imagination is a peninsula between the material and the spiritual and that this is one way in which the Divine may present information to us. But this is not a matter of just sitting down and trying to imagine what the Divine is like. It is not a matter of using our imaginations to carry us in flights of fancy about the Absolute. Rather this involves a certain kind of passivity or surrender, thus allowing the Divine to present information to our imagination. I have already indicated that one of the barriers to perceiving the Divine is form itself. Our minds are full of form and concepts and in effect, this active thinking process, this analysis and evaluation and assessment that goes on in our minds concerning forms and concepts is actually a hindrance to knowing the Divine. All these formulations and all our learning and rationality and processes of evaluation serve to reinforce our established understanding and assumptions about the Divine. They have to be let go of in order to allow the subtle voice of the Divine to speak to us. In material, or gross expression, the voice of the Divine is dynamic and powerful. There are stars being born and dying and so on. In the view of the Divine being presented here, such dynamism in the universe is an expression or manifestation of the Divine. But what we are concerned to get at in spiritual knowledge is what lies beneath the material – the Spirit. In the same way, we are concerned to approach what lies beneath our mind, our usual mode of metal activity and thought. Many religious disciplines talk about submission and surrender, and this approach is no different. What we have to surrender is our active mind, the mental busyness which is constantly analysing and evaluating the forms that we encounter. Arising from this activity of mind is our sense of self, our ego, our sense of personal identity as a finite body-self and this too needs to be surrendered in order to allow what lies beneath to emerge more clearly. Now clearly I am not talking about permanently surrendering our capacity for and activity in rational, logical, analytical thought. As I am writing this essay, I am using those processes of mind: I am evaluating what I am writing, setting it down and presenting it as best as I can in what I hope is a logical, rational way. But all this stifles and hinders my more intuitive mode of being, it overlays and masks what lies beneath and so such rational activity needs to be suspended for a moment. So what we are looking for in this approach to the Divine is a temporary surrender of our usual mode of thought to allow this other, deeper, more intuitive mode of being a little space so that we can hear its voice as it were. We are seeking a laying aside for a moment of our activity with forms and ideas, to allow a more spontaneous, intuitive and creative mode to well up from within. Remember, I have already argued that the Divine is in all things, and that includes us.

2.01 Preparation

Now this approach takes time and practice. We are so used to quick and near-instant results that we can get impatient, but this approach involves training and learning and that takes time. The first thing that we have to learn is relaxation. This is part of the surrender process: in relaxing, we are surrendering our surface and superficial busyness, our activity, our distractions and so on to enter into a more receptive mode of being in order to be able to listen more effectively to the deeper, inner part of ourselves. This means letting go of our daily, busy routine for a moment and taking time out to relax and be quiet. This initial exercise is going to take a week or so at least. (You didn’t think that this was going to be THAT easy did you?). But then if this is important to you, what is half an hour a day for a few weeks?

2.02 Spiritual mind set

You are about to enter on a spiritual quest, so besides the exercise that follows, it is also a good idea to get into a general mind-set or attitude. Presumably the question of whether the Divine exists is important to you and if the Divine exists, then a deeper discovery of the Divine, and what the Divine may mean to you or have to say to you is also important. It is good to start to allow these questions and thoughts to as it were roll over in your mind in the background in order to develop sensitivity to the whole theme of spirituality. It is good to allow yourself to become aware of any concerns, any questions or issues that may be arising concerning the Divine and spirituality in general. If you are already involved in a religious group, whether you are happy in that group or unsettled, then it is useful to be able to lay aside these beliefs and practices for a moment to try and enter a place where it is as if you have never heard of these things. This is not abandoning your faith or beliefs – you can take them up again at any time you wish to – it is laying aside the assumptions, forms and busyness of these ideas so that they do not prejudice your discoveries or hinder them. If the pathway that I am going to describe is successful for you, then it will serve to either confirm your existing views or refine them to a purer, deeper approach. As far as possible then, you want to begin walking along this pathway sensitised to the Divine and spirituality, yet with an openness to discovery, laying aside your current ideas for a moment and being like a blank piece of paper on which the Divine can write to you. You may be able to picture yourself bundling those religious and spiritual ideas into a case or bag and laying it down for a moment while you explore. At any time, you can pick up your bag of religious and spiritual ideas again should you wish or need to.

2.03 Spiritual place

As I have said, you are beginning a spiritual quest, so as well as laying aside your present ideas of spirituality and allowing yourself to become sensitive to spiritual concerns and desires, you may also want to think about the location in which you are going to perform the exercises that follow. This needs to be a place that is quiet, warm and conducive to relaxation – a place where you will not be disturbed or intruded upon. Because this is a spiritual quest, there may be something special in this location that you may want to have with you – for example you may want to light a candle or have some object that resonates with spirituality for you, or you may want to create a little shrine or perform a small ritual or ceremony, or it may be that you prefer nothing in the room of this kind. This is entirely up to you but your environment for these exercises is worth becoming aware of because it is going to become your spiritual place, or retreat. The important thing here is not to get burdened with any of these objects or rituals. They are useful only in as far as they settle your mind on spiritual things. They must not become burdensome or distracting in themselves. You need space in this room to lie down and you will need cushions to support your head and perhaps your back. You need to be comfortable, but not so comfortable that you fall asleep, so we tend not to use a bed or sofa.

2.04 How many are on this journey?

The first thing that you have to decide is whether this is a solo journey or whether you are going to perform these exercises with a partner or group. The more people that are involved, the more you will be distracted by practical meeting arrangements and by compromises of the pace of exploration. On the other hand, going solo can be a lonely journey and you may at times feel without fellowship or support even though you will explore at your own pace and be more reliant upon the Divine. The following exercises involve scripts. If there are two or more of you, then you can take turns in reading out these scripts while the others follow the exercise. Otherwise, if you are a solo explorer, you will have to find some way to record these scripts and play them back for yourself. The old cassette tape recorders were great for this kind of activity. Scripts have to be read out with a soft, quiet, lilting quality – with the voice rising up and down gently, rather like a hypnotic induction. In many ways that is what we are going to be doing – getting ourselves relaxed but not asleep, so that we are receptive at a deep level to the ideas in the scripts.

2.05 Music

You may also find it useful to have music playing. Given the nature of these exercises, then obviously, loud rock music with a heavy beat is not really suitable. Whilst it is true that powerful music can, in its own way lead our minds into a certain mode or state, for these exercises, a soft, gentle music is required. Neither do vocal tracks lend themselves to these exercises, as the words of the songs will distract from the texts of the scripts that we will be using. The music you use, if you use it, is totally up to your personal taste. I recorded a very relaxing set of tracks from my collection of Latin jazz, for example. The right kind of jazz is very conducive to these exercises because we are going to be encouraging a kind of ‘stream of consciousness’ mode and mellow jazz music has that flavour of flowing along without too strong a melody, which again can be distracting. Another source for music is the various New Age music C.D’s that are published these days. In the same way as mellow jazz, New Age music tends to be an ambient music, a flowing of tones and rhythms in the background where the melody is not too strong and the sounds are not distracting but have that lilting, flowing quality that is conducive to relaxation. It is good if you can listen to the scripts and music using headphones or earphones, so that other distracting noises are minimized.

2.06 Clothing

You need to wear loose clothes for these exercises, which means at least undoing the top button of a shirt or blouse and loosening a tie if you wear one, and also undoing or loosening any belt that you wear. Wearing a loose fitting tracksuit or dressing gown would be ideal. The important thing is that you do not feel restricted or distracted by the clothes that you are wearing.

2.07 Commitment

This pathway involves committing yourself to the following exercises for half an hour a day, as a priority. If you can’t do that then you just don’t mean business. Preparation for these exercises involves learning to relax, both physically and mentally. This is because the Divine is subtle: the Divine speaks in the quietness and the voice is drowned out by the busyness and activity of our modern daily lives. What follows then as the first stage of gaining Divine knowledge, is a relaxation exercise to be practiced every day. We have to learn to relax and quieten our selves and practicing this exercise every day helps us to learn a relaxation response…the more we practice, the easier and quicker it gets. At this stage you can use any relaxation tape or CD. If you want to use the following script, it is best recorded using a slow, musical, soothing voice, that rises and falls in tone. Or you can get a serious and sympathetic friend to do this exercise with you, taking turns to read out the script below.

2.08 Exercise 1

Get into your comfortable clothes, if necessary, get your audio player ready and to hand and perform any ritual that you have chosen, such as lighting a candle. When you are ready, lie down comfortably, close your eyes and place your arms at your sides with your fingers open. You need to give your full attention now to the following script and listen only to this. If stray thoughts come to your mind, say to yourself, STOP. Push them away and concentrate on what we are doing. RELAXATION SCRIPT First tighten the muscles in the lower part of your body. Turn your feet inward, pigeon toed. Curl your toes slightly, bend your feet downward away from you – now upward toward you – this tightens the muscles along your shins and in your calves. – at the same time tighten up your thighs, tighten up the muscles of your buttocks – tight enough to feel the tension – Tense, tense, tense – (five second pause) Now relax, just feel the tension flow out – concentrate on relaxing the muscles of your toes – relax the muscles of your legs – Relax the muscles of your thighs – Relax the buttocks. Now concentrate on each part of your body as I name it – Toes relaxed – legs relaxed – thighs relaxed – buttocks relaxed – All the tension out – (ten second pause) Now tighten up the muscles of your abdomen. Make the muscles of your abdomen as taut as if a child was going to shove a football in your stomach – Get them good and tight – Study the tension – Feel where the tension is – Hold it for ten seconds – Hold it – tense, tense, tense, – and now relax, relax the muscles of your abdomen – Let them go – try to relax the muscles deep inside your abdomen – the muscles of your stomach – Let them go – You are more and more relaxed – (Ten second pause) And now the muscles of your back – Arch your back – arch the small of your back until you feel the tension build- Try to locate the tension – Your back is tense, tense, tense, – And now relax – Relax the muscles of your back – Let them go – Let all the tension out – Your back feels limp and heavy – Let it stay that way – More and more and more relaxed – (ten second pause). And now the muscles of your chest – Take a deep breath and hold it – Just keep holding it – Five seconds- Notice as you hold your breath the tension begins to build up – Note the tension in your chest muscles – Study where it is – Ten seconds-Keep holding your breath – Recognise the feeling of tension – Fifteen seconds- Now slowly, as slowly as you can, let your breath out – Slowly-Now breathe easily and comfortably, as in a deep sleep – (pause) – Keep on relaxing the muscles of your chest – Let them go – Let the tension out – (Ten second pause) Now concentrate on each part as I mention it – Abdomen relaxed – back relaxed – Chest relaxed – All the tension out – (pause) And now the muscles of your fingers arms and shoulders- Make a tight fist with each hand – keep your elbows stiff and straight – elbows stiff and straight as rods – Raise your arms from the shoulders to a forty five degree angle – Now feel the tension – Study the tension – Study the tension in your fingers – in your forearms – in your arms and your shoulders- Hold the tension for ten seconds – Hold it – Hold it – Tense – tense – tense- And now relax – Fingers open – Arms down to sides – Just relax – Relax the muscles of your fingers – let them go – And now the muscles of your shoulders – let them go – (pause) Let your arms feel limp and heavy – Just keep letting go – (ten second pause) And now the muscles of your shoulder blades and your neck – Pull your shoulders back until the shoulder blades are almost touching – at the same time arch your neck until your chin points to the ceiling – Feel the tension – not so tight that it hurts – Study the tension – let it build up – Now relax – relax the muscles between your shoulder blades – Let the tension flow out – Let it go – And relax the muscles of your neck – Let them go – Your neck muscles are not supporting your head – your head is falling limply against the pillow – All the tension out – Feel it flowing out – (ten second pause) And now the muscles of the upper part of your face – Make a grimace with the top of your face – Squeeze your eyes tight shut – wrinkle your nose – Frown – Notice where you feel the tension – Study it – Now relax – let all the tension out – Just concentrate on relaxing the muscles of your forehead – Let them go – Relax your eyelids – As they relax you note that they begin to feel heavy – they make you feel drowsy but you are not going to sleep – you must stay alert – relax your cheeks – Let them go (ten second pause) And now the muscles of your jaws and tongue – Bite hard with your back teeth – feel the tension at your temples, by your ears – Wherever you feel the tension, study it – Push your tongue against the back of your lower front teeth – your jaws are tight – your tongue is tight – Study the tension – Learn the feel of the tension – Hold it – hold it – Now relax. Relax the muscles of your jaws – Let them go – Relax your tongue – Your teeth should be slightly parted – your jaw is hanging slack – more and more relaxed (ten second pause) Now the muscles around the lower part of your face – make a big grin – a grimace – Draw back your lips to show your teeth, upper and lower teeth – draw the corners of your mouth back wide, pull them back and down – feel the tension in your lips and chin – let the tension build up – Hold it – feel it – study it – tense – tense – tense- Now relax – relax the muscles around your mouth and chin – let them go – Get all the tension out – (ten second pause)- try to relax the muscles of your throat – the part where you swallow – Try to let all the tension out of there. Just ask yourself: Is there any tension in my legs, in my thighs in my buttocks? If there is, let it go. Let all the tension out – more and more and more relaxed – (Ten second pause) Then ask yourself: Is there any tension in my stomach, back or chest? If there is, let it go – breathe easily and comfortably like you do in a deep sleep – all the tension out – Ask yourself: is there any tension in my fingers, my arms, or my shoulders? If there is, let it go – Let your arms get limp and heavy. (ten second pause) Ask yourself: Is there any tension between my shoulder blades or in my neck? If there is, let it go – Your head is falling limply back –(pause) And now ask yourself, Is there any tension in my face, my jaws or throat? If there is, just let it go – All the tension out – Just keep letting go (pause). And now, picture in your mind a pleasant scene – perhaps a field on a warm sunny day – get a good clear picture, not just the sight, but the sounds and smells and the feel – if your mind wanders, always bring it back to the pleasant scene. And while you hold that picture in your mind, concentrate on relaxing the muscles in your toes – let them go – Relax the muscles of your thighs – let them go – relax the muscles of your buttocks – let them go – Keep picturing your pleasant scene. If stray thoughts come to your mind, just tell yourself STOP. Put them away – Just concentrate on the muscles of your stomach – let the tension go – relax – Relax the muscles of your back – relax the muscles of your chest – Breathe easily and comfortably – Keep picturing your pleasant scene – Relax the muscles of your fingers – relax your arms – Relax your shoulders – Let the tension out – Relax your neck – Relax your tongue and jaw and mouth – Relax your throat – All the tension out – let yourself feel limp and heavy all over – Now keep picturing the pleasant scene – Calm and relaxed – Calm and relaxed – (ten second pause) – If you feel any tension anywhere, just let it go – (thirty second pause) – Now I am going to count from three to one. At the count of one you will sit up and open your eyes. You will be alert and awake and very refreshed – Three – two – one.

2.09 Continual practice

This exercise has to be practiced daily for at least a week. After a week, you may feel that relaxation is getting easier. You will become more aware of the difference between tension and relaxation in your body, and which parts of your body are prone to tension. You will be able to more quickly scan your body from toes to head and relax – you will have learned the relaxation response. Only when you feel ready to do so can this exercise be shortened and just the second part of the text can be used as written below. Don’t try and speed up the move from exercise 1 to exercise 2, don’t just do a few days and skip to the shorter exercise. You are on a quest to seek Divine Knowledge, so it is worth doing properly and taking time over it.

2.10 Exercise 2

Get into your comfortable clothes, if necessary, get your audio player ready and to hand and perform any ritual that you have chosen, such as lighting a candle. When you are ready, lie down comfortably, close your eyes and place your arms at your sides with your fingers open. You need to give your full attention now to the following script and listen only to this. If stray thoughts come to your mind, say to yourself, STOP. Push them away and concentrate on what we are doing. Just ask yourself: Is there any tension in my legs, in my thighs in my buttocks? If there is, let it go. Let all the tension out – more and more and more relaxed – (Ten second pause) Then ask yourself: Is there any tension in my stomach, back or chest? If there is, let it go – breathe easily and comfortably like you do in a deep sleep – all the tension out – Ask yourself: is there any tension in my fingers, my arms, or my shoulders? If there is, let it go – Let your arms get limp and heavy. (ten second pause) Ask yourself: Is there any tension between my shoulder blades or in my neck? If there is, let it go – Your head is falling limply back –(pause) And now ask yourself, Is there any tension in my face, my jaws or throat? If there is, just let it go – All the tension out – Just keep letting go (pause). And now, picture in your mind a pleasant scene – perhaps a field on a warm sunny day – get a good clear picture, not just the sight, but the sounds and smells and the feel – if your mind wanders, always bring it back to the pleasant scene. And while you hold that picture in your mind, concentrate on relaxing the muscles in your toes – let them go – Relax the muscles of your thighs – let them go – relax the muscles of your buttocks – let them go – Keep picturing your pleasant scene. If stray thoughts come to your mind, just tell yourself STOP. Put them away – Just concentrate on the muscles of your stomach – let the tension go – relax – Relax the muscles of your back – relax the muscles of your chest – Breathe easily and comfortably – Keep picturing your pleasant scene – Relax the muscles of your fingers – relax your arms – Relax your shoulders – Let the tension out – Relax your neck – Relax your tongue and jaw and mouth – Relax your throat – All the tension out – let yourself feel limp and heavy all over – Now keep picturing the pleasant scene – Calm and relaxed – Calm and relaxed – (ten second pause) – If you feel any tension anywhere, just let it go – (thirty second pause) – Now I am going to count from three to one. At the count of one you will sit up and open your eyes. You will be alert and awake and very refreshed – Three – two – one. This exercise also needs to be practiced for a week or two on a daily basis. Only then is it time to start your spiritual encounter. You should do this second exercise for at least a week until you read any further…

3.01 Keeping a spiritual journal

This is a vital component of your spiritual journey, and it can be divided into two parts – 1) a record of your imagery and 2) an interpretation of your imagery. Keeping a spiritual journal also has the secondary effects of keeping the spiritual journey and encounters with the Divine as a background awareness thus maintaining a general spiritual sensitivity and also assists with the processing and interpretation of the imagery. The most important component of the spiritual journal is the faithful, detailed and accurate description of the imagery that you encounter in a particular session. There is no attempt here to analyse, understand or change what you ‘see’, but only the effort to record it faithfully in detail. The description of landscapes and scenes should be full, as should the descriptions of any people or characters that you meet: how they look, their attitude, the sound of their voice, how you feel about them, their clothes e.t.c. If you have engaged in conversations, these should be recorded faithfully too. At one stage in my own practice, I used to have a tape recorder set to record during the imagery session and used to speak out load for all the characters I met so that I could note the details of their attitude, voice and words later in my journal. The second part of the journal involves your understanding or interpretation of what you have seen. From this you may begin to construct a theology – a system of thought or philosophy that draws together the insights that you have received. Sometimes, insights to the meaning of your imagery content may come days, weeks or months later. This is another reason why it is important to keep an accurate record of what you have seen, so that you can refer to it’s nuances again and not allow it to be distorted by subsequent thoughts and ideas as to what it might mean or what you want it to mean. I will look at approaches and methods of processing and interpretation later. The most difficult part of keeping a journal is that it is time-consuming.

3.02 Guided imagery – its uses

A mental image can be defined as a thought with sensory qualities. It is something we mentally see, hear, taste, smell, touch, or feel. The term ‘guided imagery’ refers to a wide variety of techniques, including simple visualization and direct suggestion using imagery, metaphor and active imagination where elements from a deeper level of the mind are invited to appear as images that can communicate with the conscious mind. Mental images are formed long before we learn to understand and use words and lie at the core of who we are. Once considered an ‘alternative’ or ‘complementary’ approach, guided imagery is now finding widespread scientific and public acceptance, and it is being used to teach psychophysiological relaxation, alleviate anxiety and depression, relieve physical and psychological symptoms, overcome health-endangering habits, resolve conflicts, and help patients prepare for surgery and tolerate procedures more comfortably. The usefulness of guided imagery techniques have been shown to be effective in helping individuals learn or modify behaviours such as: · learning to relax · changing or controlling their negative emotions in response to a particular situation, event (loss of a job), or belief · preparing themselves for changes they are likely to have to deal with in the future (children leaving home, parent moving) · eliminating or reducing undesirable behaviours (smoking, obesity) · increasing effective pain management · coping with difficult situations (a difficult boss) · learning new and desirable behaviours (assertiveness) · becoming more motivated (doing homework between therapy sessions) in dealing with their problems · coping with how they behaved in an earlier situation (had a temper tantrum) in order to feel less shame or guilt · experimenting with ways to manage stressful or anxiety-producing situations (giving a presentation in public) by mentally rehearsing the needed behaviour(s) Guided imagery techniques have been applied to— and found to be effective or show promise with—a variety of populations, including individuals with: · phobias (including agoraphobia , social phobia , and specific phobias ) · mild to moderate depression · generalized anxiety disorders · post-traumatic stress disorder · obsessive-compulsive disorder · sexual difficulties · habit disorders · chronic fatigue syndrome · children’s behavioural disorders · stuttering · acute and chronic pain (and other physical disorders) In addition, visualization and imagery techniques have been applied to the fields of business, industry, child rearing, education, behavioural medicine, and sports. What we are doing here is applying this approach of guided imagery to spirituality and the discovery of the Divine.

3.03 Guided imagery – the approach

On this spiritual quest, you will learn an approach in which you imagine yourself or another person performing a particular behaviour. To enhance this visualization, it is important for you to involve all senses in the image. For example, if you are guided to imagine yourself to be walking down a busy street, you are encouraged to imagine hearing sounds from traffic and other people, smell exhaust fumes from buses and aromas from a nearby bakery, and observe body movements and wind in the face. I stress that the most critical aspect of imagining is the feeling of actually experiencing the scene—of being in it rather than just seeing oneself in it. In this approach, both the script reader or facilitator and you construct a relaxing scene together, but it is better if you choose all the images (positive or negative) and the facilitator helps you to visualize the selected images as vividly as possible. Thus, for example, in these exercises, you are asked to relax and to close your eyes, before being guided in a visualization. A common beginning instruction may be: “Imagine you are lying on a warm sandy beach.” The facilitator continues to guide the relaxation from the scripts outlined below by saying such phrases as: “Notice the texture of the sand and the colour of the sky. Focus on the sounds you hear, and the smells…”

3.04 Guided imagery and Free imagery

During visualization however, you have permission to take control if you need to by responding to the image that you see, as opposed to what the script outlines, or by stopping the activity completely. Taking control by responding to the image presented in your imagination as opposed to what is presented in the script is an important step. It changes the exercise from guided imagery to free imagery and this is what we are aiming for. For example, the script may tell us that we meet someone in a field. The script may go on to say that we have a conversation with this person, but in the imagery that we see in our imagination, this person may beckon us to follow them into a house. There is now a conflict between the way the script is leading us and the way the image is leading us, because the script has us staying in the field but the imagery itself wants to lead us into a house. In this case, we follow the imagery, in other words we accept the invitation to go into the house (providing it seems safe to do so or we are protected). Here we achieve a balance that is difficult to attain. We become our own facilitator or script director. We no longer make use of a pre prepared script, but as in life, allow ourselves to respond spontaneously to the imagery that arises in our imagination. This is difficult because on one hand we are surrendering our mind’s rational, logical mode in order to allow these images to appear and be sensitive to them, yet we have to retain some of this rationality to assess our images and make decisions as we go in the exercise. But if we are able to attain this, and allow the images that appear to guide us, rather than the pre-written script, then we will enter into much more relevant and personal territory.

3.05 Images are passively received, not actively created

What is important to note, and what is vital for this process, is that we do not consciously create the images that we see in our imagination. We have learned relaxation and mind surrender in order to allow these images to appear, to present themselves to us. We have adopted a passive mode in order to be sensitive to and to receive these images. The things that we see are not consciously created or rationally thought out: they are received passively. The content is what we are given, not what we purposely create. It is afterwards, as we meditate upon what we have seen that we apply rationality, analysis and logic in order to interpret the meaning of these images.

3.06 Inner seeing

Before you begin the guided imagery exercises that follow, it’s important to remember that everyone does not see pictures when doing this work; inner seeing can seem more like thoughts, symbols, or spontaneously arising feeling-states. All of your senses, not just your inner eyes, are used for inner work. You may get a whole mental flash all at once concerning the meaning of a pattern or issues; a shiver may run up your spine; or your heart may fill with the feeling of sorrow, joy, or forgiveness. Some people might smell aromas or hear voices not existing in this reality. Just let come whatever wants to come, with no judgement or investment in the outcome. This process can profoundly affect your psyche. Many people think they are imaging fairly superficially at first, only to realize later that these images, symbols, and thoughts were inspired, though sometimes subtle. In practicing the imagery exercises that follow, you’ll discover that your inner Self has a way of giving you the kinds of images and insights you will be able to recognize.

3.07 About the superconscious and subconscious mind

Any imagery of ascension will take you or the person doing the exercise into the superconscious realm. And conversely, any symbolism of descent will move you or your client into the subconscious realm. The superconscious is seldom scary and usually produces very beautiful, high experiences. But the subconscious can be dark and sometimes frightening. It is not uncommon to show resistance in viewing whatever is trying to emerge from the dark recesses of the mind. You need to provide yourself with a symbol of protection (a light, a cord to pull on to bring yourself “up”, a suit of armour to wear, a sword, whatever you need). This may help set aside resistance. If not, don’t push it. If the issue is an important one, rest assured another time will come when you are more ready to work on the particular problem. Always end trips into the lower conscious (or subconscious) with a positive experience. If “evil” is confronted, surround it with light or love. Tell it you are going to try and understand it. Allow it to run away or dissipate. Or leave it behind and come “up and out”. Never leave yourself in the midst of a negative experience.

3.08 Interpretation

The imagerythat is presented to the imagination in these exercises tends to be subtle, full of symbol, metaphor, word play and pun. It is similar to the language of dreams, and as such, it requires some time spent on interpretation. It is important therefore first of all to record the images encountered as faithfully and fully as possible in your spiritual journal. This can then be referred to and its contents meditated upon to draw out the meaning. It is also important to note that the meanings you attribute to these inner experiences are yours and only yours. Universal meanings learned from books or other people’s interpretations are often beside the point (and can even get in your way). Therefore you have to learn to trust your own interpretations. And if some outside source aids your own findings, that’s good. If it doesn’t, just ignore it. Take time after every guided or free imagery session to ponder it. Try not to immediately begin another activity but stay with it for awhile especially if something important was brought to light. You might choose a physical object as a concrete symbol of the insight you gained. (Ancient Egyptians called these objects amulets; Native American’s called them fetishes). Imagery work is like dream-work, it disappears rapidly if you don’t concretise it in some way. If you feel that you had no experience at all or that you were just intellectually making it all up, just let all it all be for now. Remember that any kind of ‘making it up’ is still coming from within your own mind, so it does have meaning and purpose for you, no matter how much you want to dismiss it. Anything that occurred is part of your process, even if you feel you didn’t do it right. There is no such thing as failure in psycho-spiritual work. It is all “grist for the mill.” Don’t try to manipulate the experience in any way; just be with it as it was. If you experienced resistance, your processing would benefit from gaining insight into the nature of your resistance. Whether you realize it or not, you are exactly where you need to be in your process of awakening. Begin to trust your inner experience. Try not to move too quickly into an analysing mode after such an experience, but rather, let your intuitive, more right-brained self remain in charge for awhile. Later, however, you will want to process the imagery more fully, with intellectual insight and integration. Insights might continue to arise while actively involving in your daily life. Try and take time to write or record your insights. 3.09 Techniques of interpretation This approach to interpretation integrates phenomenological, client-centred, emotion-focused, Freudian, Jungian, Gestalt, Adlerian, and Behavioural theories for working with imagery and symbols. A basic principle is that the facilitator is a coach rather than the interpreter of the imagery. In other words, the facilitator helps the person come to his or her own understanding of the imagery, but it is not the central role of the helper to be the one who provides ‘the’ interpretation. The approach has three stages: exploration, insight, and action. A) Exploration In the exploration stage, a few of the central images of the imagery are explored. So after recalling the imagery, you are encouraged to pick 3-5 images. For each of these images, you are asked to describe the image in greater detail (“Paint the picture for me of what’s going on in this image”), re-experience the feelings in the image (“What were you feeling at his point?” “Where were feeling that in your body?”), associate to the image (“What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of x?” “What memories do you have of X?”), and think about waking life triggers (“What has happened that might have stimulated this image for you?”). We can use the acronym DRAW (description, re-experiencing, association, waking life triggers) to remind helpers about the four steps to use with each image. Exploration should take a while (perhaps even 2-3 sessions), helping you to delve deeply into a few images. If there is a facilitator, then their stance is client-centred with no agenda other than helping you explore the images deeply. B) Insight The exploration stage sets the foundation for the insight stage. With all the deep exploration of individual images, we move on to trying to put together all the information into a new understanding of what the imagery as a whole means. Sometimes you may spontaneously figure out the meaning given all the exploration that you have already done. At other times, however, you need more input from facilitators, although this input (e.g., interpretations) should always be done in a very tentative way, always leaving room for the person to make modifications and extensions. In the insight stage, facilitators can help you think about the imagery in at least three ways. First, the imagery can be understood in terms of the experience itself. Thus, rather than interpreting the imagery “as if” it means something else, one can look at the experience in the imagery session itself. Just as one would analyse a literary text, one can analyse the imagery session. What do you learn about yourself based on what you did in the imagery session? At the second level, you can interpret the imagery in terms of your usual daily life—what does the imagery reflect about what is going on in your current life? Finally, you can interpret the imagery in terms of inner dynamics; more specifically, you can look at how each of the parts of the imagery reflects parts of the self, or you can think about how the imagery reflects spiritual/existential concerns; here you are looking to understand yourself in greater depth. C) Action Once you have some greater understanding of the imagery, facilitators can help you think about what you want to do about what you have learned. Again, you may often spontaneously move to the stage by talking about what you want to do differently in your life. Every imagery session has many layers of meaning and every object, person, and situation in imagery may have many meanings. So you need to take your time in trying to understand it. Think of your image session as something to EXPLORE. You have to look at it from different angles, walk around in it for a while, work with it – and then its many meanings will begin to reveal themselves. Try not to give into the pressure to “interpret” imagery. If you put yourself or others on the spot to “tell me what it means” then you are taking the wrong attitude toward working with the imagery. It’s not a game of Jeopardy or a multiple-choice test where there’s a right or wrong answer. Working with imagery is more like playing with it – the kind of play that involves creativity, imagination, and a willingness to experiment. It also requires patience! Here are some approaches to use in the stages of processing outlined above: Free Association To unpack the various meanings of an imagery session, take each object, person, situation, etc. and free associate to them, one at a time. What does it remind you of? What comes to mind when you think of that element of the imagery? Let your imagination go. Let your attention wander. Come up with as many associations as possible. Do this in your head, or talk out loud. If you let yourself go with this, something will come up – a memory, an idea, a feeling. It may not tell you “The Meaning” to the imagery, but it will give you pieces to the puzzle. (You know you are onto something when you experience that AHA! lightbulb-popping experience). Free Writing Write down on paper a stream of consciousness reaction to your imagery. Start anywhere and just keep writing whatever comes to mind. Don’t censor or edit anything out. It’s like free-associating onto a piece of paper. Record everything you are thinking and feeling. If you get stuck, simply write, “I’m stuck, I’m stuck…” over and over again until a new association comes up. Then keep writing. Or write down on a piece of paper each element of the imagery, and then write a stream of consciousness for each one. Compare what your wrote for each element of the imagery. Look for similarities and patterns. Hold onto these writings – and go back to them later on. Days or weeks later you may see something that you missed the first time around. Mental Images Another technique is to RELIVE the imagery session in your imagination. Close your eyes, start at the beginning of the imagery, and relive it as vividly as you can. Then replay the imagery again, only this time let your imagination go. Let your imagination add to and change the imagery in any way it wants. It will lead you to important insights. (Any sensations you experience in your body during imagery, or while working with it, may reveal something about its meaning.) Dialogues Create a conversation between you and the imagery, or between two elements of the imagery. If you imagined about driving a car through a forest, write down on a piece of paper a conversation between you and the car (or the forest). What would you say to the car? What would the car say back to you? Don’t try to over-control the conversation. Let it be as spontaneous as possible. Stay with the dialogue and let it progress. Or create a conversation between the car and the forest. What would they say to each other? Another possibility is to carry out this conversation LIVE. Set up two chairs. Sit in one chair and put the car into the other. Talk to the car. Then switch chairs and talk back to yourself. Keep switching back and forth. Let the conversation progress. Be spontaneous and honest! Sounds crazy, but THIS WORKS! Imagery Enactment If you are in an adventurous mood, get together some friends and re-enact the imagery as if it is a play. Assign roles to people. People can also be objects in the imagery. First replay the imagery as it actually occurred. Then do it again and let people improvise in their roles. Experiment with the play, with you as the “director.” This is a powerful technique. (All of these techniques work best if you are SPONTANEOUS and FREE-WHEELING. Let your imagination go. Don’t try to force or over-control the process. Be honest. Don’t censor ideas.) Day Residue People, things, or events from the previous day that get incorporated into an imagery session were put there for a reason. They touched off ideas, feelings, and memories in the unconscious. Examining your thoughts and feelings about these events from the day will help you understand the imagery and why it is “commenting” on these events. What do these day residue events remind you of? Have these sorts of things happened before? Imagery Intangibles There is a tendency to focus just on objects, events, and people in the imagery. But there is more to the imagery than that. Consider also: – FEELING TONE : what is the primary feeling in the imagery. What does it remind you of in your life? Does the feeling tone change at different points in the imagery session? Why? – COLOURS : how are colours used in the imagery? What feelings and meanings might be associated with them? What do the colours remind you of? – TIME AND SPACE : how are time and space used in the imagery? What feelings do these create? Is the imagery communicating an idea by how it uses time and space? – MISSING AND VAGUE PARTS : what parts of the imagery are vague or unclear? Is something missing that should be there? These might be the points where censorship by the ego is at its strongest. Focus on these parts. There’s something important going on there. Use free association and the other techniques described above to fill in the gaps. If there is a vague part to the imagery, try to catch whatever details you can. For example, if you can’t remember a person in the imagery, can you remember what they were wearing, the colour of their eyes, and the colour of their hair? Who does this remind you of? Connections Among Image sessions Image sessions should be connected to each other in their meanings. Look for similar patterns or themes across your imagery sessions. Are your images progressing or changing somehow over time? This might indicate something about YOU that is changing over time. Pay particular attention to recurring elements of imagery since these are important! They point to a persistent theme or issue in your life. They may indicate some “unfinished business” in your life. How are the recurring imagery elements similar to each other? Different? Are they changing over time? What might this say about how you are changing? Think Unusual Remember that the unconscious thinking that affects imagery is unusual and illogical by conscious standards. Things can mean exactly the opposite of what they seem. Something you FEAR in the imagery may be something you unconsciously wish for. Things may contradict each other, which suggests a conflict in which you have contradictory feelings about something. Try EXAGGERATING some important aspect of the imagery. In your mind, in writing, or in imagery enactment, amplify the feeling, action, or situation in the imagery. Take it to the limit. Make it as intense as it could be. Where does this take you? Try REVERSING the important elements in the imagery. Turn them into the opposite feelings, behaviours, or characteristics. Does this ring any bells? Does it change the meaning of the imagery? The Problem and Its Solution Imagery may be showing you a problem or issue that needs to be resolved. It may be showing you how you are reacting to the problem. It may even be suggesting a solution. For each imagery theme, ask yourself, “What is the problem? How am I reacting to it? Is the imagery suggesting a solution?” Anxiety and Fear Anxiety in imagery usually indicates a point where important, perhaps threatening, ideas are surfacing from the unconscious. The anxiety is a signal. Pay close attention to these anxiety imagery situations. Fear or anxiety causing you to abandon the session indicates the surfacing of particularly powerful material. In these cases, the mind can only think of one way to deal with the situation – ESCAPE! Where are you? You may be able to find yourself in various places in imagery sessions. The most obvious place is the “image-ego,”. This image-ego is the person who is having the experiences that make up the image. Examine this image-ego carefully. Even though you may experience this ego as yourself, the person in the image session may be behaving and feeling in very different ways than you normally would. Compare yourself to this person in the imagery. How are you the same? Different? Is this person in the imagery some hidden part of you – some part you wish for, need, or fear? Other people in the imagery may represent important people in your life – how they actually are, how you wish them to be, how you fear they might be. Or, other figures in the imagery may represent hidden parts of yourself – the way you wish you could be, the way you used to be, parts you try to deny, your hidden potentials, something that is missing in your personality etc. Some dream/imagery researchers even believe that everything in the imagery – every person, object, and event – represents a hidden part of you. We can also say that you should always look for what the imagery is trying to teach you about your SPIRITUAL self. Impasse At some point in working on imagery you will get stuck. This is an impasse, a barrier. It means you have to take a different perspective on the imagery. You have to reorganize your thinking. Immerse yourself into that stuckness. Stick with it and eventually you will be able to break through to a new level of understanding. If you’re REALLY stuck and frustrated, you may have to set the imagery aside and come back to it later. Let it percolate in the back of your mind. Look at other image sessions. They may help you make that breakthrough. Don’t underestimate how “deep” an image session may be, even if it seems silly or simple. When you think that you are all finished working with an image session, think again. There is probably more there! A Little Help from Your Friends It often helps quite a bit to get someone else’s perspective on your imagery. Tell your imagery to a friend or family member, someone who knows you pretty well. With their help, try using some of the techniques described in these pages. Here are some other tips: GROUP IMAGERY: In the presence of one or several friends (or when working with fellow imagery explorers), close your eyes and describe your imagery in the first person and in the present tense. Tell it, from beginning to end, as if it’s a story. With their eyes also closed, everyone quietly listens to your imagery and tries to imagine it in their mind as you describe it. Afterwards, they describe to you the reactions they had to your imagery session. “IF THIS WERE MY IMAGERY…” – As a general rule, you can only make guesses about what someone else’s imagery means. And it’s quite easy for you to project your own personal meanings into it. Try using your own personal reactions to help your friend. What if your friend’s imagery WAS your imagery! What would you think and feel about it? What would you be thinking and feeling if you were the people inside the imagery? Tell your friend about your personal reactions. It might help your friend understand his or her imagery session. Your imagery, You Remember that your imagery was created in your mind. Other people can help you explore it, but that’s all. Listen to their feedback, take what makes sense, and leave the rest. Ultimately, YOU are the expert on what your imagery means. The Image Collage In a group with fellow explorers, take turns creating an image collage. On a chalkboard or on a large posterboard, jot down words or phrases about your imagery session. Feel free to be creative in how you record these ideas. Pick an interesting spot for each item. Add arrows, boxes, patterns, drawings, doodles, whatever you like. Be as spontaneous as possible. The group can suggest ideas about things to add to the collage. Some items that you can add to the collage might include: the people, places, animals, objects in your imagery the important activities, actions, or events in your imagery the emotions expressed in your imagery quotes from things said in the imagery how you would describe the image ego the names of important people in your life important past or current events in your life Afterwards, you and the group can step back to take a look at the completed collage. Do any interesting patterns emerge? Is there meaning to how the different items are placed next to, above, below each other? What is written large, small, faintly, boldly? Do there seem to be distinct sections, centres, boundaries in the collage?

3.10 Aids to analysis

I have indicated earlier that though we have problems with orthodox religion, we should not therefore dismiss it and throw the baby out with the bathwater. Religious organisations and writers provide a valuable resource in exploring the ideas contained and portrayed by our imagery. One of the most useful resources is a couple of good encyclopaedias on religious or spiritual ideas. As you identify the spiritual themes and ideas that are emerging from your imagery, it is good to look them up in such reference works to find those ideas clearly set out and expressed. Furthermore, you may well find those who are the major advocates of such ideas with references to their major works and thus be able to read up further on these ideas by studying these people and their writings. Plus there will be cross-references so that you can follow up similar or opposing ideas for comparison. If you are taking this journey as a solo explorer, it is particularly beneficial to find authors who have already expressed ideas similar to those you have discovered in your imagery. You will feel as though you are not alone but in good company. Books that simply give meanings to symbols should be avoided when it comes to understanding your own imagery. This exploration may take you into completely new fields. Thus for example, as someone with a Christian context, I, through my imagery and research have been led to explore Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Gnosticism, Mysticism, Kabbalah and more. I have been led to a number of outstanding figures in religious history whose writings have greatly enriched my spiritual perspective.

3.11Cautions on guided imagery practice

It is, thought that sometimes, the use of guided imagery can trigger high levels of anxiety in some people. Therefore, caution should be taken when using these techniques if you have the following conditions: asthma attacks triggered by stress or anxiety seizures triggered by stress or anxiety cardiac condition or related conditions depression with suicidal ideation hysteria pregnancy severe psychiatric disorders In these instances, other strategies should be considered.

4.01 Six Guided imagery sessions

We are now ready to practice guided imagery sessions in spiritual exploration. Just before we do, it is important to note one last thing: Continuity and progression between sessions. The six guided imagery sessions below progress from one to the next. It is important that they are done in the order presented. As and if you move to free imagery, this progression should be maintained. You will finish one session, complete your spiritual journal and when you are ready, come to your next guided imagery session, which should start where the last one ended. Thus, taken together, all your guided imagery sessions will have a theme and a continuing narrative. The overall theme of the following six sessions is The quest to see the Divine. After the sixth script, you are invited to continue the quest using free imagery techniques, so it may be useful to try and incorporate the spontaneity of following the leading of your own imagery throughout these six sessions, so that you become more accomplished at it by session six.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE 1 – THE FIELD OF ILLUSIONS In practical terms, if you have been practicing relaxation exercises for a week or two, then you can start to move to visualization/guided imagery exercises. Following the relaxation of the body and the stilling of the mind which should now be accomplished in about ten minutes, then you can begin to visualize entering the Field of Illusions. This imagery should not be forced: rather you should allow the images to come to your stilled mind. Use the following as a loosely guiding template, but where possible, allow the imagery to take its own direction. You can record this text yourself and then play it back at the end off your relaxation exercise, or you can get a sympathetic friend to read this text out to you as you are relaxed. Just ask yourself: Is there any tension in my legs, in my thighs in my buttocks? If there is, let it go. Let all the tension out – more and more and more relaxed – (Ten second pause) Then ask yourself: Is there any tension in my stomach, back or chest? If there is, let it go – breathe easily and comfortably like you do in a deep sleep – all the tension out – Ask yourself: is there any tension in my fingers, my arms, or my shoulders? If there is, let it go – Let your arms get limp and heavy. (ten second pause) Ask yourself: Is there any tension between my shoulder blades or in my neck? If there is, let it go – Your head is falling limply back –(pause) And now ask yourself, Is there any tension in my face, my jaws or throat? If there is, just let it go – All the tension out – Just keep letting go (pause). And now, picture in your mind a pleasant scene – get a good clear picture, not just the sight, but the sounds and smells and the feel – if your mind wanders, always bring it back to the pleasant scene. And while you hold that picture in your mind, concentrate on relaxing the muscles in your toes – let them go – Relax the muscles of your thighs – let them go – relax the muscles of your buttocks – let them go – Keep picturing your pleasant scene. If stray thoughts come to your mind, just tell yourself STOP. Put them away – Just concentrate on the muscles of your stomach – let the tension go – relax – Relax the muscles of your back – relax the muscles of your chest – Breathe easily and comfortably – Keep picturing your pleasant scene – Relax the muscles of your fingers – relax your arms – Relax your shoulders – Let the tension out – Relax your neck – Relax your tongue and jaw and mouth – Relax your throat – All the tension out – let yourself feel limp and heavy all over – Now keep picturing the pleasant scene – Calm and relaxed – Calm and relaxed – (ten second pause) – If you feel any tension anywhere, just let it go – (thirty second pause) – ……picture yourself walking down a path surrounded by tall hedges……..then………you see a gap in the hedge to the side….there is someone waiting to meet you…..a Guide and Interpreter to Field of Illusions….note how the Guide and Interpreter looks….how they are dressed….how they react to you….how you feel about meeting the Guide and Interpreter….ask their name….allow the Guide to speak…look around the Field and note what you see….or hear….how you feel…if you have questions….ask your Guide and Interpreter….when you are ready, say farewell to your Guide and thank them……return to the room where you are relaxing. KEEPING A SPIRITUAL JOURNAL Now is the time to start keeping a spiritual journal. Record what you have seen and heard in as much detail as you can. Do not interpret what you have seen or analyse, just record what was said and seen. In this way, keep a faithful journal. You can study and analyse what you write in the Journal in a separate book, together with any insights that you gain. Imagery and dialogue may often take the form of puns and dream-like content. The phrase ‘Field of Illusions’ is capable of a number of interpretations for example.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE 2 – THE PATH FROM THE FIELD OF ILLUSIONS In practical terms, if you have been practicing relaxation exercises for a week or two, then you can start to move to visualization/guided imagery exercises. Following the relaxation of the body and the stilling of the mind which should now be accomplished in about ten minutes, then you can begin to visualize entering the Field of Illusions. This imagery should not be forced: rather you should allow the images to come to your stilled mind. Use the following as a loosely guiding template, but where possible, allow the imagery to take its own direction. Just ask yourself: Is there any tension in my legs, in my thighs in my buttocks? If there is, let it go. Let all the tension out – more and more and more relaxed – (Ten second pause) Then ask yourself: Is there any tension in my stomach, back or chest? If there is, let it go – breathe easily and comfortably like you do in a deep sleep – all the tension out – Ask yourself: is there any tension in my fingers, my arms, or my shoulders? If there is, let it go – Let your arms get limp and heavy. (ten second pause) Ask yourself: Is there any tension between my shoulder blades or in my neck? If there is, let it go – Your head is falling limply back –(pause) And now ask yourself, Is there any tension in my face, my jaws or throat? If there is, just let it go – All the tension out – Just keep letting go (pause). And now, picture in your mind a pleasant scene – get a good clear picture, not just the sight, but the sounds and smells and the feel – if your mind wanders, always bring it back to the pleasant scene. And while you hold that picture in your mind, concentrate on relaxing the muscles in your toes – let them go – Relax the muscles of your thighs – let them go – relax the muscles of your buttocks – let them go – Keep picturing your pleasant scene. If stray thoughts come to your mind, just tell yourself STOP. Put them away – Just concentrate on the muscles of your stomach – let the tension go – relax – Relax the muscles of your back – relax the muscles of your chest – Breathe easily and comfortably – Keep picturing your pleasant scene – Relax the muscles of your fingers – relax your arms – Relax your shoulders – Let the tension out – Relax your neck – Relax your tongue and jaw and mouth – Relax your throat – All the tension out – let yourself feel limp and heavy all over – Now keep picturing the pleasant scene – Calm and relaxed – Calm and relaxed – (ten second pause) – If you feel any tension anywhere, just let it go – (thirty second pause) – Return again to the Field of Illusions and your Guide and Interpreter….if there is more to see in the Field or if you have questions to ask, then spend time doing that now……when you are ready…..look back to the gap in the hedge….the entrance to the Field of Illusions…..you notice a Golden Pathway……it leads on to Darkness….it is pitch black apart from the Golden path…..talk to your Guide and Interpreter about this path and the Darkness…..notice how you feel….do you want to walk along it into the darkness?…..look back to the Field……look forward along the Path….note how you feel and what your desires are….when you are ready….say goodbye to your guide…..and return to the room where you are relaxing. Note down your experiences in your spiritual journal. Record what you have seen and heard in as much detail as you can. Do not interpret what you have seen or analyse it, just record what was said and seen and how you felt.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE 3 – THE WICKET GATE You can continue the visualization/guided imagery exercises following the relaxation of the body and the stilling of the mind which should now be accomplished in about ten minutes. You should have completed your visit to the Field of Illusions and spent time considering the Darkness of Ignorance and your reaction to it. This imagery should not be forced: rather you should allow the images to come to your stilled mind. Carry out your relaxation exercise and when you are relaxed, use the following as a loosely guiding template, but where possible, allow the imagery to take its own direction. As before, it is best to find a place where you will not be disturbed for at least half an hour or so, somewhere that is warm and comfortable. If the text below is recorded, it is good if you can listen to the text using headphones or earphones, so that other distracting noises are minimized. You also need to wear loose clothes, which means at least undoing the top button of a shirt or blouse and loosening a tie if you wear one, and also undoing or loosening any belt that you wear. Wearing a loose fitting tracksuit would be ideal. Use a soft cushion or pillow to support your head. It is O.K. to play New Age type music or something similar to help relax you, providing it does not distract you. When you are ready, lie down comfortably, close your eyes and place your arms at your sides with your fingers open. If stray thoughts come to your mind, say to yourself, ‘STOP’. Push them away and concentrate on what we are doing. Just ask yourself: Is there any tension in my legs, in my thighs in my buttocks? If there is, let it go. Let all the tension out – more and more and more relaxed – (Ten second pause) Then ask yourself: Is there any tension in my stomach, back or chest? If there is, let it go – breathe easily and comfortably like you do in a deep sleep – all the tension out – Ask yourself: is there any tension in my fingers, my arms, or my shoulders? If there is, let it go – Let your arms get limp and heavy. (ten second pause) Ask yourself: Is there any tension between my shoulder blades or in my neck? If there is, let it go – Your head is falling limply back –(pause) And now ask yourself, Is there any tension in my face, my jaws or throat? If there is, just let it go – All the tension out – Just keep letting go (pause). And now, picture in your mind a pleasant scene – get a good clear picture, not just the sight, but the sounds and smells and the feel – if your mind wanders, always bring it back to the pleasant scene. And while you hold that picture in your mind, concentrate on relaxing the muscles in your toes – let them go – Relax the muscles of your thighs – let them go – relax the muscles of your buttocks – let them go – Keep picturing your pleasant scene. If stray thoughts come to your mind, just tell yourself STOP. Put them away – Just concentrate on the muscles of your stomach – let the tension go – relax – Relax the muscles of your back – relax the muscles of your chest – Breathe easily and comfortably – Keep picturing your pleasant scene – Relax the muscles of your fingers – relax your arms – Relax your shoulders – Let the tension out – Relax your neck – Relax your tongue and jaw and mouth – Relax your throat – All the tension out – let yourself feel limp and heavy all over – Now keep picturing the pleasant scene – Calm and relaxed – Calm and relaxed – (ten second pause) – If you feel any tension anywhere, just let it go – (thirty second pause) – Return again to the Field of Illusions and your Guide and Interpreter …..stand at the gap in the hedge….the entrance to the Field of Illusions…..you notice a Golden Pathway……it leads on to Darkness….it is pitch black apart from the Golden path…..talk to your Guide and Interpreter about this path and the Darkness…..notice how you feel….now is the time to walk along the path into the darkness…..look back to the Field……look forward along the Path….note how you feel and what your desires are….when you are ready….say goodbye to your guide…..and begin to step forward along the path……notice how you feel……continue walking forward…..look around you….look back to the Field of Illusions and the Guide, now far behind you…..note how you feel, what your desires are…..look ahead and follow the path…..now, ahead you see a faint light…..you carry on walking….now you can see a narrow gate on the path ahead….as you approach the gate you see a friendly companion waiting to meet you……you pass through the narrow gate…..notice whether this is easy or hard….notice what the gate is like….you greet your friendly companion….spend a few moments to talk with the companion and to notice what they are like….listen to anything they have to say or to show you or give to you…..when you are ready, say goodbye to your Companion telling them that you will be back soon….return to the room where you are relaxing. Note down your experiences in your spiritual journal. Sometimes it is useful to have a tape cassette recorder with you as you do the guided imagery exercise so that you can speak out loud, describing the things that you see and the conversations you have so that later you can record what you have seen and heard in as much detail as you can in your Journal. Do not interpret what you have seen or analyse it, just record what was said and seen and how you felt. In this way, keep a faithful journal. You can study and analyse what you write in the Journal in a separate book, together with any insights that you gain as you reflect on your experience. Imagery and dialogue may often take the form of puns and dream-like content with layers of meaning. The phrase ‘Field of Illusions’ is capable of a number of interpretations for example.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE 4 – THE FAITHFUL COMPANION In practical terms, you can continue the visualization/guided imagery exercises following the relaxation of the body and the stilling of the mind which should now be accomplished in about ten minutes. You should have completed your visit to the Field of Illusions and spent time considering the Darkness of Ignorance and your reaction to it and begun your journey along the Luminous Path. You should have walked through the Vale of Ignorance to the narrow gate and met your Faithful Companion. This imagery should not have been forced: rather you should allow the images to come to your stilled mind. Carry out your relaxation exercise and when you are relaxed, use the following as a loosely guiding template, but where possible, allow the imagery to take its own direction. As before, it is best to find a place where you will not be disturbed for at least half an hour or so, somewhere that is warm and comfortable. If the text below is recorded, it is good if you can listen to the text using headphones or earphones, so that other distracting noises are minimized. You also need to wear loose clothes, which means at least undoing the top button of a shirt or blouse and loosening a tie if you wear one, and also undoing or loosening any belt that you wear. Wearing a loose fitting tracksuit would be ideal. Use a soft cushion or pillow to support your head. It is O.K. to play New Age type music or something similar to help relax you, providing it does not distract you. When you are ready, lie down comfortably, close your eyes and place your arms at your sides with your fingers open. If stray thoughts come to your mind, say to yourself, ‘STOP’. Push them away and concentrate on what we are doing. Just ask yourself: Is there any tension in my legs, in my thighs in my buttocks? If there is, let it go. Let all the tension out – more and more and more relaxed – (Ten second pause) Then ask yourself: Is there any tension in my stomach, back or chest? If there is, let it go – breathe easily and comfortably like you do in a deep sleep – all the tension out – Ask yourself: is there any tension in my fingers, my arms, or my shoulders? If there is, let it go – Let your arms get limp and heavy. (ten second pause) Ask yourself: Is there any tension between my shoulder blades or in my neck? If there is, let it go – Your head is falling limply back –(pause) And now ask yourself, Is there any tension in my face, my jaws or throat? If there is, just let it go – All the tension out – Just keep letting go (pause). And now, picture in your mind a pleasant scene – get a good clear picture, not just the sight, but the sounds and smells and the feel – if your mind wanders, always bring it back to the pleasant scene. And while you hold that picture in your mind, concentrate on relaxing the muscles in your toes – let them go – Relax the muscles of your thighs – let them go – relax the muscles of your buttocks – let them go – Keep picturing your pleasant scene. If stray thoughts come to your mind, just tell yourself STOP. Put them away – Just concentrate on the muscles of your stomach – let the tension go – relax – Relax the muscles of your back – relax the muscles of your chest – Breathe easily and comfortably – Keep picturing your pleasant scene – Relax the muscles of your fingers – relax your arms – Relax your shoulders – Let the tension out – Relax your neck – Relax your tongue and jaw and mouth – Relax your throat – All the tension out – let yourself feel limp and heavy all over – Now keep picturing the pleasant scene – Calm and relaxed – Calm and relaxed – (ten second pause) – If you feel any tension anywhere, just let it go – (thirty second pause) – You return again to the other side of the narrow gate…..greet your friendly Companion who is waiting for you….spend a few moments to talk with the Companion and to notice again what they are like….listen to anything they have to say or to show you or give to you…..ask them their name….ask them who they are….ask them about the narrow gate….ask them any questions that are on your mind…..when you are ready, say goodbye to your Companion telling them that you will be back soon….return to the room where you are relaxing. Note down your experiences in your spiritual journal. Record what you have seen and heard in as much detail as you can. Do not interpret what you have seen or analyse it, just record what was said and seen and how you felt. In this way, keep a faithful journal. You can study and analyse what you write in the Journal in a separate book, together with any insights that you gain as you reflect on your experience. Imagery and dialogue may often take the form of puns and dream-like content with layers of meaning. The phrase ‘Field of Illusions’ is capable of a number of interpretations for example.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE 5 – TEACHING It is not the purpose of these studies to dictate MY answers to these questions to you, but rather to enable you to encounter the Divine and get the answers for yourself. I am seeking to facilitate your approach to the Divine so that you may find the answers for yourself in terms that are relevant to you. In practical terms, you can continue the visualization/guided imagery exercises following the relaxation of the body and the stilling of the mind which should now be accomplished in about ten minutes. You should have completed your visit to the Field of Illusions and spent time considering the Darkness of Ignorance and your reaction to it and begun your journey along the Luminous Path. You should have walked through the Vale of Ignorance to the narrow gate and met your Faithful Companion and spent some time talking with your Companion and learning their name. This imagery should not have been forced: rather you should allow the images to come to your stilled mind. Carry out your relaxation exercise and when you are relaxed, use the following as a loosely guiding template, but where possible, allow the imagery to take its own direction. As before, it is best to find a place where you will not be disturbed for at least half an hour or so, somewhere that is warm and comfortable. If the text below is recorded, it is good if you can listen to the text using headphones or earphones, so that other distracting noises are minimized. You also need to wear loose clothes, which means at least undoing the top button of a shirt or blouse and loosening a tie if you wear one, and also undoing or loosening any belt that you wear. Wearing a loose fitting tracksuit would be ideal. Use a soft cushion or pillow to support your head. It is O.K. to play New Age type music or something similar to help relax you, providing it does not distract you. When you are ready, lie down comfortably, close your eyes and place your arms at your sides with your fingers open. If stray thoughts come to your mind, say to yourself, ‘STOP’. Push them away and concentrate on what we are doing. Just ask yourself: Is there any tension in my legs, in my thighs in my buttocks? If there is, let it go. Let all the tension out – more and more and more relaxed – (Ten second pause) Then ask yourself: Is there any tension in my stomach, back or chest? If there is, let it go – breathe easily and comfortably like you do in a deep sleep – all the tension out – Ask yourself: is there any tension in my fingers, my arms, or my shoulders? If there is, let it go – Let your arms get limp and heavy. (ten second pause) Ask yourself: Is there any tension between my shoulder blades or in my neck? If there is, let it go – Your head is falling limply back –(pause) And now ask yourself, Is there any tension in my face, my jaws or throat? If there is, just let it go – All the tension out – Just keep letting go (pause). And now, picture in your mind a pleasant scene – get a good clear picture, not just the sight, but the sounds and smells and the feel – if your mind wanders, always bring it back to the pleasant scene. And while you hold that picture in your mind, concentrate on relaxing the muscles in your toes – let them go – Relax the muscles of your thighs – let them go – relax the muscles of your buttocks – let them go – Keep picturing your pleasant scene. If stray thoughts come to your mind, just tell yourself STOP. Put them away – Just concentrate on the muscles of your stomach – let the tension go – relax – Relax the muscles of your back – relax the muscles of your chest – Breathe easily and comfortably – Keep picturing your pleasant scene – Relax the muscles of your fingers – relax your arms – Relax your shoulders – Let the tension out – Relax your neck – Relax your tongue and jaw and mouth – Relax your throat – All the tension out – let yourself feel limp and heavy all over – Now keep picturing the pleasant scene – Calm and relaxed – Calm and relaxed – (ten second pause) – If you feel any tension anywhere, just let it go – (thirty second pause) – You return again to the other side of the narrow gate…..greet your friendly Companion who is waiting for you….spend a few moments to greet and talk with them….listen to anything they have to say or to show you or give to you…..your faithful Companion now wants to take you on a journey……you begin to walk together…..notice the path that you are on….what it is like….is it narrow?….wide?….flat?…uphill?…easy to see?…..hard to make out?….look at the countryside around you….what is it like?…..is there anyone else that you can see?…..as you walk together, your faithful Companion wants to talk to you….to teach you…..perhaps you have questions to ask…..continue on you journey in conversation with your faithful Companion….when you are ready, say goodbye to your Companion telling them that you will be back soon….return to the room where you are relaxing. Note down your experiences in your spiritual journal. You can study and analyse what you write in the Journal in a separate book, together with any insights that you gain as you reflect on your experience. Imagery and dialogue may often take the form of puns and dream-like content with layers of meaning. The phrase ‘Field of Illusions’ is capable of a number of interpretations for example.

PRACTICAL EXERCISE 6 – THE GOLDEN CITY In practical terms, you can continue the visualization/guided imagery exercises following the relaxation of the body and the stilling of the mind which should now be accomplished in about ten minutes. You should have completed your visit to the Field of Illusions and spent time considering the Darkness of Ignorance and your reaction to it and begun your journey along the Luminous Path. You should have walked through the Vale of Ignorance to the narrow gate and met your Faithful Companion and spent some time talking with your Companion and learning their name and received teaching. This imagery should not have been forced: rather you should allow the images to come to your stilled mind. Carry out your relaxation exercise and when you are relaxed, use the following as a loosely guiding template, but where possible, allow the imagery to take its own direction. As before, it is best to find a place where you will not be disturbed for at least half an hour or so, somewhere that is warm and comfortable. If the text below is recorded, it is good if you can listen to the text using headphones or earphones, so that other distracting noises are minimized. You also need to wear loose clothes, which means at least undoing the top button of a shirt or blouse and loosening a tie if you wear one, and also undoing or loosening any belt that you wear. Wearing a loose fitting tracksuit would be ideal. Use a soft cushion or pillow to support your head. It is O.K. to play New Age type music or something similar to help relax you, providing it does not distract you. When you are ready, lie down comfortably, close your eyes and place your arms at your sides with your fingers open. If stray thoughts come to your mind, say to yourself, ‘STOP’. Push them away and concentrate on what we are doing. Just ask yourself: Is there any tension in my legs, in my thighs in my buttocks? If there is, let it go. Let all the tension out – more and more and more relaxed – (Ten second pause) Then ask yourself: Is there any tension in my stomach, back or chest? If there is, let it go – breathe easily and comfortably like you do in a deep sleep – all the tension out – Ask yourself: is there any tension in my fingers, my arms, or my shoulders? If there is, let it go – Let your arms get limp and heavy. (ten second pause) Ask yourself: Is there any tension between my shoulder blades or in my neck? If there is, let it go – Your head is falling limply back –(pause) And now ask yourself, Is there any tension in my face, my jaws or throat? If there is, just let it go – All the tension out – Just keep letting go (pause). And now, picture in your mind a pleasant scene – get a good clear picture, not just the sight, but the sounds and smells and the feel – if your mind wanders, always bring it back to the pleasant scene. And while you hold that picture in your mind, concentrate on relaxing the muscles in your toes – let them go – Relax the muscles of your thighs – let them go – relax the muscles of your buttocks – let them go – Keep picturing your pleasant scene. If stray thoughts come to your mind, just tell yourself STOP. Put them away – Just concentrate on the muscles of your stomach – let the tension go – relax – Relax the muscles of your back – relax the muscles of your chest – Breathe easily and comfortably – Keep picturing your pleasant scene – Relax the muscles of your fingers – relax your arms – Relax your shoulders – Let the tension out – Relax your neck – Relax your tongue and jaw and mouth – Relax your throat – All the tension out – let yourself feel limp and heavy all over – Now keep picturing the pleasant scene – Calm and relaxed – Calm and relaxed – (ten second pause) – If you feel any tension anywhere, just let it go – (thirty second pause) – You return again to greet your friendly Companion who is waiting for you….spend a few moments to greet and talk with them….listen to anything they have to say or to show you or give to you…..your faithful Companion now wants to continue the journey……you begin to walk and talk together…..now you look ahead….and you see before you a Golden City…take a few moments to look at it….at its buildings…their colour….their shapes…and you see many more Pilgrims, each with their faithful Companion….each on their own path….converging to the City Gate….as you approach the City, the noise of people talking gets louder ….you see that they are all crowding into one gateway…..jostling and pressing to get through the gate….on the left and right side of the gate you see two skeletons….as Pilgrims press one at a time through the gate…..some of them are shrouded with black cloaks by the skeletons….some Pilgrims get through the gate….others are shrouded and disappear with their faithful Companion…the throng of Pilgrims is pressing you to the gate…..you must decide whether to go in through the gate to the Golden City…..or move to the left where the luminous Path leads away into the countryside….notice how you are feeling….notice your preferred decision…..then, when you are ready, say goodbye to your Companion telling them that you will be back soon….return to the room where you are relaxing. Note down your experiences in your spiritual journal as before.

4.02 What next?

By now you should be getting used to this method. So far, I have given you a guiding template for your imagery that is being used to explore a spiritual path. But in giving you such a template, however much I try not to, I am giving you suggestions and leading you. The next and most important stage is Free Imagery. If you have managed to carry out these practical relaxation and imagery sessions from the beginning to now, and have found the practice useful, then you carry on in the same way, but let the imagery that arises in your imagination form the guiding direction. For example, as you were travelling on the Luminous Path to the City, you may have seen a cave that you wanted to explore, or a character may have appeared on the way and invited you into their camp. The guiding template that I have provided did not allow for such diversions and prevented you from following these up. In free imagery, you can take these diversions. Indeed, they are not diversions at all: they are not unnecessary distractions, but rather, they are vital aspects of your journey, with relevant teaching to present to you. Also, you are now on the threshold of the Golden City. This approach may have been frightening and unsettling to you, and you may prefer to take the Luminous Path to the left, or you may have the courage to walk through the gate into the City itself. What you find next, whichever course you take, is between the Divine and yourself. Who knows what lies down the left hand path? In the City, there are places to explore: as a hint I suggest to you the Treasure House of God, the Moral Temple, one of the Schools with their many classrooms, the Well of the Water of Life and so on. In terms of theology, of understanding issues and aspects of the Divine and religion, some further articles can be found at:…… http://spiritualminded.blogspot.com/ As I have said earlier, it is not the purpose of this essay to dictate MY answers to your questions to you, but rather to enable you to encounter the Divine and get the answers for yourself. I am seeking to facilitate your approach to the Divine so that you may find the answers for yourself in terms that are relevant to you. Thus, this essay is not the place to look for my personal theology and philosophy, or the insights that I gained through the process described here.

4.03 The imaginal path – further reading

Why have we followed the imaginal path? Why have we used imagery in our spiritual quest? For a discussion on this theme I recommend the book ‘Imaginal Worlds’ by William Chittick SUNI Press. Although written from a Sufi Islamic viewpoint, it is not necessary for you to subscribe to Islam or Sufism to appreciate its content. Alternatively, for a more inter-faith approach, you can try ‘Paths to Transcendence’ by Reza Shah-Kazemi World Wisdom. If you want to orientate yourself spiritually, to work out where spirituality fits into the scheme of things, or what level you are at, then try ‘The eye of spirit’ by Ken Wilber, Shambhala.

4.04 A walk not a talk

The spiritual path has to be walked: it is a walk and not a talk. The spiritual walk is about how Pilgrims are in the world, how they conduct themselves, how they act, behave, think and talk. The spiritual walk is about Enlightenment: cutting through the Ignorance and Illusion that veils the Divine. It is also about Self-Realization: understanding one’s own True Nature. It is about a relationship with God: not just on special days or at special religious services, but in all aspects of daily life; about living authentically and being what one Truly Is already. It is about cultivating an immediate experience of the Divine: creating receptiveness to God and carrying what one learns from it into daily life. It is ultimately about Unity with God. It is about transcending artificial boundaries. This is not a path that is primarily about theology. Theology takes second place to walking a path that leads to Transcendence. What do we mean by Transcendence? We mean Unity with the Divine – with Undifferentiated, Borderless, God-as-Spirit; with Emptiness; with Stillness in the Eternal Now. The direction of this Path is one of Expansion: Expansion to Spaceless, Timeless Undifferentiation. It is the opposite of Contraction to a bounded, separate, isolated entity-with-characteristics in space and time, it is the opposite of an ego-mind, to a sense of ourselves as a body-mind. The path to God is the Unified Path, it involves the positive or light virtues of Love, Balance, Peace, Unity, Oneness: an attitude of perception whereby one begins to see that division and separateness is artificial: an Illusion in spiritual terms; and that all that is – is God. This is an attitude, a perception that you should seek to encourage in yourself at all times, in whatever situation you are in. You are seeking to break down division, separateness and boundaries; and cultivate Oneness, Peace, Unity, Love and Balance. This is the Virtuous Way: the way of emulating the Divine.

5.0 Summary

What has been presented here is just one of many paths and approaches to gaining knowledge of the Divine. It is neither better nor worse than other approaches, just different – a way that suits some people but not all. What can be gained by these exercises is not absolute Truth – as was stated at the beginning – the Divine is Unknowable. Rather, what can be gained is a series of personally powerful and appropriate metaphors that stand between the person, as they are, how they are and where they are, and the Unknowable Formless Divine. With this comes an understanding and foundation – a grounding – concerning one’s self, one’s place in the universe and one’s purpose – as these metaphors and concepts are worked out and collated into a system of theology or philosophy – a worthy and solid foundation on which to build a life. This foundation of new metaphors may cut across the person’s cultural background, but it will seem relevant and appropriate nevertheless, and may open up vistas of thought previously unheard of let alone entertained. This practice potentially offers an Immediate experience of the Divine, an experience or state that transcends words, language image and symbol, a state of Union and Unity with the Divine and all that such an experience entails.

I’m reading Jeremiah 17-20 and Galations 5 tonight. Looking forward to whatever message the Lord has for me.

Will post a Thoughts on 10/30 AM.

Are you reading the Word every day? If reading through the Bible in a Year sounds a little daunting to you, don’t feel bad. I felt the same way, but after a few days it becomes second nature, and you learn things you may have missed before. Give it a shot. The schedule is posted over there on the left, and there is even a link to http://www.biblegateway.com/ if you don’t have a Bible handy.

Be Read-y

This evening I have been reading Jeremiah 8-10 and Galations 2. Both passages are really meaty and I want to spend some more time digesting the message before putting my thoughts down (i.e don’t want to do a rush job, just to get a post in before midnight). I will have a Thoughts post prepared for tomorrow morning.

Be encouraged and continue reading. The passages for October 27 are Jeremiah 11-13 and Galations 3. Enjoy your time with the Lord, pray and listen.

I was driving home this evening.  I was feeling drowsy.  I started talking to myself.  That was the only way I knew I could keep myself awake at the wheel   Yes, it was a strange thing to do, but it’s probably something I do quite often, so there!  After awhile of speaking to myself, I thought who else better to talk to than God!  It was an interesting conversation.  I knew in my heart that He was there and He was listening, but He was not talking.  I just kinda rattled on for a bit about anything that came into my mind.  Soon, I was again debating with God about why I do/ decide or not do/ decide on certain things.  The same big question came up.  Why?  Why?  Why?  Why?  Why?  Isn’t that the universal question?  Why this?  Why that?  Why did I choose this?  Why did I decide that?  That’s the amazing thing about God, ya.  You can unload all you want and He won’t get bored or annoyed by you!   After being silently listening to me, He suddenly said, “I’ll never let you go.”  To which, I was stunned and only to murmur “don’t let go, don’t let go, never let me go” over and over again.  Then, this song came on…

(might want to turn up the volume)

And I was more stunned.  I only sat there listening and driving on auto-pilot (or auto-driver).  I felt that every once awhile, each of us need that renewing touch from God.  Many of us run ministry till we are dry, and yet we continue running.  It becomes to vital that even when we run, we run in the rain… the rain of God’s covering and love where we will then not feel so “dry” anymore.  Let the rain come down, come down, come down.

1.  I’m preparing to go for an overseas trip for the company this coming Nov.  There was some hiccup and things were still changing evening this morning.  But, at the end of the day, most of the hiccups had been cured.  Thank God for that!!

2.  Yesterday, despite being Monday and with all the blues in the air, our little outfit had “a day at the movies” for all staff.  It really relaxed many of us and even for me, I was thinking that it was TGIF this morning.  The feeling in coming there to work was simply different.  It was rather relaxing and definitely more cheery than usual   Thanks to the organisers!

3.  My wife has been having migrain attacks over these past couple of days.  She arrives home and goes straight to bed, but despite this, she was and is still able to catch up with me a little about the day’s happenings and also help our family plan for our family vacation this Dec.  She’s really quite amazing!!  Love you!!

4.  Today is also my eldest daughter’s last day of school examinations!  She’s so happy she looks like she’s going to explode!  Haha! 

I am praising the Lord for this beautiful Sunday. Today I will be delving into Isaiah 33-35 and John 8. Thankful for his Word and work in my life, I will be posting my thoughts on these passages later today.

Take a moment to thank God for who he is and all he’s done. Keep reading and praying, and have a wonderful day.

Today I will be reading Isaiah 30-32 and John 7. The WordPress site was undergoing some maintenance last night, so I was unable to post Thoughts on Isaiah 28-29 and John 6. I’ll be putting together a combined post this afternoon.

Enjoy your Saturday by spending some of it in the Word

Today is Friday and I will be reading Isaiah 28-29 and John 6. It’s been a very long week and I am grateful for the upcoming weekend. I am also grateful for God’s Word, and there’s church tonight (we have services all weekend… see the Hope Chapel link), so I’m looking forward to a doubly blessed day.

Pray, read and watch God do his thing.

Isaiah 25-27 and John 5 today. What will I learn? How will God speak today? I’ll let you know what I find out tonight!

Read and Pray Everyday!

Today I will be reading Isaiah 22-24 and John 4. The last few weeks have been a trial for me and my family. I am really thankful for God’s faithfulness in my life. Taking the time to read the Bible and reflect on the verses has really given me the opportunity to refocus every day, instead of dwelling on the garbage. Praise Him!

I hope everyone will spend some time in prayer and reading God’s love letter today! It’s good medicine for the soul .

Prayer is talking to God, He loves us so much that He wants to talk to us.  That’s why He gave us the Bible.  He wants us to talk to Him too, which is why the Bible teaches us how to pray.

I love talking to friends, sometimes people even say I talk to much.  I love to talk to God because He is my friend.  John 15:15 One of the cool things about talking to God is that you can do it anytime you want and anywhere you go!  Psalm 139:1-12

God is so great.  He can do anything, knows everything, sees everywhere, and loves me.  God is so Awesome!  Job 36:26

When people we know are sick we can pray for God to make them better.  When we are scared and need courage we can Stop to think about the situation, Drop to our knees and pray, then Roll on with what God tells us to do.  When we do things that don’t please God we can ask for forgiveness by telling God and the people we hurt that we are sorry and try not to do it again.

There are many types of prayers.  There are short prayers and long prayers.  We can pray to God about anything.  Jesus showed us how to pray. Matthew 6:9-13

“This, then, is how you should pray:
” ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹Give us today our daily bread.
¹²Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one. ¹⁴For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. ¹⁵But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.”

But even when we don’t know how to pray, or what to prayer, God still wants us to.  The Holy Spirit helps to make our prayers right.  Romans 8:26

The hardest thing about prayer is when God doesn’t give us something we ask for.  We are left sad with questions like, “Did God hear?  Did God care how much I wanted it?  Did I ask something too hard for God?  Does He still love me?”

When we ask questions like that we can remember that God does hear our prayers because He has answered us before.  He does care about us and love us because He sent His son to die for us.  There is nothing to hard for God to do!  When we have doubts like this we can thank God for the times that He has answered our prayers in the past.  God knows what is best for us, even when we sometimes do not.  He knows that sometimes what we ask is not good for us, or someone else.  I don’t want God to give me something if He knows that it isn’t the best thing for me, but it’s still hard.

God hears our prayers and wants to give us good things, but He wants us to ask Him.  It shows we really need Him and trust Him.  God wants to hear from us, so when was the last time you talked to God?

That’s why I pray…why do you?

Praise God for this glorious morning! I’m excited to see what He has planned. I am going to dig into Isaiah 19-21 and John 3 today, and put together a combined Thoughts post on Isaiah 15-21 and John 2-3 this evening.  In the mean time, take a moment to thank God for His mercies and listen to what He has to say back to you by reading his Word.

Have a very wonderful day!

At first I thought starting my reading in Isaiah was going to be difficult, but I see God’s hand steady on my life. I find I have taken my pencil to more than one passage and marked down a thought, or simply circled a verse that spoke to me.

As I said yesterday, Corinthians has always been a favorite of mine and this has held true the last couple of days.

The past few weeks, the pastor of my church has been teaching out of the book of Daniel, specific to the message of having a right relationship with God, and without daily prayer (talking to God) and meditation on His Scriptures (listening to God) it is difficult to have any kind of relationship at all.

God is working always, and I encourage you to find out how He is speaking to you by praying and reading His Word every day, whether on a schedule or not.

I’m digging into Isaiah 9-11 and 2 Corinthians 13 today. Join me?

When I grew up I was very poor and often had very little food to eat.  Growing up this way gives one a “poverty attitude”; in which one always expect the worst.  When I was in my late 30’s and my life seemed to be going well, I never expected my good fortune to last.  I had married the man I love, my children were growing into responsible adults, I had a great job and I owned my first home (with my husband).

Then a series of unfortunate events began to occur.  I lost my job when the business I worked for moved to Detroit.  Then my son joined the Army and moved to Germany, and I became ill.  Seriously ill.  I was sent to the Mayo Clinic for consultation because all the specialist in Central Ohio could not figure out what was wrong with me.  By the time I arrived in Rochester MN I was blind, had meningitis and a temperature of 104.5.  I thought the only way I could ever feel better was if I died.

Eventually I did die.  Several times.  Each time I traveled through the tunnel into a golden light where I met  an angel, Ralph, who was my invisible friend when I was a young child.  Each time I went into the golden light my experiences became more intense.  Ralph would lead me to places of great spiritual meaning.  We always began our journey in a place I call the Golden Meadow which was filled with golden light, golden flowers, golden animals.  Everything positively glowed with this light, even Ralph walked around within a golden shimmering light. 

After our travels and right before I was pulled back into my physical body we would end up again in this Golden Meadow.  I had many NDE’s, each one became more intense and I brought much knowledge back into my physical body. 

Then one day when I unburied my ‘light’ (the light of my soul) I realized that the secret to creating my own healing miracle is to love myself, which meant forgiving all past events and keeping them in the past, never looking back at what might have been, could of, would have, should have.  Always staying in the ‘now’, the present which is the only things you can control in your life.  We cannot change the past and we cannot control the future.  Many times I would live in fear of the future, what if ‘this’  happens or ‘that’ happens  and so much time is spent on these worries that the present moment is gone and the future is here.  There are so many different scenarios of what may or may not happen that we end up wasting time with all this endless worry. 

In November 1992 I experienced another trip into the tunnel to the soul world.  Ralph was waiting for me as soon as I entered the golden light in the Golden Meadow.   We communicated through telepathy, reading each others thoughts. 

My angel stood in front of me, a giant being of Golden Light , and I heard, “He is here for you.” 

Then my angel moved aside and motioned toward a rise at the back of the Golden Meadow where three figures stood, their robes moving around them as if they stood in a great wind.  Long beards and hair swirled around their faces.

I squinted at them, and wondered what this could mean, because Ralph and I had been to many places, caves in the mountains, monasteries in Tibet, old villages on islands, in the center of the Earth where great crystals grew, castles in Scotland but never had we met or talked to any majestic Beings in the Golden Meadow other than those souls who knew and loved me. 

I looked back up at Ralph, clearly confused, I said.  ”But Ralph there are three people back there.  What is this about?”

Ralph moved back to stand in front of me again, blocking the view of the three majestic figures on the rise. 

He said, “They are three but they are One.” 

And Ralph moved aside so that I saw the three figures blend together into One, Being, One.   The One…God.

“Oh,”  I covered my eyes.  “I can’t look at Him.”  and I fell to my knees.

Ralph took my hand and pulled me up.  He pushed me toward the One and each step that I took that brought me closer to this great and majestic being, I lost years of my life and by the time I stood before him I was a child of about six years old.

I could not see His face.  Maybe it was a Her.  I could not see any features of the face, a great wind swirled the hair this way and that way and a white light so white it appeared to be violet or blue came from within this Great One. 

“Come here.”  I heard in my head.  And I walked closer until I felt a great heat of energy.  “Why are you not healed”  I heard the words in my mind and this is the way we communicated just as I communicated with, Ralph, my angel.

“I don’t know.  I prayed and I prayed but I have not been better.   Why have you not answered my prayers.”

“Oh, Billie, I have answered your prayers so many times, I continue to send you a miracle but you refuse to accept it.”

I shook my head.  “No, I would know if I was healed.  Why would I refuse to accept a healing when that is what I have wanted for many years now.  I want to be well.  I want to be able to enjoy life.”

The great Being picked me up and I sat there being held in the arms of God.  “Let’s see.” 

And a grown up Billie appeared in front of us.  I didn’t even wonder how I could exist as a child and, at the same time, as a grown up.  The grown up Billie did not seem to see God.  She glared at me.  And I began to tremble and cry.  I realized I was afraid of this part of me. 

“Why does she hate me?”  I asked and held on tighter to God’s robe.

“Why indeed?  Ask her?”

And I did.

She leaned toward me.  “It’s all your fault that I am sick.  You are not normal.  You have never been normal.  You cause problems and I am punished for them.  You are not good enough, not smart enough, not rich enough and not pure enough to be worthy of all the good in the world.  You never listen, you do “things” that cause problems and  our mother was afraid of you.  If it wasn’t for all this my life would be different and I would not be sick.  I would not be poor.  And I would be able to love myself.”

I looked at God and thought I felt a smile in the white light that surrounded  us.  “It isn’t my fault that I do these things.  Why can’t you forget all that and change how you feel about the world.  I am not even a part of your life anymore why do you blame me for everything that happens to you.  Aren’t you responsible for today? ”

God reached out and took the hand of the older version of me and placed my tiny hand in hers.  “This little child has been blamed too much, too often.  It is time to forgive her.  It is time to love her.  Look at her, she is just a child, she is not responsible for your current problems.  Once you forgive this small child and embrace her.  Love her.  You will be healed.”

And, I was in the arms of the grown-up Billie.  We were crying. Love was a lightness and a sweetness that penetrated the cold within my heart.  I felt things fall all around us, chunks of ice, like an iceberg breaking up, fell to the golden flowers and melted, creating little puddles all around us.

Then I was in the arms of God, being held like an infant and I realized I truly was an infant in the arms of my father, in the arms of my mother, but this parent loved me as a part of him/herself. 

The hand of God was in front of my face and a white light came out of it and went in to my head through a center between my eye brows.  The light grew within me, filling me, lighting me up from within.   All I could see was this light.  I could smell it, taste it, hear it buzzing like the electric lines on a winter night, and I began to vibrate with this light.  Then I realized I truly was a part of this light just as the light was a part of me. 

I connected to God through this light and knew in that moment that we are all a part of this great and majestic Oneness and everything that affects us will affect this Being.  Just as we are a drop in the ocean, we are the ocean too.  When we think of ourself as the drop is when we suffer but when we think of ourselves as the ocean we are more than the sum of it all.

This NDE did not end with a return to the ceiling of the hospital room or my bedroom before being sucked back into my body.  This time, I woke up the next morning, tasting as if I had swallowed batteries (have you ever licked a 9 volt battery?) 

I felt different.  I COULD see, my vision was not cloudy any longer, every thing look sharp and clear.  I went into the bathroom and looked at my reflection and I hugged myself. I hugged the little child within that I had been blaming for all my problems all my life.  I hugged myself and my laughter rang out, loud and clear through the house, down the  hallway and vibrated off the walls. 

That was November 15, 1992 and I have not had another symptom of Bechet’s Disease since that NDE. 

I have gone on to become a minister.  I have studied all modalities of healing.  Since that time I have received a PhD in Metaphysics and teach healing workshops and seminars. 

I understand that God wants me to use the gifts I brought into this world to help others find their own miracles. 

I am writing a book, “Achieveing the Impossible – Miracles”

I would like to hear about healing miracles if you are interested in having your comments in my book; please contact me at reikiflow@sbcglobal.net  

Thank you, Rev. Billie, PhD

I was looking for a video of Kendall Payne performing her song “Pray” to go along with my post last February.  I was not disappointed!  Here is a video of per performance at a church.

She tell the story of a man asking Mother Teresa to pray for him.  Check it out …

What a beautiful place I thought to myself as our caravan of cars and trucks ventured up the mountainous road. The longer we drove the worse the roads got and farther away from town we were. Where in the world were we going? Fear swarmed my brain for that moment as I looked in my rear view mirror to see that last of the city fade away. We were up in the mountains and clearly nowhere near a town, much less a city that I could leave this family bent on “living off the land.” My father-in-law had this dream of moving up to Oregon and on his small 5 acres, living the rest of his life in seclusion with his boys to “earn him retirement money” and his German born bride cooking and cleaning his castle. Fine for him, but I had other plans of starting out on my own somewhere that I could finish school and head off to college. Here I was, wanting to be a forest ranger, and I was deep in a forest where I had no clue which way was north or south. I get turned around in malls to this date.

I was born and raised in the city, but every time my parents wanted to go fishing we would head to the country, and I loved it. As long as we stayed out of trouble, no one would get beat and we could explore while my parents fished. Having two older brothers and one younger brother, I was your quintessential tomboy. I would climb rocks, trees and venture into caves without the least bit of fear. My brothers didn’t like this and would often ditch me in an effort to make their gang an “all boys” group. I would venture off on my own listening for sounds of my brothers or my parents so I was always close by when I was called. I just loved the smell of the pines, the colors of the grass, the sounds of the river near by and the birds singing their songs. I felt free and alive in this environment. I would often sit under a tree and dream of having a normal life with loving parents while I watched them fishing and getting wasted. It was in these instances that I would look up to the sky and ask God why this was the life that He chose for me. No answer came. Since I was the only girl in our house, until my sister came along, I got the bedroom that not only had the slats in the door, but had a bathroom attached to it. Often times when we were sent to our rooms I would sit on the toilet with the lid down, hugging a favorite stuffed animal, and turn my little face up to God and cry or ask Him why it was that I had to be beaten. Was I someone that He created that was deserving of such a life? That I was “worthless” as I was often told.” Looking out the window in my bathroom at the clear blue sky, I would sit and wait for God to let me know why I deserved such a life. No answer would come, not even a whisper, yet I believed that He heard me and that He knew who I was. Some nights after getting slapped around, or beat with a belt I would lie in bed and think of ways to make my parents love me. My parents seemed to hate my brothers and me. As if we were a huge burden to their lives. All I knew is that I was stupid and I cried too much. Like any child, I wanted to be loved and to show love. I longed to be hugged like I seen other kids being hugged. I dreamed of sitting on my dad’s lap and singing him a song and being kissed on the forehead and hugged tightly. I remember one song that I learned in kindergarten that I would often sing to myself. My mom heard me singing one day and asked where I had learned it. “In school” I told her in a joyful voice. She tried learning it and there was a hope of a connection between us, but it quickly faded, and I never found out why. She just had stopped. Being out in the forest let me dream of soaring past the tree tops like the red tail hawks where I could escape and fly away. You see in a child’s mind, all they want is to be loved, nurtured and cared for. They need it, and they thrive because of it. We are created to love. Somewhere in our lives, this gets disconnected by someone or something. I think as parents we need to make it a priority in our lives to show kids the love that they need and so desire.

As we pulled into the property is was not how I pictured it at all. There were no buildings and it with lots of spindly oaks and a few pines. This was not too bad, except it was on a slope, and the only level ground was a small patch at the bottom. “This is it” my father-in-law exclaimed with joy. “We’re home!” “Where’s the house, where’s the place that we would live?” I turned and asked my two-day husband? “We have to build it.,” he said looking away towards his dad. “Then where are we supposed to live until then?” I asked with my voice slightly elevated. “Oh you will live in the tent until the walls and roof are built before winter and then you can move in and we will put plastic around it if it’s not finished” my father-in-law said with a grin. All I could think of, was at least I wasn’t slapped for asking. “Okay” I said, “what about jobs?” My new husband then let me know that we were going to be picking berries for a local cannery and when that was done we would move on to the next field to find work. We would do this until we had enough money to complete our house. They were migrant farm workers that would move around from field to field doing harvesting what ever product needed harvesting all throughout the state of Oregon and back down to California during the winters.

Okay, now my plan to run away and start my own life by myself has just taken a turn for the worse. Here I was with no money and not knowing anyone in a place that was far from civilization. I needed a new plan. I would stay with this family, pretend to be a wife, and work in the fields for the next six months saving enough money for at the right time to leave. I just didn’t know where to or when. This boy that became my get-a-way was now my husband and I was expected to be his wife. I had no clue what a wife was suppose to be like other than what I saw my mom do, which was to keep to herself, not say to much, and tend her garden. My German mother-in-law was quite the opposite. She was loud, obnoxious and felt like she needed to be my evil step-mother-in-law. Over the next six months, we moved from field to field. We worked from sun up to sun down, picking berries, string beans, cherries, potatoes and cutting onions. When we would get paid, I would be given an allowance of $5.00 a week for personal items. This is where I learned to scrimp and save for every penny, so that I could to save up enough money to move out. I was distant from the boy that I married. I didn’t show him any affection and didn’t want his. His mother confronted me one day when we were doing our laundry in a local river. She told me that he had complained that I was not being a very good wife and how she knew that I didn’t love her son and I was just another mouth to feed in there family. “I’m pregnant.” I said with a sharp voice. “I have worked these fields as hard as any one of your sons, not ever complaining or taking a day off.” I’m pregnant and that should be enough for your son to know that I cook his meals, wash his clothes in a river and work my tail off in the fields!” “You’re not pregnant.” she said with in obvious disbelief. “How far are along you?” “You’re not even showing.” she said in her heavy German accent. “I don’t know.” as I started to cry. “I just know that I am.” My mother-in-law got as close to my tear ridden face and sternly told me that if I tried to stop working in the fields just because I was pregnant that she would make sure that I was kicked out on my own with no help from them. I glared back at her and was ready to tell her off when she slapped me hard across the face nearly knocking me down in the water. Fearing she would tell my father-in-law and maybe get me kicked out before I had enough money, I kept my mouth shut and returned to washing clothes.

After six months of saving every penny and sometimes, taking money that was found in the pants pockets of the laundry, I had saved up enough money to make my way out. Stashing what I saved in a small jar hidden away, I announce to my husband that I was leaving. “You never loved me did you?” he asked with hurt in his voice. “Where will you go?” He was not angry at all for how could he not know that I didn’t love him. I didn’t know how, nor did I want to. “You understand that I just needed you to get away from my dad don’t you?” I asked. “But you’re pregnant, and that is my child too!” He stormed. “Reluctant to fight with him I just told him that I was set on leaving in the morning and that I was going back to my home town where I could finish school and now raise a child.  I had to get prenatal care, which I hadn’t had in the six months that I had been pregnant. That I didn’t want to raise a child working in the fields like his mother said that I should do. He didn’t argue and offered to move me back down, because I think deep in his mind he wanted out himself and away from his parents. I hadn’t spoken to my parents since the day I had left to move to Oregon. I really wanted nothing to do with them the rest of my life, but now being pregnant, I thought that sharing this news would make them happy to be grandparents. My two older brothers had married, but vowed never to have children because they were afraid that they would be just like our parents. I thought that since this was their first grandchild that they would be happy. They were not happy at all when I told them that I was pregnant and moving back down to our hometown. “Don’t expect us to care for another screaming brat.” my mom warned. “We have enough on our hands without another mouth to feed.” my mom exploded. “I’m not coming down there to move back in.” I told her holding back the tears. “I’m moving in to an apartment and I will get a job and never bother you.” I said wiping my eyes. “I just thought that you might want to know that you are going to be grandparents,” and hung up.

Angry and sad I just told myself that I didn’t need them anyway and that they wouldn’t see their grandchild if they didn’t want to. The next morning as I packed my things, my soon to be ex-husband loaded up the car with his mom and dad softly talking to him. He told me later that they were cautioning him not to trust me and that he could come back if he wanted to. He said good-bye to his parents while I loaded my things in the car. His mother wouldn’t even look at me and his dad just turned and walked away. I deserved that and expected worse. I waved to the rest of the family who had no clue what was going on, and off we drove. Headed for California with not much more than I came up with, part of me was sad to be leaving such a beautiful state. I would have never guessed that I would return to this state 12 years later and make it my home for 18 years.

Pulling in to my old hometown a new fear gripped my heart. Now seven months pregnant and barely looking pregnant at all, I quickly found work at a local fast food place and then found a cheap apartment. Life was looking up, or so I had thought.

Major change came into my life today. It just happened. What does it mean? I don’t know. It just happened. Ken L

My mother celebrated her 90th birthday several weeks ago. My dear sister picked the tab on the whole event. About 25 or so in attendance. All the food, drinks, professional photographers, flowers, catering, a rented home, all the works on her dime for our Mother. A generous woman my sister is.

I took a lot of photos of the event. I worked hard to assemble the collection. I ordered a hard cover, custom made photo book for a keepsake, as a gift for my mom. I delivered my gift to my mom today, a labor of love for my mom. Surprisingly, my mom seemed unimpressed and her only comment was; that I made here look fat in the photos. I was crushed, my expectations were shattered. I was hurt. I made a special trip just to deliver it. My perception then changed and I did not feel welcomed. I left in about 20 minutes.

When faced with self reliance faltering, my ego bruised, my pocket book and my self  esteem are in effect, affected. I have only one place to look for my solution.The scriptures.

First Corinthian’s 13: ⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.  ⁸Love never fails. This Scripture is my base line of my life. This is a way to measure my heart when confronted with being human who is “wrapped around his own axle” . I failed today, but love does not. In that context, I hear hope.

GOD TALKING TO A FLAKE

I am driving back to Lexington having this conversation with God.  I said to God, “I got some resentments today.” And furthermore, “I got a resentment at the Catholic church cause I can’t take communion there, cause I am not a Catholic”. “I feel left out”. He says to me, “Your right, you are left out”. “But God”, I said, “my wife has become a Catholic and I don’t like it”.  Silence………………Then I heard this. “Ken, I can’t go there either”. Shocked I said,  “What!”. “Ken, I am Jewish, and I did not go through their program either”, “Therefore, according to their customs, I cannot take communion in that facility”. Softly He says to my heart, ” How does that make you feel?”. Contented I said, ” I feel better”. Musing, I thought, “Ain’t nothing like identification to feel accepted.”

Later, looking for some dust to shake off my feet. I looked down and saw clay. I looked over at God’s feet and saw nothing.

OnSite

Okay, I think I get how to tell when I’m writing the wrong stuff in this blog – the posts get stuck half finished and nothing gets written. So let’s take this post another direction. Originally, it was about my thoughts on how best to learn hidden meanings behind one’s Shemsu name and one’s Parent(s), but it just sort of… simmered there. Let’s see if I can take this in another direction.

I’ve spent a lot of time talking to new members of the House of Netjer. I’m presently the New Member Imy-ra – the contact person for all new Remetj to come into Kemetic Orthodoxy – and I love it. I really love it. All the fresh questions, eager new “faces” (well, this is mostly on the Internet) delighted to undergo the Rite of Parent Divination, or fraught with questions about what their role might be as Remetj if they should choose not to undergo the Rite. Some of my favorite questions include those from the new Shemsu. This post is written from a very Kemetic point of view, but I think a lot of what I have to say is pertinent to any faith.

One of the most popular questions from a new Shemsu is “what now?”. They have a new name, which may seem terribly mysterious and meaningful, or may seem completely mundane, bafflingly so. They have a list of gods Who, according to our Divination, have taken a part in creating their life, and a name that, according to our practices, was divined from their Parent(s) themself/selves. So what should they do? Well, in my experience – basically nothing.

What? Don’t do anything? Nope, nothing at all. That’s not to say not to pray, or study, or do Senut. That’s to say that one of the best ways to learn the deepest meaning of your Shemsu name and the smallest secrets of your Parent(s), in my opinion, is to just let them unfold themselves. In the most unexpected moments, I have found the most wonderful little snippets of wisdom – just driving in my car, minding my own business. That’s when the silliest things dawn on me. It isn’t an immediate answer, of course. But the things that I value the most have not been gathered from books or study, but from those sudden revelations. They’re hard won, simply because they come from patience and understanding, and that makes them best. To me anyways.

God is Talking

I was bedridden and stuffed in the house all weekend because of perilous allergies. Unable to leave the house, not a big television watcher, and too groggy to read or write I had lots of down time. God used that bad situation for good. He used my allergies to slow me down so that he could talk to me and I could listen.

I spent an enormous amount of time with God this weekend, reading the Bible and meditating with God. I received spiritual uplifting and revelations as I lay in bed propped up on pillows. God employs a number of ways to speak to us:

• His Word. God uses His Bible to communicate with us. The Bible is our guide for daily living. Pray before you read, and ask God for revelations. Often, God leads you to a scripture or passage pertaining to your need.
• The Holy Spirit. Dwelling within us to pour truth into our minds, the Holy Spirit is continually present with us. Often we ignore that small nagging, that prompting, which  is invariably God impressing His will in our minds.
• Other People. God especially uses spouses to pour something new into us or to purge things from us. He also uses friends, parents, Pastors, and other prophets as instruments to speak to us. Sparce, simple, and sporadic words can have a huge impact on us. He also uses us to speak to other people, so we must remain alert and available to God. We must continually study the Word and stay in the Spirit. Sometimes, God uses us without us even speaking. Someone is always watching, and our behavior, decisions, and responses to difficulties speak volumes to people.
• Circumstances. This is how God spoke to me this weekend. As I was staring out of the window, He poked my spirit and reminded me that I could talk to Him as I lay there. He invited me to pour my angst into His ears and rid myself of it. There are other types of situations that God uses: failures, successes, tragedies, and disappointments. He uses all circumstances in life to speak to us.

We are aware of the many ways that God speaks to us. We must put our spirits in position to hear God. We must prepare our Spirits to hear His voice. Everything God says to us is important and vital to our existence.

Many Blessings,
Trina

Prayer versus Meditation—What is the Difference?

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Don’t you ever get sick of your life? It kind of seems to be my life story. I hate not doing anything significant. I hate just living life. Sure it’s comfortable and enjoyable, but at the end of the day you can’t help but wonder why you are here on this planet taking up space.

I’ve been playing my guitar more lately and I’ve even written a few songs. The problem is I hate singing them, and not just because I have a bad voice. They are challenging songs, songs that make you feel uncomfortable and confronted. I hate to sing them and not live them out. I want to live like Keith Green, who would first walk the walk, then sing the song. Have you ever heard his song “Asleep in the Light”? Well you should. It is so challenging and the way he sings it is so raw and passionate, especially if you understand the way he lived his life. I won’t listen to it unless I’m prepared, it’s not one I just let play along with all my other tracks. It is too heart breaking. I don’t want to be like the church he sings about, it scares me too much to think that I am.

Sometimes I get upset at God and wonder why he isn’t doing what He is supposed to, you know moving in powerful ways, spreading his grace and love. In fact the other day I was complaining to God (in form of song actually) and He really spoke clearly to me. I was asking God where He was and why He had abandoned us.  God replied to me by basically saying: Where am I? Inside of you, waiting for you to do something about it. He asked me why, when He has given me the keys I was still sitting there complaining to Him about the door being closed.  I was like, “Oh.” I guess that answered that.  So yes sir, I have discovered the answer to the age old question, “Where is God?”. Turns out He’s been inside of me this whole time.

Point: I have no excuses left. Neither do you. It’s time for action. Time to be a doer not just a hearer. Ready, go.

“The Kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, nor will people say ‘here it is’ or ‘there it is,’ because the Kingdom of God is within you.” Luke 17:20

Thank you God for my life. Please bless my sponsored child (I’ll him Matt) in Peru, his brothers, his mother, and his father. Let them have enough food and things that they need, so they don’t have to worry, I pray that they are happy and enjoying life. Give strength to Matt’s mum, I pray that she’ll be a really great loving mother and role model to her sons. I pray that you’ll help Matt and his brothers be wise, and make wise decisions. Help his father in prison, help him to be a really good man & loving father, a man his boys can really look up to and be proud of. Whatever you do, look after Matt, let him be a good person and have a good life. Let him (and his family) feel your presence and know that you are watching over their lives. Be with them through everything. I pray that one day Matt will be in a position to provide for hisown family, to be a great husband & father, and to help others. I pray that he’ll always have hope, joy, optimism, strength, commitment, wisdom, perservance & a heart for others. Matt wants me to pray for his father in prison. Lord, please really listen to Matt’s prayers. I know how much you love and value children, children have a very special place in your heart. I pray that his dada doesn’t spend a day longer in prison than is necessary, and that he is looked after okay in prison & meets good people who know you – not bad people (in his fellow prisoners & guards). Show the father that you love him & that his life can be good, and that he is strong enough with you to be the man and father that he wants to be, he can change.

Look after my other sponsored child, Minda, in Africa, and her sisters and parents. I pray for a good life for her, that she will be happy, that she will enjoy life and enjoy school, and feel optimistic about her future. I pray that her parents will be loving & good parents who value their daughters hugely, and their education, and their wishes. I pray that when she does marry she can choose who she marries, it will be at a good time in her life, that her parents accept him, and that he is a fantastic, good, kind, trustworthy, hardworking, funny, cheerful, loving man who treats her like himself & values her input and opinions.

Look after Cristina Ionescu (from the documentary ‘Children Underground’, filmed when she was 16) who must be about 26 by now. She’s really been on my heart this past week, her more than anyone. From watching the documentary my heart realy went out to her, she seems so special, and I can feel your heart feeling the same towards her – you think she is special, you love her so much, you care for her, your heart breaks for her. And you are so proud of her too, her fighting spirit, that she doesn’t give in, that she wants to live life. Look after her, let her have a good life. Give her people in her life to support her and encourage her, and opportunities to make her life better. Let her know that you are there, make her feel your presence, your love, your comfort and your strength. Let nothing bad happen to her. I pray that one day she can help other street kids or other vulnerable people. She has leadership or management skills if she wants to be a leader, and inside, she is very strong. Anyone who fights as much as she does to simply live has my huge respect, and I plead, Lord, please look after her. She’s been fighting to live, she deserves to really have the opportunity to have a fantastic life – I pray that you’ll come through to her 100-fold and answer all of her prayers. Thank you for people like her – they amaze me. I don’t think I would be that strong in such tough situations, I think I would commit suicide or something, take the easy way out. I admire her so much & just think she is an incredibly special person, who I want good things to happen to, because she has fought so hard so long for good things in her life. Help Cristina be able to let down her defences and trust some trustworthy people.

I also pray for the other Children Undeground children – Mihai in particular, I pray that he will reunite with his sister & maybe mother, and have a good friendship with them. Help him to realize that he is not to blame for anything, he is extremely lovable, you love him, he is special; his dad beating him up & ‘hating’ on him is not his fault. I pray that you’ll heal his mind & any parts of his life that need healing. Help him to life and grasp hold of life, and not do self-destuctive things. Put people around him who love him, will never leave him. Help Macarena to quit drugs altogether & stay at the residential centre with staff who she trusts and loves, take away her need for drugs & give her a desire to grab hold of life and start living. Let hersee that she belongs with you, you are her family, her father – and so are her friends. She belongs, she is loved, and she is special. Also, look after Marian and Ana. For all of these children let them feel your presence, love, help, hope, strength & comfort. Let them hold onto you & do life with you. I pray that good people will come into all of their lives, and that they will know you more and more. I pray that they will be able to help other people, and that they will have a heart for others. I pray that you will help them to be wise, grounded, responsible adults – and help them to be good people, help them to not hurt others or to abuse others like they were abused themselves. Give them strength over themselves, strength to change. I pray that they can love themselves & accept love, and that they will be able to trust others. I pray that they can let go of their hate, let go, forgive, and just focus on love, moving on, and living life.

Children deserve a decent start to life, they deserve to be safe, they deserve to be taught well, and to be loved. The five children from the Children Underground documentary didn’t get that. I pray that you’ll come through in a really big way for the rest of their lives, and that who they are as adults will laugh in the face of what they endured in their childhoods. I pray that each of them will be adults that others really admire, adults that make themselves proud, and people who are happy, loving, strong, and enjoy life. I pray that they will be great parents.

For anyone who has to survive a childhood like these five children did, I pray that you will give them so much more as adults, and you will really come through for them – I pray that there will be some healing, some real balancing -

I can’t easily imagine how you, God, can “balance” off the effects of an abused childhood – I can’t understand how you would let children endure that. I basically feel like you owe them, God. And I can’t begin to imagine how you could possibly make it up to those children. I know you didn’t cause their difficult childhoods, but you had the power to change them, yet you allowed them to continue.

For some reason that I don’t understand, I know that there are people out there who survived horrendous childhoods yet they have come out as strong, genuinely happy, genuinely loving, and whole, people. Some of these people – like Somaly Mam (Cambodian author of “Innocence Lost” & fighter against child prostitution) – even have the strength to fight for others, even when faced with huge obstacles & huge emotional anguish. These people continue to hope and continue to fight. I see you, God, around, when I read things that I don’t understand – like how Somaly’s organisation rescued hundreds of young girls from one brothel complex in Cambodia, only to have the safe haven invaded by armed men several days later, who rekidnapped all of the girls. They didn’t see thoe girls again. Somaly and the other workers just went back to work the next day, when I would have despaired and shouted at God (“what is the use, if you’re not helping us, God?”). Those woman are strong. I have huge respect and admiration for Somaly (herself, a survivor of forced prostitution). She must know you, you must help her, even if she isn’t really aware of it. Your heart is in what she is doing, you give her strength, you love all of those girls.

I lift all of these people to you, God. Thank you for them. Bless them. When they fight, when they really try, when they perserve, I pray that you will be there even more so, I pray that you will come through for them and help them. I don’t know how you will “make right” the wrong in this world, but I trust (and have to believe) that you will, somehow. You can “make right” the wrong, you can work with the hurt and wounds inflicted on children. The pain, the abuse, the neglect that some children endure – you are so much more powerful than that. You can make them have good lives, in the end. We are optimistic in you, and we have seen people who have had horrible things in their childhoods completely rise above these things and become strong people with big hearts. I know you have a huge heart, great love, for all these vulnerable children of yours in the world. Stay with them, let them know that you are there. When they look back on their tough times as adults, let them say, ‘Oh, God was there when I went through that’ , let them see that you were walking next to them, that you were always there with them. I don’t understand you, but I love you, you are good, and you are powerful. I believe that good will triumph over evil in the end. And I know that you have a huge heart, particularly for children, particularly for the invisible, the marginalised, the broken, the hurt & the vulnerable. Thank you.