Fresh Thinking, Inspiration, and Vision on the Process of Spiritual Transformation

(Previn Hudetz offered preservice music on piano. Joyce Karchere sang, a cappella, “Awake, O North Wind,” words from Song of Solomon 4:16; music by Carolyn Rhodes.)

Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south;
blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.
Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.

Our theme for this morning, or this evening, depending on where you are, is the gathering together of the waters of consciousness, and particularly the gathering together of the emotional body of humanity. We know that the emotional body of humanity has been in all kinds of places it doesn’t really belong. We are here today to offer a message about bringing those waters of consciousness together. But we are here not only to offer a message. We are here to do it together.

Joyce sang that beautiful song from the Song of Solomon: “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south.” Wind is a symbol of the movement of spirit in consciousness. We know that where a person is in a process of spiritual awakening, life changes. This song portrays that awakening in such a beautiful way. “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south.”

Why a north wind and a south wind? Here is an invocation for the power of Father and Mother God at work in consciousness and at work in our world. Where there is a spiritual awakening, a person finds themselves saying, “Awake, O north wind. Awake O powerful expression of Father God moving through consciousness. I welcome you here.”

“Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south.” The south wind is the sweet and full-bodied response that’s natural to all people. Let the power of that response, which is the influence of Mother God, be invoked in my own experience. “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out,” so that our world can be the fertile and thriving place that it’s meant to be, so that human life can be the wonderful and exciting and vital thing that a human life was created to be.

When all that happens, there is something else that occurs: The Beloved is welcomed into a person’s awareness, and into the world at large. When human minds and hearts are open, when there is a spiritual awakening, the Beloved shows up.

Who is the Beloved? For the reality of Father God, the Beloved is Mother God. Let my Beloved, in that case, come into Her garden. Let the sweetness and beauty that’s meant to be present in human experience and on Planet Earth have a place to live and thrive, a place where it’s safe from the ravages of human beings functioning out of rhythm with the divine order. It is not hard to see that all around the planet in the function of humanity at large. It is also not hard to see man out of the divine order of things right close to home, where disturbed thought and troubled feeling make it virtually impossible at times for the beauty of Mother God to be revealed and to have a place in the world.

For Mother God, for that aspect of the divine that is feminine in us, whether we are a man or a woman, the Beloved is the radiant expression of Spirit which is Father God. Let that come into my garden; as a human being, let it flood my consciousness, my thinking and my feeling. May my thinking and feeling come to rest so that the reality of Father God is welcomed, so that the reality of Spirit can be present in this garden of my conscious awareness. If that happens, I make a place for the reality of Spirit in my world—in my home, in my family and in my community. Let my Beloved come into His garden. Let my Beloved come into Her garden.

The word garden evokes a sense of what’s fertile and luscious and fruitful, something that brings forth nourishment for the world in season. We enjoy our garden here at Sunrise Ranch. It has the obvious practical benefits of a garden: it feeds us and feeds our guests. It’s also a reminder that all the earth and all of life is meant to be a garden, a place where things can grow and develop and mature, and be all that they are meant to be. I note that the word we use for a school for young people is a word that means garden—a kindergarten, a garden for young people.

We live in a time of conscious awakening. Something is happening in the air of Spirit, represented by the north wind and the south wind. Where there is a conscious awakening to spiritual things, there is a calling to the heart. And if air is a symbol of consciousness, then water certainly is a symbol of the emotional body of humanity. Where there is a conscious awakening to Spirit, there is a calling to the emotional body to a place of peace.

Many of us are familiar with the story of Jesus in the storm on the Sea of Galilee. He was in a boat, and he was asleep. The waters became rough—they began to fill the boat, apparently. That is a dangerous situation—I’ve been in it, both metaphorically and actually, so I know! Certainly human emotion can sink the experience of people. What do you think war is? Does that have anything to do with the emotional body of humankind? Something is happening in the emotional body that is almost literally sinking the ship for people. And what’s needed in that case? Conscious awareness of spiritual things.

Here is the story of the storm:

“And there arose a great storm of wind”—something happening at the conscious level, in the air—“and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.

“And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?” (Mark 4:37, 38)

And you can hear that kind of cry going out where there is trouble, war or earthquake: Don’t you care that we’re going to perish?

“And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.” (Mark 4:39)

Where there is a degree of conscious spiritual mastery, an awareness of spiritual things rushes in, and with that, there is a calming influence. There is a calming of the waters so that the emotional state can begin to come into balance and into relationship with the reality of the Beloved. There is a gathering together of the emotional waters. And before you know it, there is something in the heart that says, “This feels right.” The emotional body has a right place to be. It has found its right place, created by a conscious awareness of Spirit.

We are created to touch and to know and to be in relationship with the reality of Spirit, both consciously and from a feeling standpoint. In our classes here, we teach that the reality of God, by whatever name, speaks to us through both thought and feeling if we are open to it—if we say for ourselves, “Awake, O north wind, in me; and come, thou south.”

I want to honor the fact that there are people awakening to this reality from many walks of life around the world—in some cases, becoming aware of each other, as we are on this phone line and in the Dome here. In some cases, there is ongoing association in an organization. But for me, and I believe for others, at Sunrise Ranch and perhaps for Circles of Light as well, there is a particular delight in acknowledging that this is not a man-made phenomenon. If our association has meaning, if our organizations have meaning, yes, it is because we’ve been willing to do something; but the real significance is what has been created at a level higher than the human, and we have been open enough to participate consciously and in feeling, and therefore something has been done. But the origination point for the doing, for the awakening, is someplace else. Acknowledging that, we are not prisoners of our own doing. We are blessed with the provision of the Creator, who sees what is happening and sees that this is good.

The spirit of the Creator knows no bounds. The love that flows through the heart is not confined, individually speaking. We have separate bodies but we have one heart. We have separate nationalities, ethnic and racial backgrounds, religious backgrounds, and so on, and distinct activities. But we have one heart. At a conscious level, we are becoming aware of one thing, taking unique shape in each of us, which is the thought of the Creator, who knows full well that there is a possibility for something different on Planet Earth and who is doing everything that can be done, from a spiritual standpoint, to transform human consciousness and transform the world.

All that’s left in this scenario is for us to do our part: to welcome the north wind and the south to blow upon our garden, to bring blessing and wisdom through our feelings and through our thoughts to other people. When that is done, we also bring the power to change the world, the power to change a life. I know that’s going on here at Sunrise Ranch and for Emissaries around the world, and I know it’s going on in Circles of Light. Where there is blessing and wisdom, there is the power to change a human life. And if there is the power to change one life, there is the power to change the world.