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

(Previn Hudetz offered preservice music on piano. Joyce Karchere and Daphne Bramlett presented a chant.)

How beautiful to start our time together with the sound of that beautiful chant. There’s something in the sound of that music that takes me to a holy temple, a place within myself, a memory of a place that I know, being on earth right now. It’s a place where the forms of my life actually seem far less important than the vibration and the purpose of it—a place where we all can meet. It is our collective voice that was being sounded through Daphne and Joyce. There are times we get to join in with our voice, and there are times we join in silence. I can feel how the atmosphere changed with that invitation brought through sound.

In the time that the seven Trustees have been spending together, we have been listening deeply, and talking about things that are important to us—things that we love, things that are on the move, things that are on our edge, things that are true and always have been true, and how we might share that through words today. The same spirit of this body lives on through this body today. It has the same voice and it speaks through the ones who are holding this body, loving this body, and being this body together.

As we were together, we came up with some statements. I’d like to share them with you. This is the voice speaking about what we, participating in this ministry, are about.

We bring cosmic context to human consciousness.

Through our living example we invite the world to know the unity of love manifesting in the patterns of truth.

We are remembering who we are.

We are living our destiny.

We are building a sun.

How about you? Does that sound like your voice? Are you remembering who you are; are you living your destiny? I love this second one in particular: “Through our living example we invite the world to know the unity of love manifesting in the patterns of truth.” There are a lot of people who are proclaiming all around the world that “all we need is love.” I think there’s plenty of it around, but what about the manifestation of it through the patterns of truth? That’s the only way people can live together—let’s face it. Otherwise, there is no guiding light; there is no other creative way to hold a pattern of people together.

We started our time together as Trustees looking at human belief systems and have continued to consider this with the community here. There are many things that I was told at one point in my life were true that my own living proved otherwise—things that my parents thought were true. Like only the people who believe this way are good people. Anybody else been taught that? It’s interesting to have two people raised with different beliefs in the same room, who were taught they were the good ones, the right ones. They could try to dismiss each other, but where does that go? Another approach is to meet the truth, the wonder and the majesty in another person when the identity and the value you place on them is not based on whether or not they agree with your beliefs.

Some people approach these differences by not talking about them. “All we need is love. So let’s not talk about what you believe and let’s not talk about what I believe, and we’ll just love each other and see if it will manifest something.” It’s a good starting place, because at least it puts down the fight. But if you want to create together, you will find a passionate desire to create with someone who loves what you love, holds what it is that’s important to you, and will manifest your destiny together. My destiny happens to be tied to your destiny, all of your destiny. And if I’m not in position to see who you are, bless your destiny, I end up cursing myself.

You are a wonder. You are clothed in glory; and I see it. Let’s go be about that. If I deny that truth, if I live believing “I’m the good person here, and you will only be good if you are like me,” my life will be a failure. Judgment aside, there isn’t anybody else like me. And there is no one else like you either. Therefore we are remembering who we are, not just in our uniqueness but in our oneness. The patterns of truth tie it all together—tie us all together. Many people enjoy the solitude and sanctity in the world outside the human realm. The flowers, birds and animals have no choice but to reveal the truth. But as human beings, we consciously get to participate—or not. We get to reveal this, or not.

So in the discovery that you actually believe something that might need to pass away, there is a moment of humility and also a moment of wonder. There is a moment of curiosity, possibility, of I thought this was true and I’m realizing it’s not. What else have I held in stone? What else have I thought about myself or you that needs to pass away? What else have I not seen as wonderful, so that it might grow?

There are a lot of stories written about adults who have turned out to be either unhappy, destructive or disturbed, that in the review of their life never had anyone saying to them, “You are my wonderful child,” and were often told the opposite. They ended up manifesting a different message: “You are a problem. You are a nuisance. I didn’t want to have you anyway.” There are hundreds of that variety. We may have heard some of each. Hopefully we heard at some point in our life “I love you. I see you. I’m grateful you’re here. I’ve always wanted a daughter or son just like you.”

So here we are in a room full of people, all out of diapers, independent from our childhood requirements. What are we saying to our friends now? “I’m so glad you’re in my life. I’ve been looking for a friend like you forever. I can’t wait to see what we’re going to do together. Did anyone tell you how handsome you are today?”

We are building a sun.  The power of the sun is in that.  It is in the blessing, and acknowledgment and the majesty, the warmth and the beauty of our nature, because as we remember who we are, we shine forth that which is true of us and we see that which is true in another.

Let us remember who we are, live our destiny and build a sun together.