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

DAVID KARCHERE: Circles of Light, thank you for coming. It’s important to us that you all come. It is enriching to our lives.

I want to talk about two spiritual practices that are important for anyone on a spiritual path. These are practices that are not just the kind of thing that you do in your own quiet space, not just something you do on a Sunday morning or in a special seminar. These are practices that are mostly about living. If a person will undertake these two practices, they will have an experience of spiritual transformation. So here they are.

The first one is acceptance and gratitude. Around here, we like to underline the point with three little words: “No matter what.” No matter what comes to us in the living of life, no matter how wonderful, how easy to accept, or how difficult and how hard to accept it may seem to be, if we will first accept what’s happening in our life for what it is—without trying to deny it, without trying to walk away from it, or pretend it’s not happening, we will be on a creative path. And then, if we not only accept it but learn to relish what has come, in gratitude, we will transform our experience. We cannot stay the same and have that attitude.

Here is the second spiritual practice: It is simply to give your finest. To give your finest—and again, no matter what. So what does that mean, to give your finest? It means that we not only do what we think is the right thing to do or the best thing to do. It means that we don’t just do what we do in a begrudging kind of way, and say, “All right, I know I’m supposed to do this, and so I will.” It means that, having accepted the circumstance exactly as it is, we give our highest and finest into it, in thought and word and deed and feeling and attitude. We give the finest spirit that we know into what we’re doing, no matter what.

If we actually undertake to do those things, we will find we are running counter to the herd. This approach to living is certainly not prevalent in the world today.  However, that’s not the greatest challenge, because not only will we be running counter to the herd out there but there may be something of a herd in here that’s running in a different direction; namely our own thoughts and feelings.

I was thinking about what is the common human experience. It’s characterized well by these words: From dust we have come, and to dust we shall return. Isn’t that the basic human assumption, that we are, in our essence, dust? And we’ve been fortunate enough to be animated by life, or by the Infinite, so that some of the Infinite has come into this dust and animated it? But still there’s a lot of dusty consciousness lying around. So for many people, life goes like this: We’ve come from nothing, and everything comes from nothing, and it’s all going to end up in nothing. From the standpoint of the dust, that may be how it goes.

But from the standpoint of the Infinite, that’s not how it goes. The Infinite says, “From the eternal I have come, and to the eternal I shall return.” That is a totally different experience. When we engage in the two practices I spoke of, we give our human capacity, our human dust, a chance to align itself with the attitude of the Infinite.

Now the Infinite is not trying to accept all things; it’s not trying to be grateful in all things. That’s just how the Infinite is! The Infinite accepts everything because that is Its nature. And the Infinite gives the highest and finest, for the highest possibility of creation in this moment and every moment, not because it’s trying to do that but just because that is the nature of the Infinite. So as we give thanks in all things, as we give our finest in all things, we are asking our human mind and heart to align with the Infinite. As we do that, the Infinite comes into consciousness in a new way, so that we are not just human dust looking to be energized or inspired by the Infinite. We come to know that the Infinite is the most real thing about us. It’s the truest thing about us.

We have a human experience. I’ve got one! There is a process of spiritual transformation by which the human being comes into a knowing of their Infinite reality. When a person first moves along that path, they may be saying to themselves that they have to get out of the way so that the Infinite, so that God, by whatever name, can come through them. A person may realize they have all kinds of habits—feeling habits, habits of behavior and habits of thought. With all those habits comes a sense of self, and a sense of who one is. As a person awakens spiritually, they may say to themselves, “I just have to get out of the way so that the Divine can come through.” And you know, for a while that works pretty well. For a while there’s an increased experience of the Divine through a person on that basis, and a person moves on a spiritual path.

Somewhere along the way, that ceases to work for the person, and a new awareness comes into the mix. The sense of self that the person was looking to banish comes back into play in a new way, and in essence the person realizes that in fact they can’t banish their personality into some other dimension; that they are human, they have a human capacity. And what has been left unanswered is, what do I do with this?

Somewhere along the line, if a person keeps moving, and if they’re lucky enough to hear it, there is the voice of the Divine that says, “Give that to Me. That which you thought was such a problem and you didn’t know what to do with—give it to Me. That personality that seems so troublesome to you”—anybody else have a personality that’s gotten themselves into trouble, at times at least? “That personality that was so troublesome, give it to Me. I need it. I need it to be in the world.” All the facets of personality are needed by the Divine, by the reality of who we are.

And so, in essence, what we hear is, “Give Me your feelings. Give Me your grief, because I know what to do with it. Give Me your anger. Do you have anger? Give the energy of that anger to Me. I know what to do with that. It will be safe in My hands,” says the Divine. “It will be used for My purposes, and it won’t be human anger anymore. That’s not what that is.

“You know that willfulness that you tried to let go of? Give that to Me. I need that kind of determination to be on earth and to do what I have to do on earth. I need that will. Give it to Me.

“You know your desire for pleasure and fulfillment that took you down so many wrong paths and got you involved in things that were hurtful for you and for other people—that desire for pleasure and fulfillment that you tried to banish to serve Me, as you denied yourself? Give it to Me. It’s for Me. It’s for divine pleasure and divine fulfillment through you on earth. And if you deny that, you deny Me. And in My hands, that powerful compulsion to know fulfillment and pleasure in life will be used for good, because it will be used for a higher good. It will be used for the Divine.”

I love this path that we are on. I believe everyone here is on that path or else I assume you wouldn’t be here. I don’t know of another reason for being in this room this morning. It’s good to hear the call of the Infinite that rings through our being.

How do we honor that call? Initially, it is by listening to it, by hearing it, by lending an ear, by not walking the other way when we hear it. It’s by being willing to respond to that call in our moments, so that we come to know what it is to truly serve the Infinite.

What is the ultimate way we honor what we’re called to? If there’s something that’s calling us in our life, what is the ultimate honor we could pay? To answer that call, and to bring the reality of what is calling us to our world. I want to bring it maybe even more to focus for some of us. If there is someone in your life who has brought to you something that you treasure and value, how do you honor that? What is the greatest honor you could pay to the gift you have been given?

I believe it is to be the reality you are loving—to be it in your living, to manifest it. If any of us have touched something that we love in an all-compelling kind of way, our journey leads to that, to being it.

This world needs people who are being the reality of the Infinite in human expression. We may like to think that this whole world is going to work out somehow because God is going to handle it. If there is to be a creative future for humanity it has to happen through people. I daresay that we are here this morning because there are people who have given their highest and their finest down through the millennia. If you look at the large swathe of history, there have been those great ones who have come before you, who have shown the light. And it is on their shoulders that we stand. For any of us in the world today, if we’re walking a path of spiritual awakening and transformation, we are given that privilege by the service of those who have gone before, those who have given their highest and their finest.

By the same token, there’s a world of people today and a world of people yet to be born whose lives depend on you. Is that a strong way to put it? I believe it’s true. We like to think that we don’t make a difference—our humanity likes to think that, anyway. From the standpoint of the Divine, we know we do. From the human standpoint it may seem like a burden to bear that—“Oh my god, all these people are depending on me!” From the standpoint of the Divine, we can well say what the Master said: “My yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” And we like to say that it’s light, not just in the sense that it doesn’t weigh much, but it’s light in the sense of radiant light.

There is today a coming forth of individuals in the world, coming into an awareness of who they are, bringing the power and the glory of the Infinite into the world. As that happens, as these two groups of people are proving out, we find that we are not separate. Contrary to whatever the outer appearances are, we’re not separate as individuals, we’re not separate as groups of people, we’re not separated by spiritual paths. Where there are people who are truly walking a path of spiritual awakening and transformation, they are not awakening to different things. They are awakening to the one thing, the one reality that is coming through them in such a beautiful and diverse way. For those who are truly awakening, who have the eyes to see and the hearts to understand what is happening, it is a glorious thing to behold.

ISIS (CAROLYNE FUQUA): Well, I just want to thank David and his family and our brothers and sisters here at the Emissaries of Divine Light. It is always such a complete and total pleasure for us to come here every February and bask in your love and in your light, as you open your hearts and open your homes so graciously to us. We are so thankful for you.

We’ve been thinking, of course, a lot about the things that you have been speaking about this morning. And we have been admonished in all things to seek first the Kingdom, and know that if we want all things, that is the sure way to have all things good, abundant and well. We realized, as you were speaking this morning, that the most profound way to have that is to be, of course, in a state of love and gratitude. We know that those attitudes will move us into what we call “kingdom consciousness,” where all things great and good can drop down. You see, people want and then are often unwilling to stand where the wanting can be realized; and it is our deep intention to give the Divine that space to come through, that it so yearns for in creating.

In our relationship and partnership as the created, we are thrilled to stand for that love and for that light. And we are thrilled to stand with you in partnership, as we do indeed walk a walk that will indeed transfer the energy of God from the greatest heights into the earth plane. That is our intention, that is our commitment, and that will be done. Thank you, Emissaries of Divine Light.

I’d like to call Tanya Marie up. We don’t have a plan, but we have an idea of what could be thrilling for all of us. So let’s just see what Tanya Marie has. She’s a brilliant poetess, and we are very proud to call her sister.

TANYA MARIE ELZY: Good morning. I would like to say thank you to the Emissaries and to my master teacher Isis. I have an offering. It’s a love letter from the Infinite to you, and it is my offering this morning. It’s called “I Named You When I Made You.”

I named you when I made you.
As I spoke you into being, I named you.
Your name was a song I sang as you grew in My heart,
A song of your dimensions,
Your length, your breadth,
And your power.
I gave you no limits
Because I have none.
And I gave you My power
Because you are Mine.

I named you when I made you.
Your name is your creation,
Your beingness, and perfection.
The home of your mind is the thought that vibrates the mountains,
Gave birth to the sky,
Releases the deep
And embraces the earth.

I named you when I made you.
And with your name I made all things.
I made nothing without you,
And without you nothing can be made.

I named you when I made you.
Your name is holy because I Am.
Your name is the song of All That Is,
And if you sing it
You will hear My voice.
The stamp, the power, and the seal of what is holy
Is within you.
It cannot be found anywhere else.

I named you when I made you.
Your name is the answer to every question
And the reason why My peace is still.
I named you when I made you.
I named you when I made you.
I named you when I made you
And I have but one name.