When Foster Gamble visited Sunrise Ranch, some of us spent an evening with him. Foster is the producer of the film Thrive and, more recently, Thrive II. He shared the idea that the torus is the shape of Creation. It is the shape of the Milky Way, as scientists agree. And he said it is the shape of Creation in the human experience. He also suggested that at the heart of the torus is a black hole.

Scientists discovered a supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way galaxy. And for millennia, sages have spoken of heaven’s portal, or the window of heaven, by many names.

Foster went on to hypothesize as to what was on the other side of this portal, within the black hole. He suggested there was a city. A startling idea!

There is not literally a city in there, made of bricks, shops, and skyscrapers. But the word city implies that there is a reality that has definition. It has specific essences with a kind of detail unique unto itself. And it is a place of habitation for Divine Presence.

The teachings of Emissaries of Divine Light say that Creation flows as a figure 8, picturing the outer form of our experience as the lower circle in the figure 8 and the upper circle as heaven. The lower part is the torus, and that crossover point in the middle of the figure 8 is the black hole, heaven’s portal.

We, who publish the Pulse of Spirit, are interested not only in heavenly portals in theory. We are interested in this heavenly portal that is present for us now.

If someone is looking for heaven’s portal, however they think of it, we say, Here it is.

Where is here? Here is a place within our awareness. Another person cannot climb into that experience and know it as something separate from themselves. But they can help find it within themselves. That becomes easier if there is another person who is knowing it—another person who is not only looking for the portal but who knows it for themselves. When that is true, that person may say with authority, I am heaven’s portal.

The portal is the crossover point in the figure 8. Through the portal, two things are happening: there is what is coming out of heaven, and there is what is flowing up into it. There is what is descending and what is ascending. Another way to say that is that there are two faces to the portal—the feminine face and the masculine face. There are dual dynamics and dual roles that must be in balance—in partnership.  

Androgyny is a reflection of the awareness of this dual role. Sacred art sometimes presents androgyny. Though it might not be the best word for it, there is androgyny in each of us and among us. There is the dual function of the portal.

The word androgyny tends to imply that the dual function is blended—homogenous. But there are distinct dynamics. You do not want the flow going out to get all mixed up with the flow going in, do you? You would have turbulence at the crossover point without a powerful flow in either direction. There has to be the outflow and the inflow through the portal.

This is the basis for human sexuality, which we are all left to figure out for ourselves and come to some kind of understanding of human sexuality in the world in which we live. But here is the vibrational essence of it.

I think it might be fair to say that for some of us, this is a deep study in obviology. It is what we know to be true. And yet, with the state of human consciousness being what it is, including our own, isn’t it great to continually bathe our awareness in the remembrance of what is true? As we remember it for ourselves, we bring that remembrance to the world in which we live.

The simple truth is that when we, as human beings, function in this pattern of the figure 8, we thrive, to use Foster’s word. And when there is a disruption in that flow, as there is in so many ways in human experience, we struggle.

In recent weeks in America, we have had multiple tragic mass shootings. Many commentators on gun violence in America say this:

While we are sick with grief over these events, and we are filled with compassion for the families of the people most directly involved, we are tired of just agonizing over this. We are tired of prayers and moments of silence in vain. We ask for something to be done. 

There are problems with the flow of the figure 8 in our culture related to gun violence, as there are in so many facets of human life. There are entities in American culture that are sucking the lifeblood out of the culture. Gun manufacturers promote the sale of military-style assault weapons and fund the National Rifle Association (NRA). The NRA promotes political support for guns. Then United States Senators pander to the NRA and the portion of the population it has seduced into promoting the availability of weapons of war. The result is that there are far more civilian-owned guns in the United States than there are people. And today, firearms are the leading cause of death among children in America.

It is a highly repugnant phenomenon to witness. How did it happen? This horror didn’t just appear without a cause. The unpleasant fact is that there are entities that are leeching the lifeblood out of American culture.

There is nothing wrong with leeches in nature. Leeches are worms that have a natural place in the ecology of life on Planet Earth. But human beings are not meant to act as leeches. And even though it is happening in plain sight, it is subtle enough that many people don’t see what is transpiring.

Fortunately, while we participate in the culture of the nation in which we live, we have the opportunity to participate in a creative flow that transcends the culture. We know better than to rely on that for our vitality. And still, we encounter the horror of it.

In Revelation, John says this:

And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter. 

Life is sweet—no question about that. But given the world as it is, there is so much in world culture that is bitter in the belly.

Have you ever had the experience of feeling like you wanted to throw up, even though it wasn’t a physical reaction? That there was something that had come into your system energetically that did not agree with you? That was bitter in the belly?

At a physical level, there is a reason for vomiting at times, as unpleasant as it is. And there is a reason to rid ourselves of the energy in the culture around us that does not belong in our vibrational system. We are here to bring something to this world. But we are not here to allow ourselves to be infected by it.

We can try and try to enjoy the flow of the figure 8—to enjoy a thriving life. But if we have not identified what leeches off that life in our own experience, it is a futile attempt. We generate life. But as fast as we do, it leaks away.

We are made as human beings to enjoy life abundantly in our energetic system—to enjoy the outflow of the abundance from heaven’s portal and return the ascending energy of our living through the portal in praise and thanksgiving.

The truth is that, as human beings, we are here to be heaven’s portal, to be in that place that is the crossover point between heaven and earth.

People have described heaven in many ways. It is the essence of what may appear on the earth. Foster Gamble described it as a city. So did John in Revelation:

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

A city, all decked out—the essence of an invisible reality streaming through. Streaming through where? Standing as heaven’s portal, we say, Streaming through here.

Jesus had another way of describing heaven.

The kingdom of God is within you. (Luke 17:21)

What a fantastic picture! A kingdom within you. With castles and farmlands? And where? In your chest? In your head?

Within the portal that you are is the kingdom of God. Standing as the portal, we are here to let that kingdom stream through—become apparent, be expressed, and embodied. As Dr. Bill Bahan used to say, The kingdom of God is within you—let it out!

This passage from the Bhagavad Gita is about the appearance of heaven through the portal. It is from the story of Krishna’s revelation to Arjuna.

Gaze, then, thou Son of Pritha! I manifest for thee
Those hundred thousand thousand shapes that clothe my Mystery:
I show thee all my semblances, infinite, rich, divine,
My changeful hues, my countless forms. See! in this face of mine,
Wonders unnumbered, Indian Prince! revealed to none save thee.
Behold! this is the Universe! — Look! what is live and dead
I gather all in one—in Me! Gaze, as thy lips have said,
ON GOD ETERNAL, VERY GOD! See Me! see what thou prayest! 

Thou canst not!—nor, with human eyes, Arjuna! ever mayest!
Therefore I give thee sense divine. Have other eyes, new light!
And, look! This is My glory, unveiled to mortal sight!

We are here to be Krishna. Obviously, that is too tall a task for a mere human. Good thing we are not mere humans. We are here as a window of heaven to reveal the hundred thousand thousand shapes of heaven, to reveal the holy city. As John said, it is a revelation; it is an apocalypse, in some sense terrifying, as it was to Arjuna.

At some point, Arjuna says to Krishna, Stop! Stop! Stop! I want to know you as you were. I believe we are each here to bring that apocalypse, that revelation of Krishna as a window of heaven, shining as light eternal through our word, our creatorship, our song, our poems, our artistic expression, through the truth that we bring, and the power of Attunement that we share with the world, standing in heaven’s portal.

I invite you to allow the power of light eternal, love all compelling, to come through you. Bring the holy city, divine consciousness, through the portal, into the human world.

Perhaps you will say these words with me:

Here it is. Stand and see. Draw near to this portal. Enter this portal. Be this portal and know this heavenly flow. 

This portal is a stargate that has immediate relevance for all our individual worlds. This stargate is present in your world because you are present, and we who stand in the stargate are present with you in your world. We are all present with each other as the stargate.

Knowing this to be true, we bring the stargate to the world at large, unaffected by the leeches of human culture. We allow for the circulation that emanates from here and returns here. We welcome that return, saying to all who are open to it, Come home. The home is known here in heaven’s portal. This is the heavenly home offered on earth.

And so we are the woman clothed with the sun who welcomes her children home, who enfolds all responding hearts and encourages all awakening consciousness. We are the woman clothed with the sun who says, Come home. Come home. Come home.

We are heaven’s portal. We are the opening through which the holy city enters the world and where Krishna, the Divine Presence that lives in that city, is welcomed and thus enters the world.