Living Mysticism-The Meeting of Heaven and Earth

Every Tuesday evening 7:30 PM

The theme for the next class will usually be posted on the Sunday or Monday before class.

WLast week we started with Dante's Inferno. This week we are going to start with some, probably, very familiar words from the musical Godspell. You would all like to catch a glimpse of Heaven or Paradiso from time to time, but in order to do that, you need, as A Course in Miracles would define it, to "remove the blocks to Love's presence." Here might be some of the blocks (from the song "All for the Best") ( and no, my group emailing system doesn't seem to allow for the setup of lines in verse): "When you feel sad or under a curse; Your life is bad, your prospects are worse; Your wife is sighing, crying, And your olive tree is dying (substitute plant of choice!); Temples are greying, teeth are decaying, creditors weighing your purse; Your mood and your robe (substitute appropriate garment of choice!) are both a deep blue; You'd bet that Job had nothing on you; Don't forget that when you go to heaven, you'll be blessed. Yes, it's all for the best."

　 So much for Godspell's litany of woes and their recompense on the other end! Lousy conditions, great benefits! But, benefits aside, maybe your inner "union" needs to do some work on the conditions in the here and now, not necessarily to fix it all, but to create better living conditions. I did just say "better" conditions. Don't imagine that you are suddenly going to "fix" it all. That's an old human concept that needs to go. Trying to "fix" everything will keep you treading water, or maybe mud in Dante's case, in "Hell", instead of catching glimpses of "Heaven". Fixing won't happen, indeed can't happen, so you'll never move. Fixing belongs to the over organising part of the human brain because it neither likes nor understands chaos and therefore labels it as "bad". In fact, chaos is a very necessary part of change. So try to remind your brain from time to time that chaos might be "a good thing". In the Tarot number cycle, four is the number of stability. But, note, please, that four isn't even half way through the number cycle. So what are we all doing trying to stay at four? Well, it's a familiar and safe place, and, yes, it might be boring, or feel like a prison. But, heck, if you want three square meals a day and a roof over your head, prison might just be the place. Stability is there, however, to provide a platform for growth and evolution, not an end in itself. That is the difference. Plenty of people keep the same jobs all of their lives but are still growing. However, when habit or stability becomes a box, then you might need to do something about it. Or, you might expect the Universe to do something about it. In comes number five, the "intruder" as we like to call it, and breaks up the old order. With it comes chaos. Or, as Marianne Williamson once worded it, "God came into my life like a wrecking ball."

Charque always compares the energy of number five to the process of remodelling your house. While that process is going on, there is chaos in the house. But there is, of course, a purpose behind all of that chaos: namely, a refurbished house. The same applies to a move. Sorting through all of your belongings, getting rid of some of them, packing the rest up for the movers or for you to transport, and then unpacking it all at the other end and finding space and place for it all is a chaotic process. But it is what the move requires of you. A move, metaphorical or otherwise, to the "sunny side of the street" would also require its equivalent in sorting, pitching, valuing, keeping. You cannot move all of your baggage to the "sunny side", at least not if you want sun over shade, joy over sadness, or Heaven over Hell.

CS Lewis wrote a book (a quite short book) called "The Great Divorce". It describes a busload of folks journeying from Hell to Heaven. It sounds idyllic. Then they find that Heaven's ground and even the grass is too hard and solid for them to walk on and it hurts their feet. That is because Heaven is more real. Furthermore, they are required to let go of certain habits and patterns of behaviour to stay in Heaven because these have no place in Heaven. Everyone gets help from angels and guides, but many of these visitors from Hell find it too difficult and too demanding and so they get back on the bus to return to Hell, the familiar place, where you don't have to let go of or get rid of anything. How do they get back to Hell from Heaven? Through just a very slight crack in Heaven's otherwise substantial ground. Hell is just a crack in Heaven's surface. Yet we all make it so big. I want our "sunny side of the street" to be more like Heaven which means there are certain conditions that go with being there or moving there. You can't hang on to old patterns of whining and victimhood. They are habits that have to go. Or, at least entertain the idea that such habits are big hindrances to learning to live joyfully. Carolyn Myss has developed a concept of "woundology" which she uses to define a process of hanging onto your wounds because they are your identity. There are many people who do not want to relinquish that identity or the old grievances that form that identity. That is their choice. But it will keep them helpless. You are not helpless. You are "created in the image of God", as Genesis describes it, which is VERY BIG. Of course, if you identify yourself with just a crack in Heaven's ground, no, that is not very big. But it is also, I might add, a delusion. Why focus on a crack in the ground when you have all of Heaven to focus on? Okay, so the ground is hard to walk on and hurts your feet. And you have to let go of some old and familiar addictions. There are guides and mentors and angels to help you. You are not alone. A Course in Miracles Facebook quote this week says: "The Holy Spirit must work through you to teach you. He (She) is in you." (Textbook, chapter 7,1V:2:1). A part of you is God. The Holy Spirit is in you to connect you to that part, to keep that highway bridge open and the channels clear. But if you ignore the Holy Spirit (or whatever you call that connection to your Source), then of course it is as good as useless. As "Dear Abby" once said: " Those that don't read are no better off than those who can't read." In Tarot, the Holy Spirit is the High Priestess card, the inner teacher or guide, and your intuition and inner voice. Do not neglect her.

A Course in Miracles also asks: "What is Heaven but a song of gratitude and love and praise by everything created, to the Source of its creation?" (Textbook chapter 26:1V:3:5) Somewhere, in all of this move to "the sunny side of the street", you have to learn to stop whining and complaining and reassess your life. You need to sprinkle it with a smattering of gratitude both about who you are, what life has offered you, and what you have achieved. I once had a woman ask me: "Why haven't I won the lottery?" People tend to ask Tarot readers questions like that. You might call it "dumb", but everything has its teachable moment. I looked at her and said: "What have you done with your life?" She started to count things off, even using her fingers to count on. I then asked her: "Would you have done any of these things if you had won the lottery?" She looked at me a moment and then said "No." I replied: "There is your answer. Why would God have given you the lottery?" She has been learning to walk on Heaven's ground without even knowing it or appreciating it. You all need to stop complaining and realise what you have achieved. Heaven is often just a flip of perspective. Or, as A Course in Miracles words it: "You don't have to change the world. You have to change your mind about the world." Then you will find Heaven even on Earth. So, to go back to Godspell and "All for the Best": verse two of that song pictures "the sunny side of the street" to be all about worldly success and hedonistic indulgences, a life that seems to work easily and have it made. But that's just the perspective of the whiners. Or, as Charque would say: "You don't read cards for those so-called successful people!" No one is here on a free ticket. Everyone has their challenges. Let "the sunny side of your street" be as much as possible your state of mind and not where you have washed up in life physically and materially. "Happiness", as a cartoon once said, "is not needing anything to make you happy." Besides, if you don't have money enough to invest, you'll never end up around a Bernie Madoff or lose all of your investments to an Enron debacle. Just sayin'!

Tuesday January 28th

In this class of "Living Mysticism" we focus on the four M's of Metaphysics, Meditation, Mirrors and Messages.We select a metaphysical theme around which, loosely put, the other parts rotate. Meditation is self-explanatory. Mirrors involve our much advocated practice of knowing that your world reflects you and your mind. Messages, wherever they come from, help both the understanding of your world and yourself/Self, as well as helping to focus the practice of meditation. To that end, bring whatever cards or oracles you wish to use, or use some of ours.

NOTE: We have found that the emails we send out each week, with a focus and theme for the upcomong class, are popular. People say they are finding them useful in terms of their own life challenges, whether or not they can or want to come to the actual classes. Any one who wishes to be put on this emailing list may request to do so by emailing us at RuthChar@livingmysticism.com