Q’uote of the Day
September 13th, 2008
" …To the outer world…it does seem self-indulgent and pretentious to spend the time in prayer and meditation, contemplation and reflection, mulling over the events of the day, estimating that which one has experienced and that which one has harvested from the day’s journey.Yet, we assure you that the requirement of one who wishes to enter the gates of intelligent infinity is this focus that accepts the discipline of the personality with joy and moves with lithesome feet, in terms of the energy body, into a basic attitude towards living that is at all times aware of this vital, inner space which is that nest from which the true self may emerge to live what seems to be an ordinary day but in fact is an enchanted, wonderful experience."
I just wanted to include the last paragraph…its a special read indeed. The two paragraphs before tho pave the way …
"There is a tendency to forget to invoke this gratitude when that which lies before one does not seem to be a blessing. And yet, we would suggest that there is wisdom in waiting those few seconds before you undertake a challenging duty in order that you may open your heart and mind to the realization of the full measure of your gratitude for the opportunity to be alive in the creation of the Father and to face this moment.
In just this way does the discipline of the personality begin. It does not begin with meditation, although meditation is vital to a spiritual practice. Rather, it begins on the very surface of things, in the very smallest of chores and duties. It begins with the realization of the tremendous fortune that you have in coming to this moment just where you are, with just the people with whom you are and facing just exactly the blessings and challenges that you now face.
There is an ecstasy which comes when the spirit is ready to be honed in its focus and dull care flies away; when the spirit gathers its feet under it and surges into a full and vertical existence within. The whole energy body begins to sing when this begins to happen. And where before there was a flat and pleasant landscape of things to do and people to see, now you are at the cutting edge of the present moment and anything is possible."
Given the highly sychronistic nature for me of next readings… I must include these also. Those concepts of focus(or concentration) and straight and narrow path which have been part of some of my contemplation, an reading in other transcripts.
“With this attitude, when one then moves into meditation and other rituals designed to deepen the spiritual practice, there is a lack of effort and a lack of complexity to the path. For that within you which moves into the meditation is, by your focus on the present moment, already in a premeditative state of focus.”
Just to pause for a moment… that is exactly what one must keep in mind to remember to right way as one progresses there is that “increasingly lack and lack effort complexity”. Actualy to increase my focus sometimes I have to remind myself should come naturally not forced. Now back to the transcript…
“Thusly, we say to you that while the spiritual path that seeks higher knowledge, higher experiences, and higher relationships is indeed a narrow path, a “strait” path in that sense, it is a winding road and often an exciting, surprising path. Sinuous and muscular, the path unrolls before you and responds to the tempo and the energy or character of your particular ever-shifting position within the many layers of your essential being.”
That very important distinction… in that concept straight and narrow path!
"Paradoxically, as one focuses into the present moment and dedicates oneself ever more completely and deeply to the service of the one infinite Creator, the experience of the self which is undergoing this discipline of the personality is expansive. This instrument has often noted in moments of ecstasy that there is so fine a focus as to feel that one is standing on the head of a pin. And yet there is the balance and the equilibrium of a broad and dynamic vista in which the infinite layers of beauty and color splay out before one in infinite variety, rewarding all the senses with the utter loveliness of existence.
Always there is this play between the infinite narrowing of focus and the explosion of love and light and ecstatic waves that move the spirit infinitely in realms of beauty and truth.
Continuing to use this instrument as an example, this instrument would not give itself high marks for following a strait and narrow path. Indeed, it sets store by using the light touch. And this is a perfect illustration of the paradoxical nature of the strait and narrow path."
To tie a nice box around this gift of discussion and the daily quote itself… its all on that term “lithesome feet,” to remember that you them too its not a rigid straight an narrow path but a flexible one.
Now to conclude…
“We agree with this instrument that it is often seemingly unfocused and careless in its attention to detail in the worldly sense. Yet, there is a level of self which lies beneath the commonly understood levels of daily life. Each entity has this sub-level and we speak not so much of a basement as an inner reality that drives the life and that affects the attitude of the entity, which underlies its spontaneous surface reactions to surface catalyst. It is in that inner room where this instrument must spend its time. The instrument is called to live from the inner room. It cannot stray far, no matter what the activity on the surface, from this inner sanctuary. And this is where the strait and narrow nature shows itself. It informs the carelessness of the surface with the gift of love.”