The Ruler of the Summerlands

The Ruler of the Summerlands – Part 1/2

2011 May 13

by Steve Beckow

I mentioned earlier that I would post an extract from New Maps of Heaven offering Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson’s descriptions of the ruler of the Summerlands, the higher levels of the Astral Planes, who himself resides in a much higher and more exalted spirit realm.

I mentioned earlier that I would post an extract from New Maps of Heaven offering Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson’s descriptions of the ruler of the Summerlands, the higher levels of the Astral Planes, who himself resides in a much higher and more exalted spirit realm. 

I include a picture of the ruler’s own realm and of the Summerlands.

This passage is designed to illustrate how Ellie’s father Haiton probably rules the Pleiades. Obviously specific procedures may be different but it’s more attitudes that I wish to illustrate. 

Roger is a young man who recently transitioned whom Benson is shepherding around. Undoubtedly Roger is highly developed to have merited a visit to the ruler of the spirit planes.

There is no need to read this to “keep up.” I know many of you are busy and working. It’s simply here if you have the spare time some day and want to get a sense of how hierarchy functions on the other side of life and possibly as well on the Pleiades. I’ll send this to Ellie to see if she agrees that it resembles her home planet.

A bibliography appears at the end of Part 2.

Each Realm has a Ruler 

The natural laws are not the only means of what might be called government here. We have rulers. … Each realm has its ruler. That’s not a strictly accurate term, though we do use it. … He doesn’t [strictly rule]. He presides, and that is very different. I’m talking about the realms of light now. You can see for yourself how much pleasanter and easier it makes life.

No falling of one government merely to make way for another equally bad or stupid or ineffective. No political fanatics with insane and inane ideas and, what is most important, no individuals holding office who are totally unfitted for it. If the people of earth would like to settle some of their worst problems, the spirit world could give them a hint or two on how to do it. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson to new arrival Roger in MALIWU, 147.)

Although each realm has its own resident ruler, all the rulers belong to a higher sphere than that over which they preside. The position is such that it calls for high attributes on the part of its holder, and the office is held only by those who have had long residence in the spirit world. Many of them have been here thousands of years. Great spirituality is not alone sufficient; if it were, there are many wonderful souls who could hold such office with distinction.

A ruler must possess a great deal of knowledge and experience of humanity, and in addition he must always be able to exercise wise discretion in dealing with the various matters that come before him. And all the ruler’s experience and knowledge, all his sympathy and understanding, are ever at the disposal of the inhabitants of his realm, while his kindness and infinite patience are always in evidence. This great soul is ever accessible to any who wish to consult him or who bring him their problems for solution. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, LIWU, 130.)

A ruler’s knowledge of the people over whom he presides is vast. Lest it should be thought that it is humanly impossible for one mind to carry so much knowledge of the affairs of so many people as there must be in one realm, it must be understood that the mind of the incarnate is limited in its range of action by the physical brain. In the spirit world we have no physical brain to hamper us, and our minds are fully and completely retentive of all knowledge that comes to us. We do not forget things we have learned in the spirit world, whether they be spiritual lessons or plain facts. But it takes time, as you would say, to learn, and that is why the rulers of realms have spent many thousands of earthly years in the spirit world because they are placed in charge of so many people.

For the rulers have to guide and direct them, help them in their work, and unite with them in their recreation, to be an inspiration to them, and to act towards them, in every sense of the word, as a devoted father. There is no such thing as unhappiness in this realm – if for no other reason than that it would be impossible with such a grand soul to smooth away the troubles. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, LIWU, 131.)

Many of [the rulers who preside over the realms here] have been living here thousands of years. It requires the highest attributes to become one: for example, knowledge of humanity and sympathy, understanding, and discretion; patience, kindness, and spirituality. Those are a few that are demanded. A ruler’s knowledge is prodigious. At least that is how it would appear to earthly eyes. But you know … how memories work here. It’s safe to say that the ruler of a realm has a vast knowledge of the people under his care and that is what makes him so very different from other folk. For one thing, the rulers belong / to realms higher than those over which they preside. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, MALIWU, 148-9.)

 Monsignor Benson Visits the Ruler of the Spirit Realms 

But over and above the rulers is one who is the greatest of them all, and he is the ruler of the spirit world.

[Ruth and I] have … visited the high abode of the greatest of them all. … Omar is himself in personal attendance upon him; is, in fact, his right hand. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, MALIWU, 90.)

[The Chaldean, Omar] came, he said, with an invitation from the great soul whom we had assembled to honor upon that memorable day in the temple for us to visit him at his own home in the high realm in which he lived. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, LIWU, 190.)

The illustrious personage, towards whose home in the high realms we were making our way, was known by sight to every soul in the realms of light. His wish was always treated as a command and his word was law. The blue, white and gold in his robe, evidence in such enormous proportions, revealed the stupendous degree of his knowledge, spirituality, and wisdom. There were thousands who named Him as their ‘beloved master,’ the principal among whom being the Chaldean [Omar], who was His ‘right hand.’ As to his special function, he was the ruler of all the realms of the spirit world (1) and he exercised collectively that function which the particular ruler of a realm exercises individually. All other rulers, therefore, were responsible to him and he, as it were, united the realms and welded them into one, making them one vast universe, created and upheld by the Great Father of all.

To attempt to define the immense magnitude of his powers in the spirit world would be to essay the impossible. Even were it possible, understanding would fail. Such powers have no counterpart, no comparison, even, with any administrative powers upon the earth-plane. Earthly minds can only conjure up those individuals who ruled great kingdoms upon earth, who held sway over vast territories, it may be, but who did so through fear alone, and where all who lived under him lived as serfs and slaves.

No earthly king throughout the whole narrative of the history of the earth world ever presided over a state so vast as that presided over by this illustrious personage of whom I am speaking. And his kingdom is ruled by the great universal law of true affection. Fear does not, could not, exist in the minutest, tiniest fraction because there is not, and cannot be, the slightest cause for it. Nor will there ever be. He is the great living visible link between the Father, the Creator of the Universe, and His children. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, LIWU, 192.)

(1) My surmise is that by “all the realms of the spirit world” Msgr Benson means all the subplanes of the Astral Plane. Otherwise, if the exalted spirit were ruler over all the spirit world, I am hard-pressed to know how Msgr Benson could even see him.

But notwithstanding the supreme elevation of his spiritual position, he descends from his celestial home to visit us here in these realms, as I have to describe to you in a former occasion. And it is permissible for others of incomparably lesser degree to visit him in his own home.

There is nothing unsubstantial, vague or unreal about this regal being. We have beheld him on those great festival days that we have in the spirit world. He is not some ‘spiritual experience,’ some grand upliftment of the soul produced within us by some invisible means from some invisible source. He is a real living person, as firm as reality as we are ourselves – and we are more real than are you upon the earth-plane, though you are not conscious of it yet! …

There are mistaken notions that the beings of the highest realms are so ethereal as to be practically invisible except to others of their kind and that they are utterly and completely unapproachable; that no mortal of lesser degree could possibly view them and survive. (1) It is commonly held that these beings are so immeasurably higher than the rest of us that it will be countless eons of time before we shall ever be permitted to cast our eyes upon them even from a remote distance.

That is sheer nonsense. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, LIWU, 192-3.)

(1) Certainly many orders of angels are completely unapproachable and we could not view them and remain unaffected. I do not think Msgr Benson is correct in his statements here.

[The Chaldean, Omar] came behind us and allowed his hands to rest upon our heads for a brief moment. … The Chaldean told us that by placing his hands upon our heads … would … have the effect, in addition to giving us power to travel, of adjusting our vision to the extra intensity of light that we should encounter in the high realm. … The Chaldean asked us to make ourselves completely passive and to remember that we were upon a journey for our enjoyment and not as a test of our spiritual endurance. ‘And now, my friends,’ said he, ‘our arrival is awaited. So let us be off.’

We immediately felt ourselves to be floating, but this sensation ceased abruptly after what seemed but a second of time, and thereafter we had no sense of movement whatever. A light flashed before our eyes. It was extremely bright, but it was by no means startling. It vanished as quickly as it came and coincidental with its disappearance I could feel the solid ground under my feet. And then the first vision of this high realm opened before our eyes.

We were in a dimension of unparalleled beauty. There is no imagination upon the earth-plane that can visualize such inexpressible beauty and I can give you only some meager details of what we saw in the limited terms of the earth-plane.

We were standing within the realm of a king – that was evident to us at once. We stood upon an elevation some height above the city; our good friends had taken us to this particular location to present us with this superb view. It would not be possible, they said, to spend more than a limited period here, and so it was the wish of the Chaldean’s master that we should see as much as possible within that period.

Stretching before us was the wide stream of a river, looking calm, peaceful, and overwhelmingly lovely as the heavenly sun touched every tiny wave with a myriad tints and tones. Occupying a central position in the view, and upon the right bank of the river, was a spacious terrace built to the water’s edge. It seemed to be composed of the most delicate alabaster. A broad flight of steps led up to the most magnificent building that the mind could ever contemplate.

It was several stories high, each of them being arranged in a series of orders, so that each occupied a gradually diminishing area until the topmost was reached. Its exterior appearance was, if anything, almost plain and unadorned, and it was obvious why this should be so. The whole edifice was exclusively composed of sapphire, diamond, and topaz, or, at least, their celestial equivalent. These three precious stones constituted the crystalline embodiment of the three colours blue, white and gold, and they corresponded with the colors which we had seen in the robe of our celestial visitor as we had seen him in the temple and which he carried in such an immense degree.

The blue, white and gold of the jeweled palace, touched by the pure rays of the great central sun, were intensified and magnified a thousandfold and flashed forth in every direction their beams of the purest light. Indeed, the whole edifice presented to our bewildered gaze one vast volume of sparkling irradiation. …

The precious stones [the Chaldean informed us] were proper to the realm which we were now visiting. In our own realm the buildings are opaque, albeit they have a certain translucence of surface. But they are ponderous and heavy by comparison with the upper realms. We had journeyed through many other spheres to reach this present one, but had we paused to observe the land through which we had passed, we should have seen a gradual transformation taking place until the relatively heavy-looking materials of our realm became transmuted into the crystalline substance upon which our gaze was now fastened. …

We could see, surrounding the palace, many acres of the most enchanting gardens laid out in such fashion that, from the distant and elevated viewpoint which we occupied, they presented a huge and intricate pattern as in some superbly-wrought eastern carpet. …

Though we could scarcely remove our eyes from the superlative glory of the palace and its grounds, yet the Chaldean gently drew our attention to the remainder of our prospect.

It extended for miles upon countless miles – or so it seemed to us. The range of our vision was increased in these rarified regions beyond all human conception and so it seemed that literally an unending vista spread before us of more earthly miles than it is possible to contemplate. And all through this wide expanse we could see other magnificent buildings built of still more precious stones – of emerald and amethyst, to name but two, and, far away, what looked like pearl. Each of the different buildings was set amid the most entrancing gardens, where trees were growing of unimaginable richness of color and grandeur of form. Wherever we cast our eyes, there we could see the flashing of jeweled buildings, reflecting back the rays of the central sun, the myriad colors from the flowers, and the scintillations from the waters of the river that flowed before us far away into the distance.

As we were gazing spellbound upon the scene, a sudden flash of light seemed to come from the palace directly to the Chaldean and it was acknowledged by an answering flash which he sent back to the palace. Our presence in the realm was known, and as soon as we had feasted our eyes upon the view, we were asked to walk within the palace where our host would be waiting to receive us. … We therefore proceeded at once towards the palace.

By the same means of locomotion that had brought us into the sphere, we quickly found ourselves walking upon the terrace beside the river and up a broad flight of steps that led to the main entrance of the palace. The stonework of the terrace and the steps was pure white, but we were much surprised by its apparent softness underfoot for it was like walking upon the velvet softness of a well-tended lawn. Our footsteps made no sound, but our garments rustled as we walked along, otherwise our progress would have been a silent one except for our conversation. There were, of course, many other sounds to be heard. We had not stepped into a realm of silence! …

Our stay could not be prolonged beyond our capacity to resist the rarity of the atmosphere and the intensity of light, notwithstanding the charge of spiritual force that the Chaldean and the Egyptian had give us. As we passed through, therefore, we had but a fleeting glimpse of the grandeur that encompassed us. …

As we walked down the corridors we met and were greeted by the most friendly and gracious beings, who thus added to our welcome. Welcome, indeed, was the overmastering feeling that enveloped us as we first put foot within the palace. There was no coldness, but everywhere the warmth of friendliness and affection.

At last we paused before a small chamber, and the Chaldean told us that we had reached the highest point of our journey. I did not feel exactly nervous, but I wondered what formalities were to be observed…. The Chaldean … immediately reassured us by telling us to follow him and merely to observe those rules dictated by good taste.

We entered. Our host was seated by a window. As soon as he saw us he rose and came forward to greet us. First he thanked the Chaldean and the Egyptian for bringing us to him. Then he took us each by the hand and bade us welcome to his home. There were several vacant chairs close to that in which he had been seated and he suggested that we might like to sit with him there and enjoy the view. It was, he explained, his favorite view.

We drew close to the window and we could see beneath us a bed of the most magnificent white roses, as pure white as a field of snow, and which exhaled an aroma as exalting as the blooms from which it came. White roses, our host told us, were flowers he preferred above all others.

We seated ourselves, and I had an opportunity, as our host spoke to us, of observing him at close quarters where before I had but seen him from a distance. Seeing him thus, in his own home and surroundings, his facial appearance was, in general, similar to that which he had presented when he visited us in the temple in our own realm. There were differences, however, as we saw him here; differences that were largely a matter of light intensity. His hair, for example, seemed to be golden when he came to us. Here it seemed to be as of bright golden light, rather than of the color of gold. He looked to be young, to be of eternal youthfulness, but we could feel the countless eons of time, as it is known on earth, that lay behind him.

When he spoke his voice was sheer music, his laugh as a rippling of the waters, but never did I think it possible for one to breathe forth such affection, such kindliness, such thoughtfulness and consideration; and never did I think it possible for one individual to possess such an immensity of knowledge as is possessed by this celestial king. One felt that, under the Father of Heaven, he held the key to all knowledge and wisdom.

But, strange as it may sound, though we had been transported unfathomable distances to the presence of this transcendingly wonderful being, yet here in his very presence, we felt perfectly at home, perfectly as ease with him. He laughed with us, he joked with us, he asked us what we thought of his roses, and had the Chaldean managed to keep us merry upon our way thither. He spoke to each of us individually, displaying an exact acquaintance with all our concerns, collectively and personally. Then finally he came to the reason for his invitation to us to visit him.

In company with my friends, he said, I had visited the dark realms and I had recounted what I had seen there. He thought that it would be in the nature of a pleasant contrast if we were to visit the highest realm and see for ourselves some of its beauties; to show that the inhabitants of such high realms are not shadowy, unreal people, but, on the contrary, they are like ourselves, capable of feeling and exhibiting the emotions of their fine natures, capable of human understanding, of human thought, and as easily susceptible to laughter and free-hearted merriment as were we ourselves.

And he had asked us to visit him in order to tell us himself that these realms, wherein we were now visiting, were within the reach of every soul that is born upon the earth-plane, that no one can deprive us of that right; and that although it may take countless years of time to reach those realms, yet there is all eternity in which to achieve that end, and that there are unlimited means to help us upon our way. That, he said, is the simple, great fact of spirit life. There are no mysteries attached to it; all is perfectly straightforward, plain, and unrestricted by complicated beliefs, religious or otherwise. It requires no adherence to any particular form of orthodox religion, which, of itself, has no authority to assure any single soul of its powers to secure the soul’s ‘salvation.’ No religious body that ever existed can do that.

And so this realm of incomparable beauty was free and open to all to work they way thither from the very lowest and foulest realm. It may take eons of time to accomplish, but that is the great and superb finale of the lives of the earth world’s millions of souls.

Our good friend, the Chaldean, then mentioned to his ‘master’ that our stay had almost reached its limit. The latter said he was sorry to observe that it was so, but that such powers as had been invoked for us had their limitations, and, so, for our comfort, we must work within them. However, he added, there are other occasions and thus he extended further invitations to us.

We now rose and I could not resist the lure of the view of the roses from the window. I gazed out once more, then we made ready to depart.

Our gracious host said he would accompany us to the hill from which we had had our first glimpse of his kingdom. We followed a different route from that by which we had reached the palace. And what was our delight when it led us directly to the rose bed. Stooping, our host culled three of the most choice blooms that mortal eyes have ever beheld and presented one to each of us. Our joy was still further heightened by the knowledge that with the affection that we should shower upon them, the blooms would never fade and die. My one anxiety was that in taking them to our own realm we should see them crushed, perhaps, by the unaccustomed density of our heavier atmosphere. But our host assured us that they would not, for they would be borne up by our thoughts of them and of the giver, and between the one and the other they would be amply supported, and would so remain.

At length we reached our point of departure. Words would not express our feelings, but our thoughts passed unfailingly to him who had brought us this supreme happiness, this foretaste of our destiny – and of the destiny of the whole earth world and the whole spirit world. And with a blessing upon us all, and with a smile of such affection, of such ineffable benignity, he bade us God-speed, and found ourselves once more in our own realm.

I have tried to tell you something of what we saw, but words cannot be found to describe it because I cannot translate the purely spiritual into earthly terms. My account must therefore fall far, far short. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, LIWU, 194-201.)

(Continued in Part 2.)

Source: 

http://stevebeckow.com/2011/05/the-ruler-of-the-summerlands-part-12/#more-47567

The Ruler of the Summerlands – Part 2/2

2011 May 14

by Steve Beckow

Benson said he wrote his afterlife books to correct impressions in his books written in the physical

(Continued from Part 1)

The Ruler of Spirit Realms Visits Monsignor Benson in the Summerlands 

[Monsignor to Roger:] Do you remember you once asked us if we knew how old the spirit world is, and that we told you about one being, at least, who was in existence himself before the earth was? You remember, of course. Well, it is he who is coming and, incidentally, it is he who is the ruler of all the realms of the spirit world. …

You know, Roger, there are folk on earth who believe that the beings of the highest realms never by any chance leave those realms because it would be too appallingly distasteful for them to leave the rarified state in which they live. That is absolutely wrong. Those marvelous beings can, and do,, journey into the different realms. It sometimes transpires that an individual may be speaking to one such personage and be totally unaware of it.

He is not the Father of the universe…. He is known by sight, Roger, to every single soul living in the realms of light. How many thousands there are who name him their “beloved master” … it is

impossible to say.

He exercises over all the realms the function that the individual ruler exercises over the realm to which he is appointed. He unifies the whole of the realms of the spirit world into one gigantic universe, over which reigns the Father of us all. You cannot have the remotest conception … of the magnitude, the immensity or the powers possessed by him, and yet, with it all, he is the most gracious being it is possible to contemplate. His position is one of absolute regality, if one can so term it, while he himself is indescribable.

You will be able to judge for yourself, very soon, the enormous degree of knowledge, spirituality, and wisdom he possesses. The colours denoting these three attributes are blue, white, and gold and he has them upon his robe in enormous proportions. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson to Roger in MALIWU, 150-1.)

As we assembled before the house, we could perceive a distinct brightening of the light upon the outskirts of our small ‘estate.’ And we knew this for an unmistakable sign that our visitors were near. … Another moment and we saw them approaching. …

Our visitor took the hands of each of us, and spoke a word of kindly greeting. Franz and Peter had each taken an arm of Roger to give him assurance, and the picture presented by this action at once amused our visitor, for it chanced that our two friends had taken a somewhat firm hold upon Roger’s arm.

“What is this, my children?” he laughed. “You look to be holding the boy to prevent his escape from us. … Come now, Roger, my child,” he said, “what is there to fear? Would you be fearful of me? Give me your hand – so. Now banish hence all fears, never to return. It sounds like an incantation, doesn’t it?”

Roger’s confidence was restored immediately and he was himself once more.

“I think it will be safe now to release your prisoner, Peter and Franz.”

The two appeared somewhat confused because neither of them had realized, not Roger, that they were still linked in arms. The rest of us enjoyed this little episode, trifling enough in itself, but filled with kindness and humanity, and revealing, as clearly as the noonday sun, that even the highest personages from the highest realms of the spirit world are not impossible beings, grim and forbidding, humourless and unsmiling, but that they breathe forth from the very essence of all that is warmhearted and human.

Roger never for an instant took his eyes from our illustrious guest, who was habited as he usually is upon such visits: that is to say, in a gossamer-like white robe, bordered with a deep band of gold, fastened by a great pink pearl. His hair was golden, though when this is seen in the high realm where he lives, the golden hue becomes golden light.

What seemed to attract Roger most of all was the countenance of our visitor, for following upon what we had told him of his immense age, as measured in earthly time, and running into millions of years, yet could Roger perceive no signs of the passage of time. Yet most assuredly when he spoke to Roger, the latter knew that there stretched behind him aeons of time, while he presented the outward appearance of eternal youthfulness.

At length we repaired indoors; our guest seated himself in the special armchair while we occupied a half-circle round him – seated also, I need hardly add, for upon all such occasions we behave like rational human beings!

Our guest spoke to each of us in turn and here again, lest I should be misunderstood, let me hasten to affirm that our conversation was also upon rational lines. We were most certainly not like a group of school-children being submitted to an awful inquisition by some bloodless inspector. We were free to speak when we wished, subject to the demands of ordinary good manners. And what is most important, we had many an occasion for laughter – and we laughed.

… Our guest thanked the two composers (1) for all their work, as well as that of their colleagues, and assured them of his ever continued help and inspiration. It was interesting … to hear the three discussing a number of musical technicalities with lively vigour. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson of the Ruler of the Spirit Realms in MALIWU, 152-4.)

[After the ruler left,] what we had enjoyed was no ‘spiritual experience,’ such as the religiously-minded on earth might consider it to be. An overwhelming experience, it would be foolish to deny, and its spiritual value would be equally foolish to ignore, but the emotions we felt were deliriously bright, cheerful, happy, exhilarating emotions; never pious or sanctimonious, nor so awe-inspiring as to leave us bereft of all sense of complete enjoyment – for the latter is what is intended by the visit, and not something done solely for the ‘good of our immortal souls.’ Those same immortal souls would derive superabundant benefit in a natural way, without overlaying it with an unnatural, impossible religiosity. (The Ruler of the Spirit Realms visits Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson in MALIWU, 156-7.)

How Decisions are Made

Each and every form of work has its separate organization. There are no such things as haphazard methods. Every type of pursuit has those in charge of it who are experts and the administration admits of no muddle or fuss. There is no mismanagement for everything runs with the smoothness of perfectly-constructed machinery under the operation of efficient hands.

It must not be concluded from this that we are infallible. That would be a totally wrong estimation, but we know that whatever our mistakes may be we are always sure that our perfect organization will come to our rescue and help us to put things right. Mistakes are never frowned upon as a piece of glaring inefficiency, but are regarded as very good lessons for us by which we can profit to the fullest extent. But because of this sympathy with our mistakes, we are not careless on that account, for we have our natural and proper pride in our work, which spurs us on to do our best always – and free from mistakes. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, LIWU, 182-3.)

As soon as some new building is desired, the ruler of the realm is consulted. … Knowing, as he does, so intimately the needs and wishes of all in his realm, there never arises a case where some building is required for the use and service of all but that the wish is granted. The ruler then transmits the request to those in authority above him, who in turn refer it to those still higher. We then foregather in the central temple in the city where we are received by one whose word is law, [a] great soul…

Now, this seemingly involved procedure of passing on our request from one to another, may suggest to the mind the tortuous methods of officialdom with its delays and protractedness. The method may be somewhat similar, but the time taken in performance is a very different matter. It is no exaggeration to say that within the space of a few earthly minutes our request has been stated, and the permission – with a gracious blessing accompanying it – has been granted. (Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson, LIWU, 116-7.)

Bibliography

LIWU: Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson through Anthony Borgia, medium, Life in the World Unseen. M.A.P., 1993.

MALIWU: Monsignor Robert Hugh Benson through Anthony Borgia, medium, More About Life in the World Unseen. San Francisco: H.G. White, 1956; c1968.

NMH: New Maps of Heaven, at http://www.angelfire.com/space2/light11/nmh/nmh-index1.html

 Source:

http://stevebeckow.com/2011/05/the-ruler-of-the-summerlands-part-22/

How Do We Bring Quantum Activism into Our Daily Life? Part 1/2

2011 May 11

tags: Awakening, Creativity, Quantum Activism

by Pat Donworth

In his book, How Quantum Activism Can Save Civilization, Amit Goswami, Ph.D.  discusses how to bring a quantum consciousness (others might call it unity awareness) into the world. One of the chapters is “Can a Few People Make a Difference?” and his answer is a resounding “Yes.” His key is “creativity”  in the midst of a materialist society that wants to strip everyone of their creativity, save that which perpetuates the status quo.

Perhaps the most critical piece is that we do what we love, that we do that which flows from the unique creativity in each of us: some of us like to build things or create art; others like to teach the young; others like to set up structures that provide sound foundations; others like to grow gardens and nurture animals. Our creative impulse is as unique as each of us is unique.

“Sing to me the song of your soul”

The way we co-create the building of a New World is to identify and embrace our creativity, then launch ourselves from that creative place, from that living stream, that connection to Source. Being ‘in the zone’ is like being fed with a high octane love of life. Many of us have spent a lifetime pushing away that inner call to do what our Soul wants to express. Perhaps it’s time to look our Soul in the eye, and reach out to embrace our ‘inner muse’ or the ‘song of our soul’.

Long ago I had a dream. I was in ‘heaven’ or what I would now call the upper astral plane. An Indian saint, now deceased, stood before me and said, “Sing to me the song of your soul.” Then the dream ended. I’d long known that writing was the ‘song of my soul’. My creativity. The way Source expressed itself most easily and fluidly through me for me and into the world. Perhaps I hadn’t embraced it as sure-handed as I could have – up till then. After  that dream, I became part of an editorial team producing books, and I began writing magazine articles. I couldn’t have been happier. At this critical time, when we are being called upon to co-create a better world, now is the time to look inside and embrace that ‘still, small Voice’ that KNOWS who we are and what makes us happy. That creative happiness IS our unique gift.

Do-Be-Do-Be-Do

When we are being truly creative – from our soul level – we move, says Amit Goswami, from a “do, do, do” lifestyle to a “do-be-do-be-do” way of being. In other words, we live from the ‘inner fountain’ that doesn’t run dry. This is what dissolves the duality and introduces us to the FLOW of One Life, One Love.

And, I might add, it doesn’t happen from sitting in our chair and “om-ing” two hours a day. Om-ing is great, I lived in an ashram for many years and meditated hours a day. I still meditate daily. But quantum activism means knowing when to get out of our meditation chairs and bring the fruits of our meditation and our quantum consciousness out into the world to join Source in co-creating a new, quantum society. Do-Be-Do-Be-Do. It’s knowing how to keep the balance of inner-outer, so we can thrive through the heavy lifting that building the New World often calls for.

Not so ‘random’ anymore . . .

 
What we need do is get in touch with our own quantum self, know how to access our creativity, then bring that creativity into the arenas that we frequent and have natural connections with — our relationships, our work and profession, the businesses we frequent, our education connections (the schools we or our children attend), our finances and banking, our healthcare.

As Swami Beyondananda might say, “It’s time to get our quantum off the couch and leap into some action!”

The New World we envision is about sharing, caring, and “kind-ing” — yes, making those ‘random acts of kindness’ not so random anymore, but rather our modus operandi, or, simply, the quantum way of doing things. Instead of looking to feed our sense of separateness, look to see how we are one. Instead of looking to see what someone is doing wrong, look to see what someone is doing right. Instead of trying to assert our superiority, realize the quantum field doesn’t play favorites. You’ll find that awareness of our ‘oneness’ has its immediate benefits: you’ll simply feel better. Literally. Research studies are showing us that we are wired for collaboration. (See Lynne McTaggart’s just released book The Bond.) Collaborate, don’t retaliate!

14 Ways to Practice Quantum Activism

1. If you’re internet savvy , join forums, discussion groups, chats, social networks that focus on quantum or high spiritual principles. It’s very helpful to have a group or community of like-minded people with whom you can share your awakening consciousness. Sometimes those closest to us – spouse, children, siblings, parents, relatives – are on different ‘wavelengths’ and may ridicule, dismiss, or ignore our awakening consciousness. (If only I had a dollar for each time one of my relatives called me a ‘weirdo’ because of my ‘out of the box’ thinking!) Being part of a like-minded group where we are affirmed and supported, where we can speak and share freely without judgment or condemnation, allows us to safely and enthusiastically explore our higher consciousness and issues like ascension, disclosure, first contact, free energy, and the like.

2. Jumpstart your brain. Read, read, read. Become aware of what’s happening in your neighborhood, city, town, state, country, hemisphere, and the world. Read what leading-edge authors, journalists, cultural creatives, scientists, and educators are writing about regarding our present “shifting” times. Read the poetry of teens in Japan and Ghana. Watch a documentary about the Jamaican people. Research areas of your interest, be it food and diet; energy; new healing techniques; animal communication; healing the earth. Expand your horizons, push back the edges of your information base. Wake up that pineal gland; dissolve its calcification and get reintroduced to ‘life outside the box’. Being quantum means being alive, plugged in, enthusiastic, charged up — literally, get that inner battery charged up so you’re able and ready to be a quantum activist.

3. Learn a new language. If you’ve always had a fascination for Chinese, Spanish, Italian or Creole, go for it! Get Rosetta Stone or buy one of those color-illustrated, easy-to-use language books on the shelves at Barnes & Noble or Borders Books. Who knows what worlds will open up? And your brain cells are doing some healthy calisthenics. You’re exercising your left brain-right brain synchronization, and kick-starting your brain cells to forge new connections. Get those neurons flashing and blipping into coherence. If you’re already part of a discussion board or forum, you know the international flavor of the members. Surprise a forum friend from a distant country with a greeting in his/her own language! How cool to be able to watch and understand original source youtube news reports and videos in their native languages.

4. Jumpstart your body. If you’re not already exercising and moving your physical body in ways that get the blood pumping and oxygen moving, then start today. The 75 trillion cells in your body thrive on light, healthy nourishment, positive emotion, and rest. Even a regular, brisk 20-minute walk daily does wonders for the body-mind. Remember that scene for the movie “Madagascar” where the lemur king is shakin’ his body to the song “I like to move it, move it! I like to move it, move it!” Well, dear ones, “Move it! Move it!” You’ll feel better, think better, and the endorphins you kick up will foster the awareness of “connection” between us, rather than the fear-hormones of “fight or flight” which keep most of humanity on edge. Or, if you prefer, “Bike it, bike it!” Or, “Zumba! Zumba!” Run, golf, play tennis, touch your toes, rebound, dance to your favorite music. Take the stairs, when reasonable. And don’t forget to breathe. If you work at a computer, take breaks every 20 minutes to focus your eyes on far objects. Straighten out your posture. Blink. Make some figure eights with your eyes to reestablish balance between your right-left brain. A strong, supple, and oxygenated body will help us feel better and think better.

5. Try new things. Learn to prepare vegetarian meals. Take up bird-watching. Go horseback riding. Take up the piano or guitar. Design bird houses or paint on tile. Exercise to a new piece of music. Join a creative writing class at your local community college or library. Learn about your local flora. Get out of your established ‘ruts’, e.g. take a different route to work or to the grocery store. Buy some new clothes and retire the ‘same old, same old’. Join a photography club, or try kayaking. Get out your old bike or buy a new cruiser and get in a few miles after dinner. Some of us have encrusted energy templates that have worn out their usefulness. Break them up by shaking them up! You’ll feel your energy body stretch and expand. You’ll relate to the world in fresh and different ways that will feel like you’re cleaning out the cobwebs.

6. If you’re a writer, write, blog, and post the quantum perspective: love, light, higher awareness, collaboration, right action, right livelihood, truthfulness. Write a children’s story about awakening consciousness, kindness to one’s neighbor, loving the earth; befriending the friendless. Choose a topic of your quantum-related interest and publish an ebook. Write letters to the editors of the newspapers you read, gently and wisely showing a quantum perspective on various issues. Write in the service of the Light. Show the positive side of things, the good endings, the positive values. In a world inundated by the negative and ‘fear factor’, be a ‘writeworker’ and communicate the message of love and higher awareness.

See the next 8 ways to practice quantum activism in Part 2.

Pat Donworth

Source: 

http://stevebeckow.com/2011/05/how-do-we-bring-quantum-activism-into-our-daily-life-part-12/#more-47655

An Arab Spring for Women

2011 May 10

by Laura

I have not heard so much about women from the Arab world on main stream news. Perhaps it is because they are rarely allowed to express themselves. I grew up in Paris, where one of my best friends was Algerian, her name was Nassima. She was of Berber origin and had blue eyes. Nassima told me a lot about the rules women in her country had to submit themselves to: no drinking or smoking in public places, education was regarded as unnecessary for women as their role is primarily to raise children and to attend to their husband. A married woman may have to share her husband with 3 other women. If one of them was seen in a pub, or was not wearing the burka, which is the veil, it could cost her her life. Similarly intellectuals were particularly targeted by integrist Muslim groups. Women she knew were killed coming out of university, including students and teachers alike. Her family was very open and tolerant. She was allowed to go to college in France, but she was told by her faher that she would have to give up on having a career after university because she would have to marry. In other families women in Arab society can be prisoners and have their sexual organs mutilated.  I wanted to dedicate this post  to Nassima, who may well be in Algeria now taking part in the Earth changes for women from the front lines. 

For Nassima ~

 

Le Monde diplomatique | http://mondediplo.com/

An Arab Spring for Women

The missing story from the Middle East

26 APRIL, by Juan Cole and Shahin Cole

 

 

The “Arab Spring” has received copious attention in the American media, but one of  its crucial elements has been largely overlooked: the striking role of women in the protests sweeping the Arab world. Despite inadequate media coverage of their role, women have been and often remain at the forefront of those protests.

 

As a start, women had a significant place in the Tunisian demonstrations that kicked off the Arab Spring, often marching up Bourguiba Avenue in Tunis, the capital, with their husbands and children in tow. Then, the spark for the Egyptian uprising that forced President Hosni Mubarak out of office was a January 25th demonstration in Cairo’s Tahrir Square called by an impassioned young woman via a video posted on Facebook. In Yemen, columns of veiled women have come out in Sanaa and Taiz to force that country’s autocrat from office, while in Syria, facing armed secret police, women have blockaded roads to demonstrate for the release of their husbands and sons from prison.

But with such bold gestures go fears. As women look to the future, they worry that on the road to new, democratic parliamentary regimes, their rights will be discarded in favor of male constituencies, whether patriarchal liberals or Muslim fundamentalists. The collective memory of how women were in the forefront of the Algerian revolution for independence from France from 1954 to 1962, only to be relegated to the margins of politics thereafter, still weighs heavily.

Historians will undoubtedly debate the causes of the Arab Spring for decades. Among them certainly are high rates of unemployment for the educated classes, neoliberal policies of privatization and union-busting, corruption in high places, soaring food and energy prices, economic hardship caused by the shrinking of employment opportunities in the Gulf oil states and Europe (thanks to the 2008 global financial meltdown), and decades of frustration with petty, authoritarian styles of governing. In their roles as workers and professionals as well as family caregivers, women have suffered directly from all these discontents and more, while watching their children and husbands suffer, too.

In late January, freelance journalist Megan Kearns pointed out the relative inattention American television and most print and Internet media gave to women and, by and large, the absence of images of women protesting in Tunisia and Egypt. Yet women couldn’t have been more visible in the big demonstrations of early to mid-January in the streets of Tunis, whether accompanying their husbands and children or forming distinct protest lines of their own — and given Western ideas of oppressed Arab women, this should in itself have been news.

Women take to the streets from Tunisia to Syria

To start with Tunisia, women there have, in fact, been in the vanguard of protest movements and social change since the drive to gain independence from France of the late 1940s. Tunisian women have a relatively high literacy rate (71%), represent more than one-fifth of the country’s wage earners, and make up 43% of the nearly half-million members of 18 local unions. Most of these unionized women work in the education, textile, health, city services, and tourism industries. The General Union of Tunisian Workers (French acronym: UGTT) had increasingly come into conflict with the country’s strongman, Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, and so its rank and file enthusiastically joined the street protests. Today, the UGTT continues to pressure the government formed after Ben Ali fled to move forward with genuine reforms.

In all of this, women opinion-leaders played an important part. To take one example, although like most prominent Tunisians movie star Hend Sabry had been coerced into supporting Ben Ali and his mafia-like in-laws, when the anti-government rallies began she broke with the autocrat, warning him in a Facebook post against ordering his security forces to fire on the protesters. Later, she admitted to being terrified at making such a public gesture, lest her relatives in Tunis be harmed or she be permanently exiled from her homeland.

In Egypt, the passionate video blog or “vlog” of Asmaa Mahfouz that called on Egyptians to turn out massively on January 25th in Tahrir Square went viral, playing a significant role in the success of that event. Mahfouz appealed to Egyptians to honor four young men who, following the example of Mohammed Bouazizi (in an act which sparked the Tunisian uprisings), set themselves afire to protest the Mubarak regime.

Although the secret police had already dismissed them as “psychopaths,” she insisted otherwise, demanding a country where people could live in dignity, not “like animals.” According to estimates, at least 20% of the crowds that thronged Tahrir Square that first week were made up of women, who also turned out in large numbers for protests in the Mediterranean port of Alexandria. Leil-Zahra Mortada’s celebrated Facebook album of women’s participation in the Egyptian revolution gives a sense of just how varied and powerful that turnout was.

As in Tunisia, Egyptian women make up a little more than one-fifth of wage-earning workers — and labor has long been a powerful force for change in that country. Before they began to mobilize around the Tahrir Square protests, Egyptian workers had staged over 3,000 strikes since 2004, with women sometimes taking the lead. During the height of the protests against the rule of long-time dictator Hosni Mubarak, unionized workers even formed a new, nationwide umbrella trade union.

In Libya, women’s protests proved central to the movement of entire cities out of the control of Col. Muammar Gaddafi, as with Dirna in the western part of the country in February. What makes the prominence of women demonstrators there so remarkable is that city’s reputation as a stronghold of Muslim fundamentalism. The abuse of women, a central issue in countries like Libya, even burst into consciousness when a recent law-school graduate from a middle-class family in Tobruk, Iman al-Obeidi, broke into a government press conference in Tripoli to charge that Gaddafi’s troops had detained her at a checkpoint and then raped her. Her plight provoked women’s demonstrations against the regime in the rebel-held cities of Benghazi and Tobruk.

On April 15th, Yemeni president for life Ali Abdullah Saleh scolded women for “inappropriately” mixing in public with men at the huge demonstrations then being staged in the capital, Sanaa, as well as in the cities of Taiz and Aden. In this way, the issue of women’s place in the mass protests against decades of autocracy was, for the first time, explicitly broached by a high political figure — and the response from women couldn’t have been clearer. They came out in unprecedented numbers throughout the country, and even in the countryside, day after day, accusing the president of “besmirching their honor” by implying that they were behaving brazenly. (It is a longstanding value in the Arab world to avoid impugning the honor of a chaste woman.) In other words, they turned his attempt to invoke Arab mores about women’s seclusion from the public sphere into a rallying cry against him.

Women of a certain age who lived in the southern part of the country found the president’s taunt particularly painful, given that they had grown up in the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), ruled by a communist regime that promoted women’s rights. They were not subjected to more conservative norms until Saleh united the PDRY with northern Yemen in 1990. Unlike in Tunisia and Egypt, only about a quarter of Yemeni women can read and write, only 17% have finished high school, and only 5% are wage earners, though most work hard all their lives, many on farms. Still, in urban areas such as Aden, Taiz or Sanaa, middle and upper middle class women have an important place in the professions and business, or as schoolteachers, and more than a quarter of college students are women.

Faced with the power of outraged women, Saleh quickly backed off, maintaining that, as a secular Arab nationalist, he believed they should be full participants in the political affairs of the nation. He had simply been wondering aloud, he claimed, how members of the opposition Islah Party, a fundamentalist Muslim organization, were so willing to allow women to march in the streets against him when they favored women’s seclusion on all other occasions.

In Syria as well, on several occasions, women have shown their strength and bravery, turning out in forceful demonstrations — sometimes without men, but with their children in tow. Near the town of Bayda, for instance, thousands of women shouting “We will not be humiliated!” cut off a coastal road to protest a heavy-handed government policy in which the secret police of President Bashar al-Assad had arrested their demonstrating male relatives. On other occasions, Syrian women have staged all-female marches to demand democracy and changes in regime policy.

Protecting women’s gains

Despite the centrality of women activists to the Arab Spring, they have seldom been recognized as of real significance by most of the male politicians who will undoubtedly benefit from what they have accomplished. It was, for example, striking that women were without representation on the commission appointed to revise the Egyptian constitution in preparation for September elections, and that only one woman (a Mubarak holdover at that) was appointed to the 29-person interim cabinet.

In addition, patriarchal forces such as Muslim fundamentalist groups and clergy are determined that women’s rights should not be expanded in the wake of these political upheavals. As an omen in the wind, when a modest-sized group of 200 women showed up at Tahrir Square on March 8th to commemorate International Women’s Day, they found themselves attacked by militant religious young men who shouted that they should go home and do the laundry.

Women’s groups and progressive movements are understandably apprehensiveabout the possibility that, in Tunisia and Egypt, Muslim fundamentalist movements will become more influential in parliament and push through laws to the disadvantage of both women and secularists. Yet they have been remarkably unwilling to let such considerations deter them from embracing democracy, something secular-leaning dictators Ben Ali and Mubarak had warned them against.

The likelihood of an actual Muslim fundamentalist takeover in either country remains minimal for the foreseeable future. In Egypt, the military government has so far retained a Mubarak-era ban on the Muslim Brotherhood putting up candidates under its own banner. As a result, its candidates will run as the representatives of other small parties. In addition, the organization has pledged to contest parliamentary seats in only a limited number of electoral districts, so as to allay middle-class fears that their goal is an Iran-style fundamentalist takeover of the country. Admittedly, Muslim conservatism will likely burgeon as a political current more generally in Egypt, whatever the shape of the next parliament, posing a challenge to women’s rights.

For instance, some Brotherhood officials have let slip that they will indeed be working for the implementation of a medieval form of Islamic law, which would include the segregation of women and men in the workplace, while the mufti or chief adviser on Islamic law to the government in Egypt has called for a “review” of secular personal status laws that favor women, and which had been supported by Suzanne Mubarak, the fashionable wife of the deposed dictator.

In Tunisia, the long years of repression under Ben Ali left the leading fundamentalist group, al-Nahda or the Renaissance Party, weakened. In any case its leader Rashid Ghannouchi has been speaking of institutionalizing a “Turkish model” and says that, unlike the Egyptian Brotherhood, he supports the right of a woman to become the country’s president.

In this, he is looking to former Turkish fundamentalists like Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Abdullah Gul who, tired of being imprisoned by and butting heads with the secular Turkish establishment, founded the Justice and Development Party. Since coming to power in 2002, they have fought for a pluralistic system as a way of making a place for more traditional Muslims in society and politics without pushing for the implementation of medieval Muslim legal codes.

Still, as backlash reactions like the attack on the International Women’s Day protest have set in, activists on women’s issues and progressives are wondering how to ensure that women’s gains this spring not be rolled back. In Egypt,prominent newscaster and critic of the Mubarak regime Buthaina Kamel has her own idea about how to gain women’s rights in a new, more democratic environment. She is running for president, something inconceivable in the Mubarak era.

Even if her run gets little traction, her candidacy is nevertheless deeply symbolic and historic — and another strikingly brave act by a woman in this new era in the Arab world. (Her decision is, of course, opposed by the Muslim Brotherhood.) Other Egyptian women are hoping that the constitution can be rewritten to strengthen women’s rights, and that the 64 seats set aside for women in the previous parliament will be retained.

Politicians in the transitional government of Tunisia, for decades the most progressive Arab country with regard to women’s rights, are determined to protect the public role of women by making sure they are well represented in the new legislature. Elections are now planned for July 24th, and a high commission was appointed to set electoral rules. That body has already announced that party lists will have to maintain parity between male and female candidates.

In such a list system, you don’t vote for an individual but a party, which has published an ordered list of its candidates. If the list gets 10% of the vote nationally, it is awarded 10 percent of the seats in parliament, and can go down its ordered list until it fills all those seats. Parity for women means that every other candidate on the ordered list should be a woman, ensuring them high representation in the legislature. This procedure is sometimes called a “zipper” gender quota. Quotas for female legislators are common in Scandinavia and in the global South.

Although the Tunisian requirement for gender parity remains controversial in some quarters, Ghannouchi’s al-Nahda Party recently came out in support of it. In contrast, Abdelwaheb El Hani, leader of the newly founded right-of-center party al-Majd, complained that the rule was “a violation of freedom of electoral choice,” and insisted that he doubted it would be effective in promoting women’s representation. In contrast, the leftist al-Tajdid (Renewal) Party praised the move as “historic” and pledged to make women’s equality an “irreversible accomplishment and an effective reality in Tunisian political life.” Indeed, al-Tajdid wants an explicit equal rights amendment put into the constitution.

Giving women a fighting chance

The Arab Spring has proven an epochal period of activism and change for women, recalling the role of early feminists in the 1919 Egyptian movement for independence from Britain, or the important place of women in the Algerian Revolution. The sheer numbers of politically active women in this series of uprisings, however, dwarf their predecessors. That this female element in the Arab Spring has drawn so little comment in the West suggests that our own narratives of, and preoccupations with, the Arab world — religion, fundamentalism, oil and Israel — have blinded us to the big social forces that are altering the lives of 300 million people.

Women have been aided by this generation’s advances in education and the professions, by the prominence of articulate women anchors on satellite television networks like Aljazeera, and by the rise of the Internet and social media. Women can assert leadership roles in cyberspace that young men’s dominance of the public sphere might have hampered in city squares.

Their prominence in the labor movements and at the public rallies in Tunisia and Egypt, moreover, underlines how much more of a public role they now have than is usually acknowledged. Even the trend toward wearing a headscarf among women in Egypt during the past two decades has been seen by some social scientists as a step forward. It has been a way for women to enter the public sphere and work outside the home in greater numbers than ever before while maintaining a claim on conservative ideals of chastity and piety.

Women activists of the Arab Spring have come from all social classes, since it has been a mass movement. Middle and upper class women often focus their political energies on issues of political representation and on laws affecting women’s equality. Seeking constitutional guarantees of electoral parity is one possible way of responding to any patriarchal political backlash.

Working class women are particularly concerned with wages and workers’ rights. Stronger unions would improve women’s prospects for greater rights. Women’s health, literacy, and material wellbeing are concerns of all women. During the age of the dictators, the nation’s wealth was often usurped by a narrow elite of politically connected families. A democratization of politics could potentially lead to more state resources being devoted to women and the poor.

Keep in mind that women such as Buthaina Kamel knew the risks when they called for Mubarak to step down. Whatever their patronizing appeals to feminist themes, authoritarian regimes like Mubarak’s and Ben Ali’s politically oppressed and stole from everyone in society, including women, and they had proved increasingly unable to deliver the social services and employment on which women and their families fundamentally depend for a better life. Before, women could be marginalized at will by the dictators whenever they made demands on the regime. Now, at least, they have a fighting chance.

Source:

http://stevebeckow.com/2011/05/an-arab-spring-for-women-%E2%80%93-le-monde-diplomatique-%E2%80%93-english-edition/#more-47651