January 5, 1997
Samuel: Well, greetings, dears.
Greetings, Samuel.
S: Let’s have a miracle. Now of those who have had a miracle, who wants to share it? Go for it.
I had a wonderful time with my whole family at Christmas, which is a miracle.
S: I would say.
The last time, when my mother told me that all of us were going to get together, which is my two younger sisters, my sister’s daughter, who is an adult, Michael, me, and Benjamin, and mom and dad, I thought, Oh my gosh! Where can I go to? Because the last time we were all together there were these terrible explosions which resulted in my sister and I not speaking to each other for three years. So I thought, Well, maybe the Universe says I’m ready for this, so … it was a miracle because even though there was an explosion, I didn’t cause it, and I wasn’t part of it. I wasn’t the person whose feelings were hurt, and the person who yelled at the person whose feelings were hurt. And what happened at the very last, actually the last hour that I was there with everyone, is that when this little explosion happened—which is really typical in our family, because we’re all very dramatic and emotional, and I’m really one of the quiet ones—I saw how I had … when this explosion happened, I empathized with each one of them. I had been in every one of their places. The person who said this kind of thoughtless remark, I had done that. And the person whose feelings were hurt, I had been there. And the person who emotionally defended the person whose feelings were hurt, I had been there, too. And I realized that everyone was actually acting out of love. There was no harm intended, and so I could really send love and compassion to all of them, and realize that I had been in each of those places.
S: What was the miracle?
Growth.
S: Yes.
Realization.
S: Yes.
To face the experience without turning away.
S: Yes.
One heart.
The lack of separation.
Empathy.
Seeing beyond self to others.
Seeing without judgment.
S: Yes. And seeing all of her selves.
Empathy, which creates the ability to see beyond herself, which leads to another opportunity for community.
S: And what is the gift for you? What does her miracle, her lesson, her realization remind you [of]? What is the gift it gives you?
How far I’ve come.
S: A reminder that you too can relate. You have learned to do some of the same things. Aye, that’s good, that’s good.
That almost every situation where I am have the opportunity to see a miracle.
S: That too. That too, yes.
There is more that viewpoint,m too.
S: Very nice. Very nice. Yes.
It reminded me that I don’t need to go and try to rescue or to mediate a situation. That sometimes it’s enough just to send love and compassion to people, and maybe that’s all that I’m supposed to be there for.
It’s a gift for me in realizing I’m not the only one who has a crazy family.
It tells me that, when I want to answer something or fix something, I don’t have to go chasing outside of myself. That I can look to myself to see what the answers, the fixing, of a situation.
S: Very nice. Very nice. Yes. Yes. And mastery is that point exactly where it is no longer necessary to be right there in the middle of the drama. Sometimes even just because it’s fun making a little bit of that drama happen just to see what the response is. Sort of like waking the baby up so that you can sooth it from crying. Look how good I am! I made everybody happy, after I made them miserable.
Mastery is that opportunity to recognize in everybody, you—your stuff, your issues—and then not correct them the way that you should correct yourself. Letting them know, If it were me, here’s what I would do in this situation. Or the second aspect of that, that lovely one in which, because you wish you were rescued, that somebody would jump in and side with you, you hop in and side with somebody else, projecting that they want the same thing. Not knowing, for instance, that deep in their heart they are finally learning to stand up for themselves until you jumped in.
Mastery is the ability to learn from everything—everything. Everything. And right now when your world has recalibrated so powerfully, in which you are undergoing such change, right now, at this time in which actions bring wisdom, and therefore the tendency is to do what you can to get as much action in as possible in order to get as much wisdom as possible, to be able to know when the proper action is no action, that brings wisdom. And obviously, beloved, miracles. Good work.
One more. Aye, dear.
This is the first time in fourteen years I’ve had all my children together.
S: A scary thought.
I was very happy. Best holiday I’ve had in fourteen years.
S: And which part was the miracle?
I guess exercising patience and unconditional love on my part.
S: For what?
For them. For us to come back together.
S: Yes. Yes. And, of course, the story behind that simple phrase that many can imagine, but truly done. Truly done. So there is a miracle in which the coming together required a miracle of self. Where is the gift for you? What do you hear that’s a gift in that simple statement?
That relationships are real important, and I suspect that’s one of the reasons that we’re here at all. And so even though it may be difficult to be in a situation with close relationships sometimes, it’s worth unravelling it all, in a feeling way, and accepting what you’ve created in your life.
S: Well done. Well done. Because relationships count, which again, interesting enough, as if you were not suspecting it, also leads to a statement about mastery. Because the master is the one who chooses to embrace, who is able to let go, forgive, and include.
Two very, very powerful miracles. The miracle of right action through communication, in this particular case to choose to not act, to choose to not communicate in the passion of the moment, but to step back, go within and put a loving energy into the situation. To take lessons. To see oneself. The relationship with others counted more than your need to give your opinion or get involved or make it all right.
Now, of course, if it had been asked of her, she’d have a different choice, but one of those things that happens in guardianship, you know, is that you get less and less choices, don’t you? Here is your choice now, darling, will you please do the right thing or get crushed by a boulder. What do you want to do here? All right, maybe it’s not always that clear.
And the second, the miracle of embracing, of choosing patience, forgiveness, love. Choosing to see the best and the highest. Choosing to include.
Through this month right now, those happen to be two particular energies that you’re going to see coming up over and over and over and over. Communication issues. Relationship issues. Of course, a relationship is communication, isn’t it? And so they do very much …
Overlap.
S: Overlap. Overflow was the only word that was coming up there. They just overflow don’t they?
Communication. Pay attention. Be clear, my darlings, inside and out, and be aware of relationships, particularly right now. Having a very specific thought to embracing, strengthening, relationships. Let go of the little stuff. It gets heavy after a while. Don’t count yourself strong by your tally of another’s weakness. Overlook the weakness. Remember One Heart. You can do it.
So, here you are. Right at the beginning of your new year. And here comes the first Sunday meeting that fairly well is going to establish the tenor for the whole year, isn’t it? This is the one where you get the forecast. Rain, snow, sun. Aye? Right now, let’s talk a bit about that forecast, and every forecast, although I was truly making a joke there—rain, snow, sun. How wonderful a forecast it is depends totally on the circumstances of the moment, doesn’t it? And so it is with any prophecy. How you experience any event has everything to do with the moment. Rain is a very lovely thing, isn’t it, unless perhaps you’re out west right now. [Referring to floods] On the other hand, if you are in desert land rain can be the very life force that helps you. Snow is a beautiful thing for the first thirty minutes. Or perhaps the first three or four feet of it.
I have—if it would be proper to think in exactly these terms for you—I have thought long and hard about this night, this conversation, about what would be of the most help for you right now. You have undergone probably the most incredible four months, and how much strength do you have to be able to deal with the next four?
As I speak with many of you in many different fashions I tend to hear repeatedly, I want change, [but] I’m afraid of change. Perhaps a better translation of that is, I want change my way. I want these things to be different and these things to stay the same. It’s a time of year in which change is sort of theoretically resolution time, what it’s all about. And again, holding hands with that very proper attitude is the chuckle that comes underneath it. Watch, I’ll give you an example. This is the time of year in which you resolve to lose weight and start exercising, right? [Audience chuckles] Chuckle, eh? It’s when you’re going to cut back on some of that sugar, “Michael” [reference to the movie in which the angel Michael smokes and eats sugar] notwithstanding. It’s when you’re going to choose to let go of expectation and set goals and prioritize your life and make sure that you’re working toward those things that are for your highest and best good. It’s that time in which you resolve to do what makes you happy. Or find out what makes you happy. It’s a year [time] in which, this year, you’re going to live.
Most every one of you in this room—not all of you, some of you perhaps have a blessed exclusion—most of you will hardly know you this time next year, and you can only rely on you to get you through it. Samiel, you’re not being a doom-and-gloom now here are you? No, not at all. I’m simply very clearly saying, This is going to be a year of great change. Get used to it or get help. And do remember as you choose to get help that there is not anybody or anything out there who knows you better than you do or than you could. And there is not anybody or anything out there, up here, down here, that can do more for you than you can for you.
And so with that in mind, it’s my desire this night to talk to you about a way to figure out what are going to be the qualities you need to make it through this coming year. [Picks up copy of piece of paper that has been distributed to the audience] By chance, by chance …
Yes.
S: This. And it says?
“What was your favorite subject in school.”
S: That works. All right. Yes. All right. Good. You have a paper. Yes? Anybody not have a paper and need one? Yes. You need one. Frank, [we] need more please. Hello. Joyous. More? Aye. Into the waiting area—the overflow crowd. Oh, you thought you’d get away without, eh? So everybody has.
This is your homework. But it’s not hard and it’s exactly where we’re going right now. Perhaps better said, it’s your heart work. It’s an opportunity to just be triggered by a couple of things. And it’s not required that you write them down here. You can do it at home. But let’s go over a few of them so that you’ll understand the process here.
All right, dear, you were starting to call out the first one. The first one is?
“What was your favorite subject in school?”
S: All right. Is that a hard one? Can you look back and come up with something that you really enjoyed? And as long as you’re remembering what it was you really enjoyed, why don’t you add a little corollary to it. Why did you enjoy it? What I’m asking you to do in this little paper is to get to know a certain section of you. Now, you’ll see when I come to the end of it that it all has a particular connection, and then there’s a bit of homework involved in it. Joy, what’s the next one?
“What are the qualities that you seek in a best friend, mate or lover?”
S: If you were thinking what are the qualities that I want in a lover, what are the sorts of things you’d be thinking? Somebody.
Understanding.
S: Understanding. All right.
A sense of humor.
S: Sense of humor.
Gentleness.
Passion
S: Gentleness. Passion. Are these things different in a mate or in a best friend. So all of those can sort of fit together. If you don’t have a best friend and you don’t care if you ever have one, perhaps a lover would answer it there. If a lover does not, perhaps you don’t need a best friend or a lover, but you want a mate who is neither one of those. That’s a scary thought. Nonetheless, they flow together fairly well.
What are the qualities?
Now, for those of you whose little minds are working—and I hear them going, Oh, I’ve got to be careful what I write down here because what he’s going to say is that these are the qualities I need to express myself—well, you’re wrong here. That’s not where I’m going at all. Do you know what it is you’re looking for? If you don’t know what you’re looking for, one of two things is going to happen. Anything will do, or you’ll never find it. For those of you who can relate to that statement a bit too much, I’ll quickly move on.
Kathleen, how about the next one.
“Who is your hero, heroine?”
S: Do you have a hero? Aye, now that the […] is over and there are no more great mythical leaders, except in your newspapers now and again, and only in election years. Who’s your hero? Do you have a hero? A heroine? Do you? Who?
Kathleen Bailey is my hero.
S: I love that. I love that. Aye. Well again, why? Who is your hero? First thing that happens in that question is that all of a sudden you have to set up a group of definitions. And that very process, that process of elimination if you will, says perhaps more about you than you want to imagine. What is your standard for whom you worship? Why is this individual special to you?
All right. What’s a hero? It is the person who has won the most battles, right? Therefore the mightiest, the bravest, the most courageous, the one who has the most scars and is still living. I think that what they say in today’s world is the one who dies with the most toys wins. It used to be the one who remains living with the most scars wins, but … how do you define a hero? I’m asking.
Someone you look up to.
S: Someone you look up to.
Someone who meets your ideals.
S: Somebody who meets your ideals.
Somebody after whom I’ve wanted to create my ideals.
S: Somebody after whom you wish to create your ideals. Do you see what I’m saying about the definition? Speaking of you. Hero. Who is your hero?
Does it have to be a person?
S: As opposed to …?
Sparky. [Laughter]
S: Aye.
[…]
I say someone who is able to demonstrate the ideals that we wish we were able to exercise ourselves. In my case it’s someone who can demonstrate and who actively lives out in their life what I wish I could live myself.
S: And, of course, all of those work. It is, after all, your definition. And does it have to be somebody in the world? No. But it has to be somebody you can relate to or something you can relate to, because again goes that question, why? What are the qualities that this person or thing exhibits that you treasure, that are special to you? What is charged in your own life by that idea of hero? Is it a spiritual thing? A mental thing, this person knows so much about a subject I’m really interested in? A physical thing? Exercise? Somebody.
Arnold Schwarzenegger.
S: Arnold Swarzenegger is a hero, because you hope to attain that build. Most of you would look rather hilarious.
Who’s your hero?
Kathy, next one.
“What is your favorite movie? Music? Vacation?”
S: All right. Look back. This one should be fun. What’s your all-time favorite movie? It’s different for all of you, I’m sure. What is it? Somebody. Do you know?
“Spellbound.”
S: “Spellbound.” And why? What about it?
It’s a very romantic mystery, and there was a lot of loyalty in it, and the combination of the two, of the actor and the actress, was wonderful.
S: Good. Good.
“The Enchanted Forest.”
S: Because?
Because there are all sorts of wonderful … there’s a crow that steals from the nearby logging camp, an old man and a little boy who live in nature and the trees. It’s very magical.
S: What’s your favorite music? Now what does that mean? Does that mean your favorite piece of music or your favorite kind of music? It doesn’t matter. What’s your favorite?
[…]
S: That works.
Sons of Somerled.
S: Is [it] music?
Brahms.
Mozart.
Sibelius.
S: And why? What does it do for you.
They say that listening to Mozart actually increases your intelligence. By seven points I believe.
It doesn’t stay very long. [Laughter]
S: Because it uplifts you. Because it makes you move. Because you …
Associate it with happy times.
S: Associate it with happy times.
Puts you in a different state of mind.
S: Sure. Sure.
And finally, what’s your favorite …?
Vacation.
S: Can you think back? Now, there’s a bit of an argument going on in creating that one. I thought that what you’re supposed to say is, What was your favorite holiday? And the form kept saying, “No, no, no, no. It will mean the wrong thing to this audience?” Is that right?
Yes. We would say Thanksgiving or Easter or …
S: All right. So what’s your favorite vacation? Perhaps you were two years old. Perhaps you were twenty. Perhaps it was yesterday. Perhaps it’s right now. Think back. And if it was your favorite, why aren’t you smiling right now? What did you do? Why was it your favorite? Anybody want to share what their mind is dredging up? Aye, Jennifer.
When I was eight years old my uncle thought that I was the wonderful child, because he didn’t have any kids, and he dragged me off to Kansas City, where it was a hundred and twenty degrees, no air conditioning, and they lived in a second story apartment on the south side of the building. And I sat in front of a fan for several days and didn’t eat and didn’t do anything. My aunt decided that this was not going to be a pleasant vacation for anybody, so they packed me off the Ozarks where it was cool and woods and kids and no brothers and no mother and no father, and I had a wonderful time.
S: Aye. Was it the contrast do you think?
Partly the contrast and partly I was where I would never have been anyway, because the Ozarks is not … does not spring to mind as a vacation spot of the world. Even less now that I’m older.
S: And you have in your life, somewhere, a memory that you can tie a little ribbon around and say, That’s the one I’ll use. That’s the one that I’ll call the favorite. And be sure to think through why.
Joyous what’s the next one?
“What was your best work experience?”
S: What was your best work experience? That’s business there. In your career, did you have an experience? Was there a day that you were totally there? Is there an experience that you could grab a hold of? Is there a memory there? What was the best thing? Now, that’s not saying what was the best work experience, and it was when you were doing hamburgers at McDonald’s and you were seventeen years old. It’s talking about an experience within a work experience. What was your favorite one? What can you look on and say, I enjoyed that. And you know, of course, there’s a reason for every one of these. Mary Claire, would you go next?
“What animal are you? What plant are you?”
[Person in audience makes pig noises] [Laughter]
S: What animal are you? If you were an animal, what animal would you be? What plant would you be?
Now, why did you choose the ones you chose? Martin, what animal are you?
A young baboon.
S: A very powerful creature you know. And Stuart, what plant are you?
Well, I chuckled to myself, because I had a picture of driving to Atlanta and seeing the kudzu growing on the side of the road.
S: Do you think you grow wild, dear?
What animal are you? Now why is it you choose that? Is it the characteristics of the animal? What are those characteristics?
Can you pick two? Do you just pick one?
S: I know that it’s hard. Perhaps you can make a hybrid. A giraffopotamus sort of thing. What plant and why? Anybody here choose poison ivy?
I don’t want to be infectious.
S: You want to be remembered. Got to keep Claudia away.
Frank, what’s the next?
“List three happy memories.”
S: And that’s the last. Just looking back, any. Any time. Any place. Any age. Let’s keep it this life, all right? Three happy memories about anything. Three.
Now what you have here, beloved ones, is a map. Truly. A map. It is indeed my gift to you, and what I am handing is a sacred sword of light. It is the map to the treasure. It is the sword with which you can cut through confusion. The veils. But you’ve got to pull it, if you will, out of the stone.
What is a pattern that you are seeing here? If you were to write a few words about every one of the answers, are there any repeating words? Looking at these experiences, looking at these pleasures, looking at these things that have made you happy, or successful, or contented in the past, do you see any behaviors that are worth repeating? And as you look through your answers can you come up with seven qualities out of this? In fact you might find that each answer gives you a different quality, that, distilled to its finest essence, each answer or set of answers made into one gives you a particular quality on that which makes your life work.
Because that’s what this is about. The only thing that’s going to allow you to grow in joy, expand in love, to deepen the knowledge of your personal power, the only thing that is going to allow you to master this year is your knowing what your carrots are.
Donna, what’s a carrot?
It’s a vegetable.
S: It is that indeed, that as well.
It’s your motivation. It’s what you reach for. It’s the promise at the end of the stick if you keep going.
S: Good. Good. Give me the picture with that one.
Well if you want to get a stubborn donkey or burro or something to move, you put a stick in its harness and at the end of it you tie a carrot so it’ll keep going towards the carrot.
S: Aye. Until it wises up. And these are the things that motivate you. You do not accomplish what you wish to accomplish because you are not motivated to do it. The carrots you have been offering you are not enough. They’re not what really does it for you. They give you the laugh without the giggle. Do you know what I’m saying there? That’s sort of like the smile where the eyes aren’t involved.
This is the pattern of your passion, and as I have spoken to you over these last few months, we have talked repeatedly of passion. You have talked to me of passion. All right, that’s not exactly accurate. Mostly you’ve whined to me of passion. “Samiel I just can’t find my passion any more.” You can relate? That’s a […] for you—excited about anything. “I think it’s time to change jobs, change cities, change lives. If I cannot have what I want, then I just won’t have anything.” And for every one of you in here who can relate to that sense of statement there—I have not been able to have what I want, I’ve not been able to get what I want—then go ahead, put that kind, holy, spiritual self aside that immediately censors that and says, Oh, no, no, no, I would never say that. Let the honest one come forward that says, All right, I relate. And as a result you’ve lot your passion.
If you’ve been finding that you’re even willing to take risks that you never would have even thought of before, or if you find yourself taking risks, getting more and more dramatic, simply because it’s at least a facsimile of life, even if it does not quite make up for having a real life, it’s because you’ve lost your passion. If you find that you’re a remarkable starter and you start so many things and you finish so few, if you find that you’ve got really good ideas, but fewer and fewer people around to hear them—meaning that you’re more and more alone—if you’re finding that you seem to know everything that’s out there—you can predict the new television season, tomorrow’s news, next month’s first Sunday talk—you’ve lost your passion.
[Shakes paper] And this is the map, so everybody come and look at it after. This is the map to Treasure Island, to the heart of the matter. You are not here right now because you choose average as the way to go, because mediocre is enough. You are not here because you’re willing to give in. You are here because all of your life, unlike so many people that you know, all of your life you have known two things. You have known that somehow, somewhere, you are different, and perhaps the world told you that was wrong, and you bought it. I wish you healing. You knew that you were different, but maybe you did not know how. But the other thing that you knew was that you were here to do something special. Maybe, in a childlike fashion, the only way you could relate to it was, I’m going to be famous some day, but even in childhood you knew, you knew, that you were here to make a difference, because that’s all I work with. Those who are different because they are going to make a difference.
You are on this planet with the spirit of a guardian, and you know it. But the world has a way of playing chicken with bulldozers. You’re sort of going to get smashed anyway, and you need the sword of the light of your passion, the joy of your heart, to keep you moving. And it’s found so simply. It’s found in the distillation of the joys, the fun, the success, the fantasy, the soothing, the delight. That which has made you move. That which is what you seek. In the distillation of these things you can create, yes, a box, a gift box, that tells you what your gift is here. Because what it is that gives you passion is what it is you have to give this world. It’s what you alone can give it in your unique way.
And so, for homework, I encourage you to take your answers to each one of these questions and distill it into a word, and see what it says you’re here to give. How it is you can give it. Why you can do it. And then I encourage you for the next seven weeks to take one of those distilled patterns, and put it forward into your week with the promise that the Universe will give you every possible version of getting it worked out. That’s a promise.
That’s what I’m afraid of.
S: Every possible version of getting it worked out, so that before this next month is ended—this next month is ended—you have at your disposal the treasure. You have readied at your side the sword of the light of your passion. You can do this.
Questions and answers next month. Let’s have fun.
Glochanumora. This is tuan, you see tuan.
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.