Generosity In A New Light

December 7, 2003

Samuel: A lot has happened in your world and in your life since we last had this cozy little meeting, and I don’t mean December, I mean since November.

Think for a moment, let your mind spin back to November. What . . . how was it good for you? Wasn’t. All right.

Jennifer.

I’ve been getting rid of a lot of excess baggage, refocusing on goals and simplifying a great deal.

S: Successfully simplifying, successfully releasing. Good. Good.

Lisa.

We’ve had opportunities to get together with family members, and they’ve all been beautiful events, and that wasn’t always so with some of the family that we got to be with. So that was a gift.

S: Good. Good.

Donna.

I was lucky enough to come to your class, and some things I’ve been trying to see and couldn’t look at clearly fell into place for me.

S: Good.

And it really made a big difference.

S: Good.

So that made November wonderful.

S: Good, good, good. This way? Jean.

I was living twenty-five hundred miles away and having a really difficult time emotionally releasing and detaching. And I’ve successfully done that, and I’m here!

S: Very nice. Very nice. And you’re very welcome. Aye.

I learned some new techniques that really work with dealing with people that are hard to get along with or people that used to give me trouble. I’ve learned some new things to try. People suggested like, you know, anointing coaches and field hockey teams, and that really works. And salting the benches, and that really works.

S: And they don’t kick you out doing that.

No.

S: Good.

They ask me what I’m doing, and I say, “Well, I’m actually kind of making things neutral so that we can start fresh.” And they say, “Really?” And I’m like, “Yeah.” And it’s been such a great gift. I mean, it’s so simple, it’s like, “Thanks for that suggestion. It works.”

S: And you know, of course, that it’s more than you who makes that magic, because when you do that and they say, “What are you doing?” and you explain it to them, and they say, “Oh, all right, “ they’re changed. Their awareness changes, doesn’t it? They’re aware of coming from a place of neutrality. Whether or not they fulfill that is up to them, but you planted that seed, and that’s very good. Very good. Yes.

It’s always been hard with my parents and my brother, and I was with them for Thanksgiving. And I realized if I just accepted their . . . I don’t want to say their craziness, but eccentricities, it was a whole lot easier, and I actually enjoyed myself this time.

S: Good.

And it’s very hard to be with them, but releasing those resentments and not trying to make them into something I needed them to be made it a whole lot easier for me.

S: Good. When is your birthday?

December the second.

S: Because you’re still sitting in the midst of power there, and I thought perhaps that was either the date or the other side of it. Good for you. Good for you.

How many of you have birthdays this month? Now, raise them up high. Do you find it interesting that so many of these hands are of the leadership of this organization? Don’t you find that interesting? I do.

All right, we were talking about this past month. There you go.

I’ve been involved in a lot of different things, very involved in many different things, and very happy doing that. And also around a lot of people.

S: Stretching into that which you have not done before, or greasing wheels that you’ve already . . .

Both.

S: All right, good. Good. Good. Aye.

Mary Claire.

I’ve experienced increased clarity this month, which always makes me really happy. If I can see clearly or understand something, it just makes all the difference to me and empowers me, and I know where I am in all of it. And the clarity’s been in increased awareness, increased understanding of just the workings of things, my workings, the working of energy in the world, and my place in all that. And the more dimensions there are to us. And just . . . it comes in pieces, but it’s increased clarity, and that brings me a lot of joy.

S: Good. You know that . . . well, first I’m going to say a very old cliché, but it still works, so I’ll go with it anyway, and let’s hope I get it right. Never mind, I can tell I can’t get it right, and I’m not ready to entertain you yet. But the second part of it would be that when you are at a place where you are able to experience—figure out—the system behind something, so that you have a lot of somethings, eventually, that you understand, that make sense to you, that is a very powerful step toward successful manifestation.

Now, what you’ve got to be careful with there is that you don’t need to understand a whole lot of stuff. And you run into trouble in your communications or your relationships when you feel you must understand it all, but that’s only because you are associating understanding with acceptance. “Well, if I understand, I will accept it. Therefore, I will never understand, because I will never accept that!” which, of course, is not a particularly good way to live, is it? Allowing yourself to understand your part in it, though, that works. And, as Lisa said, she figured out a system that would allow her to enjoy time with her family, yes? System, what might be another way of expressing that? Learning the system. Learning the ropes. What?

Well, I don’t know if this will apply; it applies to hers. Another perspective, another way of looking at it.

S: Yes. Yes. The more you know about what you can do and what you cannot do, because they’re both equally important, what you can do that succeeds so that you can do it again. Once you are able to dig deep into the underlying foundation, to figure out how it came to this—whatever it might be—to figure out what you’ve done before in a situation like this—whatever that might be—as soon as you allow yourself to create a system, there’s only two things left to bring it into this world. Any idea what those two are? If you call the system knowledge, and we’re talking manifestation.

Donna.

You’ve got to act on it.

S: Yes.

And put it into your life.

S: Yes. Acting on it immediately. It’s sort of like—no glasses to dump out here—it’s sort of like starting over properly. You figured out the system that works, therefore you’re going to just take it, do it. So you have knowledge of the system, you have courage—if you will—to follow through, and then you have persistence, but rather than persistence being the word that works much too closely with pest, I’d like to redefine that word for you. Persistence would be not losing hope. Samuel, wait! What about that point where you’ve just hit your head up against the wall so many times? That’s persistent, but that’s not right. You’re right. How do you know when the energy, the excitement, the passion has turned to just rote, dull, graveyard stuff? Aye, love.

I live in that place sometimes. It’s because there’s no happiness there, and you’re not seeing any successes. And it really is like being in a rut, because you just keep doing the same things over and over, thinking you’re going to get something different.

S: Good.

It doesn’t happen.

S: Very good. Can I use you, love, for an example here?

Sure.

S: Donna quilts, yes. Quilts. Yes. And there can be in this world few things that are prone to disillusionment and frustration and . . . oh, probably . . . what is the word when you injure a joint because of repeated use in a very specific way?

Tendonitis.

S: Say it again, Frank.

Repetitive stress injury.

S: That’s the one. That’s the one. As quilting. Think about it. You’resewing; you’re sewing; you’re sewing. But why is it, in reality, you don’t get sick of it?

Well, I change it, and I change how I approach it, and I change when I do it.

S: Yes.

And I keep changing it.

S: Yes. Yes. The pattern is almost always different, yes? She inserts her own creative mind into the process. She takes what could be for most people a roadblock—and that would be the quilting you do in life itself, more than the one you do on material—what would be a roadblock, and she has figured out the system to make it good for her. Could you just do the same pattern over and over and over and over and over, without wanting to shoot yourself?

No, I couldn’t. No.

S: So think about that in your life. You know, Guardians particularly do the same things over and over and over, but it doesn’t get boring because it’s a constantly changing scenario you’re working with. And, in fact, when you get in trouble, it’s because you tried to take that constantly changing scenario and move it into the box of “I know what this is all about. I’m safe.” Quilting for life. Thanks, love, that’s good.

Last month, for America, was the Thanksgiving holiday. Is it time for you?

Yes.

S: Aren’t they all? And one of the things that I think is wonderfully powerful is how you go into a traditional holiday, but the scenario has changed. In one way or another, you are constantly adapting, reworking, the system. You run into trouble when you stop doing that. And the holidays, be they Thanksgiving or the Christmas or the Hanukkah—gracious, there’s so many at this time of year—they’re all about—for you, they’re all about seeing it in a different light, looking through different eyes, not assuming that difficulties of the past are going to come on the tail of the present. There is a lot of power there.

One more. Kathy.

I found this past month to be very, very busy, on a lot of levels, and I found it to be a lot of opportunities to work through fears, also to manifest.

S:  Good. Good, good. When is your birthday?

Wednesday.

S: Don’t you know? There it is.

The last time we were together, I said that this week, this month, I was going to be talking about what?

Generosity.

S: Yes, yes. But in order to talk about generosity in a way that moves it out of “a generous benefactor pays your rent so you can do your art,” or whatever that would be, I want to shift it into holiday mode.

And I’m going to do that first by not having you sing about Rudolph. You taught me not ever to do that again. It’s amazingly awful.

I want to speak, just for a moment, about generosity in a new light, for a moment. I said that I’m not talking to you about generosity as it applies to you’ve won the lottery and you buy your best friend a car. I’m not talking about that. I’m not talking about the generosity in which you lovingly and regularly give to this work in order that it might continue. Those are all very generous things, though. But it’s not the generosity I’m talking about.

Now, many of you, having been around on December first Sundays for several years, may be able to do this very quickly and very easily, but generally speaking tell me any of the December stories. Scared? Well, for a whole lot of people right now you have eight days. Say it louder.

Hanukkah.

S: Yes. What’s that about?

It was about the miracle of not much oil lasting eight days until the sacred oil could be gotten from another location and brought back to the temple [. . .]

S: Which reminds me, Mary Claire. Have your Temple Team stand up, those who were cleaning yesterday. Bless you good. Absolutely. Imagine that this group, we call them the Temple Team, that this group, several thousand years ago, had just come out of a—thank you—had just come out of a very destructive [period] in which, in fact, the new government had gone through the temple, broken things, destroyed most of it. Well, the important thing that must be done is to make the temple habitable for sacred work once again. And with these people it meant burning the oil lamp continually until it was finished. But surprise! There was barely enough oil for one day, and somebody said, “I will . . . ”—and now this is the parenthetical part that you only get if you read between the lines and realize the situation there—“I will risk my life through hostile territory to do something that has been outlawed—help make the temple open.” They leave that out of the story, don’t they? And yet, the light that was there at the temple continued burning, continued burning, continued burning for eight days.

Now, don’t you think that when that messenger came back, he was probably disappointed? “I’m so sorry, I’m so. . . wait a minute here.”

It’s considered a festival of light, which leads to the next one.

The winter solstice.

S: The celebration of the solstice. Now, that’s something that we celebrate ritually here, and we celebrate it ritually because it’s a very magical time. It’s the time in which . . . let’s see if I can trip you up here, it’s the time in which Osiris was born, and the Light came to the world. Really. Four thousand years ago, perhaps, there was one who was born from the relationship between a god and woman, was said to come into the world to bring Light in the darkness, whose job was to bring about massive change from the old ways to the new, who had a very special ministry across the world, and twelve temple guards that were taught the secrets of the universe. Well, Samuel, I think that you really mean to be saying Jesus, don’t you? No, I don’t, because that is Osiris’s story.

However, at Festival of Lights we’re actually moving away from the complications of religion all coming out of one root, and we’re looking at what’s happening in the heavens. And what is happening in the heavens? Stuart.

In the northern hemisphere it’s the shortest day of the year, the least amount of light coming to the northern hemisphere. And so from there on the days gradually become longer and longer, and we receive more light.

S: The darkness has been slowly prevailing. Nighttime becomes earlier and earlier on your clock, but on the solstice there is a change that happens. No longer is the darkness slowly growing, but the light is. It is a touchstone, a magical moment. The Festival of Light is not celebrating the day of the greatest darkness. The Festival of Light is that it’s going to become lighter and brighter and good. And when we’re doing this as ritual, we’re going to be latching into that energy and making use of it.

Then there is Christmas. Story there? Sounds a whole lot like the first one? Christmas. Thank you, dear.

It’s the time when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, the Christ.

S: Good. It’s a celebration of the birth of Jesus, who became the Christ. And the simple version of the story is, it was time to collect taxes; therefore you had to go into your home district, be counted and taxed before you could go. The problem with that, of course, was that Mary was quite pregnant, and it was going to be quite a trick to even get her on the donkey, needless to say across the rough terrain.

That laughter’s from everybody who’s been very pregnant. Well, I’d say that that’s quite generous of that donkey. It might even be called sacrifice.

They finally reach Bethlehem and find out that there was no room, so they said, “I don’t need a room, just anything. A straw pallet, it doesn’t matter.” And so they sent them out to the barn where there was the most magical event, according to what I’ve been able to gather from your historians. Cows talked and sang. Right. Donkey was generous and loving. Chickens. Do you think there were chickens out there? Generously giving up their feed bucket so that the newly born baby Jesus could use it.

[Laughing] I was just thinking of what a feed bucket would look like with a baby in it. All that old mash and straw would stick to it, wouldn’t they? And there you’ve got the first straw man. All right. Never mind. Let me get back to my point.

And there’s generosity throughout that story, as well. The nature of this season is about generosity, but the reality of it, in this culture, is that the nature of the season is about giving stuff—that kind of generosity—which is a pity, because more often than not that means that you’re going to miss out on the truest form of generosity.

A generous heart is the first sign of an open and activated being. A generous heart is the first sign of an awakened and activated being. And you know that’s so. You know that’s so because you find yourself giving time, giving love, feeding others, comforting them. You generously give most of the time.

One of the greatest hindrances to generosity, what do you think that would be? Mary.

It’s the expectations you have on your generosity.

S: I’ll put that in there, that you go from a natural outpouring, so all of a sudden a “Well, this is expected of me now. I’ve got to do it that way.”

Suzanne.

Fear, for me.

S: That’s the one I’m looking for.

I see it even happening. My first impulse is to just kind of give with no reservation, and then I’ll catch myself. “Wait a minute! Then I won’t have enough.”

S: Good. Yes. If the other side of generosity is fear, what does that make another name for generosity?

Love.

S: Yes. And as I said, love changes your world. It is a natural state for a Guardian to live. Love is the glue that holds this whole dimensional mishmash together. The other side of love is fear. So if I say the first example of generosity is love, then remember, the other side of it is fear. Now, what are the sorts of fears that you deal with in regard to a loving act of generosity? And I’m not asking you to specifically tell yours; just several of you toss out the sorts of things that would . . .

Fear of being taken advantage of.

S:  Fear of being taken advantage of. That’s right. Good.

The fear of not giving enough.

S: That it’s not enough. That you cannot fix it all. That’s good. Stuart.

Through receiving it, it might bring issues of not feeling you’re worthy to receive the generosity someone’s offering.

S: That’s good. Kay.

Too busy to be aware that that’s what you need to do.

S: Life getting so complex that you miss that inner call. That’s good. This time of year especially.

Unaware that they’re not receiving.

S: Yes! Yes! Good. You’re good at this. You do that every time. Donna.

Trust. Not having enough trust to do it in the first place.

S: Yes. Yes. Good. Generosity is an act of the heart, and it shows up through the hands. What do I mean by that?

It shows up through actions. It’s not just a though. It’s a doing.

S: Yes. Generosity is active, but as is the case with anything you’re working to bring into your life, if you don’t have it, you’re not going to be able to give. Which is to say that if you are not experiencing a generous spirit—a happy heart—it’s going to be very hard for you to give away what you don’t have. And the greatest stresses in this season come from that. The war between what your mind wants to do and what your heart wants to do. Heart says, Sure, everything. Mind says, You must be kidding.

Generosity is a key to manifestation. What you give you will receive, but you cannot give it until you have it. So let’s start with what it takes to have it. What is involved in a generous spirit. Anybody? Stuart.

Trust.

S: Yes. Good. Why?

Trust that they’ll be taken care of even if they’re generous with others.

S: Let’s clarify something in there. You have had some ancient experience being a monk in the mountains of Asia. All right. You have given up everything and you walk about with a small bowl so that those who might want to give you some rice or some coin can help you go on. What’s wrong with that picture?

It’s not very realistic.

S: Say it again.

It’s not very realistic.

It wasn’t a very wise monk.

Bad lifetime.

S: The Universe does not ask you to be generous when you have nothing. And those who give it all away are not doing it because they are generously adding to love in the world. The generous soul carefully is responsible with what they have in order that the focus does not have to be on themselves. Do you understand that, what I’m saying there?

You don’t want to be in survival mode.

S: Exactly. Exactly. Generosity shows up as you letting that car that’s been waiting at the cross to go ahead and go in front of you. Generosity shows up as . . . tell me.

Maybe letting somebody who has more than you go ahead when you’re in the grocery line.

S: Sure.

Or with a child.

S: Sure. Good. Good. I want a whole lot more of those, because it’s important for you to see your generous heart, and it’s important for you to see it because you’re going to be called to use it.

Preparing food for your friends.

S: Sure. Sure.

Shoveling your neighbor’s driveway and walkways.

S: Good. Good, good.

[. . . ] package or all their stuff falls out of their bag, and instead of thinking, “Gee, I got to get home,” you stop and pick things up for them.

S: Very nice.

Generosity is love and caring for the creatures on the planet.

S:  Yes. Yes. Frank.

Not being upset or angry if someone then pulls out in front of you or gets in front of you somewhere.

See a need and working to fulfill it, even though it won’t involve you.

S: Yes. Very nice. Doing something even if it doesn’t get your name on the building. Doing it because it’s right to do, not seeking personal glorification.

Being generous with appreciation and saying thank you when someone does something kind.

S: And to say that so that you get it all: she said being generous with your appreciation. When somebody does something for you, you make a point of letting them know that you’re grateful for it, or how they helped, or both. That’s an easy one to forget as an act of love.

Donna, and then Lisa, and then Suzie.

Choosing . . . sometimes choosing a situation where you help people or help friends or family or whatever, as opposed to an accomplishment you were going to make. A generosity towards the human needs [being] more important than stuff.

S: Lovely. Say that again.

The human need is more important than stuff, or getting stuff done, or meeting a deadline.

S: You have this wonderful thing that’s going to give you, finally, all that you want, but in order to have it you’re going to have to step on your family and friends, and ignore them and not see them for long periods of time. And then one of those friends has need of you, and you say, “Too bad, I’m busy. My name’s going to be put on this building. I’ve got to keep up with it.”

So look at it the other way around. Sometimes in life it’s very important to set down what keeps you busy in order to do what keeps you alive. Lisa.

Generosity of your time.

S: Yes.

Your attention.

S: Yes. Yes.

Kindnesses. Just simple things of smiling and being pleasant, taking the time to do those little things.

S: Good. Very good. Suzie.

I was going to say just general awareness, like when you’re out at the grocery store and there’s somebody standing next to you in line, and you can just strike up a conversation. And they could be talking to somebody else and you could just join in and, you know, put love into that conversation.

S: Good. Good. Yes. Kathy.

Being generous with your knowledge. Teaching people like a new skill or an activity.

S: Yes. I spoke last month about that interesting thing that some people do in which you want a recipe and they don’t give it to you exactly right.

Mama Jude.

S: [Laughing] Not any more!

It’s so easy to sabotage. You don’t share the whole recipe because you want it to remain your special one. Or maybe you’re not getting anything out of it, so why bother?

January starts a new cycle in your planet, in many ways, not only cosmically with a few interesting things going on, but simply out of mass consciousness recognizing New Year’s Eve as a time of power and celebrating it. It’s a time for new beginning.

And it’s interesting to me that, before you have the celebration of new beginnings, people in this culture give themselves probably a whole month’s worth of seeing every one of their issues, every one of the things in which their spirit is not being generous. And I believe your laughter is because you get what I’m saying there, yes? The holidays, with all of the things that you have to do, for whatever reason, for whatever reason—even if nobody wants you to but you—the financial strain that shows up for some of you because your family, perhaps, has always maintained a history of “what you give shows how much you love.” How many of you know what I’m talking about there? That’s a very frustrating time of year then, isn’t it?

You are opening a door in this world, and your generous spirit is what’s going to keep it open. And I want you to remember I’m not talking about how much money you give or how many presents you give. Actually, I’m talking about saving your life. Guardianship energy naturally gives. Generosity within your physical world, within your mental and emotional world, and your spiritual world. Your generosity in the physical world, which is such things as—you’ve mentioned a lot of them already—letting somebody in the car lane, helping somebody with packages. Mentally, emotional generosity. How does that show up?

Even if you’re not feeling like it, giving time and attention to someone who needs to talk to you.

S: Good. Very good. Mary Claire.

Presuming the best of others is a form of mental generosity. Always thinking the best of others.

S: Very good. Very good. Do you know that one hundred percent of your communication problems—and I’m going to say that again, because it’s rare I do—one hundred percent of your communication problems are the result of one or the other not thinking, seeing, the best. You can see that.

Frank.

In settings where there’s a retail person, whether it’s at the post office or a store in this busy time, giving them some personal acknowledgment, being friendly to them. When someone in the front of the line is mean to them, kind of making a point to be extra friendly or saying, “Gee, it’s awful when people treat you . . . when people aren’t friendly.” But treat them as a person and give them some recognition.

S: Aye. Now, using kindness as an emotion works, using wisdom as a mental symptom works, but letting your heart lead is the best way to be generous with your mind and emotions. To not believe it has to be about you, to not need to be right about it, to allow love into the situation.

And what about spiritually? What is spiritual generosity? We’ve talked about giving of your time, giving of your talents. We’ve talked about being kind, taking the moment, presuming the best. Well, what’s spiritual generosity?

Suzie.

Willingness to do any of it.

S: Nice. That’s nice. Willingness, she says, to do any of it.

Donna.

I was going to say awareness of it, and choosing to follow that, making it a conscious choice.

S: And that’s pulling us back around to systems, isn’t it? Generosity as a working system in your life generates generosity and it ensures that your resistance layers are not being activated.

Once upon a time, long, long ago, there was a very large convention going on in the heavens. And there were many great beings . . .

[. . . ]

S: Thank you. Looking at a beautiful blue and green planet, and saying, “What a remarkable place!” One of them said, “I’m going to go there. I’ve been doing that time after time after time, usually showing up as a leader, a king, usually being able to have safety, being able to make a difference because the great wisdom that that one had caused an open heart in the people.”

He said, “I’m going to do it differently this time. I’m coming into a poor family. I’m coming as a helpless baby. I’m going to let everything I know be formed in that situation.”

Some of you have had very—well, I’m going to use the word—impoverished, by American standards, childhoods. Some of you have. Some of you know what it is to eat beans one more time. And yet you chose to move beyond that. Even the least you had was better than a society in which people were not valued, in which it was not uncommon to be beaten or robbed simply because you could—sounding very much like gang warfare here, isn’t it? It is a situation quite unlike what you might imagine. Living off the land in a desert means something a little different. Well, mostly a desert.

That god came into the world, and came into the world for one purpose. What was that purpose? Say it.

To change it.

S: That’s right. Came into the world for the purpose of releasing the old way and opening the new.

Two thousand plus years later, it’s time again for this world to have the visitation of the god. It’s time again for the flesh to be awakened as Source energy. You’re not being dropped into a feed bucket—do you like that image? You’re not being dropped into a feed bucket, your best friend isn’t your mother’s donkey. But two thousand plus years later, you have come into the world. And the only thing that works for you is love’s generosity. You see the system switched. It’s no longer about the rules of the world: “Here’s how you should live.” It’s “Here’s how you should be.”

This time of year celebrates generosity, the generosity of one of those conference attendees saying, “I’m going back again.” The generosity of those who open their heart to a new way of living, of being.

At this time, in 5:3:2, at this time, you are constantly faced with the temperature of your soul. Is it healthy? Can you give without fear? Is it not healthy? You fear to give. You are here because you know that there is a piece, a spark, a seed, of God in you. And this is the time of year that that birth is expressed in the world a hundred different ways. What you know as Christ, what you feel as Christ, what you experience in this world as Christ all leads to the power of being Christ.

In your world, hope is needed. Hope does not ask that you be totally prepared for anything coming your way. Hope is a gateway of love. And love is the gateway to generosity.

I would like to challenge you to a generosity test. We’ll have a few moments to discuss it at the Festival, if you’re going to be here. Find three different ways every day to express generosity. Do it, whatever those three ways are, do it and then write down how you feel, what you’ve seen from it. Generosity is not what you give, it’s what you are, and by doing this exercise you are going to find, first, that you’re by far more generous than you might be giving yourself credit for. You’re going to find that with your eyes open there are multiple opportunities dropped in your lap to generously give your time, talent, heart, love.

Next year is going to be—well, frankly—probably pretty trying for many of you. Now, I’m not telling you that to scare you. When I say “trying,” I mean your ability to love freely is going to be challenged. That’s a good thing; that’s a real good thing. And it’s my hope that this little generosity activity will help you see how open and loving your heart is, how easy it is to change somebody’s reality by one act of kindness, that your heart grows as your safety net diminishes.

This is a powerful time of year. Particularly those of you who are experiencing birth celebrations, it’ s that much more powerful for you. Use it. Seek ways to express generosity; see how many labels it fits under. Challenge yourself, because the gift you will give yourself is easy, flowing manifestation in ‘04. You cannot give what you do not have. Grow it up in you. Give the only thing people want. You know what that is?

Love,

S: Love. All right. Glochanumora. I think some of you are being very generous with your viruses this time of year, aren’t you?