November 7, 2010

Samuel: Greetings dears.

Hi, Samuel.

S: All right, how are you?

Good

S: Filled with laughter and love and delight and wonder, aware that you are a magnificent being of light and love and ready to let this world feel you? Then, let’s do that. Quiet yourself enough to feel your heart beat without your having to put your hands over your heart . . . quiet, quiet, quiet, quiet, settle, settle, settle.

Imagine that with every beat of your heart a light within you grows brighter and brighter and brighter, until it fills you up with a beautiful golden, white light. Let it fill up every cell of your being. Imagine that your whole body is being filled up with that light until you’re glowing and it’s pouring out of your body. You’re breathing it out, you’re breathing it back in. You’re breathing the light of the person next to you, they are breathing your light. You are inside and out, filled with that light. And now, imagine that that light flows out of you and fills up this whole building and out into the streets and the city of Lexington, and the state, and this country, up to the north, down to the south, until you eventually cover the world with that light. And in your own mind there might be somebody or some place that you know needs a good dose of that beautiful, love-filled golden light. Put your mind to that place or that person and see them, see it filled up with that same light, growing ever brighter, growing ever stronger. And because you have given you are open to receive, so bring into yourself once again, that golden white light and think about the things that you need in your life, and let that light fill up that need so that you are whole in every way.

Thank you for doing that. I realize that’s not a typical way to start one of these meetings . . . nothing like that, hey? But you just looked like a group with such good energy I wanted to take a bit of use of it.

All right, when are you?

November.

S: Not forgotten, hey? Well, it’s been a wild couple of days. And November brings you what?

Thanksgiving.

S: Yes, Thanksgiving.

The beginning of the New Year.

S: The start of the old New Year.

Diwali.

S: Diwali, which is the Festival Of Lights . . .

The Fire Festival.

S:  . . . the Fire Festival and the celebration of who—I mean among others, all right. But of who?

Lakshmi.

S: Just stand and wave a moment there love, aye. All right, perhaps it’s not that version right now, but for my purposes I think it is. And what else?

Black Friday

S: No, wait, don’t tell me. I know what it is; it’s in here; just a moment. It is for shopping.

Yes, good job.

S: More.

On Black Friday?

S: Yes.

I think it’s the day that people shop the most all year. It’s the Friday after Thanksgiving.

S: Why is it called black? Because firms become into the black?

Financially, not into the red anymore. They go back into the black. It’s an accounting . . .

S: In this economy. So, into the Black Prosperity Friday. You ought to make it something different this year. If it’s going to be Black Friday then how about making it Prosperity Friday.

Yes

S: And particularly, those of you who are feeling the effects of this economy and wishing that you had a little more to play with and pay your bills with and live with. But for all of you, remember that a very important principle is, you receive when you give; you give and you will receive. So find a place, a person, an event where you want to give your time, your money between now and then. I’ve been encouraging you to clear the dross out of your life, to simplify. Maybe some of those things can be taken to a charitable place . . . and remember you’re sitting in the midst of an excellent one. There is always this place. But give, because that opens you to receiving.

There’s a few other things that you can do as well, and it’s somewhat in the way of a playful kind of ritual. It really has a lot more to do with your focusing on what you want, which has everything to do with your getting what you want. But what I would encourage you to do is to create a small treasure map.

Now, do you know what a treasure map is? I will explain for those who do not. To make a treasure map you want a large piece of paper and you want to collect pictures and words that have to do with what you wish to bring into your life. Now, if you are wanting to bring into your life more money, that means you might want pictures of what?

Money.

S: You might even want to use money. You paste it on your paper. You might want to have words or pictures. What kind, what can you think of that would be useful? Well, how about a word like easy prosperity?

Abundance.

S: Abundance of all good things. Clarify.

A picture of India.

S: A picture of India, because you wish to take the trip next year to India, yes.

Things that would represent you feeling wealthy. It may be different things for each of us.

S: But what might be one for you? Oops, somebody, what might it be? What makes you feel wealthy that you might want a picture of?

What makes me feel wealthy, when I think of that, if I had what I really wanted to have I’d have a roaring fire place with my sweetie, holed up in a luxurious sweet someplace with a hot tub.

S: And a photo of a luxurious sweet with the hot tub and the roaring fire. You might have to piece all of that together and then a photograph of you and sweetie. Excellent.

Another?

A new car.

S: A new car. What you’re trying to focus on bringing to you, words that fill in the blanks that the pictures don’t fully convey, words that add to, pictures that add to. But what you want to be careful about in doing this is that you want to keep it positive. You don’t want any “no” and a picture of something you don’t want. You want it all to be positive. And that includes: when you put down the word abundance, you want abundance of all good things, because you already know what it feels like to have an abundance of not so good things—don’t need more of that. You want positive, powerful, giving opportunities, because that means you’ve got enough to spare. You want to easily access all you need to be the best you can be. So, as a for instance, a treasure map can be very useful, and it’s useful because, going back to yesterday when we talked a bit about that magnificent brain of yours, you’re reminding your brain what you’re wanting to draw to you. You’re going to glue or paste or tape or spit and push those words and those pictures on that paper, and you’re going to put it where you will see it on a regular basis, for instance on the lid of your toilet, refrigerator.

Toilet may not be a good idea because you flush it off . . .

S: Well, you wouldn’t put it on that side.

Still its equipment that flushes things.

Flushing away all that keeps you from having what you need.

Yes.

S: What she said. Bonnie says it’s releasing your desire for those things. And so, all right, maybe not the toilet, the refrigerator or your bathroom mirror or . . . And as you go through that day, be remembering, “This is a day of prosperity and I am open and ready to receive what is mine.”

Now I have a question for you. What is yours?

What’s mine is a life that will help me do what I am here to do.

S: Nice.

Many times I limit it by thinking what it is that I need. What is mine is fulfillment.

S: Lovely, lovely, more . . .

This is a variation on that theme, but I think of it in this way: a means to express and put out in the world the best of what I’m here to put out, and for me certainly being able to come and work with this group is number one, but I have plenty of other things in my life that can be turned to that as well.

S: Aye, and in this world it takes money, doesn’t it? And so you do not want to be ashamed of that. You don’t want to ignore that. That’s probably what got you in trouble in the first place, trying to ignore it, not having to think about it, not having to talk about it or not . . . It’s bread, it’s water, it’s a place to sleep. It’s just one more piece of what you need to function in this life. And you are seeking the opportunity to make use of an energy that your country is enjoying considerably, which is what stores wealthy energy, and you’re putting out for a piece of the prosperity for your highest good. That’s what is yours. Everything and anything that you need to be the best that you can be, your highest and best good here. But you need to know that. And it’s not a magical, “I must know this.” It’s simply your highest and best good in the same way that you need food and you need rest and you need water to drink, you need enough to allow you to be the best possible you. Make it so.

Prosperity Friday. I will be interested to hear what comes of it. Take notes.

Another thing that happens in November is something that I do not talk about very much, but these last few years it seems to come up more than less, and that is, it is also Veterans Day. When is Veterans Day?

Thursday the eleventh.

S: Coming up quickly, good, coming up Thursday. Veterans Day, what is Veterans Day?

Well, the date is chosen as the anniversary of the initial agreement that ended World War I, which is now ninety-three or ninety-four years ago. It’s called Armistice Day and it was called that when I was a child and some people call it that now, and it’s called Remembrance Day in England and in many of the Commonwealth countries.

S: They are remembering. They are celebrating.

They are remembering those who gave their lives to defend their nations, and they celebrate that the nation survived. And I have to say the losers may have a different day for that, but it celebrates those who came back as well and all who have served in that way.

S: And since then, all who have served, most often, well—I suppose for that particular holiday they pretty much mean only in the Armed Services. I have a question for you. Do you have to be a soldier to be a veteran?

No . . .

S: Trick question. Well, to be a veteran of a war you do, I guess.

You could be a nurse and officially be a veteran of a war.

S: Sure, you can be a veteran of Dunbar High School. You are out now, right?

Yes.

S: Long ago?

Long ago.

S: Aye, and now you are a veteran, right?

Exactly.

S: So what are you a veteran of? Well, you are a veteran of child-, well all right, maybe not childhood for most of you. You are a veteran of . . .

My child-rearing years.

S: Ah, your child-rearing years, yes.

Occasionally I go back into service.

S: Occasionally she needs to go back into service because her child, children . . .

Refuse to be grown-ups.

S: Refuse to be grown-ups. What are you a veteran of? Come now, don’t be shy, you never have been.

I’m a veteran of being the youngest of nine, so I survived.

S: Ah, good for you. Good for you. Are you a veteran of your high school, of your driving? “I am a veteran driver.” Yes . . .

I am a veteran immigrant.

S: You are a veteran immigrant because you are now a citizen.

I am a veteran of cancer.

S: That’s right.

I’m a veteran meat-eater.

S: Yes, yes.

Are we saying then that you are a veteran of something if you are no longer part of it?

S: Well, it doesn’t only say that because you can be a veteran of a war and still be serving. You can be a veteran driver and still driving, but it says that you have been in that position for quite some time. Perhaps it would be, “I am a veteran meat-eater now retired.”

In your life there are things that you have made it through. What have you made it through? Don’t answer this out loud. Even today, there were things that you made it through. And it might have been a difficult journey doing it, hardest thirty seconds of your life, or it could have been fairly simple. But there are many things that you have come through. Veterans Day, perhaps there is a very special leaning toward those who have served in the military, particularly who have served in war. And with that in mind I want you to think for a few moments about soldiers.

How do you become a soldier?

Well, in some instances you might sign up voluntarily, and in other instances you might be drafted into it, but they generally work as a unit and try to work with a common vision. And sometimes it requires being courageous and going beyond even that and working independently.

S: So we’re going to start with the part that is you sign up or get—what is the word? Drafted? Yes. Or get drafted

Then you have to be trained.

S: Then you must go into training and what is the training that you go through? Well, the first thing, pretty often nowadays anyway is boot camp.

Yes.

Basic training.

S: Basic training, yes. And what happens in basic training?

You’re stripped of your individuation.

S: Hold that thought. He said, “You are stripped of your individuation.”

Or so I’ve been told.

S: Just hold that thought a moment, Crystal.

One of the first things that they do is shave off all of your hair. and you have just a “buzz cut,” so that fits with what Stuart . . .

Do they do that with the women?

No, they shave the women to the ear.

They cut it.

Cut it short.

They cut you to a standard. Everyone’s the same.

S: There, everyone’s the same. That’s part of that getting rid of the individuation, more.

I think that they’ve had to add an extra step into it because everybody’s been coming in too overweight and out of shape, so they’ve had to deal with that now.

S: They put you on a diet and make you exercise.

Well, they’ve always made you exercise. That’s not new.

S: But the diet is new, all right, got that, good.

They teach you to function through hierarchy and teach you to shut down your heart and to do what you’re told

S: Do what you’re told. Cam.

Related to that taught obedience, obedience training.

S: Yes, yes, yes.

You learn to function with a unit. You learn how to train yourself in such a way that you can work with your unit even when you are really, really tired.

S: True, good.

You’re trained in weaponry and big tanks and ships.

S: Specialty skills. Yes, yes, good, good.

With the training together comes a group camaraderie and bonding that’s very important.

They teach you how to march in unison.

S: How to march in unison, you know that’s a lot harder than you’d think, it is indeed. There’s a lot of things that happen when you decide to become a soldier, a lot of things that happen. There are a lot of reasons why somebody might choose that path. Can you think of a couple of reasons why?

I think there’s a desire to guard and guide a country and its people.

S: To defend the country, to guard, to guide, to protect the people.

It’s a place where you can gain skills, particularly if you are poor and don’t have a lot of opportunity. You can gain things there that will help you later on.

S: That’s right. You might gain skills, knowledge and even schooling and help with housing. That’s good.

A lot of people join in hard economic times so that they can earn benefits, so that they can go to college or some kind of school to learn a trade for the rest of their civilian lives.

S: Special benefits to help them when they are no longer in that service.

A person might enter the service because they are oriented towards the sort of structure and purpose that it provides.

S: Very good.

Sometimes they might enter for the exact opposite reason: their life has been chaotic, they’ve foundered academically and in the work force, they’ve been told, “This will do you good.” And so they go in the hopes of getting their lives structured and put together.

S: And sometimes it works.

Sometimes they go because they get a chance to see the world.

S: Join the Army. See the world, one war at a time.

You decide that you have a reason. And there are a lot of good reasons that have been expressed, even more that could be. You’re going to join up and you do so, and the first thing that’s done is you start getting . . . say it again now, Stuart.

Stripped of your individuality.

S: I just love that phrase. You start getting stripped of your individuality. Your hair is cut to look like everyone else. You are given clothing that looks like everyone else. It’s starting to sound like high school isn’t it?

They get haircuts too . . .

S: Yes, your hair is cut.

. . . all the same.

S: Right. You wear the same kind of shoes.

Now, just to let you know how very clever I am getting with your language, I almost said, “They wear the same shoes.” But I immediately knew that was not going to be possible. They would all have to have their own shoes. All right, I’m just playing with you.

They are required to get up at the same time, eat at the same time, live everything at the same time or within the same time period.

It sounds like a group trip.

S: It does, doesn’t it, except for the hair cut part.

Maybe the shoes. Weren’t there Nikes all over that trip?

S: They are put into a very strenuous, physical regime or heavy exercise while their bodies are re-molded, sometimes from a little too soft and potato-like, right, to something that has greater stamina, the strength to do what they may be called on to do. Does everybody make it through basic training?

No.

S: No, not at all. And during that time you are not only pushed to your limits . . .

Beyond them.

S:  . . . but by far beyond them. Because most people do not know what their limits are—they only know what they think their limits are—because most people don’t push themselves. So, in this sort of training they are pushed in many, many ways. And it is through this grueling pushing that these many individuals strip down to something common—suffering together—begin creating their own little cliques and clacks, making friends—persecution built the church—opening the door for the next most important thing that they can learn in life: how to work in unity, how to be a part of a team.

Part of the training, as was mentioned, is about following orders, obedience without question. You don’t think about it; you just do it.

Now, I would tell you that a leader, certainly one outside of those particular circumstances perhaps, should not really be without heart, but it certainly does seem that they want it without thought, for sure. Of course they have reasons for that, but that’s when you know the, say it again, Stuart . . . the individuality has been stripped. Because when you can act on what another has said without even thinking about it, you’re not the same person that went in those weeks ago. The time comes that you have made it out of the basic training and it’s time to get into a specialty, and you have the opportunity to, once again, start learning more about yourself. And if your country—as yours is—is in wars, then it is also very likely that you are going to go to war. Although it happens to everybody eventually, certainly in a place of war, another thing that you might experience is death.

Soldiers are not just wearing uniforms, marching in step—very tricky to do; ask any drummer—losing their individuality, having it stripped from them, learning to work as a team. Sometimes they are wearing bright colors and sitting in big rooms and wondering what that strange person up there is talking about. You don’t remember signing up do you? And yet, here you are. Well, I don’t necessarily mean here, it could mean here. But you are here in this world for a reason. And it’s real easy to forget that. It’s so easy to get involved in just the breathing in and breathing out, getting through the day, that you forget that you are here for a reason. And in one direction everybody’s reason is different is because everybody has special gifts, unique talents, abilities, a place that nobody else can do quite the same. You are unique; easy to forget that, very easy to forget that. On the other end of it, you have within you a desire to help, to do, to make a difference. Now, how do I know that? Because it’s built into the human blueprint. Unity, teamwork is natural to you. “Wait a minute, Samuel, I am quite certain that’s not true. In fact I am quite certain that it’s very hard to teach people to work together, because humans are generally like dogs and cats . . . arf, arf, hiss, hiss.” No, without only one thing—mind you it’s a big thing—without only one thing, human nature is loving and giving and sharing and helping and good, except for one thing. What would that be?

Free will.

Fear.

S: And those who said fear had it right. I told you it was a big thing.

Do you think that soldiers fear? Does that fear stop them? All right, sometime, okay, but work with me here. Does that fear stop them?

No.

S: And it doesn’t stop them why?

They have a bigger purpose.

S: Because they have a bigger purpose, because they’ve had training so that they know what their strengths are and they are stronger and bigger and better, hopefully, than they had been.

Well, and the people in their unit are counting on them.

S: Because those that they live with, eat with, sleep with are counting on them, because they all have a place and know they have a place, and if one drops out, there is a hole, and so all must work together for the safety of all. There is also that training to follow your orders and not to question but to do, and so even in the midst of fear, all of those pieces hopefully come together to push that person onward through that fear.

In everyday life there are a whole lot of things that come together to get you through the day, the office wars, the school jungle. What do you need to get you through a day? Is it some kind of drug, load up on coffee all through the day, come home, drink half a bottle of wine just so you can sleep? Is it fear that you won’t be able to pay your rent? Is it, “Well, I’m still alive so I guess I have another one to go, all right, here we go.”? Is it because you’re afraid of letting someone else down? “I’m only doing this because . . . oh, I don’t know why I’m doing this.”

I guess where I’m going is in so many ways, not just you but every human is a soldier of sorts. But those who have come here and know that they are here to help this world, who from the earliest of memories has known there’s more than just this. “I want to make the world better. I want to help.” You are soldiers in a different way. You’ve not been stripped of your individuality because in fact, your individuality is needed. Who you are in your unique place in this world is a valuable part of what you do here. You do things, meet with people that others sitting around you would never meet with or do. Some of you do a whole lot of things no one else would do, but that’s a different talk.

Some of you are soldiers that need to do a little more to learn your strengths, because, as others in here will tell you, “If you don’t know what they are, the Universe is happy to teach you. You don’t know how strong you are, let me show you. Let’s see how far you bend first. Let’s see if you can make it through this fire.” Universe is happy to teach you. Know your strengths. Know your value and know your team. Know what you do that nobody else can. Value your gifts.

I once talked to a group of people, and I forced them to do something that was very difficult for them and yet proved to be a powerful exercise. I had them sit in a circle and going around the circle each person had to say what their gifts were, what their special talents and strengths were. Because when you’re by yourself, standing in front of the bathroom mirror thinking, “All right world, here I am. I am so good at communicating with others.” But you’d never say that out loud because all of the people who’ve received some of your emails would say, “I don’t think so.” And yet, knowing what works, what your strengths are, what your gifts are, directs you to what you can be doing here and keeps you from what doesn’t work. Well, ideally, if you know what does work you’re not going to mess around with what doesn’t—theoretically.

A soldier does what is needed even if it isn’t your idea of a good time. In this particular place, some of those soldiers cleaned the toilets and vacuumed the floors and baked food and . . . They do what’s needed, not because it’s their favorite thing to do. They do it because, well, they’re here to serve.

And soldiers die. Ideally you do it every day; die to who you were and how you used to think and any other part that no longer serves wholeness and life. Every day you let that go, because that’s really all death is: it’s the letting go of what has seemed to work but no longer does. It’s time you release it, every day, because doing that opens a door. I’ve got to tell you, it’s not necessarily a door that people around you will then commemorate you with a day and applaud you with what you’ve done and tell you, “Good work. You’ve been a good soldier.” The kind of death that I’m talking about is the one that most of the time people don’t notice—but you do.

Part of what November is is the beginning of a new year, a good time to begin a new life, because it’s a month with everything. This year it is a month with a celebration of light in the Hindu religion. It is a month in which you think about those things that bring you what you need to be the best that you can be, which might be basic training boot camp, might be becoming, say it Stuart, say it . . .

Stripped of your individuality.

S: That’s right. Stuart’s just never that dramatic. What a dramatic way to say that: “stripped of your individuality.”

It is a month in which you have the opportunity to renew all that is important to you. Die to the old, open the door to the new and let that new be a day of focusing on prosperity, a day focused on gratitude, awareness of what works in your life, awareness of your purpose and your gifts, awareness of your soldiering on.

I know that there are those who would like to say that there is a great battle between good and evil going on in this world, and that’s why it’s important to send off your best and brightest, to defeat the evil. There is a battle between the forces of action and the forces of inaction. That’s what it is. You act, you don’t. But in this world, action represents life . . . and Noki agrees.

This calls for an immediate nap.

S: November is a powerful month. There is so much in it for you. Use it.

[Long pause] Stuart hates it when I do this because he has to cut it out of the tape so that nobody thinks that their tape is broken. “There’s a long silent spot in my tape.” I’m just waiting for it to sink in as I look at all of you. This is a very important month and in so many ways you are a soldier. And in so many ways you have gone through much of what those who are officially soldiers do. But you tend toward inaction instead of action, and you don’t know your strengths, and you don’t know how to be a leader, and you don’t know what the task at hand is to do. And this is a good month to change that. What do you want? What do you need? What do you have to make it work? What are you grateful for? What are your gifts? What are your talents and abilities? Do you celebrate the light of love in your life? Do you release the old and accept the new? Are you willing to conquer your fears and move forward in the pure power of what you truly are, a being of love? Not if you’re afraid of what that opens up, because it opens up real scary things like humans functioning in wholeness, activated and ready, being the best of what they are, doing what they are here to do, changing this world and making it better, and ultimately, bringing about the transformation of humankind and all life force here, changing this world. It takes action. Maybe it takes a soldier.

I am grateful for the light you are already. I am constantly delighted by and look forward to the light you are becoming and have become. I celebrate you. And now it’s your turn to celebrate that light, to celebrate you.

Glochanumora.